Chapter Eight

The darkness lifted a little and in the haze Jimmy could hear a soft, soothing voice calling to him. His eyes wouldn’t open and his right arm lay limp at his side, cold as a chunk of ice. The cold spread up his arm like liquid fingers, inching toward his shoulder.

“Julz.” He heard himself say the name, but knew his lips hadn’t moved.

“I’m here.” She was close, her voice, strong and calm, brought light to the darkness fogging his mind.

“Where?”

A sudden warmth burned through his veins, starting at his right hand and chasing the cold still spreading up his arm. Her fingers slipped perfectly between his. Her skin was cool, soft, not at all what he expected. Suddenly Jimmy’s mind was racing with images of the time he’d spent on Terra, as a Select in the Millennium Program…

For the first few years, Jimmy lived in the compound with Hima and their eight bunkmates. The coursework was rigorous, the instructors were worse. Failing wasn’t an option unless you enjoyed punishment, and the punishments were harsh. Ground into them by their instructors, the Order became their life. At night, when Jimmy lay sleepless in bed, the Order disappeared, replaced by visions of home, his family, and his friends. He missed home.

Space, that final frontier he’d always dreamed about exploring was nothing like he imagined. But, and despite the reality he lived every day, his dream still lived. Perhaps even more so now that so many of his questions about space were being answered. Were there other planets, other solar systems and galaxies like his? Was there life on those planets? Was there a better, faster way to travel through the vastness of the Big Unknown?

Yes. Yes. And, oh my, yes! The answer to those questions stunned Jimmy, initially, and when the shock wore off, that same, stomach tightening excitement, that mind-consuming need to explore was still there, eagerly awaiting its opportunity for fulfillment.

And then there was Julz. Julz-Rok…

Jimmy was in his second year of the program and just starting a rigorous course of defensive tactics when he met Julz. She played an enemy in the role-play tactics tests. Julz was brutal, on everyone, powerful, cunning, and fast. Then they’d met. It was a fight talked about by everyone in the program.

“Hey, you in there, bonecrusher?”

He heard her voice again, and it ripped him from the whirlwind of memories her touch had sent him into.

“I’m here.” There was something unnatural about the way this kind of communication felt.

“Well, good, but I need you here. Can you manage that?” Concern, genuine concern flecked her usually casual tone. Something was wrong.

The cold crept slowly back into his arm, the leaden weight feeling even worse than before. “What’s wrong?”

Silence was the answer to his question. He concentrated, reached out with his mind, trying to get to Julz, to see what she was seeing, but he couldn’t find her, and then suddenly he was out of his body. A fleshless soul standing at the side of the med-unit his body was plugged into. Julz was at the control panel for the unit, punching keys as fast as her fingers could move. The life support systems seemed to be failing. Jimmy looked at his body. He looked at peace, restful, uninjured.

Suddenly Julz was screaming into the com-link. “I don’t know what’s wrong!! His vitals are all over the place!!”

“Julz.” Jimmy tried calling out to her. She paused, turning slowly around and staring at the spot where his soul stood watching her. He smiled. Even agitated as she was, rocked with fear and worry, she was beautiful.

“James?”

“I’m right here.” And suddenly he was back in his body, eyes fluttering open, and turning his head slowly to look for Julz. “Hey, everything alright?”

Julz turned, first to him, eyes wide, then to the control panel. Ya, everything was great. “I just had the strangest…” Jimmy smiled as his eyes slipped closed once again. “James? James.”

Jimmy sat up, pulling the warmer blanket around him as he did it. “We need to get to the control center, bad guys are coming.”