Circa Tempore: The Artificial Organic
Copyright© 2026 by E. B. Redfield
Chapter 44 - Vacation's Over
Kayla blinked. The world was fuzzy around her, and she felt sleep pulling her back down. She tried to roll over, but couldn’t as she was asleep standing upright. As she twisted to her right, a sharp pain stabbed in her right shoulder. She gasped, the world coming into focus with the pain.
She was in Syahos’ charge station. A soft tone told her that her QPU was fully charged. She caught her breath from the abrupt awakening and the memory of the grafted and the crash at the park returned to her. She shivered at the unpleasant recollection, but then a relief washed over her. Syahos had gotten there in time.
“Craig?” she croaked, her throat dry. She reached out to push the glass door of the charge station open. But as she instinctively leaned into it, she realized her arm hadn’t connected with the door. Her head collided with the closed door painfully and she fell back, reaching up to rub her head. Again, nothing happened. She paused as the realization hit her, and she looked down. Her right arm was gone.
Panic set in and she began hyperventilating as she pushed the door open with her left hand awkwardly and stumbled out of the station. She hit the ground and tried to pick herself up, but her instinctive attempt to use her right hand kept her on the floor. She rolled over and managed to get in a sitting position. She reached over with her left hand and tenderly poked at scarred lump that had been her right shoulder, and shuddered.
Craig burst into the room, and halted when he saw her. As she glanced up at him, a mixture of relief and grief broke the state of shock and tears filled her eyes.
“What ... what happened?!” she sobbed.
Relief washed over his face, and tears welled up in his eyes. He grabbed a blanket and draped it around her. Once she was covered, he gently helped her to her feet.
“Let’s get some food in your stomach,” he said softly, “I’ll tell you while you eat.”
He handed her the neural band and immediattire rings, save for the right arm band. Once she was more comfortably clothed, she followed him out to the dining area. Syahos was nowhere to be seen. It was night, now, and Kayla momentarily became mesmerized looking out the windshield. She’d never seen the stars so clearly.
“Sit, have some breakfast,” Craig said, putting a plate in front of her. Oatmeal, coffee, and even eggs, though they were clearly too small to be chicken eggs. She reached for the fork, and, once again, felt the tears welled up as her right arm’s absence made itself known. She clumsily grabbed the fork with her left hand and stabbed an egg.
“What happened?” she asked again, after taking a bite.
“The bike crashed in the park,” Craig replied, “You got ... you got beat up real bad.”
She felt the lump in her throat expand and she found it hard to swallow her egg.
“Syahos got there just in the nick of time,” Craig continued, “Saved us both.” He glanced over at the utility room, “They were pretty beat up too, they had to wait for their turn in the med station until you got out. I still ain’t sure how they stopped the grafted, they ain’t ready to talk about that. You been out of it for a couple days now ... the station had to amputate your arm. I’m sorry, Kayla,” he said, and tears welled up in his eyes.
She lowered her gaze to the table and picked up the fork again with her left hand. The shock of it seemed to be dying down, but it was being replaced with a feeling of numbness.
“I ... I thought you were dead,” Craig croaked, and she glanced back up into his eyes. “I was so scared,” tears dripped down his face and warmth flooded her as she saw it. She crossed the table and pulled him into a hug.
“Thank you,” she whispered, tears dripping down face now as well, “Thank you for saving me.”
“As much of you as I could,” he croaked, pulling back. “Sorry, that was stupid. Too soon.”
She sighed, half in exasperation and half in relief. She was grateful to be alive. There were so many points in that entire situation where she had been sure they were going to die.
“Ah, you’re awake,” Syahos said from the utility room. She glanced up and saw them with fresh clothing and, strangely, a neural band. “Welcome back! I’m so sorry about your arm ... I wish we could have saved it.”
They sat in silence for a moment, as Kayla finished her breakfast. She looked up at them both.
“So ... I think I’m ready to go home,” she said, “If losing an arm isn’t the wake-up call that I need, then I don’t know what will be,” she glanced up at Craig, “I know you want to stay, and I know we’ve said some things lately that ... I’m sorry if I’m putting you in a bind. You don’t owe me anything and I won’t hold it against you if you stay here.”
“No, no,” Craig, held up his hands, “I’m done. Vacation’s over. That shit was too wild for me. I be ready to go home. I ain’t sure how we explain shit like your missing arm, and I think we oughta make sure we get Syahos established proper first before we do, but after that? We clearly ain’t belong here. I ain’t wanna risk causing or being caught in another paradox. Plus ... I wanna go where you go,” he added.
