Cooperative: The Destination

Chapter 2

“Thursday Special, please.” Cory wiggled his chair a little, making googly eyes at Jenny. “You too? Make that two.” He looked at the menu. “You want the fries?” 

Jenny nodded. “And that… and that.”

“Okay… shoestring fries, yeah. Same for both of us. The shaved apple salad and black eyed peas.”

“Make it three.” James waved a hand. “Same sides. Wait, not apple salad. The slaw.”

“What’s your poison?” Cory grinned. 

“Just tea, man. I gotta get up early.” He looked at the waitress. “Tea.”

“Buzz kill.” Cory made a face. “G. Rye Joe.”

“Shrub Zero.” Jenny pointed.

The waitress looked at James again. He shook his head. “Just tea.”

“He’ll take a Shrub Zero too.” Jenny giggled. She glanced at James. “Its non-alcohol, duffus.”

James sighed. “I kinda just want tea.” 

Jenny rolled her eyes while the waitress hurried off. 

“I love sitting on the patio.” Jenny said. She leaned into James. “How’s my sweet James?”

“He’s lonely. We need to set him up with someone.”

“After Susan?” Jenny raised a brow. She looked thoughtful. “I’ll have to add motion sickness to my questionnaire.” 

“You have a questionnaire?” James snickered. 

“Don’t mock the process, flyboy.” Jenny poked him. She leaned forward to look at him better. “You look distressed.”

“Just a weird day.” James said, sighing.

She grabbed his hand. “You know we love you, right? You’re family.”

James looked at her hand and smiled. “I love you too, Jenny. That… yeah, that helps a lot. I’d be lost without you and Cory.”

“He would.” Cory grinned. “He’d be thinking he’s going crazy. Around us, he’s just one of the crew.”

“Pfft. I’m the normal one.” James smirked. He sat back while the waitress set the plate down, then looked up at her and flinched. What he saw was a pretty young lady, who was covered in fur and had large eyes. He blinked hard and looked again, to his relief seeing just a pretty brunette with flawless skin. 

“Don’t stare.” Jenny whispered.

“I thought… I thought I recognized her.” James lied. “Maybe not.”

“Of course you do. She’s our regular.” Jenny quipped, digging into her meal. “Cory already has dibs though.”

James laughed and picked up his burger. He glanced again, and once again, saw a cat lady taking another patron’s order. Sighing, he took a bite and chewed defiantly, watching the waitress while trying not to stare. 

“We should hook them up. I think he likes brunettes.” Cory said, pointing. 

Jenny raised her brows. “Maybe. But you like blonds, right?” She squinted at Cory. “Right?”

“Of course, dear. And you like dirty brown.”

“Like mud.” James said, covering his mouth. 

“Manure.” Cory grinned. 

“We could be twins.” James took another bite. “Mud and manure.”

“What have I gotten myself into?” Jenny shook her head, bemused.

“The Hawk came in today.” Cory nodded at James. “He’ll take you up if you want.”

“Maybe. I trust him more than you.”

“Ouch.” James made a face.

“Cory in a car is bad enough.” Jenny quipped. “You’re rock solid”

“That’s me. The safe one. Who inexplicably takes up flying as a hobby.”

“Why did you?” Jenny wiped her mouth. “Take up flying. You seem to like staying on the ground.”

“The mark of insanity is to do the same thing expecting different outcomes. So, I stepped out of my comfort zone. And, I’m still alone. But flying is fun, so…” James took a drink and leaned on the table. 

“You’re not alone, silly.” Jenny said, elbowing him. “She’s out there. You’ll meet her.”

“She could be galaxies away, for all I know.” James waved a fry at her, then bit it. “A hundred millennia ago.”

“Yeah, with cinnamon buns on the side of her head.” Cory put his hands on both sides of his head, pantomiming the hair style. “James, I am your father.”

“Mom and Dad are going to be so shocked.” James laughed. He glanced at the waitress again. She looked like a normal brunette again. Rubbing his eyes, he looked again. Furry cat girl. Just walking around, helping patrons, pouring water. She came up and topped his tea, smiling at him as she did. He was startled to see canines. 

“You okay, sweetie?” 

“Yeah, yes ma’am. Long day.” James stammered. The waitress winked at him and sauntered away, tending to her other customers. 

“Hold my spot.” Jenny said as she stood and left for the bathroom. James was immensely relieved at least she didn’t turn furry too. 

“You’re staring again. At Jenny now.” Cory said.

James blinked. “I’m seeing weird stuff. More weird stuff. That waitress, she’s normal now. But sometimes when I look at her, she’s like this cat lady. Fur, big eyes, teeth. Freaky.”

“You always did like furries.”

James gave him a look then stared at his tea. He took a sip, took a breath, then looked back up at her. She was, yet again, in full kitty mode. Or he was seeing it. She noticed him looking at her and returned. 

“Did you want something stronger?” She nodded at his tea. 

James looked at her hand and tentatively took it in his, turning it over. It even felt furry. “Um, oh, sorry.” He released the hand. He had sensed her patient amusement through their touch. “I, uh, yeah, no. Just tea.” He looked up at her. She was gorgeous, even furry and James had trouble averting his gaze.

“Well, if you need anything, I’m Samantha. Cory and Jenny have my number.” She winked at him then walked away, trailing her hand on his shoulder as she did.

“You dog!” Cory gushed. 

“What?” Jenny asked, returning to her chair.

“Our main man got Sam’s attention.” 

“What, by staring her into submission?” She looked around at their waitress.

“Hey, whatever works, right?” Cory giggled. 

“I didn’t mean to.” James said, subdued. 

“She’s a catch. I’ll text you her number. She catered our wedding.”

“That was her?” James looked around. Still furry. Sighing, he returned his attention to Cory. “She looks different.”

“Highlights.” Jenny held her hair out. 

“Yeah, that must be it.” James glanced furtively at Samantha. She appeared regular now. A pretty brunette. 

“Is that Brian? Again?” Cory said. He waved. Brian had just walked in, and beamed when he saw them. 

“Well. Small universe.” Brian said. “James. How are you?”

“Meh, a little crazy, a little nuts. The usual.” He tried to make it sound funny, but didn’t quite pull it off.

“Embrace it.” Brian said, putting his hand on his shoulder. James suddenly felt a wave of wellness seem to wash over him. He looked curiously at him. Brian nodded. “Just relax and enjoy the ride. That’s what you tell your passengers, right?”

“Hah. Yeah. I still needed a barf bag once.” James grinned sheepishly. He glanced at the waitress. Furry again. But not disturbing anymore. He pursed his lips, and refused to be disturbed by it. He was clearly having an episode. And like Brian recommended, he was determined to just relax and ride it out.

“There you go. Yeah, I heard about Susan from Cory. Not everyone can stomach a bumpy ride.” Brian said. He looked over at the door. “My date is here, so if you excuse me.” He slapped Cory on the back and joined a short Asian lady who hooked his arm. 

“He may be my latest boss, but he’s really nice too.” Cory said. Jenny nodded. 

“Yeah. He just seems so relaxed and confident. I wish I had that.” James said. 

“So, Samantha?” Jenny leaned into James. 

The thoughts he got from her made him blush. “Okay okay, I’ll give her a call. Maybe see if she doesn’t blow chunks on our latest vomit rocket.”

“Oh you are such a romantic.” Jenny batted her eyes at him, then grabbed her drink.

“Sorry, but you’re already taken.” James sipped his tea innocently. He looked up to realize Samantha was standing next to him. “Hi?”

“That gentleman over there has taken care of your bill. So, here’s the receipt.” She handed a slip of paper to James. She smiled and leaned close to him. “Jenny invited me to fly this Saturday.”

“He’s impossibly shy.” Jenny quipped. James tried to glare at her but ended up grinning. 

“Yes, I am impossibly shy. But we are doing some test flights and there’s a second seat…”

“I’ll be there.” Samantha said, smiling sweetly. “I love to fly.” 

“I… um… I do too.” James stammered. She giggled and walked away.

“You do too? I hope you do. You’re the pilot, dummy.” Jenny laughed.

“God, did I really just say that?” James put his face in his hands. He sighed and looked up at Samantha while she sat other patrons at their tables. Fur or no, she seemed nice. Maybe his luck was about to change.

~ ~ ~

The alarm went off, jolting James awake. He lay in bed for a moment, collecting himself, then reached over and fumbled with his phone. He finally got the alarm silenced then plopped back down, staring at a spot on the ceiling. “Another fabulous day.”

Sighing, he rolled out of bed and padded to the bathroom. He stopped at the threshold and pursed his lips. Then he looked back at his bed. “I’m not awake.” He knelt down and put his hand on the floor. Only, it wasn’t his bathroom floor. He felt leaves. Soil. 

