Chapter Five: Won't Let You Fall

Chapter Five: Won't Let You Fall

“Is this what you’re looking for?” Frank pulled back the tarp, revealing a large piece of clear plastic, scuffed and muddy, with rivets all along the edges.

Hugh looked it over carefully. “That’s perfect! Where on earth did you find it?”

“Not on earth, exactly.” Frank mused. “Pulled it out of the Pacific a few years ago. We’re trying to figure out the clean-up and restoration for the oceans. Right now, we can only reach the shallows, so we’re working from the islands.” He slapped a hand on the salvage. “Well, if it’s useful to you, then you can have it.”

“Then we must agree on payment.”

“I wasn’t planning on using it for anything. Once the 'Brains Trust' over at the Expo figure out how to recycle plastics properly, it’ll be scrapped…”

“Even so, it’s yours and you won’t be getting it back. I want to make it right.” Hugh insisted. “I’m heading back to Brooklyn in a few days. Is there anything you want from over there that I could send back?”

Frank chewed his lip for a moment. “You’re a flight instructor… I used to fly the old paper and twine bi-planes. I need someone to rate me on the newer aircraft.”

Hugh nodded with a smile. “I can do that.”

“But I don’t happen to have a plane on hand, and you say you’re heading back in a few days…”

“It’ll be close, but it shouldn’t be a problem.” Hugh nodded. “The airfield lets us rent out aircraft as needed. I have an airship ticket to get me home…”

“I’ll call the airfield.”

~~/*\~~

“Remarkable new machines.” Frank said with a smile. His grip on the controls was smooth and relaxed. Hugh didn’t have to do anything at all. “Thanks for doing this, by the way. I know we’re cutting it a lot closer than we planned to.”

“It seemed like you were in a hurry to get this done.” Hugh mentioned. In a world where nobody ever aged, and deception was long gone, you learned to pick up the things left unspoken. That was where the other person told their story. “You a pilot by profession?”

“Actually, I was an instructor, just like you are now.” Frank explained. “But I was last in circulation when aircraft technology had yet to shift into high gear. There’s too many steps in the middle that I wasn't there for. One of my students realized this, and…”

“Your student was worried?”

“Less about my qualifications, and more about being up in the air.” Frank said, amused. “He’ll make a fine pilot, once he gets past his fear.”

“If he’s too scared to fly, then why does he want to be a pilot?”

“He wants it, when he’s on the ground.” Frank smirked darkly. “He took to the Truth, but hasn't quite embraced the idea of eternity yet. We keep talking about how he can do it all now, since he has the time… His problem isn’t lack of faith, or lack of belief. He hasn’t given specifics, but I think that in OS he had a whole lot of things to be afraid of. I think he spent so long being afraid, that he’s still worried about keeping his head above water.”

Hugh almost laughed. “So his personal study is to practice letting God catch him if he falls out of the sky?”

“Something like that. But he won’t let me put it on his shoulders. He keeps telling me to take over on the trickier parts, like landings and precision flights.”

Hugh wore an unsettling grin. “Think you can get him down to the airfield?”

~~/*\~~

“Now, ease the throttle back a bit…”

The young man did so. Ray Punke was a good guy; and smart for someone who had yet to live a single lifetime. But Hugh could see he was still timid. He’d make a good pilot with some help from the instruments, but it would be a skill set, and not a career, or even a hobby. Which was fine. Almost all resurrected people sought to reinvent themselves at least once. It was part of a new Renaissance, with everyone looking for skills to serve them in the centuries to come.

“Thanks for doing this, Brother-”

Hugh snapped his fingers quickly, reminding him.

“Hugh.” Ray flushed a bit, still gripping the controls tensely.

“You’re new, aren’t you?” Hugh observed with an ironic smile.

“Not that new, almost three years now…” Ray told him. “How can you tell?”

“You’re scared.” Hugh said easily. “I’ve known plenty of people afraid to fly. It’s not exactly a natural position for humans, miles up above it all. But take it from someone who learned to fly in OS: There’s nothing to be scared of. I don’t mean that as a platitude, or as a statistic. It’s a fact. If the plane fell apart around us right now in mid-air, we wouldn’t die. There hasn’t been an accidental death in centuries.”

“In my head, I know that. The pit of my stomach still needs some convincing.” Ray promised, a little shaky. “What is that?”

Hugh looked. What he once thought was a cloud on the horizon now looked smaller and closer. He grinned and tugged on the stick, turning them to fly towards it. “That’s an old friend of mine.”

The Airship Stargazer was on it’s regular passenger route between the continents, and Hugh brought his training plane up to fly alongside the big passenger liner, hundreds of meters in the air. His eyesight was better than it had ever been, and he could see Captain Diaz waving to him from the Observation Window.

“Wow.” Ray whispered, a little entranced by the sight.

The radio crackled a bit. “Hey, Hugh. What’s a nice guy like you doing in a neighborhood like this?”

Hugh keyed his microphone. “Trying to remember which one of these switches lowers the landing gear, Captain Diaz. I would have landed an hour ago if I could find it.”

Diaz laughed. “For a moment there, I thought you were trying to hitch a ride. I found your name on my passenger list again, but you didn’t show.”

“Had a trainee that needed a little object lesson in trust.” Hugh called back. “You have that capture harness mounted?”

“Sure.” She laughed like it was the funniest thing she’d ever heard. “Check your two o’clock. Your trainee has a copilot, it seems.”

Hugh glanced at Ray, who was already looking where she’d directed them. “Look!”

There was a figure, dressed in radiant white, with gleaming golden wings flying magnificently in the open air, about a hundred meters away. An angel was flying alongside them, just long enough for them both to look, and then it vanished. “It… He… I don’t know, but the guy is still there, right?”

“They all are. They always are.” Hugh told him. “I used to worry about that, feeling like I was being spied on, but they say any landing you walk away from is a good one. Or they used to, back when there was another possibility.” Hugh pointed the other way, back at the airship. “Now, see that? Mounted on the underside of the Airship?”

“Yeah. What is that?”

“It’s a Docking Port, of a sort.” Hugh explained. “You had a small aircraft mounted, and when you were in the air, you could just drop it off the end. The plane would get airspeed from gravity, and start flying. That was in the old days. But now, the modern airships have Capture Docks.”

“You want to land on the Airship?!” Ray shrilled.

“Yup. It’s my ride home.” Hugh told him. “I’ve made my way through Europe for over a year now, but it’s time I was getting back.”

“W-What about me? The family is expecting me back tonight.”

“I know. Fortunately, you’re a pilot; and I'm leaving you with the plane. Consider this your final exam.” Hugh said brightly.

“I’m not cleared for Solo!”

