Microstory 1275: The Camel and the Party

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And so the animals gathered for a lively party in the valley. The hummingbirds and the elk sang the music, while the elephant handled trumpets, and the woodpecker kept the beat. The lynx was there, and so was the antelope. The sea otter family swam up while the flamingo flew down. The chimpanzee swung in to much fanfare, and the camel walked up slowly. The lion showed up late, thinking he was cool, but the others just thought it was rude. Still, he was the most ferocious of them all, and though he and the animals had called a temporary truce, no one wanted to set him off. It wasn’t worth the risk. One by one, the animals came before him and showed them their dances. The otters shook their shoulders, and rolled their stomachs. The lion was impressed, for he could not do that himself. The antelope hopped gracefully back and forth, and though the lion could hop as well, it was almost as if the antelope’s hooves never touched the ground, so the lion was also impressed with her. The lynx spun around, and performed flips, which the lion was too large to do himself. The flamingo soared through the air, which of course, was impossible for the lion. The chimpanzee was the most impressive, however. He could shimmy like the otters, and leap like the antelope, and flip like the lynx, and when he swung on the trees, it was almost like he was flying like the flamingo. Then it came time for the camel. He was slow and bulky, and quite frankly, graceless. He tried each of the others’ moves, but always failed, and tried to cover it up by switching to something else. By all accounts, the camel was a terrible dancer, but he was having fun. The lion scoffed and mocked him, and the other animals followed suit, for they still did not want to anger the lion. But the camel never stopped. He kept trying, and he kept having fun, and eventually the animals began to dance again, but this time together. Even the lion tapped his foot and bobbed his head. The party was a hit.

This story was inspired by, and revised from, an Aesop Fable called The Monkey and the Camel.

Microstory 1274: The Jackdaw and the Sociopath

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One day, a sociopath was sitting in a field—enjoying his time away from other people, and their pesky emotions—when he witnessed a magnificent eagle drop down from the sky, and snatch a lamb from the ground. He might have been impressed by this, but he was incapable of experiencing most feelings, so he just shrugged it off. He then witnessed a jackdaw fly down as well, but there were no more lambs on the ground, and it was far too small anyway. Still, it evidently wanted to prove itself as strong as the eagle, so it attempted to lift the ram. The ram didn’t even notice. Sadly for the jackdaw, not only did it have no chance of accomplishing this, but its little feet actually got caught on the ram’s wool, so it couldn’t fly away. The sociopath walked over, and considered freeing the poor bird, but since he didn’t care about its life, he merely clipped its wings so he could return home and show his kids the funny little bird. The sociopath’s wife had always suspected her husband of having violent tendencies, but now she knew he had a problem. She called the police on the sociopath for his disturbing behavior, thinking surely his actions were illegal. Well, they weren’t. They were horrifying, and terrible—mutilating a living organism—but there was no law against it. So the police were unable to do anything to help the wife. Anger was the one emotion the sociopath had no trouble understanding, and in a fit of rage, he killed his wife. The moral of the story is don’t marry sociopaths; they can’t be trusted.

This story was inspired by, and revised from, an Aesop Fable called The Eagle and the Jackdaw.

Microstory 1273: The Monkey and the Coyote

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A monkey and a coyote were walking over the prairie. You may think it’s funny that such different animals might know each other, let alone be friends, but the two of them met when they were very young. They grew up on a wildlife preservation campus, along with many other animals that had been rescued by good-natured humans. Unfortunately, after the fall of civilization, the animals were set free, and had to fend for themselves. But as unlikely as it was, the monkey and the coyote stuck together. They squabbled a lot, for sure, but they always had each other’s backs. At the moment, they were arguing with each other about who was smarter, and more cunning. “I can climb the trees,” said the monkey. “And I can swing on their branches.”

“I can run fast,” retorted the coyote. “I can hide in holes.”

Just then, they heard the horn of a hunting pack. The humans had broken up into factions, and since there were no more food distribution procedures, they had to go back to the old ways of finding food in the wild. “Oh, no!” the monkey cried. “There’s nowhere to hide! They will surely catch us!”

“We can hide in those trees,” the coyote said.

The horn sounded again, but it was much louder this time. “I’ll never make it in time!” the monkey complained.

