Dreamers part 6.

The giant three hundred foot tall white marble statue of Paladin Fierabras stood looking out from its plinth across the curved sandy bay with an Easterly breeze blowing gently across the land as the little girl sat on the green grass enjoying the warmth of the sun as she continued on with her studies.

Her small hands danced through the air as she played with the translucent screens that floated around her as she opened and closed them with a snap of her fingers. She smiled and laughed for she loved nothing more than to immerse herself in her favorite subject that had become a passion for her now that she knew she had been chosen.

She was deep into a trace. A thread search that was leading her deeper and deeper into the data trove she had discovered a day or so ago at the Academy. Each thread tracked had led to another then another until she was reaching information that had originally been stored many thousands of years ago when digital and the collection of it for safekeeping was still new.

The breeze suddenly picked up and her long rustic auburn hair swirled around her as one particular data set caught her eye. Impatient, she reached up and brushed the hair away from her face as she brought the screen in front of her. Frowning, she increased the magnification and sharpness of the image that had drawn her attention for some reason. A low resolution image with twelve young people smiling on it. People that had lived in the distant past and who were nothing more than ghosts to her in the Sixty-ninth century.

But one of those ghosts stood out more than the others to her. A boy. She pointed at him and the screen zoomed in on his smiling face so that she could read the name under his image. Her eyes fixed on him intently. Who was he? Where was he from? More importantly, WHEN was he from? 

She heard someone calling her name and looked up to see a figure approaching her.

“Patushka esta morata dey, Kira,” said the woman laughing as she came to stand looking down at her five-year-old daughter with their little dog running around them.

The girl sprang to her feet and grabbed her small black case. “Petia soh deek!” she sighed as her studies faded away in the late afternoon sunlight and she followed her Mother up the small rise to where the transport was waiting for them. Today was a big day. It was the day her Mother set out on her fifth and final test mission in the ship. A very special ship. A ship that sailed the vast seas of time. 

The girl took her Mother’s hand as she looked over her shoulder. “Cado tey, Kiwo, Cado tey!” she called to her dog as they left behind the sights and sounds of Patomak bay. As they reached the top of the hill, Kira looked up into the wide blue and white canvas above and the only thing she could think about was the boy smiling at her from long ago.

A boy who was called Harry Watts.

***

Astro-geologist Gunther Wallander stepped back out of the shadows and took a deep breath as he glanced up at the sun sat high overhead on day fifteen of his mission to study the massive Martian impact crater Hellas Planitia in the southern hemisphere of the red planet.

The others in his crew were working at various points along the western rim as they tried to keep out of the direct sunlight as much as possible due to the effects of radiation. It had gone noon Earth GMT and he was nearly done as he brushed some of the fine dust from his white suit and put the specimens he had found into his pack. Suddenly there was a burst of static over his comlink and he reached up to tap the side of his helmet to try and make sense of the chatter.

“Wallander to base. Repeat please,” he shouted into the mic. He frowned and began to make his way up the side of the crater to improve the signal gain.

More chatter. Only this time more urgent. “………… Contact due North. Unidentified. Repeat. Unidentified. Moving towards your position. Confirm. Over.”

Contact? With what? Supply wasn’t due for another two days and Base was two kilometers to the East anyway. He frowned because it sounded like the Major on the radio which surprised him. Where was Logan? She was usually on comms duty during his five-hour evacs. “Say again, Base,” he shouted, “Did you say contact?”

The signal became clearer as he climbed over the ridge and stood looking out across the magnificent Martian landscape in all its pale eerie red beauty.

It WAS Major Wright on the line and he had never heard the man so intense and excited as he was usually as cool as a cucumber in any situation. “Wallander, we have a verified contact of unknown origin approaching your sector. Repeat. We have a UFO on local scan and you and your crew should be able to see it any second. Repeat. Can you confirm sighting. Over.”

UFO? What was he talking about? Wallander lifted the tinted faceplate that shielded his eyes from the bright sun and turned to look due North wondering if this was some sort of drill to keep them on their toes.

It was then everything changed forever as the shadow of a huge black vessel passed over him as he stood there open mouthed in shock and awe. In his helmet, he could hear the voices of his crew shouting at each other as he watched the opal shaped UFO slowly turn and begin to reduce height before hovering twenty feet or so above the red surface where it waited. 