“And I’m not going to be on board much longer. You either have enough faith in yourself to land, and in your ‘co-pilot’ to get you down safe… or you explain to the airfield where the rental went.”

“You really think I’m ready for that?!”

Hugh snorted. “Did you not just see what I saw? The sky is full of people who wont let you fall, my brother.”

~~/*\~~

Dear God,

It’s always a comfort to know that you’re with me when I fly. I know you’re there when I’m on solid ground, but as much as I love to fly, I know there’s only ever one result.

I wonder, sometimes, what it must be like to be an angel. They aren’t limited by gravity, or by atmosphere… Do they ever just fly? Just for fun, the way I do? Is it even fun to them?

Some of the Returnees, they feel cheated. I’ve spoken to people who were expecting an afterlife. They feel cheated. They wanted wings. I wonder if that's what’s holding my brother back. I know he didn’t really believe in any kind of afterlife. Neither did I. Personally, I couldn't handle it for a long time, because I had no idea what to expect.

But others were expecting something very specific, and I guess I can understand feeling disappointed. There's still plenty of work to do, not all of it easy, not all of it successful. The people who expected to laze about in a garden or on a cloud for eternity… After a lifetime of hard work, you find out that you were working all that time in the wrong direction, but it didn’t affect the outcome… and the work has just begun.

Personally I’m glad for what I found, once I accepted it.

Father, why is Nick so disinterested in paradise?!

~~/*\~~

The Stargazer docked at the Empire State, as she did the first time Hugh had made the voyage. This time, he had luggage. A shoulder bag with a few engine parts in it, his tablet, his journal; and a change of clothes. He’d gone halfway across the world with less than a full bag for a full year; and hadn't feared lack of safety or food once.

When he reached the Market, he checked the Database and found the Trade Caravans had come through and left him with packages to collect. The Trading Post was part warehouse, part Post Office. There was enough that he couldn’t carry it all the way back to his home, but there was always someone heading in the general direction of his place. Swaps and Trades meant that there was always something being delivered, from newly made furniture to fruits and vegetables. A Horse-Cart was making the trip, and he was able to get a ride home without too much trouble.

~~/*\~~

Hugh sorted the parts that he had brought home and put them in his workshop. Before he even went into his house, he changed into his work clothes and checked on his trees. They were fruiting, and that meant he had to collect whatever fruits had dropped before they spoiled. Hard work was never a comfort before his return, but it had such a reassuring effect now. In his life, he’d never had a more certain sense of what he was working toward. He’d been away from his trees for over two years, but they knew how to grow without him. Doing some pruning, and planting a few seedlings in their own pots had cemented it. He was home.

He had eight fruit trees. Three apple, three orange, and two olive trees. They were planted on opposite sides of his small home, with the Olive Trees at the furthest distance. Olive trees lasted effectively forever, but they got thicker and more gnarled as they got older.

The rest of his property was divided up according to purpose. Almost everyone grew at least some of their own food; usually coordinated with the neighbors. Hugh had the fruit trees, so some of his closest neighbors didn’t bother with growing their own. Most of the others had tomatoes, so Hugh grew few bushes himself. The unofficial Co-Op kept everyone fed well enough.

Hugh was surprised to find he enjoyed it. He’d never had a backyard, or for that matter, a front yard. Gardening was something that had never interested him. But for the first time anyone could remember, it was incredibly easy. No parasites, no harsh weather… The bugs and the animals left the plants alone completely, and the soil quality never seemed to deteriorate. Hugh’s trees put out fruits that would have won prizes back in OS. And so did everyone else.

Alec had helped him design a better floorplan than the pre-fab, but Hugh hadn’t done much with regard to construction yet. He just didn’t have enough interest in it to get started. There was too much to do.

The front yard was a space for him to sit. The front porch was the one thing he’d taken the time to build, and it was wide and solid. He spent more time there than inside. With all the skyscrapers and smokestacks gone, he had a big sky to look up at.

And that was his hobby project. Decades before, he had mentioned to Captain Diaz that everyone he’d met had at least two hobbies. While working on the cleanup at an old airfield, he’d come across a wrecked tail section for a WW2 Bomber. Exactly the kind he’d flown, back in the day. It was going to be scrapped, melted down for construction parts, but he’d rescued it. Over the course of a near century, he’d been collecting parts, one by one. He wasn’t the only one with an interest in restoration. In fact, there was a flag on the database for pretty much everything a person could have an interest in. Someone on the other side of the community he lived in was restoring an antique car, made centuries before.

People who had heard about his project had brought him parts they’d found or made, but they were for the wrong sort of plane. Hugh had put them up on the Database and people all across the world had almost immediately sent messages in response.

Hugh had been told that this was the way of things, even before A-Day, with global communication and dealing, even between individual people.

It was a project that had taken the better part of a century already, and would take even longer again before he was done, but he had all the time in the world.

~~/*\~~

“Knock knock.” A voice called.

Hugh set down his tools and went to look. Kasumi was at the end of the orchard, nearer his house. He waved brightly. “Kasumi!”

His one-time guide in the New World came down to the shed and gave him a brief hug. “You look good. How was Europe?”

“Fascinating place.” Hugh agreed. “Now, I believe I owe you a meal or six.” He gestured at his trees. “You did a great job of taking care of the place while I was gone.”

“I had help.” She demurred. “Some of the new arrivals needed help figuring out the new market system, and I figured if they helped with an orchard… Don’t worry, I kept them properly supervised.”

Hugh released his friend and got a proper look at her. She carried a woven basket on her hip, with a loaf of bread and a bundle of fresh tomatoes, still on the vine. She held out the basket with a smile. “I imagined you wouldn’t have had time to get fresh groceries in.”

“Ship docked an hour ago.” Hugh agreed. “Your letters assured me that I still had an orchard, so I didn’t worry about going hungry. If I’d known you were going to be in town that long, I would have pushed my plans back.”

She smiled back and gestured at the shed. “How’s your girlfriend in there coming along?”

“I actually found a canopy for her, believe it or not.” Hugh beamed, pushing the door open enough that she could see the half-constructed aircraft. “It’s going to be delivered here in a few days. I would have brought it myself, but I had my ticket booked before I found it.”

“Where on earth did you find a canopy for a plane that hasn’t been built in over four hundred years?”

“The Cleanup crews.” Hugh grinned. “They’ve almost finished cleaning up the planet, and they’ve turned their attention to the oceans.”

Kasumi grinned. “And how many of these things wound up at the bottom of the ocean?” She suddenly winced.

“Including mine?” Hugh smirked, not offended. “I met a few sisters who are toying with the idea of setting up permanent habitation under the Pacific.”

“A few sisters?”