“Yes, you will,” the coyote promised him. “Hop on my back.” And so the coyote raced across the prairie with his friend, and made it all the way to the treeline, but he could not stop. The hunting pack had caught their scent, and were traveling with fierce dogs who had not been raised by good-natured humans.

“We have to climb a tree!” the monkey suggested.

“That’s impossible for me!” the coyote argued. “Why, if I could climb a tree, so could the dogs!”

“I have an idea,” the monkey said. He leapt from the coyote’s back, and grabbed onto a branch. Then he hung his tail down, and let the coyote hold onto it with his teeth. It was hard, but they both made it up the tree in time; together, and safe.

This story was inspired by, and revised from, an Aesop Fable called The Cat and the Fox.

Microstory 1272: The Donkey and the Dog

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One evening, after supper, a farmer went out to bid his animals goodnight. The cows mooed graciously. The chickens clucked in delight. The pigs oinked with glee. But they all knew that they were not his favorites. The farmer could only allow himself to grow attached to the animals he would not one day slaughter, like the horses, the sheep, and the goats. But even they could not compare to the farmer’s love for his dog, and his donkey. The dog would hop around, and try to get the farmer to play, but the farmer was old and weary. The best he could do was sit on the milking stool, and let the dog rest in his lap. The donkey wanted to be part of this as well. He hopped around playfully, but could not match the dog’s agility. He tried to mimic the dog’s adorable barks and bays, but his voice only came out in screeches, irritating the other animals in the barn. But the donkey did not give up. He gently nudged the dog off of the farmer’s lap, and attempted to take her place. “No,” said the farmer. “You are too big for my lap. You would surely crush my legs, and break my knees.” So the sad donkey slinked off to stand alone in the corner. The farmer stood up from the stool, and followed his donkey over there. He gently petted the donkey. “I am too old to ride upon your back, and you are too big to sit upon my lap. But that does not mean I do not love you. The dog ran up and affectionately bit the donkey on his leg. “I love you both equally.”

This story was inspired by, and revised from, an Aesop Fable called The Ass and the Lapdog.

Microstory 1271: The Independent Woman and Her Milk

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After the cows were milked, and the market was soon to open, the farmer sent his young daughter into town to sell their milk. As she walked, she fantasized about what she and her family could do with the money they would get. After today, they should have saved up enough to buy a new cow, which will increase their yield, and make them even more money. With that, they could buy chickens, and fix the fence, and do all sorts of things to make their farm better and better. If they could make enough, she might even be able to afford the books she’ll need to go to school. As her mind was wandering, thinking about the amazing job she might get from having become educated, the pail slipped from her hand, and fell to the ground. All of the milk was wasted. When she returned home to confess to her parents what she had done, her father was saddened. He was not upset about the milk, but he realized how difficult this life must have been for his children. The next day, he sold the farmland, and all of its assets. He moved his family to a small apartment in the city, only a few blocks from the nearest school. His children received a great education, and even went on to college. The daughter chose to study agriculture, and ultimately became the founder of a vertical farming company, revolutionizing the way farmers tended to their crops. She eventually forgot about that fateful day when she foolishly spilled the milk. Her head was too full of interesting thoughts about how to make the world a better place.

This story was inspired by, and revised from, an Aesop Fable called The Milkmaid and Her Pail.

The Advancement of Mateo Matic: November 27, 2265

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“I recognize this,” Mateo said as he was standing beside the spaceship that Pribadium built for them. “You made this?” He gently glided his hand over the hull.

“Yes, so we could get back to the future,” she replied.

“Why did you make it so small? This only fits two people.”

Pribadium contorted her face. “What? What are you talking about? It’s a tight fit, because passengers are meant to remain in their stasis pods for the entire journey. It has room for four people, which is just as many as we need.”

Arcadia teleported in next to him, but didn’t say anything at first.

“You lied,” he noted. “You said that there was only one stasis pod. You made me and Juan go all over time and space, looking for Youth water, so that Leona would be able to survive. Alone. For four thousand years.”

Arcadia held up her hands, almost like she was being defensive, even though she was far more powerful than anyone else here. “Okay, technically, I’ve not yet lied to Past!You.”

He stepped forward, almost threateningly, even though she was far more powerful than anyone else here. “You made her go alone. Or you will make her; it doesn’t matter, because that’s already happened to me. You tortured her for thousands of years.”

