The Ruins of Alpha Centauri (The Tes Simms Anthology, Book 2)

The Burns

"This is it," Holly says. "This is where we die."

"I'm not so sure," Sola responds. "From what I've heard, the galvanaught is a lot less receptive to sound. It really only goes after massive energy sources, like the one the scientists created."

"Well, at least we have that going for us, I guess."

"Still, we need to get out of here as soon as possible and find refuge. Away from this area, preferably."

"That's it? You're just gonna leave Omega Centauri behind?"

"It's not like there's a lot we can do."

"What about your home? Or your mom?"

Sola freezes in the street. They forgot about their mom. To be fair, I did, too.

"I guess I... I have to hope she makes it out of this, I guess. It's not like there's much of a choice, right?"

They clearly don't want to confront the reality of the situation. Holly gives them a small little side-hug.

"I'm sure your mom will be fine. Sorry I put those thoughts in your head."

When Holly releases Sola, she reveals her hands. They look burned and blistered. I point at them, slack-jawed, and Sola notices, too.

"Holly, what happened?"

"When I went to pick up Aurora earlier, she was still boiling hot from the nuclear fusion thing. But I knew if I cried out, we wouldn't get out of there, so I toughed it out."

"That's awful. We'll have to find you something for that."

"We have bigger worries right now. Come on, let's go find somewhere to hide."

"But doesn't it hurt?"

"Not anymore. The pain went away."

"You know that's worse, right?! You may have terribly and irreversibly damaged your nerves."

"It was that or die!" A tear wells up in her eye. "Now no more arguing! I'm sick of arguments! No more!"

My mind flashes back to Cody's untimely death. I can understand the trauma there.

"Okay," Sola says, their voice softer. "We'll go find shelter, but we're going to look for burn treatment for you as well. We have to do something, or you'll lose your hands for good. You too, Tes, since you extinguished the torches."

I look down at Aurora. She blinks slowly. The scientists' experiment seems to have sucked more energy out of her than was put in. We can't afford another misstep like that. I'd rather not be stuck in this universe.

"There's a medical center I've passed by a few times while scouting over this way," Sola says, pointing down the road opposite the galvanaught. "Plus, it's farther from the center of the city. We'll be safer that way."

"How far?"

"Maybe six or seven minutes."

"Okay. Let's go."

The four of us walk in silence in the opposite direction of the galvanaught, leaving our shoes behind. Even if it were safe to make a lot of noise, I'm not sure there's anything to say. The loss of probably everyone in Omega Centauri looms over our heads, and all because we didn't let them use Aurora for safer testing sooner.

Because they wanted to steal Aurora and use her to travel back in time. Should we have let them? Would they have come back? Would things have been better? I guess we'll never know.

There's been too much death. If I ever have to see someone die again, it'll be too soon.

When we arrive at the dilapidated medical center, Sola wastes no time searching for any stashed away medical supplies. Holly dusts off an old chair and sits down, wiping a layer of sweat away with her forearm. I join Sola's hunt, checking cabinets in various stages of disrepair. Almost everything has been raided already, save for a few expired bottles of mystery medicines and bandages.

"Burn cream!" Sola yells, before covering their mouth. We wait in silence for the telltale signs of a galvaknight, but none reveal themselves.

"I'm not sure I have enough feeling in my hands to apply it myself," Holly says, hushed.

"Tes, why don't you take care of her? Kill two birds with one stone? I'm going to clear a place for us to rest."

They toss the burn cream my way. It also expired a while ago. Hopefully it still has some effectiveness to it.

I pull up a second chair and sit in front of Holly with the cream. The thick gray substance feels slimy on my hand, but now's not the time to worry about texture. She holds her hands out, and I place mine in them.

As I rub my hands against hers, the cream bubbles, as if going through a chemical reaction. "That feels weird," Holly says. "But at least I feel it."

I look up at her. Her blue eyes are hollowed out by the traumatic experiences we've gone shared, like she's in shock. That would also explain having no feeling in her hands, at least a little. She stares back at me, trying to silently communicate something. I wish I could do more. What would my dad do?

Nothing. Because my dad is in jail and doesn't even miss my mom. When talking about her death, he shows no fond memories. He's never lost someone that meant something to him. He doesn't even know I went on the field trip, and he definitely doesn't know I'm three-thousand years in the future right now.

I finish applying the burn cream to Holly's hands, which has now mostly bubbled away against her scarred flesh. A single tear rolls down my cheek.

I wish I remembered something about my mother's death. Anything. Dad tells me she was always up to no good, but that's all I get out of him. For some reason, the whole timeframe around her death is completely fuzzy. Maybe I was too young. Maybe Sola was right.

"I've found us some spots to lie down for the night," Sola says, returning from another room. "I'll do a bit of guarding, but I'm not terribly worried about galvaknights in this section of the city, especially with Omega Centauri being a hotspot right now."

"Thank you, Sola." Holly gets up to go lie down. "You too, Tes." She smiles weakly, and for a moment, my heart lightens. I need to get her home.