He nodded. “Women can handle pressure changes in submarines a lot better than men, physically.” Hugh nodded. “In fact, all Submariners should be female. But try getting that one past the Navy Department back in the day.” He held up the loaf. “ Anyway. Lunch? I learned a few things in Europe.”

Kasumi smiled as he lead the way back to the house, plucking a few fresh growing oranges from his trees on the way. “Speaking of things you’ve learned, when are you going to do something with this house?”

“When I figure out what to do.” Hugh retorted.

The house had been a quick build. Modular rooms, which were functional and efficient, but with very little personality. The days of the suburbs were long over. Everyone that had been appointed their own piece of land was coming up with their own designs. But Hugh hadn’t done anything with his home since moving in. He’d stocked it, but spent more time in his workshop than he did in the house.

After more than a hundred years in the New World, he still didn’t know what to do with his own home.

Hugh let them in and went to put his bags away. Kasumi helped. “Here, you go get the kitchen set up again, I'll put these away for you.”

Hugh agreed. The kitchen was unplugged and shut down for his time away. He had a wood-fired oven and chimney, and the firewood stayed where he'd put it over a year before, but there were still appliances and such that needed setting up.

Kasumi let him do that, still making conversation, while she put his bags in his room. One of the packages he had collected from the Trading Post fell out to the floor, and she picked it up... When she noticed it was a very distinctive shape. It was a ring-box. Kasumi saw it and her heart stopped for a moment. Hugh got a girlfriend?

She could still hear Hugh in the kitchen, and she took a closer look. I'm not snooping. She told herself. That wouldn't be right.

But she hadn't imagined it. It was a ring. Okay. She asked herself. My best friend is contemplating marriage to someone, and hasn't said a word to me... Do I ask, or play dumb?

~~/*\~~

“Have you seen Alec’s new place?” Kasumi asked lightly.

“Alec moved?”

“No, same spot, but he redid his entire house about six months ago.” She explained. “He saw something on the Collective that inspired him and he tore down the entire sun room.”

“You’re kidding? I thought he loved the sun room.”

“He does, but it’s a library now. He loves that too.”

Hugh snorted. “He’s never satisfied, is he?”

“Hey, you know Alec. I’ve never seen him happier than when he’s either tearing holes in his house or putting them back together again. I think it’s starting to drive his wife a little crazy.” Kasumi looked over his shoulder. “What are you making?”

“Bruschetta.” Hugh told her. “Italian entrée. And...” He produced the bag with a flourish. “Coffee. Real espresso.”

Kasumi trilled a little. “I'm honored.”

“Have you developed a taste for anything beyond sushi as a snack?”

She snorted. “I’ve been all over the place the last hundred years. I can eat anything.”

“So can most people nowadays.” Hugh commented. “Funny thing, but the first thing to go global was language, and the next thing was food.”

“The Resurrection is in full progress now.” She told him. “Tens of thousands a day. But now that there are so many of us back, it’s not all hands on deck any more. Education is never on the back-burner, exactly; but the infrastructure is all back in place, and the Convention Halls are built, so people are turning to their own homes now.” She sipped. “Like Alec. Actually, he asked if you’d be interested in any oak trees?”

“Oak? You mean to grow?”

“That Sun Room he replaced his library with? He’s using a section of it for seedlings. He’s growing lumber trees. His allotment has room for it.”

Hugh raised an eyebrow. “He wants to trade Lumber?”

“I don’t know if he wants to do it, so much as he wants to set it up.” Kasumi grinned. “The sun room will give him light in the morning, and once those trees come in, he’ll have shade in the afternoon. He’s turning his front door into the back door and he’s laying out a patio.”

Hugh sighed. “So that’s Alec. How about you?”

Kasumi grinned. “We talk every day, Hugh. By email if nothing else; you know what's going on with me.”

“And now in person. You never know, there might be something new. Either that or we sit here in silence and wait for the next email...”

Kasumi thought for a moment. “Well, I got a job offer. Some of the Returned? I’ve been traveling with them as a guide. When we flew together? You went home, and I went with you? Turns out I liked it. A mobile bible study, and a tour of the New World all in one.” She smiled. “House-sitting for you has been the longest I’ve stayed in one place for years and years.”

“How many newly returned ones are moving?” Hugh seemed surprised. “I went across the globe because I woke up on the far side of the world from my home, but how many people can…” He snorted. “I just remembered that I was only in Europe because of the war. Just like millions of others.”

“To be fair, where you drop doesn’t seem to have anything to do with where you wake up.” Kasumi sighed. “A lot of the bodies get shipped home for funerals; but…”

“People wake up where they need to be.” Hugh said simply. “When I woke up, I didn’t believe it. I didn’t believe any of this was real. But when I got on the Airship, I saw way too much of the world for it all to be a con.” He gestured at her while he stirred the pan. “You woke up within six inches of the home you grew up in. You said yourself, believing that the world had changed was the easy part for you.”

“Before A-Day, my whole world was a hospital bed.” Kasumi nodded. “So you figure people get sent back to the time and place that gives them their best shot?”

“I don’t know, but I’d like to think so.”

She nodded. “Oh, that reminds me: Alec wants to have dinner.”

“Three squares a day are good for you.”

She swatted him. “I mean with us. It’s the first time that all three of us, plus his wife and kid are all on the same continent in decades, and he wants to have us over.”

“When?”

“Ummmm… Tonight.”

Hugh snorted. “I just got home! How’d he know I was coming?”

“I may have told him…”

“When he invited you?” Hugh challenged. “He wanted the three of us together because it was the first time we were all in the neighborhood, but he didn’t know when I arrived until he called and invited you?”

Kasumi looked down, caught. “It may have been my idea.” She was silent a moment. “I‘m sorry, you’re right. You just got home, and you probably want to… I’ll cancel.”

Hugh looked at her carefully. There was just a little tension around her frame, her shoulders were a little hunched.

He didn’t push it. “Well, as it happens, I didn’t have any plans for the night.”

“Will your family be joining us?”

“I doubt it. To be honest, I’m not sure my parents are ready to be back in the same room yet.” Hugh let out a breath between his teeth. “And if I’m brutally honest, I’m less tense when they’re in separate Regions too.”

Kasumi forced herself not to smile. “Don’t take it personally.”

“I don’t.” Hugh shook his head. “I’m told that by the time OS finished, there were more broken up marriages than lasting ones. I’m hardly alone in this.”

“The Vows are very specific about Till Death Do Us Part.” Kasumi offered. “Nobody can say they didn’t live up to the bargain.” She sipped. “And frankly, it’s a good thing.” She winced. “That came out wrong.”

“Make it come out right.” Hugh retorted.

