Ships That Pass In The Night

 

Photo credit: Robsalot (that's me!)

He crouched low and peered over the top of the ridge to the flood light filled valley below “well, there’s the problem” he whispered.

“What?” she said, creeping up to join him.

“Aliens.”

They both were quite for a minute, absorbing the reality of the situation as they watched the scene below them unfold.

She turned away first, and pressing her back against the rock they had been peering over she lowered herself into the dirt and gazed out to the horizon. The sun had just set and the sky was ablaze in a brilliant shade of pink.

“Hey Adam” she said, poking him in the ribs.

“Yeah,” he replied as he turned around and sat down next to her.

“Does this mean we are going to have to do it again?”

“Yeah,” he sighed, “just like last time.”

“That’s what I was afraid of.”

“Dawn,” his voice grew concerned as he turned to face her.

She met his gaze, “I know.” She was trying to sound confident, but she was worried too.

“It’s just that we nearly lost each other last time, and I can’t do this alone.”

“I know.” She whispered. She wanted some profound declaration, like “I can’t live without you,” or “If I lost you again, it would be the end of me,” but she would have to settle for “I can’t do this alone.” She knew he loved her, after all it had been 958 years, but still, a girl likes to hear it sometimes. Especially since sometimes she worried that the only reason they were still together was because of the connection they shared as the only two time traveling immortals on earth.

As the .last whispers of pink faded to inky black in the sky, he spoke again. “Okay, so here’s what were going to do. We’ll hold hands, facing each other, and I’ll transport us back 100 years. In my estimation the aliens got here about 83 years ago, so that should allow us enough time to regain our memories, find each other, and then find the aliens before they get too ingrained in the Republican party to bring about the end of the world again.

“And how will we find each other?” That was the hardest part about time travel, it erased your memory. Oh sure, eventually it comes back, or at least it has so far, but the farther back we travel, the longer it takes. What if someday it doesn’t come back at all?

“Just like last time, we’ll decide on a meeting place, we’ll both think of it as we travel back in time, and then hopefully we will be drawn there, I estimate about 15 years after we go back, and when we see each other, we’ll know. That will still give us two years to prepare before the aliens get here.

“Okay,” she said clasping his hands, “see you in 15 years in Pershing Square.”

“Okay,” he replied, and with a flash of light, they were gone.