It was twelve-thirty pm on the twenty-first of August in the year 2107. The day of first contact. The day the human race discovered they weren’t alone in the universe.

“Pause please, Lucy.”

The holo 3D image froze as I looked over to my personal sim who was stood to my left.

 “Yes, Harry,” said Lucy as she gave me a nod and a smile.

I returned the smile thinking what an amazing thing she was. Especially now I could see her instead of just being able to hear her. Kira had shown me how to set up an avatar to make it easier for me to interact with her and I had let Lucy herself create her own appearance. So now Lucy looked like a four-foot tall girl with a hint of the oriental about her. Her shoulder length hair was jet black that curled in at the neck and she had a pair of wide blue inquisitive eyes with dark lashes. She was my literal walking talking caring guide to the Universe and she was an absolute marvel to me.

It was then Kira returned and she smiled as she saw what we were up to when she entered our cabin. “Ah,” she said as she sat down beside me on the bed and gave me a brief kiss, “I see Lucy has got you studying already. A little history goes a long way and you have a lot of it to catch up on. The most important event in human history is a good place to start.”

“Figured I’d start from the top and work my down,” I said, turning back to Lucy who stood waiting for my next instructions, “Advance to first contact, Lucy.”

The hologram in front of us suddenly changed to reveal a small group of figures standing together on the surface of Mars. In front of them was the UFO looking ominous and imposing silhouetted against the red Martian sky as they waited for some sign of life. I asked  Lucy to pause the recording again as I got up from the bed and went to stand before the astronauts in front of me. My attention was drawn to what appeared to be the leader and I glanced at his name tag on the front of his spacesuit. A Major John Wright. On his left shoulder was a small American flag under which was written “Mars Corp 07 Expedition.”

The recording continued and I stood watching as the front of the UFO slid open to form a ramp. For a moment nothing happened, then a single bipedal figure appeared and stiffly walked down to stand before the group of waiting humans. The figure was tall, thin, and wearing some sort of black spacesuit as it stepped forward. I moved into the hologram to get a better view of the visitor through the visor of its black helmet and gasped as Kira came to my side and slipped her slim hand in mine.

More than anything, its features resembled those of an ant with dark bone like skin, huge latticed black eyes and an extended jaw with mandibles. I could feel my heart thumping in my chest as I stared at something that had happened thousands of years ago. I looked at Kira with tears in my eyes.

“Welcome to the Universe, Harry,” she whispered giving me a hug as the dark blue brown world of Sirius A Six loomed large in the viewport behind us.

***

We stood on a slight rise looking out towards the far horizon with the sun low in the deepest blue sky with two of its system planets, Sirius A Two and a distant Sirius A Four visible to the naked eye to the upper right of it.

Behind us was a small white shuttle which we had hired from the local spaceport for the day so we could head out to the place which meant so much to the woman at my side. I glanced at Kira who was wearing a matching orange and black environment suit and helmet so that we could breathe more easily due to the low oxygen content in the air.

We were three days into our trip and those days had been spent together talking about life, the universe – literally, and everything. And those times we weren’t discussing such things we made love until we couldn’t make love anymore. These times bound and forged our love into a thing beyond words. Like she had told me in a dream; she was mine and I was hers from now until the end of time.

Kira took my hand. “Come,” she smiled as she looked at me through the tinted visor of her helmet. We were heading to what looked like a small copse of purple-leaved trees on the far side of a blue-tinged valley that moved and swayed due to the slight breeze wafting over the landscape. As we made our way, I saw what looked like snub nosed lizard-like creatures about a foot long scuttling around with long dark grey feathered tails that swept back and forth as they ran away from us. I stood there watching them like a big kid at a zoo and Kira had to grab me by the hand to pull me away.

“Space lizards!” I protested and I could hear her laughing over the intercom at my childish enthusiasm as they disappeared into the undergrowth.

She was right. Life was everywhere.

***

I stood listening quietly as Kira told me the story of her Mother and how we now stood at what was presumed to be her last resting place. On the ground was a small gold plaque with strange letters written on it.