“A lot of marriages were done in opposition to the way Jah intended. Solomon had over 300 wives. And beyond that, there were millions of couples forced together by parents, or by money, or for legal reasons… All those things are irrelevant now. If you marry for money, what do you do when you arrive here? And that’s not even counting the people who only married because of pregnancy, or fear of growing old alone… Staying with a marriage partner someone else picked for you is difficult. Doing so for all eternity even more so.”

“I know. I even agree.” Hugh nodded. “I just didn’t expect mom to think so in her case.” He hid his expression behind his coffee cup. “Neither did my dad. Hence the reason they can’t be in a room together just yet.”

(Author's Note: There's no direct mention of marriage in the new system, and even less with regards to divorce. I have no idea what happens to a resurrected couple; but I have to imagine that not everyone will seek to reunite with their spouse, given how many people in history were married unwillingly; to say nothing of the change of perspective that comes with eternal life.)

“It’ll get better.” Kasumi promised. “Time smooths over all the rough edges. Your parents may take a little longer than a mountain range, but they’ll get there.” She sipped casually. “So will my sister.”

He blinked, settling into a broad smile. “I didn’t know you had a sister.”

“Neither did I. Turns out I have a Tribulation Witness in the family after all.” Kasumi nodded eagerly. “My baby sister was born after I died, and didn’t make it to A-Day, but she came so close. I got the Blue Letter a few months ago.”

“Congratulations.” Hugh was happy for her, but he still felt a pang. “How close did she get?”

“Three weeks. Got caught in the race riots. Tiny little old woman, but nobody even hesitated.” Kasumi let a note of disgust out, but it faded quickly. “She’s actually just left the Region. She’s been doing her own exploring.”

Hugh couldn’t help the nod of agreement. Pretty much everyone he knew between the ages of one to two hundred years old had made at least one international trip. As an experienced pilot, he’d been flying a lot of them back and forth. “If she comes this way again, introduce me.”

Kasumi snorted into her coffee. “Oh, she’d get all kinds of ideas from that.”

“What do you mean?”

“Back in OS, the Witnesses had some pretty specific ideas. Us having lunch together unchaperoned would have been quite the scandal, at least to my sister.”

Hugh snorted back a laugh. He’d heard of such things, and understood the point, but such customs had largely fallen by the wayside. Angels chaperoned them every second, even when nobody human knew they were there, and it was fairly obvious who was following the rules faithfully, and who were not. Nobody had to worry about maintaining appearances.

(Author's Note: It may not turn out that way, but Hugh and Kasumi are my main eyes in the world of this story. It's not my interpretation of how things will be, so much as a plot device for this tale.)

“When I first Woke Up, I thought of that as something terrifying.” Hugh mentioned. “Being watched all the time. But I was able to walk from one end of the world to the other with little more than the clothes on my back. If I never found a bite to eat, I knew I wouldn’t go hungry. They aren’t looking for things we’re doing wrong.”

“Neither is anyone else.” Kasumi mused. “My sister says that she never considered herself a gossip until she realized there wasn’t any these days.”

Hugh found that hilarious.

Kasumi sniffed the air. “Is it ready?”

Hugh checked. “Looks about ready.” He poured for both of them. “Sip it slowly. Espresso is hard to come by.”

She sipped a tiny bit. “Mm. Lovely. Now, tell me about Europe. It’s been almost three decades since I was there last.”

Hugh sat and began his tale. The world had a huge variety in food, clothing, art, music… The culture of the world was starting to gel in a way that nobody had expected. The most loved music, the most enjoyed food was making its way to all corners of the world. The most popular forms of art were following. Everyone had their own styles, but with no restrictions on travel or cost or language, there was a huge explosion of sharing across cultures. The most common things he’d grown up with were exotic and amazing to someone, somewhere in the world; and the Great Cultural Exchange went both ways. He told her of some of the things he’d seen, and taken home.

“It’s interesting, watching the cultures mix together. A Scottish Laird serving Pizza is something I never expected to see.”

Kasumi laughed. “A Laird? Really?”

“Really. He was fascinated to see what his countrymen had embraced over the centuries.” Hugh insisted as he sipped his drink. “They’ve restored the castles.”

“Why would they bother?”

“Well, some of the Castles, at least.” Hugh smirked. “I still can’t figure out the pattern to the Returnees, but a few of them were from the same family line. Seven generations living in a castle that had become a ruin in the centuries that followed. So they’ve gotten all their old people together and started restoring them.”

Kasumi found that funny. “Wow. Maybe we’ll finally find out what Stonehenge was for.” She sipped again. “Oh, by the way…” She said casually. “I met Soothy.”

Hugh winced. “I wanted to introduce you before I left. I saw the frame he put up.”

“Yeah, I had no idea what it was at first. What are you growing? A maple tree?”

“Actually, it’s a hybrid that Soothy was working on. Part Maple, and part white cedar. He got very passionate about it. He said that trees are the only construction he’ll ever use.” Hugh explained. “I’ve seen his place. He’s got three trees planted so close to each other that they’re growing bark over the whole thing. He’s got them wound around each other like a rope.”

“He guides the way the branches grow.” Kasumi said in understanding.

“He makes a framework out of rope and metal, and he just binds the branches into a shape. Come back in a year the branches are thicker and stronger. You would be amazed at the sort of things he can wind them into. Three trees, with the branches wound together so tightly that it’s rock solid. He slices off the bark and varnishes it in places, so that all the leaves grow on the other side. His place is a treehouse with four levels.”

Kasumi smirked. “Creative, but I don’t know if I’m patient enough to do it myself. What are you having him make for you?”

“Lawn furniture.” Hugh smirked. “I met him a few years ago, we got to talking, and the next thing I know, he was showing me a 3D rendering of this chair, like a lounge. In another thirty years, maybe forty, that tree will have two main trunks. One that goes straight up, with branches to provide shade, and the other trunk will run low along the ground, then bent back upwards towards the end. You slice out a flat piece, and set a few planks up to be a back on the chair.”

“A living lounge in your front yard.” Kasumi mused. “Interesting. If it works, I might try it. I spend less time at home than you do; so by the time I get back, it'll probably be ready for me.”

“Oh, it gets better. Soothy says that I can weave a second sapling into the frame. If I want a living chair that provides snacks, I can do it.” Hugh smiled broadly. “But, plenty of time for that one. Tell me what I missed.”

~~/*\~~

When Alec opened the door for them, everyone made their usual warm greetings, and Alec held up a set of keys. “By the way, Kasumi? You left these here last time we spoke.”

“Ah, thanks. I was looking for those.” Kasumi took them gratefully. Home Invasion was a thing of the past, but people still had door locks. They were rarely used, but the key was given as a form of contract. Whoever owned the key owned the property, and whoever had a copy was a welcomed guest. Most people didn’t bother to lock their doors at all, but it was a symbol of ownership, replacing a Deed or a Contract.

