Thirty Days

Nexus Tower

Marion Allison

Verbina Ingram

Paulson

Ember

a short story: Thirty Days

  Sunlight through the window illuminating the desktop: papers, a plaque, a black cube, gray tipped socks on feet propped up.  Probably bad for his posture, especially with the circumstances of this stay at home situation, post-surgical recovery.  With a lazily moving arm he rubbed the side of his neck, it didn’t hurt, but they had been in there, carving, filing, bracing, fusing.

  The plaque lit up and Intrepid Fusion Eclipse expectantly tapped it with his toe to answer the call.  An Assembly faction logo with the words *curiositas, inquisitionis, inventa*  superimposed over the emblem of Nexus Tower displayed before the voice of Verbina Ingram transmitted.

  “I just finished cleaning up our Brick Annex location, so stop by if you like, you have clearance.”  An electronic chirp signaled the end of the message.  He picked his feet off the table and reached for his boots, dark, worn, and steel toed.

  He laced them, stood up, shrugged into his backpack, and reached for the bedroom door handle when the plaque on the desk lit up with another Nexus Force image, the Sentinel Faction logo.  He squinted at it.  Beneath it was a text message which Intrepid was too far away to read at his current position by the door.

  The door handle sprung back to its original position as Intrepid returned to the plaque.  On closer inspection it displayed picture taken of a hologram of the Sentinel Faction eagle, with a girl and a sword posed in front of it, who were not holograms.  Obviously a picture taken in Nexus Tower’s Sentinel wing, he recognized.  By the avatar, he could guess who the message was from.  He opened it.

  *from Keen Carefree Brouhaha: Hello.*

He hovered his hands over the desk until the glowing outlines of keys appeared on the glass, and eventually he tapped a response and pressed Return.  As soon as it sent he cringed.

  *from First World Anarchy: Hello*.

  It had been awhile since he’d set his username, and it had been just as long since he’d last used the Nexus Force’s internal messaging network, which was technically never in that context.

  *from Keen Carefree Brouhaha: This is Kate, if you were confused by the name. :P*

*Not by yours*, Intrepid thought, so he typed that.

  *from First World Anarchy: Not by yours.  How did you figure out I am who I am?*

  *from Keen Carefree Brouhaha: Luke Mercury told me.*

 from First World Anarchy: Oh.

  *from Keen Carefree Brouhaha: How are you doing?*

 from First World Anarchy: Good.

  *from Keen Carefree Brouhaha: I’m in Nimbus Plaza.*
  *from Keen Carefree Brouhaha: Do you want to meet?*

  Intrepid looked out the window.  The sun was high over Nimbus City, sprawled out for miles, and separated from the rest of Nimbus Station by a field’s length of ocean and a bridge.  There was a ways to go to his destination, the Assembly institution in Brick Annex, and the Station Plaza, he knew, was between him and that.

  He could stop by.

  He typed that and pressed send.

  *from Keen Carefree Brouhaha: Green sweatshirt.*

Then she was offline, and Intrepid stepped back from the plaque.

  While making his way out of the apartment - a different place than his last residence shared with the Mercuries, since he needed the quiet – he considered the interaction.

  The last time he’d seen Kate was in fact yesterday, outside the Nexus Tower infirmary where he’d spent the last seven days getting his neck fixed.  Cyclone, Edgar, Evelyne, Shira, and the Mercuries had been there, but they hadn’t had much time before paparazzi arrived, and the group fragmented to throw them off.  He hadn’t reached out to them since.

  Instead he’d been contacting other certain parties: Verbina Ingram, Tiberius Talmid, Suave Able Cat.  They were the people most likely to be of help, now that Unverse was untraversable by then known means, with locating Red.  Or as she was also known by, Rowana.

  It was a pretty name, when he thought about it.  He wondered why he hadn’t thought of it before, when coming up with a name to call her.  Except he kind of had, that day a month and a half ago, when he’d decided on Red, since Rowana literally meant Red, and her name literally was Red, as he’d later discovered during his and Kate’s adventures in the Future Dimension.

