Piece Simul ✔

Chapter 65- Russ- Homebound

Straps cut into Russ's arms and legs. As awareness pulled her back into her body, she opened her eyes, blinded by harsh lights and choking on oxy-water.

As it had several times before, the fluid line dropped, emptying the dura-chamber. Russ cried out against the straps. Her body wouldn't respond to simple commands. In the back of her very confused mind, she was aware of how she must look, but she didn't care. Her limbs hung like useless tools.

A pair of lucite legs plodded before her.

"Trip went well?" Genly asked.

The bot took her face in hand, gently assessing.

Russ nodded, tapering her sniveling to a minimum. She had no control over her emotional meltdown, and she didn't like it at all.

"What's wrong with me?"

Genly undid the straps, and Russ would've slammed into the mats below, but two luicte arms caught her.

"How long have you been gone?" Hainish asked instead of addressing her question, setting Russ into a hover-chair.

She sat slumped, drew in several watery breaths, and then answered.

"I watched the world end. Then, I went back. Changed things. Or, set them as they already were."

Hainish and Genly exchanged a look. Exhaustion kept Russ from yelling at them both to just spit it out.

Then, Genly did.

"Your mind and your body are having trouble adjusting. It's like a marriage----great while the two are together, rocky if they separate and then get back together."

Like Genly must've known it would, the analogy teased a grin from Russ. In her state, it looked more like a grimace.

"How long will I be like this?"

"Could be days, weeks."

She pressed the blue circle on the arm of the hover chair and it lurched forward. Then she stopped.

"How long have I actually been gone?"

"Six months."

She depressed the button again, and the chair jerked forward.

As she hovered to the med bay with Hainish in tow, she said mostly to herself, "That's it?"

~*~

Through the bubbles, he didn't look much like himself.

His hair was longer, and he had a wicked bushy beard.

Russ ran her fingertips over the particle wall of Samuel's dura-chamber. She had missed him more than she had thought possible. While in her grey shroud of existence, she had assumed she would never see his face again.

Genly explained how Samuel had waited four months for her to wake up.

"Hainish convinced him to sleep, finally."

She lingered at his chamber, contemplating when she might go back under, though everything inside screamed for her not to.

"You should go back in," Genly said.

The bot still had the uncanny ability of knowing what she was thinking. Having had such an ability herself for a millennia, Russ understood that Genly, being a bot, merely calculated her facial expressions and matched them against her psychological profile.

"I will go back in, but it's only because the ship is going to have to go through the anomaly, and that's the safest way, if I'm in the chamber like everyone else."

Genly shook a lucite head. "It's not possible."

"I told you, it'll work and bring us through the South Atlantic Anomaly," Russ pressed.

They'd already discussed options, and Genly had shot down Russ each time, citing safety concerns.

"Or, what's more likely is the magnetic field will disable the ship, crashing it."

Russ steeled her gaze. "We have to try. This will shave time off the return, maybe even give us back those ten years." Genly was quiet. "I know it's right, and I'm ordering you to set the coordinates."

Once more, her fingers brushed Samuel's chamber. She wanted to be right, needed to be.

"As you wish, ma'am," Genly said.

~*~

The next day, Russ strapped up and allowed oxy-water to flood her lungs for what she hoped was the last time.

Before she had gone under, she asked Hainish if there was a drug to suppress bad dreams. The bot had disappointed her, because apparently mixing drugs with the oxy water could produce even worse dreams, or other health misfires.

"Side effects include: paranoia, dizziness, mania, hyper-sexual drive, depression, thoughts of---,"

She cut Hainish off by wrapping the bot in a hug. "Ah, gonna miss you."

The bot was stiff. "You'll wake soon."

"Mmm, yeah, I know."

Even to Russ's own ears, her tone lacked conviction.

~*~

Russ drifted into the familiar dream-state consistent with the chambers.

Only, the dreams were so real, it was hard to separate them from reality. Particularly the dream about returning to Earth.

The Delany dropped through the anomaly, spinning and crashing into the ocean. The ship lost power, just as Genly said they would.

Hainish deployed the water wings, inflatable supports that fanned atop the water. Within minutes, the crew had been rescued and taken to the nearest Institute location.

Sandi, among others, expressed a mixture of joy and confusion. Apparently, in Earth time, the Delany had been gone a mere ten days.

Forster briefed the higher-ups, as Samuel worked with a team to mass produce the vaccine. Even though Kass had been given a head-start, it would take close to a year to get the necessary quantity.

Estrenar's father threatened to patent and withhold the vaccine. For weeks, his plans drained their progress and resources. Then, his newly-named daughter visited him, and the threats stopped.

~*~

Through their busy schedules, Samuel and Russ remained friends. After vaccine distribution two years later, they made time to start a real relationship.

Two more years, and they welcomed the birth of their daughter, Guin. Samuel joked about proposing, and Russ joked about rejecting him.

She wondered if they were the best for each other, or if they'd together out of mutual understanding and loneliness. She decided it didn't matter either way.

~*~

On the Delany, the observation bay window filled with darkness. The light from the stars faded in the oppression of the anomaly.

Observing the approaching monster, Genly noted, "Ship's about to be swallowed up."

Hanish nodded. "Bet we don't make it."

The ship groaned as it hovered on the edge of the absence of light.

Genly responded, "Maybe not. But maybe we do."

~*~