Giving a frustrated huff, he stood up and padded back to his bed and grabbed his phone. “Something complicated. I can never dream something complicated. The report of the latest fusion development.” He peered at the report on his phone. “Nope. It’s all there. Shit.” 

James looked at the bathroom door. It entered into a coniferous forest. “Can’t you at least give me my toilet?” 

Shaking his head, he padded to the bedroom neighboring his, and peeked into the bathroom there. It was, for all intents and purposes, still a bathroom. He set about his daily ablutions, as much as he could, grumbling the whole time, then returned to his own room and looked at his closet door. 

“If my closet is like that, I’m going to be ticked.” He closed his eyes, then swung the door wide. Peeking from one eye confirmed his immaculate collection of suits and shoes. “Damned right. Don’t jack with my clothes.” 

Dressed, he looked at his bathroom again. Closing his eyes, he remembered the way it looked. Pristinely clean. Not even water spots on the marble sink. Sighing, he opened his eyes and took a step back, stunned. He wasn’t sure if he was more disturbed that he was looking at his actual bathroom than he when was looking at the forest. He rushed in and finished his morning preparation then rushed out, satisfied. “There.” 

He looked at the door, then closed it. “I may be going with the flow, but I am NOT coming home to wildlife in my bedroom.” 

The kitchen was welcoming. Also pristine. He was almost obsessively neat, but the result was an orderly home. His roommates nearly always took a while to adopt it, but they eventually came around. A neat home was good for the mind and body. Though now James was starting to question that. 

Maybe he kept his home too sterilized. He looked out the window over his sink. Nature was good to look at, but he loathed being in it. And yet, wasn’t he part of nature? “Maybe I need some time in a sweat lodge. Camping or something.” He chuckled. “Sure, James, let’s go camping. Then end up a steaming pile of bear crap.” He laughed at himself and finished off his egg burrito. 

As he entered his garage, he looked back into his home. “No. Just no. I am not coming home to forests in my house, got it? Rolling with it my ass, this is my home.”

~ ~ ~

“Harvey, my man.” James performed a missed high-five with his office-mate. “You got fresh coffee for me?”

“You could learn to roast it yourself, you know.”

“I’d rather drop a few bucks in the coffee jar and let our resident expert do the hard work.” James poured himself a cup from the large thermos. “That’s new. What are we working on today?”

“Analyzing hits to determine efficacy of our new smart munitions.” Harvey pointed at the bank of videos playing on the screen. “DoD has already collected and edited all the video, so we just count and balance that to ordinance used.” 

“Oh, isn’t that going to be fun.” James squinted. “I predict a seventy thirty success rate.”

“I’m seeing more like 80 so far.” Harvey said. 

“Give it time.” James sat at his desk and brought up the used inventory. “It never gets easier looking at this, you know. Ouch.” He winced as a tank dramatically blew up.”

“Secondary explosions there. We hit their shells.” Harvey said. “No survivors.”

“Brutal, dude.” James started tabulating the hits and balancing them against the DoD records. As he worked, the weirdness of the past day and morning eased. He was in his element now. His sanctuary. His sanctum.

“James?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re talking to yourself again.”

“Yeah, I guess I am, sidekick.” James grinned, clearing another page of records. “I’m pulling 80s too, but I think it’ll dip.”

“Mine is dipping.” Harvey said.

James leaned over, then pointed. “That was a chicken coop. We blew up a chicken coop.”

“Looked like a tank to me.”

“Look at the heat signature. There, see that movement? It’s close, but it’s no tank.” 

“I’ll be damned, I see it now. How the hell did I miss that?” Harvey squinted. 

“Meh, they missed it and they’re trained not to. I wonder how many coops we blew up.” James chuckled. He took a sip of coffee and returned to his monitor. “Does this seem stressful?”

“Doing this all day? Hell no.” Harvey waved a hand. “I think the hardest part is not being allowed to talk about it.”

“Yeah, right? I agree. This is still pretty fun. I mean it gets boring sometimes, right? But then they put projects like this in our laps.” James finished another page and emptied his mug. “Job satisfaction is high.”

“Trying to convince yourself?” Harvey glanced at James.

“Meh. No. Not really. Just eliminating a… ooh, I bet that hurt.” He rewound another clip to replay the explosion. “Definitely secondary explosions.”

“I think we went with smaller munitions because of that. Let their munitions do the most damage.” Harvey said as he finished off a page. 

“You going to Eric’s retirement party?”

“Asking me on a date?” Harvey snickered. He glanced at the clock.

“Sure, baby. Let’s hang out by the old man and make faces at each other.” James made a face, causing Harvey to crack up. 

“Sorry man. Hanging with the wife this time.”

“Buzz-kill.” James faux pouted. “He’s been here, what, fifty years?”

“I’m surprised he’s actually retiring.” Harvey finished another page, and set up the next. 

“He’s a dinosaur.” James straightened his stack. “Done.”

“Already? Damn your eidetic memory.” 

“Yeah, never had that tested.” James put his folder in the outbox. 

“November 4, 1979”

“C’mon.” James looked at Harvey, exasperated. His coworker just looked back at him expectantly. “Okay, the embassy fell in Iran. But, I work here. What do you expect?”

“I only remember because it was on the History Channel last night.” Harvey looked at his fingernails.

“I’m not a freak.” James grumbled. He looked at the clock. “Should get ready for the party. Where’s your wife?”

“Cafeteria, waiting for us.”

“Maybe we can make faces with her.” James grinned as they left the room.

As they exited the office, James bumped into someone much larger than him. He pulled up short, gripping the person’s arm. “Sorry. Oh… Mr. Morrison.”

“Eric, please. You’re James Coventry, right?” Eric grinned, towering over the two of them. James couldn’t help but think he’d be a perfect linebacker.

“Yes sir. I’m sorry. I didn’t see you.”

“Sure, knock him down on the day he retires.” Harvey rolled his eyes. “Gotta go meet the wife before she thinks we’re being inappropriate.”

“Don’t mind him.” James smirked. “I thought you’d be in the cafeteria.”

“Thought I’d come chat with you.” Eric smiled. “Brian sends his regards.”

“Really? Is he stalking me?”

Eric shrugged. “He takes his historical preservation foundation very seriously. You impressed him.”

“I don’t know how. He barely knows me.” James sighed.

“Oh, he’s pretty thorough with who he works with.” Eric smiled. “Plus we golf together, so… idle chatter being what it is.” 

“Setting the bar a little high, huh?”

“Do you believe in aliens, James?”

The abrupt change in topic took James by surprise. “We have no evidence…”

“Not what I asked.”

“Well, with the size of this universe, it would be silly to think we are utterly alone.” James said carefully. “Is this a psych eval?”

Eric chuckled. “We have the perfect job, you and me.”

“You’re retiring.” James looked sideways at him.

“Does anyone truly leave the business?” Eric gave him a knowing look. “Pay attention, young James. Life could quickly get very interesting for you.” 

“I, uh, well, it is pretty interesting already.” 

Eric just grinned at him, reminding James of the Cheshire Cat. With his recent anomalies, this discussion had him wondering just how deep the rabbit hole was.

He pushed the door to the cafeteria open, then sighed. Another forest.

Cooperative: The Destination

Chapter 3

“I just arrived at the market.” James put his car in park. “We’re still flying tomorrow, right?” He put the phone on speaker while he unbuckled.

“Yep. You get your date and I get a scan of the control tower.”

“Oh yeah. Samantha.” James sat back and rubbed his forehead. “Forgot.”

“She’s a babe. How could you forget her?” 

“You’d be surprised. She’s the one I keep seeing fur on, remember.”

“So you like furries.” Cory laughed. “Her skin is flawless. Maybe you need your eyes checked.”

“Or something.” James exited the car. “Gonna get some artwork for the house. The walls look empty.” James hesitated. “I’m seeing forests now. My bathroom this morning. At work, the cafeteria. It’s getting worse.”

“Swing by here on your way home.”

“If I have time.” James entered the gate to the outdoor market and started browsing the stalls. The market was like Etsy, but on location. Like a high-class flea market. 

“I forget, you’re a shopper. Samantha will probably be the one sitting on a bench waiting for you at the mall.” 

James laughed. “Yeah, I like to browse. I found a stall with some decent art. Will give you a call later.”

As he pocketed his phone, he looked at the various paintings being displayed. They were all originals. Not as expensive as the galleries in the area, but still appreciable. Something for his walls. 

One seemed to stand out to him and he stopped, staring at it.

“I’d buy it.” 

James jumped and looked around. “Brian? Are you stalking me?”

