# dictation interrupted #

“Was it a week later that Minnie and I went to Tesla?” Liam asks Abigail.

“Five days. A week from when you left for North America.”

Liam sits letting his leg jump up and down, mind wondering.

“Liam.”

“Yes, dear?” he says.

“Do you want to continue right now?” Abigail asks.

Liam inhales sharply. “Yes, dear.”

# begin dictation #

I woke up to a voice message from Minnie. Abi buzzed me and played it before I could fully awaken. “Liam…” Minnie paused—audibly breathing, “I need to go to Tesla… I’m leaving soon… Jacobs is going.” The message ended abruptly.

As soon as I’d heard the labored first word, my feet were on the ground.

“Abi?” I asked.

“I scheduled transport twenty-seven minutes ago. It will arrive in under ten minutes, Liam.”

I launched forward leaving the covers strewn half off the bed. Starting for the door, barefoot, I stopped to pick up the tablet.

“Liam. Liam.” Abi said, volume raised and spoken sharply. “The transport will not arrive for another eight minutes. Use the bathroom, drink a glass of water, get dressed, and collect an overnight bag.”

I swallowed the stale taste in my mouth. “Will she be alright?”

“I’m unsure, Liam. She requires closer examination with advanced equipment. Doctor Jacobs is equipped to keep her stable through nearly any emergency until they reach Tesla. Timing may permit you to fly with them. However, that will depend on factors I’m unable to accurately project at this time.”

“Start a message to Minnie. Minnie—”

“Liam, I’ve notified Dr Jacobs that we may meet with them. Minnie knows. You need to prepare for a three-hour trip,” Abi said.

I stood bewildered, naked besides my briefs, mind racing nowhere a mile a minute.

“Liam!”

My brain halted and stuck on one thought: Abi had shouted. It sounded firm and authoritative, yet reluctant. I looked at the tablet in my hand. A checklist in bold lettering had appeared on the screen.

“Bathroom, water, get dressed, bag, and then out the door,” I said after my first deep breath.

“Yes, Liam.”

The screen changed to show a countdown timer with 8 minutes, 13 seconds remaining.

Once I got to the step of packing a bag, Abi made some suggestions that I haphazardly tossed in. With about 2 minutes remaining, I quickly patted Stalker his head—he half rolled over and curled his paws in for the cute pose—and I stepped out the door into the cool morning twilight. I walking to the clearing with no time to spare arriving just as the two-seat transport touched the ground. The door opened and closed in one movement as I slipped through it.

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Abi knew, or accurately “projected”, that I would want a distraction during the flight; as I stared out the window watching shadows increase contrast over the hilly grasslands, she read agriculture reports to me. Nothing from the reports stuck with me, just noise filling the void. Between reports, or at some interval, Abi reassured me that Minnie’s status had not changed.

As we got closer, Abi stopped reading for a moment. “We will arrive in time to join them in transport.” She returned to reading as I sobbed.

#

“We’re landing, Liam.”

The nimble transport set down in the very corner of the landing pad.

“Heads up. Transport landing in close proximity,” Abi said.

The four rotors whined to a stop and the scream of a much larger quadcopter replaced them. The door opened, and I stepped to the ground as the long-distance craft touched down; the motors continued their spin in anticipation of launching again. At the edge of the pad, Minnie sat in a wheelchair with 3 people standing near her.

Sprinting past the craft, I hollered over the gale. “Minnie!”

A middle-aged woman wearing loose, plaid pajamas stepped forward between me and Minnie. Past the woman, I could see Minnie holding an oxygen mask to her face; she made a small wave and rested her hand on her leg again.

“I’m Doctor Shay Jacobs,” the plaided woman yelled. “Let’s get her into the craft.”

We both stepped behind the wheelchair to push it up the steep ramp. As I did, I looked more closely at the 2 other concerned faces in our company. One, someone I vaguely recognized as a village elder I’d met before; but her name escaped me. The other was an adolescent girl, maybe 10 or 11. Her lip quivered silently as we moved past them up the ramp.

The door closed behind Jacobs and me. We carefully transferred Minnie into a center row chair. Jacobs lifted a lever and slowly adjusted the seat into a reclining position. The whole time, Minnie passively watched the doctor and held the mask to her face.

“Doctor Jacobs,” I said, louder than needed with the door closed. “Doctor Jacobs, what can I do?” I asked at something closer to a regular volume.

“You can sit there and chat with Minnie. Just make sure she uses the oxygen if she gets out of breath again,” Jacobs said folding the wheelchair and stowing it behind the row of chairs.

“How you feeling?” I asked, knowing no better way to start the conversation.

Minnie rested her arm across her body, mask still in hand but no longer directed anywhere intentional. Her brow furrowed. “Like hell. You look like hell. What’s your excuse?”

I couldn’t help but smirk. “Some lady woke me up a few hours before the coffee starts brewing.”

“Did your girlfriend tell you before I called?” Minnie asked.

She’d taken to calling Abi my “girlfriend” shortly after we met. I didn’t have a girlfriend and I wasn’t doing too well to find one. It wasn’t on my priority list. Plus, I spared Minnie the hookup stories.

“Nope, I woke up to your message,” I said. “Albeit, Abi did schedule transport before you called.”

Minnie reached out and patted my tablet. “Glad to know privacy is still sacred.” She chuckled softly which turned into a cough. Doctor Jacobs started to reach over but before she could, Minnie raised the mask back to her face and gave a side glance to the doctor.

“So, Liam, Minnie told me that you inherit all the plants when she dies,” Doctor Jacobs said.

“Anything she doesn’t kill before then, Doc,” I said.

Reaching out her hand. “You can call me Shay.”

I shook her hand. “Shay, good to meet you. Was that your daughter out there at the pad?”

Minnie lowered the mask slightly. “That’s my grandbaby.” She returned the mask to her face.

Shay smiled. “Minnie adopts everyone into her family. I hear you’re like a son to her?”

She lined it up, I knocked it down. “More like my grandma.”

Through the clear mask, I watched one corner of her lip curl, her right eyebrow raised. I knew I had one coming, but she reserved it for later.

“You can kill him when you’re rested,” Shay said looking over at a small device on Minnie’s wrist. “For now, how ‘bout you rest. I’ll put this band around your head so you don’t have to hold the mask up.”

Minnie didn’t argue. Already reclined, it didn’t take much for Minnie to hold the mask up but she visibly relaxed when Shay affixed it to her.

“We have about two more hours before we reach Tesla. I’m no morning bird either, so let’s all get some rest,” Shay said. Shay reclined her seat back. “Abi will monitor her vitals. Don’t worry about Minnie.”

I stood up and crossed the thin aisle between rows taking the seat opposite Shay next to Minnie. I leaned the seat back somewhat but stopped where I could see the tiny screen on Minnie’s wrist.