A Timeless Journey (26 page)

33

The last two weeks of Luna’s pregnancy came to an end quickly and the day when baby Sky was due to see the daylight arrived. From that morning, I had started my paternity year off work. In some ways, I felt glad to avoid professor Chang’s meaningless detailed questions about the 21
st
century.

Luna and I travelled to the repair clinic early in the morning, although the baby wasn’t going to be born until later in the afternoon, according to the novel I had written. For most of the time, I stayed with Luna in her treatment room waiting for the nature to run its course. As we got closer to the time of birth, a strange feeling of insecurity crept over me. It felt as if I was in front of a jury which was about to deliver the guilty verdict and the tremble I had in my chest made sure of that.

When Luna was nearly ready to give birth, the geneticist came into the room. I was politely asked to wait in the guest room, while they run the last physical checks on her and the baby. I just couldn’t settle sitting in one place and went outside for a walk.

I paced up and down impatiently under the shadows of the tall buildings which rose high on both sides of the moving lanes, until I was notified by my Link device that Luna was about to deliver our baby. I ran back inside the genetic repair centre and made my way up.

I walked towards Luna’s room, with my legs shaking uncontrollably. I was about to see my daughter in flesh for the very first time. The thought of being a father, made me freeze before reaching the room.

It took a few moments to put my emotions under control, before I entered the room. The first person I cast my eyes on was Luna laying on her back proudly smiling at me.

“She has arrived Scott.” She said.

I looked around. There was no one in the room except Luna. I had barely been away five minutes from the time Link notified me. Surely it had to take more than five minutes to deliver a baby, even with the advanced technology. I panicked!

“Where is she now?” I asked in a shaky voice.

“They are cleaning her before they insert the PBM. After that she is all ours.”

“This was quick.”

“Where were you?”

“I only went for walk,” I replied. “I can’t believe I missed it. I thought you were having a caesarean?”

“I did, look not even a scratch.” Luna lifted her showed me her belly.

“How did she look?”

“She is a healthy, gorgeous little person.”

“Oh Luna, thank you, I can’t wait to see her.”

I gave her a kiss on the forehead and held her hand as we waited for baby Sky to be returned to us.

Some twenty minutes later, the room’s door slid open and a nurse came in pushing a small bassinette with baby Sky in it. The nurse looked at me and asked if I wanted to hold her. A lump gathered in my throat and, since I was unable to speak, nodded repeatedly. She lifted baby Sky from the tray and passed her onto me. I took the little bundle in my arms and she looked up at me with her inquiring eyes. I had forgotten entirely where I was and started to talk to my daughter.

“Hello little one, do you know who I am? I am your daddy.”

Sky kept staring at me with her observing eyes and it was then when I felt something that I had never felt before. A sweet feeling swept over my whole body. In that very moment, I felt that I would do anything for her, even lay down my own life if needed. She was my little girl, someone I had created, a piece of me and suddenly, I realised the importance of being a parent. From that moment on, I was responsible for another human being and the thought of it filled me with immense responsibility.

Luna’s voice brought me back to the room.

“Scotty, can I hold her?” She asked with her arms stretched towards me.

“Sure, here you go,” I replied and gently placed Sky in Luna’s arms.

I stepped back, as I watched in admiration the contented picture of mother and daughter in front of me. I imagined how my parents must have felt when I was born and what they would have gone through when they found out I was missing. It was at that moment when everything I had written in my book about baby Sky’s arrival and returning to the 21
st
century to see my parents, made perfect sense.

I had to go back and let my parents know that I was safe. If I had to choose living in this future, the least I could do was let my parents know. They had no need to suffer my disappearance. If I had to stay in the 26
th
century against the course of events, I had to consider the consequences of my action. Refusing to go through the anomaly and not reappearing in 21
st
century, risked causing a paradox and there would be a moment when I had to be considered as missing. My parents and my friends would be devastated and from a father’s point of view, I couldn’t allow my parents to mourn my loss when I was still alive and well.

In just over four weeks, the anomaly was going to appear again and I had to make a very important and dangerous decision. I had to decide to travel back to 21
st
century, or stay in the future with Luna and Sky. If I had to go back, I would risk my return to the 26
th
century and if decided to stay, everything that had happened so far might become undone. The novel I was supposed to write wouldn’t exist and Luna will never know who I was. On top of everything, baby Sky may never be born. It was unclear to me what would happen to Sky if I changed the future.

Will she disappear as if by magic?

Will she cease to exist?

Whatever decision I was going to make, I risked not seeing Luna and my daughter again and, out of the two possible options, I had to choose the one where I had more chance to be with them for the rest of my life.

Luna and Sky returned home the next morning. The presence of our daughter in the apartment and in our lives seemed to have changed entirely my perception of freedom. When there was only Luna in my life, I still thought I had some independence left and now with the arrival of Sky, my priorities had shifted more towards her.

