The Dreamers Pt 06

The giant three hundred foot tall white marble statue of Paladin Fierabras stood looking out from its plinth across the curved sandy bay with an Easterly breeze blowing gently across the land as the little girl sat on the green grass enjoying the warmth of the sun as she continued on with her studies.

Her small hands danced through the air as she played with the translucent screens that floated around her as she opened and closed them with a snap of her fingers. She smiled and laughed for she loved nothing more than to immerse herself in her favorite subject that had become a passion for her now that she knew she had been chosen.

She was deep into a trace. A thread search that was leading her deeper and deeper into the data trove she had discovered a day or so ago at the Academy. Each thread tracked had led to another then another until she was reaching information that had originally been stored many thousands of years ago when digital and the collection of it for safekeeping was still new.

The breeze suddenly picked up and her long rustic auburn hair swirled around her as one particular data set caught her eye. Impatient, she reached up and brushed the hair away from her face as she brought the screen in front of her. Frowning, she increased the magnification and sharpness of the image that had drawn her attention for some reason. A low resolution image with twelve young people smiling on it. People that had lived in the distant past and who were nothing more than ghosts to her in the Sixty-ninth century.

But one of those ghosts stood out more than the others to her. A boy. She pointed at him and the screen zoomed in on his smiling face so that she could read the name under his image. Her eyes fixed on him intently. Who was he? Where was he from? More importantly, WHEN was he from?

She heard someone calling her name and looked up to see a figure approaching her.

"Patushka esta morata dey, Kira," said the woman laughing as she came to stand looking down at her five-year-old daughter with their little dog running around them.

The girl sprang to her feet and grabbed her small black case. "Petia soh deek!" she sighed as her studies faded away in the late afternoon sunlight and she followed her Mother up the small rise to where the transport was waiting for them. Today was a big day. It was the day her Mother set out on her fifth and final test mission in the ship. A very special ship. A ship that sailed the vast seas of time.

The girl took her Mother's hand as she looked over her shoulder. "Cado tey, Kiwo, Cado tey!" she called to her dog as they left behind the sights and sounds of Patomak bay. As they reached the top of the hill, Kira looked up into the wide blue and white canvas above and the only thing she could think about was the boy smiling at her from long ago.

A boy who was called Harry Watts.

***

Astro-geologist Gunther Wallander stepped back out of the shadows and took a deep breath as he glanced up at the sun sat high overhead on day fifteen of his mission to study the massive Martian impact crater Hellas Planitia in the southern hemisphere of the red planet.

The others in his crew were working at various points along the western rim as they tried to keep out of the direct sunlight as much as possible due to the effects of radiation. It had gone noon Earth GMT and he was nearly done as he brushed some of the fine dust from his white suit and put the specimens he had found into his pack. Suddenly there was a burst of static over his comlink and he reached up to tap the side of his helmet to try and make sense of the chatter.

"Wallander to base. Repeat please," he shouted into the mic. He frowned and began to make his way up the side of the crater to improve the signal gain.

More chatter. Only this time more urgent. "... Contact due North. Unidentified. Repeat. Unidentified. Moving towards your position. Confirm. Over."

Contact? With what? Supply wasn't due for another two days and Base was two kilometers to the East anyway. He frowned because it sounded like the Major on the radio which surprised him. Where was Logan? She was usually on comms duty during his five-hour evacs. "Say again, Base," he shouted, "Did you say contact?"

The signal became clearer as he climbed over the ridge and stood looking out across the magnificent Martian landscape in all its pale eerie red beauty.

It WAS Major Wright on the line and he had never heard the man so intense and excited as he was usually as cool as a cucumber in any situation. "Wallander, we have a verified contact of unknown origin approaching your sector. Repeat. We have a UFO on local scan and you and your crew should be able to see it any second. Repeat. Can you confirm sighting. Over."

UFO? What was he talking about? Wallander lifted the tinted faceplate that shielded his eyes from the bright sun and turned to look due North wondering if this was some sort of drill to keep them on their toes.