  Kate, right.  He’d almost forgotten what he was doing, going to visit her, when his surroundings made him do a double take.  He was outside on the sidewalk of a busy Nimbus City street, with cars driving by and building facades on the other side.

  He could have sworn he was just in the apartment.  So he’d spaced out again.

  It was a problem he’d started grappling with since waking up in the Nexus Tower infirmary.  Gaps in his memory.  They’d become less frequent but they weren’t gone yet.  Lasting side effects of dislocating his brain from his spine, Intrepid figured.  He waved at a taxi.

  Two minutes and a bridge later he was in Nimbus Station proper and dropped off outside the plaza.

  It was busy, as typical, with minifigures of all ages, mostly adults and younger.  There were peddlers advertising their stuff or consumers describing their wants in phrases like, “MOSAIC JESTER CAP FOR EVEN TOW SAND TOW SAND,” or “FOR TOW SAND ATE HUN RED FOR PARROT?”  In another section of the green a *Nimbus 9* news team complete with boom mics and cameras was running a segment, which Intrepid made sure to keep clear of.

  There was another place to look.  Technically outside the plaza, off the path to the Race Place, was a playground with a duck pond situated behind a tree line, where kids would play by day and teenagers would hang out by night.  There, between the trees, Intrepid sighted a lime green sweatshirt.

  Conspicuous, but not personally identifiable.  He knew who wore it, but no one else did, as was the point.

  Intrepid glanced back at the news people before joining Kate on the bench.  She barely looked up, so under her lime hood he only saw her jawline.  Funny how he recognized her that way.  “Hi, Intrepid,” she said chipperly.

  “Hi, Kate,” he said back.

  “Might want to put your hood up, too,” she advised.  “We’re recognizable round these parts.  Hence the disguise.”  She gestured to the sweatshirt before resting her hands on her bare knees.

  “Mini skirt.” Intrepid said.

  “That’s the point.” Kate continued.  “It’s uncharacteristic and I wouldn’t where it in any other circumstance.  Got a whole lot of clothes like that from friends,” she chuckled a bit, “a long time ago.”

  Intrepid nodded at the inside joke he didn’t know and flipped up his hood, and tilted his head a bit to mimic Kate’s posture.  Most of the other people around, on the benches or walking on the path or feeding the birds, were little kids or their parents.  But caution was always good.

  “So,” Kate’s voice changed gears, “how are you doing?” she asked

  “I’m good,” Intrepid told her.

  “I mean, how are things really going?  How was your trip here?  How have you been since… well, Elistra?” Kate restated.

  Intrepid laughed softly.  “You must really think there’s something wrong with me.”

  “You tell me,” she said seriously.

  He leaned back.  “Honestly…” he began, then paused.  She was still waiting for an answer.  He took a deep breath, then said, “I have a headache.”  He did have a slight one.  “But I’m definitely feeling better than a week ago.”

  “I heard you got hurt pretty bad back there.” Kate said.  “I didn’t see for myself, though.”

  “Yeah, if a week in the infirmary wasn’t obvious enough…” he picked his tone up a notch.  “How ‘bout you?  In fact…” he turned in her direction to face her jawline.  “I need you to tell me something.”

  Her jawline turned in his direction.

  “Did you hear anything interesting we were in the pocket dimension?” he asked.

  “Pocket dimension?” Kate repeated.  “I didn’t know we got to a pocket dimension.  The entire time we were in the rift, I was focused on keeping the Maelstrom from infecting us.  I couldn’t think about anything else, sound or anything.  When we got back to normal space… apparently I was out for three days.”

  *Oh*, he thought.  He hadn’t known.

 “I didn’t know,” Intrepid responded.  “That must have been… rough, waking up to that.  I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t be.” Kate said.  "It’s not your fault what happened.  It’s not your fault at all.”

   “So?” he questioned.  “Fault makes no difference if you’re upset or not.  Saying ‘I’m sorry,’ it means someone cares about you.”

  Kate smiled.  “That’s good to know.”

