Trip of a Century

Part 1 Chapter 6

Converging

Hassan looked at himself in the bathroom mirror. He ran a comb through his hair one more time. Then he fiddled with the collar of his light pink shirt. He looked down and noted the long white fur all over the legs of his light gray suit pants. How do they live with those dogs, he thought. He had only been at his parents’ home for a day and still those great big dogs’ fur was all over his clothes and had somehow gotten into his things. He’d almost eaten a dog hair when he brushed his teeth this morning.

Hassan sighed and wet his hands using the bathroom faucet. He shook off the excess water and ran his damp hands down his pants. The dog hair stuck to his hands and rolled up into clumps. He picked the clumps off and threw them into the wastebasket. Then he rinsed the rest of the fur off of his hands and dried them on a towel. He looked around for a moment. The mirror was a rectangular medicine cabinet with a silver frame. The sink was green porcelain with a wooden cabinet painted yellow. The walls were covered in green ceramic tile. A shaggy green mat adorned the white tile floor. Above the white, porcelain toilet was a wooden cupboard painted yellow to match the sink cabinet. The shower curtain was white with symbols of different belief systems ordered to spell out the word COEXISTA–a red Islamic crescent for the “C”, an orange peace sign for the “O”, the “E” was a yellow Hindu Om symbol, the “X” was represented by a green Star of David, a blue Shinto torii dotted with a blue pentagram for the “I”, an indigo Jainism Swastika for the “S”, a violet Greek Cross for the “T”, and a black atheist atom symbol for the “A”. 

Hassan thought that seemed like it would be an appropriate emblem for a voyage of fourteen thousand people from all over Earth. Then again, perhaps it wasn’t inclusive enough. Maybe the singular symbol used for the Janus mission would be more unifying. It was simple enough. It resembled a greek cross with a wide bowl on top. Floating inside the bowl was a theta turned ninety degrees. He thought it certainly was not divisive but on its own it wasn’t particularly inspiring. Perhaps people could unify around that. It just needed marketing.

Hassan blinked away the musing. He looked around again and thought this would be the last time he was ever in this room. It was quite ugly but he thought he would miss it anyway. Goodbye ugly bathroom, he thought. He tucked his comb into his pocket then he walked out to join his family for breakfast.

As Hassan approached the dining room he could smell his mother’s shakshouka. His brother, a nine-year-old with black hair and skin a couple of shades darker than Hassan’s, was just finishing placing utensils on the table as Hassan reached the room’s threshold. His father, an aging Egyptian man with short hair that was still about half black and a beard to match, came out of the kitchen and placed a bowl of baba ganoush and a plate of pita bread in the middle of the table.

Hassan smiled at his father (Baba) and, in arabic, said good morning to his father and Lishan. A middle-aged woman with a long nose and a long face with a sandy complexion came out of the kitchen carrying a cast iron pan of sizzling shakshouka and placed it on a colorful cloth trivet. Her light brown hair peaked out from under a brown and red floral-patterned scarf.

“Shalom, Ima.” Hassan said to the woman.

She smiled at Hassan and replied in hebrew, “Son, you’re just in time. Have a seat and give me your plate.”

Hassan held his plate up and she scooped some shakshouka onto it. The tomato sauce spread out under the poached egg. He took the plate and inhaled deeply. The smell of the tomatoes mixed with onion and garlic mixed with cumin and cayenne pepper brought back childhood memories. The last time he had had his mother’s shakshouka, Hassan was still living with his parents. He reached over and scooped some baba ganoush and grabbed some pita bread and placed those on his plate as well.

She served the other two and then herself. Once everyone was served, she said a jewish mealtime prayer in hebrew. Meanwhile, her husband quietly said his own prayer. Hassan and Lishan sat quietly with their heads bowed until their mother finished, then everyone started eating.

Hassan cut into the egg and its yellow inside oozed over the red sauce. He closed his eyes for a moment and savored his first bite of the warm dish. He opened his eyes and saw his parents watching him. His little brother was busily stuffing his round face.

His father, still speaking in Arabic, said, “Are you ready?”

Hassan nodded and replied in Arabic, “I think I’m as ready as one can be for going to settle a new world. People have been doing it for thousands of years before us with much less preparation and you and I are sitting here as a result.”

His father smiled and nodded.

Lishan said in English, “Will you come back? Why are you leaving?” Then he looked at his mother, “Are we going too?”

His mother smiled patiently and said in Hebrew, “No, Lishan. We are not going.” She paused as tears filled her eyes. She reached a hand out to Hassan and he took it. Then she continued, “And we will never see Hassan again.” She sniffed and dabbed at her eyes. Her voice cracked as she said, “I’m sorry.”

Hassan moved, knelt next to her, and gave her a firm embrace. He said in English, “I’ll be fine, Ima.”

Hassan’s father was watching with a sad smile. Hassan could tell it wouldn’t take much to push him to tears at that moment. His brother looked on with an expression that was a mix of sadness, worry, and confusion.

Hassan relaxed his embrace and she held his shoulders and pushed him back a little to look him in the eyes. Having recovered her composure she said in English, “I know you’ll be safe. But who will make sure you’re eating? Will there be any Jewish girls?”

