“Mr. Smith, I really hope you can find a way to get
along with Melanie. Please consider forgiving her for whatever happened in the
past. Maybe you two can come to some sort of understanding. The tension between
you is hard to witness, and it truly troubles me.” He looked disappointed for a
moment, but then he nodded.
"Alright, but I believe we’ve come to an
understanding now. So, don’t fret, Remi." I furrowed my brow, puzzled by
his words.
"What do
you mean by that?" I asked.
“Listen Butterfly, Melanie and I have reached a deal. I'm fine with you spending time with her, provided she ensures your safety while you both travel through time." I was baffled by the sudden shift in dynamics. There had been so much tension between them, and now it seemed perfectly fine for Melanie and me to spend time together. It left me feeling bewildered. I wanted to dig deeper and ask more questions, but ultimately, I decided to let it slide. I wish I had asked more questions; maybe then when I found out what happened just before Mr. Smith, and I traveled to Greece, it wouldn’t have affected me so deeply. Still, I know I would have been angry regardless.
I
smiled and he took me home right after we visited The New York World’s Fair in
1964. Juggling school and work is
challenging enough but traveling with Mr. Smith takes it to a whole new level
of exhaustion. Just the other day, we explored multiple worlds, and it was
during our visit to one particular planet that everything shifted dramatically.
He took me to a planet called Vygel.
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Its landscape was beautiful and rich with scattered crystals all over the soft lithe, rust colored sands. The crystals were red in color. They reminded me of the crystal pendant Melanie had around her neck the day we went to the nightclub in the year 2315. Whenever I reflect on it, I feel a chill because Mr. Smith witnessed me with them. This is the reason he was angry with me and attempted to show me why he wouldn’t take over my body while I was still alive. However, in a strange way, I am thankful he did, as I gained a deep understanding of him that day. His time is coming, and he will need another body, but I feel he has one in storage already. I plan on venturing to that room, the one with the man size glass cylinder ominously sitting at the center and I will look to see if any of the other containers have bodies in them.
“What are you thinking about?” he asked, while he
moved the crystals on the matrix table, switching their positions. A
holographic projection hovered above the matrix table, displaying the galaxy's
map. He turned to me, noting my deep contemplation.
“You seem lost
in thought,” he remarked, eyeing the hologram with interest, “What’s on your
mind?”
“You,” I
replied, casting him a loving gaze.
“I trust those thoughts are pleasant,” he said with a
playful wink, tilting his head toward the corridor leading to his bedroom. I
chuckled softly, feeling a mix of amusement and longing.
“Um, I was
thinking about what would happen if,” I paused, leaned my back against the
pillar with my arms crossed, I continued, “What if you got hurt to a point that
you will have to discard your body?”
He sighed,
“Don’t think about it, I am fine. We have been of careful, and I don’t want you
to worry,” he said with a wistful smile.
I nodded but while we were on the planet, Vygel, we
stumbled upon a local creature that caught our attention. It had vibrant green
and yellow scales, a snake-like head, yellow eyes, sharp teeth, claws, and a
long tail.
The creature moved on all fours but can stand and reach a height of 7 feet whenever it chose. As we
gathered the crystals, it had been quietly tracking us and while scanning the
surroundings, I caught sight of something creeping closer, almost hidden from
view. Its scales seem to camouflage with the landscape, making it hard to detect, revealing only a glimmer when
sunlight struck its scales. In a panic, I abandoned the scanner and sprinted
toward Mr. Smith.
“Mr. Smith,
something’s coming!” I yelled, but my warning came too late. The creature ran in full throttle on all fours
toward us, and Mr. Smith stood between me and the creature. It knocked him
down, tearing away at his protective suit. The armor he was wearing wasn’t
enough to shield him from the long, five-inch-thick claws the creature had; it
ripped through the armor like butter. I screamed and I got its attention, long
enough for Mr. Smith to take out his weapon and fire. He stunned it long enough
for him to summon the monolith. He fell to his knees, because the reptile
humanoid creature bit him several times and no doubt the poison was running
fast into his blood stream.
I ran to him and helped him inside the monolith and it created a shield around itself so that nothing can penetrate it while
Mr. Smith was incapacitated. I waited outside of the infirmary, much like
before when he was shot in the 1930s. I paced back and forth, anxiously
awaiting the results of his condition.
“Is he doing,
okay?” I asked the AI.
“Yes. He will be fine. But he should take another
body soon.”
“No,
he doesn’t want to,” I said, in protest. I pondered, “He will eventually
take a new body, it’s inevitable.” I gulped and sighed.
I thought about my birthday and the times we shared together. I wiped tears from my eyes and exhaled. He told me that he is prepared for every contingency that might arise but just like the attack by that creature, I’m wary and ambivalent of his decisions. He is careless and yet he shows no fear of the unknown.
“Can I see him?”
“No,”
the AI responded. I wandered around the corridors and rooms. Some were
furnished and others weren’t. I went to
the pool room. I smiled, remembering when we first dipped our naked bodies into
the warm water. I chose to step inside, hoping it might ease my angst.
