Remember Me (ONC2020) ✔

Epilogue

"They're coming!" a boy with two missing teeth and dark, unruly hair yelled from the front yard. Runan put down the tablet he was still fighting with to program his tractors. Most days he gave up and did the work himself, but with the Caldozzan population boom, his methods were hardly keeping up with demand.

Dust kicked up behind the hovercar on the road Runan refused to pave despite the regular traffic which transported his food to market and Solara to her city office. A farm needed dust, grit, and dirt regardless of how much tech surrounded them.

The red vehicle slowed to a stop near the house, and Yannick ran full speed at the doors to greet the guests. Ju'rah stepped out of the car first, his facial hair neatly trimmed and a shiny suit on his body. He held out his hand to help a woman with clear olive skin and a swollen belly waddle out. Her features were softer than Messita's were, but it would suit her well as she entered motherhood.

"Auntie Ita!" Yannick cheered over and over.

"Yannick! You are as energetic is an excited monkey!"

Solara emerged from the house with a toddler on her hip."Yours will be too in a year or more's time."

Messita laughed and looked at her husband. "Ju'rah can't wait. I'm terrified this will be harder than running Caldozza."

"The prime minister won't have any live-in help?" Runan teased.

"We weren't raised that way, and I don't plan to be the generation who starts."

Runan chuckled. "You've started plenty: the breakdown of Upper and Lower culture, free travel between our cities, fair pay for our work, and immense dedication of resources to helping people overcome their ailments. And you cheated death."

Messita's smile faded. The decision to accept this body five years ago had not come easy for her. After she and Tunia successfully shared a body for an entire year, a family proposed a gift for the prime minister. Their daughter had gotten in an awful motorcycle crash and for months showed no brain activity. Unwilling to lose their kin, they suggested Messita take her body and live the full life the woman could no longer have. Messita had slept at Runan and Solara's for days as she and Ju'rah fought about it. Solara and Tunia had finally talked her into taking the woman's body.

"If the child is anything like you, she'll be a handful, but will grow up to do unimaginable things."

"I hope Yannick is less thick-headed than his father." Messita ruffled the boys' hair.

Solara tickled her daughter's chin. "I do my best to discourage it. He's better with machines than his old man."

"Are you now, Yannick?" Ita asked.

"Someday, we'll travel to far-off lands in the blink of an eye. My teacher said it's possible."

Runan chuckled. "Mrs. Tunia has big dreams."

"You need to dream big to change the world," Messita said with a grin. "One day, you just might."

The end!