The Sky So Blue Ch. 03

"The ancient elders believed you could drift through time. See when time is not in order." Meadow answered.

"Time travelling?"

"Not really. You don't move into another time. You just can see it. The future." Sky continued.

"Well, possible futures." Meadow corrected.

"Premonitions." John frowned.

"Yes. Exactly. Premonitions." Sky hugged him tightly.

"Why was I able to block you?" John asked slowly.

"I do not know, John Wellington. That is something only a very few Sjin can do. Were you trying to stop us?"

"I was...I felt your emotions. It was overwhelming. Maybe I did try to stop you." John furrowed his brow.

"It is a lot to take in at once. Especially having the two of us projecting at the same time." Meadow said. "Perhaps we should try something...smaller."

"How do you mean?"

"Concentrate on a memory. Let us feel your memories of a certain place and time." Meadow explained.

"I don't think you want anything to do with my memories." John frowned.

"Please. Let us try, John Wellington." Sky pleaded.

"Ok. I'll try to think of something...safe." John closed his eyes and tried to conjure up the images of when he was young. When he was at the academy. Training to be in the UCAF. Sky and Meadow wrapped their tails around his neck and he smiled, feeling the water dripping from their fur. He closed his eyes and focused back on his training. Back to when he was just learning to fly the single seat orbital fighter. He loved those little ships. So fast and manoeuvrable.

He was smiling at the memory and the chanting started. Suddenly it was as though someone hit fast forward on his memories. He was graduating from the academy. Then he was flying the Lander on his first solo mission. Then he was back on Mars, fighting the Slaver uprising. His first command. The battle was over quickly. He had only been shot once. Eight members of his team were killed. They had been lucky.

Then he was on Titan. It was the War of Colonial Independence. The small moon of Saturn had been a rebel base. No one had expected them to have those kinds of numbers. The battle would be remembered for years afterwards. It would be taught in military academies throughout the colonies. It was an example of how not to engage an enemy in low gravity. John had spent years trying not to remember that battle and suddenly he was reliving every horrific moment.

He watched in horror as a plasma bolt fractured the mask of his lieutenant and best friend. The pressure caused the skin from his face to be sucked out of the crack in the face plate. John had tried to cover the fissure but it was too late. His friend was dead. He saw the mechanized infantry coming over the ridge, rockets flying from their weapons racks. Explosions shattered the landscape. His unit had dispersed and activated the booster packs, leaping out of the way, but then the batteries opened up. Anything ten meters above the ground was cut to pieces by the beam weapons.

John had made it back to the ship. He and the remains of his team pulled the wounded sergeant into the hatch and he jumped into the flight seat. He blasted off from the surface and aimed for the rendezvous point. He had almost made it there when the missiles converged on his already damaged craft. He felt the shudder and heat from the explosion. The inside of his canopy was suddenly splattered with blood. He looked back and saw the gaping hole and the torn bodies of his sergeant and crew. Everyone was dead except his co-pilot, Marie.

She looked over at him, sadness clouding her bright blue eyes. Another missile hit his disabled craft and they were heading for the ground. The impact caused a large crater in the red dust of Titans surface. He was trying to free himself from the struts against his back but they had been superheated and fused to his armour. They were burning into his back as he screamed and struggled to get free. He hit the depleted shield of his suit and while it offered him no protection, it did create a gap between his back and the struts. Enough to free him. He reached for Marie. She coughed as blood leaked from her mouth and eye. She smiled briefly. "Good bye, John. I always thought you..." Her eyes closed and she was gone. His entire unit was gone.

He crawled out of the wreck and saw the oncoming rebels. They were swarming over the ground. Beam weapons and assault rifles were firing at anything that moved. He pulled his side arm and aimed at the closest rebel. His first shot put a hole in his enemy's head and as he fired more rounds at the armoured rebels, he heard more approaching from behind. He was ready to join his unit. At least he would go down fighting. The rebels opened fire, spraying bullets into the burning wreck and John. He shuddered in pain as the fragments tore through his flesh. Then everything went dark.

John opened his eyes. Sky and Meadow were holding him tightly and shuddering. Tears were flowing into the water, turning it blue. He ducked his head under the water to clear his head and emerged with a gasp. It felt very refreshing after reliving that memory.

