A Ticklish Goodbye

Meeting

May 6, 2128

One last free day. What to do? If rumor could be trusted, half of Kim's crewmates were going to find someone to sleep with. An ex, a stranger, whoever. She understood the appeal easily enough. But to her, right now, spending time alone felt better.

She wandered, accepting where chance took her. Sometime in the middle of the afternoon, she found herself at an aquarium. The jellyfish were her favorite, strangely beautiful under a blue light.

As she was leaving, someone spoke to her. "You haven't lost your shoes, have you?"

It was another woman, nice-looking, thirty or so. A few years younger than Kim herself.

"I'm spending the day barefoot," said Kim. "I want to feel as much as I can...."

They had emerged into daylight. The sky seemed bluer than ever, and the clouds whiter. "I leave tomorrow," said Kim. "On the Kaihoko."

"Are you serious?"

Kim nodded. "We've been training for two years. Now they're giving us one free day."

The other woman looked amazed. "Wow, I've never met an exonaut before. A real live space colonist!"

"I guess I'm saying goodbye to Mother Earth." Kim kept her voice even.

"If you'd like some company while you do it, I'm free."

Kim looked over the other woman a little more carefully. She certainly didn't look threatening. If anything, she came across as a little shy, a little unaccustomed to being so bold. Dressed casually but neatly, in nice jeans, she was attractive. No doubt about it. Her hair was short but eye-catching, mostly dark green, dark blue on the left side.

She balanced indecisively between the choices. It would be easy to say "no thanks." But she'd already spent most of the day by herself. Company sounded good, all of a sudden.

"I was about to go on a little walk," she said. "You can come along. My name's Kim, by the way."

The other woman smiled. "I'm Steph."

They went past Kim's car, and headed into a large park. "Earth is a wonderful planet," said Kim. "Never forget to appreciate it."

The park was uncrowded, full of grassy spaces and little ponds with bridges over them. Birds chirped, leaves rustled, and the traffic sounded more distant than it had any right to.

"I guess you haven't had much chance to get out lately," said Steph. "From what I hear, the training is pretty intense."

"You can say that again. We had to go stay in caves. They checked if we could adapt to a thirty-one hour day. And all that wasn't the half of it."

Steph gave a look like she wanted to hear more.

"Psychological testing," said Kim. "It never ended. They kept staging fake emergencies, to see if we could deal with them. Only we were never quite sure if they were fake. They deliberately tried to stir up interpersonal conflicts, to see if we could resolve them. Only five percent of the people who started the training completed it."

"Wow," said Steph. She sounded like she was in awe. "If I were wearing a hat, it would be off to you."

"Thanks. I don't feel like I'm anything very special, but I guess I had what they needed."

"Oh, you are special. I'm sure of it."

Kim dodged the compliment. "Here," she said. "Let's walk on the grass."

Steph pulled her own sandals off, leaning on Kim's shoulder to steady herself. They went without talking for a while. The grass felt wonderful underfoot, every step a little bit different. Kim could almost lose herself in the sensations all around....