Eve of Terra

Part 8 'Inevitable'

Thirty minutes had passed since I started staring at my pouch, baffling how it could help me remove my bodysuit. Kael, working with the universal cooker eyed me. He stabbed the moving tentacles with a fork before pressing it down on the plate. A sizzling sound announced the flesh contact with heat.

"What's so exciting inside there than looking at the goods here?" He lifted an eyebrow.

I pulled a face. "Like you're so good to look at."

He smirked. "I mean the food, darling. But thank you."

My cheeks felt burning, but I forced my cool. The suit was enough to spar with my agitation, so I prefer to avoid arguing with Kael. "I'm trying to remove this." I motioned to my body.

His smile turned even mischievous. "Remove what?"

Annoyed, I put the pouch down and laid in a fetal position, facing the opposite direction. "Forget it. I'd survive not bathing a thousand years. What're days compare to it?" I mumbled.

In truth, my bladder couldn't comply with my command to hold it in anymore. Who knew how many days had it been? I didn't remember discharging any waste from my body except puking since I woke up from hypersleep.

"Where did you get that suit anyway? If you want it off so badly, I'll be glad to help."

I tilted slightly to him. "Go ahead, be my guess."

Taking my word, he yanked me, gripping the fabric on both my shoulders and tore it apart. The suit ripped from the middle and nearly revealed my chest. In reflex, my palm-side moved to his face, but he recoiled expertly. In mere seconds, the suit fused back together.

Kael scoffed. "Of course, it's femtonology."

"So you know what this is?"

"Its four levels down in the matrix prefix particle. Micro, nano, pico, femto."

Although the matter did sound interesting, nature's calling hasted me to interject. "So how do I remove it?"

"That's your problem. Not mine. I'm off to take a refreshing, a much needed, a who-know-when possible after this bath. Good luck staring at the pouch."

Fighting irritation in such unpleasant condition was not easy. Yet, realizing he was possibly my only option, I decided to be subtle. "Why are you angry?"

He, however, ignored me and started pulling down the zipper of his pants, letting the rigid jeans like fabric hanging loose on his waist. He bent down, giving me a view of something I failed to shift my sight on time.

Head inches from mine, he let out, "You almost harm my face, darling. I'm not very forgiving twice."

His word aired warning, but something far greater was posing danger; his eyes. Such intensity lived within those two emeralds. For a moment, I was entranced.

"Turn it in. . . side. . . out," he breathed, words tumbling in a rasp.

My mind couldn't think straight. "Tu-turn what?"

"The pouch." His left cheek rose to adorn a devilish smirk. "Or you're thinking about something else?

Before I could reply, he withdrew his gaze and swivelled to the door. His trousers pooled on the floor by gravity but as quick as it happened, a towel wrapped to cover him. "I advice you work on avoiding my face because I prefer to keep you pretty."

My eyes welded to where he stood until the door snapped shut. Yet the subtle thumping under my chest wasn't as easy to oust. Moving back to my pouch, I held the Olielle carefully and placed it next to the small window. The petals shone under reflected light. "You're delicate, but you won't break," I muttered, in a sense telling myself.

I turned the pouch inside out. Under a blink, the femtonology suit started to dissolve from my body and dispersed in the air. With bare eyes, it looked like mists before it disappeared. The sight was beyond what my mind could imagine possible. When I looked into the pouch, there was an amount of transpicuous dust. Each time I scooped some into my hand, it always mended back together. "Cool."

"So are you planning to be naked all night?"

I jolted, looking at Kael who stood by the door. His green hair was damp, and his skin was clearer than before. He looked younger. When I caught his point of scrutiny, I yanked my cloak as a cover.

"How long have you been standing there?" I twisted, back facing him as I wrapped my body.

Rustles sounded from behind. I stole glances of Kael putting on his pants by the window's reflection. He didn't utter a word. "Not answering then," I mumbled.

He scoffed, flinging his towel to me. "Quit bluffing you're not looking at me and move your fine ass."

I didn't utter another word and brushed passed him to the door. He grabbed my hand before I left. "Don't be long."

***

The lavatory was in one word, dirty, but it was expected. The stench itself scream vulgar for civil. There was a round seat big enough to fit me for wherever the hole might end up. I started pushing on the buttons on the wall, careful as the ceiling whirled and released odd colour fluids.

A subtle knock startled me. "The blue one, it's synthetic water." Kael voiced from outside.

"Oh, okay. You can go now." I replied.

The door slightly creaked. A shadow appeared on the other side, leaning against the tinted glass. "And get you snatched? Right."

"Uh, so... Why isn't there any real water?" I started, cautiously touching the blue liquid. It was cold and slightly sticky. After some time, I braved myself and stepped into the rain, closing my eyes as I relished the refreshing shower.

Kael didn't answer. He stilled at his spot. Smoke whiffed through the gap on top of the door. "Don't take your beauty time. Someone might walk in here to use the loo."

I hurried and wrapped myself with a towel which he just used. His scent was on it. After putting on my cloak, I opened the door.

Eyeing me, he plucked the ciggy from his mouth and flicked it to the floor. "Took you long enough. But maybe" —he took a step forward, smirking at my face— "worth it."

I clutched the towel on my chest, shrouding the expose cleavage. Speechless yet again, I started towards our room. He tailed behind me, so close I had goosebumps when I caught his reflection on the scattering windows down the hall.

Once we reached our cube, he stayed outside. "Go ahead. I'm blazin." He held up a small packet with a stick tipping out of it.

Nodding, I closed the door. Not wasting time, I picked my pouch, the same process of turning it inside out. A gust of particles swished in the air and mere seconds became a cover over my skin.

As if on cue, Kael opened the door. He sat next to the small table, pushing the now roasted tentacles towards me. "You're hungry. Those grumbling will give us away to predators if you don't shut it."

The purple flesh was still slightly twitching, persistent to murder my appetite. But I reached for it, reminding myself I'd once eaten bugs and snakes in several ops. My stomach was screaming by the time I put it into my mouth. Liquid gushed when I bit pieces off.

"You're tough," he commented.

I continued munching, enduring the terrible taste as I forced it down my throat. "I'm hungry. I'll eat you if I must."

"I like you."

I stopped gobbling my food and moved my attention to him. "What?"

He smiled, the first-ever without smug. "Stay with me. I'll keep you safe."

Heart beating erratically, I stiffed, locked at the moment when he closed in on me. A multitude of thoughts infiltrated my mind; of my reason. Was my existence now only to survive?

"There's only you of what is part of me. There's no more," he added, eyebrows dipping slightly with a phantom of woe I saw in the war.

Confused, I questioned, "What do you mean?"

"There's no more human."