Hassan chuckled. “I don’t know, Ima. I do okay feeding myself, though.” He moved back to his seat. “I will miss shakshouka, though.”

“Maybe there will be a jewish girl who knows how to make shakshouka.”

Hassan smiled and said, “Her shakshouka wouldn’t compare to yours.”

She smiled back.

Lishan added in hebrew, “Yes, Ima, your shakshouka is the best in the whole universe!”

She said to Lishan in English, “You’re sweet. Thank you.”

Hassan’s father said in Arabic, “What are you taking with you, Hassan?”

Hassan replied in English, “Well, they gave us each a duffle bag that we can fill with whatever we want and anything I take with me has to fit into that bag. I have a backpack inside. In the backpack I have a laptop, a collapsible baton-staff, a sharp knife, my favorite suit and pair of shoes.”

His mother said in English, “What about a toothbrush? And soap. You’ll need soap, and a washcloth…”

Hassan interrupted in English, “Ima, Ima. Essentials will be provided for us. They will give us soap and toothbrushes and washcloths, and clothes after we land. The bag is just for extras.”

His father stood and motioned to Hassan to follow. “Come with me. I have something for you, if it will fit.”

Hassan followed his father to his parents’ bedroom. He watched as his father opened the closet and pulled a hard plastic case out. He set it on the bed, unlatched it, and opened it.

“What is it?”

His father reached into the case and pulled a couple of parts out and connected them together. “It’s a crossbow. It comes apart so that it doesn’t take up much space.”

Hassan watched as he assembled the weapon. He then pulled out a bolt and showed Hassan how to load it. After, he pulled it all apart pretty quickly and put it back in its case.

“I want you to have it.”

“I’m not sure what use I’ll have for a crossbow, Baba. The only animals there will be us and maybe some livestock.”

“It’s the former that I worry about.”

“Baba…”

“Maybe you just use it for target practice. Maybe you trade it for something nice. Whatever you do with it, I would feel better knowing it is with you.”

Hassan relented. “Okay. I’ll take the crossbow. If it will fit.”

As his father closed the case, Lishan ran into the room. “Hassan! I have something for you!” Lishan held the item up and said excitedly, “It’s a magnifying glass.”

“It sure is.”

“It’s to help you explore the new world.”

“That’s great! I love it.” Hassan took the magnifying glass from his little brother and held it up to his eye.

Lishan laughed at Hassan’s magnified eye.

Hassan saw his mother standing in the doorway.

“I have something for you as well,” she said. She stepped forward and handed him a framed picture of Hassan’s three family members. It was captioned with, Hassan, your family loves you, misses you, and prays that you are well – November 2090. “On the back of the picture, I wrote our names and dates of birth.”

Hassan didn’t think he needed a physical picture. He had hundreds of digital pictures of all of them and family records were being sent in the ship’s databases. He understood that the gesture was important to his mother, though, so he smiled, said “Thank you,” and hugged his mother.

“Thank you,” He said to everyone. “I’ll see if I can fit these in my bag.”

He walked across the hall into his room and opened the white duffel bag on the bed. He had to remove the crossbow from the case and put the pieces into the bag individually, but he managed to get it all in and still zip it shut. He put on his suit jacket and then as he picked the bag up and put it on his shoulder, his watch dinged a notification. He looked to see that his auto-taxi had arrived and was waiting for him outside. He touched it to acknowledge and confirm that he was on his way out.

He left his room and walked to the living room where the family had all gathered to sit and wait. 

“Got it all in. Taxi is waiting for me outside.”

Everyone stood. Lishan ran to him and hugged him. In English, he said, “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you, too. Be good for Ima and Babba.” Hassan replied in english.

His father hugged him next. In Arabic he said, “Stay safe, son. I love you.”

Hassan replied in Arabic, “I love you too, Baba.”

His mother grabbed his shoulders and said in Hebrew, “And you’re absolutely sure this is what you want?”

Hassan replied in Hebrew, “As sure as I’ve ever been about anything. I need to do it.”

She nodded and said, “Ten years ago we would have gone and dragged you with us. We’re too old now for starting over and wouldn’t want to take Lishan from this home. Take care of yourself. Oh, hold on a second.” She quickly went to the kitchen and came out with a covered glass bowl full of shakshouka and held it out to Hassan.

Hassan protested, “Ima I…” but she interrupted him.

“You take it. I won’t ever get to cook for you again and I won’t have you getting hungry on the way.”

Hassan sighed and smiled. “Thank you, Ima.”

She hugged him and kissed his cheek.

“Goodbye,” she said with tears in her eyes.

Hassan smiled and squeezed her hand but didn’t say another word for fear that he would start crying. He left the house and walked to the vehicle parked on the street. It wasn’t a large vehicle. About the size of a small sedan, it was teardrop-shaped with only two doors for passengers. From the outside, there didn’t appear to be any windows

Hassan opened a door and stepped inside. A voice said, “Welcome to Auto-Ride. Please fasten your safety belt.” 