“I’ll have a good reason,” Arcadia claimed.

He crossed his arms. “This oughta be good.”

“Who says I’m gonna tell you the reason?”

He just cleared his throat.

After a few beats, Arcadia did begin to explain, “you remember before you reset the timeline by killing Hitler? You had a run-in with Kayetan. He got his friend, Tauno to trap you in a pocket dimension for thousands of years. You could only hold a thought for ten seconds, but you had to stay there all that time, just constantly reliving the same moment over and over again.”

“Yes,” Mateo said. “I remember that. I mean, it didn’t actually happen to me, but The Cleanser had my brain blended, so I do have access to those memories. A future version of Leona had to take care of me for five years because of the trauma. Is this about her?”

“No,” Arcadia said. “That version of Leona is gone in this new timeline. This is about the version of Leona who’s currently waiting for you to come back from our date.”

Mateo sighed. That was an uncomfortable challenge.

Arcadia continued, “I could have easily saved Brooke. I could have delivered her mother back to Earth before she gave birth, so there would be no issue. But I saw an opportunity to help you two.”

“This was to help us?” Mateo questioned. “In what way?”

“Mateo, you’re four thousand years old,” she said. “And you were dating someone who was in her thirties. That was weird, so I’m going to fix that. I’m going to make her four thousand years old too.”

“Jesus Christ, Arcadia. That is not okay. And it’s total nonsense, because you’re, what, half my age? Yet you wanted a relationship with me.”

“This isn’t about us. What you went through is necessary. What Leona has to go through is necessary. Paige Turner, and her friends, need her back in 2025. This is how I get her there. You can’t change that; I won’t allow it.” She looked back over to Pribadium’s ship. “So, I’m gonna commandeer this vessel, and I’m gonna put Leona and baby Brooke on it once Past!Mateo and Ponce de León procure the necessary water. In the meantime, Vitalie and Pribadium need to return to Tribulation Island so they can take care of Brooke while her mother doesn’t exist.”

“What are you talking about?” Mateo asked. “Angelita isn’t removed from the timestream until 2127.”

Arcadia looked confused. “No, she isn’t. No, I’ve been taking people out of time the day after you leave the timestream; not the day before you come back to find them missing. They’re gone a whole year before you find out about it.”

“Oh,” Mateo said. “I guess I didn’t know that.”

“I don’t know how to take care of a baby,” Vitalie argued.

“Neither do I,” Pribadium said.

“You’ll figure it out.” She removed a pill packet from her back pocket, and tried to hand it to the ladies. “This will induce lactation. There are two pills, so either both of you can nurse Brooke, or not. I’m not giving you any formula, though, so one of you has to volunteer, or just let the baby die.”

Mateo felt that he couldn’t argue. It wasn’t right that she was forcing them to nurse someone else’s baby, but anything he said might sound like mansplaining. They could fight it themselves, if they wanted to, but he just needed to keep his mouth shut.

Pribadium reached out, and took the pills. Then she turned to Vitalie. “You’re immortal. According to what Leona said of her, Brooke is incapable of experiencing non-linear time. I’m afraid that your milk could...complicate matters. I’m the only one who can do this.”

“Her mother could do it,” Cassidy pointed out.

“Who are you again?” Arcadia asked rhetorically.

Pribadium removed one of the pills, and popped it in her mouth. “I’ll save the second one in case something goes wrong.”

“Okay, cool,” Arcadia said. “You do this for a year, at which point I’ll get Leona to take over for you, and then I’ll let you cross the merge border.”

“We have to get back to the mainland of Dardius in 2263,” Mateo said.

“You can be a hundred and thirty years off,” Arcadia rounded down. “I can’t do everything for you.”

“Yeah,” Mateo said, “you can.”

Before she left, Arcadia gave Pribadium some parenting books, to help her figure out what the hell she was going to do with a baby. She also allowed them some amenities, like reusable diapers, a solar-powered washer to clean them, and a solar-powered food synthesizer for the group, so they wouldn’t only have boar and bananas to eat. They would have to handle their own shelter, though, and neither Mateo nor Cassidy would be around long enough to help. Perhaps they would just live in the spaceship.