“It seems we both share an appreciation for art.” Brian smiled kindly and nodded at the painting. “Spectacular, isn’t it? I think it would look nice on your wall.”

“Yeah. Well, yeah, it is.” James looked back at the painting. “Are you the artist?”

“No. But I know the artist.” He nodded to the curator. “I’m sure his agent will make you a fair deal.”

James looked around Brian at the curator. He was busy with another customer, though. Sighing, he returned his attention to the painting. It wasn’t the most spectacular painting in the market, but something about it seemed to pull at him. He leaned forward and instinctively put his finger on the brush strokes. 

Someone yelled at him and he realized he had made an extremely novice mistake. Don’t touch the paintings. He looked at his hand as he pulled it back, then turned to apologize to the curator and came face to face with…something. He didn’t know it was there. A wax statue? But furry. Female. It reminded him of his Samantha hallucinations. She had the largest eyes he could imagine being on a face. He leaned closer to it, positively amazed at the remarkable detail.

Then it spoke, and he yelped and stumbled back. She was alive, and she was following him as he backpedaled. Another hallucination? He looked around frantically and realized that he was no longer at the market. The forest of the painting was all around him and he spun around, absolutely dumbfounded. The furry girl pulled out a short sword and crouched, looking alert as she tried to stay close to him.

James took another step back, and abruptly fell down. She rushed to him, ever watchful of the forest around them, and spoke to him again. It was an exotic, flowing language that almost sounded like singing. From her tone, it seemed like she was concerned for him.

She grabbed his hand and tried to pull him up, then suddenly let go and jumped back, staring at him in disbelief. She pointed her sword at him and yelled something unintelligible to him as her eyes appeared to flash yellow. While the language was alien to him, the gist was clear. Who was he? He grimaced and scooted back until he bumped into a tree as she stepped forward, putting the sword to his neck.

“Wait!” he yelled before he realized it. “I’m not here. I can’t be here. I’m at a market!” He closed his eyes, terrified that she would lean into him with her sword and that would be it. Can he die in a hallucination? But instead, he felt a hand on his face and suddenly he saw things that he couldn’t explain, yet he still comprehended. Heard unintelligible things, but understood them. It wasn’t speech, but just knowing. Images and experiences, but not his own. He peeked with an eye and looked at her face just inches from his. She appeared enthralled with him as she sifted his memories.

“This has to be a dream. I’m having another episode,” he said. Or did he actually say it? He got the impression that she heard it, however.

“You are not my James. How did you get here?” Her lips didn’t move. In fact, those weren’t the actual words she used. Just the thought he knew she intended to communicate.

James licked his lips and sat up a bit more. “I’m at a market. Was…” Obviously he wasn’t there anymore. This was way beyond his hallucinations in his bathroom or the cafeteria. “There was this painting. It was of this place. This forest. That castle on the bluff.” He pointed. She glanced at it then back at him, quizzical. He shrugged. “I touched the painting.”

She shook her head. “James, you have been here for a long time. We are life-mates.” The thought rang out as something deeper than husband and wife. He gulped and grimaced. It wasn’t the reaction she hoped for and she scowled.

“I’m sorry! A moment ago I was enjoying a evening browsing the art market in Seattle!” He looked around. “I was supposed to go talk to Cory about my episodes.”

“I see it. But I don’t understand it.” She sat up straighter, and a name came to him.

“Aris?” He blinked, not sure where that name came from.

She looked at him sharply and leaned back down closer to him. “You know my short-name! That’s good!”

“I just…” He looked around, confused. “I don’t know what I know. I’m a systems analyst. Computers.” He rubbed his eyes. It felt so real. Even the cool air of the forest smelled like the rainforests near Seattle. Familiar, but alien at the same time. The rustling sounds of the forest floor as she shifted and knelt down next to him were perfect. Could he possibly dream something that detailed? Were his hallucinations that detailed? And the woman, covered with fur, it seemed so natural. Like it belonged on her. Not like Samantha.

“This is real,” her thoughts wafted in. He realized she was still touching him.

“You’re thinking to me? Telepathically?” He had just consciously realized it.

She shrugged. A human gesture, which was actually comforting. “It’s what we do.” Aris leaned even closer. Her breath was warm and not a little tantalizing. “It’s what we’ve done for years. Don’t you remember?”

James looked up at her and suddenly felt guilty. But why? This had to be an episode. Something finally snapped; he was sure of it. And yet, he still felt badly for her. Her husband was missing and he was there in his place. “I’m sorry. I just knew your name and don’t even know why.”

She looked at him for an uncomfortable moment then stood up quickly. “The Younger will know what to do.”

“Who is…” he started then stopped. He actually heard her. She had spoken. And he understood.

She stared at him and knelt back down. “Talk again.”

“Uhm…” He tried not to gape. She was actually quite beautiful now that he had a moment to look at her. “Hi? Hello? I’m James? And I think I’m losing my mind?” The actual words sounded familiar, but then, alien. “Am I really speaking another language?”

She covered her mouth and stood back up. “You’re coming back.”

“I never left.” James sat up more and tried to get his feet under him. “I just haven’t been here before.” He looked at the river down below, and the majestic waterfalls in the distance. “I would certainly remember this.”

Aris shook her head. “I don’t know who you were, but who you are is coming back. We must find the Younger immediately.” She grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. “Take us to the castle.”

“The…take us?” He looked at her, perplexed.

Aris rubbed her eyes. “Can you see the interior of the castle?”

James looked up at the immense castle that dominated the landscape. What was he supposed to see? “I, uh, what?”

“This can’t be happening. Not now,” Aris groaned. She rubbed her temples. He instinctively wanted to reach out to her but kept his hands to himself. She looked at him. “I can still feel us. But it’s like you’re asleep.”

“Feel us?”

“Our bond. Our impossible bond. Elves and not-Elves aren’t supposed to be able to,” Aris said tearfully. “You don’t even remember that?”

“Sorry.” He looked away, embarrassed for making her cry. She looked so lost all of a sudden. “What’s in the castle?”

“The Younger. You’re her first Gatekeeper,” Aris said glumly as she looked down and wiped her eyes.

James pursed his lips, wondering if he should ask. It seemed like he was supposed to already know what that was. He saw someone riding what looked like a horse down by the wide, meandering river under the falls and pointed. “We could get ride from him.”

“Her,” Aris corrected without looking.

He squinted at the figure and shrugged.

Aris looked at him, an exasperated look clouding her expression, then she turned and started walking towards the castle. After a few steps she looked back. “You coming?”

“Um…” He looked around. He was reluctant to leave that spot. It was where he had arrived, after all.

She walked back to him and grabbed his hand, pulling him after her. “The correct answer is yes.”

“Yes?” he said, struggling not to lose his step. She was obviously irritated and he could sense it in a way he would not have expected. As if he was irritated, though he wasn’t. It was like what he got when Cory touched him at the hanger. Or Jenny at the burger joint.

She looked up at the coniferous canopy overhead and scowled as they walked. He could tell she wanted to climb up into the trees and that he was slowing her down. She could travel up there faster than they could run. It perplexed him that he felt guilty for that. He didn’t even know her. But then, he did.

“I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean to come here. I should have known better.”

She glanced back at him. “Known better?”

“It’s rude to touch the paintings,” he said quietly. “I couldn’t help it. The painting seemed alive somehow.”

“Paintings?” Aris cocked her head.

“You know, paintings.” He held his free arm out around him. “Of stuff like this. All of this was in a painting.”

“It apparently wasn’t,” Aris said bitterly. He was about to reply when they suddenly left the forest and stood before a massive, ancient stone stairway that led up the cliff to the castle. He couldn’t help but gape.

“What is this place?”

Aris looked at him sadly. “You really don’t remember? I moved out of the tree because you wanted to be here.”

“Oh. The tree,” he said, not understanding what she was talking about. “It looks like something out of ancient England or something.” He couldn’t deny feeling some sort of connection to the structure. As if he belonged there.

“England?” Aris looked at him with a glimmer of recognition. He felt it as much as saw it. He nodded.

“You said that name before,” Aris said quietly. She started up the stairs with James in tow. He glanced nervously over the edge of the cliff at the deep valley below. She nodded at the castle. “It…this…reminded you of your home.”

“Yeah, no. I live in a house in the suburbs of Seattle.” He licked his lips as he looked up at the structure. There was even a bridge over the waterfalls. The place did have a feeling of familiarity about it. “Well, it is the first thing I’ve seen of this place that actually kinda makes sense.”

“You were homesick when we met. Lost,” Aris said.

