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Ramses posited that the temporal energy that Boyd had absorbed when he blew
up the crystal with lemon juice was basically all that was holding him
together. Even after Mateo resurrected him from the afterlife simulation, he
could not be saved forever. He knew this. Leona knew this. She also knew
that it was only a matter of time before it killed him anyway, whether he
was drained of the power or not. Temporal energy is really just time itself.
You can have an excess of it, but if not properly stored, it will leak out
as time passes, and that would have been the end of Boyd Maestri. She chose
to not let his sacrifice go to waste, and to restore their own powers so
that they could go on with the mission that he was intending to help them
with. The role he was going to serve on the team now fell to Mateo. That was
a problem for the future, though. Right now, they were going to honor their
frenemy with a proper burial.
Everyone was here already. They were just waiting on Ramses, who was working
on something in his lab. Mateo looked over at his daughter awkwardly. She
glanced back at him, but quickly turned away again. He tried to look away
too, but returned. She did another double-take. “What is it, dad?”
Mateo reached down and took a fold of her outfit between his fingers. “This
isn’t your suit.”
“No, it’s real clothing,” she confirmed. “I went to Fashiondome, and sewed
something myself. That’s what I’ve been doing all morning.”
“You know how to sew?”
“Yeah, I grew up thousands of years ago in the Third Rail. Of course I know
how to sew.”
“Oh. That makes sense. I forget that about you.”
“Yeah.” Romana tried to go back to waiting patiently for Ramses.
“I know you’re an adult, it’s just that it’s a little—”
“Shh!” Leona warned before Mateo could finish his sentence.
Romana sighed, but continued to look straight forward. “Boyd liked my
cleavage, and I choose to honor him in this way. This is a perfectly normal
black funeral dress.” She said that she wasn’t angry at him for not being
able to resurrect Boyd a second time, but there would always be that
question between them of whether he genuinely tried, or if the part of him
that didn’t want to save Boyd was big enough to stop it.
He looked on down the line at Olimpia. “And you?”
“You’re the one who likes my cleavage.” He didn’t say anything more,
but she took the hint, and commanded her nanite clothing to cover her chest
up a little more.
Ramses appeared. “Sorry, sorry, sorry. I had to come up with a way to safely
dispose of temporal energy crystal.” While Mateo was trying to get Boyd
back, and Romana was crying, Ramses had to delicately remove the shards from
Boyd’s face. It wasn’t exactly trained as a medical examiner, but they
couldn’t risk anyone else for the job, or really, trust them with it.
“It’s okay,” Mateo said. “You get on that end.”
“No,” Romana said. “I can carry it myself.”
Mateo looked at her sadly. “Romy, it’s unwieldy. You could hoist it over
your shoulder, but you can’t carry it with the respect that he deserves.”
“Watch me.” Romana reached over the casket and tried to grab the handle on
the other side. It wasn’t that she wasn’t strong enough. Her arms weren’t
long enough.
“Let me get the other end,” Mateo offered. “He and I had our issues, which
is exactly why I should do this. You wanted us to be friends, didn’t you? Or
did you enjoy being in the middle of the animosity?”
She sighed again, relenting. “Okay, get the other end.”
Mateo and Romana carried Boyd down the trail as the others followed, or
walked on ahead. “You spoke with Hrockas?” Leona asked.
Angela nodded. “This dome won’t be used for another fifty years, if ever.
We’ll bury him deep, where there’s more activity while the regolith is being
transformed into soil from chemicals they added to the water table.”
“Did he end up making an announcement?” Leona went on. “The first permanent
death on the planet. That’s a big deal.”
Angela shook her head. “He’s burying the truth along with Boyd himself. No
one needs to know that anyone died. Even though people are still allowing
themselves to die on the Core Worlds, it could hurt visitorship. His death
was completely unrelated to anything offered in the domes, so there’s no
point in advertising or disclosing it.”