As Vitalie was skimming through the books so she could help, and Pribadium was running a pre-flight check, Mateo noticed Cassidy acting a little cagey, and then scurrying off into the woods. Curious, he started following her. They were all adults here, so if she just needed to relieve herself, she wouldn’t need to be all sneaky about it. If she was going off to search for a hidden immunity idol, he needed to know about it. She stopped before too long, and just stood there with her back to him, like a creepy ghost child from a Japanese horror film.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I suppose I can be honest with you,” she said, turning back around. She was holding the magical solution Pribadium came up with that was meant to turn her into a blind spot, so no one could use time powers to find her.

“Are you going to take that?”

“Quite the opposite,” she said, removing the cap. “I’m here to get rid of it. I don’t know what it is, but dealing with this Arcadia chick has made me not afraid anymore. I don’t want to be sheltered, and I don’t want to be a secret.” She turned the needle, and released the solution inside it, so that it fell into a puddle of water on the ground. “Whatever happens, happens. I’m sure it’ll all turn out okay.”

“Oh my God,” Mateo said. He was staring at the puddle.

“Did I just do that?” Cassidy asked. She leaned over, and watched. The solution was having a weird effect on the water. It didn’t mix together in an expected way. It was turning most of the water completely black, while leaving little dots of light. “What is that?”

“Holy crap. This is the star puddle.” He looked around to get his bearings, but if he was right, and this was the same place he went to with Xearea, the landscape would look a lot different in millions of years anyway. “It’s part of the immortality waters. They call it Time, and it apparently makes it so that your immortality was always part of you. This way, no one can go back in time and prevent you from one day drinking the waters, and becoming immortal.” He couldn’t help but smile. “Pribadium invented it, and you created it.”

“So, we’re not supposed to try to fix it?” she asked.

“No, definitely not.”

Just then, they heard a rustling in the bushes. A figure appeared from behind them. It was Mateo himself. Yes, another one. Future!Mateo pointed down at the star puddle. “I’m going to need some of that.”

Present!Mateo stepped back, and presented the water to him. “Have at it.”

As Future!Mateo was kneeling down to siphon some Time, Present!Mateo took Cassidy by the arm, and escorted her back towards the others.

“Are we not going to talk about that?” she asked.

“No,” he replied. “Rule number four.”

“Hey, Mateo!” Future!Mateo called out to him.

“We shouldn’t exchange words,” Present!Mateo warned him.

“It’s cool,” Future!Mateo contended. “I think I’ve got this.” He reached into his bag, and pulled out a shotgun. “Go see your wife.” Before either of them could react, he fired the gun, and hit the younger version of himself right in the chest.

Present!Mateo could feel himself disappearing, and being spirited away to some other point in spacetime.

Earth. It wasn’t the only planet known to harbor life anymore, but it was still the best one. Leona hadn’t been back here for nearly two months now. That was over fifty years ago, though. A lot had changed about the solar system since then. Religion was all but dead now. What few people still identified as religious mostly did so for cultural reasons, and probably didn’t truly believe anymore. Science had pretty much taken over, allowing technology and general progress to skyrocket. The species was now a Type I energy civilization on the Kardashev scale, which meant it was capable of harnessing all of the energy that Sol provided to the planet. They were presently constructing a massive ring around the sun called the central processing belt, to provide energy for what was basically a giant systemwide computer.

The surface of Earth itself wasn’t too much different than the last time Leona was here. Most people still lived in arcological megastructures, scattered throughout the world. One notable difference was the loss of the Northern Forest multi-development circles. It wasn’t that there were no longer people who wanted to live less advanced lifestyles, but they now had opportunities to move out to the exoplanets, and build whatever colonies they wanted. Thālith al Naʽāmāt Bida was a popular destination, since it didn’t require giant domes to maintain an artificial atmosphere. Newly terraformed Bungula was popular for the same reason, but scientists were still unsure whether any of the other planets in the stellar neighborhood were capable of such drastic transformations.

“What are we doing here?” Leona asked.

“Patience you must have, my young padawan,” Nerakali said.

“That’s not an actual quote from any Star Wars movie.”

“You’re not an actual quote from any Star Wars movie!” she shouted playfully.

“You’re right, I’m not. But seriously, where are we?”