  Intrepid smiling back.  "It means I care,” he clarified,

  “Aw.  I’m glad we’re having this conversation,” she said.

  “Me, too,” he agreed.

  They fell into silence and turned to watch the pond again.  There were ducks and geese, some in the water, some on the shore, and a swan too, resting or foraging.  A peaceful atmosphere described the area, so they enjoyed a nice mixture of warmth from the sun and cool reprieve from the shade.

  “I have a place to go,” Kate said suddenly.

  Intrepid nodded.  “It just so happens… I also have a place to be at.”

  She stood up.  “See you again, then,” she said, and walked off.  He watched her depart, hands in her sweater pockets and keeping her head low, before getting off the bench and going the other way to his original destination:

  The Assembly science lab in the warehouse district near Brick Annex had fallen into disuse two years prior, when the research within moved to a larger location closer to the plaza.  It was now, according to Verbina Ingram, being repurposed for research into unverse, but one of many Nexus Force sponsored initiatives into the space between universes.  Despite knowing of it for several years now, unverse had only gained its newfound importance after the invasions by transdimensional Maelstrom, which the Nexus Force - in this dimension, at least - was now interested in countering.

  They were a little late, the war was already over.  A special device brought over from the Future Dimension had burned the bridge that unverse was, a means for traveling between dimensions.  It could also be used to track down people.

  Maybe it still could be.  The Nexus Force, still looking for ways to use it, was Intrepid’s only hope.  Hope was something he did a good job of clinging too, which was why he approached the locked, boarded up façade of the science lab and pressed the buzzer.

  “Intrepid Fusion Eclipse here,” he said, following protocol of identifying himself, while studying the windows.  They were dark, but there was a click as the door unlocked.  Evidently someone was inside.

  He let himself in.

  It reminded him of Leek Works in some ways, an organization that wasn’t far away.  The front room was finished with striped wallpaper and linoleum, but furnished only with a reception desk with no receptionist present.  But he heard footsteps from behind a dividing wall, and a blond head stuck out from behind it, followed by a girl’s body dressed in a plain white shirt and dark leggings, a casual civilian attire.

  They stared at each other a bit, sharing a level gaze across the room, since they were close in height, although in some ways she was clearly… older.

  “Well?” the girl said at last.  “Come on back, my mom’s waiting.”

  “That’d be Verbina?” Intrepid asked.

  The girl shrugged.  “Who else?” she muttered, but she stayed put until Intrepid started moving.

  He stopped after a few paces when he got a closer look at the girl’s face.  “Do I know you?” he asked.

  The girl laughed ironically.  “I very much doubt it.  Funnily enough I do know your face, but then again, the whole system does.”

  Intrepid stuffed his hands in his pockets, while searching his head for a name.  “Yeah, I suppose they do.”  Kate had warned him of that.  He resumed walking and the girl disappeared behind the divider.  He followed her into a circular hallway that lost its wallpaper halfway down – very Leeks Works-esque – she looked over her shoulder once, and in doing so he finally recognized her face.

  They stopped at a doorway which she indicated with her arms.

  A blonde woman in a green coat was in there, inspecting a pointy object.  She stood in the foreground of a larger scene: items, artifacts, and machinery occupied the back of the room in neat lines, labelled with little pieces of taped paper.  Intrepid recognized one of them: a large plated ring on an elevated base.

  Verbina Ingram wasn’t the only other person in the room.  Intrepid recognized a brown haired man dressed in Sentinel faction janitor scrubs.  Skilled Honored Ninja, also known as Shard, was a displaced transdimensional traveler.  At his entrance Shard nodded in greeting, and Intrepid nodded back, however his gaze fell to a kid in a sundress who he didn’t recognize, standing next to Shard and staring up at his gauntlets.  She was blonde like Verbina and her daughter, just a lot younger.  Like five years old, at most.

  “Oh!” Verbina emoted, setting the pointy object down on the table.  “You’re here.  Welcome.  Shard just finished helping me sort these paraphernalia.”

  “All associated in some way,” Intrepid surmised, “with unverse travel.”