“I was only a little girl when she left on the mission and never came back,” said Kira softly as she stood looking down at the memorial, “From what I can remember, a special team was sent into the time stream to look for traces of my Mother’s ship. Some sort of engine signature that would point to exactly when the machine had dropped back into reality and from there to discover what happened to it. They were able to track it back to this exact position in space and the exact moment in time it had malfunctioned.”

“Sirius A Six and the year was 4042.” I nodded as things began to make more sense.

Kira glanced at me and smiled. “Nothing was ever found because nothing was ever meant to be. It was obvious what had happened to her when she had realized there was nothing she could do. As I told you, Harry, there are rules when traveling in time. Rules that have to be followed no matter what,” she explained.

“What about a distress signal?” I asked, “Couldn’t the ship have sent something like that?

Kira shook her head. “Catastrophic systems failure. My Mother was one of the original pilots during those first test missions and she would have known what had to be done. The number one rule is never be caught and never let the machine be recovered. The final report concluded that she had initiated the auto-destruct sequence killing herself and completely destroying the ship so that no trace of it would ever be found,” She glanced up at me and I could see her eyes shining with tears, “She was the ship and the ship was her. My Mother probably died right here.”

I didn’t say anything and let Kira have her moment. So this was why she was living in this time. Living somewhere close to the last memories of her Mother. That I completely understood and there was something noble about it in a way. But that raised other questions about how she was able to do that. To leave the Sixty-ninth century with a time machine and bring it to the Forty-first where time travel hadn’t even been invented yet. Wouldn’t whatever authorities in her original future not allow that? But the question didn’t need to be asked for Kira answered it before I could say anything.

“I stole it,” she whispered as she continued to stare down at the plaque.

***

Tupolov Spaceport was everything and yet nothing like I could ever have imagined. 

Situated a couple of kilometers outside of the main city Vestrava on the Northern most continent of four, the bustling upturned blue silver hubcap with its terminal extensions vibrated to the sound of traffic and crowds as ships and transports of every type and race arrived and departed constantly. 

Kira and I had returned from our brief trip to the interior and after the shuttle had docked we had made our way through the throng of people as she gave me a tour of the building. A couple of hours or so later we found ourselves on one of the observation decks looking out across the Western side of the terminal.

Another ship was approaching one of the bays and I watched fascinated as it slowly turned a graceful 180 with its orange and blue hull glistening brightly in the fading sunlight. It’s long shark-like shape bristling with short spikes which I later learned were proximity sensors for hauling cargo from one planet to the next. Space truckers were really a thing as a smaller boxy snub-nosed vessel rose up to meet it and guide it into the relevant docking bay. In the distance, I could already see more transports waiting their turn to dock with their landing lights winking in the gathering gloom.

“Just another day on the job,” I said turning to my partner as she sat beside me enjoying my reactions to everything that I was seeing.”How many?” I asked her, “How many are there out there?”

Kira took another sip of juice from her container. “As of right now?” she mused as she turned to me and rested her right arm on the back of the seat we were sitting on.”Oh, I’d say about eighty thousand more or less have made verifiable contact. These are species that have all achieved the basic requirements that classify them as a recognizable civilization. Some have only been around for a few million years or so while some have been around for billions and are the original backbone that formed the first Galactic Systems Group. You have already met one of their kind, Harry.” she revealed as she ran her fingers idly through my hair as she edged closer to me. Such was my rapt attention at what was going on outside the window, I barely felt her reach around and gently touch the implant behind my right ear while whispering something in my left.

“Kul Dak,” I nodded as I remembered my own first contact a few days ago. The walking talking turtle guy who turned out to have three wives, or Botha as he called them, along with nine kids and three more that were due to hatch in about three Sirius months. He and his family belonged to something that began billions of years ago and were one of the first true galactic civilizations. Incredible. Mind-bending. In those terms, we had barely stepped onto the beach let alone set out on the ocean of space to discover what was out there.

How many planetary civilizations had risen and fallen to disappear forever? I shook my head trying to get my tiny mind around the kinds of time scales involved as another huge battleship grey container ship bristling with cargo suddenly appeared to the far North as it dropped to sub-light speed and came to a silent stop. I was in awe watching all this feeling like a geeky kid in a sweet shop. I could quite happily sit and watch this all day long. But the woman sat next to me had other – better – ideas.

“Harry.”

