Chapter 12: November 13th, 2349

Over a month had gone by. Raavi had awoken from his sleep as he looked over to Opet, that was sleeping in the enormous bed beside him. The darkness except for the faint dim red lights was apparent. The bedsheets had covered up their naked forms. A sense of happiness filled him as he looked at the hippo woman.

It was a pleasant sight for him to see her like this as each day went by. Despite his parents and family’s worries back on Aphadus, seeing his wife every morning did help him a lot. Like a supporting pillar, he knew that everything in close proximity to him would be alright.

Yet, a few things were still on his mind. His thoughts went to the protruding stomach of Opet. His hand went to her stomach as he quietly felt it. Her stomach had grown to its max size for the baby. It had been over two years now, and yet she had not given birth. He started to feel a little anxious. He kept a lot of this in his mind, but he wondered about the stories that she told him about her and Stephen so long ago. Two years had passed for him, but would she finally give him the child he was waiting for? He decided to keep it quiet. Patience was a virtue, but the situation with the Itreans wasn’t getting any better. Cipra was the greatest defeat for the UHN. Twenty-eight warships were lost, and the entire planet of millions was deemed lost and dead. His cousin was most definitely dead. The last video recordings were the massive railguns and missiles that were being dumped over the surface of the cities.

And yet, the New Olympians did nothing. He knew that the people of the other UWA worlds were feeling the dread of death looming over. Even if there was a victory at the colony of Oshun, its statistics didn’t seem to make sense. He was getting tired of some of it, but he would try to drown out those thoughts by looking upon his wife’s face.

Instead, his hand rubbed her distended belly as he let the pleasant thoughts soothe his mind. Her gray skin was smooth to the touch. The stomach felt hard as a pregnant woman’s stomach would be at this term, but it still felt delicate to handle.

With that, he reached his head over to Opet and kissed her on the lips. It was a soft peck on the lips as he let go of her and simply let sleep override him. The last thing he felt was Opet put her large hand on his shoulder. Her whispered words, “I love you,” filled his ears before sleep overtook him.

Raavi awoke as the lights were on. His eyes slowly opened up as he could see Opet in her naked form overlooking him. She had a plate of food consisting of strawberries and sliced apples that were in her hand. How she managed to get off the bed and get back on it without waking him up was a mystery to him.

“Good morning, husband,” she told him. She picked up a sliced apple and gestured him to open his mouth. He did so as she put the apple in it. The taste of the fruit was fresh as he chewed it.

He leaned his body towards her as the sheets still covered up most of his body. He swallowed the fruit as he watched her take an apple and toss it into her enormous mouth. She chewed it briefly before eating it.

“Good morning,” he replied to her.

“You have been happier these last couple of days,” she said as she went and grabbed another piece of apple and put it into his mouth.

He paused before he swallowed the piece of fruit. “Mostly ... been eager ... been waiting as always.”

“I know that you have been so patient on the arrival of our child.”

He put his hand on her belly. “So tired of having to wait two years. Having to wait on everything.”

“I know, husband,” she replied as she put her hand on his. She placed the plate of fruit to the side. “There will be some things that I want to discuss with you today.”

“Like what?”

She shook her head a little bit. “No ... I have a whole plan for this morning before our watch. I will tell you all about it soon. It will be a nice little surprise.”

He nodded his head in response.

“Ugh...” she got up a little bit. “Neb Petti has been telling me that she is going to be leaving in a month or two.”

“She is going to be wife number two for that boyfriend of hers?”

“Yes ... apparently it is what she wants.”

He repositioned himself as he put his arm to the pillow. “I know what that means then.”

Opet gave a look of concern on her face. “I am losing a member of my crew. Neb Petti has been with me since the ship was launched.”

“I can imagine that this was going to happen. She seems happy with the idea. I think she is worried she is going to be looked at as some pet wife rather than a true lover but if she wants to go with it, then so be it. That is her choice.”

“I respect her choice,” Opet said. “Neb Petti might not admit it, but I do consider her a good friend. I just ... hate the idea of not having her anymore.”

