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EPISODE ONE
by Dan Wallace
After an
all too short few months of genetic treatments, physical therapy, and
training at the Ch’l K’thri Center, the two native Triathian AG officers,
Devin Wynd and Cory Banks, began moving their belongings to their new home.
Cargo bots had already taken care of furnishings and other heavy items but
Cory took advantage of her newfound telekinetic abilities to mentally lower
packing cartons filled with her remaining things from her second story
apartment balcony to Devin’s land-glider on the street below.
“I think I may just end
up enjoying these new powers," she grinned. “At this rate we’ll have
my things set up in the new quarters in no time.”
Devin had been
unusually quite, even for him, on the ride over. New demands were being
placed on them each day and there was much to consider but something more
had been eating at him lately.
He caught a descending
box and turned away to store it in the back of the sleekly lined LG. “Yeah.
Maybe this’ll finally give us time to talk.”
“You know,” he called out,
“I really wish you’d change your mind about us sharing quarters. I mean,
we’ll be working together everyday, living in the same building anyway. I
just don’t see why it has to be such a big deal.
“We’ve been seeing each
other for what? Over a year now? That’s a long time and I think we’re ready
to…”
Cory leaned against the
railing, her shoulder-length hair rustling against her cheek in the light
wind. “I know, Devin. I really do. And I wish things could be that simply
for me but they just aren’t.
“I need to let things
be for a while. I can’t be worrying about us when there’s so much else
going on that needs our attention. I just think we should wait a while
longer. That’s all.”
Devin shut the rear
hatch harder than was necessary and stared at his reflection in the
vehicle’s polished finish. He’d heard the words before and knew how she
felt but he still couldn’t understand why. What was wrong with just
relaxing and enjoying life now and then? As crazy as things were with them
being pulled in every direction at once by forces outside of their control,
he just wanted a small piece of life that he could call his own. Was that
really so much to ask for?
Today was the day they
began their new lives together but their future was filled with
uncertainty. Cory had her goals and desires that had taken her from medical
school to the Guard program but Devin had only her. She filled his dreams
and much of his life and he wished to hold on to what they had for fear
that it would crumble and fall away under the stress of what was no doubt
to come.
“We’re all going
through enough changes right now as it is,” Cory continued. “I don’t want
to make things any more complicated.”
Devin turned back to
look up at her, his pained expression masked by shaded glasses. “What’s so
complicated? People move in together everyday.”
"Its just not that
simple, at least not to me. It’s a big step and we need to be able to think
about it without a lot of distractions and outside pressures.
“Its not that I’m
against the idea. I just…”
Cory’s words were
drowned out as the air screamed a moment before her eyes froze in horror.
White-hot plasma bolts rained down from the mid-day sky, searing the air
and obliterating the ground where Devin had stood.
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"Distant Storms" is ©
and ™ Dan Wallace 2001
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