“What?” I said, still transfixed at the exotic dance that was going on outside as I watched and listened to spaceport control handle the traffic that were all waiting in an elaborate holding pattern.

“Harry,” said Kira again as I felt her come closer, “I think you should turn around and look at me.”

“Hmmmm?” I mumbled as I reluctantly turned my head to see what she wanted trying not to miss anything going on outside. Time suddenly stopped as my mouth dropped open in shock. Holy shit. Whatever I was going to say next just died in my throat as I stared at the nearly naked woman smiling shyly back at me. The only thing she was wearing was a red negligee which strangely enough seemed oddly familiar.

“Kira,” I gasped, “What are you?” I watched stunned as she elegantly moved her bare left leg over me until she sat astride my thighs so that I ended up staring at her perfect bell-shaped breasts which were barely hidden by her flimsy garment. I quickly forgot about the world outside because what I was looking at now was much more stunning and amazing to me as I slowly looked her up and down as she sat there blushing on my lap.

“Do you like it?” she whispered as she rubbed  her hands slowly up over her belly and breasts giving each of them a squeeze before running her hands through her thick, long luscious hair, “Isn’t this the kind of thing the women of your time used to wear?”

“Yeah,” I muttered unable to take my eyes off her as I glanced around wondering why no one was taking the least bit of notice of what she was doing, “But none wore it half as good as you do right now.”

Kira gave me a wicked smile as she laid herself on me kissing my neck with her tongue teasing my left ear. “Ssssssssh,” she whispered as she rotated her crotch against my growing excitement, “Only you can see me this way, my love.”

Okay. Alright. Whatever you say. But I can still see them which felt as freaky as fuck to me. Having sex in public wasn’t exactly my thing even if they couldn’t see us as I sat there biting my lip trying not to make a sound as my randy partner began to take charge.

Kira eased her hands down between us and grinned at the startled look on my face. “Think of it as a little something I brought with me when I left home three thousand years from now. Those around us can only see what I want them to see.”

“You’re going to put me in a hospital,” I groaned as the v-neck of her negligee opened more to reveal those full breasts curving excitingly with her nipples hard and eager for my lips and touch.

 “Would that be such a bad thing?” she teased softly as she tried hard not to laugh at the still stunned and embarrassed expression on my face as people walked obliviously around us as we sat there on the seat having sex.

I raised my eyebrows. “It will be if we get arrested first, lady.”

“Don’t you want me, Harry?” she breathed as her eyes dropped to the utility belt around my waist. She eased forward and kissed me as she slowly undid the binder and pulled the front of my flight suit open leaving my by now painfully erect member free for her to play with. 

“Sometimes,” she whispered against my lips, “All I can think about is how this thing of yours makes me feel inside and how the more you give it to me the more I want of it,” She glanced up as she slowly masturbated me, “Like that?” she grinned innocently, “Does it please you to look at me in this way?”

“It pleases me very much, Kira,” I told her as I held her squirming hips and lifted her up so that her waiting sex was directly above my eager erection. “Tell me what you want, Kira,” I asked her as her head dropped forward smothering us both under the veil of her hair, “Tell me what you need.”

Her lips claimed mine with a passion that took the breath away and I could feel her warm breath against my skin as I reached around to pull her down onto me as I slid up into her hot wet depths.

Safe to say the next few minutes were filled with the weirdest sex I have ever or would ever have as she rode my throbbing cock until we both climaxed together and I held her tight to me as I filled her rippling slot. After savoring the moment, I slowly opened my eyes for I had the strange feeling we were being watched. I turned my head to the right to see a squat, four foot tall, orange-skinned, two armed, three-legged ball of gloop staring at me with a pair of blue eyeballs on the end of six-inch stalks.

“Uh,” I mumbled as Kira began to stir in my arms as she brushed the hair from her flushed face.

Kira smiled when she saw what I was staring at and said something which made the creature twitter in a high pitched squeak and tap the side of its bald spotty head. To my surprise, it pointed at me and gave me a nudge followed by what looked like a wink with the eyestalk nearest me.

Kira shook her head, kissed me on the cheek and said something in reply. The thing sighed and reached over to pinch my right cheek before turning and waddling off towards the exit whistling to itself.

I turned and looked at Kira who was biting her lip trying not to laugh. “I thought you said nothing could see us!”