It was then everything changed forever as the shadow of a huge black vessel passed over him as he stood there open mouthed in shock and awe. In his helmet, he could hear the voices of his crew shouting at each other as he watched the opal shaped UFO slowly turn and begin to reduce height before hovering twenty feet or so above the red surface where it waited.

It was twelve-thirty pm on the twenty-first of August in the year 2107. The day of first contact. The day the human race discovered they weren't alone in the universe.

"Pause please, Lucy."

The holo 3D image froze as I looked over to my personal sim who was stood to my left.

"Yes, Harry," said Lucy as she gave me a nod and a smile.

I returned the smile thinking what an amazing thing she was. Especially now I could see her instead of just being able to hear her. Kira had shown me how to set up an avatar to make it easier for me to interact with her and I had let Lucy herself create her own appearance. So now Lucy looked like a four-foot tall girl with a hint of the oriental about her. Her shoulder length hair was jet black that curled in at the neck and she had a pair of wide blue inquisitive eyes with dark lashes. She was my literal walking talking caring guide to the Universe and she was an absolute marvel to me.

It was then Kira returned and she smiled as she saw what we were up to when she entered our cabin. "Ah," she said as she sat down beside me on the bed and gave me a brief kiss, "I see Lucy has got you studying already. A little history goes a long way and you have a lot of it to catch up on. The most important event in human history is a good place to start."

"Figured I'd start from the top and work my down," I said, turning back to Lucy who stood waiting for my next instructions, "Advance to first contact, Lucy."

The hologram in front of us suddenly changed to reveal a small group of figures standing together on the surface of Mars. In front of them was the UFO looking ominous and imposing silhouetted against the red Martian sky as they waited for some sign of life. I asked Lucy to pause the recording again as I got up from the bed and went to stand before the astronauts in front of me. My attention was drawn to what appeared to be the leader and I glanced at his name tag on the front of his spacesuit. A Major John Wright. On his left shoulder was a small American flag under which was written "Mars Corp 07 Expedition."

The recording continued and I stood watching as the front of the UFO slid open to form a ramp. For a moment nothing happened, then a single bipedal figure appeared and stiffly walked down to stand before the group of waiting humans. The figure was tall, thin, and wearing some sort of black spacesuit as it stepped forward. I moved into the hologram to get a better view of the visitor through the visor of its black helmet and gasped as Kira came to my side and slipped her slim hand in mine.

More than anything, its features resembled those of an ant with dark bone like skin, huge latticed black eyes and an extended jaw with mandibles. I could feel my heart thumping in my chest as I stared at something that had happened thousands of years ago. I looked at Kira with tears in my eyes.

"Welcome to the Universe, Harry," she whispered giving me a hug as the dark blue brown world of Sirius A Six loomed large in the viewport behind us.

***

We stood on a slight rise looking out towards the far horizon with the sun low in the deepest blue sky with two of its system planets, Sirius A Two and a distant Sirius A Four visible to the naked eye to the upper right of it.

Behind us was a small white shuttle which we had hired from the local spaceport for the day so we could head out to the place which meant so much to the woman at my side. I glanced at Kira who was wearing a matching orange and black environment suit and helmet so that we could breathe more easily due to the low oxygen content in the air.

We were three days into our trip and those days had been spent together talking about life, the universe - literally, and everything. And those times we weren't discussing such things we made love until we couldn't make love anymore. These times bound and forged our love into a thing beyond words. Like she had told me in a dream; she was mine and I was hers from now until the end of time.

Kira took my hand. "Come," she smiled as she looked at me through the tinted visor of her helmet. We were heading to what looked like a small copse of purple-leaved trees on the far side of a blue-tinged valley that moved and swayed due to the slight breeze wafting over the landscape. As we made our way, I saw what looked like snub nosed lizard-like creatures about a foot long scuttling around with long dark grey feathered tails that swept back and forth as they ran away from us. I stood there watching them like a big kid at a zoo and Kira had to grab me by the hand to pull me away.

