5
It had been two weeks since the meeting with the Terran Princess.
Bahran had not heard from her since then, except for a short text missive that said she had arrived back on her world without incident.It almost felt like a forced notation she'd sent him, like a habit more than anything she'd done out of obligation.
He could not help thinking of her often while he worked on the different crews he moved through.
He wondered when he would be able to hear from her.What was the status of finding his fellow cyborgs?Were they well?were they injured?Would they even want to come back to Sol after what they had been through?
And if they didn't, then where would they go?
He didn't know what would come of them.If they lived through their ordeal.
An ordeal that was utterly Bahran's fault.
He knew better at the time.He should have, anyway.Yet, no matter how many times he went over the data files and his memory recalls, he doesn't know what he could have done better in the situation that would have saved them all.
They were caught.
By the Terran Empire.
And only Bahran had gotten away.
At the time, Bahran believed those in his squad had been killed like the rest of the cyborgs.The idea that they're alive and had been the whole time added something to the overwhelming sensation Bahran felt for them.He carried grief--he and Master System had spoken extensively on the subject initially.Now that there was a good chance that those brothers he'd mourned out of death would be alive now?That hit him in a much different way.
It had been several years since the incident.Bahran had been carrying this for a long time.
He would have to hold onto it a little bit longer, at least until he knew that they were alive and coming back to the Rhimodians.
He received a notification that communication was coming in.He paused what he was doing--cleaning out another garbage chute.The contact marked it from the Terran Empire--from the Princess's private channel.
This likely was important.He feared it was an issue with the prisoners of war.
"Why are you stopping?"his fellow worker, Dorin, asked.
"I have a communication I need to answer."
Dorin watched him as he walked away.But did not say anything.Though he likely made sure that Bahran's actions were recorded and noted in Master System's database.
Unfortunately, that was part of being Tarnished.He was continually being monitored in case he was doing something that would make his tarnish worse.
He reached an area where not many were around, and he released the communication.
And his eyes widened at the sight of the princess.
She did not wear any of her formal clothing.In fact, she seemed dressed in sleep clothing.Her hair hung down around her face.Her whole face.The lines of her cheeks, the shape of her lips, and the way her jaw curved into her neck formed a stunning image.
He must have gasped, for she looked down and away from the communication and wrapped her dressing around herself tighter.
"I'm sorry for the odd hour.The only time I have to make this is at night, while everyone is sleeping," she said.
"Universal time clock says it is mid-morning," he replied.
She nodded."Here, we run on local time, and it's the middle of the night.Rather, it's almost early morning.The Emperor prefers that the Terran Empire run on solar time, not the universal time clock."
"That must make communications difficult," he replied.Solar clocks depended on each solar system's sunshine.Days were marked by when the sunlight hit the world.No two systems rotated at the same pace, so a Universal time clock or UTC time was created.Systems chose how they observed it.Some systems ran close to the UTC.Others, like the Terran Empire homeworld, ran on a much different solar day.
"It can sometimes.But one learns to adapt."