James saw it in her memories and shook his head. He was having difficulty grasping the fact that his mind was no longer an isolated island. Her memories and thoughts seemed to ebb and flow into his consciousness. Vertigo threatened to wash over him as they continued up the stairs, and he teetered a little as they walked up rapidly. “Well, I’m pretty lost right now. I’m seeing things and now I’m here.” He waved dramatically for emphasis and the sense of vertigo hit him strongly at that moment. Suddenly, everything seemed to spin around.

Before James realized it, he was falling and Aris was screaming from above. He blinked as he looked at the cliff flying by and instinctively closed his eyes tightly. It was then that he saw a stone chamber around him. The floor was cold to the touch and there was no longer any wind. He tentatively opened his eyes and looked around, still trembling from the terror of falling. He really was in a stone chamber. He turned around slowly as he stood up. Sunbeams streamed in through the skylights high overhead, making everything appear magical.

“Where’s Aris?”

James looked around quickly and almost stumbled back, stunned. Another woman. But no fur. Her skin looked like someone had taken colorful paints and splashed her from head to toe. “I was falling. But, I’m not.” He felt dizzy and looked for something to hold on to. As he started to fall, the woman was suddenly at his side, holding him up.

“You don’t belong here.”

“You think?” He gaped at her, surprised but exasperated. How did she get to him so quickly? Part of her skin seemed to chrome over briefly and he tried not to stare.

“Aris?”

“We were coming up the steps,” he mumbled.

The colorful woman closed her eyes briefly and suddenly Aris was standing in front of them. She screamed and ran to him, throwing her arms around his shoulders as she sobbed.

“This is getting to be a bit much for me,” he said quietly. “I was just shopping for something to put on my wall. That’s all.”

The colorful woman looked at Aris. “He is not your James. Not yet.”

“Not yet?” He felt a little offended. She was talking to his wife after all. Though, he wasn’t married.

“You need to go back. It’s not time yet.”

“Please, make him well,” Aris begged, clinging to the colorful woman.

“Only he can. But I need a trigger to motivate him.” She looked at him critically.

“Is this the Younger?” He glanced at Aris. He knew the answer already, but it bothered him that he knew it. Aris was an Elf and the Younger was a Selkie goddess. Details were starting to filter in as if he had always known them, but they still didn’t make sense.

“He is there. But then he is not,” the Younger said, looking intently at him. “You arrived here a long time ago, James. But it is too soon for you and you haven’t gone back far enough.”

“Oh. Well, now that you put it that way, it all makes perfect sense.” The sarcasm probably wasn’t warranted, but he just wanted to go back home. “And I’m supposed to be…who?”

The Younger took a breath and glanced at Aris. “You are a Gatekeeper. The only one who did not need to be awakened.” She hesitated. “And you are not connected to time.”

“And there must have been something in that paint.” James looked at his fingers, wondering if this was all a hallucination.

“It will make sense to you when the time is right.”

“Can you bring him back? My James?” Aris pleaded.

James looked at her and felt guilty again. She seemed so familiar, even with her fur and big eyes. And yet she couldn’t be more of a stranger to him. He knew her name, however. And he was talking in a language he had never learned. “How can there be two of me?”

“Because when it comes to time, you are dry. When you go back, this will not have happened yet from your perspective. But it will.” She caressed Aris’s hair as she looked at her thoughtfully. “Remember this, however. When you arrive again, Aris will never have met you. But she will desperately need you.”

“I’m dry,” he repeated, incredulous.

“You are not immersed in time. There is only one other like you but he has not been born yet,” the Younger clarified.

“Of course.” He looked around numbly, finding the shifting tenses disconcerting. “When am I going to wake up?”

The Younger smiled and suddenly the two of them were high in the sky over the castle. She pulled him close as his breath caught in his throat. He was falling. They were falling. She nodded. “When you get back, you must seek out Steven Crow.”

“Are you nuts!?” he yelled over the wind, his knuckles turning white as he grabbed her arms.

“What did I just say?”

“Steven Crow! And I’m falling!” He couldn’t help but get a clear image of a young man with black hair. 

The Younger smiled at him. “Remember.”

“I’m going to die!” James looked down at the rocks below.

“Where were you?” Her thought came through clearly.

Even terrified, he couldn’t help but think of the market. Did she pull that memory out? She nodded again. “Think of it. See it around you.”

James looked down then back up at her, appalled at the idea that he could think of anything but his impending doom. “I’m falling! The rocks!”

She shook her head. “Think!”

Closing his eyes, he tried to ignore the raging wind buffeting him and the sickening sense of falling as he saw the market. And the painting.

“Make it real.”

“How?” he thought back. He reached out to touch the painting.

“Hey! Don’t touch that!”

He jerked and fell back, landing hard on his rear. The curator examined the painting and looked at him accusingly. “Stupid! Can’t you read the sign? Don’t touch the paintings!”

James swallowed and looked around then back at the painting. “I’ll take it.”

Brian just grinned at him.

Cooperative: The Destination

Chapter 4

“Dude, you’re a mess.” Cory looked out from under the ultralight. He scooted a little and sat up. “Morning hair on steroids. Did you go to work like that?”

James looked at his reflection in the office window. “Oh my God.” He ran his fingers through his hair, feeling windblown tangles. “No. No. No!” 

“You forgot to comb your hair this morning. Dude, you’re like the most fastidiously manicured guy I know.” Cory shook his head in faux disappointment. 

James just gaped at Cory. He looked at the painting he was carrying. “It really happened.”

“Breath, James. You’re not the first guy to go to work looking like a slob.” Cory mussed with James’ hair. “Damn, it’s all knotted up. Like, did you have Samantha over or something, wild child?”

James could only tremble. He looked around and finding no suitable chair sank to the floor. Cory knelt down. “James?”

“It happened.” James waved at his hair. “Cory, I was over three thousand feet in the air and just falling. Falling!” He started trembling. 

“The jumpers weren’t here today, James. Are you base jumping?”

James shook his head. He winced, and removed part of a pine cone from his back pocket. Cory looked at it. “You went hiking? It’s only been a couple hours since you got off work.” He looked at James’ pants. “Dude, you’re covered in mud. Did you roll through a pig-pen?”

James twisted to look at the seat of his pants. They had mud and forest debris on them. “I just got off work. Eric had a retirement party and we went back to… nothing. Just office work.”

“Don’t tell me any secrets dude.” Cory waggled his finger at him. “I like black helicopters but not the folks who rappel down from them.”

James wiped his eyes. “This can’t be happening. It can’t be real.” He looked at the pine cone. “I was there. I was actually there.”

“Where?”

“I… I don’t know. Some medieval place, I think. But Aris. She’s furry. A furry Elf. Cory, I’m married to her.” James tried to get to his feet and Cory pulled him up. His legs wobbled a little and he found a shop chair to sit on. “I’m actually married.”

“Was this like a Vegas thing?” Cory sat on the workbench next to James. 

“Be serious, Cory. Something is happening to me. Has happened.” He gasped. “It had Jupiter in the sky! I almost didn’t notice it!” James stood up. “Forest. Furry girl. Jupiter. Like what I’ve been seeing.”

“You’re going mental.”

James gave Cory a look. “Watch a few Harry Potters and now you’re using that word?”

Cory grinned. “Hey, it fit.”

“Yeah, I’m going mental.” James scratched his head. “Eric got all weird on me today. Started talking about aliens and stuff. Did you know he plays golf with Brian?” 

Cory put his hands on his hips. “UFOs now?”

“Brian was there. At the market. He didn’t even blink when I… I… I landed on the ground.” He looked back at his car. “I bought like twenty paintings from that fella.”

“Brian?”

“No. The gallery curator.” James rubbed his face. He looked at the painting he brought in. “I touched this. Then I was there.” 

Cory looked at the painting. “I always knew you had an imagination.”

James held up the pine cone. “This is not imagination, Cory. I was actually there. I just… I don’t know how.”

Cory just looked at him.

“This morning, my bathroom was a forest. I opened the door and almost walked into it. Then this afternoon, the cafeteria. But that wasn’t real. I was able to make it go away. This…” James pointed at the painting. “This was real.”

“How?”

“I don’t know! You’re the MIT grad. I’m just a computer scientist!” James leaned back against the workbench. “I’m married. And I feel her. Here.” He pointed at his heart. “And here.” He pointed at his head. “Like she’s here. Now.” 

Cory grabbed his shoulder. “Dude. You’re freaking.”

“That!” James put his hand on Cory’s. “That’s real. You’re about to call Jenny. Try to talk some sense into me. Cory, I’m not imagining that. We have the same thing you two have. Aris and me. But… more. Like we’re in each others’ heads.”

“Maybe I do need to call Jenny.” Cory removed his hand and looked at it.

“I know another language.”

“Of course you do. Like three of them.” Cory gave him an exasperated look.