“How did you get in if you left the keys here two months ago?” Hugh asked in confusion.

“Had another set.” Kasumi said offhand and made her way quickly to the kitchen, saying hello to the rest of the Ducard family.

Hugh noticed Alec grinning at him. “Don’t.” Hugh warned.

“She has two sets of keys to a house that belongs to somebody else?” Alec teased. “A brother could make some assumptions from that.”

Hugh responded the only way a wise man could.

~~/*\~~

Dinner with Alec was originally a fairly relaxed affair, but as the years turned into decades, Alec had tried his hand at becoming a Gourmet. He and his wife had eventually put a second kitchen in for him to experiment. Whenever he felt he had mastered a new talent, he would have his friends over.

They all had their assignments for the Restoration. Hugh trained pilots when at home, and ran courier and passenger flights out of his Region the rest of the time. Bush pilots and light aircraft were fast becoming the most common thing in the air.

Alec was working with people as an architect and designer. The fastest way to make people feel at home, was to give them a home. The pre-fabs were for newcomers. But nobody stayed in them forever. It was also part of his ministry. Giving people a home that was an extension of their own selves required Alec to get to know his customers, to figure out what they would like, even if they themselves weren’t sure.

And Kasumi’s travels were now her assignment, keeping her on the move with newly returned ones as they tried to find loved ones and hometowns.

“She’s good at it. I can vouch for that.” Hugh told them over dinner. “If memory serves, she had me believing by the time we reached Brooklyn.”

“Alec softened you up for me.” Kasumi demurred. “And what I did was nothing compared to the sight of the Brooklyn Gardens where your old house used to be.” She smiled at the people around the table. “It’s rewarding work, but I must admit: I missed this. Living on the move puts you in touch with a lot of people, but you never really see them again after they move on. Present company excepted.”

Hugh reflected on the fact that he had rarely eaten meals with friends in OS. He knew there were some places in the world where it was cheaper to eat every meal in a restaurant than try to maintain a larder of any worth. But these days, communities had pulled in a lot tighter. Having a newly Returned one join a single family for a meal was a good way to ease them into the world.

And of course, even in the world of food and drink, there were advantages to living forever.

“It’s a common misconception that you can age any wine.” Alec said cheerfully as he brought over the bottle. “For the most part, you drink wine within a year. Ten years at the outside. But some bottles, some wines, you can age a good bit longer. There are several vineyards that make wine specifically to be drunk a century later. Back when they used straight cork, a wine would last ten years on average. In the last part of OS, they found ways to stretch that five fold, but most of the Returned are from before that and are using the methods they know. My friends tell me that they’re experimenting with entirely new methods of preservation, and could stretch preservation and aging to two hundred years.”

“Long time to wait and see if you got it right.” Kasumi observed lightly, taking a glass. “And if you wait too long it's vinegar.”

“Mm.” Hugh took his glass. “Cheese?”

“What better to go with a fine wine?” Alec said lightly. “So. The wine has been properly chilled, and the cheese properly aged. The wife and kids have gracefully removed themselves from the room... Shall we come to the point?”

Kasumi froze. “What do you mean?”

Hugh rolled his eyes. “Well, that was skillfully done, Alec. But since you bring it up... Kasumi, how long have we known each other?”

“A while, Hugh.”

“Right. So, let’s pretend that I don’t know you well enough to know when you’re upset about something. And I do. But even if I didn’t, I would expect that you could trust me enough to tell me by now.”

Kasumi sighed. “I do trust you, Hugh. And Alec as well. Of course I do. I was just… There’s nothing to be done, and I just wanted to spend some time with my friends.”

“All in this together, sister.” Alec commented. “This isn’t OS. If there’s a burden to carry, it’s one that has to be set down or shared. It’s not ‘just life’ anymore.”

“I know.” Kasumi sighed. “Got a Blue Letter about three months ago. First one I hadn’t been traveling with in a while. He… didn’t take.”

The two of them let out a breath.

“I know all the things we say when that happens. I’ve given the speech a few times myself.” She said before they could. “I know it can take time, but… I don’t know, I just feel like it’s my fault.”

“Jesus Christ himself couldn’t convince everyone, Kas.” Hugh said kindly.

“And I know you’ve heard this before, but it doesn’t mean he won’t come around.” Alec put in. “Hugh stormed off in a temper when I got his Blue Letter. It was weeks later that I got a phonecall.”

Kasumi nodded gratefully, but they could tell she wasn’t convinced. “I know. Eight weeks is nothing. But… the things this guy was saying. The things he was talking about… I don’t believe he’ll ever back down from the things he’s talking about. I know that's not necessarily so, but... I think he's made up his mind... Last week, I went by the Dorms? He's not there any more. The others don't know where he went.”

The two brothers sighed. They knew what that meant. There came a point when people who were determined not to listen made sure they never had to.

“For what it’s worth, I can empathize.” Hugh commented quietly.

“Your brother?” Alec guessed.

“Still hasn’t made a decision.” Hugh sighed.

“This is why I didn’t want to bring it up!” Kasumi put in. “I don’t want to bring up bad things. I’m feeling sorry for myself right now, but… I didn’t know this guy.”

“You don’t have to feel guilty just because you aren’t as worried about a stranger as I am about my brother.” Hugh snorted.

Kasumi sighed. “I remember all the things your brother used to say, about everything he missed, and… This guy was using the same reasons. Sometimes word for word.”

“Has there been any movement on that subject?” Alec asked Hugh.

“Nick is… traveling.” Hugh sighed. “He’s looking for something. I don’t know what, but… Travel will be good for him. The more of the world he sees, the clearer the picture gets.”

“I mentioned that Legionnaire that you told me about to one of the Elders.” Alec told him. “Apparently it’s a growing problem.”

“You’re kidding.” Kasumi was stunned. “I didn’t think I’d ever hear the words ‘growing problem’ again.”

“Back in OS, right at the end, those that who didn’t believe had us outnumbered a thousand to one. Did you think it was just because we were all terrible teachers? Millions of people have been brought back, Sister.” Alec told her. “People who have never been close with The Maker. People who have actually hated Him for the problems in their lives. Did you think they would all admit they were just flat out wrong? They have no power to hurt or to dominate anything, but even without Guess Who pulling the strings, people don’t like to admit they were wrong their whole lives about something so basic as who they blame.”

“It’s what the Speaker was talking about, my first convention.” Hugh sighed. “About how this wasn’t the finish line. It’s the Defense. The Trial isn’t over. Evil had Six thousand years, and Good has One... And we're already three hundred years in.”