  “Right on.” Verbina said.  She exchanged the pointy item for a black box similar to what Intrepid had on his desk.  “A type 2 Unverse Manipulator, for personal travel, with two power sources: The contained Imaginite both serves as a catalyst for the Maelstrom Ore, which breaches the Unverse, and as a mental interface to set the destination.  A purposeful device.”

  She looked meaningfully at the ring device before turning back to Intrepid.  “A type U, for unintended consequences, transportation device.  Originally meant as a teleporter, Nexus Force researchers realized its ability to displace objects from reality.  As we discovered during the invasion, it’s been opening a hole into Unverse, but in a different way than the aforementioned type 2.”

  The janitor spoke up.  “There’s different means, evidently, to entering unverse.  The two she just showed you, we already know how they work.  The others… well, we can only take them apart and study them, hoping to infer how they worked… since, well, none of them work anymore.”

  Intrepid looked at him funny.  “Why- forgive me, but isn’t that wasting time?”

  Verbina gave him a reassuring smile.  “Shard told me that, based on his dimension’s timeline, Unverse Manipulators are meant to be developed 12 years from now.  We’re trying to do the same now, but taking the current state of things into account.  Looking at what we have will still give us ideas of the intricacies of the designs, like what size transistors to use, what sort of power source to cram in, how much current they need to support… and I think comparing the different ideas will help ‘inspire’ us in the right direction.  This is uncharted territory, so any guide helps.”

  Intrepid nodded, although he didn’t allow himself to be convinced yet.  Against his hopes, trust and logic were winning.  “And the rest of this stuff…” he gestured with his arm halfheartedly.

  “A lot of items and gear that have traveled between dimensions,” Verbina said, “volunteered by people like Shard, and Strange Odd Shadow, Ben Talmid, Luke and Mara Mercury.  And some salvage from ships, like the Maelstrom landing craft on Elistra, and the rocket you and Kate Dekairie took into the breach.  We’ll examine them for traces to understand the constitutes of Unverse.”

  At Intrepid’s forlorn expression, Verbina added, “It’s going to be a long process, I’ll tell you honestly.  The effort is disorganized, it’ll take time to consolidate a staff of the best researchers.  Then, it’ll be months, maybe years before we can understand the nature of Unverse, which is key to building a device to breach it.”

  “The theory is,” Shard said, “if Unverse was like an ocean before, liquid, it’s now a solid block of ice.”

  “So we need to know how to thaw it,” Verbina said.  “That may let us reuse some of our existing artifacts.  But it’s only a theory, and we’re a long way from testing it.  I’m sorry.”

  “It’s alright,” Intrepid said.  “It isn’t easy, I understand that.  And… I’ll help.  I can think of some ways I can.”  He had a grim expression on his face and he knew it.  “You know why I reached out… who I’m looking for.”

  Verbina and Shard nodded.  “She’s still off the radar,” the janitor lamented, “hasn’t turned up at any events or get-togethers, or press releases, or low-key inquiries.  But there’s other ways to continue your search.”

  “Have you visited SWAMD in Nexus Tower?” Verbina suggested.

  “The what?” Intrepid asked.

  “System Wide Analytical Monitoring Department,” Verbina demystified.  “There’s cameras everywhere.  When looking for persons of interest, the Nexus Force goes there first.  It’s a step before head hunters.”

  It was a lead which Intrepid took.  “I’ll do that,” he said.  “And I’ll do some head hunting of my own… I know some people who could support your staff, here, speaking of which…” he looked out the doorway where Verbina’s older daughter was last seen, and then at the little girl who Shard had given an Armor Shine to handle.  Over the tin’s top she studied Intrepid with piercing eyes.

  Verbina laughed lovingly.  “My daughter, Eclipse, and my niece, Ember.”

  Intrepid nodded.  “I’ll see you again,” he said, and he saluted Shard.  Then he stepped out.

  Eclipse was manning the desk in the front room when he got back to the reception area of the warehouse.  She didn’t look up as he passed, and he only looked back while making his way out the glass front door.  Curious was his encounter with her… another dimension’s version of her, to put it accurately, in another dimension.

