Worlds Apart

Jamie wracked his brain, there must be something that he could do to stop this. Could they run away together? No, that was a ridiculous proposition. They didn't have any money, and hiding a Borealan girl would be downright impossible. If the ambassador's daughter went missing, the entire UN would come looking for her, there would be Marines crawling all over the city.

"It's already been decided," Liz continued, "they didn't even ask my opinion."

She seemed as angry as she was upset now, her green eyes blazing. Her expression softened as she leaned against him again, Jamie hugging her tightly, the cool air starting to chill the sheen of sweat that coated his skin.

"We'll fix this," he whispered, "it'll be okay."

Liz wiped her runny nose on her sleeve, clinging to him as though he might somehow disappear. He didn't really believe what he was saying, they were empty words, but he was trying to comfort himself as much as Liz.

***

Jamie dialed in the code for Liz's vidphone on his tablet's touchpad as he sat on the edge of his bed, waiting impatiently for someone to pick up. His room was sparsely decorated, a few posters and pennants bearing the colors of college sports teams hanging on the walls. To his right, a large window looked out over the city, the small apartment that he shared with his family situated on the three hundred and sixty-third floor.

There had been no word from Liz since she had returned home. Had her parents confiscated her phone? Was she confined to her bedroom? Would they not even let her make the most of what few days she had left? He couldn't just sit around and wait, even if she had advised him not to confront her parents. He had to do something.

After a short delay, he saw the shaggy mane of her father appear on the semi-transparent display, his flat, feline brow furrowed.

"James," he said, his deep voice somewhat distorted by the quality of the mic on his end.

"Hi, I wanted to know if Liz-"

"You must stop calling," her father said sternly, interrupting him before he could finish. "Lizka is upset enough as it is, and seeing you will do her no good."

Jamie had always gotten on well with Liz's family, and he had a great deal of respect for her father, but his patience was starting to wear thin.

"Please," he began, "you can't just-"

"Neither one of you understands what it means to be Borealan," her father replied tersely. "You see only what you want to see, that we are cruel and unfeeling, stealing her away against her will. We reared Lizka on Earth, this is true, but she has Borealan blood coursing through her veins. She must return to her people, learn our ways, find her place in the hierarchy."

"Damn right, I don't understand," Jamie shot back. "She was so excited about visiting Borealis, she wouldn't stop talking about it, but now...now you've ruined her life."

Her father shook his massive head, visibly tiring of the conversation. He had probably been arguing with Liz all evening, too. She could be feisty when she was angry.

"Would you have her live out her life without ever truly knowing herself? Being disconnected from her heritage, from her people? You have known her only as a child, you have no idea of what she will one day become. She cannot be tempered on Earth, she must be with her own kind, she must learn from her kin."

Jamie began to reply, but Liz's father preempted him.

"Imagine if a child of yours was reared on Borealis. Would you not want them to return to their ancestral home, to learn what it means to be human? Lizka has no idea what awaits her, her tears are born of ignorance, as are your protests."

He could see that the man was far too stubborn to be persuaded, Jamie abandoning his attempt.

"I know that you care for my daughter," he continued as Jamie glared at him through the video feed, "but you must respect my wishes. Your interference will only make this harder for her than it already is. Goodbye."

He closed the connection, Jamie tossing his tablet onto his bed, cursing to himself.

***

It was futile. Jamie had tried to contact Liz's parents over vidphone a dozen more times, and they had eventually blocked his number, refusing to take his calls. The only option left now was to jog over to their house.

It was pouring with rain by the time he arrived, the asphalt reflecting the glow from the streetlights, so wet that he could almost see his own reflection in it. He raised his phone as he approached their residence, fat droplets of water rolling down the flexible screen, seeing that he had received no new messages. The curtains on the bay windows were drawn, but the lights were on inside, they were definitely home.

He made his way up the driveway and started to pound on the door, but they wouldn't see him. No matter how much of a racket he made, no matter how many times he pressed the buzzer, nobody came to answer. He took a few steps back, glancing up at the domed house, not knowing what else to do.