Silence.

“Something as basic as who they blame…” Kasumi mused. “There might be another ‘growing problem’.”

“What do you mean?”

“You know that I’ve been traveling with some of the newly Returned ones, the way I did with Hugh.” Kasumi told them quietly. “It’s no secret that a lot of people had really rough lives back in OS. And most of them had someone to blame… Now that everyone gets a second chance…”

“I’ve heard it mentioned once or twice.” Hugh put in. “Some people call them ‘The Undeserving’. As in: ‘Don’t deserve a second chance’.”

Alec almost laughed. “We all got so used to being the only ones in the world.” He mused. “We made it out of OS by letting go of those hatreds and prejudices… Now we’re here, and they’re all going to be dredged up again, aren’t they?”

Long silence.

“During the Altar test, Elijah told his opponents to stack the deck against him. They soaked his altar through and through. He did it that way, because if you’re going to make a point like that one, you make it so that nobody can ever miss it.” Kasumi sipped her wine. “But so many people that are coming back did miss it. They predated A-Day, and would have missed almost all of the worst of it. Millions of them have never heard of Christianity at all. Trying to convince them of their spiritual need is harder than convincing them it’s thousands of years later.”

Silence.

Alec went over to the screen mounted on his wall, and tapped at the controls. A number came up.

323 Years 4 Months 8 Days

“Is that what I think it is?” Hugh asked.

“You’d be surprised how many people I’ve seen with these Timers.” Kasumi put in. “I think we’ve all been around so long we’ve just sort of gotten used to it. Being here, I mean. We forget that it can still be fragile.”

“I think about what it will be like when the thousand years have ended.” Hugh said softly. “It’s strange, but it’s the one thing about being a soldier that I haven’t let go of. ‘If You Want Peace, Prepare For War’.”

“The War is over. It will never start again.”

“No. There is one more day. One more.” Hugh shook his head. “One more black day. Alec, you were a TW. Did you expect the world after to be like this?”

“The broad points, sure. But I never expected half the things I’ve seen and experienced.” Alec agreed. “Neither have the other Tribulation Witnesses that I've spoken to.”

“Nor did I, once I realized what I was looking at.” Hugh agreed. “But as amazing as this world is, it’s still early days, from Jah’s point of view. This is the cleanup. After that. After the place is cleaned up. That’s when it’ll be a paradise. That’s when we’ll know. And I will bet you whatever you want that it will be as surprising and as amazing and as miraculous to us, as this world would have been to someone in OS.”

Alec smiled. “You guys both came to the Truth when you came back. I was a brother before A-Day. You know the things I spent my time doing? Because a remarkably small percentage of it was taken up with ministry, or with study. I was always ready to have the conversation, but…” He laughed a little at himself. “I used to apologize. I was afraid I was coming on too strong with people. When it all went down and That Day was over, I looked around and… I had to wonder, did anyone not make it because I didn’t try hard enough, or because I said something wrong?” He shook his head. “The thing that I had to be reminded, and the thing that you have to remember, is that very little of it comes from us. We ask questions, we help find some answers… But the fact is, what they decide to do is entirely up to them. Jehovah reaches their hearts. We don’t.”

“I don’t know, Alec. That still sounds like an excuse to me.” Kasumi admitted.

“Listen, you guys weren’t there at the End. You weren’t even Witnesses in OS.” Alec reminded them. “I was. Every single one of us back there and back then had someone that we desperately wanted to save. Someone that we just… needed to help; and we knew what the greatest source of help was. I had almost a dozen. And I outlived all of them. Those dozen people aren’t all back yet. One of them is, and he's part of the family now… But I think at least four of them won’t accept the truth if their life depends on it. And it does.”

Long silence.

“I have spent a hundred years in this Service.” Hugh said quietly. “A few decades in a totally different Service before that. I’m used to the idea that I can only do my little piece of it, and the Big Picture is up to someone way over my head. No soldier I ever met thought that the war depended on him… But we all felt like the guy next to us was counting on us to survive.” He turned to Kasumi. “Kas, I don’t claim to have all the answers, but for what it’s worth, you’re part of my crew right now, and that means you can always count on me on the stormy day.”

“On us.” Alec corrected.

Kasumi smiled a little, and was about to answer when there was a discreet knock at the door. Alec’s wife stuck her head in. “Did you three want to join us for dessert?”

“We have dessert?” Alec was surprised.

“Berry and cream pies.” His wife told him with a smile. “Hugh brought them.”

“I spent some time in a bakery over in Europe.” Hugh explained, impressed with her timing. She had come in just in time to leave Kasumi with a reassuring last word. “They trade lodging for a morning’s labor.”

“What kind of labor?”

“Oh, you would love this. Imagine thirty or so people gathered around small cupcake trays, smoothing pastry out by hand, so that they can inject pie filling into each one. Thirty people doing that for hours, just turning little lumps into miniature pie shells.”

“They do that by hand?”

“They could do it by machine, but why bother? Fifteen making crust, fifteen making filling. The whole thing is weirdly… zen. It’s like a form of meditation, performing the tasks to a set rhythm. Some days, you get a group of people singing work shanties, some days you get people swapping stories. Either way, you spend an hour doing that, and you get all the pastry you can eat at the end of your shift.” Hugh grinned. “I had almost a dozen done in five minutes tonight.”

Kasumi sniffed, smiling a little. “They do smell good.”

~~/*\~~

The conversation lingered in Hugh’s mind, however. Early the next morning, he had made his way to see his brother. Land was assigned to people who had declared their intention to baptize. People who hadn’t decided yet usually stayed with family members or in public places.

Nick had his own place, but mostly because the Resurrection was accelerating. He had been around too long to need someone to walk him through the facts, and dormitory needed the extra room.

Hugh had tried everything to convince his brother, but Nick had dug his heels in. Alec had suggested that Nick was willing to argue with his brother more than anything else, and it may be for the best to let Nick find out a few truths on his own. It rankled, but Hugh had agreed. He hadn’t seen his brother in a few years. Once, that would have seemed like a long time, but not any more.

So when his brother answered the door, the heat of the old arguments had faded completely, but Hugh felt himself grow hot and cold all over anyway. In the few years they’d been apart, Nick had changed.

Hugh shivered, but didn’t remark on it. It was a bone-chilling reminder of something that Hugh had almost forgotten. People’s appearance used to change.

His kid brother was aging. To look at him, he looked almost old enough to be Hugh’s father now.

(Author’s Note: There is nothing in the bible that details how people might be removed from NW. There is a notation in our publications that as reigning King over earth, Christ would have the authority to remove opposition, but the method is not mentioned, nor is the point when that happens. There will be a time of confusion and disagreement when people come back, but there’s nothing that indicates how long that grace period lasts.

