Infinity Curve - Lamentations to Unseen Friends Across the Vastness of Space

EP. 56 - THE AIR BRINGS DEATH

"RICK!" SOFIA CRIED, RUSHING into his small bunker and causing all six dogs to bark at the commotion.

She was panting. Anxiety contorted her normally placid, pleasant face. "I just found a disabled mini-drone in the barn. They've discovered us, I fear."

Rick had fallen asleep after his last recording and was up only a few minutes to do muscle rubs and attempt to relieve his tetanus spasms with acupressure. He spun around on his old oak and leather office chair, its springs screaming, and held out both hands to grab hers.

"I heard the alarm. Are you sure it got inside the barn and under the covers? Did a cat or other animal possibly drag it there?"

"Its motors were still running, and the little bastard was squirming around the floor with broken propellers. I wouldn't have known it was there except for that telltale sound. When I lifted the foil cover, I saw it flailing aimlessly with its lights on. We must assume the camera was working and transmitting."

"Shit!" Rick screamed. "After all these years, they finally found us!"

He paused for a moment and peered up at his wife of forty years. Sofia, too, was thinking the same thing.

"This is the time. It is the end my friend, like that sad old Doors song I asked you not to play years ago. Too sad for me," she lamented.

Rick was blinking to push the tears from his eyes. He knew they needed to scramble to execute their plan.

"Any idea how long?"

"How long what?" she questioned.

"How long it was in there?"

Her flowing gray hair rustled across her purple jacket as she shook her head.

"Don't bite your lip," she thought. "It's a sign that something's burning inside. Manage any fears in this moment."

"We must assume it was concurrent with the alarm," she replied. "What was that? Three minutes ago?"

He released his grip on her hands and spun around to the array of vidscreens on his desk. "My God! Two hundred twenty-four seconds since the alarm sounded. We'll run out of time!"

"No, no," she assured him, pursing her lips in defiance. "You'll execute the plan you've practiced too many times, and I'll perform my duties. But I don't plan on leaving you. We'll die together today if it comes to that."

Rick bolted from his chair, hugging Sofia. He breathed in slowly and rubbed his chin up her neck, kissing her earlobe. "I always loved your neckline. The softness. That scent."

Pulling back, he looked at her for what might be the last time.

"We have two to three minutes, and we must move quickly. Leave me with Pete and Molli and take the others with you. Don't forget to grab your bags. I hope you and I are both too well matched in our paranoia. No drones will arrive at our abode today bearing gifts of ordnance. At most we'll be red flagged for this, don't you think? We'll see each other soon."

Sofia looked at him and smiled, her warm gray eyes also filling with tears. "Don't bullshit me, my love. You said similar reassuring words before we were separated those two times after the Debacle."

"But we made it back together!" he boasted, his head tilting to the side.

"Rick, we lived good, long lives; many of those years with each other. I will execute to our plan, as much as my heart says not to. I'll take the four. You grab Pete and Molli because you know they'll want to come with me and the others. I'll see you on the other side, wherever that may be."