Shadow Of The Past Trilogy ∞ THE DISPLACED

115 ∞ on the sun-bound

Day Twenty-one ∞ Thursday morning, 30th August 1979 (PST)

SLEEP DIDN'T SEEM TO BE in the cards for Danny, even after lowering his heart and breath rate to spend almost an hour meditating with Mickmi.

It had felt a lot longer, the time he'd spent with Mickmi's younger self. More like three hours. And now his brain felt like it had been stretched another inch or two by the complex mental exercises, and had difficulty fitting inside his skull. So he just lay there with Mickmi's head resting on his shoulder, her weight noticeably less with the lower gravity; gazing at a slice of the distant starscape through the transparent wall panel behind her, thinking—well, not really thinking about anything in particular. Just that continued sense of amazed, serene incredulity that permeated his being, with an undercurrent of a conviction that he'd eventually find himself waking up in his bed at 9 Pine Ridge Lane, that all of this had been a long, elaborate dream.

He wouldn't be surprised if he did.

Mickmi's hand slid up to his cheek, bringing him back to the present, and he smiled, pulling it to his lips to kiss her knuckles. Her hand was completely relaxed and, when he looked down at her, he found her eyes were still closed.

She had no problem sleeping their way to the moon. And in two months...

Two months. In this peaceful moment, the enormity of what awaited him at the end of that period flooded him again. All it would take was two months, and then they would hop, skip, and jump into her world, a completely different dimension. It was difficult to conceive what that actually meant. Yet though he was prepared to follow her anywhere, the fact that it likely meant permanently leaving his world still troubled him.

He gently stroked her hair. Could he go through with it? Leaving everything he knew behind? He couldn't break his promise even though he knew she'd understand how difficult it was for him. She'd never blame him if he changed his mind.

I won't abandon her again!

He froze in mid-breath, listening. What the hell? That wasn't Selina's voice, that determined inner voice rising up against the possibility of repeating some mistake. Then whose was it? Maybe Artemae was playing a trick on him. That would be so like her... then again, why should she pretend to be a guy? Maybe it was somebody else? Maybe he should just ask...

—Who's there?

As he focused with eyes closed on listening inward for a reply, something occurred to him. This wasn't the first time. He'd said that before... as if he'd left Mickmi before. But that didn't make sense—he'd only known her... how long now? He was losing track of time: it felt like he'd known her forever, that she completed him again in a way nothing else ever would, like the return of a missing puzzle piece to the puzzle that was his soul...

Again? How could it possibly be...

There it was again as if a long-forgotten memory from the depths of an ocean of memories was attempting to break the surface of time for a breath of air... And he sank into its embrace...

Snatches of images flashed by, barely pausing long enough to grasp, then he found himself buried in auburn hair blowing in his face.

"It's my turn to make a difference," he heard himself say in a voice and words that sounded completely different.

The arms clung around his neck. "Promise me you'll be careful." This was not English, yet he understood them perfectly.

"Don't worry, my love," he replied with equal fluency. "I'll be back before you know it."