After giving the matter careful thought, I decided to try it this way. In this story, anyone who has not accepted God’s offer of eternal life, will not live forever. When Adam and Eve chose to step out from God's protection, their lives did not end instantly, but they lost their ‘perfect’ status. This is speculation, but seemed like a plausible one. It seemed an elegant system. As unrepentant ones age, they would realize that they’d have to correct for something. They’d still have a chance to come back to the flock, but not forever.)

“Don’t stare.” Nick snapped. “I get enough of that everywhere else I go.”

Hugh schooled his expression, and came inside.

~~/*\~~

They made smalltalk, of course; and remarked on the state of things. Hugh felt sick inside, but he was careful not to bring it up.

The thing that was hard to understand, is why Nick could seem so approving of the world they were in, but not want to be a part of it. Nick finally mentioned something of that point, and Hugh took the opportunity.

“What? What is it about the world that you don’t like?” Hugh demanded, no particular anger.

Nick finally gave him an answer. “Hugh, have you ever read a book written after A-Day?”

“Sure.”

“Any that weren't biographies, or Society Lit? Or non-fiction at all, come to that? History books are being filled in and corrected at a ridiculous rate, books about nature and the new ecosystem too. Have you seen anything in fiction? Not against God, just… not wrapped around him. An actual story about people doing things that didn’t directly have something to do with the brotherhood?”

“Not a lot…” Hugh admitted. “But to be fair, there’s plenty of time for that…”

“I’ve spoken to people who wrote books in OS. Mysteries, adventures, dramas… They all have writer’s block.” He almost laughed. “All of them. Can you believe that?”

“I’m not sure I see the problem…”

“The problem is that they can’t think of anything to write. They can’t think of any kind of challenge to overcome, even imaginary ones.” Nick snapped. “Shakespeare himself wrote comedies and tragedies. But Tragedy is a word that has no meaning. And comedies? Most of them revolve around a misheard line that sets off a chain of funny misunderstandings… But we’re all so conscientious about avoiding gossip, and having open conversations now, so where does that happen? Pie-in-the-face gags? Also gone. Romantic dramas? Casual Dating is a thing of the past. Has anyone in the world had a Love Triangle or a One Night Stand in three hundred years? Nobody likes to hear tales about romantic strife in marriages, since we all live forever and divorce isn’t an option. And mysteries or detective stories? Also long gone. Any crime is stopped at the point of action.”

“You just described a list of things that often ruined lives and shattered hearts, and you’re talking about them like good things!” Hugh exclaimed. “Tell me that you’re not missing the days when a grisly murder was entertainment.”

“Of course not.” Nick scorned. “Nobody’s saying the world isn’t better now than it was before. But those stories? Those stories about climbing a mountain, or battling evil forces or overcoming incredible odds? They were inspiring! They were exciting! They drove people! Where’s the equivalent of that these days?”

Hugh didn’t answer that right away. It actually took him a moment to think of one.

Nick didn’t wait for him, pleading his case. “Even the stories without battles or enemies? Stories about…” He searched for examples. “...castaways surviving animals or wilderness solo? Or about people in faraway lands, trying to overcome isolation and culture shock? Our culture is growing totally homogenized, and anyone who needs help can ask for it without even speaking aloud.” He spread his hands wide. “Necessity is the mother of invention, Hugh. Whenever there was something in OS that was lacking, something that wasn’t right, people would step up. They’d get together, and they’d build big things! They’d come to a mountain they couldn’t climb and they’d find a way. They’d see the moon in the sky and race each other to it. They’d see a prize that nobody had won and push themselves to be better and better-”

“And sometimes they’d push themselves too hard, and get too competitive and start a fight about it.” Hugh reminded him. “And that was very near the end of us all.”

“Granted.” Nick said without contesting it. “But even if we all agree never to take it too far… There is no challenge at all any more. The stakes haven’t been lowered, they’ve vanished. All our needs are met. If we don’t need anything, then where’s the incentive to ever do anything at all? If all the risk is taken away, then what is there to… motivate us?”

“How about a billion people doing things they’ve always wanted to do?”

“Short term solution. What’s the drive for humanity’s future?”

Hugh was silent a moment. “A man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for?” He quoted finally.

“What?”

“A poem written by a man named Robert Browning.” Hugh sighed. “I’m told that by the close of OS, that quote had been shortened to ‘Man’s Reach Exceeds His Grasp’. When that happened, it was taken as a warning about going too far, and most people used that as an excuse never to reach at all. The original quote means that there’s always something to aspire to.”

“What if there isn’t any more?” Nick said softly. “OS was a mess, because everyone was out for themselves, but there was no room for atrophy. If you didn’t push your way upstream, you drowned.” He waved around. “Does anyone even need to try any more?”

“Need? I don't know.” Hugh admitted. “But everyone is trying their hand at something. The world’s a far more interesting place than that, brother. People who wrote those books and those movies and everything? You’re right. Most of them were written to inspire, but a lot of them wrote as an escape. They knew they’d never climb Everest, or sail the seven seas, so they gave themselves permission to dream those adventures. But now, if you want to sail the seas, you can probably hand carve your own boat first. And if you want to play an instrument, take your pick. I met a guy once who was determined to master every one ever made. And if you want to climb Everest, go ahead. You’re healthier and smarter than you’ve ever been. Certainly more so than any climber there was in OS.”

Nick put a hand up. “The most prestigious music school in the world back in OS was Juilliard. The ones that rose to the top of that world could make a name for themselves. But in this world, anyone could get that good just by doing it over and over again for a thousand years. If we all achieve perfection, then what’s the point of.... Human achievement? How can any of us ever feel any sense of pride in anything we do if every random passerby is perfect too?”

“We will achieve perfection.” Hugh agreed. “But perfect or not, we won’t be factory-made copies. I can play a few instruments. It was something I always wanted to do, but I never found the time. You know why? Because as much as I would have liked to do it, I just didn’t want it enough. If I wanted it that badly, I would have made the time. And the way you know that? Is because plenty of people in OS were living in broken down slums, determined to write a wonderful symphony, even when they couldn’t afford food.”

Nick snorted at that.

“I don’t feel that need to make music. I don’t feel that passion for it.” Hugh pressed. “The great musicians feel that need like nothing else. We live in a world where everyone has a chance to spend their life doing what they’re driven to do. If someone is passionate about making things grow, then he’s got the chance to be a perfect farmer or landscaper. And that love will make them better than anyone who doesn’t love it like he does. If another person has a passion for sailing, then he’ll be glad to know he can do so perfectly, and do so forever.”