“She can teleport, right? She can just come back whenever she wants.”

“Actually, she doesn’t have that ability. She has to be with another that can. Nah, I am probably got something arranged when it does happen. Probably going to get a replacement crew member.”

“Akari and Jabr have been getting acquainted pretty well with the ship,” Raavi noted.

“I know. I always know when she starts playing that 80s music of hers,” Opet joked a little bit. “I just wished she played more than just that.”

“She does listen to other music, you know? Just as you listen to other things besides 1960s music.”

“Not every time I come to see her.”

“It was good that you let them serve on your ship.”

“I couldn’t say no with having them on board, honestly, especially with the idea of having Neb Petti leave. Akari and Jabr really have nowhere else to go. Jabr is used to working with ship’s equipment, and Akari has been eager to explore. They both want to help, so I would be happy to have them serve. Even Fumi thought it was a good idea as well.”

“Has Fumi said anything about sending us on exploring again?”

Opet shook her head. “No ... another day of just sitting here in the fleet.”

“It is amazing that you guys have this fleet, and yet you don’t really use it that often.”

“I know. That is something I say to myself every day.”

“I remember Akari mentioning something once when she first came aboard. She commented that the fleet was made almost as an afterthought. They gave it to Fumi to ‘shut her up’ and other things.”

Opet nodded her head. “We almost never had one, to begin with. Once we moved to New Olympia, they were planning on breaking down the Ark, but it was decided just to keep it there and let it serve as a token memorial for our past. Fumi wished to see New Olympia create a fleet, and she got really vocal about it. Some thought it was silly to create it. Some thought it was a projection of power. Some thought it was essential. Others on the council feared that by creating it, that we would start to conquer and push into the mortals’ territories. Finally, it was Ptah that told everyone that it was necessary to create it and keep it here.”

“I see.”

“The problem is that everyone’s arguments won out when they debated it. By going out there, we warrant ourselves being discovered by some other alien race. Many of us just want to live in New Olympia and not worry about what is going on in the universe.”

“I guess we were lucky that we had the chance to explore what we did,” Raavi said as he let go of the belly of Opet.

“Me too. Even you enjoyed it a little bit.”

“It was a ... good distraction from things. Let us just say that.”

“And I haven’t been a good enough distraction for you?” she asked with a smile.

“I just thought it was funny we found so little during the whole exploration. It seems that the galaxy is really nothing but space.”

She seemed to smug a little bit. “There were some good things here and there. We gathered enough data on everything that we could before handing that to the council.”

“Think they are going to do anything about it?”

She shook her head a little bit. “No. Fumi notified me that the information would not be shared with the UWA either.”

He gave a questioning look at her. “Why not?”

“The UWA will start to wonder how we managed to go to some of these areas with our ‘limited’ technology.”

“Really? So all that effort isn’t even going to be recognized by the rest of humanity?”

“Unfortunately, yes, until you mortals are deemed worthy of our contact, our exploration trip will not be recognized.”

Raavi sighed as he heard that. “Why be out there? Hearing that just makes it sound like they are doing it for a few peoples’ benefits.”

“Precisely,” she commented. “I was pretty happy to see as much as I could, but I still think it is necessary to see things out there. I am afraid we may be sitting here in the fleet like we have been doing for the last month.”

Raavi went and put his hand to Opet’s long snout. He felt the soft gray skin as he looked her over. As his eyes looked down, he could see her pregnancy.

“How much longer?...” he asked her as he looked back into her eyes.

“That is something that I wanted to discuss after we get done eating.”

“It’s been over two years, my beloved. I am worried about...”

His words were paused as she put her large finger to his mouth. “Don’t worry,” she said. “We will be discussing that today.” She went and picked up her plate of fruit. “Shh ... shh ... we eat first. You will need a lot of strength for today. We have at least four hours before the watch begins. Come on...”