The two of them were talking rather quietly, and their comms were off, but
everyone wearing an upgraded substrate had excellent hearing, so they all
heard it. Romana was not upgraded, but even she heard it somehow. She
glanced over her shoulder at Leona and Angela and frowned, but didn’t speak
to them. She instead looked at Ramses, who was next to her. “People should
know that he died, and what he died for. He sacrificed himself...for us.”
“You’re right,” Ramses said. “One of the hardest things we do is keeping our
lives secret from the vonearthans. I know you know everything about that,
living in the Third Rail for the majority of your life.”
Marie and Olimpia were in front, and had just rounded a corner when they
suddenly stopped short. Olimpia nearly tripped on a rock, but caught herself
in time.
“What is it?” Mateo questioned.
“There’s a man,” Marie answered. “He may have a weapon.”
“Set it on the ground,” Mateo ordered. He slowly bent his knees as his
daughter did, and carefully set the casket down. “Wait here.” Mateo walked
on alone, gently pulling the ladies’ shoulders back so this mysterious
stranger wouldn’t be able to see them anymore. He did see a man, standing in
the distance, resting both of his wrists on what appeared to be a shovel.
Mateo used his telescopic vision to zoom in. “It’s Halifax.”
“Really?” Leona asked. She walked forward to get a look for herself.
“I recognize that name from the list,” Olimpia said.
“He’s The Gravedigger,” Mateo replied. “We’ve not seen him in a long time.”
He looked back at Romana. “Not since the Third Rail.” He grabbed the casket
again. “Let’s go. He’s no threat.”
They continued on their way. Halifax waited patiently where they first saw
him. He was chewing on sunflower seeds, and spitting the shells off to the
side. “I expected you sooner! Why didn’t you teleport here?”
“It’s a funeral procession,” Mateo explained. “You can’t teleport through a
funeral procession.”
“No, s’pose not.”
“What are you doing here?” Mateo asked him.
“I’m here for him.” Halifax nodded at the body.
“Not many work orders from this time period, I would guess,” Mateo mused.
“Nope,” Halifax replied matter-of-factly.
“So he’s never coming back?” Leona asked.
Halifax took a beat. “No,” he answered solemnly. “He’ll be in good company,”
he added after Mateo exchanged a look with Romana. The Cemetery magically
appeared behind him, including a new open grave right behind him, and a
second one a few meters away, which was alarming.
“Can we still do a green burial?” Romana asked, stepping forward. “It’s what
he wanted.
“Is there any other kind?” Halifax responded.
Romana knelt down and started to unlock the casket. Mateo reached down, and
covered her hand with his. “You don’t have to do this yourself. You don’t
have to...see him like this.”
“That’s where you’re wrong, father.” She unlocked the other latch. “I do.”
She lifted the lid, and stared at Boyd’s dead body for a few moments. Then
she slipped her arms underneath his, and began to drag him out, across the
ground, and over to the edge of the grave. She let go only to hop in, then
took hold of Boyd again to pull him down on top of her. She lay there for
another few moments, staring blankly into empty space. They gathered ‘round
and watched her in reverence. Finally, she freed herself from him, stood up,
and just teleported to the surface.
“Your dress,” Mateo pointed out.
“That’s why I wore something real,” Romana explained, “so it wouldn’t have a
self-cleaning function.”
“Would you like to say a few words?” Halifax offered.
She stepped over, and looked into the grave with everyone else. “Boyd
Maestri was not a perfect man. Like many of our kind, he took his power for
granted. He made life harder for some people, like Dave Seidel and June St.
Martin. But he never really hurt anyone. He wasn’t anywhere close to being
evil. He was actually really sweet. And I wish that you had all been able to
see more than just glimpses of that. But I’m at least glad that you got to
see a little. I know you weren’t happy with our age gap. The truth is, it
was wider than you even know. But he never pushed me, or pressured me. What
he felt for me was love. I can’t say that I felt the same. Growing up the
way that I did—skipping all that time—I couldn’t have real relationships. If
I met someone, they would be dead in the blink of an eye. So yeah, when the
first man who I could be honest with took an interest, I fell for him. As I
said, he took his powers for granted, but he didn’t treat me the same. He
was respectful, and kind, and he recognized my boundaries. I—” she
stammered. “That’s it.” She stepped backwards, away from the grave.