The interior was larger than one might expect. In a personal car, there had to be room for a dashboard and steering wheel and the seats all faced the same direction. There was no driver, so none of that was necessary. The doors were in the center of each side and there were six seats inside, each faced toward the center. In the middle was empty floor space for long legs and bags. Hassan set his bag on the floor in front of his seat and then fastened his three point harness. Then he stretched his legs out.

The voice said, “Your destination is The Embarcadero Ferry Building, is that right?”

The entire top half of the vehicle was transparent from the inside allowing Hassan to see every direction but down. His family was outside watching the car. He touched the side window and it lightened. His family waved at him. Hassan waved back and said, “Yes, that’s right.”

The voice said, “Thank you. We will arrive at approximately 10:15 am.” And the car started moving. Hassan watched his family until they were out of sight, then he pulled out his handheld and opened an ebook titled “De-Escalate.”

Biene opened her eyes to a room lit up by the morning sunlight. She stretched and pushed her blanket off, bathing in the stream of morning sunlight. She stayed there for a few minutes, enjoying the warm light then got up to get herself ready for the day. She brushed her teeth, then hopped into the shower. After she was satisfied with her level of clean, she used her hands to brush excess water off of her and to squeeze it out of her hair and then she just allowed herself to air dry while she headed to the kitchen.

She grabbed a watering pail for each hand and filled them with water. She then walked around the apartment checking on all of her plants and watering the ones that needed it. She noted that a couple of them probably needed to be repotted so when she was done checking on them, she found a pad of sticky notes and wrote notes for Dazzlespark that said, Move to bigger pot. She stuck a note to the pot of each of the plants that needed attention. 

After taking care of the house plants she collected her breakfast. She picked a wurtz avocado from one of her small trees. Then she grabbed a bowl and scooped some nuts out of her drawer and grabbed a knife to skin her avocado and sat on the floor where the sun shined in where she cut open the avocado and spent a while cracking shells to eat the nuts inside.

When she was done eating, she went to the bathroom and brushed her hair, allowing it to fall freely over her shoulders and down her back. She looked at herself for a moment and then, on a whim, she collected a couple of hair ribbons and added them to her Janus bag.

What does one wear to board a spaceship, she wondered. They’ll put me in a suit of some sort, no doubt, but do I wear anything under the suit or will I have to remove what I wear? What’s the weather like today?

To answer her question, she opened the sliding doors to the balcony and stepped outside. It was normal for fall in this area. A little cool. Her skin tingled and the hairs on her body stood up with goosebumps. She took a deep breath of the cool air but only stayed outside a moment because it was uncomfortable on her bare feet.

First she went to her dresser and pulled out a pair of black leggings and a tight, black long sleeve shirt with a scoop neckline. She put those on and stood in front of the full length mirror on her bedroom door, looking at herself from every angle. Satisfied that she looked good in that layer of clothing, she went to her armoire and pulled out a cool green, short sleeve, cotton midi dress and slipped it on. After checking herself in the mirror again, she went back to her dresser and pulled out a pair of black socks. Then went back to her armoire and pulled out a tan belt and some knee-high, tan moccasin boots (made of grown leather, of course, with natural rubber soles, because she would never allow an animal to die for a pair of shoes and her home was close to zero plastic). Practical, comfy, stylish, and warm, she thought. I wonder if I’ll get to keep them. She looked over at her bag wondering if she could get the boots into the already full bag. She shrugged, deciding she would cross that bridge if she got there.

Deciding she was ready, she grabbed her duffel bag and…Oops! Almost forgot my pass. She skipped back to her dresser and pulled out a white and gold plastic card. The gold part was covered in seemingly random swirls, squiggles, and geometric shapes. When she touched the gold part, her face was projected on the white part. Won’t get far without that! She felt her dress and looked at the sides and realized this dress didn’t have pockets. Slightly annoyed but undeterred, she tucked it into her right boot. She quickly looked around the apartment, making certain that she wasn’t forgetting anything else and then headed downstairs to the nursery.

She opened the door and looked around. She spotted Dazzlespark flitting about, checking on the plants and stopping to take pictures and type on his handheld. Dazzlespark’s handheld was the same size as a human’s so it was equivalent to Biene walking around with a tablet computer the size of a three ring binder.

As she watched Dazzlespark, she thought about how she would never see him again and that led her thoughts to how she met him and what led up to that. Eighteen years ago Biene was just a human—a sapiens—girl of about nine years old. She did normal nine-year-old things like go to school, play augmented reality games with other kids, and watch videos of other kids playing with toys or playing games.

Then everything changed on one spring day. She changed. She remembered a feeling as if a wave of energy washed over her and made her feel powerful right before she began screaming and crying as pain shot through her entire body. It felt as if her bones were breaking and shifting of their own accord and her muscles and joints were on fire. While she was lying on the living room floor, sobbing and wondering why nobody had come to help her, she looked around and saw a strange person on the couch where her mother had been. She was also just beginning to look around. Biene remembered the horror she felt at seeing the green skin and bulky frame of this creature wearing her mother’s clothes. Its eyes looked at its arms and hands as if seeing them for the first time and then looked over at Biene and those red eyes examined Biene with their own expression of horror and confusion. It said “Biene?” in her mothers voice. Before Biene could find her own voice, she heard the primal scream of a man from upstairs. She thought it might have been “No,” but it was mostly a scream. Then Biene’s little sister came into the room. She wore a look on her face that combined fear and curiosity as she saw Biene and the green woman on the couch. The woman on the couch with her mother’s voice said to Biene’s sister, “Come here, Sara.”