  He shook his head.  Screwed up was the only way to describe that dimension, where the Strange Odd Shadow he knew had come from, where a Stromling version of Gallant Strong Cyclone was supposed to die, where a man called Sandy Studs had died, where he’d met a girl called Eclipse on an Elistra where he’d never joined the Nexus Force.

  The Maelstrom Dimension really screwed a lot of things up, to an extent he’d never know.  What he did know was terrible enough.

  It had killed the Future Dimension’s Intrepid Fusion Eclipse, Rowana’s father.  Now she was missing, and he hadn’t gotten the chance to comfort her.

  But he would if he could find her, which was his plan.

  A skip in his memory later and Intrepid was standing before a wooden door labelled SWAMD.  He blinked and reached for the wall in anticipation of losing his balance, but it never came.  He caught sight of his watch.  Only an hour had passed, the time it took to fly to Crux Prime from Nimbus Station.  *An hour*.  He could only hope nothing interesting happened in that time that he’d forgotten.

  His knock on the door was answered by a gray-haired man in a factionless Nexus Force tunic.  Dark stone with an emblazoned star burst over the left of his chest indicated his position in the space navy, while triple gold stripes on his shoulders advertised the acquired rank of admiral.

  The fleet admiral stepped back so Intrepid could enter, then he resumed his conversation.  “Laziness cannot be tolerated, Paulson.  It’s pure and simple laziness that’s letting escaped convicts remain escaped.”  Paulson, a stocky black-haired man dressed in Sentinel grunt attire, sat before a grid of monitors arranged on a desk also piled with paperwork.  His cheeks were red as the admiral opened his mouth to continue his beratement, when he noticed Intrepid again.

  “What’s your clearance level, son?” the admiral demanded.

  Intrepid thought a second.  “Three-TE.”

  “That means temporary, son,” the admiral translated.  “You’ll want to renew that.”  He swung back to Paulson.  “What’s the tip on Botany Bay?”

  Paulson sighed and handed a paper to the admiral.  “We got it from smugglers... a rocket pilot saw the Bay near Gliese, two years ago.”

  The admiral nearly crumpled the paper.  “More old news,” he muttered.  “You wouldn’t happen to know anything about thedude?”

  When Paulson didn’t respond, Intrepid looked up from the floor.  “Pardon me?  You’re talking to me?”

  “Yes,” the admiral affirmed.  “I’m talking to you.  Do you know anything about thedude?”

  Intrepid thought back.  He felt like he heard the name before.  “He was in the faction war.”  But it was closer than that.

  The admiral rolled his eyes.  “Yes, he led the Rogues.”

  He’d known that too.  Intrepid kept thinking until he remembered that visit he’d paid to Militiregnum, a planet where technology didn’t work, where his parents had gotten married, where his uncle Killian was currently held captive by Paradox Rogues.

  “He’d be on Militiregnum,” Intrepid said.

  Paulson and the admiral exchanged looks.  “And how would you know that, son?” the admiral inquired.

  “I was there… a skirmish brought me there, during the invasion.  There were Paradox Rogues there, which can only mean… I think we know what it means,” Intrepid said.  “I did write a report on it, you can read it if you haven’t.  You know who I am, right?”

  “Your face *is* everywhere,” Paulson admitted, “one of the newest, and youngest, Nexus Force heroes,” while the admiral extended a hand for Intrepid to shake.  He wasn’t smiling, but he didn’t seem to be the smiling type.  “Admiral Marion Allison,” he introduced.  “You just saved me a lot of yelling, Intrepid Fusion Eclipse.  Your work is appreciated.  Paulson.”  He gave a sort of half nod before leaving the office, no doubt on the way to utilizing this new info.

  When the door shut, Intrepid turned to the grunt and asked, “Who is that guy?”

  Paulson sighed.  “He’s on the Botany Bay Committee, tasked with figuring out where the ship, *NFS Botany Bay*, disappeared to and what became of its crew… it was carrying thedude and many Paradox Rogues into exile when it was lost.  SWAMD was created during the Faction War, it’s only right we try to end it.  It’s not over with thedude still out there.”  The man sighed again.  “Now, tell me why you’re here.”

