I climbed a purple mountain surrounded by a blood red sea chasing after the girl who floated away from me on a warm breeze.
She was wearing a silver and gold skin made of small oval-shaped scales with multi-colored feathers spreading winglike under each arm. Laughing, she swooped down to hover above me with those wings slowly wafting back and forth as I stared up at her as I tried to catch my breath.
"Well, look at you," she smiled, "Alive again."
I took a step towards her as she watched me. Her body was lush and compact. Full teardrop breasts curving into inviting hips leading to a long pair of sculpted legs that seemed to go on forever. She was like some elusive phoenix as the pale yellow sunlight reflected and sparkled on her outfit as she floated just out of reach.
"Who are you?" I asked.
A sudden gust ruffled her windswept auburn hair that curled and curved around her face as she considered my question staring at me intently with those sea blue eyes of hers.
"I'm the girl who came across time and space to save you, Harry Watts," she said softly, "My name is Kira J."
Kira J.
Finally.
"Save me?" I asked her, "Why?"
The girl slowly descended until she was standing in front of me.
"Because you are mine," she replied simply, "And I am yours."
***
The ship emerged into a snowstorm like the girl had expected.
"Open please."
The time machine had already surrounded itself in a protective null zone as the cockpit unlocked and slid back into its slot. Its pilot got quickly out and ran to where the man lay in the snow.
The girl blinked away her tears as she knelt over him watching as his life slipped away knowing that he was scared and afraid but there was nothing she could do to comfort him. He had to go as he was always meant to go.
She needed to be absolutely sure he had died so she reached up behind her ear to activate the device strapped around her right arm over her flight suit. Pointing her hand at his chest, a beam of light pierced the gloom as it sliced through his heavily padded jacket and shirt to reveal his bare skin.
Quickly, she tugged it open and grabbed the small square shaped biomonitor that had been hovering to her right and pressed it down on his exposed torso. The device beeped and data began to stream vertically across its surface as it checked for any signs of life. The digits flickered briefly between two and one before it finally settled on zero emitting a long tone.
He had gone. The man she had crossed time to save was truly dead.
Now she could do what she had to do.
She took the four gee clamps that were attached to her utility belt and secured one under each shoulder with the other two fastened either side of his hips. Then she turned to look at her ship as it maneuvered above her waiting for her instructions.
"Open bay," she shouted above the wind and snow, "Prepare evac."
The ship rose another two feet and its auxiliary pod slid forward from underneath with the front opening up for its dead passenger. The girl watched intently making sure the pod had deployed correctly as the falling snow melted on her heated outfit.
"Lift," she said out loud and stepped further back in the snow as the man slowly emerged from where he had fallen to hover there in front of her, "Rotate horizontal 180. Forward. Stop. Pod access ready. Pod plus three. Plus two. Plus one. Clamps one to four descend. Hold. Insert. Release. Close Pod. Internal Pod systems activate. Returning to ship."
Making sure the pod was secure, she climbed back into her cockpit. She took one final look around as the snow and wind swirled around the machine. What was that? She frowned as she peered into the darkness. She could hear someone calling in the distance. Then she saw the light. Someone was coming.
Quickly, she dropped down onto her seat and strapped herself in. "Canopy closed."
She had to go. There had to be no witnesses.
"Return sequence initiate," The black panel in front of her lit up and she could feel the engine charging up behind her, "Go, go, go. Jump!"
The time machine disappeared and began its journey back home.
The girl closed her eyes and slumped back into her padded seat. She had done it. All the research and study had been worth it. She had taken him from his time and he would live again in hers. Far, far into the future.
***
"WATTS!!"
Mitch Wade stopped and stood gasping for breath as the snow began to turn into a blizzard around him as he made his way along the route his friend had surely taken. He held up his industrial torch and scanned the landscape with the wide beam slicing through the darkness. His WT crackled as it hung from his belt and he grabbed it pressing it to his right ear as he struggled to hear the voice on the other end.
"Roger that," he shouted into it, "I've nearly reached fifteen and no sign of him so far. What's the ETA on backup? Air Rescue ain't gonna cut it in this weather. Need boots on the ground, Over."
Thirty minutes.
Fuck.
"Understood. Will continue to do a wide sweep around fifteen, Over," he responded, "Tell the guys to haul ass pronto. Out."
The wind was picking up to make matters worse. "Where the hell are you, Harry?" he muttered to himself. This was some serious shit and no mistake.