It was the morning of 30
th
May 2574 and Sky’s crying awoke us both. Now that we had a baby to look after, we had moved to the other rest room where we had created her a little corner. It was just after five in the morning. Sky’s crying had woken me up and I didn’t feel like going back to sleep. I decided to get up and spend the morning with my daughter while Luna slept.

I took Sky to the personal room and cleaned her up before giving her a drink that Luna had prepared earlier. She eventually managed to stop crying, as soon as I sat with her in the U-seat in the living space. My daughter stared at me with her little blue eyes until she was bored and fell asleep in my arms. I couldn’t stop looking at her tiny features and wonder if I was going to see her grow up. I felt the need to spend every minute I had left with my baby girl until the anomaly appeared again.

An urge to talk to her, although she had fallen asleep, came upon me. Even if she had been awake, I doubted that she would have understood me, but nevertheless, it didn’t stop me to get out what was in my mind.

“Sleep little one, sleep, without a care in the world.” I whispered. “I want you to know that whatever I will decide, it will be with you in my mind. If I go and fail to see you growing up, I want you to know that daddy will always love you no matter where I will be. I will always be here with you. When you’re all grown up, when you will be able to walk and talk, you have to promise me you will look after mummy. You have to be good and keep your mum happy while I’m gone and don’t let her cry.”

More than talking to her, I felt the need to say what I thought out loud. It was one of those situations that I couldn’t do anything about, no matter how much I wanted my future to be here with Luna and Sky. It didn’t matter if I went through the anomaly or not, the outcome was going to be the same. I was going to lose them both and yet, nothing was certain. All I could do at the time was to hope that fate will somehow turn for the better.

I returned a sleeping baby Sky in her floating cot and started to prepare breakfast, scrambled egg with smoked salmon and strawberries, Luna’s favourite. I prepared two mint and orange infused teas and some toasties. Toasties, for all who don’t know, was a mixture between bread and biscuit and it was normally used in the morning to accompany the breakfast.

Tea and coffee did exist in the 26
th
century, but it wasn’t the same as we know it in the 21
st
century. Before these products were allowed for sale, all the caffeine and other addictive substances were removed, so drinking a coffee in the future wasn’t a pleasant experience. Tea was different because it was made using mostly natural flowers, fruits and leaves infused with hot water and had a pleasant and refreshing taste. The kind of black tea we use in the old reality was still available, but since the caffeine and some other substances were removed, the taste wasn’t the same. It explained why black tea had fallen out of favour with the majority of people.

By the time I had finished preparing breakfast and placed everything on the dining table, Luna had woken up and was standing in front of me with a smile on her face.

“I heard you earlier talking to Sky. I thought it was nice what you said and sad at the same time.”

“That conversation was supposed to be between me and my daughter only, you nosy! On a more serious note, if I don’t make it back and be with you both again, please tell Sky that I will always love her and every time I will lift my head up towards the skies, I will think of you and my baby girl.”

“Stop this, please. You are making me feel sad.”

“I’m sorry Lu, let’s have some breakfast before Sky wakes up and perhaps my cooking skills will cheer you up. I have prepared your favourite.”

Luna smiled at my cooking joke. We sat eating breakfast in silence, staring fondly into each other’s eye. Between us, at that very moment was only love, strong enough to make every cell of our bodies tremble. Unfortunately, that special moment was interrupted when Sky started to cry in her floating cot again and all that, before Luna and I had a chance to finish our breakfast. Luna instinctively stood up and offered to look after Sky.

“Finish your breakfast Scotty, I will see to her.” She said and tried to leave.

I stood up too, stopped her and insisted.

“No, please, you sit down. I will look after her. I want to spend every minute I can with my baby girl.”

I convinced Luna to continue eating her breakfast and went to take my daughter in my arms. A full week had passed and still I couldn’t believe that little fragile creature I had in my arms was part of me. If I had been living in the old reality and Sophie had asked me to have a child, I would have thought long and hard before taking an important decision like that and probably would have rejected her request. With Luna life felt different in so many ways. Living life in the 26
th
century was all too easy and natural regardless, and when with Luna in it, everything enhanced into infinity.

In over two weeks, I was going to have to make a decision which no one knew what the outcome would be. I felt frightened and confused, while my mind kept drifting away in the abyss of the unknown. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing my daughter and the woman I loved for good. The prospect of not seeing her again terrified me. This is why every moment spent with Sky felt so precious.

34

The next two weeks, although against my wishes, crumbled in front of me rapidly. The eve of 18
th
of June, the date when the anomaly was due to reappear, arrived. I remember vividly every minute of that day. It was early in the morning when Sky started to cry in her floating cot. Luna and I were already awake. We knew the exact reason why we had lost our will to sleep. It had been the last night I slept in our bed before I faced the anomaly.

How could I sleep when in a few hours, I risked losing both Luna and Sky for good?

There was an eerie silence in the apartment besides Sky’s crying and neither of us fancied having a conversation. Understandably, we were both heartbroken and afraid of the unknown. We had no idea what was going to happen after I went through the anomaly. Everything we had read in the book would soon become the present and from thereon, what was to come remained a mystery to us both.