“This is the underground military base where The Overseer first gathered the crew of The Sharice Davids.”

“Oh, okay.” She paused another moment. “Are we getting a ship?”

Nerakali turned her head to face her. “You already have a ship.”

“It’s not a warship.”

She turned back to look forward again. “We don’t need a warship.”

“What do we need then?”

“I struck a deal with a man named Mateo.”

“A man named Mateo,” Leona echoed. “Am I not supposed to know who that is?”

“Oh,” Nerakali laughed. “Different Mateo.”

“What?”

Nerakali didn’t respond.

Leona was growing a little impatient. “When is whatever is going to happen going to happen?”

Nerakali sighed. “Well, when does your next alarm go off?”

“Huh?” She instinctively checked Mario’s watch. “It says one minute. I don’t remember setting this.”

“Do you not know how to use that thing? It sets your alarms automatically. You just have to be paying attention.”

The alarm went off, and in response, Leona’s husband, Mateo Matic appeared out of nowhere. He keeled over, and massaged his chest.

“Time travel guuun,” Nerakali sang, “you know it’s not fuuun!”

Leona knelt down, and started to help him recover. “How did you get back here?”

“I—” Mateo began, but couldn’t remember what the answer was. “I don’t know.”

“No matter,” Nerakali said, now sporting a British accent. “Welcome to November 27, 2265.”

A minute later, midnight central struck, and sent them to the future together.

“Sorry. I meant...welcome to November 28, 2266,” Nerakali joked.

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Dardius: Amanda Moss (Part I)

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Roughly two-point-eight-three million light years from Earth, there is a galaxy called Andromeda XXI. This galaxy is also known as Miridir by its native inhabitants, nearly all of which live on a planet in the Beorht system called Dardius. This world is remarkably similar to Earth in as many ways as possible. From the mass and radius, to its distance from its parent star; from the ratio of dry land to water, to its atmospheric composition. Dardius enjoys a Terrestrial Habitability Similarity Index of .998, which is the highest ever discovered anywhere in the known universe. It was chosen as a second home for humanity for this very reason. A man with a special connection to time and space intuited that Dardius existed without ever having gone anywhere near it, but it was a woman named Meliora Rutherford Delaney-Reaver who sparked civilization there. She founded a hotel she called Sanctuary, which she built to protect those who were in everlasting danger from certain people with time powers. She named it after her first rescue, Dardan Lusha, who she believed was under constant threat from her very own father. Though Meliora was in charge of how Sanctuary was run, even she answered to someone. She was leasing space from the man who actually owned Dardius, Gilbert Boyce. And when he died, he passed it on to his good frenemy, Mateo Matic.

Another one of Meliora’s early rescues was a woman named Amanda Moss. She presently served as the Transportation Administrator for the entire planet. She was responsible for making sure the planes, trains, and automobiles ran smoothly, but she also had to worry about how to transport more rescues from Earth. This was traditionally done using a special machine called the Muster Beacon, which was capable of summoning large numbers of people, even from millions of light years away. Unfortunately, the machine became corrupted in its attempt to save the crews of two ships in recent past, and Moss had no choice but to allow the Muster Beacon’s destruction. Shortly thereafter, the other machine they used to connect to other civilizations was also destroyed, but this time by terrorists. The Nexus replica could only transport a handful of people at a time, and required a second machine on the other end, but it was at least better than nothing. So the Dardieti were isolated from the universe. They couldn’t save anyone, and they couldn’t communicate with their allies. The Muster Beacon was far too complicated to replicate. No one knew how it worked, or really even where it came from, so their only hope was to figure out how to rebuild the Nexus replica. It was also complicated, but not impossible, and about six years ago, the world’s top scientists finally figured out, and got it operational.

The first thing they discovered after rebuilding the machine was that there was a new destination that wasn’t there before. While they were working on it, a sixth replica was built on a new world, which they eventually learned was called Glisnia. It was only about sixteen light years from Earth, and very few entities lived on it as of yet. They had no knowledge of who built it, or why, and no reason to believe any permanent resident would have any interest in visiting Dardius. There were, however, several people on it right now that needed to come. The co-owner of the whole planet was recently murdered. Thanks to time travel, Mateo was actually still around and kicking, but that didn’t mean the Dardieti didn’t need to mourn his passing. He and a group of his friends were on their way to do just that. The Administration had just spent over a year preparing for this moment, and now the day was finally here. Administrator Moss was standing on the edge of the Nexus replica, eagerly awaiting arrival. After an hour, eight people magically appeared in the cavus. Just as one stepped out to greet Moss, the other seven disappeared again.