Sara replied, “Where’s mommy?”

The green woman tried to explain that she was mommy and moved toward Sara but Sara screamed and ran upstairs. The green woman hesitated before she followed Sara up the stairs. A moment later Biene heard screams of terror and shouting followed by loud thumping, crashing, and then the most horrible cries of pain and sadness and loss all rolled together. Biene stayed on the living room floor throughout so she didn’t know what happened up there. 

Hours later the green lady came down, followed by the biggest, scariest monster Biene had ever seen. The monster was as tall as her mother and sister stacked on top of each other and as wide as two of her fathers. It had greyish greenish skin that was covered in warty bumps and its eyes were red like the green lady’s. Its head was topped with a pair of horns that pointed different directions. Biene didn’t move. She just stared, terrified, while they explained that they were her parents. She didn’t believe them at first but they had her parents’ voices and they talked like her parents. They took Biene to a mirror where Biene saw that she had changed, too. She was leaner and her bone structure had changed, altering the shape of her body and face. Her ears were sharply pointed and were so long the tips went above her head. Her eyes were a little bigger. Her hair had changed color from blonde to brown.The girl looking back at her was so pretty, she thought.

The next day an ambulance showed up and took Sara away. Her parents told her she had an accident and died. Biene never pressed for details. She found out later that emergency services were so overwhelmed that night, and for weeks after, that they were lucky they didn’t have to hang onto the body for a few more days.

Over the next months and years things changed. She first noticed that her hair color changed with the season. It turned blonde again in the summer, then brown in the fall, darkening to black in the winter. Her skin tone changed as well. In the summer it was the darkest with a honey complexion whether she spent much time in the sun or not. In the winter, her skin was at its palest and took on a porcelain complexion.

After the change Biene’s parents became angry and sad a lot and they fought and screamed at each other and at Biene. Biene tried to spend as much time away from home as she could. There was a park a few miles away from home that she rode her bike to. It wasn’t the same as being out in the woods, but she felt comforted by it. Over the next few years, the fighting escalated and became physical. Her mother nearly always initiated the violence and it became difficult for Biene to cover her bruises. 

That’s when she met Dazzlespark. He just appeared in the park one day and told Biene that the purple and yellow splotches on her skin were pretty. She didn’t know if he was joking or not, and she was too shocked by the sight of the little flying pink man to care. She had seen fairies before. They had started appearing all over the place within weeks of her change. She had heard rumors of other creatures too, but he was like a giant fairy but smarter. She remembered that he had managed to make her smile. He was going for a laugh but a smile was all she could manage at the time.

She started to see him frequently in the park and she would tell him her problems and he would listen. Sometimes she would cry but, after their first encounter, he inevitably always made her laugh.  She was always disappointed with the times that he didn’t come. She always stayed as late as she could, often well past dark, hoping her friend would come. During their encounters she discovered that she could sense an energy flow around her, and Dazzlespark explained that it was magic and helped encourage her to explore it. 

When she was eighteen, Biene interjected herself into one of her parent’s fights. She immediately regretted it when she took a backhand from her father. Well, she would have regretted it immediately if she was conscious. She didn’t know how long she was unconscious but when she woke, she had the worst headache of her life. When she got her bearings, she saw her mother lying on the floor. Her eyes were open but she wasn’t moving. The parts that Biene could remember most vividly were the smeared pool of blood and the weird way her mother’s neck was twisted. While Biene sat and stared at her mother’s body, coming to grips with what she was seeing, she heard one loud bang of a gun from upstairs.

Biene didn’t move for several hours. She was never sure if she was conscious the entire time but she remembered just sitting and staring at her mother until Biene’s alarm told her it was time to go to school. That broke her out of her catatonia and she finally called emergency services. Biene was treated for fractured bones, including a skull fracture, and spent several days in the hospital recovering. Dazzlespark visited her. He also helped her navigate her newfound independence and nurtured her interest in plants and magic. 

Dazzlespark helped support her through her university education where she studied botany and magic—or what everyone else was calling Mobius Energy. She learned that she was an intuitive user of magic. Where some had to learn it like a science and memorize formulas, she found that she had an innate understanding of what she started calling primal magic. She still had to train and she could do manipulations related to weather and to non-human animals but she had a particular affinity for plant magic.

After university, Dazzlespark helped her move out of the city and start her business. He never told her where he went or how he got his money but after disappearing for a few days, he always came back with what she needed. He always just told her, “It’s a secret and it wouldn’t be a secret anymore if I told you, so I can’t tell you.”

Dazzlespark noticed Biene staring at him. Well, not so much at him as in his direction. He said in his hyper chipmunk voice, “Good morning, Biene!” and he waved at her.

Biene snapped out of her memories and smiled at Dazzlespark.

He flew over to her and said, “You looked like you were somewhere else for a moment there. You good?”

