Second Sun

Althea and Grammie Ophelia were watching the dust pass over the road by their front walkway. Grammie O. had made some decent coffee which was saying something. It was hard to come by clean, purified water, but she’d managed since rigging her experimental moisture collection setup.

The dust storm wouldn’t last much longer. They didn’t mind a few more minutes to wait, though. It gave them time to finish their caffeinated drinks before they left. It was time to head to the grocery store. Lolio their cat was out of food, and they also needed provisions.

Althea walked around the house getting geared up for the trip. Their home wasn’t big by any means, but it had two bedrooms, a good-sized kitchen, and a decent living room. It was on the outskirts of town, close to the nearly dried up ocean. The place used to be a commodity, somewhere people vacationed, but that had certainly changed.

Someone had built the house with stilts underneath thinking that there was a chance of flooding. Maybe a hundred years ago that had been a risk, but not now. Sometimes, Althea wished it would rain like that just once. She’d never seen rain before other than on TV and simulation rooms.

Althea returned from the bedroom back into the kitchen and watched as Grammie O. took her long silver hair and rolled it up into a bun. She set it with a pin in preparation to leave. Althea pulled her curly, thick raven hair into a ponytail.

The dust finally settled and they were safe to take a walk. First Sun was only partially up. They strapped on their UV goggles, suede trench coats, hoods, gloves, and boots before they went outside. They had to ration the UV gel and since First Sun wasn’t too bad yet, they didn't want to waste it.

It didn't take long to get there and once they arrived, they waited for a moment before going inside. Grammie O. took out her metal star-shaped plumb-colored credit badge and got it ready to scan. Up ahead, they could see the Stragglers roaming around the grocery store.

The Stragglers were some of the first "Essers" and their children, then their children’s children. Many of them became primal and resorted to hunting and surviving only. They lost their ability to reason and had adopted a pack mentality. This planet, Tweede Zon, aka Second Sun could make anyone lose touch with reality if they stayed outside for too long.

However, even among the Stragglers, the elders of the community were treated with respect and that was extended as the two women approached the front doors. As Grammie O. was ready to scan, the Stragglers were growling coming up closer to them. Althea watched as her grandmother gave them a stare through her black goggles. They backed off.

Once the badge was approved, the guard bot allowed them in. They entered the store and picked up everything they needed as quickly as they could. They had to get home as soon as possible. Food spoiled within minutes, especially those that needed to be refrigerated.

When they left, even in the heat, they both jogged so the tomatoes had a chance to make it. They got back to the house just as Second Sun's first rays came up, then another dust storm rolled in behind it. This was what it was like in the winter on Tweede Zon.

“Talk about perfect timing. If both Second Sun and the dust had hit, we’d probably be—”

“Dead?” Grammie O. finished the sentence.

“Don’t say that kind of thing Grammie O.!” Althea insisted.

“Well, that’s why it’s perfect timing. We narrowly escaped death just like we do on a regular basis. But it’s Menches who are the real killers. If Menches would just leave the Earth and Tweede Zon alone, we’d be better off. I could provide regular water to people, and we’d be able to control our weather.”

“It would be great if you could be president or ruler of this world!” Althea said, with a slight tone of sarcasm in her voice. Her grandmother smirked at her.

After opening the cat food bag, they realized that Lolio wasn’t inside. Otherwise, this would have prompted her little kitty pads to come scurrying to her dish.

They both kept calling her but knew they’d need to go outside.

“How did she get out?” Althea asked with desperation.

“She’s a magical cat,” Grammie O. said with a wink.

They both geared up, this time including full gasmasks then rushed outside. They found Lolio under the house in the back where she usually was. For some reason, the dust and wind couldn’t affect underneath the house.

It was probably a nice place to hang out for Lolio since Grammie’s water dripped in the corner of their garden. They’d been trying to grow cucumbers and dample fruit, a hybrid concocted on Second Sun, but no luck so far.

Althea came upon the body first. The dust was nearly blinding but she felt her foot catch on something big. She tapped against it and could feel that it was both soft and hard. She bent down and touched it with her hands. Then she reached up to the head and saw this was a man.

“Grammie!” she shouted. Her grandmother came over, forcing her way against the wind. Grammie O. was convinced that if she was stubborn enough, she could overcome the force of nature. She was right.

Grammie O. grabbed him by the feet and Althea picked him up by the shoulders. He was quite heavy. Backing up against the door, Grammie O.’s keycard opened the door for them.

Lolio ran inside ahead as they dragged the stranger up the stairs and through the door. When they had him sitting on the floor in the hallway, they realized he was lucky to be alive. It was Tommy Price as in THE Tommy Price—

“Summer classes are reduced sessions. Please take advantage of the non-human teaching as well as in-person instruction.”

Althea glanced at Tommy, remembering that day. It was like it had never happened, at least from his point of view. The way he treated her now was either cruelly or as though they’d never met. At first, he was grateful she saved his life but shortly after that, he was only ever angry or dismissive toward her.