Kira sat back, yawned and stretched erotically on my lap. “Well,” she sighed happily as I  noticed a red tinge flicker in the air around us, “Not exactly. There are some species who can see things on more than one visual spectra. That Genth was obviously one of them I guess.”

“What did he say?” I asked as I watched the thing stop and wave at me before leaving the observation deck and disappearing into the crowd.

“She.”

“What?”

Kira leaned forward and kissed me on the lips as she eased herself off my lap. As she did so, the red negligee slowly faded away to be replaced by the outfit she had previously been wearing and she gave me a smile as she nodded at my still exposed crotch. “Best buckle up, Harry,” she grinned, “Before I pull back the screen to reveal the Wizard.”

“It was female?” I grunted as I made myself presentable, “And?”

She got to her feet running her fingers through her thick red hair as she stood smiling down at me. “Oh, you know. Just girl talk. She asked if I was having fun and could she join in.”

I stared up at her. Join in? Was she serious?

“You’re kidding,”

Kira raised her eyebrows in amusement. “That’s what she asked. Do you want me to go get her?” she asked, “She seemed quite keen on you, Harry. I guess she would need to show you what to do seeing as you’re new to all this. Basic things like what goes where and all that. You’d enjoy it,” she explained as she picked up her bag and began to leave as I stood there looking like an idiot wondering if she was having me on.

She stopped and turned around. “Come on,” she laughed.

***

The old man stood before the row of silver time machines that gleamed under the lights as he contemplated which one to steal. Each was identical to the next and the only difference was the soul and character of each ship.

“Which one to choose?” he muttered to himself as he ran a hand through his thick white hair, “Which one to explore time and space with?”

From left to right, he looked at each in turn. Decisions Decisions. This was ridiculous. He should hurry up for the guard could return any second. His gaze turned to the third ship in the line. He had always been partial to the number three. Three it would be. He stepped forward and was about to enter the machine when a voice stopped him.

“Wait!” said the girl.

The old man turned to see a young woman with long brunette hair tied into a ponytail which hung down her back. She was strikingly pretty but he frowned at her for he had no time to lose by talking to this complete stranger.

“Who are you?” he said frustrated.

“A friend,” she replied.

“And what do you want?” he asked.

The girl stepped forward and nodded to the machine next to her. Number seven. “Take this one,” she told him, “That one has a tracker installed inside the time rotor. They will find you before you even realize you were gone. Trust me.”

He stared at her. Who was this girl?

“And why should I trust you?”

The stranger smiled. “Because I’m the only one you can,” she told him as he approached where she was standing as he glanced between her and the ship next to her.

The old man slowly nodded. There was something about this girl. She was different somehow. He took the key she held up for him and entered the time machine for the first time.

“Till we meet again,” he said, holding up his hand and giving her a faint smile as he closed the door.

The girl stood back and watched as the Tardis dematerialized and began its long journey.

“Till we meet again, Doctor,” said Clara.

***

“You stole it?”

Kira stood staring into the far distance but I knew the only thing she was seeing was a memory from far into the future. The metal shoulder plates on her evac suit glistened in the late afternoon sunlight as we stood together on the surface of Sirius A Six.

She nodded and turned to give me a weak smile. “When my Mother didn’t return, I was brought into the Academy who took care of me until I had reached an age where I understood the reasons why I was there.”

“My mother was someone very special and she was a pioneer in the science of time travel and what its discovery meant. How such things as a simple miscalculation could alter the time stream and change everything. Every action has a reaction with consequences so each trip was calculated and managed down to the smallest detail so that nothing could go wrong. It worked for a few years but then my Mother disappeared.”

Kira turned to me. “The day she disappeared was the day I found you,” she smiled as she took my right hand in hers, “I was only five years old but I remember it as if it was yesterday.”

She raised her right hand and waved it through the air in front of her. Suddenly an image appeared and floated there between us. It looked like a page from a book with a number of faces on it. I frowned for it seemed familiar and then I gasped when I realized what it was. It was a page from my old school yearbook with a number of students on it. Including me. Smiling from the distant past without a care in the world.

“This was the first time I ever saw you, Harry,” she said, “I promised myself then I’d find out who you were no matter how long it took.”