“I’m fine, Daz. I was just thinking.”

“Well, that much was obvious. Did you figure it out?”

Confused, she replied, “Figure what out?”

“Whatever was causing all that steam to come out of your ears. Must’ve been workin’ hard.” He grinned at her.

She laughed and said, “I was thinking about how I’m going to miss you, Daz.”

“Oh, that.”

She grew solemn and said, “I’m never going to see you again am I?”

“Why do you say that?”

“I’m going on a very long trip. It will take over three hundred years just to get there. How long do pixies live?”

Dazzlespark shrugged. “I don’t know.”

“What do you mean you don’t know? You don’t have an estimate? A hundred years? Five hundred? A thousand?”

“It depends.”

“On what?”

“I don’t know.”

Biene sighed. “I’ll miss you, Daz. You’re my best friend. I wish you had decided to go with me. You still could. You could sneak on.”

“What would I do for 300 years on a spaceship while you and most of the other passengers all sleep? I would die.This is your adventure. If I’m still around in 300 years I’ll come check on you.”

“How are you going to find me over 12 light years away on a different planet?”

“Let’s just say there’s a lot about the world that you don’t know yet.”

“And you’re not going to fill me in?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“It would ruin the adventure!”

Biene sighed and rolled her eyes at her friend. Then she hugged him and said, “Life won’t be the same without you around.”

“That’s the idea. You’re taking that old knife with you?”

Biene scrunched her brows together and looked at him. “Yeah. It’s in my bag.”

“Good. Keep it close. You never know what an adventure will bring you.”

Dazzlespark’s handheld binged an alert and he checked his screen. 

“Your ride is here, Beanie.”

“What do you mean my ride is here?”

“Your ride to the ferry.” Dazzlespark flew to the door and opened it. “I requested a Robo Ride for you.”

Biene followed Dazzlespark out, “Wait, how did you…”

“You wake up just after sunrise every day. I just looked up what time sunrise was and added ninety minutes. It’s a little early. You got everything?”

“Umm. Yeah.”

“Great!”

Dazzlespark guided her outside to a vehicle that resembled a red golf ball about two meters in diameter. The side was open like a wing, waiting for its passenger.

Biene stopped outside the car, “Wait, what about…”

Dazzlespark interrupted, “Everything is taken care of. All you have to do is catch your boat and take a long nap. Leave this place to me. I’ll keep it going for at least another few months.” He grinned.

“But…”

Dazzlespark hugged her and said, “Goodbye, Biene Weena. I love you.”

Biene relaxed and hugged him back. “I love you, too, Daz.” When she pulled back, a tear ran down her cheek. “I’ll miss you.”

“Psh. You won’t even think about me for at least 300 years,” he said with a smile.

Biene got into the vehicle and the door closed behind her.

A voice emanating from the car said, “You are going to The Embarcadero Ferry Building, correct?”

Biene replied, “Yes.”

“Affirmative. Buckle up and we’ll arrive in under two hours.”

Biene fastened herself into one of the six seats and the car started moving. She looked for Dazzlespark but he was no longer in sight. Biene knew that he might just be invisible so she waved anyway. When the greenhouse was out of sight, she said, “Robo Ride. Play some music.”

“What kind of music would you like to hear?”

“Something…to start an adventure.”

“How about The Adventure Begins by Howard Shore?”

“Sure.”

Aiden’s heart raced and his breathing was heavy. His wet palm made it hard to hold the pistol in his hand. His ears rang from the deafening sounds of gunfire. A bloody body lay on the floor. He looked at his hand. Red blood covered his hand and the handle of the gun. A drop of blood fell. He watched as it fell toward his own face that stared back at him. A faint rumbling sound accompanied the falling drop. Just before it hit he heard a sound like metal hitting metal.

Aiden jolted awake to the sound of metal doors being closed in the hall. Then the sound of a laundry dryer starting up and tumbling. Gain must be switching the wash, Aiden thought. He took a slow, deep breath to calm himself. He wasn’t sure what time it was, but the amount of sunshine coming through the window indicated it was definitely day time. His bladder protested that he had been in bed long enough. He reached to pick the crusties from his eyes but paused to inspect his hand. Satisfied, he cleaned his eyes. He took a deep breath, stretched, then he sat up in the bed and slid his feet to the floor. Scratching his hairy belly with one hand and his hairy buttocks with his other, he noticed he was damp from sweat. He looked around the room for something to cover himself with since he had no clean clothes. He decided the towel from last night would do so he picked that up and started to wrap it around his body but he realized it was still damp and a cold, damp towel made for a rather unpleasant wardrobe. He rubbed it on himself to wipe away the sweat. Then he grabbed the blanket off his bed and wrapped it around himself like a toga. He grabbed his belt and fastened it in place to hold the blanket-toga closed.

Satisfied with his makeshift clothing, Aiden went to the bathroom and relieved himself. While washing his hands he noticed that his mouth felt gross so he searched the bathroom for a toothbrush and found an unopened one in a drawer next to a box of floss. He flossed and then brushed and thought his mouth still felt gross so he did both again. 