From across the cafeteria, she could see him sitting, leaning forward, reading. He always had his head in a book lately, at least when she saw him. It was a way to purposely disconnect, she suspected. Althea ate more of her wilted greens salad.

Her eyes gravitated over the rest of his body as he leaned forward still concentrating. The sweat from his face had moved to his chin. Several drops fell upon the paper pages of his book.

After he noticed the body secretion, he wiped his chin then looked at his hand as it collected more salty droplets adding to the mess upon the book. Closing it he set it on the table with a sigh. He tapped the binding against the table making a banging, annoying sound.

She got up and walked her tray back to the line where the single cafeteria staff member was waiting. He gave her a nice smile and a nod, but never said anything more than "hi" and "bye." She wasn’t sure what language he spoke or which planet he was from, for that matter.

As she walked back to her table, the golden-yellow beams of light from the midday First Sun came through in perfectly shaped rectangles from the cafeteria windows. When she sat down, she watched as one section of light began to shine along the right side of his face. She could see a tiny glimmer of the amber in his hazel eye.

He was showing off by remaining in the sunlight. He could withstand it better than most of the population, even those who were born on Second Sun. With level three UV black glass protecting the building, being in the sunlight was nothing to him.

He flicked his eyes up and noticed her looking at him. It was the second time he had caught her this week. She had gotten much better about not watching him over the past year but since the summer, it had been harder.

She hoped that he’d let it go but it was too late. He stood up and walked toward her table. As he leaned down close to her sweat from his chin trickled onto her shirt as he asked, “Why do you keep lookin’ at me?”

Unable to find an alternative answer other than the truth she blurted out, “Because I’m intrigued.”

As soon as she said it, she regretted it, but it couldn’t be undone. The half-smile on his face was indicative of the ego stroke he had gained from her compliment. As if he needed more admiration!

Many people knew of him being that he was in a Locked Marriage with a famous model. Everyone wondered about his life, but her feelings were different. The interest she had in him wasn’t just about his fit body, fame, or sculpted face. She was sure that her emotions had more depth.

It wasn’t only about how he was her poison with his onyx hair and hazel brown glittering amber eyes or his perfect stature. She wanted to know what was in his brain, the things he kept hidden from everyone else. He had told her over a year ago and she never spoke a word of it to anyone else. Why couldn’t he tell her more?

“Everyone says that to me.” He spoke deeply.

“They’re not like me.”

“You’re no different, Althea.”

“Maybe you aren’t either, Thomas,” she said. With that she stood up and pushed past him.

“Don’t call me that!” he commanded, his teeth gritting. He followed her as she made her way down the hallway to the next class.

“Why not ... Thomas?” she asked, goading him. He followed her, nearly stomping on the ground he was so angry.

“You think you’re so clever just because you’re top here.”

“Well, shouldn’t I? I can’t think of a better way to prove I’m exactly that. Can you?”

“Just wait. You’re about to be knocked from first.”

Althea continued onto the next class. It was time to prove who was better for the hundredth time. They went to a computerized Tweede Zon Biology course that didn’t require a human instructor.

During the hour they were in the room, he was coughing but that didn’t stop them from furiously quizzing to see who was better. In this case, it was Althea, as usual.

As he left the classroom in a huff, she heard him coughing again. Maybe he had an allergy to plampton weeds. Those cropped up more in the summer where the dust storms were infrequent.

Now that Althea was finished with the biology quizzes, she sprinted to get to the next class which was her absolute favorite. Robotics!

When she arrived at the robotics classroom, she sat down and strapped on her welder’s helmet. Her bot from the day before was still lying down on her table. She turned on the blowtorch and began to weld.

Jasper was what she’d named him. She’d purposely called him something that was unique and a little nerdy. He could represent her male side.

Jasper was very close to being physically finished. Once his body was created, the next would be his brain. It wasn’t as though she had completely procrastinated on that part. All along she had been coding the thinking part of his algorithm, but she needed to come up with the final oomph to make him real.

Turning off the blowtorch temporarily, she waited for Tommy to enter. She knew he wouldn’t be able to resist the competition. From across the room, she watched him pull on his gloves and throw on his welding helmet.

Their instructor walked into the room already donning eye protection. He knew what to expect. These were his only two students who would work in stuffy welding equipment in the middle of the stifling hot summer. They were determined.

“I see you’re at it again!” he exclaimed excitedly with a muffled voice from his helmet. It wasn’t a secret that he loved the competition between Tommy and Althea. In fact, he reveled in it.

To see passion between people over the creation of robotic beings was out of his dreams. They were a couple of his older students too. Most people in their late twenties had families and were out enjoying the summer on Earth but not these two.

Well, that wasn’t completely accurate when it came to Tommy. He was in a Locked Marriage but that was hardly what would be considered a family. Even being famous didn’t keep him from wanting to escape his life, clearly. Otherwise, why would he come to Tweede Zon instead of spending his time with the elite?