A Perfect Opportunity

Walter Grip woke to hear the song again. He had heard it every night since he came to this town two nights ago. This time, he was determined to follow it to its source.

He put on a heavy coat to protect him from the chilly Martian night air. Stepping out of the hotel he had been staying at, he looked up into the clear night sky and noticed that the blazing Earthstar had risen, and had a moment of silent sadness for his birthplace.

He had been doing that every night since a visit from the last rocket ship in existence. The crew told him what he had already thought, since the horrible night when he had watched the Earth blow up.

The crew had told him there were only a handful of survivors here on Mars, including the crew, a family who had just arrived, a hot-dog vender and his wife, Walter himself, and the young lady he had been avoiding since he had fled from her two months ago.

She was just a kid, and on their one and only day together she ended up showing him a wedding dress, and he had fled. Sometimes that moment shamed him. But tonight he put shame behind him for once, and followed the song toward the mountains.

As soon as he cleared the outskirts of the town, the song was much clearer and stronger, and he found a path leading towards one particular mountain, that from this distance looked a great deal like a huge castle, and he began to climb.

He reached a plateau, and realized that in part, his eyes hadn’t been tricking him, there was a mansion carved into the rock, so cunningly that it looked natural unless you looked very closely.

The song was stronger, and at the entrance there was a figure, and Walter was sure it was the singer, and so began to hurry forward. She was tall, slender, and had silver eyes, and Walter realized she must be one of the original Martians.

He knew her appearance was probably an illusion, as the Martians had telepathy and could make you see what they wanted you to. Her appearance reminded Walter of someone, but for the moment he didn’t quite figure out who.

She let him in, and showed him to a large room with a table, some chairs, and a fireplace. She gestured to one of the chairs, and sat in the other one, and simply studied him for a few moments.

Walter blushed, as he realized he probably had no secrets from her now, and to cover for his embarrassment, he said, “ Who are you? Why have you called me here?”

She looked away, and said, “My name would be meaningless to you My Beloved called me Kara. My Beloved asked me to see if there was anyone of your race left, someone special that would be willing to take responsibility for my Beloved’s legacy.”

“Legacy?” Walter asked.

“I will show you” Kara said. She then got up, and touched a spot on the wall beside the fireplace. Suddenly, an opening appeared in the wall, and Walter could see that it lead to another room, with shelves, with disks on the shelves.

Walter looked at the disks in shock, and asked with a shaky voice, “Your beloved was . . . A Librarian?” Walter had heard of the Librarians, of course. When the government outlawed fiction and began to burn books, some had resisted, and hid fiction stories.

Walter had even heard that at least one had made it to Mars and had built a house as a tribute to his favourite author, before it was destroyed. She said “My Beloved showed me the history of your people, and wanted me to share these stories with someone, after My Beloved was gone.”

“Gone?” Walter asked.

She nodded., and said “My Beloved was dying, which is how My Beloved escaped from your world. With my help, My beloved lasted longer than what Earth science would have given. Here. Sit.”

She led Walter to a chair with a Reader in front of it, and put one of the disks in the machine, and drifted away as Walter focused on the Reader, and found himself lost in the story. When he finished, he turned to find the Martian studying him. “I . . . I never knew that there were others” He stammered.

“I told my Beloved that there was others.” She said “ We prepared for the day that one would come to us. Would you like to see the rest of what we prepared?” She began to sing again, and Walter stumbled after her like he was chasing a dream.

They went down a hallway, and stopped at a room with a closed door. “This was my Beloved’s room” She said, “It can be yours now, for as long as you wish it.” He took a glance at the bedroom, and felt very shy.

She smiled at him and said, “I will tell you what I told my Beloved when they came to me. You are safe here, safe to explore, to learn, and to try. No one and nothing will harm you here.”

“Will you help me?” He asked.

“If you wish, I will. In my Beloved’s memory, I will aide you anyway I can. “ She said. She then left Walter to explore the room on his own.

That night, Walter struggled with his feelings. Could he trust her? She wasn’t human, after all. It was the fault of his race that hers had died, as the first humans on Mars had brought with them human diseases, and it tuned out that Chicken Pox was deadly for Martians.

Most had died within a year of the first explorers arrival. On the other hand, she had done nothing to threaten him in any way, or even make him uncomfortable. She could read his mind, he had no secrets to her, but she had not reacted in any way negatively.

He remembered the story he had read that she had given him. Could he just once let go of fear and trust someone? What was the worst that could happen? His race was mostly gone, so was hers, who could judge him now?

He finally fell asleep without coming to any decisions. The next morning he put on his own clothes and left the stuff in the room alone. He went to explore the mansion, and found Kara in what looked like a kitchen from his youth on Earth.

Kara was dressed a lot what Walter had remembered his mom wearing when he was a kid. Dressed like that, her face seemed even more familiar He thought of asking her, but held off, and instead they ate breakfast together. After breakfast, he asked her if she wanted to go back to the town with him, get some supplies.