“No. This one is her language. I don’t even know what it’s called. But I know it. I can think in it even now.” James looked at the ceiling of the hanger. “I cannot be imagining this. It’s just too detailed. Too real.”

“This is about Samantha, isn’t it? She’s a real possibility and you’re sabotaging it.” Cory crossed his arms. “I want my kids to have cousins too.”

“We’re not brothers.” James waved a hand dismissively.

“Same difference!” Cory looked at his phone. “Speaking of the angel. Hey honey. James is having a meltdown. Think you can… what?” He looked at James. “Yeah, we have one here. Yeah, we stream.” He waved at James and pointed at the television.

James sighed and plodded over to the big-screen hanging on their office wall and grabbed the remote on the little shelf below it. “What station?”

“Any of them. Just turn it on.” Cory said. 

They both stood there watching a replay of a battle between two alien spacecraft. “Honey, what movie is that… calm down. Jenny.” 

“No, watch it.” James pointed. “It’s from a news crew.”

“Bullshit. You know they did that with War of the Worlds too. Made it seem like real news. Scared the crap out of a bunch of people.” Cory looked at his phone and put it in his pocket. “She’s on her way.”

“Eric mentioned… he said…” James stopped, stunned. “Aris is an alien. I’m married to an alien.” He looked at Cory. “And the Younger, she’s like, another alien. Like a goddess or something.”

“Chill, man.” Cory said, staring at the news. The video of the spacecraft was replayed on a loop, and slowed. “How did this even get to us? It can’t be real.”

James pursed his lips. “We would have clamped down hard on it. They had to have streamed to obfuscated servers.” He squinted. “They’re in a Cessna filming this? Cory, Eric knew. My boss knew about this.” 

Cory waved his hand behind him and found the chair. Sitting down he just gaped. The video cut out to static, then repeated while a news host commented non-stop as if in a daze.

Jenny rushed in and threw her arms around Cory, trembling. 

James looked at her. “Jenny, it’s okay.” He looked at the television, then out the hanger doors into the sky. There was no Jupiter out there anymore, but suddenly he was relieved beyond all measure. “I’m not crazy.” He looked at them. “And I’m married. To one of them!” He pointed at the television. 

Jenny wiped her face, looking at him. “Come again?”

“Yeah, me being married is so far-fetched it’s distracting you from evidence of a first contact.” James waved his hand at the television.

“Well, yeah.” Jenny stood up. “Married?”

“Not Vegas, apparently,” Cory mumbled.

“I can’t explain it. But, I have this. This!” James held up the pine cone fragment.

Jenny just stared at it.

“I was there.” He pointed at the painting he still carried. “Actually there. One minute I was at the market, then suddenly, poof. Like magic.” 

“There’s no…”

“I know that!” James waved his hands. “What else do I call it? I’ve been seeing Jupiter in the sky. I saw a forest from my bathroom door.”

“I thought you kept a clean bathroom,” Jenny said slowly.

“A forest, Jenny. It hit me at work too. The cafeteria. And Samantha? Every other time I looked at her, she was furry. Something inside me was working something out. My subconscious. It has to be. My wife is furry!” James turned around in a circle. “A furry Elf. What the hell?” 

“So, Vegas?”

“We didn’t just get married. I… we… I got the impression we had been married for a while.” James leaned against the workbench and looked at the painting. “She’s gorgeous. I wish you could see her.”

“James, you’re scaring me.”

“Did you tell her?” James looked at Cory.

He just returned his look blankly.

“The telepathy thing?” James said, exasperated.

“I… no.” 

“Telepathy, now?” Jenny put her hands on her hips.

James grabbed her around the waist and pulled her to him. “Think of anything obscure. Anything I wouldn’t… no, I would guess I was crazy. Challenge me.” James rolled his eyes. “What the hell is it with November 4, 1979? The embassy bombing?” 

Jenny pushed him away, staring at him. 

“Oh, you saw it on the History Channel. My coworker saw it too.” James deflated a little at her reaction. “Jenny, something is happening to me. This… this isn’t in my head.” He pointed at the television. “I’m not crazy!” 

“Well, you’re a little manic currently,” Cory said, glancing at the television. He stood up and squinted at it. “That’s new. We lost a pair of F-22s!”

James put the painting down and looked at the television. “Crap. They just vanished. How did that become public?”

Cory looked at him. James noticed and fidgeted. “We wouldn’t release that to the public. Not right away, anyway. Not something like this.”

“We. Your super secret secret job of secrets?”

“Just, forget I said anything.” James rubbed his temples. He looked at the painting. “Cory, I’m not crazy.”

“You said that like…”

“I thought I was losing my mind man!” James pointed at the television. “I mean, I still might be, but, it’s all real.” He felt the bottom of his pants, and dirt caked off into his hand. “This is mud. From, what, another world?” 

“Yeah, but, you weren’t abducted or anything. How did you get there?” Cory looked at the soil on his hands.

“And who is your wife?” Jenny said, raising a brow.

“Aris. I even know her language.” James found a jar and dumped the dirt into it. He followed that with the pine cone fragment. “I can have this tested.”

“Yeah. They’ll spend a million dollars to determine that it’s dirt and pine cones.” Cory snickered.

“They can test it for radioisotopes. Other goodies.” James looked at the evidence seriously. “She dropped me out of the sky.”

“Aris?” Cory glanced at the television. 

James looked at him blankly, then shook his head. “No. No. Another lady. The Younger, I think.” He looked at the painting. “I was in that castle. Then… just poof and I was in the air at least three thousand feet above it. I was falling. She told me to see the market. To make it real. Then poof, I was back at the market landing on my butt.” He rubbed his rear. “That concrete was hard.” 

“You’re poofing across the universe?” Cory snorted. 

“I’m apparently a poofer.” James nodded, half serious. “I have no idea what physics is behind that. I got the impression that no time passed here. But I was there for over an hour.” 

“Are you the Doctor now?” Jenny crossed her arms.

James grinned at her. “Well, my bathroom was most certainly bigger on the inside than the outside.”

Cory snorted, then started laughing. “Your Tardis is your bathroom!”

James giggled a little. “Don’t knock it. I just got it renovated.” He sobered, looking at the painting. “If she’s real, and we’re married…” He looked at Cory and Jenny, eyes wide. “I need to get back. I need to find her!”

“Touch me again,” Jenny said.

James pursed his lips, then grabbed her hand. He looked down. “Samantha asked if she could bring her boyfriend.”

Jenny nodded, putting her hand on his. “They just got back together. So…”

“Nothing awkward.” James nodded. “So, you believe me now?”

“This is really happening.” Jenny looked at the television. 

“Shh, don’t get worked up again,” James said calmly. “We’re not alone. But Jenny, I’m not alone either.”

She smiled wistfully at him. “I’m glad you found her. Only you would end up with a lady from another galaxy.” 

“She apparently didn’t get the social media post about me making Susan throw up in the Cessna.” James deadpanned, nodding.

Jenny laughed out loud and hugged him. 

“Cory’s trying hard not to laugh,” James said. 

“Dude, that went viral!” Cory chuckled. “You were a media star.”

“Kinda thought about offering tickets and fancy barf bags.” James grinned. He sobered. “Are we still flying tomorrow?”

Cory looked down and shrugged. “Well, life doesn’t stop, does it? I have a contract to fulfill and you have a plane to fly.”

“I want to dig into this.” James nodded at the television. “I can learn more at… um… I can… you know.”

“You’re slipping man. Not a peep about your job. I don’t want to know.” Cory waggled a finger at him. “You never work weekends anyway.”

James looked down. “Well…”

“No. If you’re not called in, you’re flying. We have to get this thing going.” Cory crossed his arms.

“I’m married, dude. She’s out there somewhere. She’s one of them.” James pointed at the television. He looked at it. It was a weather report now.

“Fly the plane for Cory. Take time to… you know, decompress,” Jenny said. “I see it already. You were really uptight last night.”

“I thought I was losing my mind last night.” James sighed. “I still feel her. Like she’s just out of sight.”

“James and his furry.” Cory chortled. “Never struck me as a furry type.”

“It’s too freaky.” James shook his head. “When I was hallucinating, I knew it wasn’t right. But on her, it… it fit.” 

He looked at the evening sky. Still no Jupiter. Just a Moon two days from full. “Whatever happened today, I think it healed me. I just see the Moon now.”

Cooperative: The Destination

Snippet 1 – James meets Steven

“I think I tracked down the integration issue,” James said as he typed furiously on the keyboard. He desperately hoped that Ashley was computer-ignorant enough to not comprehend what he was typing.

“Those are our records on Steven.” Ashley leaned over James’ shoulder.