“What was that?” Moss asked.

Étude turned around. “Where did they go?”

“Are they back on Glisnia?” Moss asked, to no one in particular. Then she turned to one of the machine’s operators. “Did they go back to Glisnia?”

“I don’t know,” the technician replied.

“Well, find them!” Moss cried.

As the scientists and engineers were scrambling to figure out what went wrong, a voice came on the radio. “Transportation Administrator Moss.”

“Not now,” she spoke into the mouthpiece. “We’re gonna figure this out,” she assured Étude, who was concerned about all her friends, but mostly her daughter.

“It’s important,” the voice returned.

“I’m dealing with a crisis here,” Moss argued.

“And I have a solution to that crisis,” the voice claimed.

“How could you possibly?” Moss asked. “Who is this?”

The voice cleared her throat. “This is Meliora.”

Holy shit. Meliora Rutherford Delaney-Reaver was probably the absolute most powerful person in the universe. As a choosing one, she had pretty much every time power anyone had ever heard of. She could teleport, travel through time, see the future, even de-age herself, and rapidly heal from her wounds, among many other things. She was the one who built Sanctuary out of nothing, but after it became self-sufficient, she disappeared. Her last sighting was more than thirty years ago, and that one was never confirmed. “Madam Rutherford, I’m so sorry. Wha—I...” Moss didn’t know what to say. What can you say to someone who was practically a god? Well, there was only one reasonable response. It was respectful but neutral; brief, but eliciting. It could be said by superiors and subordinates alike, because it made no assumptions about status or potential.  “Report.”

“Everyone is here and accounted for,” Meliora replied.

“How?” Moss asked. “We saw them disappear.”

“Eh,” Meliora began. “Time, right?” It was a common phrase, spoken by those who understood the flexibility of time, and time travel. For people like this, encountering alternate versions of the same individual, or even one’s self, seeing people come back from death, or meeting someone who knew something about the future were everyday occurrences. Simply taking note that time was indeed a thing was sometimes the only explanation needed for what most would consider a supernatural event.

Moss nodded her head, as did Étude. They didn’t know what the other seven people had been through, or how they had made their way back to present-day Dardius. It could have been years since they disappeared, even though it was seconds ago for everyone in this room. Or it could have been seconds for them as well.

“Would we be able to transport to your location?” Moss asked her—for lack of a better term—boss.

Meliora didn’t technically have an official position on Dardius, but neither did Mateo’s wife, Leona. That didn’t mean they couldn’t ask for anything they wanted, and pretty much get it every time. “Come to the hotel. Main restaurant.” The original Sanctuary hotel was no longer in service, and was converted into a museum years ago, but it also sort of became a holy place. People didn’t visit, not because they weren’t interested in history, but because they felt contaminating the space would have been disrespectful, and irreverent.

Moss hadn’t returned to the hotel since she and the rest of the original rescues left. It was an amazing place to live, but it was becoming overcrowded, and they needed to branch out. This was their opportunity to start fresh, and to make the new world as they wished Earth could be. The problem was that everyone in those early days was from Earth. They still couldn’t ignore all that history; good or bad. They could do better, though. Luckily, they had people like Amanda Moss to make sure they didn’t make all the same mistakes that their ancestors had. This was how Dardius ultimately became, not a paradise, but a safer and more prosperous version of Earth.

She pulled up a map of the planet, and showed Étude where Sanctuary was. Then they took each other’s hands, and teleported there. “Madam Rutherford,” Moss said, taking the goddess’ hand in both of hers. “It is such an honor to see you.”

“We’ve met before,” Meliora reminded her.

“I know, and you saved me, but that was before we made all this. Now what you did is so much more amazing.”

Meliora smiled. “I give you and your friends the credit for all that.”

“I thought you said everyone was accounted for.” Étude forced herself to separate from the hug with her daughter. They just kept losing each other, and they were both clearly growing tired of it.