He couldn’t argue with her as she released the finger that was pressed to her mouth. A part of him was really curious as to what her idea was. For now, his stomach demanded more food. He would have to wait until they finished up.

It had been thirty minutes later as Opet went and got off the bed. Her crocodile-like tail lightly smacked Raavi’s leg as she stood up and walked around to the kitchen. With the empty plate of fruit, she opened up the refrigerator and stuck it in. She closed it up as she walked back to Raavi.

She was standing in her naked form for Raavi to see. She put her hands to her belly as she looked at him. Only her headband and peace sign pendant was the only things that she wore. He felt a desire to have her then and there. He could tell what she thought as she looked at him.

“Husband, are you ready for the surprise?” she asked him.

He put his hand to his stomach. “Why not? I feel like I had plenty to eat. I will go ahead and fetch my clothes.”

“No ... no clothes are needed,” she said, putting her finger up. “I have a wonderful surprise for you.”

“No clothes? Is this another trip to the simulator together?” he asked as he smiled at her. “The last one was pretty good for the program we participated in.”

“I know you enjoyed that concert in the simulator ... but this time ... I want to return to a more ... natural route for us. I will have nothing ... absolutely nothing with me. All I ask for you is to have a set of clothes ready for you. Nothing else.”

Raavi wondered what she was getting at as he got out of bed. It wouldn’t take much to gather his clothes. A simple shirt, pants, and shoes were all that he needed. As he was doing this, Opet went and put her hand on her pendant. She seemed to think about it for some time as she went and took it off and placed it by the bed. She then took her headband off and put it next to it. When Raavi neatly gathered his belongings, he turned to see that Opet was unwrapping her hair. She was transfixed with her eyes closed as she was twirling the hair open. When she was done, she brushed her hair back to reveal a style he was not used to seeing. Her black hair went down between her shoulders and down to her large breasts. She put her hands together as she finally reopened her eyes. A sense of calm and ease was present in her demeanor.

“Not used to seeing you with your hair like this,” Raavi commented.

“Everything will be as nature intended it to be,” she said. “Nothing ... no clothes ... nothing to restrict the body. I want it to be this way.”

Raavi looked at his naked form. His clothes and shoes were neatly bundled together as she had requested. He held them up for her to see.

“I am ready to go to whatever it is that you want to see.”

She walked up with her hands clasped together. She looked him over as if she was carefully observing him. She used her tail to touch his leg as she walked around him. With her hands still clasped, she stood beside his right side. She saw the one free hand that he had as she reached over and took it.

The warmth of her hand felt comforting as she held out her other hand. A glowing white light began to glow brighter and brighter. Raavi was transfixed with what she was doing. She, on the other hand, was concentrating on this form of spell casting.

“I call upon a place of beauty,” she said as she seemed focused with her thoughts. The light in her hand grew brighter. “A place of serenity and hope ... a place of history and worship ... for all of humanity ... and even the gods...” She held her hand up higher and said one final word. “Teleport.”

Suddenly, a bright flash emitted from both of their bodies. Raavi felt like he was in two places at once for a split second. It was quick and painless, but he suddenly felt that he was in a different place ... a place that was different than anything he ever experienced.

His hand was still clasped to Opet’s. He felt like he was slightly dizzy, but it quickly faded as he realized that he was no longer in the vessel but somewhere completely different. The temperatures were different, being slightly cooler but still very good. The sights and smells ... all of it were beyond his senses at first.

“We have arrived, my husband,” Opet explained. “We have returned to a place of importance...” She let go of his hand as she held out her hands. “This is Cebravis...”

The landscape was incredible. Even if his history was limited, not knowing the planet of Cebravis was like falling asleep in the basic history of any classroom. It is the world of paradise. It was the first colony of the human race to be ever established outside of the Sol system. It is the most populated world of the human race but never to the account of the time period of ancient former Earth. A few billion lived in this world, but there were many places to call home on the landscape. There was more land available than Earth ever had. It was the home of refuge and escape. It was the place of peace and solitude. It was an escape from the destructive wasteland of Earth and the harsh landscape of Mars.

