Selene quietly packed away clothes, Hygiene products, and her medications in one bag. Then, in another, she put away the snacks and water bottles they would all need for the trip, which she was in charge of. As she packed, she thought about what they had all shared before this mess. Then, to the few days they had just had. Where had they all gone wrong? Why death had happened to Stevie of all people who had been such a light presence before he… She had not even wanted to think about that. Stevie was practically like another younger sibling to Selene. So Selene struggled with the thought of his death about as much as she would have if it had been Warren or their little sister Luna. It just seemed wrong, even knowing what she knew. Even with her having figured he was gone long before this. Even with the funeral having happened ages before then. The final ghost-proof stung worse than she thought it would. She vowed then something she knew she might end up regretting. But she promised it nonetheless. Selene would help Stevie in whatever way she could, even though that might mean.. Putting him to his final rest. She shuddered at the thought, but as much she loved her cousin like a little brother, she could not deny him peace. If that was what he desired. She heard a knock at the door, ripping her from what was admittedly a mess of thoughts.
Stevie stood in his cousin’s current kitchen and thought about how much time must have passed before he was even aware. Before, he had come back to himself entirely. It had been 3 years for him to appear fully (according to the others). But Stevie had been aware enough at some time before that. Maybe 3 months? He pondered this for a while before settling on that as the answer. Yes, 3 months. Had to be! If he looked into the time it took him to be aware enough to even hear anything, which was a month, coherently think and see another, then finally be able to reach out to people and speak a third. He mostly gathered the changes from talking to Warren and then more from Selene. Other than that, his understanding was from context clues. Selene had a new romantic partner and a new apartment and had many a great success in her field of study, though not so much in her activism if that much were to be observed. Warren had gotten much further in his transition, was now on t, and was a semi-accomplished explorer of the cosmos. He was glad that they were okay. A part of him wished himself was as well, the other part of him. He wished he knew what happened to his physical self before death. He wanted to believe desperately that Warren was right and that it was just a random act of violence, but, in his mind, that thought really did not feel right. What was it then, a hate crime? A targeted assassination? A monster of some sort? He had not believed in the last one until he became a ghost. But presently, anything seemed possible. Almost anything.
Warren let Stevie ruminate and Selene pack as he sat on the living room sofa. As he did so, he found himself wandering back to that night. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ‘Stevie, wait, hold up, the school is offering you a position in their robotics club at their big fancy university before even officially being accepted.’ Warren was wiry tonight, more than was probably recommendable for someone who was sort of still healing. But Stevie couldn’t seem to mind. He was probably almost twice as happy and three times as amped as his cousin about the whole thing. “Big fancy school, as in the one you’re going to currently, where you got in years earlier than even I did,” Stevie jabbed. “Well, you know what they say’ ‘Genius takes time,” Warren replied, and Stevie rolled his eyes. When Stevie and Warren were young, the cousins had been more like brothers, and the early teenage years had been rocky. Well… a lot had happened in the intermediate time. But Warren was just glad for the time they had now. All things considered. !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Warren looked down for a second and wiped away tears. He was so delighted to have his cousin back at that previous point that it didn’t occur to him that he could lose him just as fast. Warren promised himself to not be as complacent this time around. But in the end, he suspected, nothing could be done if things played out like that. Such was life, right. He was arguing with the two parts of himself again, so much so that he didn’t notice Stevie move past him to his sister’s bedroom door and knock. He only noticed that the door was open at that moment. Curious, Warren went to look, knocking on the door frame as he stepped in. Both faces looked at each other knowingly as Warren entered the room. It was that look, the shit, the younger one heard us talking, look. They were always quick to deny anything like that ever happened. But Stevie and Selene were always over-worried about him to the point it was weird. They always said one day you’ll understand. As if Stevie and Warren weren’t supposedly a few days apart in age. It made Warren a little upset. But he dealt with it because it was nice to know someone cared. Instead of addressing the elephant in the room, his sister looked between Stevie and Warren and asked, “Is everybody ready?”. Warren nodded, ‘I just gotta call Roberto for access to the ship.’
“So this is the ship, huh,” Stevie seemed in awe of the ship compared to “This is it,” Warren grimaced. ‘Looks okay to me,” Selene spoke up. Though honestly, she had never seen a ship capable of deep space travel. Anything would do, she thought. It just needs to get us there. “I would have gotten a better one, but the Mac 33 is the best that Roberto could do on such short notice,” Warren explained. Selene remembered the year all too well. The year of great upheavals, some failed, some not so much. She looked again at the ten-year-old ship, tiny, just starting to fully incorporate the alien tech the scientists acquired 5 years before the spaceship was fully built. As they boarded, they saw all the amenities of a home with some extraterrestrial improvements attached. Warp thrusters on the outside and magic food machines on the inside. A place to (uncomfortably) sit near the standing control system. A fully stocked fridge powered by an alien technology like the rest of the ship was. And a place for the phones to charge near a big blue power tube. It would do for now, but the crew would need to use the old Andromeda base when they got there. The thought was nothing personal. Andromeda lab had more scientific tools for biology and spiritual analysis and less technology for fun space travel. But for now, it served its purpose. As Warren climbed aboard the spaceship, he checked everything, with help from Stevie, and the two young men confirmed everything looked good. Then they were about off. Warren strapped on the gravity boots specifically for the control station. He strapped on the gravity belts for his body, and as Stevie and Selene strapped in, Warren turned to get their approval. Two thumbs up, they were off out of the spaceship hanger and into the spectacular vastness of space.
Atlas Ez Poetry 