A touch of fear stroked across his spine as he unclenched his eyes, seeing first the soft, liquid glow from the lantern.
She did not look at him, her eyes remained open but staring at the floor. To face him would spoil the illusion. She could be his Nina, but only at a sideways glance.
He rested his chin on her shoulder and soaked in the moment.
Armageddon had robbed him of many things, including a sense of wonder. When he first came here the very concept of a parallel universe failed to shock him. Years of facing all manner of nightmares eroded his ability to be astonished or surprised by whatever new turn his path took. Fighting for survival allowed no time to marvel at the greater picture.
For this one moment, his mind opened again to the possibilities. The possibilities that this woman sitting quietly in his lap was more than a physical duplicate of Nina Forest, that she was a spiritual one as well.
His heart beat…a little faster. His arms hugged her tighter. He tilted his head to better gaze upon her profile, bathed in the warmth of the lantern's light. She became a still-life portrait of Nina Forest, a snap shot of the one person who had held his heart. Except this portrait was more than a mere image. He felt the heat of her body, the rhythm of her pulse.
And for a moment…just one moment…he could speak to her again.
"Nina…" he found his lips suddenly dry and licked them. He felt a lump in his throat. Such powerful magic would not last. Yet after so long, what would he say?
"I miss you."
He stopped, considered, and as his breath grew short, he told her, "You…you gave me balance. Since you're gone, I've got nothing but the fight. I've become…" he paused in part to find the right words, in part because he felt embarrassed at the answer.
The Nina Forest he knew back home was a warrior, she understood the focus and brutality of soldiering, but even she would wince at the darkness into which he had descended since crossing the universal divide.
"I'm drowning in this war. It's consumed every part of me. You asked me to remember. You told me…I must remember. To make it all mean something. To me, now, memories mean only misery. I'm angry all the time, and now I'm afraid of who I really am."
The wind whistled outside the cave in a forlorn cry from a breeze that was all alone in a dark night. Her hands- Nina’s hands-stroked the goose bumps on his arm. Each caress of her finger tips felt like a shock of electricity.
"I was supposed to be the hero, but I don't feel like a hero at all."
The illusion broke as he closed his eyes and bowed from the weight of the emotion within, led by guilt with a sharp pang of self-loathing.
Nina Forest swiveled around in his lap and cradled his head against her chest.
The gift had been so much more than a moment for him. It had been a moment for the Nina from Sirius.
For that moment when he had been with his lost lover, she received the gift of understanding; understanding the true depth of the tenderness her other self had shared with this Trevor. For that moment, she had been his Nina and felt pure, genuine love. The honesty to lay everything bare; the courage to place oneself in another’s mercy and feel safe.
It was the first time in her life she felt such power. She envied the other Nina and determined that for however long her life might last, she would accept nothing less for herself, even if she never found it.
So she took him, in her arms, and cradled his head and she cried with him. For all the things he had lost, for all the things she had never known. For that moment, he was with his Nina. For that moment, she felt loved.
Just one moment.
– The sun announced a new day. Its rays crept up the horizon like veins of golden ivory climbing across a canopy of white and blue. The whole of that brilliant ball of celestial life followed, rising over the mountain range to the east to bring warmth to a cool morning. A thin frost that had crystallized during the cold night melted away leaving behind memories of moisture lingering in the air.
Inside the cave Nina stirred awake. Another day on an alien planet.
She studied the sleeping face of Trevor Stone. How much he had given to her in two days. Major Nina Forest had known from the moment she had brought him to her universe that the day this Trevor Stone looked upon the gateway at Thebes would be a day that changed him. She had never known-never guessed-that that day would have meant change for her, too.
Nina hoped that, if only for a brief moment, she managed to give him something in return, to pay some small penance for her sins against him.
She quietly slipped out from the sleeping bag they shared and put on her battle suit top again. A quick rummage through the survival rations kit produced a cup as well as a tin foil packet filled with liquid. Before slipping out of the cave to survey the new day, she also snapped on her utility belt, grabbed both pistols, and hoisted her assault rifle.
As she exited the cave she twisted the foil pack enough to pop two interior bladders, mixing the contents and causing the liquid inside to warm rapidly. A few second later, she ripped open the corner of the packet and poured the steaming contents into the cup.
The Major sipped the concoction allowing the warmth to slide down her throat and radiate through her body. She felt good. Better than she had in a long time. Maybe because, finally, she found honesty. Nina no longer fought to maintain a lie, in more ways than one. The future was unsure, but she saw things differently after the last two days on the run.
Nina scanned the horizon as she drank the instant brew. Her position inside the crater's rim limited her view but she could still see a fair distance to the east. Of course, that made no difference. She only saw a stretch of featureless plains that What is that?
A tiny black dot in the east hiding in the aura of the morning sun.
The Major rested her cup on one of the many boulders littering the slope and retrieved binoculars from her utility belt to scan east.
Nothing but open wasteland. Nothing but…
The sight through the lenses confused her eyes. At first she saw a big black blob. No…not a blob, a big creature of some type with a tail wagging behind as it walked…no not a creature…a caravan. A caravan of humanoids and larger beasts-huge lizards-wobbling side to side as the line approached, their numbers hidden by single file formation.
Trevor emerged from the cave fully dressed. She handed him the glasses and pointed.
"They’re coming," the Major said and any good feelings over her fresh start dissipated with the realization she probably had only a few minutes left to live, regardless of bargains Trevor thought he might drive.
"Yes, that's them," he said, peering through the binoculars. "The Chaktaw are here."
Too far out to be seen in detail but unmistakable nonetheless. Their giant pack lizards carried their burdens and infantrymen led the way.
While Trevor remained fixed on the distant procession, Nina cocked the bolt on her rifle.
"Put your gun away."
She insisted, "They can’t see us."
Trevor took one last long look through the glasses then turned to her.
"They can see us," he said. "They’re already here."
Trevor did not need to see them to know they were there. He felt them rise from hiding spots on the rocky hilltop above and around the cave entrance, some just a few feet from where they stood. They wore camouflage ponchos turned a dusty tan to match the dusty soil and rock of the ridge.
Nina glanced around and saw a dozen Chaktaw. She had stood there and drank instant coffee without sensing their presence.
She resisted the instinct to raise her weapon knowing not only would it do no good, but also knowing that if the Chaktaw had wanted to kill her, they could have done it already.
The caravan reached the far side of the crater, resembling something like a band of merchants arriving at market for a day of trade. However, instead of wares and goods they brought guns and soldiers.