He was breathing, and it was different here. There was more oxygen here than Aphadus. He wasn’t breathing the artificial air but real air supplied by the plant life all around him.

Raavi lost track of Opet as he just observed the landscape with outright awe. This wasn’t the black plants of Aphadus. These plants were of different colors and sizes as the sun was shining brightly. The star of Aphadus was nothing like this, and neither was the star of Sol either. The star was medium-sized, producing a bright but slightly orange hue to everything, but only so marginally. The gravity felt the same as the UHN Opet as he looked down at his feet. He could see the green grasses that were absolutely soft on his augmented feet.

He was in a forest of great trees. They towered in sheer height that it would challenge the ancient giant sequoias of former Earth. The legend of those trees alone was that they were the largest living organisms of that dying planet. Trees that were so large that they reached a height of almost 90 meters or nearly 300 feet. The alien trees of Cebravis were no different. You were looking at the bases of trees that were way bigger than anything ever imagined. On the bark was a series of vines with a variety of four-petal red and blue flowers on them. It would line the bark and travel up all the way to the top. The leaves were massive light umbrellas of green and purple that caused the light to flood down to the bottom floor. There were other plants as well. Besides the green grasses that were similar to former Earth, the plants known as Cannibavis grew to about five feet in height and produced a series of purple, yellow, blue, and pink five-petal flowers. Supposedly, the name came from the fact that it was very similar to Cannabis and produced a similar chemical.

The smells and scents were terrific. Consisting of lilac, lavender, hyacinth, rose, and freesia, the flowers would regularly change their scents hourly to help encourage bugs to come to their flowers. The bugs were harmless on this world unless you purposely harassed them. The bug’s only goal was to gather the pasty nectar generated by the flowers. Their nests were naturally perched in the great high branches of the trees above.

“Incredible...” Raavi said. “It is ... I don’t have the words for it.”

He looked over to Opet that was walking in the alien forest. Her hands were open wide as if she were enjoying the realms of nature itself. Her naked form was free from the confines of the universe. It was as if she was in perfect sync with her environment. Her digitigrade legs stepped over a large root of the base of the tree as her tail seemed to swing a little bit in glee.

“Freedom...” she said. “Nature is my clothing ... I am at one with this forest. Husband, let this place fill your thoughts and senses. Embrace it all ... embrace this environment.”

“We are on Cebravis,” he commented. “We teleported to here. How far are we from society?”

“Forty kilometers from the town of New Campden,” she answered. “No one around us for miles upon miles to kilometers to kilometers. The great forest of Harlin.”

“Harlin? I have only heard a little bit about it,” he remarked. “This place is beautiful.”

“Husband,...” she paused as she seemed to take deep breaths in capturing the scents. “Let yourself go. Leave your clothes and follow me into this place.”

Without a thought, he dropped his clothes and proceeded to her. He walked along the soft grass as he came up to her. Like a shining star, he was drawn to her. Even with her towering form, she was nothing compared to the size of the life around her.

“I return to the great forests...” She said quietly as she had her hands to her pregnant belly. “I carry the infant with me and my beloved husband. We journey through your great depths ... like great Earth. We see your grace of beauty and prosperity.”

Opet extended her arm and hand as Raavi took it and held onto it. They began to walk forward as they slowly observed the environment. Their nakedness was all but expected in this alien garden of Eden.

“Husband,” Opet asked him. “How much of the history of Cebravis do you know?”

“Only so much,” he answered. “Growing up on Aphadus, you are more concerned about your own world.”

“The importance of this world is so important. The place of paradise is called that because of what happened on Earth. The land became uninhabitable. The land was so polluted and dirty. Everything was dying, and so were the people.”

“I know this story,” he told her. “The great exodus from Earth ... having to settle on Mars and calling it home.”

