WORLD 4: AWAKENING

The walk to Med Lev at dinnertime was one of the best journeys I’d ever taken.

The small measure of happiness I’d finally allowed myself to feel had blown up into pure excitement. It was still hard to believe that I’d actually be setting my feet on real dirt the very next day. Actual, legitimate, wonderfully disgusting dirt.

My father’s announcement was planned for that evening. Ty was scheduled to work and I wanted to be there to see his face when he heard it. I hurried down the hall to Medical; I knew I needed to be there on time. My father wouldn’t delay the good news a second longer than he had to. Not when it was this good.

As soon as the Med Lev doors slid open, I strolled into the room with the most regular expression I could muster. Ceres barely looked up at me from his personal screen.

“Hey, Mayla,” he said.

“Hey Ceres, where’s Ty?”

“Uh, I think he’s in Kai’s office. You’re not scheduled today, are you?”

“Nope, I just came here to say hi,” I said innocently.

He glanced up at me with a puzzled expression. “Don’t you see us enough? I swear you’re here almost every day.”

“Be flattered that I like being here with you.”

“We all know it’s not me you’re here to see,” he said, then went back to his list. He began to snicker. “You guys gonna go make out in the supply closet or the bathroom?”

I gasped. “Shut up, Ceres!”

His shoulders shook as he began to laugh even harder to himself. “Be careful, that bathroom is pretty small — don’t want you to hurt yourself!”

I was in the process of reaching out to slap the side of his head when the door to Kai’s office opened.

I blew out a huge breath and walked to him. “Ty! I’m glad you’re here.”

“Where else would I be?” he said, puzzled. “Wait, you’re not scheduled, are you?”

I put my arms around his waist. “No, I just wanted to see you.”

Ty stared back at me with an adoring smile and set down his personal screen. “I love that you came to —”

“Attention everyone on board, this is Commander Archauus.” My father’s voice sounded through the speakers in the wall. I could hear his deep voice booming throughout the hallway outside of Med Lev as he began his announcement. “Everyone please stop what you’re doing and give your full attention.”

My heart was pounding. Finally, I would be able to show my excitement. Plus, the fact that it was being announced officially to everyone in the Colony, that the plans were in the final stages, only made it even more real than it had felt when I was up in Command. Sparks of glorious energy raced through me. Ceres and the handful of others in the room let out huge, nervous gasps. Ty took my hand and laced his fingers through mine. My face stayed turned to the side wall; I didn’t want to look right at him, just in case my expression gave it away.

“As you all know, today the fleet reached planet four. We were able to successfully make assessments and complete close range scans that would determine our ability for habitation.”

There was a long pause; everyone in Med Lev looked around to each other in worry. But I knew my father was so excited he was just having a hard time getting to the best part of it. The enormous grin that must have been on his face would’ve been priceless.

“I am pleased to announce that planet four is a viable candidate for colonization and that we will be moving on to phase three: on-planet exploration.”

The room erupted into cheers and screams, just as it had in Command Lev. Ceres squealed, jumping up and down. He practically pounced onto a patient in one of the exam beds, bringing her in for a gigantic hug.

I shushed everyone loudly as my father’s announcement continued. “In the morning after we land the Colony, our Protection Officers will be the first ones out the doors. They will do a thorough investigation to scout the area and ensure its safety. After they give their approval, officers in the first wave of teams will come out to set up the on-planet shelters and start their work. If you are a member of either of these two mentioned groups, please begin your preparation. Now, if we could have your attention for just a moment longer, Second Commander Wes will say a few words.”

My mouth burst into a grin. I doubted that Wes had expected to have the honor of making an announcement on such an important day. His reserved nature usually led him to assign the public stuff to other people.

“Everyone,” came Wes’ strong voice, “we in Command Level are more than excited to be able to give all of you the chance for a life you deserve. Our scientists and Tech Officers will be working overtime to assess the conditions on-planet and form a plan for our new life there. They will work as quickly as possible to finish and allow everyone their chance outside. I will be going down personally to oversee the process. We will make more announcements over the next several days as information comes in, and look forward to what lies ahead.”

The announcement cut out, and finally, I looked up at Ty. His mouth slowly grew wider until it was a full-blown, raging smile. Picking me up, he spun around, laughing.

“Finally! Can you believe it?!” He set me down and pulled me in for a long kiss, then sighed. “Finally.”

“I still can’t believe it’s real,” I said. My smile was so huge it almost hurt.

“Mayla!” Ceres shrieked. He ran up and pulled me away from Ty for an overzealous hug. I burst out laughing at his enthusiasm and hugged him tightly back.

“Isn’t it amazing?!” I shouted happily.

He let go of me. “I know, and especially for you since you’ve been such a depressed freak about your life here for so long.”

