Piece Simul ✔

Chapter 64-Russ-End of the Line

The damn invites.

They were so cliche, so obviously from a movie, that of course Russ had sent them.

Thus, she dropped another thought into Sandi's mind:

Paper makes a statement.

One by one, the invites arrived where they had before---Russ's locker at work. Guin's office. Samuel's lab. Tiptree's apartment. Forster during a sad solo dinner.

Their lives were shit, mostly. Predictably, they called the number, spoke with Sandi, and accepted the mission.

Several times, Russ deleted Jason and Kathar from the crew list, but Sandi always added them back.

As she trained alongside Jason, past-Russ smiled and traded banter. He played the part of gentleman and friend. He never let it slip that he harbored hate for humanity, or believed in The Culling.

Astral-Russ took the leap, and left mental notes for past-Russ:

Jason is not who he seems.

Even the blatant thought did not leave much of an impact. Past-Russ was undeterred in her friendship with Jason. She shared tips on laser pistols, and he gifted her with a rare comic book.

Astral-Russ imparted another warning:

Jason will hurt you.

This gave past-Russ pause. When Jason held her gently by the elbow, she just as gently extricated herself. But she wasn't like Samuel. The foreign thoughts failed to inspire detective-like digging, they only sowed underlying distrust.

~*~

Launch day arrived. Again.

The last of the crew boarded, and the others, past-Russ included, completed the launch checklist.

Past-Russ scoured her stations with a crooked smile. Genly followed, updating her on the ship's inventory. Samuel stopped her to ask about the back-up protocol mechanism.

"Still ship-shape," Past-Russ told him, lips lifting at the pun Astral-Russ remembered as intentional.

"Always good to be thorough," Samuel said, walking away without saying another word.

Past-Russ shook her head, addressing Genly, "Gentleman like that prolly gets all the ladies."

A tense awe coursed through Russ as she watched what she had already experienced so many years before.

It was all so different. Russ had taken the ship for granted, never noticing the glint of the sun refracting off the hull and throwing a rainbow of color across the surrounding bay.

It was all so familiar. The vibe from the crew screamed hope. Russ remembered feeling stifled but giddy with it. Now, seeing the fresh smiling faces of the departing crew, she just felt empty.

The hope hadn't seemed to matter, in the end.

As the ship closed up for final launch prep, Astral-Russ hung back in the family visiting wing. There she found Kass, Chabon, and a hawkish man Russ assumed was Guin's father.

Kass chatted up Chabon, who looked less than interested. Guin's father drilled an Institute tech, insisting he be allowed into the launch room. The tech denied his request. Soon after, he left, huffing about the lack of God-fearing folk.

Chabon departed soon after. Kass with the only one who stayed to watch the launch. She strained to follow the ship catapulting through the clouds, smoke and fire propelling it upward. Long after the trail of smoke dissipated, she remained, hand lingering on the observation partition, as if that touch could recall her loved one back home.

Samuel had given Russ a long list of candidates to share the vaccine with. Watching Kass, and knowing her ties to the scientific community, Russ thought she had found the perfect person in which to trust.

She entered Kass's mind, appearing as a well-organized warehouse. Russ strolled about in search of where to leave the detailed formula.

One crate, marked Tiptree in red letters, stood out. Astral-Russ pulled out the crate, and dropped in the most important note she had shared with anyone. As she slid the crate back in place, she considered her timing. She could have shared this with cast earlier then today.

Then again, that would've made Tiptree stay, and that wouldn't have worked.

She disconnected from Kass. After doing so, an unnerving pull started in her gut, expanding into her limbs. The grey shroud flickered.

Bubbles of oxy-water filled her vision. The straps snapped at her wrists.

Russ shook her head, and the bubbles disappeared. Kass stood in front of her again, head down, tears streaming as she mourned the long trip her wife had volunteered for.

Suddenly, an idea lit Russ up.

I have to warn them.

Samuel and Forster needed to know about Kathar. But the ship had slipped through the atmosphere hours ago. In order to plant the seed in their minds, she would have to rewind time.

Russ concentrated on the time she wanted to get back to. The grey shroud shimmered.

The pull was immense, stripping everything from Russ.

She wouldn't figure it out until much later, but she was recalled past the magnetic waves of Earth, hurtling through space and time with the past-Delany, being thrown back into her body in present-day Delany.