Kira waved her other hand across her chest. “And this is the moment I first met you,” A second later another image appeared alongside the first. It was a photograph I had come to know every detail of by heart. The one my Grandfather had taken of my Gran and myself when I was six by the sea. It had been the day the strange girl had come up to me and said hello. The image showed a nineteen-year-old Kira in her flight suit kneeling beside me as we both looked at the camera smiling.

She moved her hand slightly and the photo slowly turned to reveal what had been written on the back. But I already knew what they were because I had written those words thousands of years ago back in my bedroom when I was eighteen.

“She’s real.”

Our eyes met. Yes, she was. She was very real.

***

We walked and talked as Kira revealed her secrets to me.

“How old are you?” I asked her. 

“Oh, I’m nineteen or so,” she said, “Though living on Sirius A Three does complicate things from an age perspective. But I tend to think of such things from where I originally came from.”

“And where do you originally come from?”

“Kansas,” she answered as she laughed at the surprised look on my face.

Seriously?

“Kansas Kansas?”

“Kansas Kansas,” she smiled, “Original Earth June 14th 6897. My Mother told me I was born to her on a beautiful Summers day in a place overlooking the sea. As for my Father, he was never really there when I was growing up and after she disappeared I saw him even less until I never saw him at all. All I remember was a man who was never happy at home. A wanderer as my Mother used to call him. I have no idea what happened to him. You can’t miss someone that was never there to begin with.”

“So you made the Forty-first century your home.”

Kira nodded. “I think I’ve always found the past far more interesting than the future. Once I arrived in this time they made me very welcome and only very select few know who I am and what I represent. The only things I’ve told them are the only things they need to know,” she grinned, “I enjoy my anonymity and go where I please. All of my trips to your century have been from this one.”

I shook my head in open admiration of her. “You’re an amazing woman, Kira J. I’d have been long gone if it wasn’t for you,” I turned and looked around where we were standing and up at the awakening night sky, “All this is just incredible to me.”

Kira sat on the ground and I took my place beside her as she continued to tell me the story of her life.

“I always knew that one day I would go looking for my Mother,” she said simply, “But the Academy refused to sanction such a trip because a search party had already been sent to the last known position of her ship. They told me I couldn’t go to where they had already been as it was too dangerous. But I didn’t listen to them,” Kira reached down and picked up a handful of dark sand which she let slowly slip through her gloved fingers, “So I began to make a plan. A plan to take a machine and go retrace her final trip. To find out for myself what happened to her. And I did. I was sixteen by the time I left and I knew I could never go back.”

“Why didn’t they come to take you back?” I asked her. Surely, the return of the time machine was the most important thing. But then again, why would it matter when it was now a reality to a select few individuals in this time. That such a ship exists is an absolute historical fact in this timeline now.

Kira shrugged and turned to look at the stunning vista as the orange, yellow and red cloud base that partially hid the waning sun slowly disappeared over the horizon with the first flickerings of starlight appearing above our heads.

“Because I’m smart,” she replied, “And because I reset the onboard telemetric data cores of all eighty-three machines in the fleet so that they couldn’t jump to the time period I was going to. I also set up a fail-safe in case they tried to break the code which stopped them from auto-returning the ship and stranding me here forever. The fact it is still here means they haven’t managed to do that yet,” Kira turned back to me, “Though I suspect they may have given up on the idea of taking me back.”

“What makes you think they’ll stop trying?”

“The mission,” she said quietly, “Because they know I’m part of it and always will be. They know my ship will be there with the others when I decide it is time to go. That could be tomorrow, a week, six months or years from now. Everything is set. The profile with the precise coordinates has already been compiled in the data core. That’s the thing about fixed points in time. They are always there no matter when or where you are. The only rule I absolutely must follow is to go when I’m young and in my prime.”

“And you want me to go with you on this mission?”

The time traveler glanced at me before looking away. “Yes,” she said, “But the choice is yours and yours alone, Harry. It will be very dangerous and the possibility of failure is great. But it is something I have to do.”

I nodded. “Where you go I go, remember.”

Kira stared at me for a long time as we sat together watching the most spectacular sunset imaginable. She held my hand as the long day slipped slowly into the blackness of the dark night as she told me about the mission.

She gripped my hand tighter and looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “Remember when you told me that you would love me until the end of time?”

As it turned out it was a year and a day before we departed.