“But you know how important Gabatrix was to make this a happy ending for the human race. Cebravis was a story of a place they didn’t think would exist, and yet it did. A man named Cebravis believed that there was a habitable world in this system when the satellites and probes didn’t see anything. He insisted that there was a world that was in this system’s habitable zone. He was convinced that there was a world here. Within another month, the probes were relaunched, and they found it. The world that would almost be called New Earth...”

There was a series of illuminated bugs that traveled in a swarm and flew past the couple. Like bright fireflies, the bugs moved faster as they flew up to the high trees. As they walked, Raavi could see a grove of blue-lit flowers. Their luminosity was incredible. It was like they couldn’t exist, and yet they did. The very world of Cebravis was that of impossibility, much like Aphadus, and yet it did.

“Nature always finds a way, husband,” she continued to explain to him. “Gabatrix made the experiment. The new world is found for the mortals to live in. The first colony is established, and the people left Mars so much that they thought that the planet would be devoid of human life.”

“I still remember the times I would even hear people on Aphadus that would prefer to live here or go sightseeing at least once,” he commented.

“They found paradise,” she continued. “Even when they found this world, they made the announcement to everyone that a planet just like former Earth has been discovered. They found everything to be just like Earth in every way. A few religious groups wanted to call this place Eden. The colony ships were filled so much that it makes my pregnancy look like a joke. The Martians wanted this place so much ... they wanted to escape the canyon cities. Outside the confines was no air, harmful radiation, and temperatures that would easily kill any mortal.”

They saw another tree root and stepped over it. The fields were crisp and clean except for the plants around them. It was perfect for the feet to walk on.

She let go of his hand. “I know the truth about you humans ... the mortals ... everyone,” she continued. She walked forward as she kept her arms opened up. “The colony ships came, and the people walked out still in their spacesuits. The fear was that something might be brought to this world ... some contagion ... anything. The truth was that the humans had nothing to worry about. I wasn’t there that day, but I wish that I did ... it was like society went backward in the best and right way possible. One of the Yuki told me about it as she went with her husband deep into the forests. The couples that came from the colony ships saw the great trees and were drawn to it.”

She turned to look at him. “You know what they did next?” she asked him.

“What did they do?” he asked.

“They did the same thing like so many ages past, husband. The men would grab their wives or girlfriends. Husbands would grab husband’s hands ... Wives would grab wives hands ... everybody of every place, culture, gender, and idea. They grabbed their hands and ran into the forests together.”

Opet took hold of Raavi’s hand as she began to move faster and faster in a straight path. She was not a fast character at all. Her pregnancy naturally slowed her down, but they were trotting through the forest together. It was easy for him to keep up with her as they held hands together.

“They couldn’t stop, husband,” she continued to explain as they jogged. “They were drawn to the great wilderness. Some ... scientists screamed to tell the couples to stop ... but it was like watching a tidal wave. The couples continued ... to run deeper and deeper into the forest. The spacesuits were being dropped as ... the men and women were tearing their own clothes off. It was unnatural ... the clothes ... the suits ... they couldn’t have it on them ... never ... they had to keep it off them. One couple ... supposedly ran for five kilometers into the forests without ever ... turning their back to the landed colony ships. They called this ‘The Great Strip’ because ... the trail of clothes that were left behind. You know why, husband? Do you know why they did this?”

“They wanted to be free,” he said as he was feeling the jog hit his lungs.

“They would interview the couples ... they would ask ... why they did this ... they had only one answer ... they had to,” she explained. “We were liberated ... we were free ... peace and love ... forever.”

Their jogging continued. Raavi knew that he felt this sense of freedom as well. He was out in the open completely naked, along with his wife. Nothing seemed to matter. The wildlife was wonderful and bountiful. Nothing went towards them nor bothered them. This was what it must have felt for the newcomers to this world and why they still lived here.

“I can see ... why people enjoy this world,” he commented as he was able to keep up with her. As he looked over to her, he could see her large breasts that would bounce around as her weight would naturally shift from the movement.