Relief washed over Kayla as he said it. She didn’t know how she was going to handle the coming years. It was strange to now think of returning to impending nuclear war as something preferable; but just knowing that Craig would be there, that she wouldn’t be alone, was enough. She could figure the rest out in time.
She turned to Syahos, who looked between them anxiously, a whine escaping them.
“I ... I’m sorry Kayla, Craig,” they said, “I can’t take you home. At least ... not Kayla.”
Kayla blinked.
“What?” she asked.
“The procedure’s you’ve had done ... do you remember how I told you that bringing you to the future risked little due to the decimation?” they asked, guilt in their voice.
“Yes, of course,” Kayla nodded, attempting to shift her weight and nearly falling due to her inability to stabilize with her right arm.
“That applied to bringing you to the future. The changes that you’ve made ... the technology that you’ve implanted ... even the organ cloning that made your bottom surgery possible; none of that existed in your time. Any one of those things on its own might have been within acceptable paradox tolerance, but stacked on each other? It’s no longer a risk of paradox; it’s almost certainly a guarantee of it. And on top of that, I am still reliant on the PTICA network to make jump calculations ... for now at least. Our actions on Earth will have aroused the suspicions and drawn the eyes of PTICA ... they’ll be watching the planet closely now, ready to intercept any suspicious teleport reads off the network. For all of our safety, I can’t take that risk.”
Tears of anger welled up in her eyes.
“No!” she screamed, “No, fuck that. I want to go home! I lost my arm! I almost fucking died! I just want to go home and see my friends! See my mom!”
“Kayla ... think about what you just witnessed with the grafted!” Syahos urged her, “Imagine that, but on a scale of thousands of times more destructive. Imagine being directly responsible for it! I’m sorry, I can’t agree to it. I can’t consent to sending you back! It would be on my conscience!”
She glared at them, fury taking over.
“So, what? You’ll just keep me captive?!” she spat.
“Don’t talk to me about being captive!” Syahos growled, Kayla flinched, “I can’t bring you home, but wherever we do end up, you’ll be free! Free to live and explore a full life! Free to walk down a street without being seen as a monster!” Kayla glowered at them, but she knew she’d crossed a line. She broke eye contact and headed to the door.
“Fine. I’m going out. I need air,” she said. The door didn’t materialize as she approached like it normally did, “Syahos, let me out!” she rounded on them, “You can’t keep me in here!”
“Kayla, they ain’t keeping you in cause of anything like that,” Craig said, then turned to Syahos. “Show her.” Syahos closed their eyes, and the ITSTU turned transparent. All the walls, all the fixtures, even the engine. And Kayla fell to the ground in shock.
It wasn’t nighttime. All around, in every direction, stars glittered. Real stars, not the visualization of her galaxy. This was the real thing. Past the door she had just tried to open was a cloudy purple nebula, streaks of light resembling veins or eternal lightning bolts lit up the ITSTU. Her jaw went slack as she stared. The ITSTU turned opaque once more.
“What was that?” she asked, distantly.
“We can’t remain on Earth any longer,” Syahos replied, “Like I said, PTICA will be watching it ... they will be searching for me now. Though, honestly, I don’t think that anywhere will be safe for us in the long term.”
“So...” Kayla replied, racing to the cockpit and staring out the windshield. She glanced back at them, “Where are we going?”
“We’re traveling to the outer reach of the Cygnus Arm,” Syahos explained, “In part because there is an Earth-like planet called Ygros for us to hide in the short-term ... but also it is close to the coordinates I will need to travel to meet up with Mercy Devereux when that debt comes due. It’s ... well this isn’t Earth,” they said with a grimace, “This place we are traveling to is a pretty desolate place. It’s in a practically lawless sector that’s all but been abandoned by the IUSS ... which is what makes it a perfect hiding spot. We have to assume that PTICA will be tearing the galaxy apart to find me. We need to lay low.”
“Wait...” Kayla asked, her brow furrowing, “Why wouldn’t they just ... I don’t know, use a Glyph to go back and apprehend you while you were in the teleport park? Before you’d figured it all out, before you’d given yourself the identity?”
“I wondered the same thing. In truth, I don’t know. I would assume further paradox prevention,” Syahos answered, “My actions before PTICA’s direct involvement were quite significant. Changing them would likely not be within acceptable tolerance. Now, though, they are free to pursue me. If they had any way of knowing where I was, I don’t doubt they’d be breathing down our necks right now.”
They all sat in silence for a minute. Kayla stared out the window at the stars. The homesickness she’d been feeling the last few days had turned into gnawing hunger. She stood up.