#SFF #AtoZChallenge Zinulya

A speculative fiction short story from a dreamer

A continuous #sff story during April. May Rose Chavín is the main character (🧑🏽 they/them pronouns).

Yevtsye and May held hands once the ship took off. They watched Earth shrink from view, from planet to blue marble to tiny light in the sky. As the ship passed Mars, the light grew brighter for a moment. Then dimmed. Once they passed the asteroid belt, the ship went from light speed into a wormhole. 

"It took hours to get this far. How long do you think it will take to reach the new world?" Yevtsye asked.

Piers leaned closer. "A few minutes. Here, let me show you. Trace the shortest path between the tip of my thumb and the tip of my pinky finger."

Yevtsye traced it, going along his palm. 

"That was like the route we just took from Earth to Mars and then the asteroid belt. It seems the shortest, because a straight line is what you've been told is the shortest distance. But watch this." Piers pressed his thumb and pinky together.

"Wait, but that's cheating."

Piers smiled. "No, that's wormhole travel. Skip the line. The shortest distance is a fold. Press the starting point and destination together."

"It curved your hand though. Why do we not see the universe move when there's a wormhole?"

Piers shrugged. "Maybe people aren't that perceptive. Only one planet away, Earth was nothing more than a dot, no bigger than most other stars in the sky. And wormholes that move through time? Humans already lack the eyes to see time. Oh sure, the effect of time is perceived in the process of aging. But time itself isn't seen. Humans barely understand it. And are terrible at measuring it."

Yevtsye tilted her head. "Hi, O'tien."

"Hello. Yes, sorry, I forget that it's unclear that I am me when I speak through Piers."

"Is time measured differently in your mind-space dimension?" May asked.

"Absolutely. As you will need to measure it differently on your new world. Basing anything on how long it took the Earth to move is useless. You'll need something constant. Of course, that's if you measure it at all. The overlord of this world has little use for it. That is part of why my species had to be involved. As wild and free as this world is, knowing the countdown deadline for Earth was not easy to translate."

Docking directions were given. Upon boarding, the language implant chips had all downloaded the language of the guinea pig overlord and that species. Of course, that wasn't what they called themselves, but the chip used it, so words all came out sounding right. Otherwise, Yevtsye would have danced in her seat, as she had with every word she heard from their language before. Now, it just sounded like normal words. Still, the greeter who came to the shore to welcome them was sitting in her lap for the journey. She hadn't stopped petting the new friend. 

The ship opened. Cheers of welcome came from the outside. Fuzzy little creatures reunited with each other. Some humans found other humans they knew. 

Yevtsye looked around for her twin. May pointed in the distance and took off.

"Nope. Walk away." May stated while making shooing waves.

"What?" Doña Marina batted her lashes. 

"Might I ask what is going on? Why is this one forbidden from speaking with me?"

Yevtsye caught up. "Because she was going to kill me and my love. Hi, Zinulya."

"How did you make it here? I was told our family had perished." Zinulya wrapped her arms around her twin sister. 

"It's a long story. This is May, the love of my life. And this is Piers, who can turn into a humpback whale." Zinulya squealed and clapped when Yevtsye said that.

"Never thought about there being two of them, aye Piers? Greetings, I am O'tien, speaking through my darling Piers."

Zinulya touched the reddish stone earring she wore. "Pleased to meet you. And might I introduce Az'es, my closest friend and a young one of your kind."

"Lame. Who wants to hang out with you losers anyway. Bunch of chumps with aliens in your heads. I don't need this." Doña Marina stepped backward as she spoke. As she turned, she slammed into a fuzzy foot. 

"Everyone, this is Overlord Biggles. Welcome to Yeovil," Zinulya said, motioning to the gigantic fluffy overlord. Biggles picked up Doña Marina and dropped her on the other side of the nearest mountain range. 

"I'm going to like this world," May said with a smile. 

Question: Would you want to move to another planet if it was the only way to survive?

Thanks for reading this month!
J Lenni Dorner (he/him 👨🏽 or 🧑🏽 they/them) ~ Co-host of the #AtoZchallenge, OperationAwesome6 Debut Author Interviewer, Reference& Speculative Fiction Author, Uncle J to Biggles 💗🐹

Please follow J Lenni Dorner: