VADNAR

I roll the rope in my hands and hand it to Vaine. Then I turn to face Dee. I made a fool of myself for her, but to see her smile, I would trip all day.

I look around, but she's nowhere to be seen. Strange. She was just here a moment ago.

"Where is Dee?" I ask Vaine, who is just as confused as I am.

There's no way she could have ran off this quickly, without her footsteps being heard. With panic surging in me, I run around the fort, shouldering past groups of men in search of her. I stop by the kitchens, where the entertainers are gathered, but there is no rich, dark skin in here. Only a sea of red.

"Dee?" I scream like a madman.

Vaine searches, too. And when Ranrok catches wind that something is wrong, he also starts looking. For the first time since I met the man, I appreciate his existence.

Dee is nowhere to be found. She vanished like a dream. But the smell of her hair and the touch of her skin is still engraved into my memory. My cock still remembers the snugness of her cunt, and her smile–the one I had just been jumping rope for, is unforgettable. So she's not a dream. She's a woman that came from the stars to inspire me to become more than a farmer. And now she's gone. And now i'm truly alone.

The fort buzzes as people turn the place in-side out in search of her. All activities have been stopped. There's no more cooking, cleaning, writing, forging, training—hell, even pissing. Everyone is looking for her, but after a few hours, we turn out empty handed.
She's gone. Back to her planet before I could fix anything. This is what I had wanted. What I asked for when I broke her heart. But I had been a fucking fool, because even after three months of distance. Three months without her warmth, my love for her hasn't rusted. Even after centuries in a grave, when my body has long decomposed and my soul has left, my bones will still ache for her.

I lock myself in our room—because although we didn't sleep on the same bed, it was still ours. I pace and slam a fist into my temple repeatedly, cursing myself and the very cosmos. I'm losing my mind. I don't know what to do, because even with my army and my prospect to become king, it's not enough to bring Dee back.

I don't want my men to see me like this. They have expectations for me as a leader to keep collected and lead them to freedom. But if they see what a wreck I'm becoming as I mutter to myself, beat myself and pace so fast my boots wear off, then they will realize I'm a mortal man just like them. King or not, I have a weakness, and I've just lost her.
After half an hour trying to catch my breath and my sanity, I head outside. There are things that need to be done in the fort and men I need to speak to, but I can only think of Dee. I gather a group of seven and head out to search the surrounding areas for her. There are few trees and great visibility, but no trace of her.

I return to the fort empty handed, and with the pit in my stomach growing so wide that I'm going to vomit anytime soon.

—

Three days later, Vaine and I are equally distraught. He lost his friend, and I lost my everything. I can't eat. I can't focus in my security briefings because I don't know if she's safe. If she ate or if she's scared.

Hull has noticed my slow descent to madness. He will be the first one to speak up about it; I know it, because as selfish as he is, he's brave.

I haven't seen Ranrok in three days, and I assume he's looking for Dee. We have never been this close, this brotherly. But we love the same woman and now that she's gone, we're desperate to find her. I don't care if he finds her first. I will snatch her from his arms and beg her to forgive me if I have to.

It's night now. The moon is hiding behind clouds, but the low visibility doesn't stop me from walking laps around the fort. Tomorrow, I'm searching the nearest town. Even if I'm a wanted man and the crown is sending mercenaries after me. I will leave the elders in charge—and if they decide to strip me from my leadership position, then so be it. I can only be a king with Dee as my queen.

After hours of squinting into the darkness, looking for a short, curvy figure—and failing, I return to my room. I leave the door open, just in case she comes back.

In the morning, I wake up to a room that's still untouched.

——
DEE

I stand up, heaving until I vomit. I realize I'm not in the NASA headquarters. I'm in a kitchen. In a house.

Cherry holds my arms as she helps me up. She looks older than since I last saw her. Her hair is grey, her glasses cracked, and her t-shirt wrinkled. Plates are piled up in the sink, and there's no furniture in this kitchen. On the floor is a long metal pole emitting light, like a projector. It's held together with tape, multicolored wires, and books stacked haphazardly to alter its height from the ground.

And the paperwork. Sheets are scattered all over the tiles and blueprints are taped to the oily walls.
"Where the fuck were you, Dee? And Kira? Is she with you? How are you alive?!"

"I was in Zolan," I reply, fighting another wave of nausea. "Another planet. I need you to send me back, Cherry."

"You're delusional. Dehydrated. I don't know, but we'll get you help. I'll call NASA and—"

"No!" I yell. "Please don't get them involved. I'm fine. Fine. I met people there. A man. I need to return to them. There is so much unsolved. The war, the masters and entertainers..."

She looks at me, concerned. She doesn't understand what I've seen.

But that's alright. I failed to repair the language transmission device on Zolan, but here, my resources are endless. I will backward engineer everything myself.

"It's been two years, Dee. I retired from NASA and spent the last two years breaking down Kira's project so that I could reverse what she did. I had to steal delicate information from NASA.
Equipment and your genome information. And you're asking me to send you back? The guilt has been killing me!"