He had spent his whole life looking out for Liz, protecting her. Whenever she was upset or angry, unsure of something, she always came to him for comfort. Now, it was as though a force field had been erected between them, a barrier keeping them apart that he could not breach no matter how mad he got. This was a problem that he couldn't solve with his fists.

Defeated, he turned back to the street, his feet splashing in the puddles as he began to jog home. He soon broke out into a run, his blood pounding in his ears, his thighs starting to burn. Sheets of rain lashed at the asphalt, the scent of ozone filling his lungs with every breath, but the storm was the least of his concerns. There was no way to run from his problems, but the exertion helped. Jamie felt as though he might explode if he didn't keep moving.

***

Another day passed without any sign of Liz. Jamie went to school, but he didn't attend any of his classes, he just loitered around the campus feeling miserable and impotent. If she was going to show up, it would be at the college.

Eventually, the sun began to set, and his hope that she might appear diminished along with it. Jamie decided to make his way home, walking along the route that he and Liz took together every evening. As he passed the bright neon of their favorite diner, he considered stopping to get a float, but he didn't have the heart for it.

The street was almost clear of pedestrians, and the road was mostly empty, the flow of rush-hour traffic having long since diminished to a trickle of stray vehicles. He kicked through the now damp and rotting leaves as he walked beneath the shadow of the trees, the colorful lights of advertisements and the eerie glow of the street lamps now the sole sources of illumination as dusk fell over the city.

As he rounded a corner, he saw a figure standing in the pool of light cast by one of the dull lamps, leaning against a wall with their hands in the pockets of their coat. It took him a moment to recognize her, the bright pink of her beanie bleached by the glow.

"Liz?"

She covered the distance between them like a bolt of lightning, leaping into his arms with enough force to knock the wind out of him. After he got over his surprise, he returned her embrace, wrapping his arms around her tightly.

"I knew you'd come this way, Jamie!"

"You weren't at school today," he replied, a wave of relief washing over him. "Where have you been? I was so worried about you. I couldn't get through to your phone, nobody answered the door when I showed up at your place."

She peered up at him from beneath her woolen hat, her eyes reflecting the light from a nearby neon sign like those of a cat, making them sparkle in the twilight.

"My parents wouldn't let me leave the house," she explained breathlessly. "They took away my phone and locked out my terminal. They're not exactly thrilled with how I've taken the news." She smirked for a moment, then buried her face in his chest. He could feel her warm breath through his jacket as it contrasted with the cold air, Liz taking in a deep breath, his very scent seeming to calm her nerves. "I guess I had a bit of a meltdown and trashed the place," she chuckled. "Mom and Dad just...they don't understand, and they won't even try to see things from my perspective. They're so set in their ways. Anyway, I snuck out to come meet you when they went to bed. They're practically Luddites, they don't know that I can bypass the lock on the front door by shorting it out."

Jamie laughed at the thought, giving her another affectionate squeeze.

"I'm so glad I got to see you again, Liz. I thought that maybe..."

"I'm not going back home tonight," she insisted, her green eyes full of determination. "It's not like I can get in any 'more' trouble, right? Will you stay up with me until they figure out I'm missing?"

"Of course," Jamie replied, straightening her beanie as she beamed up at him. She released him from her embrace, reaching for his hand with one of her mittens.

"You hungry?" he asked.

"Always," she chuckled, the two of them turning back in the direction of the diner.

***

The pink neon sign above the diner's entrance flickered, the interior lighting spilling onto the street outside through its long, wall-length window. They were still open, and there were no customers inside, as usual. Jamie held the door open for Liz, and they made their way over to their favorite booth at the back.

"You two are in late," the waitress commented, recognizing the two friends. "Isn't it a school night?" She shrugged without waiting for an answer, realizing that she didn't care enough to make an issue of it. "What can I get you?"

They gave her their orders, waiting for her to leave for the kitchen before continuing their conversation. It was warm inside, but Liz was still hiding beneath her hat and coat, as she always did when she was feeling insecure. Jamie reached across the table and took her gloved hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze.

"Hey," he said, trying to comfort her as she shifted her weight restlessly in her seat. "It's gonna be okay, Liz. We're gonna figure something out."

