A trip to the past

A woman materialized in the whompah to Newland City. She quickly put on a long brown coat and ran towards the exit of the outpost. Obviously in a hurry, like many travellers that come and pass. Outside the weather was aweful, even to Andromeda standards. The rain poured down, turning the entrance to ICC HQ into a slippery, muddy trench. In the distance the roar of a stationary shuttle could be heard.

The door to the shuttle opened slowly to let the woman in. The few seconds of waiting seemed like ages, the rain ran down the coat and splashed on sturdy leather boots. Once inside, she carefully took off her cloak and followed a tall young man to a cabin, her home for the next few days.

The low humming of the ship's engine and the rhythmic snoring of the man she shared the cabin with. Further, everything was quiet in the cramped room. Leileena was sat at a small table placed near the window, bend over a computer she had placed in front of her, she was reading the news feed from Rubi-Ka. "Large-scale alien attack on Newland City!" the headlines shouted at her. "Dammit" She cursed quietly "Not now. Can't I ever leave for a few weeks without trouble?!". She turned to the window and stared at the vast empty horizon that had enveloped the cargo vessel when it entered hyperspace. It always made her shiver when she thought about how far she was away from solid ground. She got up and walked to the bridge to have some company.

"G'day Miss Chan" An opifex woman called out. Leileena smiled. "Captain.." She replied the greeting with a short nod. The crew was a friendly bunch, it made living in the small and crowded life support area of the vessel a lot more comfortable. Not many flights offered life support nowadays, travelling in suspended animation is much cheaper. Leileena disliked it though, much rather was she concious so she could get some work done. Being stuck in a tube is a waste of time, she thought.

The door to the bridge opened with a hiss of hydraulics. The young engineer who showed her around when she boarded the ship walked in. Leileena always bumped in to him when she left her cabin. The man smiled shyly at her before walking to one of the control panels. Leileena grinned to herself. "Try someone your own age, kid" She thought. The captain winked at her and chuckled. "We're dropping out of hyperspace shortly, you might want to start packing up" the captain said. Leileena nodded, said her goodbyes to the crew and walked back to her cabin.

As she always travelled light, she was done packing fast. A small metal backpack lay in a corner near the door. The man she shared the cabin with had woken up and stepped out of his bed-cage. Leileena jumped in her own bed to get out of his way. She closed her eyes and started meditating, slowly the humming sound of the engines faded away.

A speaker in the small cabin came to life. "Attention! Initiating docking procedure in 5 minutes." Leileena slowly opened her eyes. She stared at the wall in front of her for a few seconds before she got up. The ship had exited hyperspace and was now in orbit of a small planet, slowly closing in on a space station. When the boarding platform extended, Leileena was one of the first to walk off the ship. She took a deep breath as she glanced around the plaza of the transport hub. The air was still recycled, but at least she had some freedom again. This space station was the last time she saw the planet she grew up on, 37 years years had gone past since she stepped on that shuttle.

Leileena walked over to a food stand and sat down for a quick meal, wondering if there was anything left of what she knew of this planet, wishing she had done this trip years before. From the large windows she had a great sight of the planet surface. New Earth, it was called. But since half the planets in the universe were called that, it was mainly known by it's ID code. Only a few small parts near the equator were terraformed, the eastern ones lit by a billion lights, the western ones still glimmering in the evening sun. The rest of the planet was covered by a red-ish glow. From a low orbit you couldn't see far enough to see the poles. But the north and south would be white of what many believed was ice, but researchers still had not been close enough to it to take samples. The planet was located relatively close to Rubi-ka, on the outer edges of the known galaxy.

The shuttle descended quickly to the surface. Out of the windows, the only thing visible was the large ball of fire surrounding the vessel as a result of the enormous friction. In 10 minutes, Leileena would be back on solid ground, in the city where she was raised. It was night on this part of the planet. Leileena decided not to visit her "home" just yet. "It's late, they're probably all asleep already" she said to herself. Deep down inside though, she knew she was just scared to find out what had happened in 37 years. A smooth landing later she went to find a place to stay for the night. There was a cheap hotel near the landing platform.

The hotel room was poorly decorated. The impressive landscape outside the window was an animation on a computer screen. In reality, the hotel was located underground. The building space on the city surface was used up centuries ago, thus the only affordable place to build was below. In the corner of the room stood a large fish tank - holographic. The bed was simple, but large enough for most common sentient species. Leileena tossed her backpack on the bed and got out her computer. Headlines gloated "Continued Kyr'Ozch attacks on Rubi-Ka" and "Conflict on Rubi-Ka heating up once more". She sighed "I guess life will go on without me" she whispered to herself. She ordered a premium connection to Rubi-Ka, including a mobile communication probe and went to sleep.

