Chapter Five: Old Friends

Chapter 5 : Old Friends

We lived our first year fairly comfortably, learning to use the new technology. We got steady jobs, bought a house, learned to live normally again, almost as though we were children, learning to read. We learned about a new space program and enrolled. Two years later, we got our first mission.

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"Bax, approaching Mercury in three minutes."

  "Can you believe that they developed light speed technology?"

I shook my head and laughed a little. Surprisingly, I had adapted to technology better than Bax. He learned that his computer software was still in use, with a few modifications. I was better with the everyday technology, such as, PortaPhones which transported you to the recievers' home. Despite their unfortunate name, they worked quite well.

Bax was becoming his old technologically advanced self day by day. We had been married for two years and he still never ceased to amaze me. We saw the grey orb in our window grow bigger, literally second by second, until at last we landed with a resounding thud that threw us both to the floor. I slowly sat up and looked outside. To my right I could see a sliver of Venus.  To my left was completely grey.

        "Hey Bax, we finally made it. And, we're in a crater, of course with the thousands here, there was almost no doubt where we would land.

 "Oh great," he moaned "that's lovely. No radio reception. Nice."

  "Bax, you're still thinking 2250 again, we still have radio. I hope."

I flipped the switch. Nothing happened. I opened the LockTight window, a modification of Zeke's design. A blast of arctic air hit me and I realized it was nighttime on this side of the planet.  Then light speed effects hit me, sending me stumbling backwards into Bax, causing us to fall back into the control panel, pressing several buttons at once.

        "Good going, Grace. Watch us break something."

     We looked at each other in horror as the Sygnil pilot light flashed. The Sygnil was device that provided electrical power to the entire ship.

 

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         "Mrs. Mattien?" I saw a head peek around the edge of the door. A bit of blonde hair and one green eye. I tried not to sigh. It had been a very long day.

"Tommy, it's after school hours, why are you still here?"

He paused, halfway into the room. His voice squeaked out. "My father would like to meet you."

"Very well." I couldn't suppress my sigh any longer. This day could get even longer. Tommy's dad sounded like a piece of work.

Tommy turned out the door and called "Come on in, Dad."

My eyes followed the path of the door and a pair of shoes, about size seven, mens, I reasoned, stepped in. I only knew one man who had that shoe size, but he had died hundreds of years ago. My eyes traveled up to his face, revealing a thin, pointed nose, a thatch of blonde hair, a half smiling mouth.

A memory surfaced. One wherein there was that same half smiling mouth making conversation with three others, including myself and Bax. That memory had taken place hundreds of years ago, but I still clearly remembered that same blonde hair shading two twinkling eyes, one brown, one green. This man couldn't be the man in my memory. That man should have been dead, hundreds of years ago.

  I had to will myself to look at his eyes. There they were, one brown, one green. It was the same man. I could almost hear my jaw hit the floor. My eyes filled to the brim and began to burn, my throat swelled, making it hard to push out my next word, even in a whisper.

"Shiloh."

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