A quick journey

"I'm glad you asked, Marissa," says Auto. "I have just the task suited for your skills. I'd like you to travel to Facility 23."

This startles me. Travel tasks in and of themselves are already fairly rare. But to one of the Facilities...!

"Auto, you want me to awaken a sleeper? Wow! That hasn't happened in...many hundreds! At least twenty."

"That is correct," says Auto. "The last awoken sleeper was Jane Falsom, the botanist, three thousand four hundred and eighty-six days ago. Do not be concerned. Your role in the process will not be arduous or complicated, and I will guide you step by step at the appropriate time."

"Auto, where is Facility 23?"

"It is built into the blueward bulkhead, approximately seventy degrees counter-spinward--perhaps six kayems from your current position depending on the path. This is part of the reason I have chosen you--your polly's proximity."

"Ah, right." We're the farthest polly blueward by a fair bit. "Auto, what do you recommend for loadout?"

"Hiking boots, of course. Be sure to bring plenty of water. Anti-nausea medicine. Also, do not forget a collar."

"Auto, for the sleeper, I assume."

"Correct."

"Auto, okay, I need time to get ready, but I will let you know when I am."

"Perfect, Marissa. I will wait until then."

Feeling better--or at least more awake--I step out into the polly yard and head toward an unoccupied shower. Serena is sitting on the grass nearby, two tykes latched onto her bubs. "Oy, Marissa," she greets me.

"Oy, Serena." I insert the douche nozzles in my cunt and anus, then step under the cascading water, letting it soak my dark brown hair. "Nursing duty again?"

"Any wonder when I'm still expressing?" Serena's eyes carefully track three other tykes nearby, crawling around. One looks old enough to get into some serious mischief. "But what about you?"

I start soaping down my arms and bubs before turning back to her. I can no longer contain my grin. "Auto wants me to go visit a Facility!"

"That's...incredible! Where?"

"Somewhere up in the blueward hills. Not far." With my free hand, I gesture vaguely at the jutting peaks overhead, beyond the sunstrand.

"You'll be meeting a sleeper then?"

I nod my head excitedly.

"Imagine that," says Serena. "Someone out of time...Aye, I wish I could go with you." Her face takes on that wistful look I've seen occasionally ever since she went off the patch and started whelping. The look doesn't happen as often as I might have expected. For the most part, motherhood suits Serena well in both mind and body...particularly the latter. I gaze at her pendulous bubs--shifting slightly beneath the suckling of the tykes--and compare them a little enviously to my own. Don't mistake me; I have a nice set, more than enough for the boys to get a couple of handfuls, as Will did just now. But still...

I think for a moment about the different trajectories our lives have taken since the days when we were little girls in our fifties and sixties, exploring and running all about, carefree. Now Serena is one of the matrons, quickly establishing herself as a steady partition of the polly, and me...Well, I'm still running about as ever, the same girlish enthusiasm, the same slender form hinting at a subtle musculature underneath. I'm as much a part of the polly as Serena, just a little more...peripheral. In quieter moments, I have considered going off the patch, settling down. I try to imagine the face, the body, of the Marissa who's made that decision, and I can't see her clearly. Her form is ephemeral, smoky. Maybe some day the vision will clear...

A couple of thunks as the douche nozzles cut off break me out of my reverie. I feel utterly filled, from both ends. Carefully, I remove the nozzles and press against my tummy to help the draining. "You may see the sleeper yet," I say to Serena, resuming our conversation. "if I return back here afterwards."

"That's true," she says. "I'd have so many questions."

"Ones you couldn't ask Auto?"

She shakes her head. "It isn't the same." A brief silence ensues before Serena looks at me with a gleam in her eye. "Your day is already off to a good start."

"You heard." It isn't a question.

"They heard in farthest redward. So was it Will? Or Liam? I only saw him entering from behind."

"...Will."

"Aye, right. That special bump of his..." Her eyes go a little unfocused, looking past me. "Anyway, I hope the rest of your day proceeds as well. Trekking the hills can be rough."

"I've always managed." By this time, both of my lower holes have finished draining. I quickly sluice off the remaining soap and turn off the water. "I should get my utilities. A good day to you, too, Serana."

"See you, Marissa," she responds, smiling.