He stared at himself in the mirror until it felt like he was making awkward eye contact with a stranger. He shook his head and splashed cold water on his face. He watched a drop of water drip off of his nose and into the sink. He blinked a couple of times. Weird dream, he thought. Weird dream.

He used his wet fingers to try to get his extreme bedhead under control. After a minute of fussing with it, he decided that he had nobody to impress. He noticed that he had started to grow a beard over the last few days. For a moment Aiden considered letting it grow but decided against it, found a safety razor, and shaved it off.

Satisfied with his clean mouth and smooth face, he lifted his skirts off the floor and carefully made his way down the stairs and to the kitchen. He found Gain already downstairs dressed in his own belted blanket-toga, pouring himself a bowl of milk and cereal.

“Great minds, right?” Aiden said to his brother.

Gain looked at him. Aiden indicated his outfit.

Gain chuckled. “Right.” Then he found a place to sit and eat.

Aiden poured himself a bowl full of the colorful O-shaped cereal with some milk and put the milk into the refrigerator. Then he joined his brother. They sat in silence and ate their breakfast. When he finished, each brother took his dishes to the kitchen sink and washed his bowl and spoon.

They went to the living room and sat on the couch. Gain used the remote to pull up Paul’s streaming service on the screen and started browsing through shows. “What are we going to do today, Gain?” asked Aiden.

“Well, we need ID to get home so we should contact the consulate to get that sorted.”

“Okay, well get your phone out and let’s talk to the consulate.”

Gain shrugged and said, “After the laundry is done. They might want to video call and I’d really rather not be wearing a blanket in that event.”

Aiden shrugged and bobbed his head in agreement and they watched a cartoon of weirdly drawn yellow people and laughed at the popular culture and political jokes. By the end the dryer was done so they got dressed.

They met back at the dining table and found the consulate’s contact information on the web and then called it. Gain explained to a man named Tiernan that their ID was stolen and their phones were gone and they had no money. Tiernan told them that they needed to come to the consulate to fill out some forms. Gain explained that they had no way of getting there since they had no money. Tiernan suggested getting a ride from their host. Gain said, “Look, our mother, Queen Fionola Caswall, hasn’t heard from us in a month. If you need to call her, I’m sure she’ll clear the cost of sending a car to get us.” Tiernan said that wouldn’t be possible and that they would be happy to help when they arrived. Gain ended the call.

Gain used his handheld to sign into the account that backed up his data and synced his account to his new phone. All of his data quickly downloaded and an alert appeared on the display that said his pre-paid plan was at 99% usage. Gain swore then told the device, “Call mum.” He put it on speaker mode so that Aiden could hear.

A woman answered, speaking Irish, “Office of Queen Caswall. Can I help you?” 

Gain replied back in Irish, “Madailéin, this is Gain Caswall. I’d like to speak to my mum.”

“Oh hello Gain. I don’t have this as a listed number for you.”

“We’ve had some troubles and I had to get a temporary one. Look, I’m going to run out of data any moment. Is mum around?”

“Unfortunately, she’s not available but I’m authorized to get you whatever you need. What’s your passphrase, Gain?”

“It’s all physics.”

“Thanks, Gain. Is Aiden with you?”

Aiden said, “This is Aiden Caswall.”

“What’s your passphrase, Aiden?”

“That’s actually a gun in my pocket.”

“Thank you. What do you boys need?”

Aiden quickly summarized that they were attacked and robbed in the Conglomerate and gave her Paul’s house address in the southside of Berkeley. He added, “The glue-sniffer who took our call at the consulate wasn’t very helpful.”

“I see. I’ll get you taken care of, boys. I’ll have the consulate call you to arrange a pick up. Is there…” The call cut off and the phone displayed a message that said data usage was at 100%, and to purchase more.

Gain said, “I guess we wait.”

About half an hour later there was a knock at the door. Gain, dressed in clean clothes now, opened it to a sapiens man with straw-colored hair and green eyes wearing a gray wool suit. On his lapel was a pin in the shape of a reuleaux triangle that depicted a mace, a cauldron, and a harp. He said, “Gain Caswall?”

“Yeah.” He turned and yelled, “Aiden. Ride’s here.”

Gain turned back to the man as Aiden picked up the bags and headed to the door.

“Right this way gentlemen,” the man said as he indicated a black limousine parked at the curb.

As he exited, Aiden shut the front door and there was an audible click as the door automatically locked. He noted that it was rather chilly. Good thing they wore their jackets. Gain crawled and Aiden ducked into the back of the limousine. The man caught up with them and said, “Can I take your bags? I’ll toss ‘em in the boot.”

Aiden said, “Oh sure.” He took Gain’s bag and handed both to the man. He closed their door and Aiden could hear the bags being stowed. Then the man got into the driver’s seat.