"Hey? Are you all right?" he asked concernedly. Sky and Meadow had obviously been crying for a while. He was amazed at how the water had changed colour. He held them tightly, one in each arm and noticed that his skin had turned the same blue as the water. "Hey? Sky? Meadow?" he was worried.

"Oh, John. That was horrible." Meadow sobbed.

"I know. I'm sorry. I don't know what happened. I didn't mean to remember that." He said guiltily.

"No. Its not your fault. We are sad that you had to go through that experience. Now I understand why your sorrow is so deep." Sky sniffed. She kissed him sloppily on the cheek and Meadow hugged him tightly. They seemed to be calming down quickly and John relaxed slightly.

"Are you sure you're okay?" he asked.

"Yes. It was just...a very powerful memory. I'm so sorry John. You lost so much." Meadow said sadly.

"Yeah well, war is hell." He shrugged.

"John Wellington?" Sky kissed him again on the cheek

"Yeah?"

"What happened afterwards? Were you captured?" Sky asked curiously.

"Well, not really. They found me and took me to the med facility but that was the day the war ended. We lost the battle but won the war." He sighed. It all seemed so pointless.

"John?" Meadow was staring at him intently.

"Yeah?"

"You are blue." She said quietly.

"I think its time to get out of the pool." John said slowly. "Medea? Do you have any towels?" John asked as the girls scrambled out of the water.

"I'm sorry, Captain. I do not have access to those materials."

"That's all right, Medea. I don't know why I thought you would." John climbed out of the pool behind the girls and hugged them both lightly. "Wait here a second." John hurried through the corridors to the cargo hold and found what he was looking for in a crate full of his clothing. When he arrived back in the pool room, Sky and Meadow were huddled against each other, shivering uncontrollably.

"Why didn't you just get back into the water if you're cold?" he asked with a short laugh.

"We're not going in there without you, John Wellington." Sky replied through chattering teeth looking like she was surprised he would even think such a thing.

John wrapped a large towel around them both and rubbed vigorously until they started giggling. He then handed them each another fresh towel and started drying himself off. He was still blue. Even his black hair was tinged with blue.

"Medea?"

"Yes, Captain?"

"I think I'm going to need another bath. I can't seem to get this blue off of me."

"It is permanent, Captain."

"What do you mean?"

"The tears of the Sjin reacted with the water causing a depletion of melanin in your body as well as dying your skin blue. It cannot be removed."

"You're shitting me."

"No Captain. I am not shitting you."

"Great. So now I'm blue."

"Your hair will go back to its natural colour as it grows out. But your skin will remain as it is now."

"Awesome." John said sarcastically. "Why didn't the girls turn blue?"

"They do not have melanin as a skin pigment. They were unaffected by the chemical reaction."

When they had finished drying off, John walked into the bedroom and discovered the crate that he pulled the towels from, sitting on the floor against the wall.

"Medea?"

"Yes Captain?"

"Did you move this crate here?"

"Yes Captain. You kept going back to it so I thought this would be more convenient."

"Yes it is. Thank you. I wish I 'd known you could do that before I went running through the hallways, dripping wet." John found a clean flight suit and put it on. He then pulled out a pile of his old military fatigues. "If you're still cold, you can put on some of these old clothes." he offered. Sky took a green tank top from the pile and put it on. It came half way down her thighs and barely covered her small breasts.

"Thank you, John Wellington" she smiled.

"You look absolutely delicious in that, Sky. But I don't think its going to keep you very warm." He began searching through the clothes and finally found a light sweater. He threw it over her head and admired how she looked in it. She made a plain old piece of clothing into a very sexy little dress. He helped Sky roll up the sleeves and then turned to Meadow and laughed as she was struggling to get out of a pair of his combat pants. Somehow she had managed to get both of her legs into one of the pant legs. "I think those might be too big for you." He helped her out of them and she pulled out flannel shirt. She put it on and fumbled with the buttons. John smiled as he swatted her hands away and did it up for her. "You've never seen buttons before?"

"No. They are peculiar. I like them." Meadow smiled.

"Well, I gotta say you are the best dressed crew I've ever had. But we're going to have to get supplies soon. Clothes that fit, towels, food. Are you ready to go home?"

"Yes. We are ready." Sky nodded.