The Time We Lost [open, post-rebellion]

[morphitudinous]

Podded and popped again? Billy was less than enthusiastic, especially considering the circumstances. He'd been podded to hinder the engineers---of that, he was certain. He hadn't tried nearly hard enough to affirm his loyalty to the Daligig. Billy would really have to work on his ability to lie.

He'd shivered in the puddle of biostasis fluid, bogged down by worry and fear carried over from his last memory. What had happened, how long had he been gone? Weeks, months, years? Was there even a single familiar face still here?

At least one, his heart answered, though that little warmth in his chest couldn't tell him how he'd be received by her. He hoped there were more friends waiting. Resigning himself to the fact that he'd have to face them sooner or later (especially if she was telling people that he was awake---the last thing he wanted was anyone rushing down here to check), Billy rose to his feet and trode onward and upward.

Finally, he reached the traditional destination, the Observation Deck. As he gazed around at the strangely barren environment, that nagging sense of wrongness finally clicked in his mind. It felt wrong because it was empty. Where were the other popping crew members, where was the welcoming committee? A quick visual sweep across the room revealed no presence that caught his eye---was it his blind spot, were these new glasses not the right prescription strength? Or was everyone asleep, or...worse?

Billy knew by now that it was best to fight pre-emptive panic---his body needed the resources for when it was truly time to panic. He knew at least one person was alive. That was enough. So he settled on a small meat-chair, thinking of exactly what he'd say to the first person he saw. Where to begin? Apologies, questions...he had so many words in his head he worried he'd trip on them.

Comments

[anwei]

Anwei breathed out a sigh and her eyes went soft.

"Crystal cathedrals are ... well, they start with an architect who picks a site and lives on it for one year, just watching the weather and the angles of the sunlight and moonlight, and how the people and animals move, and how the plants grow. And sometimes after a full year the architect decides the site isn't right, and leaves.

"But if it is right, there will be maybe three years of moving in resources, and enriching the soil, and planning the paths around it, and doing long-range weather projections and so on.

"The crystal cathedrals aren't built, you see: they're grown. Living crystals that take silicon from the soil, biofilms that deposit translucent nacre behind them, all joining and combining and forming spires and stairs and halls of every color. No two are alike, because each one is grown to fix exactly where it is planted. It takes years to grow, with the architect there to feed one part and inhibit another, shaping it like bonsai.

"And when it's done, it takes your breath away. A building like a ghost of a million flowers: every level and layer of overlapping structure forming new symphonies of color as you look through them. Like the stained glass of Earth churches, but clearer, and every part of the cathedral is transparent at some level. And the crystals can vibrate, with light or motion. They can sing. They sing when the sun shines, and when the rains hit them, and when people walk through them. And when you sing, and the cathedral sings back...there is nothing like it in all the worlds."

Her eyes darkened. "I have never seen one in person," she admitted. "I've seen recordings, taken virtual walkthroughs...but I always put it off, saying, the cathedrals will always be there, won't they? I can go another time. But then there were no more cathedrals, and no more time."

[morphitudinous]

Billy's heart clenched painfully as he listened. The descriptions sounded entirely too familiar to him, close to a person he had lost long ago. But even without that thought clouding his emotions, he could see the beauty in it: something pure and wonderful, the fruit of so much hard work. He nodded.

"I think I know what you mean, at least a little. I never had the chance to know them, but...I feel the loss too. I wish I could go with you."

[anwei]

"Oh, you couldn't go with me," she said, a little too lightly. "My race is widely known as - spoilers, vandals. I knew I'd only be able to see a cathedral in the flesh if I went in disguise."

She rolled her eyes comically. "I can do a pretty good human imitation, these days. If you wouldn't mind a traveling companion who had to hide her true face."

[morphitudinous]

"Oh. Well...maybe we can travel together, someday. There are other places."

Billy watched her with strange interest. Sometimes it was easy to forget her differences. "Why would I mind? I know you."

[anwei]

"I'd like to see more of Earth. When I was there I was focused on other things, I only saw a little of Europe and the Eastern seaboard of your United States."

She coughed a little. "There are people who if they knew me would attack, at once. They might attack me just because of my species...And they might attack you, just for being with me. You would be safer if I masked."

An old pain, the deepest pain ever cut into her heart: someone being hurt because of her. She could still feel that scar tissue, all the way through her, like a piercing sword-blade that had rusted in her soul.