The Solar Flare (5 page)

 
   Ava looked down at the floor and shook her head slowly. She didn’t really have any appetite, but the food started to smell good. She wasn’t sure how to react to her friend. She had always trusted Naomi, even from their first meeting; Naomi had a warm, nurturing ambience about her. Ava watched as she set the tray down on the small desk in the room and turned to bring her a cup with what appeared to be hot chocolate in it. She looked at the clock, 6:36 p.m. The others surely must be eating their own dinner by now.

     “I know that you love chocolate. It always cheers me up when I’m down.” She moved over towards Ava and handed her the cup. Ava gasped as she sensed Naomi’s potent energy flowing from her.
It felt warm, like perhaps how the sun would be if she ever stood in it. Naomi walked into the small bathroom and brought Ava a tissue so that she could blow her nose. She sensed that Ava noticed her energy.

     “Now that you know the truth about us
, we don’t have to try to hide our energy as much. Normally humans don’t sense it on any level because we subdue it, but you did.” She paused. “You are so special Ava.” Naomi raised her hand and smoothed back Ava’s hair off of her face, an act that surprised Ava, and comforted her. Ava looked into her blue eyes and at her beautiful blonde hair and wondered what the circumstances were of the young woman that had died before Naomi moved in. Her tears started flowing again, she couldn’t suppress them. Naomi sat down next to her on the bed and put an arm around her, rubbing her shoulder.

      “I know you weren’t expecting any of this. The truth is,
. . . we weren’t either. I believe that things happen for a reason and I believe you and Wesley are meant to be together, for however long that will be. The two of you need each other.”

    
“I don’t understand any of this. It doesn’t make sense.” Ava mustered some control over her tears and concentrated on breathing slowly to calm down.

     “It will. Give yourself some time. No one expects an instant recovery. You can take as much time as you
need. All that Wesley, and we, ask is that you give us a chance.”

     “I’m not sure if I can do that.”

     “I can understand how betrayed and confused you must be, but Ava, please remember that you have been part of our family for a long time now, and we have never acted or pretended any of our feelings, thoughts, or actions towards you. We have only tried to protect you, and yes, we have concealed the truth from you at times, but we have kept your best interest in mind. In all honesty Wesley delayed telling you because he was afraid. He didn’t want to hurt you, and he feels terrible now. It’s not every day we form such a close relationship with a human.”

     “I don’t know what to say.  My head is kind of a mess right now.” Ava’s voice was flat, not revealing any emotion. She found it hard to look directly at Naomi
now.

     “I understand. I will leave you to your thoughts.
You are not as alone as you think you are Ava, we are all here for you. However, none of us will disturb you tonight, we know that you need to rest and let all of this sink in. Please don’t hesitate to let me, or the others know if you need anything. Andre and I will be right down the corridor, as usual. Take a hot shower and try and get some sleep, it’s very therapeutic. Sometimes things don’t seem so hopeless in the morning.” She gave Ava a reassuring smile, removed her arm from around her and casually walked out of the room, the door sliding shut behind her.

      Ava took a sip of the hot chocolate.
It was warm, rich, delicious, and comforting. Rowan must have made this, she thought, Naomi isn’t always so talented in the kitchen. Chocolate is very expensive. Ava rarely could afford it on her own, let alone have the patience to melt it down and mix it into a drink. It was definitely a weakness. A faint smile appeared on her face, then disappeared. She got off of the bed and inspected the tray on the desk, nibbled at a few of the items and then drank thirstily from the large bottle of water after the hot chocolate was gone. She decided to take Naomi’s advice and took a long hot shower to freshen up. Someone had put toiletries, socks, new underwear, and pajamas in the small cabinet in the bathroom, almost expecting her to be there. Naomi must have guessed what would happen after her conversation with Wesley. How well they know me, she thought as she brushed her teeth and went to bed.

       The stress of things had taken a toll and by surprise Ava had a great night’s sleep, with only a few intermittent awakenings. Her mind felt a little appeased. At least she no-longer had to worry about Dr. Tom snooping around or wonder about Wesley’s mysterious behavior. She took a deep breath and got out of bed. She dressed in some new clothes that had been placed in her closet, freshened up, and decided it was time to come out of her room. She couldn’t stay in there and she did feel curious about where their destination was. After the door opened she peered cautiously out in both directions. Sensing no one, she made her way up to the eating area. As she came closer she could smell coffee. They must be eating breakfast now. Ava paused shyly in the doorway. Rowan, Justin, Naomi, Mia, and Wesley fell silent, paused and turned to face her. Ava almost shrank back, not sure if she could handle all of them at once. Rowan smiled brightly at Ava, and started to come over to her. Her wavy red hair bounced softly as she walked and her green eyes seemed to sparkle with hope as she put a hand on her shoulder.  Ava could feel the energy flowing off of her, slightly different from Naomi’s.

     “Good morning Ava. Won’t you please come in and have some breakfast?”

     She nodded at her.

     Rowan le
d Ava over to her usual place at the table and she sat down next to Wesley. “Would you like some coffee?”

     “Yes, please,
” Ava responded reflexively. She paused, thinking twice about it. “Rowan you don’t have to wait on me, I can get it.”

     “Oh it’s no trouble at all. You just sit there and relax.
You’ve had a rough time with the explosion on Orionis and . . . everything else.” She patted Ava’s shoulder affectionately and turned to gather her breakfast.

     “Good
morning Ava,” Wesley greeted her, his voice cautious and filled with concern. His large warm brown eyes assessed her for any sign of encouragement, but found none.

     “M
orning,” Ava replied hesitantly, noticing that Wesley looked tired, he probably hasn’t slept, she thought. Everyone else at the table greeted her pleasantly and then resumed the conversation they were having, something about the evacuation procedure on Orionis. Ava tried to listen to what would normally have been an interesting conversation, but her thoughts started to wander.