"No it isn't, and we aren't," she mumbled as she choked back tears. "I had everything planned out, my whole life. I was going to graduate, I was going to get my degree in xenolinguistics, I was going to become a diplomat like Dad. I wanted to stay on Earth, I wanted to..."

She trailed off, peering out of the window at the dark streets beyond, the light from the diner casting long shadows on the skeletal trees outside. They were gnarled and leafless now, their bare branches reaching towards the sky like bony fingers, the warm colors of autumn now absent.

"You can still do that," Jamie said, trying to reassure her. "You can just continue your courses on Borealis, right? You could be back on Earth within a couple of years."
She withdrew her hand and lowered her face into the collar of her coat like some kind of sad turtle.

"You don't understand how different things are on Borealis, there are no colleges. The prospect of visiting another planet had me so excited at first, exploring an alien culture that was foreign to me, yet somehow still my own. I thought that maybe I could reconnect with people who were like me, learn more about myself." She shook her head, her tone turning bitter. "But the people there aren't like me, they're not even like my parents. They're...savages. And that's how my parents want me to act, what they expect me to become."

She was right, he didn't understand. He didn't know how to comfort her, how to make her feel better, this was a problem that was completely beyond him. She noticed the conflict in him, and her expression softened as she took his hand again.

"Sorry, I'm being selfish aren't I? This is just as hard for you as it is for me."

"I doubt that," he chuckled dryly. "But yeah, I'm not having an easy time of this."
"You've always been there for me, Jamie," she said as she warmed his hand in her pink mittens. "Ever since I was a little girl. One of the first memories I have is of you defending me from bullies in the playground, you walking me home because I was scared of getting lost in the city on my own. I begged my parents to let me have a human birthday party that one year, and you were the only one who showed up. Remember that time you blew your whole allowance taking me to the aquarium?"

"I got you that stupid plush clownfish," he chuckled.

"I still have that," she said, laughing at the memory. She trailed off as the waitress arrived with their food, remaining quiet until the woman had left them alone again. She eyed her favorite burger, taking off one of her gloves and prodding the bun with a clawed finger.

"This whole thing has kind of spoiled my appetite," she grumbled, gazing out of the window again. Her thoughts seemed to be stuck on Borealis, as though her body was here, but her mind was already light-years away.

Jamie felt like he had to distract her. If he didn't, she might spend what could be their last night together feeling miserable instead of making the best of what time was left. He stood suddenly, Liz's eyes widening as he took her by the hand, tugging her out of her seat. He tossed some bills onto the table, guiding her out of the booth.

"Come on, let's go do something," he insisted. "We can't waste this night. Bring your burger with you."

She picked up her meal in a napkin and hurried behind him as he left the diner. Liz ate as they walked, taking smaller bites of her burger than usual. That bothered Jamie more than anything, it was so unlike her. He thought about taking her down to the park, but the temperature was plummeting as the night became darker, and he could already see her breath starting to condensate.

"You want to go back to my house? My parents are working, they won't rat you out. We can just hang out, get some warm drinks, watch some vidcasts or something."

"I'd like that," she said, clutching his arm and leaning her head on his shoulder. "It's probably the first place my parents would look, but I don't think they'll notice that I'm missing until the morning. By then, it won't matter. I just want to...spend this time with you."

CHAPTER 3: A FLEETING MOMENT

They soon arrived at the residential skyscraper where Jamie lived, entering into the lobby, which occupied almost the entire ground floor. It was all towering pillars of concrete, glittering glass, and steel support beams. The entire core of the building was an open shaft that rose all the way to the roof some five hundred floors above, walkways crisscrossing high above their heads, bridging the various levels. Every twenty floors or so, there was a commercial plaza with stores where the occupants could go shopping, each one like a small mall in its own right.

The ground floor served as a terminal as much as a lobby, there were dozens of glass elevator shafts that would ferry their occupants up through the center of the building. Jamie led Liz over to the nearest one, and they stepped inside, the doors closing behind them as he tapped in the code for floor three-six-three. There was a subtle sensation of motion as they began to rise, Liz pressing her pink nose against the window to get a look at the lobby below, her breath steaming the glass. It wasn't the first time that she had visited his apartment, but she always seemed fascinated by the elevators.