“I don’t worry that people won’t still love to follow their dreams.” Nick countered. “I worry that they won’t feel the need to dream at all. What if humanity stalls like this? What if, a million years from now, nobody feels the need to see what’s over the next horizon, because they’re too content where they are?”

“Is contentment really such a bad thing?” Hugh shot back. “What I said, about starving musicians, driven to create art, even at the expense of their living situation? What if they never had to worry about food or clothing? They could actually dedicate themselves totally to it.”

“Yeah, but those starving musicians put all their suffering into it. Some of the most… emotional, passionate things ever created came out of the darkest moments. There was a lot of amazing things coming from a place of pain. What if… I don’t know how to say it, what if on some level we need that?” Nick argued.

“What if we don’t and that misery was just holding us back from something so much grander?”

Silence.

“Ever hear the name ‘Werner Von Braun’?” Nick said finally.

Hugh blinked. “He was in some of my briefings, back before the war.”

“He was one of the German rocket scientists. He was the man who was largely responsible for the V-2 rockets. It terrorized London for a few years, but it was also the precursor to the first space rockets.” Nick’s tone was almost triumphant. “There! That’s my point. Without that war, would we have ever gone to the moon?”

“The space race was motivated by nationalism and made possible by military technology.” Hugh allowed. “You think I have a problem with people beating their swords into plowshares?”

“But Von Braun wanted nothing to do with the military. He wanted space travel. He was not given that choice. When the first rocket hit London, he said ‘the rocket performed perfectly, it just landed on the wrong planet’. But the war is what got the rocket built, and without that-”

Hugh smirked, despite himself. “You just made my point. He had a dream of something wonderful and challenging, and exciting. But the world he lived in demanded he make a weapon. That was how it was in OS. You could have your dream, as long as there was just enough nightmare in it.” He looked deep into his brother’s eyes. “But I will bet you dinner that Von Braun is here, Nick. He came back. He’s out there somewhere. In a world without any need for weapons, without any interest in war. And maybe the dark, difficult circumstances pushed it all forward and made it happen in ten years instead of a hundred. But so what? We now live in a world where a hundred years is a good investment of time. Who cares if it happens slower now?”

Nick had no answer to that. So instead he changed the subject. “It’s hard for me to argue this with you, when I know that you half agree with me.”

“Ex-Cuse me?!”

“Oh, I’m sure you’re quite sincere.” Nick nodded easily. “The fact that you haven’t gone gray like I have proves it.” He gestured at his brother. “But after almost a century, you still think like a soldier. You still live out of a suitcase, you still haven’t so much as put up a picture on your walls. You still live in the prefab, and you’re building a plane you know how to fly from your WW2 days. You haven’t been on a date in seventy years, and the number of people who have been to your house can be counted on one hand. Why does a man with his own orchard have so much trouble putting down roots? Because he knows he doesn’t quite fit in where he is. You’ve been a pilot your whole adult life. You live with one foot out the door wherever you go, because every time you got new orders you had to start again. You don’t belong in the world any more than I do.”

~~/*\~~

“Thing is, part of me agrees with him.” Hugh said later to Kasumi.

“Really?”

“Not about the idea that I don’t belong. I mean the other thing. I was a pilot, during the war. We did things fast, and we tested all sorts of new things. When I was born, my father was in The Great War, and aircraft were barely past the point of paper and twine. By the time I was flying, the air-force was the defining technology of the modern world. I’m told that when that war ended, the Atomic Age began. Less than seventy years between the Wright Brothers going a hundred yards and Neil Armstrong putting footprints on the moon. A single generation. But that war gave us Penicillin, and atomics gave us X-Rays, and both those things are unnecessary now… Sometimes I wonder if Nick might not have a point.”

“You’re worried that the future might stagnate.”

“No, I’m not. But Nick is. We’re all going to live forever, but right now, our gaze is on the past. On the billions of people that lived before all this, and what we'll say to them. Which is perfectly fine, because that’s where our focus is meant to be right now. During this Thousand years, that’s the job. But Nick’s worried what will happen after that... And the thing is, if he's wrong, and everyone still has the same drive they had in OS, then Nick may just die of old age before he can be sure.”

Kasumi was silent a moment. “I admit, the thought has occurred to me too.”

“Yeah?”

“Not quite like that, but… My grandmother, when I was young? She could talk your ear off for hours about the most trivial things. My mom told me that it was just her way, and that when you got to be a certain age, you tended to live in your memories.” She sighed. “Contemplation is a process that an immortal can raise to a high art form. I know people who can dissect a scripture for hours, or spend days arguing about a favorite recipe. I wonder sometimes… Are we just going to hide in our stories? Not about OS, but about things that have already happened?”

“I think that’s part of aging. But the world we have now… We can always start again with something fresh. People dwell on ‘the old days’ when they don’t get a chance to try something new. At least, I hope so. Nobody has ever lived in a world where there’s no such thing as ‘retirement’.” Hugh rubbed his face. “Anyway, that’s not the issue. The issue is, how do I get through to Nick?”

“I assume you told him all this?”

“I did. The problem isn’t that he doesn’t want to live forever. The problem is, Nick died young, and he knew it was coming. He had to take stock of his life and decide if it was a worthy one, and he had to do it far younger than anyone should. He wanted a life that was passionate, and we’re offering him one that’s peaceful.”

“Is that what you want?” Kasumi asked carefully.

Hugh sniffed. “He completely threw me. Maybe he’s right, maybe I haven’t put down any roots. Alec has a wine cellar that will last for thirty years. His way of aging wine to its best age. Every time he buys a new bottle he puts it in the cellar and pulls out the oldest to serve. Meanwhile, I still keep a ‘go-bag’.”

Kasumi chuckled. “So do I. I travel so much I never put down roots either. I don’t know if that means we don’t belong, or if it means we just want to belong in a bunch of places. I got allotted some land in Shanghai, but you should see the place. Boxes and boxes of things that I’ve collected, but I keep them all in the same padded boxes I mailed them all home in. One day I’ll slow down and stop somewhere, but… Right now, I like my life.”

“With the exception of my brother looking… old; so do I.” Hugh rubbed his eyes. “How do I get my brother to embrace a world he doesn’t see a future for?”

Kasumi turned that over in her head, and suddenly had a thought that made her smile. “It may be that we’re not the ones to help him.”

“Oh?”

“You and I are content to travel the present. My grandmother was content to live in the past… Your brother needs the Future. He’s not the only one. Plenty of people are looking forward.” Kasumi jumped up. “Let me make a call.”

~~/*\~~

Nick Alman received an envelope three days later. In it was three tickets, one with his name printed on it, and two others. One for Kasumi Mori, and one for his brother Hugh.

The tickets came with an invitation to The World’s Fair.

End of Chapter Five