#raem

It was a terrible sight, and a terrible feeling. But even when Raem ducked inside a house built inside a shop’s cavity, an airlock hissing shut behind him, he didn’t pause to take a lungful of artificially scrubbed air. There was no time for that. Every moment, the once-lush planet Sabil was dying. Scientists scrambled to find one more resource they could exploit, failed, then blamed the politicians who spoke of greater times ahead while being too afraid to take real action.

Raem wasn’t too afraid. He crossed the small living room and began to climb the ladder set against the burnished white wall, ignoring the elevator that would only add to the mess. While the lower floor was home to modest and functional living quarters, the upper level was full of offices and quarters for the small army that Meali had gathered.

Well, not army, Raem mused, pushing the hidden door out of the way, but an army nonetheless. They had the will and they had the means. They were the preservationists, those who aimed to save Sabil, in direct contrast to the government, who hunted them while doing absolutely nothing.

“How close?” Meali asked Raem as he climbed onto the floor and shrugged his coat off. She stood in a doorway, a worldwindow in her hand. The only reason that she and Raem were putting up with the technology was that paper would ultimately be more wasteful. Not to mention its scarcity.

“Less than a month, sparrow,” Raem answered. He took her by the shoulders and kissed her in greeting. She smiled beneath his lips and pulled back to allow him to slip his gloves off of his prematurely spotted skin.

“Less than a month,” Raem repeated, “until the little prince sends his warriors to the palace in Rinthia. After their success, the entire planet of Vacea will be rocked, their strongest leader a young girl, and the idiotic Council here will have to seize total control of that lovely planet.

“You’d love it there, Meali,” Raem continued, leading her further into the building and into his room. There were no windows up here, limiting the risks of radiation poisoning and being found, but also causing Raem to forget exactly how bad it could get out there. That was why he took walks when he could, even though it was dangerous. Raem smiled fondly, taking his mind away from the depressing landscape of Sabil.

“The sky is ever so blue on Vacea,” he said, “a deeper color than I ever imagined the sky could be. There are still trees, hundreds of them in living forests. Their leaves are so varied, some broad and falling like paper, and others that are small and sharp like needles. I haven’t been to the sea, but the palace has several magnificent murals and tapestries that depict something more vast than even the canyons here.

“I’ll show you someday, Meali,” Raem said earnestly, buttoning up his indoor shirt while she dropped his outdoor clothes down the hole in the corner. “Both the real sea and the artwork in the palace.” He laid on the narrow bed, looking up at Meali’s beautiful face, framed by short blonde hair. He’d see it shine someday, shine as healthily as that mute sundaughter’s, Matta from Vacea.

Meali smiled, pulling the transmental glass panel over the top quarter or so of Raem’s bed, tinting everything just a little bit green.

“I look forward to seeing it all,” she said. “Now, remember - the census officer meeting is in a few days, you can’t miss it.”

“Don’t worry, Meali. I should be able to come back in less than two Vacean days, just in time for Trevor and Mauj to join us again. By the way, have they answered my message yet?”

Meali pressed a few buttons on the controls near Raem’s head. “They did. They said that the trade with House Tilt will be conducted a few miles outside Rinthia, to the south of the pass. Now,” she said, standing back and grabbing Raem’s hand with her own. “Don’t forget who you are and where you come from, you lettuce.”

Raem grinned, squeezed Meali back, then folded his hands on his chest, preparing for the usual days-long induced coma. “As long as you don’t forget me, sparrow, I’ll always come back home to you.”

“Stop with the sap.” Meali rolled her eyes, stepped to the wall, and flipped the switch welded there. Raem took in the sight of her standing there one more time, before his eyes closed and his mind slipped between stars. He flew bodilessly through the crystal-clear atmosphere of Vacea, down to the surface, and into the form a pale boy who was just waking up. Good timing.

***

Slyn startled fully awake at the sudden presence. He didn’t let it show on his face, but his heart sank as Raem’s orange, incorporeal form clouded the edges of his vision once more.