FALAHA'S JOURNEY: A Spacegirl's Account in Three Movements

Episode #70

"I found them!" I heard Grandfather's voice.

"Together?" My father's voice asked. "Good!"

"Look for yourself, Kieren. I wish I had someone to cuddle with like this! Yet no one wanted this dried-up fruit. Even she refused to stay longer with me—"

"Oh. So being lonely was the main reason you snapped?"

"No! No!" Both laughed.

"She's evolving faster than we'd expected, and she is evolving them as well," Father said.

"See? And you were cautious about having a kid. Your girl is amazing! Interesting things started happening after Avila became pregnant. How's Eyuran doing?"

"Out of phase. Oi-ye, and I warned him this might happen."

"Ha! Tell me something new, nnan! As if a kid worn out from being lovestruck would listen to such thing as common sense! Kieren, are you getting old?"

"I'm not even in middle age yet, Pops. And I don't want to hear that from you. You make everything sound like death sentence." Both snorted.

"They will do great. There's a path for their mutual dialogue now," Grandfather's voice went on. "Crews aren't born, they are made by the effort of everyone involved. Now, let's get them out."

This couldn't be real. Grandfather was dead. It seemed my soma dream wasn't over.

And then strong arms pulled me somewhere. I heard the familiar noise of the machine and felt myself being carried, and lifted up and passed from one set of confident hands to another. And finally I was in the cockpit on someone's lap. Father. The other person climbed in and took his place near us as well. I heard the noise of the closing hatch.

But we did not dive.

"But there's more," Father's voice continued. "The Medan boy who spent several days with them had abnormalities in his blood by the end of the third day; subtle, but quite fascinating. I noticed those only when I'd gathered and compared his complete data, looking for other things regarding his health. I correctly predicted the Eater response, though I expected it to proceed at a slower rate, but a somaless male sample was quite unexpected result. I wonder if he had changes in the brain as well."

Baro...

"Hmm?"

"I have also come to believe that all this was Kané's plan in case Shaamta or any other Sangu except our own started meddling with our systems. She set a trap for her enemy—and he opened the box with his own hands. Hence, more surprises will follow." Father sighed. "Regretfully, these changes didn't happen in a quiet climate. These two are quite resilient, yet my heart bleeds every time I think we would have done better to send them away from these things."

"You are underestimating their true power and potential."

"I hope I'm not overestimating it."

Yaren laughed. "You are just being a parent."

"Falaha is the best thing that has happened to me since Avila, yet sometimes I don't know how to deal with her." Father sighed again. "I'm absolutely terrified of screwing up. She's the only one to decide what to do with her power."

"Be honest with your girl. She deserves at least that much." Still laughing, Yaren sounded serious. "She'll sense if you behave immaturely and are disrespectful of her intelligence. There is no worse tribulation than a daughter being pissed at you."

"Ah, I hear ages of experience."

"We all have our first times."

I opened my eyes to see my father and another man around his age. Though he looked somewhat familiar with that long, sandy-blond hair and beard. Sitting in his arms, Eyuran was still sleeping, but he had a happy smile on his face and looked a bit silly. Indeed the embodiment of resilience.