Two fucking years?! But how? I only spent three or four months in Zolan!
I pull at my pony tail. What does this mean for Vadnar, then? Have ten years passed for him already? Has he forgotten me?

"Where's Kira?" I ask her. "Did you pull her back yet?"

Cherry hangs her head. "I couldn't find her DNA in the system. I don't think NASA ever collected it. She's gone, Dee. And all the dozen of people that were teleported are gone, too."

Dozens?!

"What about Trey's DNA? He's definitely in need of a rescue."

"His file is corrupted. I would have to get into NASA again to recover it." She shakes her head. "They shut everything down right after the freak accident. Interviewed me for weeks and confiscated Kira's projects to lock them up. I barely had time to collect a copy."

My shaky hands collect the papers scattered everywhere, trying to make sense of the physics scribbled on them. It has been years since I've had to work with such complex math, but if time is running so fast, then I need to get ahead.

"Sit down, Dee. Please catch me up. I haven't seen you in two years."

"Cherry, I love you. You're a fucking brilliant scientist, but I didn't need saving. I was happy on that planet and in that man's arms. I'll make sure you get every last cent in my bank account for your troubles. I won't need dollars where I'm going."

She watches helplessly as I get familiar with her system.

"Where is your power source?"

"The roof," she sighs. "Solar panels. I'm pretty sure I just fried the nearby town. Their system must have gone down from all the power I pulled to summon you here. Jesus, I can't believe this worked!"

"Please don't share this technology when I'm gone. This world isn't ready for it."

She shows me around her kitchen, and I have hope that we can put a lid on the can of worms we just unscrewed. We're not supposed to be messing around with space and time like this. The technology could collide worlds together, and we're not ready for it. But I'm selfish. I want to return to Zolan. To home.

Another scientist had created a theory about summoning cells from one place to another decades ago, but their work was shut down. Kira secretly picked up the research and built onto it. She tested her prototype on a potato and it worked. But that was everything it was supposed to be capable of teleporting across rooms; a small vegetable. It was not supposed to handle complex organisms like humans!

She misjudged her calculations. Undermined her genius. And now dozens of humans are scarred across who-knows-where.

It will take months, but Cherry and I will figure this out.

We work until night. Cherry lives alone in her small home, constantly peeking out the windows to see if NASA is after her. I feel terrible for all she has suffered, because she is only trying to be a good friend.

I finally took a shower. It felt so strange having plumbing and running water again. It's like I haven't been on Earth in decades. I was incarcerated for too long.

I don't mention this to Cherry, and she doesn't ask. All she knows is that I fell in love, and that I haven't completely lost my mind yet.

She goes to bed, and I work through the night on my calculations. I have a sandwich and am shocked by how much I missed the taste of chicken.

There's so many little things on Earth that try to seduce me to stay. The food, air conditioning, and other comforts. If NASA found out I made it back, I would become famous overnight. But I don't want any of that.

I fall asleep on the kitchen floor, blanketed by paperwork. But then in the morning, the cycle repeats.

—-

Cherry estimates that it will only take two weeks to start the portal, not months. Together, we bounce ideas off each other and double-check the math. Her computers help with the calculations.

We share laughs, and stare out the window together. I missed her so much, and saying goodbye will be hell. I don't deserve such a loyal friend.

She says she'll try to fix Trey's file to bring him home, but can't make any promises. I hate that I was the lucky one. What about Kira? What about all the missing people? They deserve to be saved.

Two weeks later, as we prepare to run the portal, I decide I will look for Kira across Zolan. The portal runs, but fries its circuit. It takes four days to fix it. This time, Cherry shoves a bag with medicine, clothes and food into my arms. We're sure it will work.

My goodbye was teary. I gripped onto her tightly, leaving her with my financial passwords, a letter to my mother, and a video authorizing Cherry to drain my accounts. I won't need that money.

We're hesitant as we apply the final touches to the portal, because this time, I might fry along with the circuit.
I sit on the floor, unable to look at Cherry, because it would be too painful.
"Make history wherever you go, Dee," she tells me.

And then I feel like vomiting again. Because as I clutch onto my bag, gravity crushes me. I fight the darkness as my ears ring and my sight blurs. But I can see it. The fort. I'm right outside, laying on the dirt. There are new flags flying and new planted trees—things have changed around here.

How much time has passed?

A bell is rung, and the wooden gates open as a group of men run outside. And I recognize him instantly. Vadnar.
I struggle to stand up, my heart dropping when I see smoke covering me. No. Not again. I just made it back!
"Dee!" He shouts my name as he runs for me. Ranrok is at his side.

I'm sobbing, because I know the portal failed. I'm going to be pulled back to Earth any second now.

Vadnar slams into me, and a second body covers my back—Ranrok. They're ranting, but I can't make out the words.
My body is dragged through hell a second time. I scream as pain ruptures in me, and I'm plucked out of Zolan.
"No! No!" I yell, falling backward onto grass and fighting the urge to vomit.

"Uh... Dee?"

I look up, eyes wide. Vadnar is there. And so is Ranrok. And the city's tall skyscrapers are in the background.
We're on Earth. All three of us.