"I always imagined that I'd live in an apartment one day," she said, peering out at the city lights as they flashed by.

"Most people who live in apartments fantasize about owning a house like yours," he chuckled.

"Who would want to live in a boring old house when you could live up here?" she added, leaning against the window as she watched one of the plazas fly past them. "What a view..."

The elevator came to a stop at their floor, and they stepped out, heading into one of the corridors that housed the apartments. They passed by door after door, until they eventually arrived at Jamie's residence. He flashed his phone across a scanner in the frame, and the door opened for him, sliding into a recess in the wall. Jamie took off his coat, hanging it on a stand in the hallway, then helped Liz out of hers. The automatic heating had already kicked in, it was pretty toasty inside.

After briefly checking that his parents were indeed at work, Jamie led Liz into the living area, where she sat on a couch adjacent to the hearth. His apartment was far smaller than what she was accustomed to. It was open-plan, save for the bedrooms and the bathroom, the kitchen area separated from the rest of the room by a low wall. The living area had scarcely enough space for a pair of armchairs, a couch, and a coffee table. Jamie's family was somewhat poorer than Liz's. Their furnishings were more modest, and the carpets were on the floors, rather than the walls. Liz's father wouldn't have even been able to stand erect in this house, if he could even fit through the front door. The entire right wall was taken up by a large window that looked out over the city, the view helping to disguise the limited floor space somewhat.

Jamie picked up a remote and turned on the fire, the glow of holographic flames filling the room, the heating element kicking out more warmth. Liz was wearing her baby-blue turtleneck sweater and a pair of sweatpants, but she still leaned a little closer as the fire licked at the plastic logs. Her people liked it hot.

"You want a drink?" he asked, Liz nodding. "The usual?"

"Please."

He made his way over to the kitchen as she settled into the couch, setting the kettle boiling, and rummaging inside one of the cupboards for a teabag for himself. The water quickly began to heat, Jamie preparing two mugs, dropping a beef-flavored bouillon cube into Liz's drink. It would dissolve to create a kind of meat-flavored broth, which was pretty much the only hot beverage she liked, as coffee and cocoa were too sweet for her.

He returned to the couch, handing Liz one of the steaming mugs, then sinking into the plush cushions beside her. The fire was crackling now, casting dancing shadows on the walls, its wavering light bathing the room in an orange glow. The lights in the apartment had already dimmed automatically to save energy, the relative gloom making the glow of the city beyond the wall-length window pop. The windows of the surrounding towers glittered, the light from headlights and street lamps on the road far below creating what looked like glowing rivers that weaved between them, the light pollution far too obscuring for them to make out the stars clearly.

"You want to watch something?" Jamie asked, but Liz shook her head. She shuffled closer to him on the couch, leaning on his shoulder as she raised the hot beverage to her mouth to take a sip.

"You remembered that I like the beef one," she murmured, blowing the steam from her mug. They sat in silence for a little while, watching the holographic flames crackle, Jamie content to simply enjoy her company.

"Jamie," Liz began hesitantly, shifting her weight on the cushions beside him. "I've never said...I thought I'd have a lot more time..."

She leaned forward to set her cup down on the coffee table, the tip of her furry tail flicking back and forth in the way that it often did when she was nervous or indecisive.

"You're pretty much the only boy who's ever been nice to me," she continued, staring into the flames. "The only guy who looks at me like I'm a person and not some oddity to be gawked at. Do you..." She seemed to shake her head almost imperceptibly, pulling away from him a little and leaning down to pick up her drink again. "What am I saying? We're so different..."

"If there's something you want to tell me..."

Jamie trailed off, watching as she took another draw from her mug. The implication was 'this might be your last chance', but he didn't want to further sour the mood by bringing attention to that fact. It was already hanging over them like a storm cloud, and Jamie felt like he was holding a lightning rod, just waiting for that bolt to strike him.