I picked Sky up from her cot and held my baby girl in my arms. I couldn’t help admiring her innocent blue eyes as they stared back at me clueless. My daughter had no idea of what was about to happen. She was unaware that in a few hours she was going to lose her father, maybe forever. I remember thinking that was going to be the hardest day of my life and the worst part was the day had only just begun.

Friday the 17
th
of June 2574 went by very slowly, amid torturous thoughts and unbearable distress. Luna and I barely spoke to each other. We had so much to say and so little time left and yet, neither found it easy to have a conversation. My brain felt numb and most of that day my mind was lost in a thick depressive fog. I believe Luna felt the same and that was the reason we failed to communicate freely.

Evening arrived quickly and the anomaly was due to appear at around two in the morning, only a few hours away. Baby Sky had fallen asleep in her floating cot unaware of the risk of losing her father for good. I couldn’t stop staring at her peaceful face. Suddenly, my accumulated stress, turned into question after question as if my questioning was going to change the outcome.

I left Sky in her cot sleeping and joined Luna in the living space. We sat in the U-seat speechless for a while. My nerves had got the better of me. Suddenly, I grabbed Luna’s hands and in a state of panic asked.

“What if I never wrote that novel? What if no one knew about tonight? Would it still be happening the same way? Aren’t we already changing the future by having knowledge of its existence? What would have happened if you didn’t know who I was when we met? We could still have met and be together.”

“I don’t know Scott! Maybe we would have met all the same and on this day the anomaly would have appeared and you would have chosen to go back regardless if you knew the future or not. I believe the outcome in both cases would be the same, you return to the 21
st
century.”

“This is my dilemma, I don’t want to leave and yet, I have to let my family know. Maybe you are right. There is no escape from fate.”

“I don’t believe in fate. The future exists in every decision we make and every decision is made by free will, at least in this reality.”

“I guess deep down I want to go and visit my parents and the world I have left behind for one last time.” I admitted.

“I don’t blame you for wanting to see your family one more time. I would have done the same. I want you to know that. And then, who knows, maybe one day you will make it back to us.”

I got lost in my thoughts in what Luna said about blame and, although I felt comforted that she didn’t hate me for deciding to go back, somehow it didn’t make me feel any better. I just couldn’t accept losing Luna and Sky both at the same time and maybe forever.

I went back to the rest room and stopped by Sky’s floating cot. Luna followed.

“Look at her sleeping,” I whispered, releasing a sigh of sadness.

“She is beautiful,” replied Luna with a faint smile.

“I can’t believe this might be the last moments I will spend with her.”

“Don’t think like that, you never know.”

“I want to think positive, but all I can think is the worse.”

“Sometimes when you expect the worst, things work for the better.”

“I hope you right.” I replied and left the room.

I couldn’t deal with the dire situation anymore and decided to spend some time alone by taking the Emze for a ride.

“I’m off out for a ride around the city.” I said lazily.

“Going around the city for one last time, huh?” Luna noted, but she already knew that from the novel.

I replied with a lazy nod of the head and left the apartment. Directed the cube to the parking floor and made my way to our Emze. Once inside, I connected with the global flight system and chose the panoramic flight feature so the Emze could fly around the city at a low speed and height. I sat back in the gravity chair and the machine took off.

Emze floated slowly around the Laguna city. I kept looking around at the high buildings and the colourful lights which had just started to illuminate the evening as the night fell. I observed with a nostalgic sentiment the moving lanes underneath, the neatly arranged common green spaces in between the buildings, other Emzes flying above and below in different heights and speeds, the inner-city tube ride weaving around the city like a giant snake and everything else around me. Although there was a slim chance for me to make it back to that beautiful city, somehow to me it felt like I was saying goodbye forever to the 26
th
century life.

I had been living for two years in the future up to point and somehow, mostly thanks to Luna, I had managed to adapt perfectly to that sophisticated environment. It had been an extraordinary experience that had made me forget entirely about the primitive world I had come from. I wondered if I was ever going to readapt once I re-joined my old world. After what I had seen and experienced in the future, I didn’t feel comfortable returning to the 21
st
century. I had a new life, a new family and a new place that had become my real home and the thought of returning to a primitive world scared me.

One hour before midnight, I returned to the apartment to find Luna holding a crying Sky in her arms. She had just woken up and Luna was about to feed her. I had less than three hours before the anomaly and decided to make the most of it with my two girls, just in case I failed to return.

While Luna was busy preparing Sky’s drink, I took advantage of the time alone and left a video message in one of our private files on Holo. If I won’t make it back, at least when Sky grows up, she can see how her father looked and hear how her father sounded.

After Luna finished feeding Sky, I took my daughter in my arms and tried to make her smile. I wanted to take her smile with me in my memory vault and cherish it forever. I was unlucky. Sky fell asleep almost immediately depriving me of that chance. I placed her in her floating cot and asked Luna to spend the rest of the time we had left in the private restroom. It was going to be our last time together, a memory that I was going to take back with me and cherish it, until maybe one day we would meet again.