***

The Final Mission.

The Universe was at an end and the remains of what it had been hurtled catastrophically towards the exact point that had given birth to it. What remained had turned into a molten boiling circular wave with galaxies colliding with each other as matter both dark and light merged into one.

With seconds left, the time ships and their pilots began to arrive. Every machine that had ever been built had come to complete their final mission knowing that not all of them – if any – would survive.

There was a blinding flash and even through the tinted cockpit of our ship I winced as the shockwaves began to violently shake the machine as we dropped out of the shrinking time stream into what was left of space. Kira was staring at the console as it streamed huge amounts of spatial and temporal data so the ship could calculate the final trajectory and the exact moment it would need to fire its engine.

“How many ships?” I shouted at her as the ship groaned under the immense pressures being placed upon it. The protective shield around the hull was holding but only just.

Kira sat forward checking the scanner. “Fifty-two,” she shouted back as another blast rocked us from side to side, “Fifty,” she continued, “Forty-eight, forty-one, thirty-five, thirty, twenty-three, fourteen!”

She turned to look at me wild-eyed at what was left of the fleet as it slowly disappeared from the console display in front of us. This was impossible. What remained of this Universe was exploding around us as the time machine navigated through the debris field of collapsing stars and planets.

“Five,” said Kira, “Four, three,” She looked at me through the helmet she was wearing with her face illuminated by the four small lights along the top of her face guard, “Harry,” she whispered.

It was no use. We had failed. Everything was about to end and it was only a matter of time before it was our turn.

Whatever was going to happen would happen. If we were meant to survive we would as we stared at each other as we sat side by side in her time machine. Kira smiled at me. She had done it. She had finally completed her mission. The mission she had been born to attempt no matter what. The final mission to survive beyond the end of the Universe.

Now that it was happening, all we could do was wait and hope.

“I love you, Kira J. More than words can say,” I told her, knowing these could be the last words I would be able to say to her as we waited for the end.

She was crying as she nodded. “And I you, Harry Watts.”

The end when it came was sudden and spectacular as space and time ended. In that final moment, the very fabric of reality flared brightly as if a billion suns had combined with the wormhole suddenly appearing and disappearing in the blink of an eye.

We held each other tight as the engine of the last remaining time machine fired.

***

the DReAMers – Epilogue.

Kira and I stood before the light holding hands as time and space began to create the past and present with the future simply a dream.

“Ready?” she smiled up at me as the essence of her shone brightly with love and devotion in her eyes. Wherever we were there was no other place I’d rather be than with her now. There was never any doubt that I would go with her on her mission when she said she’d understand if I didn’t. Where she went I followed. My love for this woman had literally led me to the end of time and beyond.

“Will we dream together?” I asked her as the light began to surround us.

This woman who loved me came into my arms and held me to her. “Are we not DReAMers, Harry?” she whispered, “Isn’t life nothing more than an impossible dream?”

The bright light consumed everything with the time machine easing us gently into our shared dream state as the long sleep began with the birth of the new Universe happening around us as we slept.

The ship would wake us when the time was right.

***

Seven million years later,

The black steed twisted away as its white shining Knight fought to keep the giant red dragon at bay with his silver-tipped lance. The creature roared and spat out a fiery flame with its huge scaled wings flapping wildly around it as it watched its enemy warily. The battle had been long and fierce and the dragon was determined to beat his foe this time.

High above in the bluest blue sky, the girl flew in a graceful arc before she stopped, prepared a poison-tipped arrow, and drew her golden bow to take aim.

“The heart, Kira!” I shouted through my silver iron helm, “Strike the heart to kill the monster dead!”

Beneath me, my horse was grunting and snorting as it about faced so I could heft the lance to protect me from the dragon’s bite. The Lionheart banner with its red cross on white fluttered behind me on the pole strapped to my back as I threatened death to those who would dare challenge the Dutchy of Aquitaine!

“Piasto dax torksato vey!!” yelled Kira in her native tongue as her arrow sped true and firm into the chest of the beast which screamed and hissed in pain before twisting on its back as it died as it had done many, many times before.