Following was a half hour drive that took them across the Bay Bridge where Gain and Aiden stared at the blue water and the boats dotting the bay. Once across the bridge and moving toward the financial district of San Francisco, they could see a huge project underway. Some buildings had tiered planters all around them and their lawns were covered with redwood sorrel instead of grass. They saw different types of trees including bay trees, apples, grapefruit, and pineapple guava. Around the bases of the buildings were berry bushes such as huckleberry and viney plants like snap peas and winter squash were growing up trellises. Further up the buildings, in the tiered planters were the broad leaves of plants like mallow and bok choy. They also caught glimpses of white cauliflower heads, sprouts of fennel, and the purple of eggplant. Some buildings didn’t have any planters on them yet and others were in the process of being built. One building just had flowers all over it. The planters attached to the building were filled with various kinds of purple and white blooms. The ground around the building was covered in uncut wild grasses that were native to the area.

The driver parked the limousine in a concrete parking ramp. Everyone got out of the vehicle and the man guided Gain and Aiden to a skybridge that took them to the 100 Pine Street building. They took an elevator to the 33rd floor where he showed them to a waiting area and he asked them to wait.

A minute later a fat, stern-looking lata-brevis man wearing a green suit approached the brothers. His long red beard matched his curly hair. He stood in front of them and asked in a gruff voice, “Caswalls?”

The brothers nodded at him.

“Follow me.” He turned away and started walking the way he came.

The brothers looked at each other incredulously and they could barely contain their laughter at the sight of the man. At a little over a meter tall, the man resembled a large, obese leprechaun. It was all Aiden could do to not ask him where his pot of gold was.

He guided them to an office that was furnished with a cherry wood desk and a couple of comfortable chairs. The wall behind the desk was lined with cherry wood bookshelves. The floor was covered in pale yellow tile. A name plate on the desk said Tiernan Mac Síthigh. 

Tiernan disappeared behind the desk and then rose up behind it until his chest cleared the desktop. Then he said, “So, it’s me understanding that the two o’ ye lost all of yer ID and ye’ll be needin’ replacements so’s you can be gettin’ home. Is that right?”

Upon hearing the man’s accent, Aiden couldn’t contain himself anymore and he let out a raucous laugh. The only place Aiden had ever heard that accent was American cinema. Tiernan had a gruff voice like Gimli the Dwarf from Lord of the Rings but his accent was that of the Lucky Charms mascot. Gain, not sure whether to react to the character behind the desk or his laughing brother, looked at his brother with an expression that was a mixture of awe and glee. Tiernan frowned at Aiden.

After a moment Aiden collected himself and wiped the tears that were streaming down his face. 

When Aiden had quieted down, Tiernan said, “Are you all right?”

Aiden, trying to get his mirth under control, replied, “Yes. Sorry. It’s been a long week.”

“Well then if everyone is ready, I need the two of ye t’ fill this out.” Tiernan unfolded a screen that was about the dimensions of a standard sheet of paper and as thick as four. He also handed him a rubber-tipped stylus. On the screen was a form.

“Answer the questions and fill out the blank section with the details of what was taken from ye and the when, where, why, and how of it. Include any expenses you incurred as a result. You can write or dictate as you prefer. Make sure you include signatures, fingerprints, and pictures for the both of ye. If ye have any questions, let me be knowin’.” 

The brothers spent the next hour filling out the documentation. Without discussing it, they agreed to leave out the parts of their adventure where they destroyed government property, probably killed a man, committed grand larceny, and several acts of petty theft. They just sort of glossed over how they got the money to travel halfway across the continent and did not name Paul in their illegal border crossing.

When they were finished, Gain handed the device back to Tiernan. While Tiernan looked over their answers Gain got up and started looking through the things on Tiernan’s bookshelves. Aiden picked at his fingernails for a while. When he was satisfied with those, whistled a couple of different tunes, tapped a couple of beats on the arms of his chair, and looked around the room.

About twenty minutes later, Tiernan tapped on the screen a few times. Then he turned toward the monitor on his desk and he typed on a keyboard. After a couple of minutes of that he reached into a desk drawer, pulled out two handheld screens, set them on the desk, and said, “Okay boys. I’m authorized to give ye each one o’ these. These are temporary, and will be shut off automatically after five days. You’ll need to come back to th’ consulate and check in on day five t’ get permission to keep usin’ ‘em. Your PIN to access the device is yer national ID number. Individual accounts have been set up for each of you and money has been sent to them. It’ll take twenty four hours for the money to show. I recommend yer first purchase be new mobile devices. Any questions?”

Gain said, “When do we get our new IDs?”

“The device will act as a temporary e-ID that should get you around without hassle while in the P.U. You’ll have new physical IDs printed and ready tomorrow morning. When ye get ‘em, please keep them stored separately from yer mobile.”

Aiden said, “So in twenty four hours we’ll have the money and ID needed to fly home?”

Tiernan replied hesitantly, “Ah, yes but ye can’t go home.”

The brothers gave Tiernan a confused look and Aiden said, “And why’s that?”

“Have ye not looked at any news yet today?”

The brothers shook their heads.

“There’s been some kind of attack back home. The details are still sparse, but suffice it t’ say that all travel has been canceled for now. Ye’ll not be able to get a flight home.”

Gain said, “An attack breached the barrier?”

Tiernan said, “Nay. The attack came from within.”

Aiden said, “Shite.”

After a pause Tiernan said, “Nothin’ t’ be done, boys, except wait.”

Gain said, “Right. Where do we find the driver? Our bags are still in the car.”

