The journey back home would take nearly 10 months to complete and the mood aboard the ship had settled into a quiet nervousness. We didn’t know what we would find once we returned and we couldn’t simply call home within the warp bubble. This communication blackout was due to the fact that each warp bubble wasn’t within normal space anymore and existed within a pocket dimension. It meant that we couldn’t communicate outside the bubble, at least not yet, but within the bubble our communication devices still worked with each other.

Vahlen had demanded to know what had happened to me during the 5 minute blackout that had occurred. I saw no point in lying to her as the truth would come out eventually, so I told her of Gunter’s last days. By the end of the story she seemed subdued, but who wouldn’t be, and asked for the entire video, in order to watch it. I had my misgivings, but if she truly wanted to see it how could I say no?

I left her to view the several weeks worth of video and just aimlessly walked around the ship. I eventually found Earl sitting in the mess hall fiddling around with his ring finger absentmindedly. “Hey Earl what’s up?” “Oh, hey there Scott. Nothing much just reminiscing about my wife.” “If you have a wife-“ I gesture at his ring less finger.

He just chuckles, “that’s just a tradition my wife and I have. When either of us get deployed somewhere we give the other person our ring. Then when we get back the other person will slide our ring on and say, ‘welcome home.’ It’s almost like a superstition with us now, but it also gives a newlywed feel each time if you know what I mean.” His eyebrows jump up and down.

‘Gah, that’s so sweet I could use it as syrup on my sugar waffle.’ “Sounds like you really love her.” His eyes get a whimsical look, “oh yes, I love every inch her. All five feet of it.” My brain froze for a moment just picturing a tiny 5 foot woman climbing up Earl’s 6’4” frame to plant a kiss.

I excused myself quickly, leaving Earl to his memories, and got far enough away that Earl couldn’t hear before I burst out laughing at the absurd image. Still chuckling I shook my head. ‘I really needed that after what I saw.’

I didn’t see Vahlen for the next few weeks as she seemed absorbed with watching Gunter’s experience. I finally knew she was done when she crashed into my back, wrapping her arms around me, and whispered “it must have been horrible to experience.” I put my arms on top of her’s, “did you watch all of that just to see what I experienced?”

I can feel her nod against my back. “Thank you.” We stand there, motionless, until I see Agent White round the corner and see us standing there. I can see disgust and venomous hatred flash across his face as he turns around and walks the other way.

I hold myself back from running after him and punching him through a wall or two. Instead I just try to enjoy the moment for what it is. Unfortunately it ended, as all these things must. I felt her loosening her arms and I released my hold to turn to face her.

Vahlen’s eyes had black bags under them as well as being red and puffy from crying. It looked like she had hardly slept a wink since I last saw her. “You didn’t have to watch all that.” She just shook her head, “I wanted to see what made you look so sad when you came back.”

I’m stunned speechless. “Vahlen all I can seem to do is thank you. Would you like for me to do anything for you?” She gets shy all of a sudden and looks down at the floor. “When we get back to Gaia could you come with me to meet my parents?”

I can’t help but tease her it was just too easy here. “Oh, going straight to see mother and father in-law. Not even a date beforehand?” I watch as her entire face becomes red as a tomato and she hits my shoulder. “No it’s not like that at all. I just wanted them to meet you.”

A smile is plastered on my face. “I know, I just couldn’t help myself, it was too easy a setup. I would be honored to meet the parents of such a lovely gal.” I don’t know how, but she got even redder at my comment. “You-“ she ran off. My teasing too much for her.

Chuckling at the memory of her reactions I walked to Vahlen’s lab to begin growing some organic tissue for a project I had in mind.

[Vahlen’s POV]

‘Gah, he’s too much.’ I took off down the corridor to my room and threw myself onto the bed, burrowing my face into it as though trying to hide my face. Eventually I turned over and lay staring at the ceiling above.

‘I wonder when I first began to have these feelings for Scott. It certainly wasn’t love at first sight, although I do blush at the memory. It almost feels like it just crept up on me. It must have started when he begged me for a body in order to protect me. Working with Scott on making a body, his seemingly endless enthusiasm, finally seeing him physically standing before me.’

‘He doesn’t seem like a machine at all when you look and interact with him. He just seems like a normal person. Well a person that can dodge bullets and capable of computing complex mathematics instantly. I just don’t know how I can be in love with a machine. No, he’s not just a machine to me he’s Scott and I love him no matter what anyone says.’

My declaration complete, at least in my mind, I slowly drift off to sleep.

[Vahlen’s POV End]

Not much else really happened during the trip. Dave was able to recreate something similar to the alien device and while it was able to record people’s memories people that viewed them awoke disoriented and groggy. It should get better with time but for now it was only a novelty.

The 10 months seemed to crawl by as everyone became more anxious to return home but finally we arrived. As the warp bubble dissipated and Gaia came into view, unharmed and vibrant, a cheer went up throughout the ship. We were the first. We had ventured into the unknown and returned. Whatever horrors we saw seemed to fade like a bad dream at the sight of our home.

Even with the fading horrors the thought gnawed at the back of our minds, ‘Were we next?’