Human

by C R MacFarlane

  “The starchart in my room on the Ishash'tor. I watched you study it for hours; I know you memorized it. It was a photo I took it the last time the Observer ship passed through the Milky Way. All we need to do is follow it and we’ll be home.”

  "Huh." Gal rubbed his chin. "You've always been weird as anything, but I don't think I've ever said quite how much I appreciate that." He turned to Halud. "Ready, Poet?"

  Halud nodded and together they stepped in front of the camera.

  Kieran stepped back, pulling Sarrin with him. He held her shoulders in both his hands, studying her. "God, I'm glad you're all right.”

  He pulled her to his chest, wrapping his arms around her. And she let him, pressing her cheek into his chest, above his beating heart. Because for the first time, she was all right. Not a monster, not a weapon. Just, Sarrin.

  TWENTY-TWO

  GALIANT IDIM STOOD AT THE crest of the hill, overlooking the forests of Indaer, the planet where he was born, the forests where he learned what he would become. It was the last time he would see them, the lush blue-green against the purple hued sky.

  He smiled.

  “What is it, Gal?” Rayne smiled at him.

  He still found it surprising to see Rayne without her grey Central Army uniform. If possible, she managed to look even more beautiful in the flowing coloured garments sourced by the Artist Laureate, her arms marked and painted by the Uruhu.

  It had been two weeks since the Speakers had fallen. Their fate was unclear, as was the fate of her father. She said it didn’t matter. But the far away look she sometimes got told him that it did.

  Most of the Augments had already left the planet for Cordelia’s ship. They had had no trouble in sourcing the medical supplies, and food rations, and clothes for the journey home.

  Across the knoll stood Halud, his hands gently brushing his sister’s arms.

  Seeming to know he was being watched, Halud lifted his head, and greeted Gal with a nod of his head and a knowing smile.

  Perhaps without the Poet, Gal would have been trapped in himself forever.

  Halud clapped a hand on Kieran’s shoulder. Then, a final laugh, and they parted.

  Kieran and Sarrin stepped to the front of the knoll, vanishing as Cordelia pulled them up.

  Still smiling, Halud came to stand beside him.

  Rayne gave Gal a quick kiss before she herself stepped to the front of the knoll and disappeared.

  “You’re sure, Poet?” asked Gal.

  Halud nodded. “The world is in turmoil. They need a leader. Perhaps one day before I am too old I will make the journey too.”

  “You’re not that old.”

  “No, but there is a lot of a work to do.” Halud grinned.

  “I hope you do.”

  “It might be hard to find room on a ship. People are eager to go. It seems they feel the pull, as though they know this place is not right.”

  Gal nodded. “The Uruhu say that's how it is with them. Hoepe says the human race has been in decline, that once we were all just as fast and strong and smart as the Augments. He thinks we’ll feel it once we are connected again, and that with time we'll be just as strong again.”

  Halud gazed out over the landscape before them. “There will be poems written about you, Galiant.”

  Gal snorted once. “Poems?”

  “I am the Poet Laureate.” He laughed. “Perhaps I should just say, ‘thank you.'”

  Gal stretched a hand out to the other man. “No, I should be thanking you.”

  “You make little of what you’ve achieved.”

  “What we’ve achieved. Without you, I would still be hauling freight.”

  “Without you, who knows what would have happened to my sister. To the Uruhu.”

  “Will you miss her?”

  “Every day.” Halud turned, calling out over his shoulder. “Good luck in the old world, Galiant.”

  Gal took one last look. There was no one else on the hill. The only one left to board Cordelia was Gal.

  And yet he hesitated. How to let go of the fight that had been such a piece of him for so long? There was still something unfinished, if he turned his back on it now, would it eat at him forever?

  Aaron stood quietly, leaning against a tree at the perimeter of the open grove.

  It was Gal who strode over to him. “I guess I’ll never be rid of you, then?”

  Aaron smiled, a broad, toothy grin, and he shook his head. “It’s time for you to go, Gal. This is goodbye.”

  “Goodbye?”

  “You’ve done it. I always knew you would. Because you never gave up, never forgot what you knew. Even when the Army came for us, when they tried to destroy us, when you nearly killed yourself with drugs and alcohol, your heart was still true. You are strong, Galiant. That’s why I went with you every single time, right up to the end. Don’t for a second think it wasn’t worth it.”

  And for the last time, Aaron faded away into nothing, his voice carried away on the winds, his smile glowing in the heat from the trinary suns.

  Galiant stepped to the front of the knoll, a tingling, whooshing sensation filling him as Cordelia lifted him up.

  * * *

  “Have you ever seen something more beautiful?” she asked, staring ahead of her.

  Kieran spread his hand on her back, the heat rippling through her flesh. “No.” She realized he was gazing down at her instead of the planet before them, and bashfully realized she had been smiling.

  Cordelia hd transformed herself into a large observation platform, it stretched nearly a hundred yards, long enough for everyone on board to stare at the uninterrupted view of the planet below: blue and green and brown and white swirled together like something that could only have been painted by the Gods.

