by
Robert Alan Silverstein
"So,
what do we do now?"
I blinked.
Confused.
Turned towards the voice.
"Oh!"
my mind whispered, "it's the pilot from the other spacecraft..."
I stared, dumfounded, and ten hundred questions raced through
my head. But one screamed the loudest. How did I get there?
"Well?"
she asked, and the warm smile she had worn a moment ago now
quivered with an edge of impatience.
I opened my mouth to speak. But nothing came out. "OK," I
thought, "we're sitting in a cockpit. But it's not mine,"
my muddled mind informed me as it tried to gather clues.
"What's
going on!" my brain screamed in panic as my memory-train derailed.
I licked my lips, nervously. My throat felt parched, and I
tried to swallow as I strained to remember what had happend.
Concentrate...
Nothing.
"Okay...
Let's see..." my Sherlock Holmes side reasoned, trying to
take control of my thoughts. "My dockport-hatch had opened,
and then there she was. Elementary, my dear Watson... And
then..."
And then, what?
Did we stare lovingly into each other's eyes, knowing that
we'd finally found our true loves?
Did we run into each other's arms in slow motion, embracing
in an eternal, blissful kiss.
Did we ... ???
"I
got nothing!" Sherlock concluded.
Okay, so wait, I just left my ship behind and got on her's?
That didn't make sense. I mean, my ship was a piece of crap,
but it'd been the only home I'd known for 14 years. And I
just left it all behind?
Or, maybe I was still with Bo, daydreaming all this up?
What had happened to me? It was like a whole chapter was missing
from my life.
I suddenly had the weirdest thought. I had this dizzying-feeling
that I was just a character in one of those 'he said - she
said' novels. You know, where they alternate between telling
a chapter from his point of view and then her's. Except, I
didn't get to read her chapter and now I had no idea what
was going on in the story!
I looked over at this stranger next to me. The one my gut
butterfly-whispered I had always been fated to meet. The one
my heart now boldly began to insist I was absolutely destined
to be with for the rest of my life. What had happened between
us in that chapter? Where did we stand with each other, now?
Did we share with each other our entire lives' stories?
Were we friends?
Were we lovers?
Or were we still strangers in that awkward pre-relationship
stage where you have to walk on eggshells, afraid you'll scare
each other away with your idiosyncratic character flaws and
hidden secrets before you are able to connect enough to see
each other's scars not as hideous turn-offs or potential weapons
to be used against us, but as endearing vulnerabilities only
your lover knows about you, but won't hold against you, and
would never use to hurt you.
As the silence grew, her stare became less impatient and more
angry.
"Uh...'
I started, wanting to address her properly, but realizing
I didn't know what name to call her. "Crap this is so weird,"
my thoughts panicked. "I'm probably supposed to know her name.
Yeah, I'm definitely supposed to know her name."
My brain was about to hit the panic button, big-time, but
then, something peaceful washed over me.
As we stared into each other's eyes, I somehow knew with full
certainty that she knew what I was thinking, because I knew
she had to be my soulmate, and well, that's what soulmates
do, right?
There was a reasonable explanation for all of this, and she
could read my mind, and she was going to break this silly
silence, and put me at ease by filling me in on everything
that had happened, and we could start this next moment off
right, fully knowing where we stood with each other.
But she just continued to stare at me. And it wasn't a loving,
knowing look. It was an 'uh-oh, I think I just made the biggest
mistake of my life for choosing you' kind of look.
I started to panic again. What should I do? In romantic comedies,
the guy always gets in trouble if he isn't fully honest with
the girl right from the start. I'd have to tell her everything.
Then everything would be fine.
Then I remembered that in the other half of romantic comedy
storylines, when the hero told the truth, the love interest
got mad, even more fiercely. Hmm... What to do...
Silence and an even more confused stare faced me. Screw it.
I'm going in with the truth, I decided. And so I did.
She opened her mouth to speak a few times while my verbal
diarrhea spewed, but she didn't say anything. Finally I finished.
I noticed her stare seemed more understanding. A smile briefly
crossed her lips, but her expression slowly faded into an analyzing,
doubtful ponder. "That's really weird that you say you can't
remember the past couple days ..." she said hesitantly after
a deep breath or two. "But to your other question, no we don't
know each other's names..."
"Oh,"
I exclaimed, feeling like I at least knew a little more about
where we stood and, despite her growing accusatory demeanor,
I now knew how to proceed. Simple enough. Get the introductions
going and start fresh from the beginning. "So. Hi, I'm..."
"NO!"
she practically screeched. "OM says we can't know each other's
names!"
Startled, I clamped my mouth closed. "Uh..." I was more confused
than ever. Everything was supposed to become clear after I
explained my lapse in memory. But her lone explanatory sentence
made things a whole lot more confusing. Like who was this
OM?
Now she seemed to be able to read my mind, because she blinked
and started explaining.
"OM
is my ship's computer."
Oh. Huh? Yeah, that helped a lot. Not!
"Get
it. c OM puter."
No, I didn't get it. And that's what my stare of dumbness
declared.
"Well,
it makes as much sense as your wisecracking-bhodisativa, Bo!"
Huh. Guess I told her all about my hallucinatory-sidekick
in our missing chapter. Well, that's embarrasing!
"Believe
me, OM is just as annoying as your imaginary friend," she
chuckled, again as if reading my mind.
"Well..."
her computer dashboard suddenly exclaimed. "Excuse me!"
I turned to face the goddess-avatar on the computer screen
on the dashboard panel.
OK. So this was the great OM?
OM's gaze was commanding but comforting. Fierce and protective
but kind and understanding.
I felt more at ease than I'd ever felt. I felt centered. Hey,
maybe OM is a good name for her after all!
Then suddenly, the avatar began to morph, and her glare was
scary as hell. Harpy-evil-scary! I started sweating like crazy
and could barely breathe.
A momentary eternity later, OM shook her head and rolled her
eyes and started laughing, breaking the spell. I gasped in
relief.
"Sorry,"
OM chuckled. "Couldn't help myself. A little circuit overload,"
she giggled. "But don't you tell me it's just that time of
the month or I'll...!" she glared harpy-style, daring me to
open my mouth.
Yikes. Talk about psycho-computers.
"Seriously,
folks," OM began, sweetness abounding, godessly-composed once
again. "I didn't say, not to tell each other your names. I
said you couldn't tell each other your names."
Huh.
"Go
ahead. Try."
Okay. We tried.
But static seemed to replace our voices every time we tried
to say our names.
Curiouser and curiouser.
"You
think that's interesting? Wait until I show you the powerpoint
presentation I've prepared on the meaning of life and your
shared mission and purpose to save the universe."
Say, what now? Definitely crazy-town, but, I have to admit,
it kind of piqued my interest.
Unfortunately, the Answers to these and the other Big Questions
OM had excitedly waiting in her cache, well, they were just
going to have to wait. Because suddenly I had the hugest headache,
and my insides felt like they were being ripped apart. As
if some cosmic force was pulling my deepest essence out of
body into a different dimension.
Unfortunately, turns out, that's exactly what was happening.
Everything went black.
"Hey
pal, whatchya doing?" Bo smirked down at me as I opened my
eyes. "Uh...huh?" I stammered as my head began to throb again.
"Adios
amigo," I heard Bo calling, somewhere far off in the distance.
I grimaced and everything once again went dark.
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2023-2024 Robert Alan Silverstein
