●　● Akkadia One, Eden Space Territories

Clean floors. Tidy counter and table tops. Coffee table décor, sofa cushions, and throws still arranged neatly as if the living room had been meticulously prepared for guests arriving any minute. The smell of activity, however, unmistakably absent.

Sam hesitantly dragged her feet through the weight of both her bags and her conscience, stopping only to turn and close the door. Her hand stopped just shy of completing that sequence, hearing Danielle’s ominous warning for the thousandth time. This was what it started to feel like, and it sent a shiver straight into her soul.

There was no one home to greet her. There was no one to tell her everything was alright. There was no one to go run up and hug like never before after having survived horrors like never before. This was the home she had for months thought to finally return to, and here she was, yet, tears began to well up rapidly. And the tears that eventually fell burned in a blinding manner. This was home. Why did it feel so empty and haunting?

Her bags hit the floor without a care for the contents or the ruckus caused, slowly slumping to the floor alongside them.

I knew it would be like this! Why did I come back!?

The question burned before arriving, but it stung much more powerfully the more time passed: With no mother, father, or brother to be there for any fathomable length of time, where would home be, now? She eventually gathered the strength to roll her head over toward her watch, slowly bringing a hand around to speed dial Sebastian.

“Sam… Are you OK?” Sebastian immediately picked up over the small speaker installed in the watch, seemingly fully aware of what Sam was spiritually up against.

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Knowing she couldn’t make the two days without Sebastian while he was still out with his intensive neural implant adjustments and therapy, she went to the only place left she had to call family. And though she lamentedly went alone, she found subtle comfort in the light hooded jacket Sebastian had given her prior to their trip up. To her, in a sense, the faint smells that lingered from the body wash and shampoos he used was akin to him being by her side along the silent journey.

She stood before the assisted living center’s entrance, feeling the still-lingering weight on her chest as earlier but felt it hit differently. She felt regret, which was a first for her coming all the way to directly visit her ill grandfather, Grayson Knight. Before, coming was only because of either formalities or just merely being dragged along. This was, however, the man who spent more of his life raising her than her own parents. She knew that with how things progressed, he would see her face and never know who it was, having suffered for several years with Alzheimer’s despite the treatments that were eventually deemed a failure.

She finally worked up the courage to pass through the doors and check in as she used to, a guest to see Mr. Knight of room 207B. She had chosen to skip makeup that day, and her slightly puffed eyes made it evident what she had been going through as she weakly smiled and nodded to the clerk that opened the security door for her. Either through humbling experiences or through the first feelings of closer-to-real bonds with others, it brought about another wave of guilt that threatened heavier tears than before as she continued up the hallway. She knew who was on the other side of the doors, and even knew he’d have no clue as to who she was, yet she was the one who never cared to truly check in on him when it mattered most, and when it still would have been made a memory.

But upon entering his room after taking a long moment to collect herself and her thoughts, she found herself rethinking everything on the spot. Her widened eyes met her grandfathers’, and they were as wide but were washed over with a different, jubilant shade of disbelief.

“Well,” he feebly chuckled through a full grin from his propped-up bed. His voice was raspy and weak, but whatever spark he once had apparently never went away as she feared. “If it isn’t little Cookie.”

The attendant who had been busy switching out sheets smiled in addition, stepping away to give them room.

“Grandpa?!” Sam still couldn’t believe the fact he addressed her, not only with his old voice, but by her nickname she hadn’t heard in over five years.

“He’s been taking wonderfully to the newer treatments the past two weeks,” the attendant added as she started reaching for her tablet. “I knew his granddaughter was coming, so that must be you- and I bet you want to see how he’s been doing.”

“You cut… you cut your hair,” he continued in amusement with an arm now outstretching in a pointing fashion. “Now why’d you cut your pretty long hair?”

Without thinking, Sam found herself marching over to his bedside, taking his extended arm as an invitation to wrap her opposite arm around him, giving him a long, firm hug. She felt a pat of his hand across her back shoulder, bringing her to the realization she was hugging her grandfather for the first time since she was a young child.

“Well? How’s school going, Cookie?” he continued as he put his hand over hers. And as she now stood next to him, he looked over her like it hadn’t been too long since last meeting. “Not long until you graduate, I bet.”

His memories… they must be shot. What do I do? But wait, he’s doing so… well!? Mom said he was doing terrible! She thought but in thorough relief. “Grandpa, I’ve been out of school. I graduated in ’71.”

“Oh, you did?! You must be in law school now, then!” he shouted out in glee before a small coughing fit started to rear its head.

“Mr. Knight, here,” the attendant approached with a strawed bottle of water in one hand to pass to him and a tablet in the other for Sam to see. “You see, he sadly had no luck regaining his more recent memories but he seems to have regained a lot of his past ones, especially core memories.”

“I see.” Wow, Sam continued again in thought. So much neither Mom nor Dad didn’t tell me. Maybe they never knew?

Her grandfather paid no heed, enthusiastically looking around to keep speaking to his granddaughter. “So, tell me since you came all the way here from Sumeria! How’s law school?”

Sam could only smile wryly in return, taking a struggling moment to respond. “I… I never finished, Grandpa. I came to visit you while on leave. I work full time.”

