Released – Chapter 44

“Sanaa, it’s time to wake up.”

What?

“Sanaa, open your eyes slowly and try not to move too much.”

“Jiro?”

Open my eyes? Is he kidding me? I just went to sleep. But I can’t follow directions anyway because nothing about my body wants to work.

Wait. I can move my mouth. Did I move my mouth? Did I actually say Jiro’s name out loud?

“Yes, love. It’s me. I’m right next to you.”

I manage to crack my left eye a little bit — just a little — and my bed is not as bright as I remember it being a moment ago when I fell asleep. I did fall asleep a moment ago, right? Something must have gone wrong.

“My… eyes… stuck.” My eyelids are gummy and frozen in place, and my mouth is dry, my lips slow, my voice a whisper.

“Hold on a second,” says a voice I’ve not heard before. A warm, wet cloth is placed on my eyes and gently wipes away the sleep from them. Jiro chuckles as I sigh with relief.

“Oh my gods. Your hair is so long.”

“It is?”

I slowly open my eyes, and Jiro is over me. He’s clean-shaven, but wow, his hair is long, too. He braided it down, the white streak in his hair snaking in and out of the bumps. His face is softer and a little older. I can hardly believe it but he’s even more like Sakai than before.

“Jiro, did… we… make it?”

He smiles and nods at me. I want to jump up and get out of here right now.

“Sanaa Itami, welcome back,” says the voice I don’t know again. “I’m right behind you. My name is Cathy, and I’ve been your technician for this last year of flight. It’s nice to meet you.”

Whoever this Cathy is I love her already. She has a sweet, British accent that reminds me of Lucy.

“Now, I’ve been pumping you full of fluids for the past hour and removed your catheter. Pretty soon, you’re going to want to go to the bathroom, and your first time will be a little painful. It’s completely normal. You should be fine within twelve hours. Jiro here tells me he’s your husband?”

“Yes, though, I guess… not on official documents.” My voice is so slow. It hasn’t been used in seven years?

“Good enough for me. He’s been awake now for twenty-four hours and knows what you’ll be going through. You both are in remarkable shape, though. Whatever you did before you left, it was a good idea.”

Jiro leans down and kisses me on the cheek. Warmth bursts there as he presses his lips to me before he pulls away to whisper, “See? I told you it would be fine.”

I can’t turn my head and meet his eyes because a strap is across my forehead, holding my head in one spot. Wow, hibernation works. No dreams, no awareness of time passing. Just unconscious one moment, awake the next.

Cathy unstraps my head, and Jiro unstraps my chest.

“You should be able to sit up, but it may take some effort. Your muscle mass is still pretty dense, though. I suspect you’ll be fast to recover much like your husband.”

“I’m as weak as a baby,” Jiro says. His voice is deeper than it used to be, and he’s the same, but, yeah, older. It’s crazy.

I get my arms next to me, and because my legs are strapped down, I can use my hips as leverage to push myself up. Sitting requires a lot of effort though. I’m definitely weak.

My hair drifts up to me, and I gasp, completely startled. It’s so long, back past my shoulders again with a small brown patch on the tips near the front of my face where my hair was red.

“Here, Jiro,” Cathy says. Her hand drifts in from my peripheral vision holding out a hair elastic to Jiro. He gently pulls my hair back and secures it at my neck. Mmmm, his touch is warm and sends an involuntary shiver up my spine.

“Your face has changed a little, Sanaa. Not too much.”

“Same for you.” My voice and lips are still so slow, it comes out like, “Saaaammmme foooooor yooooou.”

He cocks his head and smiles at me. “I think you could use some coffee.”

—-

We made it. We actually made it to Yūsei.

Almost eight years of space flight, and I’m released from sleep to find Jiro standing over me and smiling. And when he finally drags me with Cathy to get me changed into a flight suit, I get a chance to look at my twenty-four-year-old body. I noticed the mirror when I got into my hibernation suit, but I understand why it’s really here. Who wouldn’t want to look at themselves after such a long time asleep?