It was then he saw something in the distance. Was that a light? It looked like a light. Maybe his Boss had some sort of an accident and managed to set up a beacon so Air Rescue could find him. But something wasn't right. The light was moving around as far as he could tell through the snowstorm.
"HARRY!!" he shouted. But there was no reply as the wind began to howl amongst the trees.
Suddenly there was a brief flash and the light disappeared.
What the hell? He set off again and fifteen minutes later he arrived at the spot where he thought he saw it. He shone his torch around where he stood and realized he was about twenty feet from the pole. He directed the beam upwards and saw that the top had been sheared and splintered leaving only a blackened stump remaining with the junction box looking completely destroyed.
"Lightning strike," he muttered. Holy shit. Where the fuck are you, Watts?
If his friend had been up top when it hit then he'd have been blown back and fallen to the ground. He stumbled around looking for any signs of him. But there was nothing. He pointed the light up into the dense forest in front of him and felt the dread clutch his heart as every possibility ran through his head. Bears? Coyote? Had something like that taken him?
It was then he noticed something lying in the snow a short distance from him. He turned awkwardly and trudged to where the object was. He bent down to pick it up noticing that the snow looked like it had been disturbed in some way which made his animal theory much more likely.
It was a leather wallet. He flipped it open and saw various credit cards still in their slots along with a hundred bucks give or take in cash. There was also something else in there. It was a photo. An old photo of a young boy, a girl of about eighteen, and an older woman that looked to have been taken at the beach with the sea lapping around their feet. Turning it over her saw some writing on the back.
It said, "She's real."
In the distance, the mournful wail of a siren could be heard approaching.
***
I opened my eyes.
And immediately shut them again for everything was a bright white light.
Then I drew my first breath and groaned out loud as the oxygen expanded my lungs against my rib-cage making every muscle stretch and ache. It still felt like I was floating.
My mind was a complete blank. But there was something flickering in the dark and I realized that my memories were tantalizingly just out of reach for whatever reason. It was as if everything to me was new. Like starting afresh.
Start from the beginning. The basics. Try to remember who I am. Who I was. I could feel my heart pounding in my chest and gasped at the effort it took to do such a simple thing. I felt lost. Somewhere else. Somewhere very different. I could hear a soft throbbing behind my right ear like a faint heartbeat. Don't rush this. Let my mind wake up in its own time. Slowly, things were becoming clearer to me.
My name is Watts. Harry Watts. Harry Watts was born in 1965. Harry Watts was twenty-five years old. Harry Watts died. I am dead. I remember my death.
But where was I? Where had I gone?
I am here. Somewhere else.
Had I passed over?
Too many questions. Think slower.
Wake up.
My eyes opened. Everything was white again as I tried to focus on where I was and what was around me. I was on my back. Looking up at a white ceiling. With a grunt, I slowly raised my head a couple of inches and tried to look around as best I could. There were four white walls. I was in a room. My arms were either side of me resting on what felt like some sort of bed that seemed to mold itself to my body.
It was then I saw the numbers floating in mid-air just above and to the left side of my face. Next to the final number of six was a small yellow pulsing light and I realized it was in rhythm with the beating of my heart. I was being monitored. So I was in some sort of hospital room.
I was also naked.
I eased my head back and closed my eyes again. There had been an accident. The faint memory of it flickered inside my head with a sudden flash of light then I felt myself falling backwards. But then nothing as the memory faded away.
It was then I realized someone was here. In the room with me. I opened my eyes to see the girl standing to my right with a smile on her face.
Wait. Where had she come from? There was no door I could see. It was if she had suddenly appeared out of thin air. She was dressed in all white which was in sharp contrast to the color of her long rustic hair that had been pulled over her left shoulder. She looked as pure as the driven snow standing there in a long-sleeved blouse, trim plain skirt, white stockings and white slip-on shoes.
She didn't say anything but let her gaze slowly wander over my nakedness as I lay there hardly able to move or speak for embarrassment. I swear a faint smile crossed her lips as her eyes lingered for a second on my sex before they returned to my face. Her attention turned to the numbers floating next to me. She reached across and sort of swiped her right hand over them and the display suddenly rotated towards her so that she could see them more clearly.
I stared at her as she read the stream of data that, to me, appeared to come from thin air like magic. Noticing that I was watching her, she gave me a nod of recognition and then she said something that I didn't understand.