“Ceres!” shouted Ty. He wasn’t amused.

“He’s just teasing,” I said in Ceres’ defense. His face carried a mischievous grin. I shoved him lightly. “It’s true, I was kind of a depressed freak, but there’s no reason for that anymore. It’s amazing!”

“I know!” he squealed again, clapping.

Ty glared at him as he ran off to go be excited with someone else. He narrowed his eyes. “That guy drives me crazy.”

“Oh, he’s harmless. Just needs a decade or so to grow up.”

“So we better finalize everything for tomorrow, right?” he said and hurried on happily. “I mean, we’re pretty much done here already, seeing as I’ve had everyone on task for weeks now, but we should still do final double-checks.”

“That’s probably a good idea,” I said. Really, we didn’t need to finalize much. Ty was right — we’d been working hard for weeks in preparation and planning. But I knew his personality made him naturally obsessed with getting every detail exactly perfect and I wanted to humor him.

“You staying?” he asked and grabbed his screen again. “We can just work for a couple hours and then go out to the lounge or something. Or just back to my room. Does that sound good?” Ty never liked being at my place; it was much smaller than his over in the double officer rooms. Those were reserved for people in higher positions. Even though they weren’t huge, the rooms were definitely better than mine.

“Oh, I actually have to go to Jinna’s, I’m supposed to babysit tonight.” I grimaced. “I’m sorry, can I make it up to you?”

But he was still focusing on the screen in his hands. “Hmm? Yeah, don’t worry about it, May. I’ve got a lot to do here.” He took his eyes off the screen just long enough to bring me in for a quick kiss. “I’ll see you first thing in the morning, okay?”

“Yep, bright and early,” I said. “See you!”

Ty went back to pressing information into his screen as he walked away. “Love you, May.”

“Love you, too,” I half-mumbled. He didn’t hear me. I quickly took off for Jinna’s room.

My aunt Jinna and her husband Maxx were lucky enough to live in the family living areas. Those had an actual small living room separated from its two bedrooms. The one bathroom was twice as big as mine. Most likely, I could have had one of those rooms instead of my pathetic officer one if I’d just asked, but I would have felt stupid living in it alone.

I pressed my fingers to the door pad and it lit up white right away. Just like my father’s office, Jinna and Maxx had programmed my bio-identity into it years ago.

“Jinna!” I called out as I stepped inside. She popped her head out from the bedroom as the main door slid closed behind me.

“Mayla! Hey, my girl!” she said and swept across the room to embrace me. Jinna had my mother’s very light hair, chopped into a short style that went just to her ears. The pale yellow dress she wore reminded me of my mom’s sweater. My heat beat with a pang of longing as I looked it over.

Her gray-to-blue eyes twinkled as she pulled away from me. “How are you doing?”

“I’m good! How are you?”

She stared me down. “No, I mean how are you?”

I raised my eyebrows in question but she wouldn’t let up. I sighed. “Ugh, did dad call you on a communicator?”

“No! I’m just well aware of how nervous you’ve been about today.”

“I’m seriously okay, I’m actually excited about it now!”

She gave me a weird look. “Really?”

“Yes!” I chuckled and pushed her away. “At first I was still freaked out, but now I’m really antsy to get down there.”

“Good!” She clapped her hands. “Me, too! I can’t believe they’re making us lowly normal people wait an entire week to go outside. I’m gonna die I’m so anxious.”

We made our way to the charcoal-gray couch against the far wall. I plopped down and put my feet up on the low table in front of it.

“They’re only having you wait to make sure it’s completely safe and everything,” I said.

Jinna rolled her eyes, then turned her head toward the bedrooms. “Maxx! Get your butt out here!”

He peeked out from behind the wall, shirtless. “Sorry! Just finishing getting dressed, give me one more second.”

Jinna groaned and came down next to me on the couch. “That man is the slowest person alive,” she grumbled, turning to me. “Well hey, now that we have a few minutes we might as well gossip.”

“Oh, really? About what?” I asked with some hesitation. Gossip with Jinna usually involved trying to get me to spill my guts about my darkest secrets.

“How are things with Ty?” she asked lightly. A little too lightly.

I stiffened. “What have you heard…?”

Her eyes widened and a grin spread across her face. “Hold on, what’s going on with you guys? Is there something happening? Tell me!”

I buried my face in my hands. “Ugh…nothing! He’s just going around spreading details about some future of ours he’s created without telling me.”

Jinna rested her chin in her hand, her elbow propped against the back of the couch. I could tell this was exactly the level of gossip she’d hoped for. “What kind of a future?”

“Like the married kind!” I threw up my hands and groaned. “I guess he’s telling people that eventually we’ll end up married, which is nuts!”

“I thought you were crazy about him?”