     Rowan set a bowl of oatmeal, a small plate of fruit, and coffee down in front of Ava and then took her seat opposite her at the table.

     “Thank you, Rowan.”

     “You’re very welcome. I hope you were able to
get some sleep last night. We had a lot of flight turbulence.”

      “I must have slept because I didn’t notice.”

     “How are you feeling?” Wesley inquired. “I was worried about you.”

     “I’m okay,
. . . I guess. I’m still a little tired.” She didn’t really know what to say to him, to any of them really. Normally things weren’t awkward like this, but now knowing what she new, she felt intrigued, and also distanced; almost inferior to them.

     “Ava, I thought you might be worried about your friend Elaine, so I checked o
n her evacuation status for you,” Naomi quickly said, changing the subject.

     This caught Ava’s attention. “Elaine!” In the aftermath she had totally forgotten about her friend, now she felt terrible. “Is she okay? Did she get
out in time?” She asked hurriedly.

     “Yes, she did. No worries. They routed her to Polaris, along with her boyfriend. They must have been standing in line next to each other in order for that to happen. Seems that they are both doing fine.”

     Ava breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank God.” At least her friend was safe. Ava now saw this as an opportunity to try to find out what their destination was. “Is that where we are headed?”

     Naomi looked at Wesley, who had turned
his posture so that he faced Ava. “No Ava. After everything that has happened on Orionis and on Capri, I feel it would be best if we stayed away from the stations for a while,” he spoke softly and reassuringly to her.

     “Then, if w
e aren’t going to a station, are we going back to Earth?” Ava asked suspiciously. How could they go back to Earth? She did not want to live in the cold underground again.

     “Not exactly.” He hesitated as she searched his face for an answer. The thought of possibly going to another abandoned space station, if one existed, frightened her.
“We are going to take you to our home . . . to your new home,” he glanced at the others who were smiling thoughtfully at her.

     “What do you mean?” Ava suddenly felt panic sweeping over her. She looked frantically from face to face. What were they talking about?

     “Many years ago we discovered a planet similar to Earth that can support human life. We have spent a long time developing it, populating it, and protecting it. We named it Kyanos.”

     “You have your own planet?
An extra solar planet? Does the ITO know?” Ava couldn’t believe this. A new planet could change everything for millions of people. She watched as the others reacted to her statement. She saw some heads shaking back and forth in disagreement.

     “We haven’t revealed the existence of it to anyone except the people
whom we have taken to live there. It’s for the planet’s protection. I know this may be hard for you to understand from your point of view; however we have lived long enough to have seen humans destroy the Earth long before the Great Impact.” Wesley spoke slowly and solemnly. She could tell Kyanos would be a sensitive issue. “Kyanos is smaller than Earth and there would be no possible way for it to support the populations of all of the space stations. While our city has exceeded our expectations, it is still extremely fragile. Our developments there have been slow on purpose. We don’t want our community living beyond its means.”

    
The thought of going to a fledgling community on an unknown planet terrified Ava somewhat. In addition to that, she felt acutely aware that she possessed nothing, except for a few clothes. “Wesley, how can I begin a new life in a new world with no credits and no possessions? Perhaps it would be better for me to go to Alexis and Marc on Antares.”

      “Ava,
you can start over. In fact, our clinic would benefit greatly from your addition. The healthcare providers perform research when they aren’t seeing patients. You wouldn’t be as busy as you were on Orionis, but I know you would fit right in. And, as far as you not having anything, that isn’t something you need to worry about. I’m going to take care of you, you will have a home, and everything that you need, I promise.”

     “Wesley, I’m not sure about this.” Ava couldn’t pretend she had no doubts at this point, espe
cially after everything that had happened.

     “All I ask is that you please give us a chance, and after some time if you are still unhappy, I will do whatever is in my power to make you happy again, even if that means you want to leave
us and go back to a life on one of the stations, under a new identity of course.” Wesley did not conceal the sadness in his voice as he spoke.

     
Ava looked at the table and nodded, what else could she do? She stirred her oatmeal mindlessly, still shocked by the news that a new planet existed.

     “Ava, you will love Kyanos
,” Mia interjected enthusiastically. “It is nothing like the Earth you knew, and the society is not as cold and isolating like it was for you when you arrived on Orionis. The land is beautiful, the air is fresh, the water is much purer than you have ever tasted, and the food will be fresher than you have ever had before. In fact, the water on our ship that you like so much comes from Kyanos most of the time.”

     “That’s right, and you will not be alone Ava. We are all here for you. I know that you will be able to appreciate all that we have to offer
,” Rowan added, smiling proudly at Ava.

     “When will we arrive there?” Ava asked.

     “We will be there early tomorrow morning. We can show you some images and start giving you an informal orientation today if you like,” Naomi suggested.

     “I think that would be helpful, thank you
,” Ava responded, still looking away from Wesley. Naomi and Mia waited for Ava to finish eating, which didn’t take long because she still had not recovered her appetite and ate very little. Afterwards, the three women met in the common room while Wesley returned to the flight deck to relieve Ash.

     Naomi began Ava’s education regarding Kyanos with how they discovered the planet, followed by a history of how hard they worked to cultiv
ate the farming community. She described the community which consisted of a small city surrounded by the main hangar, the crop fields, and livestock farming. Ava listened as Naomi described how Kyanos derived most of its energy from solar power resulting from the two suns that gave it continuous twenty four hours of sunshine, leaving only four hours of the twenty-eight hour day for of night time. Mia gave Ava a rundown of the political structure of the colony, lead by its Chief Officer, Trevor Vance.