Chapter Sixty-Six

Later that day in her bunker, once the frigid morning had faded far beyond noon and dusk had settled in with the stiff wind now even more frosty than earlier, Viktoriya finally had a chance to take a few moments to reflect. Thankfully, the heating unit for her drop-in bunker was well-equipped and kept the room warm and toasty. She leaned over to the sat-phone in her room and rang Choe.

She had pulled herself up from all the thoughts. Pulled herself from the abyss of imagining all that might happen should she fail and had decided the present was all she could savor at this moment, and if there was one person she hoped to speak with, it was Choe.

After a few rings, Choe picked up, and Viktoriya jumped right into the conversation upon her first hello.

“‘Choe! Guess what? she said excitedly.

“Um, you peed yourself—again?” Choe teased back. From the excitement of her answer, Viktoriya sensed that her long, lost friend was also hoping to ignite their friendship once again.

Viktoriya let out a loud laugh in reply to Choe’s silliness.

“No, silly! Only you would go there, haha! Your Aunt Aura is back! She’s alive! I was just here, and we—” Viktoria faltered, then she began again.

“Your aunt, she’s here, and she just came out of nowhere!” she exclaimed.

And for a swift moment, she sensed the hidden feeling of guilt creeping up. That she was the reason Aura had died in the first place.

Died, because of a curious girl?

But no, she hadn’t died. She was safe, just hiding somewhere, healing and recovering.

“Aura is back. She’s alive!” she repeated, determined to be decidedly happy, no matter what had happened in the past.

“Yeah, I saw it just a few minutes ago on the news,” Choe replied in a happy-ish voice, masking a lot of the thoughts that were running through her head.

The two girls were no longer the young children who used to play together, doing arts and crafts in each other’s rooms.

Choe was not the child who played music simply because she enjoyed it, but now, it had become a haven, her safe space to protect her from harm. Her crutch, when in despair. Even as she spoke with Viktoriya, she held the violin in her other hand to comfort herself.

Her fingers slid over the strings, pressing them silently enough that no sound escaped, but the rhythm played in her mind.

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She did not blame Viktoriya for Aura’s disappearance, nor her death either, but somehow their friendship was torn apart, anyway. Perhaps this was Viktoriya’s way of trying to bring things back together, a plea for reconciliation and to salvage and rekindle the friendship they once had.

The friend she had chosen was choosing her back, and the least she could do was try. Still pressing the strings one after another, finally relaxing and letting go of her self-defense, she allowed her built-up protective walls to fall away freely.

“The news stations? They never…” Viktoriya paused her words as she turned to see the helicopter hovering in the sky through the window, its blades furiously tearing through the thick, icy wind. “Ah, I see them now over there,” she said. “Hey! We should all have dinner together tonight!”

There was silence.

“The five of us! She’s still here, too, in her bunker. I can get her, Mom and Dad and—”

The silence persisted, and for a moment, she pressed her lips, forming a hard line.

“Is she not in some kind of trouble?” Choe asked, her voice calm and collected. “She tried to destroy your mom’s project and almost got you killed, right?”

Viktoriya knew all that, but it stung to have Choe repeat it. Instead, she said, “Oh yeah! I forgot she might be in a lot of trouble. I forgot, umm, about that. Maybe they won’t be so hard on her. Maybe?”

Even as she vocalized the actual words, she did not quite believe what she was saying. Perhaps they would let it slide, perhaps they wouldn’t, but she would not let them take Aura from her, not after all that transpired.

Aura had made a mistake. Did her parents not tell her everyone makes mistakes, even adults? So why was Aunt Aura going to be any different?

Viktoriya soon realized the two of them were now quiet, creating an awkward moment. She bit her lips hard.

Why did life always get so entangled in so many complications?

Why was living not just simply living? As the thoughts ran through her mind, she noticed the glow around her hands fading.

“Yeah, I forgot about that… So, get this, CLEFF totally pulverized the alien! He was all like DUN-DUN-DUN-DUN with his big ass guns! Yeah, like machine guns in his chest! There was almost nothing left of that bastard. I was so gross I puked,” she said, laughing.

“He saved you again?”

“Yeah, he saved me again! It was like those boss monsters from the video games that we used to play.”

Choe let out a chuckle. “He’s always been so fierce at protecting you.”

“That’s right! He’s fierce! I never knew why my parents called him CLEFF, but I made it so that it means Cyber Liaison and Endearing Fierce Friend!”

“Ha-ha, that’s good. And funny!”

“Right! And get this, Sometimes, like when I get really mad, like just now on that alien ship, my hands get all glowy, and I punched through the force field, and it like, disappeared! I think the Spectrum is kind of, a sort of—hello?” Viktoriya called out when she noticed the silence was not from Choe listening to her but the line going cold.

She checked again. “Hello?” But no voice answered.

She let out a sigh, dropping the handset back. The smile slowly faded away as she looked at the phone, then at CLEFF and back again. It was probably just a terrible network.

Choe would not end the call on her.

Would she?

She lay back on her bed while the teams continued to analyze the ship throughout the night, scavenging whatever knowledge they could.

“I know she wouldn’t just hang up on me, would she?”

“We can find out tomorrow, Viktori-Ya. My scans indicate you are medically fatigued. I suggest you rest. But on your question. Based on the conversation, I think it is very unlikely that your friend just disconnected, even though I show no signs of packet loss.

“And it is true. I am your fierce friend! And, as you have correctly calculated, I am the bad-ass!”