“Do you mind?” James looked back at him, masking his fear with irritation.

Ashley shrugged and stood up.

“There’s corruption in the data files on that cluster. I’m working to verify the backup and restore the records,” James said, trying not to look Ashley in the eye.

“You should have RAID redundancy. Should be trivial to recreate the lost records.”

James looked around, startled. An Elf had walked in and stood looking at the screen critically.

“Um… is he allowed to…”

“That doesn’t look like you’re running a checksum on the data. What algorithm are you using to parse the…”

“Are you authorized to see this?” James interrupted, defensive. The Elf looked at him, amused. He glanced at Ashley then returned his attention to James.

“Your trojan was pathetic. I mean really? Built in backups? You don’t trust the systems’ own redundancy?”

“Uh…”

“A hacker with ethics.” The Elf looked at Ashley. “Who’d a thunk it?”

“He doesn’t have clearance to see this,” James stammered, looking at Ashley.

“Perhaps. I’ll wager we’ll be re-examining your clearance too.”

“You called me. Remember?” James stood up. Ashley looked at him sternly and James sank back down into the chair.

“You arranged for us to call you. Steven here noticed something odd and suggested we play it through.” Ashley winked at the Elf.

“Ste… you? You’re Steven Crow?” James half stood up. “But… you’re an… you’re one of them.”

“One of…” Steven looked around dramatically then leaned forward. “One of… who?” he whispered conspiratorially.

“This is all wrong. You’re supposed to be human. Your pictures.” James sank back down in the chair, dejected.

Steven sat on the desk and regarded James curiously. He blinked then closed his eyes as he looked at James. He glanced at Ashley then returned his attention to James. “How long have you known?”

James looked up, clearly dismayed. “What?”

“You couldn’t have gated on Terra. The Sadari have had it locked down for nearly twenty years. You can’t be more than, what… forty-five?”

“Gate?” James fidgeted.

“Yeah. You might call it teleport.” Steven crossed his arms.

James stood up quickly, making Steven hop off the desk. “You know? How do you know?”

“You glow. When I close my eyes,” Steven said. “All Gatekeepers glow.”

James looked at his hands. “Gatekeeper. That’s really what you call it?”

“Well, it’s the simplest translation of Mar’e Or’helling ha Astrelin. I think…” Steven looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “Opener and Traveler of the Fracture” is a bit of a mouthful.” He looked at Ashley. “You know… it’s the same name in Common and Elvish. And Craolin even. I wonder what the root of that name is.”

“You’re asking me?” Ashley said, laughing. He shook his head, clearly amused.

“Of course not. Just musing.” Steven grinned. He looked at James. “You’re Terran. I can smell it. But you survived the Awakening with just Terran genetics?”

“Awakening?” James looked at Steven, shaking his head.

“Gatekeepers need to be Awakened by another. I… I was Awakened by my nature. But you’d need another Gatekeeper…”

“Aris said I was the only one that wasn’t Awakened,” James said quickly. “She said that I was the first.” He got a distant look. “But… I… I was there and then I’m here. I mean, not here on Endard. On Earth.” James looked around then at Steven. “I need to go back. But I don’t know how.”

“You’ve never gated before?”

“I went there and she helped me come back,” James said quietly, looking down, as he remembered. “I saw… I fell. I was falling.” James looked up sharply. “That’s what that was?”

Steven looked at him blankly.

“I tripped. I was falling. I knew I was going to die. But I saw it. A stone chamber. The floor, I felt it… I opened my eyes and was there.” He sank back down into the chair.

Ashley looked at a couple of security officers who were hovering around the door and shook his head. They nodded and departed. Steven leaned against the desk and looked at James. “You still don’t know what you are?”

“I’m a systems analyst,” James mumbled. “I was just trying to find something nice to put on my apartment wall. My old roommate moved out and my new roommate didn’t have anything…” James stopped and sighed. “You’re supposed to be human. That’s what I saw. What she showed me.”

Steven smiled. “Part human. This fur is actually new.” He looked at his arm and played with the fur. “And it’s really weird.”

“You’re not one of them?”

“‘One of them’ would be Elf. It’s okay to say it,” Steven said, annoyed.

“Sorry… I just keep… Elf sounds corny to say,” James stammered again.

Steven regarded him for a moment. Another Elf walked in and Steven glanced back and said something to him in a beautiful flowing language. It sounded just like how Aris sounded, but different.

James squinted. “You want my blood?”

“You understood that? Have you been tended by a Teacher?” Steven looked at him, startled.

James shook his head. “I just knew it when she was talking to me. Like I had learned it.” James said, scratching his head as he warily watched the other Elf grab his arm and place a small brass patch on it. He glanced at Steven. “I need to go back. I don’t know how.”

“Just remember it… see it… and go,” Steven said simply, trying to find a way to explain it in easy terms. “Kinda like a remembered taste.”

“I tried,” James said.

“If you were on Terra, you’d have failed,” Steven said. “Unless you’re… special. Like me.”

The other Elf shook his head and said something. James looked at him then at Steven. “I guess that means I’m normal?”

Steven made a face and sat on the desk. He said something to the Elf and James interrupted. “Listen, I know what you are saying but not all of it. At least have the courtesy to speak in English, or slower.”

“I was asking how you would have survived the Awakening. Terran genetics are not robust enough.” Steven said, perplexed.

“Well…I wasn’t Awakened. I just touched a painting.” James said defensively.

“Oh. Well… that explains everything.” Steven said sarcastically.

James scowled and crossed his arms. “I’ve been seeing her. But she can’t see me.” James said hesitantly. “And the other… the Younger…”

“You’ve met the Younger?” Steven stood up abruptly, interrupting James.

“Well… yeah. She is the one who helped me get back.”

“She would have been able to break through the Sadari blockade,” Steven said to the other Elf.

“But…a Terran?”

“Enos’rel, for a time I thought I was a Terran,” Steven said.

“Terran…” James said then stopped, implying a question.

“Human…but not human. Humans are different. You’re Terran.” Steven said as he considered the ramifications of what he had heard. “I need to see it.”

“Sorry. I didn’t have time to take a video,” James said sourly.

“No. I mean, see it.” Steven reached out and grabbed James’ arm and James yelped, startled, closing his eyes while his consciousness was flooded with memories of his encounter. Steven focused and looked at Enos’rel. “It’s her. The Younger. But Aris… I’ve never seen an Elf carry a sword.”

“A sword?” Enos’rel asked, perplexed.

Steven nodded. “There’s a castle. Here.” Steven put his hand on Enos’rel’s cheek as James scooted away from him in the rolling chair, rubbing his arm.

“Steven… that castle has been gone for many thousands of years. Our archaeologists are still examining the remnants and matching it to our lore.” Enos’rel looked at James. “But…it appeared to be new.”

“The sword?”

Enos’rel shook his head. “There are stories of wars in the early Cooperative days. There was some resistance to unifying.” He stumbled back and sat down in a chair. Steven looked at him, concerned. Elves were not usually clumsy.

“Yeah…okay. What does that mean? How can I go back?” James asked impatiently. “Where is this place?”

Steven looked at James, bewildered. “James…where is not the issue. We can go there now if you want. But…when.”

“When what?” James asked, irritated by the ambiguity of what he was hearing.

“The Cooperative is over a hundred thousand years old, master James,” Enos’rel said. “Even our Archives don’t go back that far. Our oldest citizen is only fifteen thousand years old.”

“Except the Faeries,” Steven interjected.

Enos’rel looked down. “Maybe. No one knows how old their elders are. But…” He looked at Steven. “Is this him?”

“Who?” James asked, looking from Enos’rel to Steven.

“He knows more than I do. I just helped Asherah with her homework,” Steven said quietly.

Enos’rel nodded. “The Younger is supposed to be the mother of the Cooperative.” He looked at James. “You could very well be the father.”

Cooperative: The Destination

Snippet 2 – James reunited with Aris

“Cory, are you getting my feed?” James banked the ultralight as he circled the castle. “It looks worse from up here.”

“Yeah. Man, I can see where their ship crashed into the west wall.”

“Brutal.” James shook his head sadly. “They come here and fight their war on our world and destroy our heritage.” He glanced at the distant horizon at one of the vast destroyer ships hovering ominously in the haze. “And they’re still here.”

“Focus, James. I want more of the east wall.” 

“Cory, I’m the one flying up here.” 

“There. No, I can’t turn the camera any more. Bank some.” 

James sighed as he turned the ultralight a little more. “I’m still getting into position. You know, it kinda looks like Tel’range from up here.”

“Whatever, space-boy. Bank some more. It’s a good shot. Morning sun really brings out the details.” Cory squinted at the screen. “There’s still debris embedded in the wall.”