  It spun slowly in front of them, mesmerizing.

  Kieran rubbed a slow circle on her back.

  The clothes had been given to her by the Artist Laureate himself, and were in the highest fashion, with a high front and drooping back, all of her marks exposed.

  At first she had refused to wear it, but then there had been a certain freedom in it, in embracing who she was and where she had come from.

  She closed her eyes and remembered the feel of Kieran tracing each one, asking what they meant, never bothered by an answer, never bothered when she refused to answer.

  She recalled the way he doodled with his finger in the open spaces, making up his own symbols and telling her what they meant. Sometimes he wrote her name, or sometimes just a large ’S’. He said it was all part of her story.

  One time he had leaned down and kissed her skin, and proclaimed, ‘Now, I have been here too. I am on you, Sarrin, part of your story. Forever.’

  She had scars. Scars that would never go away, but they could fade. They could turn into something else.

  She would never get her childhood back, never spend the summers running in the orchards with her brother. But it was part of her. And without it she never would have met Kieran. And she certainly never would have been able to save his life.

  The past wasn’t pretty. It wasn’t what she had wanted it to be. But it didn’t haunt her. Not anymore. It was the Path that she was made to follow, good and bad, right and wrong. The experiences made her her, and she was herself and no one else.

  The planet below called to her, its vibrations and frequencies rattling around in her bones, heating them from the inside. The others must have felt it too, their grins spreading.

  Gal wrapped his arms around Rayne, kissing her on the neck. They stepped forward, ready to drop down to the planet. They hadn’t told anyone yet, but their child would be the first born on Earth in millennia.

  A deep, booming laugh echoed across the bay. The sound, so unusual coming from Hoepe’s throat, still surprised her. He rested his hand on Isuma’s shoulder, Leove on her other side, laughing just as loud. If she had to guess, their child would be the second.

  There would be a lot of children on Earth — all the Augment babies had co
me with them. There was no telling what the future would bring for them. Would they have more abilities Sarrin had never heard of? Would they be stronger on Earth, or weaker away from the Uruhu?

  Either way, she would be there to teach them the way Roelle had taught her. So they wouldn’t be afraid. So they would grow feeling confident and secure and knowing who they were.

  Kieran’s hand slid off her back for a second, startling her from her thoughts.

  He watched him reach his arms around an Augment named Arnie and hug him quickly. He’d been thrilled to find Arnie, his great grand nephew, and even more thrilled to find him alive and well, after Hoepe had pushed some colloids into him and some real food.

  A lot of Augments had survived. A lot hadn’t. They wouldn’t be forgotten, Kieran had made certain of that. They’d been part of the journey, there and then not, but still a part of what they had done, and what they had achieved.

  Kieran turned back to her and smiled. “Time for us to go too.”

  She nodded, staring at the view screen, committing the jewel to memory.

  It would be theirs forever. Kieran and Gal had already come up with the plans, combining Gal’s knowledge of farming and terraforming, with Kieran’s unmatched understanding of human history to know what had worked and what hadn’t. They would attempt to avoid the mistakes of the forbearers who had brutalized planet after planet.

  This was Earth. There was only one.

  But as Kieran said, they were ready. Ready to look after it and each other.

  They thanked Cordelia, who gushed profusely in her excitement to be able to return home. And then she kissed Kieran squarely on the mouth, and thanked him for that uniquely human experience as well.

  Sarrin landed on the soft ground, her bare toes digging in to the grass. A magic she’d never known shot through her.

  She felt the urge to run. Pushing with her legs, she dragged Kieran by the hand. The energy surrounded her, swallowed her and ate her whole. She was alive in a way she hadn’t known was possible.

  Kieran pulled back, laughing and gasping for breath as he told her to go on.

  Ahead of her, a herd of ungulate creatures from her dreams lifted their heads and started to run with her through the thick, unmarred forest.

  She was free.

  She was home.

  Thank you for reading….

  Human is the final book in the Red Fever Trilogy. It has been a wonderful ride, taking us from the desert lows of Selousa and Contyna, to the magical planet-being of Cordelia, to the Uruhu inhabited forests of Indaer. And I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for joining me.

  If you enjoyed the book and the series, please consider leaving a review on Amazon. A review means a huge amount to a self-published author like myself, and I would be extremely grateful if you’d consider writing one.

  Don’t forget to join the Mailing List at thewritable.com to hear about new projects and releases. You can also follow me on Twitter (@CRMacFarlane) or like my author page on Facebook (CRMacFarlane).

  About the Author…

  C R MacFarlane is an award winning author of short stories and poetry. Fascinated by the human experience, her fiction strives to explore deep and meaningful themes in exciting ways, challenging the way we think about ourselves, each other, and the world around us. She lives in Alberta with her ever-patient husband, adorable baby boy, three cats, dog, and horse.

  More of her work can be found at

  www.thewritable.com

  @CRMacFarlane

  CRMacFarlane