“They are,” Meliora said. “Mateo, Leona, and Cassidy are here, while the others are in other places on the planet.”

“Why aren’t we doing this together?” Étude asked.

“Respect,” Moss whispered to her.

“No, it’s okay,” Meliora said, not offended at all. “There’s something you should know.” She pointed to the three who had been temporarily missing. “Theses people are from the future, as are Miss Pudeyonavic, Miss Unger, Miss Delgado, and Miss Crawville. When the Nexus replica was sabotaged—”

“It was sabotaged!” Moss cried.

Okay, now Meliora was a little perturbed. “It all worked out, so we’re gonna fix it, but we’re not gonna try to undo it. As I was saying, they’re from the future, but not the same points in the future. They were relocated elsewhere in time, and eventually made their respective ways to this point in history, but they’ve each experienced various amounts of the future. Leona here is a few days ahead of Mateo, while I believe Vitalie is from the 24th century.” She seemed to notice Étude giving her daughter the same sad look she always does. “You’ve not lost that much time with Cass,” she assured her, though it kind of sounded like a lie. “She’s actually why we’re here.”

“Forgive me, but what is this about?” Étude wasn’t as astounded by being in the same room with such an important woman as most people were. Though, to be fair, most people were awestruck by being around Mateo and Leona, while Moss had no strong feelings about it, so she understood where Étude was coming from.

“We’re here to discuss some legal matters. What with the Patronus clause being activated several decades ago, and Mateo’s death, things are kind of complicated. They’ve made some decisions, though, and it’s time we discuss that. We’re just waiting on your third.”

“Our third what?” Étude questioned.

Meliora held up her fingers, and dropped them one by one as she counted. “Five, four, three...” then she only mouthed the word two, and when it was time for one, she pointed out the door across the room. Right on time, the door opened. Étude’s mother—Cassidy’s grandmother—was on the other side, along with her partner.

“Mom?” Étude asked. She hadn’t seen her mother in...she didn’t even know how long, but she was a child back then.

“Grandma?” Cassidy echoed. The two of them had never met.

Saga Einarsson ran over the threshold, which was actually a portal to a different time and place. Her partner, Vearden Haywood closed the door behind them, and stepped over to shake Mateo and Leona’s hands. They had been good friends for awhile now.

After the tearful greetings and introductions, Étude looked back over at Meliora. “What is this? Not that I’m complaining, but why are we finally all together?”

“Oh, you don’t understand?” Meliora asked. She looked around to see if anyone knew what was going on, but only Mateo and Leona were apparently cognizant of what this was all about.

Not even Moss knew what the hell was happening.

“Well,” Meliora began, “it’s about Dardius. The Matics have decided that it’s impractical to own a planet when they’re hardly ever even on it. They would like to transfer ownership to you three.”

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Microstory 1270: The Bird and the Cat

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When a cat’s owner first brought home a new pet bird, the cat was hungry. He eyed the bird up in her cage, and dreamed of chomping down on her meat. The bird showed no fear, but did not antagonize the cat either. Over time, the bird and the cat became friends. The cat always had plenty of food to eat, and there was no need for them to be enemies. She would sing him sweet songs, and he would tell her fun stories. The cunning cat even figured out how to open the bird’s cage, so she could fly free when their owner was not home. One night, the owner left some chestnuts to roast under the fire. “Oh, how we would like those chestnuts,” tweeted the bird.

“They would be mighty tasty,” purred the cat. “But we could never get them.”

“You could,” the bird said to him. “You are quick and sly. Pull them out one at a time.”

“They are too hard for my teeth,” the cat lamented. “The owner cracks them open for me, and lets me have a little every year.”

“If you get us the chestnuts,” suggested the bird, “I will crack them open for us.”

“You promise to share?” the cat asked.

“I promise,” said the bird.

And so the cat reached into the fire, and retrieved the savory nuts with his fast paws. As he did this, the bird cracked them open with her mighty beak. All told, they were able to secure nearly two dozen chestnuts between the two of them! The bird ate eleven, and the cat ate eleven. They then buried the remaining nut into the rug, hoping to spring a new chestnut tree, because they were animals, and they didn’t know any better. But they were full animals, and happy, and together.

This story was inspired by, and revised from, an Aesop Fable called The Monkey and the Cat.