I’ve never had much in the way of body hair so at least that’s not a problem. My arms and legs are supple, but I can tell where the muscles were. I glance back at my tattoos, and they’re still gorgeous. My gaze falls down across my chest, and wow, my breasts have grown at least a size — probably due to the shift in fat on my body.

“I’m a lucky man,” Jiro says, laughing, and I roll my eyes at him and blush while trying to get the suit zipped up over them. I wonder what he’s like under his suit. I scan him from his head to his toes, and my blush rockets to flaming red levels.

Jiro leans in after I’m dressed and whispers so Cathy can’t hear, “I can still read your mind, and it’s as dirty as it ever was.”

“You should talk.”

He pulls me in and hugs me tight. We’re both soft and comforting.

“I feel like no time passed, but I still missed you. How is that?” Jiro’s breath tickles my ear. I lean my head against him. “It was strange being awake before you. I watched you for an hour yesterday. Cathy had pulled your hair under your head, and you looked almost the same.”

“I missed you, too. Did you dream?”

“No, and I’m glad of it.”

“Me, too.”

After some practice with Jiro talking about what to expect with my body for the next few hours, my voice speeds back up to normal. Then I have the urge to urinate like Cathy said I would. The first time is indeed painful, and I hate peeing in zero gravity. This vacuum contraption is no fun as far as I’m concerned.

After I’m done in the bathroom, I have some time to be with Jiro alone before he brings me up to the multi-purpose room.

“Have you seen the planet? Are we in orbit over Yūsei?” He nods at me, but his expression lacks the twinkle and smile I expected. “What is it? Something’s wrong, I can tell.”

“Mark woke me up a day earlier than you so he and I could speak before we woke you up. Yūsei is everything we expected, and, well, more.”

My heart is threatening to jump out of my chest, and I think I may up and die. My body is too weak for this kind of excitement.

“What? You’re going to give me a heart attack. Just tell me already.”

He shakes his head. “No. This will be better if you see it for yourself, and we woke you now because now is the right time to see it. Remember. I like to surprise you.”

When we get to the multi-purpose room, Sakai and Lucy are waiting for us. I float straight to Sakai for a hug. He’s the same except for his longer hair and shadow of a beard. I wonder how often the men are able to shave in space? Lucy’s hair is ridiculously long, and she has a few extra lines around her eyes but her smile is the same.

“Sanaa, wow. You look, dare I say it, more like your father this time. And your hair is long again.” Sakai’s arms tighten around me, and he’s softer too. We’re all going to have to exercise as soon as possible.

Lucy and I kiss on the cheek. “Sanaa, it’s good to see you. Are you ready? Look.” She turns me. I put one arm around her and the other around Sakai since their feet are strapped in.

The planet below us is beautiful. Wide oceans in every saturation of color from light aquamarine to deep royal blue stretch out in front of me. And there are clouds in the sky! There haven’t been clouds on Earth in at least a hundred years. They swirl and dot all over the ocean like cotton.

The globe is slowly rotating and land comes up from underneath us. One large continent spans the majority of my view from white snowy mountains in the north bordering a wide desert, beige and ochre. The mountains trail south along the center of the continent with forest and farmland on either side. Two large lakes, one white and the other black, dominate the continent with rivers flowing in every direction. A string of smaller islands, each a substantial size, sits off the coast in the south. This is an incredible stretch of land, right before me.

Yūsei is glorious.

But wait… Farmland. Regular farmland.

“Mark, what? What am I seeing?”

“Shhh, Sanaa. It’s coming,” Jiro says. He and Lucy nod at each other.

“What?” I whisper, my voice retreating.

“Nighttime.”

A line of darkness creeps across the globe. The terminator, the line between day and night, makes its way across the vista below, and as nighttime hits the mainland, my stomach sinks.

Lights. I see lights.

My new home?

It already has residents.