“Must be why they’re not letting us on the grounds,” James grumbled. “It’s just wreckage.”

“Spaceship wreckage. Could be radioactive.”

“Yeah, and there could be swamp gas too.” James banked more. “I’ve been on one of those and it was just fine.”

“I heard you screamed like a child when they made the floor transparent,” Cory said, laughing. “Hey, what are you doing? I had a good shot there.”

“I’m turning to make another pass. This castle is toast, man. Just breaks my heart.”

“I don’t know. Just a couple of walls damaged. I think it can be restored,” Cory said thoughtfully.

“Hmph. Looks worse than the castle ruins I explored on Tel’range.” James banked again as he rubbed the back of his head. The headache was back. He sighed as he remembered his recent trip off-world. “I remember that castle when it was like new too. Actually looks kinda like this one. Without a spaceship stuck in the wall.”

“Yeah yeah. You got to see an alien castle on an alien world and do some weird time travel thingie. Let’s bring it back to Earth, James. I need…Hey, wiggle the connectors on the camera, willya?”

“I miss it. There are answers there. I know it. Aris was there. We were there. Thousands of years ago. But they won’t let me go back there because of this stupid war.” James glanced down at the camera mount in the floor of the aircraft. “Wires look good.”

“Tell it to someone who hasn’t heard you whine about it a thousand times. James, I’m losing it. Signal is falling apart. Just wiggle the…it’s gone. Crap,”

“Here.” James reached down and checked the connections. “They seem tight to me.” He wiggled them again. “Are you getting anything?”

Silence.

“Cory?” James looked up at the radio settings. The display was still lit.

Silence.

Sighing, James sat up, then flinched. A spacecraft zoomed by, chased by another that was firing on it. “Crap!” James banked sharply. “Cory! Take cover man. It’s happening again!” 

Still no answer.

James looked down out his window at the landscape. He didn’t recognize anything. “Cory?” He banked the aircraft hard as he tried to find the castle again. But there was nothing but forest below him. “Cory!” He rapped his knuckles on the radio. 

A bright flash momentarily blinded him and his aircraft lurched. James saw wreckage from one of the spacecraft impacting the ground below, and noticed that part of his wing was torn off. “Cory, I’ve been hit.” James cut the engine and pulled the parachute. 

A metallic pod fell past him, and another bright flash dazzled him. When his sight returned, he saw the second spacecraft flying up out of sight. The pod was in pieces as it crashed into the trees below and scattered across a clearing. James couldn’t help but grimace, imagining the state of the pilot in that pod. 

“Okay, I’m about to touch down. Cory? My GPS is blank. I have no idea where I am.” James fiddled with the radio again as he glanced up at the sky. He blinked. “Oh, crap.” He gaped at the gas giant that dominated part of the sky. “It happened again.”

The landing was jarring. The ultralight crashed through the branches of trees close to the wreckage of the spacecraft. A sapling strained under the weight of the aircraft as the parachute settled in the trees beside it. James took in a deep breath, then looked up at the sky again. “I’m really here. I actually gated again.” He pulled out his cellphone and tried to dial Cory. But he had no bars. “The gate here amplifies the signal. I should have five bars” James mumbled as he looked at it. “Maybe I’m too far away. And…talking to myself. Again.”

He closed his eyes and tried to envision where he was from what he remembered. The gas giant seemed lower on the horizon, which meant he was closer to the southern hemisphere, at least according to the season. He looked out at the trees. Fresh growth. Spring. “I’m on the correct half of the planet. Maybe just the wrong side.” 

He tried to visualize the gate area, by the old castle ruins, but his head hurt again, and his vision blurred. “Oh, this gating thing sucks.” He rubbed his temples and tried to relax, taking deep breaths. “Steven said to just see it and be there. Just…make it real. Maybe back home.” He tried to mentally see the damaged castle he was just surveying with Cory. He furrowed his eyebrows as he struggled to focus. “I can do this. I know I can!” He hit the console angrily, then gripped the chair as the aircraft shifted. “I should get out of this thing.”

James looked around and found a flare gun as he unhooked his harness. He wasn’t aware of any conflict on Tel’range, but after seeing what he did on Earth, he wasn’t taking any chances. He reached back behind him and grabbed his survival backpack then jumped the few feet to the ground. 

The ultralight shifted in the sapling and James had to jump back as it fell to the ground in a crumpled heap. “Well, you’re not flying again.” He sighed. “Cory is going to be ticked.” 

He looked at the smoke coming from the neighboring crash site and gripped the flare gun. “Don’t go towards the evil spaceship, James. Nothing good will happen. Just walk away.” He squinted. “I’m not walking away. Why am I not walking away?” He frowned as he set off towards it.

The wreckage of the spacecraft was still smoking when James stumbled out of the underbrush. He kept the flare gun out in front of him as he tried to sneak past the various pieces of the wreckage. He heard a cough and crouched as he snuck up on the source.

The pilot of the spacecraft lay on the ground, with what looked like a rod of metal impaling his leg. James grimaced again, trying his best not the empathize with the pain. For all he knew, he was looking at the enemy. As he approached, the pilot sat up and looked at him. James couldn’t see through the pilot’s visor, however. The pilot seemed to look around frantically, then tried to scoot back as James kept him covered with his flare gun. 

The rod caught on something and the pilot screamed in agony. James blinked. That was the scream of a woman. He squinted and noticed hints of a feminine shape under the flight-suit. He glanced back at the rod and couldn’t stand it anymore. His own leg almost hurt as he looked at it. “Wait. Wait!” James lowered his flare gun and held up a hand. “See? Look, I’m lowering my gun.”

The pilot held her leg as James approached her. She looked around again, and James noticed a short sword near the wreckage of the pod. It was too far away for her to reach, however, and she returned her attention on him, then lay back, as if resigned to her fate.

James knelt down beside her as he tucked the flare gun into his backpack. “See. Not going to shoot you.” He looked at her leg. “That’s going to have to come out, though.”

She did not respond. James reached into his pack and pulled out his first aid kit. “Just be happy I have this.” He pulled his knife from his pocket and carefully grabbed her leg. “I’m going to have to cut your pants…hey, stop.” 

The pilot tried to pull away and James had to grab her leg tightly. She gasped in agony. James made a face. “I’m sorry, but you’re making it worse.”

He looked at her then pointed to the rod with his knife. “I’m going to cut your pants away.” He made a motion with his knife and pulled at her pants a little. The pilot seemed frozen. After a brief moment, James carefully cut her pants where the rod impaled her leg. “Okay. It’s through the side of your thigh, and…you have fur.”

The pilot remained motionless as James inspected the wound. “It’s mostly under your skin. Probably not much muscle damage even. No arteries.” He shook his head as he grabbed an antiseptic spray and applied it to the entry and exit wounds and part of the rod. He looked at the pilot then pointed at the section of rod below her leg. “I’m going to grab that and pull it straight out.” He made a pulling motion with his hand. “Please tell me you understand my Common.”

The pilot did not move. 

“Right. Okay.” James sprayed the rod on the upper part of her leg again. “This will make it go through faster and disinfect the wound as I pull it through. It’s a clean rod, so it should be quick and easy.” He glanced at her as she remained frozen. “Okay, I am going to put your leg up on my shoulder to elevate it.”

Still no response. 

James tenderly lifted her leg until he had it secured on his shoulder. The pilot squirmed a little from the pain and he held up a hand. “On three, okay?” He held up three fingers, then folded one finger at a time as he counted down. After the last finger, he gripped her leg tightly and yanked the rod out. The pilot screamed, but he held her leg tightly as he dropped the rod and put his hand on the wound. “See? It’s not even bleeding that much.” He looked at the leg again and shook his head. “Your fur looks Elvish.” He looked up at the pilot who was frozen again, seemingly staring at him. He wondered how she could see through what looked like an opaque visor. “Are you an Elf?” He hoped his Elvish was understandable.

The pilot reached up and disengaged her helmet and threw it to the side as she stared at him, her already large eyes opened wide. “You…you know me?”

James gaped and almost dropped her leg. “Aris?” 

Aris returned his stunned look. 

“But…” James looked around. “I’m back. Not just back, but back back.” He laughed a little as he looked up at the sky. “I made it back. I’m really here. I can’t tell you how long I have been trying.”

“You’re not human?” 

James felt a hand on his as he kept pressure on her wound. He pursed his lips, remembering what the Younger had told him. She wouldn’t know him. “No. Yes, but no. Not what you know as human. I’m from Earth…Terra. I’m Terran.” He looked at his backpack. “I don’t have anything for your pain. Nothing that’ll work on Elves anyway.”

“Why are you helping me?” Aris asked quietly. “You are…not us.”