"Space lizards!" I protested and I could hear her laughing over the intercom at my childish enthusiasm as they disappeared into the undergrowth.

She was right. Life was everywhere.

***

I stood listening quietly as Kira told me the story of her Mother and how we now stood at what was presumed to be her last resting place. On the ground was a small gold plaque with strange letters written on it.

"I was only a little girl when she left on the mission and never came back," said Kira softly as she stood looking down at the memorial, "From what I can remember, a special team was sent into the time stream to look for traces of my Mother's ship. Some sort of engine signature that would point to exactly when the machine had dropped back into reality and from there to discover what happened to it. They were able to track it back to this exact position in space and the exact moment in time it had malfunctioned."

"Sirius A Six and the year was 4042." I nodded as things began to make more sense.

Kira glanced at me and smiled. "Nothing was ever found because nothing was ever meant to be. It was obvious what had happened to her when she had realized there was nothing she could do. As I told you, Harry, there are rules when traveling in time. Rules that have to be followed no matter what," she explained.

"What about a distress signal?" I asked, "Couldn't the ship have sent something like that?

Kira shook her head. "Catastrophic systems failure. My Mother was one of the original pilots during those first test missions and she would have known what had to be done. The number one rule is never be caught and never let the machine be recovered. The final report concluded that she had initiated the auto-destruct sequence killing herself and completely destroying the ship so that no trace of it would ever be found," She glanced up at me and I could see her eyes shining with tears, "She was the ship and the ship was her. My Mother probably died right here."

I didn't say anything and let Kira have her moment. So this was why she was living in this time. Living somewhere close to the last memories of her Mother. That I completely understood and there was something noble about it in a way. But that raised other questions about how she was able to do that. To leave the Sixty-ninth century with a time machine and bring it to the Forty-first where time travel hadn't even been invented yet. Wouldn't whatever authorities in her original future not allow that? But the question didn't need to be asked for Kira answered it before I could say anything.

"I stole it," she whispered as she continued to stare down at the plaque.

***

Tupolov Spaceport was everything and yet nothing like I could ever have imagined.

Situated a couple of kilometers outside of the main city Vestrava on the Northern most continent of four, the bustling upturned blue silver hubcap with its terminal extensions vibrated to the sound of traffic and crowds as ships and transports of every type and race arrived and departed constantly.

Kira and I had returned from our brief trip to the interior and after the shuttle had docked we had made our way through the throng of people as she gave me a tour of the building. A couple of hours or so later we found ourselves on one of the observation decks looking out across the Western side of the terminal.

Another ship was approaching one of the bays and I watched fascinated as it slowly turned a graceful 180 with its orange and blue hull glistening brightly in the fading sunlight. It's long shark-like shape bristling with short spikes which I later learned were proximity sensors for hauling cargo from one planet to the next. Space truckers were really a thing as a smaller boxy snub-nosed vessel rose up to meet it and guide it into the relevant docking bay. In the distance, I could already see more transports waiting their turn to dock with their landing lights winking in the gathering gloom.

"Just another day on the job," I said turning to my partner as she sat beside me enjoying my reactions to everything that I was seeing."How many?" I asked her, "How many are there out there?"

Kira took another sip of juice from her container. "As of right now?" she mused as she turned to me and rested her right arm on the back of the seat we were sitting on."Oh, I'd say about eighty thousand more or less have made verifiable contact. These are species that have all achieved the basic requirements that classify them as a recognizable civilization. Some have only been around for a few million years or so while some have been around for billions and are the original backbone that formed the first Galactic Systems Group. You have already met one of their kind, Harry." she revealed as she ran her fingers idly through my hair as she edged closer to me. Such was my rapt attention at what was going on outside the window, I barely felt her reach around and gently touch the implant behind my right ear while whispering something in my left.