Leileena woke up with a shock and looked at the clock next to her bed. "Oh crap" she mumbled while she got her computer out of her backpack. She logged in the communication probe and quickly flew it to Newland, Backyard 5. The mayor had not yet opened the meeting. Good, she hadn't missed much. Suddenly, the holographic display of backyard 5 was replaced by a pulsating red light. One of the deep space Echo stations had lost connection. Leileena frowned as she spammed the login button. Luckily the connection was restored quickly. For over half an hour she talked about the new alien strategies and recent attacks. Then she logged off, shook her hair in to shape and went to take a shower.

Although a taxi would have been much faster, Leileena walked trough the city center of Beatus, one of the largest cities on the planet. On the lower levels daylight barely reached the streets. The top of the buildings, with the fantastic views, bright sunlight and luxurious apartments was something only for the upper class. Regular people literally walked in their shadows. Leileena walked trough small alleys crowded by people making their way to work. When she stepped around a corner the atmosphere became a little friendlier. A small park with some lush trees lay in front of her, behind it a huge, old looking building. Beatus Grand Cathedral.

The cathedral. Back in the days it was the first building in Beatus ever to be constructed out of notum-alloy. In fact, notum-alloy still is a rare sight. The size of the cathedral, along with the insane prices of notum-alloy building material had made the project controversial for years. The inner and outer layers of the walls were covered by a thin glued layer of stone, giving the cathedral an overall medieval appearance. The building was the pride of a charity foundation, providing religious support and primary needs for the poor and the weak. On the side of the park, absorbed by the suburban jungle, stood a surprisingly common building with 3 C's on a light sign, Child Care Community. Once, this place was home.

Leileena walked down the path to the large doors of the cathedral. In the park some teenagers were enjoying the weather. The sound of her boots mixed with the echo's of playing children as she entered the huge, arched room. She remembered playing hide and seek here. Auras of kids emerged from the best hiding spots. Leileena smiled, it looked like time had stood still here. As she walked on she noticed an old man sitting on the front bench. Could it be? She looked closer. Yeah, no doubt about it, that's Ben.

Brother Benedict, or Ben as most people called him, was sitting on his favorite spot in the cathedral. Even though it looked like time had stood still, for brother Ben it certainly had not. Leileena knew him as an energetic young man, but those times seemed long past. How old was he now? 70? He had joined the foundation when Leileena was a kid, 5 years old perhaps. Early enough to have little memory of life without brother Ben. As Leileena approached, brother Ben noticed her and jumped up "Greetings...!" he paused and stared at Leileena for a second, his mouth half open and his usual greeting stuck in his throat.

Leileena replied to the stare with a warm smile. "Oh my... Leileena?!" Ben asked. Leileena answered with a nod. "Good grief girl, am I happy to see you alive! How are you, haven't changed a bit I see. You must tell me everything about your adventures, no wait, save it for when the rest is here or you'll be talking for days on end. We should throw a party, yes..." Leileena grinned. Ben was always in the mood for a chat, and when he got enthusiastic about something it was hard to get him to shut up. The kids had stopped playing and looked at her curiously. She'd have a lot to tell for sure.

Leileena followed Ben to a side door leading to the living quarters. The children followed them at a distance. As soon as she entered the kitchen Leileena noticed there had been some changes. There were tables and benches placed randomly trough the room, making the large kitchen look small and cramped. "What happened to the dining room?" She asked Ben. Ben was making coffee and typing on a wall-mounted panel. He sighed as he sat down and passed a mug to Leileena. "These are rough times Leil" he mumbled "Come, I'll show you". They walked to the kitchen door. The windows were covered by a plastic sheet.

The dining room was the center of the complex. When Leileena was young she spend a lot of time here. Kids would play games, do homework or just hang out on the benches when they weren't used for meals. As Brother Benedict pushed the doors open a chill ran down Leileena's spine. The place was filled with beds, room dividers did an attempt to make for some privacy. The main entrance was closed down to prevent people from walking in on the make-shift bedroom. On the other side the stairway was hidden from view by a piece of plastic, a red light was lit on the control panel of the elevator. Glancing behind one of the room dividers, Leileena could see the feverish face of a girl. A man sat at her bedside.

The man was middle-aged, in his 50s perhaps. With a concerned look he lay his hand on the girl's forehead. The girl relaxed, with a relieved smile she closed her eyes. Leileena smiled as well as she walked around the room divider. "Hey Aaron..." she whispered. The man looked up with a surprised smile. "Oh hi there pretty lady" he said softly. Leileena sat down next to him and lay her hands on the girls stomach. Behind the room divider brother Ben gestured the children back to the kitchen.

For a few minutes Leileena and Aaron sat side by side, waiting quietly for the girl to be fully asleep. Leileena's mind wandered off to the past. Aaron was about her age, moved in when he was about 6 years old. He was found in a cargo ship at the docks. Leileena had always seen him as her brother, they were both trained in self defense by one of the brothers of the foundation. It was great seeing him back again after all those years...