“Because we are…” James stopped as he inspected the wound. They were apparently not life-mates yet. “You are injured. What am I supposed to do?”

Aris squinted at him. “James?” 

James looked at her, startled. Did she remember him? But, according to the Younger, they had not even met yet. Maybe he didn’t go back far enough? He found the differences in the timeline discombobulating. What he knew of her was after she had known him for years. They were married. But now, they were meeting for the first time, again. He sighed as he looked at her. The last time he had met her was confusing for him. This time was turning out little better. “Is it actually happening? Finally? I’ve looked for you since the last time. Is it really a hundred thousand years ago?”

“Your memories…I am having trouble making sense of them.” 

“Oh, that.” James looked at her hand, disappointed. No, she did not know him after all. “Well, we’re not enemies, if you’re worried about that.” He looked up in the sky. “But, why would you think I was your enemy?”

“You don’t know about the war?” Aris shifted a little, wincing as she did. 

“Keep that leg elevated.” James held it on his shoulder. “There was a war on Terra. Between the Sadari and the Cooperative. Made a real mess. That’s the only one I know of.” 

Aris shook her head. “I’m not familiar with Terra.” 

James opened his mouth, then shut it. He didn’t know much about the universe Aris lived in. The Cooperative he knew was over a hundred thousand years old and did not seem to exist yet. “Well, it’s a planet in another galaxy far away, a long time from now.” He smirked as he remembered a similar statement from a movie. 

He felt a hand on his cheek. “You seem to know me. But not know me.”

“Yeah. It’s been a pretty weird year.” James smiled wanly. He reached into the medical kit and pulled out a couple of bandages. “I think it’s just oozing now.” He looked and gave the entry and exit points another spray of the antiseptic, then placed the bandages over the wounds. “I hope your fur doesn’t screw things up.” 

“Who is the Younger?”

James glanced up. “Well, I guess we haven’t met her yet in this timeline. But we will. I certainly have a lot of questions for her.” He wrapped gauze around her leg to hold the bandages tight to the wounds. “We really need to get you to a doctor. I wish Enos’rel were here.”

“I see him in your memories, but I don’t understand,” Aris said.

“He’s an Elf. Like you. Steven introduced me to him. Sort of.” James sat back as something dawned on him. “Are you fighting humans?”

“This planet is in contention,” Aris said. 

“I thought Tel’range was under Elvish jurisdiction?” James looked around. “But this is ancient history, I guess. Oh God, I’m really here.” He shook his head. “Where I come from, you guys are all friends. Family even. Steven’s father is human. Mother is an Elf. But he has fur. Like you. You guys were at war with the Sadari. Not each other.”

Aris just looked at him, confused. 

“An ancient enemy that is probably not so ancient to you yet,” James mumbled. “There was a gate on this side of the planet. I was going to look at the stars tonight to figure out where it is.”

“Gate?”

“You know…created by Gatekeepers. Lets us travel to other planets.” James waved a hand. He looked down. “You really haven’t met the Younger yet, have you?”

“There is a portal over this planet that we use.” Aris said, looking up. “We don’t know who created it, but it’s impossibly old. The humans use another portal. There are several more portals too but the humans guard them.”

James looked up thoughtfully. “Which would be why this planet is in contention.” He sighed. “This is so different from what I imagined it.”

“You’ve been here before?” Aris kept her hand on his while he pulled the cut parts of her pants over the gauze to help keep it in place. 

James sighed, looking at her hand. “Elves.” He rubbed his eyes. “You can see it in my memory. Why ask?”

“Because I don’t understand what I’m seeing,” Aris said. 

“Yeah, well, I don’t much understand it either.” James sat down next to her and inspected the rest of her. “I’m stunned you survived that attack.”

Aris glanced at the debris that was scattered across the clearing. “I should not have.”

James regarded her for a long moment. “We need to find the Younger.”

“Who is that?”

“You introduced me to her. I guess a few years from now.” He looked around. “There’s a cave we can shelter in for the night. Is anyone going to come looking for you?”

Aris pursed her lips. 

“Aris?”

“I was not supposed to come. It has been forbidden.”

“I wonder why,” James said sarcastically as he looked at the wreckage.

“The dreams would not stop. I was losing my mind. I had to be here,” Aris said quietly. “And, now I am sharing this secret with you. You are not even us. Who are you?”

James smiled sadly. “A pawn in someone else’s game, apparently. When I first met you, we…had known each other for a very long time. Or you knew me, at least. I was just a guy at an art market in Seattle until I ended up…here. You even had that sword.” He nodded to the weapon. “Now it appears to be the other way around. I know you, but you don’t know me.”

“We have never met. But your memories are so clear,” Aris said quietly. “You are an anomaly, James. And you have no fur.”

“No. I’ve met an anomaly. I don’t remotely compare to him.” James grinned as he self-consciously rubbed his arms. He had always thought he was on the furry side for a Terran. 

Aris just looked at him.

“I guess you had to be there.” James looked down. He shook his head. “You’re not going to walk, so I’m going to pick you up, okay?”

No answer. James took that as confirmation. He carefully lowered her leg off his shoulder and stood up. “It might hurt a little, but I’ll be careful.”

Aris continued to stare at him. James knelt down and put an arm under her shoulder, with her arm wrapped around his back, and another arm under her leg above the wound. Then with a grunt, he stood up. He was surprised and almost tripped backward. She was much lighter than he would have imagined. 

“Please don’t drop me,” Aris asked as her grip on his back tightened. 

“Forgot that Elves were very light.” James smiled sheepishly. He picked his way carefully towards the cave and ducked in under the tree roots that mostly covered the entrance. “I can’t see in here. Anyone home?”

Aris shook her head. “I don’t sense anything close. But the cave is deep.”

“I wish I had your eyes,” James said as his vision slowly adapted to the dark interior. “Okay, setting you down here.” He knelt down and tenderly set her down. “You okay?”

Aris didn’t answer. She stared at him as he adjusted her. 

“I need to grab my backpack. Is there anything I should look for out there?” James waited. But he still didn’t get an answer. “Okay then.” He jogged back to the crash site and packed up the first-aid kit back into the backpack. He glanced and noticed the sword. He shouldered the backpack and grabbed the weapon and looked around again. Nothing presented itself as anything that resembled useful technology. Most of it was scorched or fragmented. “I really can’t believe she survived.”

He looked up at the darkening sky, then trudged back to the cave. “Here. You seemed attached to this.” James put the sword down next to Aris. She looked at it, then back at him, a confused look on her face. James sighed. “I know you don’t believe me…”

“I don’t understand you,” Aris interrupted as she put the sword in her lap. 

James shrugged. “Neither do I.” He looked outside the cave. “You’re at war with people who look like me.”

“They look like you?” Aris sat up straighter.

“You’ve never seen a human?” James blinked, surprised. 

Aris shook her head.

“How did you know to be afraid of me?”

“You don’t have fur.”

James slumped. “Yes. Humans look like me. Which is interesting, because on Terra, we refer to ourselves as humans. But we’re Terrans.” James scratched his arm, thinking for a moment. “Where…when I came from, you’re not enemies. I just can’t understand how this is happening.”

“When?” Aris shifted.

James knelt down and dug in the soil of the cave with his hands. “We need a fire.”

“You’re avoiding my question.”

“I guess I am.” James pulled some dead roots from the entrance of the cave and broke them up and set up a little pile in the shallow pit. He sat back and rummaged through his backpack, pulling out a lighter. “Aris, I don’t really understand it myself.” He lit some bark and shoved it under the pile of wood. 

“You must try.” Aris shifted then winced. 

“Careful there,” James said. He took in a breath. “The Younger said I was not…attached to time. Where I come from is over a hundred thousand years from now. None of you are fighting each other. And there are a lot more of you. Many worlds.” He took another breath as he collected his thoughts. “And she said that I was a Gatekeeper, though currently I’m not in control. At all.” 

“Gatekeeper?” Aris cocked her head.

“Those portals you were talking about?” James looked out the entrance of the cave into the sky. “People like me created those.”

“You’re the Portal Master?” Aris’s eyes widened.

“No.” James held up his hands, laughing nervously. “Those are not mine. People like me can create a gate but we have to consciously maintain it.” James looked down and poked at the fire with a stick. “Steven Crow, he can create a gate and it just stays there. I think someone like him created those.” 

“The Younger.” 

“You read my mind.” James grinned. Then he frowned. “I guess you did, didn’t you?”

“You are still a mystery to me, James.”

“Yeah, well, that’s part of my mystique.” James grinned as he sat back, waggling his eyebrows. “I’m a mystery.”

Aris giggled. It was music to his ears and he smiled widely. He was finally home.