  “I’m looking for someone.” Intrepid said.

  Paulson nodded and picked up a paper.  “I could have guessed that.  But can I guess who?”

  “In my reports, she’s called Red,” Intrepid said.

  Paulson nodded again.  He was a man of few, but unambiguous, expressions.  “I know who that is, one of the extradimensional contacts.  We’ve been trying to track them down, including her, and we’re actively aware of all of them, except for her.  But we’ve gotten some tips.  Let me print a copy for you.”

  The sheet Paulson eventually handed him contained a basic character description, like names (Red, Rowana) skin tone (fair) eye color (black) hair color (red) height (5’7”) and a list of possible sightings.  That was what Intrepid was looking for.  He scanned through the list, seeing locations like Nexus Tower, Avant Gardens, Nimbus Station.  Very close.

  “Thank you,” Intrepid said.

  “Mind you, none of them are confirmed,” Paulson pointed to a set of checkboxes next to each sighting.  “It’s all word of mouth.  We’ve got lots of cameras, I assure you, but unfortunately… they’re not always effective.  The subjects sighted could easily be other people with similar profiles.”

  Intrepid could think of someone like that.  “If you can keep me updated, I’d appreciate it,” he said.

  “I can set up a secure link to your internal messaging profile,” Paulson said.

  Intrepid agreed.

  Then he was staring at the ceiling in his apartment.

  *Hell*,these slips in consciousness were becoming a problem.  He wanted to throw his sheets off and scream, but Intrepid was suddenly gripped by a fearful cold.  What if the next time he returned to reality was in years?  Could his entire life fly by in an instant?  Was he dead?  Was he dreaming?

  The Nexus Force plaque on his desk was buzzing.  He slapped it.

  *From Keen Carefree Brouhaha: Where are you?*

Intrepid checked the time.  1:56 AM.  *What the hell was she talking about?* He swiped up and found a history of old chat messages from that afternoon that he quickly read through.

  *From Keen Carefree Brouhaha: Can you chat?*

  *From First World Anarchy: What’s up?*

  *From Keen Carefree Brouhaha: I’m sorry I didn’t ask about your family.  Tell me what happened.*

  *From First World Anarchy: They weren’t among the fifty revived Elistrans.  They did give us some new perspectives on the battle, when still competent.  Even in their current states… the entire proof of concept changes things so much.  Everyone who “died” can no longer be classified as KIA – only MIA.  At worst, my family is still dead.  At* best, they’re still out there somewhere.  With unverse as it is though… *¯\\_(**ツ'**)\_/¯***

  *From Keen Carefree Brouhaha: I hope for you.  I would have loved to know them.  Tell me about them sometime.  What about Evelyne?*

  *From First World Anarchy: She’s in Facility 3 again.*

  *From Keen Carefree Brouhaha: I’m sorry.*

  *From First World Anarchy: Thank you.*

  *From Keen Carefree Brouhaha: I want to talk to about other things, but I need to do something.  Meet you at the park tonight?* That message was followed by a set of coordinates with an associated map view.  It was a nearby playground, he’d passed it a few times, just down the road from his Nimbus City apartment.

  And like an idiot he had responded, *Yes*.

  Maybe he wasn’t an idiot.

  Intrepid threw off his covers and got dressed, throwing on his jeans and a maroon space jacket.  He didn’t take the plaque or his backpack.  He brushed his teeth and headed out.

  After a walk up the gentle hill to the park, he saw red hair on a dark form illuminated under a streetlight and for a moment he thought it was Red.  But he was just tired.

  Again, he took a seat next to Kate.  She didn’t look particularly disguised now, then again, neither was he.  The lack of people out at this hour hid them enough.  She had a Sentinel sweatshirt, no ninjas allowed shirt, and jeans.

  “Hi, Intrepid,” she said.

