Rain-Drenched Memories

Faye stood in the rain, in front of her dance studio. She needed a distraction from his death. She tried to run the last few steps, but her shoulder gym bag got in the way. The chill of the rain cut through her, soaking her to the bone. She reached the door and found the rain-soaked biometric keypad unresponsive. Frustrated, she fumbled through her backpack for her key fob. When that failed, she resorted to pressing the entire backpack against the card reader until the door finally slid open.

Faye walked across the wooden “ballet classroom” floor. This dance studio had an anti-gravity generator under the floor. Gravity could be adjusted from zero to 100 percent of Earth’s gravity. Her jumps could make her float about three times longer than normal. She wore her dance leotards and a red skirt below knee length. As her dance progressed, holographic images of sea creatures softly invaded the large studio area. With a little practice, she had timed her routine to interact with some of these images, hitching a ride on a passing dolphin, sliding off the back of a great whale, and being cuddled by an octopus. The familiar sea creatures from her home floated around her, offering a soothing presence amid her turmoil.

Faye had not visited Kram's apartment since his death. The memories were too painful. Instead, she asked Jai to retrieve Kram's robotic cat, so she wouldn’t have to face his residence. One of the perks of being a Commander, his residence bordered a 20-acre aquarium. In most of the rooms, the illusion of being underwater was architecturally designed. Glass walls looking into the aquarium were a haunting reminder of the tranquility Kram loved. Faye blamed MOTHER, the AI directing Kram and the Dragons, for his death. MOTHER had not allowed the Dragons to protect Kram, and Faye could not shake the bitterness and grief. As she danced, memories of Kram's smile, their last conversation, and the heavy weight of his absence pressed on her heart.

The slits in her red cloth dress opened and closed to allow her body the freedom of movement. The gravity was still at 100 percent for her warm-up routine. She stretched and bent over and over.

The large picture glass window framed the image of the outside cityscape. The fading light and rain obscured the view, creating an ethereal atmosphere. The window slightly fogged around the edges.

She asked Cortina to elevate the level of the music over the rain. She started moving with short dance steps; she exercised and stretched. Sometimes she jumped and quickly descended down to the floor. “Cortina, gravity to 80 percent.” Another jump, but she seemed to rise and fall in a slow-motion glide, as if suspended in liquid air.

She took several quick dance steps across the floor and jumped into the air as her red skirt floated behind her. She flipped and twirled and landed gracefully. She quickly spun and ran in the opposite direction, trying to repeat the last movement. She jumped again, only to float across the wooden floorboards. She hid her face in her hands and laughed, a rare moment of levity breaking through her grief.

The first holographic giant whale glided by her. She reached up, fingertips grazing empty air. Determined, she ran hard and leaped, but the slow-motion air glide let the whale slip through her grasp again. Landing in disappointment, her routine improvements kicked in; she initiated several ballet-type moves and ended with a spinning sidekick. Her red dress flowed behind her, floating gracefully as she executed a precise kick, a testament to her military training. Another two kicks in quick succession reminded her of Kram and how he would tease her while training. The incessant kidding stopped the day he failed to block her sidekick, and she knocked him unconscious.

For the first time, she had a nice memory and smiled. Two dolphins played in the air above her. One, two, three quick steps and she jumped to touch one and missed, only to float back down to the wooden floor.

Her graceful ballet moves were now punctuated with sharp martial arts moves as she breathed more heavily. “Cortina, gravity to 50 percent.” The window had more fog covering it now as the patter of raindrops increased, creating a soothing rhythm against the glass.

The exercise routine continued into the evening. Darkness enveloped the studio, the glass reflecting the interior lights. From the outside, one could see Faye dancing and floating among ethereal aquatic creatures.

A combination of ballet, kickboxing, and self-defense were beautifully choreographed. She was consumed with swirling, spinning, and dancing punctuated with precise attack motions. She became more fluid in her dance movements as the dolphins seemed to tease her. She finally caught a dolphin’s back dorsal fin and glided around the room in tow. There was a harmonious balance of beauty, aggression, and love, her red-slitted dress cascading down her body.

Her dolphin even took her up to the passing whale, and she stroked its colossal flipper. As the whale continued to pass by, it lightly slapped her with its enormous tail. She faked a tumble in the air and for the first time, she laughed out loud.

Faye floated down to the floor, grabbed her gym towel, and dabbed her face. The holographic images had faded, and the room had darkened. Her training time had expired. She noticed pulsating red lights outside the studio window for the first time because of the fog on the window. The room glowed red, then went dark. A short pause, then the room pulsated red, only to dim again.

Faye knew it was a hovercraft, but the city had many. She was not concerned and had slipped on an overcoat to protect her from the rain. Her red dress was slightly longer and protruded from the bottom edge of the jacket. She picked up her gym bag and slung the strap over one shoulder. She nudged the bag away from her body, using her hip to adjust the strap placement.

There was a heavy knock on the studio door from the outside, pulling her out of her thoughts. Faye's heart raced as she froze in place. Behind her, the red glowing navigation lights briefly illuminated the room. The red glow faded and then softly lit the room again. Faye hesitated as her eyes turned to the large window. The window was totally fogged from her workout breath. Now she had become cautious. Two weeks ago, Kram was killed; is she next? Her mind raced with possibilities, each more unsettling than the last.

She turned to walk toward the door. She reached the door. With a slight flip motion of her shoulder, the shoulder strap slid off, and the gym bag slapped to the floor. Her eyes quickly turned to search the darkened image hovering outside the window. The navigation lights pulsed and subsided. Again they glowed and dimmed, like a heartbeat.

Returning her focus to the door, “Cortina, 20 percent gravity.” Her left-hand phaser glowed blue as it powered up. She took several steps toward the door and pushed herself upward. This move brought her to rest against the wall, right above the doorway. She sliced through the air with her free hand gesture to open the door.

The door swished open.

Two darkened silhouettes stood in the rain; one was a hulking battle warrior. He had a large blaster resting over his left shoulder. The smaller person was female and had a smaller weapon slung behind her. Both were unrecognizable in the darkness.

Faye’s powerful jump had expended itself, and she was floating downward, upside down from the top of the doorway. Her blaster was poised for action.

The pulse of the red glow from the hovercraft illuminated one-half of the darkened figures.

Suddenly, lightning flashed, shockingly illuminating the complete figures.

An old tattered cross banner hung from the warrior’s armor. The second wore a skull faceplate.

These are her friends. They are from her unit. Their boots bore a dragon insignia. They were there, alongside Faye, trying to save the Commander.

The blue glow diminishes from Faye’s hand phaser as she lowers her hand and slowly crashes to the floor. “Cortina, gravity to 100 percent and play 5 minutes of whale song for me.” Faye stands up and walks over to her bag. With a single swing of the strap, she hoists the strap up over her shoulder. Whale sounds spill into the outside and pierce the darkness. She steps through the doorway as the gym door swooshes closed behind her. The rain starts to soak her hair. The first two dragons are walking toward the hovercraft. The red navigation lights still slowly flash a cadence. Faye is standing in front of the studio and thinks, “We used to walk in the rain. If Kram were here, the rain would be warm.”