Tiernan told them where to find the driver and added that he would drop them off wherever they wanted to go. The brothers left with the driver. After they got to the car the driver asked, “Back to the house?”

Aiden replied, “Nah. Where can we eat?”

Gain looked at his brother as if to ask, What are you doing? But didn’t actually say it.

“Well, if you’re looking for food, I know a teahouse in the ferry building that has good tea and dim sum. They have tea from all over the world and their noodles are homemade. That’s where I’m going for lunch. If you want to go there, I’ll pick up the tab and charge it back to the consulate. It’s just a few blocks from here.”

Aiden said, “Sounds great. Haven’t had a good cuppa in nearly a year.”

The car started moving and the driver said, “Where’ve you been?”

Gain replied, “Midwest.”

The driver said, “In the CRONA? I’ve heard the northeast has some decent tea around New York but I think they’re better known for coffee and fizzy drinks.”

Gain said, “Coffee and fizzy drinks on every corner, in every flavor you could imagine.”

Aiden added, “But you can only get tea powdered or in bags unless you want it premade and refrigerated. And don’t get me started on sweet tea. What is it with the CRONA folks adding sugar to everything? A teaspoon in a cup is one thing, but to add so much that it may as well be a fizzy drink? That’s just criminal.”

After a couple of minutes and a little more discussion about the tea situation in North America the driver found a place to park on Steuart Street and they walked the rest of the way to the Ferry Building. The sunshine had warmed the day up a bit but it was still cool out and a bit breezy. The brothers followed the driver to a place called Imperial Tea. 

They sat at a table and browsed the menu. There must have been easily thirty different teas available but all three of them ordered indian assam black tea. The menu also contained several chinese noodle dishes and they each ordered something different. While they were there, they talked about home. The driver didn’t know much more about what was happening than they did but he had seen a couple of videos pop up on the Internet. It was hard to tell what was going on in them because the scenes were very chaotic. He knew one took place at the Connacht International Airport. It was short and he couldn’t see what was causing the commotion, just that a lot of people were running away from something. The video just cut off mid stream. The other showed a boat vanishing under the water on Lough Corrib. That one, the recording device fell into the water where it kept recording the dark water as it sank to the bottom of the lake. The news that had made it out had been largely speculation and the government hadn’t been very forthcoming.

The brothers shared a concerned look about the second video. That wasn’t far from the capital, Galway, where their mother was. Aiden thought, at least Granny and Grampy were further away, near Roscommon. 

They finished their lunch and the driver offered them a ride back home but Aiden declined, saying he wanted to take a look around. The driver bid them a good day and after he left, Gain said to Aiden, “What are you doing? That was our ride.”

Aiden said, “I wanna look around. We can get a ride from Paul later. You email him your new number?”

Gain said, “Yes. During lunch. He won’t be off work for a few more hours, though.”

“Perfect, let’s see what goes on around a California ferry building.”

They wandered around inside for a while, looked at the other restaurants and browsed the shops. Once they had seen everything inside, they went outside where they saw a large group of people waiting to board a ferry.

Aiden pointed and said, “Let’s go see the ferry come in.”

Gain shrugged and headed that way. He walked faster than Aiden so Aiden fell behind. Aiden noticed a sign that said 2pm Ferry Special Private Access Only and it had a symbol that looked like a bowl on top of a greek cross with a weird eyeball in the bowl.  Aiden spotted a couple of unattended white duffel bags by a bench. They had the same weird symbol as the sign. A quick glance around told him that nobody would notice so he snatched both bags and caught up with Gain at the end of the platform.

“Gain, wanna take a ferry ride?”

Gain glanced at Aiden and said, “We don’t have money for a ferry ride.”

“We have something better than that.” Aiden said as he dropped a bag at Gain’s feet. “Look. They’re lining up to board the ferry now. All of them have one of these bags. The sign had the same symbol on it and said the ferry ride is private access only. Watch.”

Gain and Aiden watched as the first couple of people to board just walked right on. A broad-shouldered ork wearing a white single breasted long wool coat over a blue skirt suit stood at the ramp to greet people and they were looking at the bags as people boarded. The ork stopped one passenger and made him turn his bag around to get a better look at it, then let him move on. The ork’s black hair was pulled into a tight bun. That combined with the flat-soled boots and the way they wore the coat, the brothers guessed that they were a lot more than just decoration and was probably armed.

Gain said, “You’re crazy. You want to crash a private party on a ferry to who-knows-where? That woman has more muscles under that coat than the two of us combined.”

Aiden noticed two people in the group were looking around anxiously where he had grabbed the bags from. “Yeah. Now or never.” Aiden quickly walked to the boarding line.

Gain hesitated, said, “Fuck!”, and then followed his brother.

When it was his turn, Aiden held his bag up for the woman to look at. She looked at it and then said, “They’ll only allow you to take the white bag with you once you’re there but you can sort that out on the other side.” She waved him by and said the same to Gain.

They found seats on the ferry next to each other. More people boarded after them. There was some commotion at the ramp as two people without bags held up the line but the gatekeeper must have taken care of things quickly because it wasn’t long before the ferry was underway.