  “Hello, Kate,” he said before yawning.  He thought back to the message history.  “So what’d you want to talk about?” he asked, turning to her.

  She was staring back so intensely he almost felt singed by her eyes, which under the streetlamp’s illumination, took on an orange-yellow glow not unlike a burning fire.

  “Is she really our daughter?” Kate set forth.

  Intrepid’s throat felt dry.  This wasn’t a conversation he expected to have.  Yet… he’d envisioned it, in fantasy.  There were things he wanted to say.  There were things he wanted to hear back.  He defied them all.

  “No,” he said, “it’s impossible.  Gametes don’t cater to fate-”

  “That’s not what I meant.” Kate groaned.  “I mean in the Future Dimension.”

  Intrepid nodded.  “Yes.  Future me and Future you.  It happened.”  It wasn’t relevant, but impulsively he added, “And they’re both dead.”

  “I hate being told what I should do,” Kate muttered.  “It shouldn’t be called ‘Future Dimension’ if it’s not our future.”

  “Well, the appended ‘Dimension’ nullifies any aspect of predestination.  In a transdimensional reality, dimensions coexist and comanipulate each other,” Intrepid argued.

  “Since when were you so fluent in the socioculturalisms of transdimensional maneuverability?” Kate asked.

  “I don’t know, I must have heard it somewhere, I don’t remember,” Intrepid replied with a scrunched up facial expression.  What he said was probably accurate.  Who knew who else he had spoken to that afternoon, that hadn’t been typed out and rereadable?  Maybe Verbina used that phrase.  It sounded very Verbina like, when he thought about it.

  “Why don’t we change the subject,” he suggested.

  “Okay.”  Kate sighed.  “There is one more thing… I was hoping we wouldn’t get to it, actually.  I’m still unsure about saying it…”

  “It’s good to open up,” Intrepid said.

  “Don’t try to change my mind about what I’m going to say,” Kate said, turning away from him.

  Intrepid stared at her.  “I won’t,” he promised.  He didn’t cross his fingers.

  “I’m leaving the Nexus Force.  Flying home tomorrow.”

  Intrepid kept staring at her.  She breathed out, a light puff escaping her lips into the chill.  “*Home*?” he repeated.  “Where’s… what… *why*?”

  “It’s a planet not far, but not close… Jirdia, with an advanced, figoritarian society.  Universal income and healthcare.  There’s no poverty.  No discrimination.  No war, but we support the wars of other worlds.”  Kate took on a pained look.  “My parents run a supply business, for military requisitions.  Ships.  Planes.  Tanks.  Guns.  Dekairie Defense Company.  We’re a supplier for the Nexus Force.”

  “That’s not a bad thing,” Intrepid said.  He wanted to say more, but Kate moved on to her next point.

  “I’m tired of losing things.  My family.  Friends.  Time.  We’re children, Intrepid.  Children shouldn’t be fighting wars.”  She kept staring ahead of her, and when Intrepid glanced in that direction, he made the connection with their setting, a playground.

  A particular thing she said lingered in his attention.  Intrepid lowered his voice.  “What friends have you lost?” he asked, intending a gentle tone.

  “Cyclone didn’t accept my decision,” Kate revealed.  “He’s the last person I told.  Now…”

  “Kate.”  Intrepid leaned forward until she met his gaze.  He surprised himself by saying, “I understand.”  He understood she was looking for support, and in that moment he was giving it.  He said the next thing on his mind.  “So what will you do?”

  “Go to school,” Kate said.  “See old friends.  Meet new people.  Start a company.  Get married.”

  “Thinking pretty far into the future,” Intrepid noted.

  Kate shrugged.  “It’s what I want, and I won’t get it if I don’t reach for it myself.”

  “And nothing keeps you here?” Intrepid asked.

  She suddenly looked sad.

  “Of course there are things… and people here I don’t want to lose,” Kate said.  “But I don’t have to.  We could all leave.”

  “I can’t leave,” Intrepid said, for reasons he knew.

“I know,” Kate nodded.  She knew who he was looking for too.

Red.

He found her thirty days later, and you know how that went.