“The cared for only one thing, husband,” she continued as she kept a steady speed. “The couples ... had to make love with each other. It was ... the only way that they could continue ... no longer living under the confines ... of their world ... the people were able to breathe natural air ... given from the plants ... no artificial air ... no polluted air ... real air. The couples found lakes and jumped in with no care or regard. They ... had no fear and had nothing to worry about. Sex ... nudity ... lovemaking ... it was all here on this world. The orgasms were sometimes screamed and heard in the forests by the couples ... as if they were trying to outcompete with each other. They ... put the hippies on former Earth to absolute shame. After they made love and slept in the forests together ... the couples would think of the environment of Cebravis. They all looked at this world. They ... thought of the nature of former Earth. They thought of a single sentence and repeated it over and over again.”

“Never again,” Raavi said in one sentence. “The word spoken by ... every person of the UWA.”

“Before they ... returned to make love with their spouses, wives, boyfriends, or girlfriends,” she concluded.

They reached an open spot in the field as Opet stopped her running. Raavi naturally came to a stop as Opet let go of his hand. The thick trees loomed over the two. It was a field of low riding yellowish pink flowers as Raavi could breathe in a new scent of the tiny groove.

“We are here,” she said as she put her hand to her belly. “Husband, we are in paradise. We are in heaven. This is the purity of nature’s grace. I ... wanted to be here with you so bad.”

He smiled at her. “I am surprised that you haven’t brought me here earlier.”

“We have seen so many different places in the simulator. Being able to recreate famous events of the past through it has been wonderful ... but ... this place had brought me pain at times.”

“Why is that?”

She went and looked at the ground. She gestured with her hands for the both of them to sit down together. Overlooking an area that was almost a grove, the area was smooth and flat. Even the sunlight from the clear blue sky flowed down to this spot. There was a sapling of one of the big trees that was growing by another enormous tree. The great vines and flowers radiated the various colors around them. Opet went and had a seat in the center spot of the area. She took her long crocodile-like tail and wrapped it around her legs as she sat cross-legged. Her pregnant belly almost rested on her padded feet. Raavi followed suit as he went and sat in front of her. The soft grass was easy for his butt to relax on. The bugs that settled on the grass flew off and traveled to somewhere else. He was so close to her that his knees were touching her legs.

“This place reminded me of Stephen and our times together,” she explained. “I try to think of the good times we had together. Seeing Earth falling apart was a slow end for me. A part of me felt so relieved that the humans had found a new place to call their world ... but I see ... problems at the same time.”

“But we have made great efforts to keep the environment clean and healthy,” Raavi argued. “Aphadus ... Oshun ... here ... many colonies keep similar concepts and preserving their environments and worlds. Never again ... I say just as much as the others do as well.”

She shook her head. “It isn’t that. I saw this world and the fact the humans were leaving Mars in such mass droves. Even some of the people that were still living on Earth were packing up their bags when they saw Cebravis. Luna ... many did. We did as well. There were so many projects in place in trying to restore Earth’s environment of Earth ... and now ... it is so little. Gabatrix had given humanity new hope but doomed Earth to live in a perpetual wasteland.”

He looked down at the grass and her legs as he frowned. “I hadn’t thought of it that way,” he replied.”

“That is the problem of almost everybody,” she continued to explain. She was holding back the urge to cry. “I love nature ... the nature of the galaxy ... the nature of this world ... the nature of former Earth. I was ... lost in the past and the fact that Earth was never really coming back. For many of us mythics, we had to bear it in many different ways.”

“I know the story, though. You chose to live,” he reminded her with a smile.

“Yes,” she replied as she smiled back at him. “I had family that helped me. Same could be said for many of us. I just knew that Earth and our past was being buried by the actions of many individuals. History is so important ... I fear that your humans ... mortals ... will repeat the same actions as before ... just in a different way.”

“I guess only time will tell on what happens.”

“I agree,” she commented as she looked around. “I look at this place, and I see it differently now. I came to here once long ago and cried. I never wanted to return unless I had a person that I truly loved. Now that you are here ... I see nothing but pure joy and happiness here. I love you, Raavi ... for all time.”