THE NEW WORLD ↠ TERRA NOVA [O.H]

4| WELCOME HOME, EM

"Oh, that's Casey Durwin, he claims he lost his legs to a Carnotaurus."

"The meat-eating bull."

"Yeah, how'd you know that was its name?"

"I had books in Golad, Tan."

"Right." Tanya chuckled. "Forgot about that."

"Which pilgrimage?"

"Second."

"That's the one you left with."

"Yeah, it is," Tanya replied with a quiet voice, "and it should have been the one you left with as well."

"Terra Nova wasn't ready for me back then."

"What do you mean?"

     "I heard stories, rumours, about this place back in Golad. During those eighteen minutes, when the time fracture was open, communications could go both ways. I heard that equipment was still being shipped over, including medical equipment. Ones that I would have needed straight away. I wouldn't have survived if I came on the second pilgrimage."

"We would have found a way."

"It wouldn't have been enough."

Tanya let out a sigh, knowing that Emmy was right. They moved along the grey stoned pathways and Tanya continued to point out the small things in Terra Nova. The Agricultural fields, Memorial Field, the Research Laboratory, and the Terra Nova Command Base. She mentioned Waterfall Rocks, the Eye, Snakehead Falls, the Communications Relay Stations, and she hesitantly mentioned a place known as Boylan's Bar.

"What's so bad about a bar? Bad drinks?" Emmy laughed to herself while Tanya shook her head.

Tanya pointed towards the market and the Command Base, Emmy saw two blue roofs with strange blue patterned emblem tiles with wood—it was obviously still under construction. "Although it's a place where colonists go for drinking and socialising, the guards seem to harbour down there, even when illegal activities are carried out, I assume some take part."

"Illegal activities?"

"I've only really heard about gambling, but, pardon the pun, I bet that there is more than just gambling going on down there."

"Anything else?"

"The owner, Tom Boylan, he's not that great of a character, so I'd keep my distance if I were you."

"My failing organs are forcing me to keep a distance, so don't you worry about that, Tan."

"That sentence right there makes me worried."

Emmy held her arms out in defence. "I'm getting better. I've been told by three highly trained professionals that I'm on the road to recovery. One of whom is right beside me."

Tanya offered her a kind smile before she walked up the pathway of one of the houses. Emmy stared at the small flourishing garden out at the front. There were plants curving over the path overhead like an archway, small flowers—of colours that Emmy had never even seen before—littered the bushes and plant pots. The light grey stones from the larger pathway in front of the house merged into a clean white colour of stones underneath the leafy arch. Emmy slowly walked up to the platform the house was levelled on. More plant pots covered the front of the porch, a hammock was off at the side, hidden by another garden of flowers and trees while a porch swing with white pillows hung on the left of the front door.

"It's so beautiful," Emmy whispered as she brushed her hand against the wicker swing frame.

"You should see the side garden."

"Side garden?"

"Yeah." Tanya nodded. "I knew how much you loved plants and the outdoors, so I asked the Commander if we could have the end house to have more space."

"I was like seven when I told you I liked that sort of stuff."

"I never forgot."

"For fifteen years?"

Tanya remained silent, only smiling at her younger sister—who was still mesmerised by the front of the house. When Emmy turned around to face Tanya, she saw her motion her head to the inside of the house. The front door was open and Emmy moved inside slowly, worried that if she went too fast then she would catch up to the possible reality that she wasn't actually there. That Terra Nova was still an impossible arm's length away. Emmy didn't want that to be the case. As she walked in, she could feel her heart leap at how much better life had been treating Tanya, how kind the world finally was to the one person who deserved it the most.

"Is this real?" Emmy asked quietly.

Tanya rested her hands on Emmy's shoulders, giving them a light squeeze. "It is, and it's ours."

"It's so much better than 2141," she mumbled, still unable to believe that what she was seeing was real.

"I'm sorry I couldn't get you here sooner, Em. You would have loved making this place your own, I wish we could have done this together." Emmy could hear the regret in Tanya's voice. How desperate she was to be forgiven. Even though there was nothing to forgive. Tanya did what she was supposed to do.

"I'm not angry about that, if that's why you keep apologising. My health wasn't that great before Golad anyway, sure it might have made it worse a lot quicker, but it was still inevitable," Emmy reassured her this time.

"Do you know if they caught the actual criminal?"

"Maybe, the guards never really spoke about it that much. I don't think it really matters now, considering that the people here will take one look at my mark and just assume that it was me."

"They'll soon see that you aren't incapable of doing such things."

Emmy smiles awkwardly, just wanting to let the conversation go already. "Can I just go to sleep? I know I've been asleep for a couple of days, but I'm just so tired."

Tanya smiled painfully, whispering sure before showing her to her room, handing her a set of pyjama's that she could wear and change into. She watched, from the doorway of Emmy's room, as her sister stared at the decorated walls and as she ran her fingers against the metal frame of a hanging picture. Her smile warmed to admiration as Emmy turned her head to her bed—an actual bed with pillows, blankets, and a mattress—and immediately pushed her hands down on it, watching as her palm and fingers sunk in before she watched the mattress slowly rose back up as she pulled her hands away. Tanya whispered one last time before she turned back around to leave;

"Welcome home, Em."