“Well, sure, but that in no way means I want to think about getting to that level of seriousness.”

She shrugged. “Yeah, you’re probably right, but…”

“But what?”

She leaned in and whispered, “He’s just so hot, right?”

“Jinna!” I shouted, slapping her on the knee. She burst out laughing. “You’re too old to be saying that about someone his age, aren’t you?”

“Nah, I can appreciate a fine-looking man at any age.”

“He’s more than good looking, you know,” I said in Ty’s defense. “He’s really kind, and such a great doctor.”

Jinna straightened her yellow dress. “Yeah, I heard he practically lives in Med Lev, he’s there so often.”

“I guess he’s there a lot, but it’s only because he’s so valuable. We still get to see each other all the time.”

She narrowed her eyes at me in a very curious way. I couldn’t help but lean back a little. She hesitated, then lowered her voice. “He wears that uniform even when he’s off-duty, doesn’t he? Does he wear it to bed?”

I couldn’t stop my face from twisting up a bit.

“Ha! I knew it!” she cried and slapped the couch cushion next to her. Her laughter was so intense she was practically crying.

“It’s not all the time, he wears normal stuff…sometimes,” I mumbled, then laughed right along with her.

After a minute, her amusement calmed down and she put an arm around me. I rested my head on her shoulder. “Listen, May, none of that matters. Even if he’s a total weirdo about wearing that uniform constantly, or thinks operating on someone is the epitome of fun, who cares? As long as he’s good to you, takes care of you, and makes you feel like home, that’s all that matters.”

I didn’t respond. I obviously knew about the importance of someone treating me well, but as far as Ty making me feel like “home,” I didn’t know what to think. What was home? Nobody on the Colonies had had a home for eight years. It was like a distant memory by that point.

“Hey, guys, sorry that took so long,” said Maxx. He was finally ready, using one hand to slick his brown hair to the side. In his other arm was their two-year-old son, Sam.

“There’s my Sam!” I cried and held out my arms. “Come here!”

Maxx set him down and Sam’s chubby little legs ran over to me at the couch. I scooped him up and kissed him over and over again as he giggled.

“Where’s Kasley?” I asked, bouncing Sam on my knee.

Maxx gave a quick snort. “Out with friends again.”

“Is that becoming more of a regular thing now?” I asked.

“Ha!” laughed Jinna. “We barely even see her anymore!”

“Well, I guess when I was her age I was out a lot, too.”

Jinna lit up and smiled. “That’s right, with Baylen! How’s Bay? I haven’t seen him in forever.”

I kissed Sam on his blonde head again as he babbled. “He’s good! Just got promoted to an assistant supervisor of some kind of tech stuff. He’ll be out there tomorrow, too.”

“Is he still with that one girl?” Jinna asked. “The dumb one…the green shirt, right?”

I laughed. “No, she works for childcare and they’re not together anymore.”

She grabbed onto Maxx’s arm and led him to the door. “Well you should set him up with someone, Baylen is awesome.”

I breathed out an unnatural laugh. “He is awesome, I’ll get right on it.”

“Alright, so Sam should be good for bed in an hour and then we’ll be back in three or so,” Maxx said as Jinna pulled him out the door. “Thanks, Mayla!”

“Have fun, guys!” I called out. I looked down at Sam on my lap. His chubby face was turned up to me, his soft brow furrowing.

“May May,” he said in his squeaky little voice. I clasped my hand around his tiny one.

“Hey buddy, what should we do?”

He squealed out laughter in response and continued the babbling. I pretended to know exactly what he was talking about.

“Do you want your special song?” I asked quietly. His squishy smile told me yes.

There was a song that my mother used to sing to me all the time when I was little. I wished more than anything that I could remember exactly what her voice sounded like as she sang it, but of course it had faded out of memory. Gratefully, I did still remember the words. Jinna had kept it alive through her kids and I planned to do the same.

Holding Sam in my arms, I rocked him back and forth as I sang:

Go to sleep, my little one, and rest your head on me.

Go to sleep, my precious one, together we can be,

Don’t forget me, in your dreams, and when you

wake you’ll be,

Safe right here, my little one, where I’ll wait lovingly.

He looked up into my face. “May May.”

I giggled and let him down from my lap as he squirmed to get free. While he ran around from toy to toy, exploring and in his own little world, I couldn’t help but think about what Jinna had said to me. About needing to be with someone who felt like home.

Sam had been born on board, and so home to him felt like Colony Four. My first reaction would have been to say that home felt like our lost world, but really, it didn’t. It had been so long I couldn’t even comprehend it anymore. My father, Jinna, and her family were the closest things to home that I felt, but that’s because I was related to them. They were my family. As far as a romantic relationship, Jinna had only confused me more than ever.