“Who needed that law school anyway,” he began chuckling again much to her confusion. “That mother of yours had no business telling you what to do. Well, why didn’t you tell me you got hired? Are you working alongside your brother?”

She initially felt a rare giddiness, happy for the first time in her life to tell someone how and why she dropped out of law school, but that last bit was a bullet through her mood. Shit, do I tell him the truth? She then spent a moment pondering the situation with his memory, answering with the best compromise she could awkwardly muster up on the spot: “My job kind of fell in my lap all of the sudden. And my brother, well, he took a different route… different company, but yes, we do work in the same field.”

His grip suddenly grew uncomfortably tight around her hand as his eyes narrowed with concern. “I can tell what job you took, now. You’re not still daydreaming about becoming some pilot hero like your father, are you?” The reality in those words stung despite her urge to deny the notion. “The Earth’s business is never a guarantee with anything,” he continued in a tone growing stronger before another coughing fit started to show up again. “Enjoy the peace and stay away from there. Do yourself and your family a favor and stay here in Space.”

“Grandpa, I’m just working for a security outfit. There’s nothing to worry about,” Sam was quick to lie, both out of concern for his health and because there was no way she would make waste of her time she intended on enjoying together, not ruining by spilling the ugliness of reality. She waited until his coughing settled back down before continuing in as calm of a manner as she could muster: “I actually like my time spent on Earth. I’ve had good food, met great people to work with.”

He took some time to regather his strength after his cough settled down, not noticing Sam checking the looks coming from the equally concerned attendant. “That’s good to hear, Cookie, but if you aren’t together with your brother, who’s looking out for you?”

“I have someone who looks over me better than my brother ever did,” she responded both out of sarcasm and sincerity, letting out a grin that he did notice this time.

“If I wasn’t so weak these days, I’d like to come visit you… see what your work is like. Security, huh.”

“Right, and I definitely would love it if you could one day. But you focus on getting better, because I’ll be just fine.”

“Well, seeing you helps!” He tried to reply in a voice that matched his returning enthusiasm but fell just short of breath. “You’ll come see me more often now, right?”

“That’s enough for today, Mr. Knight,” the attendant stepped in with her tablet. “You have to stay well rested to get better.”

“Alright, Grandpa,” Sam stood up with a pat on his arm. “I’ll come back tomorrow. I’ll be in Akkadia for a few days before going back to Earth.”

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Sam spent the next few minutes on a bench near the main entrance’s taxi pickup pondering that last exchange with her grandfather. She had been told many times by those around her that her job wasn’t a wise decision, most notably regarding the risk it posed on her safety. But something about how her grandfather had worded his concern to her just now resonated differently as if he harkened to a different kind of danger or threat posed. What does he hold against Earth so much? He was almost speaking like we were still at war, or were about to be. Could he… She shrugged her shoulders and looked at her watch. Nah. He’s still stuck in his older memories like the nurse said. Can’t take any of that to heart, she continued in thought as she pulled up Sebastian’s contact. And with a wave input of her fingers she started speaking into the speech-to-text function.

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●　● Jazira Station, Eden Space Territories

Sebastian stepped out from the locker room attached to the trainee preparations area, doing the last of the towel drying of his hair from the shower he had just finished. Tossing his towel in the bin on the way out, he tugged at his shirt to finish wicking away the sweat that started back up, feeling the regret for not choosing a colder shower. As he reached for his watch from his shouldered bag and strapped it on, he noticed a message sent from Sam minutes ago.

“I saw my grandfather just now. He was doing so much better they said, he remembered me and everything. We had a… nice but deeper conversation but I can tell you about it later. Call me, I’ll be hanging around.”

A soft smile broke out at the thought she had a pleasant exchange with a family member other than her father. [Well, how about that,] he mumbled to himself as he held back a chuckle, comforted in knowing she had to have gotten some spiritual rejuvenation just then.

He passed through a few more walkways before arriving at a checkpoint where trainees and other non-staff personnel had to pass through before being permitted to leave, which in his case would be the dormitories. And just before he handed his bag over to the attendant, a voice came from behind him, catching him off guard as he startled.

“Mr. Navarre, if you have a minute.”

He turned to see it was none other than Vincent Vrey himself, causing further startlement. He had only seen him through others’ exchanges over screen before, but seeing him in person brought about a completely different level of heft to the atmosphere. “Yes, sir?”

“First of all, pleased to finally meet you in person,” Vincent spoke softly but warmly as he offered his hand, shaking Sebastian’s firmly as he continued: “Of which it delights me greatly as your successes on the field have helped us tremendously.”

Sebastian’s nerves combined with Vincent’s word choice had him feeling the stinging comprehension gaps as he fumbled his response: “I, ahn, sorry…”

“Listen, as I was saying,” Vincent kept on without much care, now patting him on the shoulder as if to lead him elsewhere. “If you don’t mind, I need to speak with you in private. I have an office here if you have the time.”

“Well,” Sebastian finally figured out better where he was going, yet still nervous from the suddenness and everything else combined with being in the same room as his uppermost superior of such a huge corporation. “Sure. Yes, sir.”