She smiled, and said she would come, and so they walked back to the town. While they walked, he asked her, “Please, tell me about yourself. I know so little about your kind, and you in particular. Will you share with me?”

She regarded him for a minute, as though calculating all the possible outcomes, and then said “My story isn’t much different from yours, or my Beloved’s I was regarded as an outcast, and I separated myself from others. Ironically, that separation helped save me from the infection that killed my people.”

“I had given up hope of finding any meaning in my life when they died, but then my Beloved came from your planet, and we found each other, and my life had meaning. But our time was brief before My Beloved also became sick, and then I was alone again. But before my Beloved’s death , I knew I needed to find someone to give the stories my Beloved had saved, and I found you.” He looked at her, and blushed, and then they went the rest of the way to town in silence.

When they got to the town, she looked at him and said, “Perhaps you would rather explore alone? I mean, if my presence prevents you from going where you wish.”

He realized he was blushing again, and said, “I am sorry. I have been . . . Struggling with things alone for a long time. Its going to take me a while to get used to having someone to share with.”

She smiled again, and he suddenly realized how pretty it made her look. “Let’s go together” He decided. So they spent the day exploring.

By the time they were headed back to her home, he was wondering to himself “Is this love? She obviously knows everything, and seems to not mind a bit. Yet I have been running from this my whole life, what happens if I just stop running? Who will I be if I don’t have to hide?”

But he said nothing aloud, knowing full well she could “hear” him if she chose. He very gingerly reached for her hand, and she let him entwine his fingers in hers, and they made their way back to the mansion. That night, after supper, he went back to the Library and read some more of the stories.

One was so moving, he went to Kara and asked her to read it too. She smiled, and said, “That one was one of my Beloved’s favourites. “ and then, a tear came down her face from her silver eyes. He put an arm around her instinctively, and said, “I am sorry. I didn’t mean to cause you pain. You must miss your beloved very much.”

“We do not quite see loss like you do. I treasure my memory of my Beloved. I could re-create them with my mind at will, but then I would not be fulfilling the promise I made to my Beloved, and especially now that you are here.”

Walter found himself at a loss for words. He finally said, “ You probably know how I feel better than I do. But I hope that you can be all right with me needing time to be sure of myself. My struggle has left me isolated so long, I am not sure how to even approach sharing with someone else.”

She rose from her chair, and gave him a hug and said “You are very much like my Beloved. Take all the time you need. I can wait for you.” They shared a very gentle, trembling kiss, and Walter retired to his room to sleep, and to dream.

The next day, he asked her to show him something from her people, and so they went in the opposite direction and went deeper into the mountains. Soon they were at a range that had been converted into city, older than most of the communities he had seen in pictures when he first heard that there had been life on Mars.

She showed him around the city, and said it was one of the oldest still remaining intact. She told him about the songs, the stories, the sharing that occurred before Earthlings came.

He looked down, and said, “I am sorry. My people caused the end of your people, even though we didn’t mean to. But somehow, I don’t think we would have stopped coming even if we had known.”

Kara took his hand and stroked his face, and said “The past is the past. We both know what its like to lose our people, but we can honour them best by making a future. I know you have doubts about me, about yourself. But you should ask yourself, how do you want to spend the rest of being afraid, or do you want to seize life while you have it?”

He gave her a passionate kiss, and said, “Okay. Lets go home, and I will see if I can overcome my anxiety. I think I am ready.” So they turned from the dead city and headed for home. Once there, he went into his room, and for the first time looked at the stuff that had belonged to Kara’s Beloved.

He knew exactly what outfit would be the best for a first real night as a couple. He slowly got ready. It had been the first time in years since he had tried this, but he had thought about it every day since. It took a while, but he actually enjoyed the process.

Finally, he was ready. This was the moment, when he stepped out of the shadows and really lived. Kara “heard” him coming, but she still gasped when she turned and looked at the creature before her, in a beautiful pink prom dress.

“You look just like my Beloved did. So, say your name out loud, so you can hear it spoken.“

The transformed being before her said “I am . . . I am called Meredith. It was my mothers middle name.”

“Then Meredith,” she said. “I love you . I have love you since I first felt your mind and saw you were like my Beloved. Now if you will have me, I will make you as happy as I made her, for as long as we both live.”

Meredith finally realized who she looked like. She looked like the girl next door back on Earth, who she had a crush on, but never spoke to because she was afraid of having her secret revealed, and said “Yes, I think that would make me very happy. And I will do the same for you. And I will always be grateful for helping me realize who I was inside.”

“It was my pleasure, my love.” Kara said “Now lets celebrate the beginning of a life together, shall we?”

Meredith said “I cant think of a more perfect opportunity to leave the past behind, and begin the future.” And so they went to her bedroom, to consummate their marriage, and to begin a new chapter together.