ATALIS

CHAPTER 15: A NEW DAY

It’s been three Earth months since the meeting with the one who called himself the Pursuer of Men, and the one that called itself the One Who Saves.

I stand in the street of the new colony on the moon, which we have decided to call Atalis, and the gas giant, Greater Atalis. We had the kindergarten kids make up the names for a fun contest, and the scientists voted in favor of those names. No single person really made the discovery of the planet, and this gave the kids who would grow up and raise families here a sense of legacy. And, calling a moon or a gas giant the Godspeed sounded weird.

Candice leans beside me, staring up at the gas giant’s crescent in the sky. I gesture over to the deck off to our left at the house we’re staying in and we walk over to it and to two chairs on the deck. I sit down on one and she sits down in the other, and I pick up two popsicles from out of a cooler and offer her the chocolate one. I take the banana one and take the wrapper off, and put it in the recycler.

“How long til the ceremony?” Candice asks, licking her popsicle.

“One-hundred minutes,” I reply, glancing at her.

“It’s really weird to live on a planet that has such a looooong day.” Candice elongates the word and runs a hand through her blonde hair. “Is it ninety-five hours or ninety-six?”

“Ninety-five point four Earth hours long.” I reply, then taking a lick of my popsicle. “It’s basically four Earth days. Which makes it convenient to split into parts. They’re still working on the calendar I think.”

“Yeah.” Candice nods. “Coming here really messed a lot of stuff up. Everyone was prepared for Proxima, and now we have a much better colonization site, but they haven’t made any progress figuring out where we are, have they?”

“Some. It will help when the navigation system on the ship is back up.”

“Yeah. Hey, Hayden, now that you’re feeling okay, are you going to start taking a look at the stuff on the Promise?”

I look at her curiously. “Yes. I start in 36 hours. Why?”

“Just. When you see the security footage of when we fought those monsters off, while you were crawling through the vent with that snake, I make a really dumb face. Try and ignore that.”

I laugh out loud, and she does too.

“I promise I won’t laugh. It’ll be good to get to doing things again. I feel weird having been just resting for so long, and making sure everything works like it should. It’s also weird that people... know.”

That I’m an Android. Candice just smiles at me.

“It wouldn’t have changed anything for me.” She shakes her head. “Not about how I feel, I mean. That won’t change at all.”

I smile at her. I wish I could have met Candice before getting aboard the Godspeed. Though she wouldn’t have been the same person. All of her experiences aboard the ship have given shape to a person that somehow, very much likes me for who I am. Organic or android. Though she often uses the term “goof” to describe me, which I believe is an archaic Earth term for someone who acts in strange and unpredictable manners, though often for humorous results or reasons. I don’t agree, but I stopped arguing about it too.

Candice looks toward the sky and up toward the gas giant, Greater Atalis hanging above us, dominating the sky with brilliant tan and red and blue colors.

“Oh. You remember Percy?” Candice asks, looking over at me.

I meet her gaze and nod. “Course I do. Why?”

“He... well, he and Harvey have been working through a lot. Harvey I think has changed a lot since you and I last talked to him. I was thinking of going over and visiting their place after the ceremony. Do you want to come with me?”