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When R. Andrew slept at night and charged his battery, he did not dream. However, his internal memory file system, bored with the inactivity of the night, would view random files every night. So in reality, R. Andrew dreamed in memories every night. He dreamed of his past three months of planetary exploring. He dreamed of the planet with the maze and the cherry tree. He dreamed of Miss Elina coming into her room and finding all her clothes folded into origami reindeer. He dreamed of the nervous alien lieutenant peeking into the control room. R. Andrew dreamed of things he had seen and experienced with his own sensors.
And yet tonight he must have been experiencing a malfunction, because tonight the memory file he viewed was one he had never seen before in his entire existence. In the memory he was walking along in what seemed like a park. Another person was walking next to him who looked like Mark, but younger and scar-less. He was laughing at first, but then went silent and simply looked around at the nature surrounding him. The scenery was breathtaking. A lake lay in the middle of the park like an opal in a necklace, glittering and seemingly alive. Andrew could see how the color of the lake changed from one side to another, going from almost blinding white to dark dark blue.
The lake itself was quiet, but the soft breeze made the trees clustered around the lake come alive and whisper to each other. Birds of numerous species contributed to the conversation with shrill melodies piped as a descant. Meadows blooming with wildflowers surrounded the lake on all sides, flashes of purple, yellow, and blue peaking out of the tall greenish grasses. R. Andrew could feel the heat of the sun beating down on him, making his head feel hot and his limbs heavy. But the memory went on, just a simple moment of infinite peace despite the warmth.
R. Andrew opened his eyes as his internal alarm went off. The realness of the dream faded like cotton candy in rain, becoming nothing but a sweet taste you can’t quite remember. He could not understand…He had never seen that before, not in the three months he had since spent on the Dragonfly. Andrew shook his head, confused, and got up. And above him, still asleep and dreaming about her past on Earth, Elina smiled.
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Mark sat in his chair on the command deck of the “Dragonfly” and stared into space out of his window. Suddenly a thought made him swivel in his chair and reach for a desk drawer. He rummaged through it and finally picked out what he had been searching for. Mark’s finger’s felt the slightly smooth surface of the small piece of paper and memories crept into his mind. The back of the paper was rougher than the front, and one corner of it was bent and soft from wear. Mark looked down at the photograph and smiled. It was a very old color photograph taken on Earth, and he had carried it with him for years. Mark’s small moment of peace was suddenly interrupted by an unusual message from the engine room. Frowning a bit, Mark got up quickly and put the photograph back into the desk drawer, where the two young friends in the picture continued to smile out of their paper prison.
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To Be Continued...