“Anyone else?” Halifax asked.
Mateo was already pretty close to the grave, but he stepped closer, letting
the toes of his shoes hover over the edge. “I forgive you.”
Romana hadn’t cried this whole time, but now she snapped her eyes shut, and
scrunched her cheeks up, trying to hold the tears back, even though she knew
that no one expected that of her. She buried her face in the safety of
Olimpia’s bosom. Suddenly. Ellie Underhill climbed out of the second open
grave. She tried to clap the dirt off of her hands, and wiped them on her
skirt. Without saying anything first, she began to sing, “I just found a
lemon tree. It’s a bad day for my enemies. Yes, there’s sugar water in the
breeze, and I’m ready, I’m ready. So someone play guitar for me. I’m ready
to leave my body.”
It was at this point that Olimpia pulled off her necklace, and joined in.
“And oh, this could be rage. We’re flying to the space between the lies we
told, and find the good in every soul is all connected energy, or how would
I know you were thinking of me in the tree?” Only two of them were singing,
but with Olimpia’s echo powers, it sounded more like a small chorus. They
went on with the song, but skipped the instrumental break, since they were
singing a capella. When they ended with the final two lines, “when all of
the lights remain, this is all that our time contains,” Olimpia belted it
out. Her voice roared up into the sky, and apparently tore a hole in
spacetime. The Time Shriek answered back, echoing in its own way, just as
Olimpia could.
Romana smiled as she wiped more tears from her eyes. “Boyd loved that
scream. He thought it was so cool that so many people from so far away could
hear the same thing.”
“You got to know him better than I realized,” Mateo said, wrapping his arms
around her. “I’m sorry I didn’t make it easy on you.”
“It’s okay,” she assured him. “I understand. Or rather I don’t understand
what it’s like to be a parent. But I will soon.” She smiled, and placed her
palm on her belly.”
“No,” Mateo said, struck with dread, trying his best not to faint, or shout
in rage.
“No, I’m kidding!” Romana said apologetically.
“Oh, god...dammit! Don’t do that to me!”
“Or me,” Ramses agreed surprisingly. “We would have to uninstall your
EmergentSuit.” He looked around at the rest of the ladies. “That goes for
all of you. I wouldn’t otherwise have the right to know if you’re pregnant,
but...”
“We get it,” Marie said to him. “We’ll let ya know.”
“Thanks for coming, Ellie,” Leona said. “That was a very thoughtful and
beautiful gift.”
“That wasn’t your gift,” Ellie said. “I just like to make an entrance.” She
reached into her pocket. “This is your gift.” She pulled out a smooth
red stone. Or was it made of glass? It looked familiar, but no one could
place it right away. “The angry Russian I took it from wasn’t happy, but he
and his daughter will be fine. I moved them somewhere safe.”
“The cap of the Insulator of Life,” Ramses exclaimed. “We’ve been wondering
how those two got separated, and where this has been.”
“St. Petersburg, I guess.” Ellie looked from one to another, to another, but
only with her eyes. “Is anyone gonna take this from my hand, errr...?”
Angela happened to be the closest, so she accepted it.
“Forgive me, but...this was a funeral gift?” Leona questioned. “Do they have
those in Fort Underhill? I didn’t even think you had death.”
“No, it’s a wedding gift,” Ellie contended. She looked around at them again,
but with her head this time. “Wait, what year is this?” She reached out and
grabbed Leona’s wrist so she could look at her watch. “Whoops! Better go!
Forget I said anything!” She ran off and hopped back into the portal grave.
“Well,” Olimpia said with a sigh. “I guess the cat’s out of the bag.” She
reached into her own pockets, and pulled out two diamond rings. She held
them in front of her. “Mateo and Leona Matic...will you marry me?”
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