"Kul Dak," I nodded as I remembered my own first contact a few days ago. The walking talking turtle guy who turned out to have three wives, or Botha as he called them, along with nine kids and three more that were due to hatch in about three Sirius months. He and his family belonged to something that began billions of years ago and were one of the first true galactic civilizations. Incredible. Mind-bending. In those terms, we had barely stepped onto the beach let alone set out on the ocean of space to discover what was out there.

How many planetary civilizations had risen and fallen to disappear forever? I shook my head trying to get my tiny mind around the kinds of time scales involved as another huge battleship grey container ship bristling with cargo suddenly appeared to the far North as it dropped to sub-light speed and came to a silent stop. I was in awe watching all this feeling like a geeky kid in a sweet shop. I could quite happily sit and watch this all day long. But the woman sat next to me had other - better - ideas.

"Harry."

"What?" I said, still transfixed at the exotic dance that was going on outside as I watched and listened to spaceport control handle the traffic that were all waiting in an elaborate holding pattern.

"Harry," said Kira again as I felt her come closer, "I think you should turn around and look at me."

"Hmmmm?" I mumbled as I reluctantly turned my head to see what she wanted trying not to miss anything going on outside. Time suddenly stopped as my mouth dropped open in shock. Holy shit. Whatever I was going to say next just died in my throat as I stared at the nearly naked woman smiling shyly back at me. The only thing she was wearing was a red negligee which strangely enough seemed oddly familiar.

"Kira," I gasped, "What are you?" I watched stunned as she elegantly moved her bare left leg over me until she sat astride my thighs so that I ended up staring at her perfect bell-shaped breasts which were barely hidden by her flimsy garment. I quickly forgot about the world outside because what I was looking at now was much more stunning and amazing to me as I slowly looked her up and down as she sat there blushing on my lap.

"Do you like it?" she whispered as she rubbed her hands slowly up over her belly and breasts giving each of them a squeeze before running her hands through her thick, long luscious hair, "Isn't this the kind of thing the women of your time used to wear?"

"Yeah," I muttered unable to take my eyes off her as I glanced around wondering why no one was taking the least bit of notice of what she was doing, "But none wore it half as good as you do right now."

Kira gave me a wicked smile as she laid herself on me kissing my neck with her tongue teasing my left ear. "Ssssssssh," she whispered as she rotated her crotch against my growing excitement, "Only you can see me this way, my love."

Okay. Alright. Whatever you say. But I can still see them which felt as freaky as fuck to me. Having sex in public wasn't exactly my thing even if they couldn't see us as I sat there biting my lip trying not to make a sound as my randy partner began to take charge.

Kira eased her hands down between us and grinned at the startled look on my face. "Think of it as a little something I brought with me when I left home three thousand years from now. Those around us can only see what I want them to see."

"You're going to put me in a hospital," I groaned as the v-neck of her negligee opened more to reveal those full breasts curving excitingly with her nipples hard and eager for my lips and touch.

"Would that be such a bad thing?" she teased softly as she tried hard not to laugh at the still stunned and embarrassed expression on my face as people walked obliviously around us as we sat there on the seat having sex.

I raised my eyebrows. "It will be if we get arrested first, lady."

"Don't you want me, Harry?" she breathed as her eyes dropped to the utility belt around my waist. She eased forward and kissed me as she slowly undid the binder and pulled the front of my flight suit open leaving my by now painfully erect member free for her to play with.

"Sometimes," she whispered against my lips, "All I can think about is how this thing of yours makes me feel inside and how the more you give it to me the more I want of it," She glanced up as she slowly masturbated me, "Like that?" she grinned innocently, "Does it please you to look at me in this way?"

"It pleases me very much, Kira," I told her as I held her squirming hips and lifted her up so that her waiting sex was directly above my eager erection. "Tell me what you want, Kira," I asked her as her head dropped forward smothering us both under the veil of her hair, "Tell me what you need."

Her lips claimed mine with a passion that took the breath away and I could feel her warm breath against my skin as I reached around to pull her down onto me as I slid up into her hot wet depths.