Eve In Utopia

Chapter Seven

Eve stood at the top of the steep hill watching the last people straggling up over the uneven ground towards the portal that shimmered in the air beside her. When she glanced at the portal, Eve saw it flicker and knew they didn't have much time left. The solar flares from the planet's sun were getting worse and her employers could only keep the portal open for a finite period of time due to the tremendous energy expenditure required.

"How much time do we have left asked Rourke who stood beside her, as he too had noticed the flickering of the portal.

"Only minutes I think," replied Eve who wanted to yell to the people to hurry up, but remained quiet, only urging them forward with gestures of her arms. She couldn't even go down to help them as the device strapped to her wrist provided the anchor point that her employers needed to access the portal and keep it open. No amount of nagging or urging could speed up the progress of the stragglers as they were exhausted by their long march to the only point where the portal could be opened and by the steep climb. They hadn't been in great physical condition to start with as they had struggled to survive on their dying world.

The people of Venturi IV weren't human, though they and humanity possibly shared a common ancestor in the dim past of the galaxy. Eve didn't think even her employers knew why or how that might be, but there was enough general resemblance to cause speculation. The Venturi had two arms, two legs, and faces with two eyes, two ears, a nose and a mouth which seemed all too much similarity to be a coincidence. You had to look closer to see the differences such as the extra finger and toe on each hand and foot and a total lack of any hair on any part of their body. There were, her employers assured Eve, some more significant internal differences, but you could easily pass a Venturi on a dark Earth street and not immediately know you were looking at an alien. Maybe it was the speculation that the Venturi and humans were related, if only something akin to third cousins explained her employer's interest in saving the Venturi from their doomed world, though her employers in their usual fashion had not shared their motivations with Eve. Not that there had been that many left to rescue as only a few thousand had remained alive and within marching distance of the point where the portal had to be. It would be touch and go for the Venturi to survive and reestablish their culture on the new world on the other side of the portal. There might not be enough genetic diversity, or one good epidemic might finish what their sun had started. Eve knew the odds were still against the Venturi, but at least they would have a chance which was why her employers had sent her here.

Rourke leaned down and pulled the very pregnant Misrel up over the last steep bit, a function that also kept him next to the portal instead of going down the hill to help the handful remaining on the slope. Rourke half shoved Misrel through the portal despite the woman's protests.

"I can't go without Kira and Jax," she cried.

"They are coming," Rourke assured the distraught woman and maneuvered her through the portal even as he looked down the hill to where Misrel's younger teen sister Kira was labouring up the hill carrying Misrel's two year old son Jax. Misrel had been in no condition to carry her son, but the malnourished young Kira was in little better shape as she brought up the rear. Still, there should be enough time, thought Eve, as she glanced at the portal again looking for signs of failure. Rourke, hauled the second last person, an old man limping along with a cane, up the slope and propelled him towards the portal. Now there was only Kira and Jax left and suddenly Eve heard a snapping sound as Kira gave a cry and sprawled to the ground with a broken ankle from a misstep into a deep crack in the parched ground.

"Here, take this," said Eve stripping off her wristband and handing it to Rourke. "Keep the portal open and I'll get them. I'm faster than you," and then the blonde was leaping down the slope in bounds to where Kira was struggling to make it to her feet, still cradling Jax in her arms. Eve reached the girl just in time to catch her and save her from another fall as her ankle gave way under her weight. "Lean on me," she ordered Kira as she took the child from her arms and looked back up the hill towards Rourke and the portal. The portal flickered again and even vanished for a fraction of a second before steadying again and Eve knew there wasn't time to get the girl and the child to the top before it vanished for good. Eve knew she could make it by herself, but her mission was to save as many of the Venturi as she could.

"Catch," she screamed up at Rourke and threw Jax up to him where the large Venturi caught him by reflex alone. "Go through the portal now!" Eve ordered him, but Rourke hesitated as he looked down at her. "I can't make it, save the child. It's important that you save the child." Eve didn't know what made her think the life of one small child was so important, but she felt a certainty deep inside her that it was true. There were tears in Rourke's eyes as he mutely nodded and stepped through the portal a millisecond before it closed.

Beside her, Kira gave an anguished cry as the portal disappeared and Eve eased the young girl down gently onto the ground. "No, we've got to get to the top," sobbed Kira. "Maybe they will reopen the portal."

"I'm sorry, but they can't," said Eve softly putting an arm around Kira's shoulder and drawing the girl closer to comfort her. "It will take at least another three of your days to build up the energy required to open the portal and without the wristband I was wearing, there is nothing to anchor it at this point."

Kira drew away slightly from Eve's embrace so she could look the alien woman in the eyes. "I, I'm scared," she whispered. "I don't want to die."

"It's alright Kira, I'll be here with you, so you won't be alone," Eve murmured running her hands over the girl's back to try and calm her. "Dying alone is hard. I should know," and suddenly Eve knew how true that phrase was since she had died that way so many times before. The closeness of death brought back those hidden memories in a rush. Her employers must have thought it had all been for the best, that no one could remain sane remembering all the times they had died. Eve felt a twinge of bitterness towards her employers at withholding those memories from her, but there was no point in holding onto such emotions here at the very end. Maybe the next time, she would remember. Eve glanced up at the sky and saw a bright flash from the sun and pulled Kira closer again so the girl's head rested on her shoulder and she couldn't see the sun. Even light took a few minutes to travel the vast distance from the sun to the fourth planet of this solar system. During those minutes, Eve continued to hold Kira and whisper soothingly to her until the atmosphere caught fire.

Eve woke up screaming in her room in New Utopia and was surprised to find herself alone. She had been sure, she would have found Kira still nestled against her body. It was only a dream, she told her heart as it hammered in her chest and finally it seemed to listen and returned to its normal pace, though her skin was still drenched in sweat. There was no sound from Joy's room, so either she hadn't woken the other woman up this time, or Joy was still out with her friends. Knowing she wouldn't be able to go back to sleep, Eve swung out of bed and headed for the showers. It was going to be a long day.

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