Technocracy: AETHER, Part 10

Saera silently slipped into her beautiful house.

It had never been as big and opulent and grand

As Marin’s house, but she’d always loved it, all the same.

She had always found it warm and lovely. Found it home.

Now her eyes grew wet as she thought how she had to leave.

In the strangest way, she almost envied Marin now.

Marin, at least, could make a clean break, with little care

For her family. Saera was not so fortunate.

Marin did not have to do what she now had to do.

But she steeled herself, and padded through the quiet house,

Moving through the rooms and hallways, until she, at last,

Reached her mother’s bedroom, and gently opened the door,

Beholding Aemelia nestled deep within her bed.

Saera hitched a breath, her story already in mind.

So she padded up to her, and gently nudged her in

Her shoulder. “Please wake up, Mama,” she tenderly said.

“Hmm?” Aemelia’s mumble came as she was roused from sleep.

She yawned, and her brown eyes opened up, and she could see

Standing next to her, her daughter. “Saera?” she remarked.

“Saera, sweetie, why are you naked?” And Saera gulped,

And tears came to her eyes, but she pressed onward, and said,

“Because this is a dream, Mama. You are still asleep.”

“Ohhh, mmm,” said Aemelia, who was more than half asleep.

“Hehe,” she laughed very gently, underneath her breath,

“I do not normally realize I am dreaming.”

She yawned. And then she said, “Saera, why are you crying?”

Because tears were running down Saera’s pale pretty cheeks.

“Because I am so happy to see you,” Saera said.

“This is actually a happy dream, because… because…”

Saera blinked her teary silver eyes, and then she said,

“Because in this dream I get to tell you I love you.

I get to tell you that I love you… love you so much.”

Aemelia rose up in her bed. “Oh, Saera, sweetie,

I love you too. I love you much more than I can say.”

And Aemelia raised up on her shoulder in her bed,

And leaned forward, and kissed Saera on her pale forehead.

Saera smiled, though her eyes were leaking with soft tears.

Then Aemelia yawned, and mumbled, “This is a good dream,”

And she laid back down in bed, and soon her breathing was

Even, for she quickly had fallen asleep again.

Saera left the room as quick and quiet as she could,

Then she paused and put her head against the wall, and then

She cried, softly, quietly. She wept with bitter tears.

“I don’t care that she did not give birth to me. She is

My mother. She is my Mama, and she’ll always be.”

But then she stood up, and wiped the tears off of her face.

“That is why I have to leave. If I stay she will not

Be safe from the Technocrats. I have to protect her.”

So Saera went walking down the hallway, towards her room.

Marin, Ardo, and Terry were waiting just outside

Saera’s house, waiting at the head of her concrete walk.

Then they heard the door open, and Saera slipped right out.

She was wearing green shorts that stopped just above her knees,

And a white blouse, with short sleeves, and bright white tennis shoes.

“Oh, I LIKE that top,” said Marin. “Thanks,” Saera replied.

She shrugged her backpack a little further up her back.

“Oh,” she said, and handed Marin something in her hand.

“I got you some panties, Marin, just that you can wear

Until we get to your house.” “Oh, thanks!” Marin replied,

And she slid the pink underwear up her sallow legs.

Sarin made a face. “I would have gotten you a bra,

But, well…” Marin grinned at her. “Yeah, yeah, I know that your

Bras would be too small for me. It’s okay.” And Marin

Leaned in and kissed Saera gently on her pale forehead.

“Thanks anyway.” “You are welcome,” Saera said to her.

Then the winds whipped round her and she rose into the air.

“Marin, come, let’s go to your house now. I am done here.”

And the three of them, still naked, rose alongside her.

Flying through the air they traveled so far and so fast,

That in no time they had landed on the lovely drive

Of Marin’s enormous house. “Thank God,” Marin remarked,

And she rubbed her arms around herself. “I’m getting cold.

I’ll be grateful just to get one of my own bras on,

If only to stop SOME people from peeping at me,”

And she glared at Ardo as she said this last remark.

Ardo rolled his eyes. “Just get going, fatass,” he said.

Marin nodded, and she quickly hurried on her way,

Up the drive to her front door, and its biometrics

Recognized her DNA and let her go inside.

Marin’s breath hissed inward as she entered the front room,

Entered the antechamber of her enormous house,

Where she’d always lived, where she had grown up all her life.

But she realized that it was all fabricated, false—

Fake! Everything here was fake, a lie like her MOTHER!

“Rrr,” growled Marin, and her eyes gleamed blazing neon blue,

And the piping and the plumping of the house began

Groaning, warping, moaning in the ceiling, walls, and floors.

“I hate this place,” Marin snarled, though it was not quite true.

“I hate this place!” she yelled out loud now. “I HATE it here!”

And the water pipes came bursting out of all the walls

Spraying water everywhere, and Marin flicked her wrist

And the water turned to sharpened ice that stabbed and pierced

Ripping everything up in the ornate entrance hall,

All the paintings, all the statues, all the light fixtures.

Shredding it and tearing at it, mauling it apart,

Until the entire hall was ruined and destroyed,

Water and ice covering and piercing everywhere,

Ruining all of it, as if there had been a war.

Marin heavily breathed in and out, but then her breath

Hitched, and tears ran down her cheeks. She sighed, and waved her arm,

And all of the ice melted and puddled on the floor.

“It’s no use,” said Marin, and her voice was dead, and flat.

“There is nothing more that I can do. I’ve got to pack,”

She said, and she headed for the stairs. And then she said:

“I’ve got to pack, and I’ve got to decide: what to wear?”

Saera, Terry, and Ardo had heard the crashing sounds.

They had heard the great tumult that rose within the house.

Terry glanced around, nervous someone would overhear.

“She knows she’s got to be kind of quiet, right?” he said.

Saera sighed. “Leave her be. I believe Marin is not

Yet at peace with all that has transpired on this night.

Give her time. We ALL shall need time, in the days ahead.”

Terry sighed. “I guess you’re right.” And then they heard the door

Open again, and Marin came walking down the steps

As the door behind her closed. A pack was on her back,

Stuffed a little full, indeed, it was almost TOO full.

She wore sparkling tennis shoes of white on both her feet.

And she wore… Saera’s white eyebrows rose tremendously.

“You are going to wear THAT dress?” Saera called up to

Marin, for now Marin wore a dazzling shock of orange.

It was the orange dress, the one made of bright digisilk,

That Marin had not worn since the first day of high school,

Which now seemed… so long ago. A whole lifetime ago.

“Well, yeah,” Marin, smiling, said. “It’s the best thing I own.

And I AM the best,” said Marin, and she tossed her hair

Over her shoulder. The dress was now a sharp contrast

With the navy blue of her long hair. The orange and blue

Contrasting colors were striking when paired side by side.

“You’re gonna wear that dress out into the unknown world?”

Ardo asked. “Of course,” said Marin. “I wore it when I

Went to high school for the first time. And so, now, as I

Am starting a brand new life, and venturing into

The unknown world, I might as well put it on again.”

“Good enough for me,” said Terry. “And you’re all packed up?”

“Yep,” said Marin, hefting her backpack up her shoulders.

“Great,” said Terry. “Ardo, tell Saera how to get to

Your house. Let’s go there next, and we’ll get to my house last.”