Jumping off my horse, I ran to where the dragon lay as my fellow adventurer floated to the ground next to me. The woman I loved was smiling and her eyes shone with excitement as we both stared at our conquest. Kira glanced at me and I could see the sparkle of familiar anticipation in her gaze as the green and gold outfit she was wearing slowly began to fade away until she stood there before me naked as the day she was born.

Kira raised her right hand and waved a finger. “One day, Harry Watts,” she scolded me with a smile, “We shall finish this adventure without you wanting me naked.”

“But that’s the best part!” I protested as I began to remove my armour as we both stood together on a plateau of lush green grass that stretched as far as the eye could see under a never-ending sky. Another dance was about to begin but this time it was the dance of life and not death. No matter how many dreams there were going to be, they almost all ended in the same passionate and sexual way between us and that would never ever change.

Even in this strange suspended moment, I meant to have her again and again for the taking of her would never not be a miracle to me.

***

The dream faded as Kira and I lay together in stasis floating in a place where time and space didn’t exist. In this place, neither of us had aged a day and never would as the time machine kept us alive and safe. The only thing that mattered was that we had continued to exist and were together.

How many days had passed since we had been put into hibernation?

Kira raised her head and looked at me as she lay across my bare chest. We were both naked which was somehow appropriate as we waited for the machine to give birth to us.

“From nothing there appeared something,” she whispered as she traced a finger across my chest as I stared up into the empty darkness, “And from something there became everything until life returned back to nothing so it could start over again. Life becomes death. Death means rebirth.”

The old Universe was gone. All that was left of it were the memories Kira and I had of it and those memories would become the stories that would be told from generation to generation after we were both long gone. I glanced at Kira as she lay there naked beside me and at the three small rings on her right forearm.

Those three rings that made Kira special.

They were the only sign of her genetic upgrade which had been done when she was still in her Mother’s womb. To change her gene sequence so that every child she bore would be a unique individual and not an evolution so that in the event of there only being one ship to survive the mission, the offspring of those pilots could continue the line without fear of genetic mutations destroying it.

From Kira J all human life would come.

***

We continue to dream. Those moments turned into minutes then hours turned into days and days became countless years. Then one day as we continued on in our deep sleep something changed..

“Home again. Home again. Jiggidy jig.”

I slowly opened my eyes to see Kiwo standing in front of us in the void. I blinked and tried to focus as another small figure appeared at her side.

“Hello Harry,” said a cheerfully smiling Lucy.

Beside me, Kira began to stir and quickly sat up with surprise as her friend gave her a shy wave, “Kiwo!” she gasped as both sims held hands and did a little happy dance in front of us.

“Why are you here?” she asked as she got to her feet.

Kiwo stepped forward. “Time to wake up, Kira J and Harry,” she whispered, “Time to wake up!”

***

The time machine floated above the green grass as it began the process of waking its sleeping passengers. Above all else, its one mission was to protect those within and ensure their survival as they emerged onto this new world somewhere in the new Universe.

There was a soft hiss as the canopy slid back as Kira undid her safety harness. We were both still wearing our pilot suits and I glanced at her as we both stared out across the landscape of our new home. In front of the ship, Kiwo and Lucy were running around laughing and playing as Kira checked the initial readings on the console with the time machine collecting and streaming the environmental data in real time.

“Alright?” I asked her.

She nodded. “I think so. Pressure and oxygen ratio appear to be within safety limits. Readings show substantial variations of terrain with abundant vegetation and other basic forms of life.”

Kira turned in her seat and raised her eyebrows as she watched me undo my helmet and take it off. I slowly drew the first breath into my lungs and held it as I closed my eyes. The air was pure and fresh as a warm breeze swirled gently around the ship. Above us, a young sun sat high in the sky with the shadows of at least two other planets in orbit around it.

“You first,” I smiled at Kira as she removed her helmet and shook her long hair free, “Your name should be the one to go down in the history books. Pity we don’t have a flag.” I grinned as I watched her climb out of the time machine as Kiwo and Lucy stood there automatically recording the event for future historians.

It was Kira J, a time traveler from the Sixty-ninth century who was the first human to set foot on this world as she turned to look at me as I got out to stand with her on our new home we decided to call Eden.

***

Somewhere over the rainbow.

Dreams are the places we go to experience the impossible. We are all dreamers and have been since the beginning of time until its very end.

This was the story of two special DreAMers who wanted to dream a little more.

***

The End.

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