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VOICES SCREAMING OUTSIDE. Were they talking to her? Lena tried to look around her but couldn’t. It flashed across her mind to panic, but then it felt like a warm hand was holding hers. The feeling spread through her whole body, as if all of her was being hugged at once. Where was she? Lying down somewhere in one sense, that was where her body seemed to be, but the rest of her? Her mind? Somewhere quite different, and she was not alone. The hand-holding and hugging was another presence. She felt the essence of a smile before her, though ‘before’ or ‘in front’ didn’t seem to describe where anything was very well. It was everywhere at once, or could be, but at the same time it was in the forefront of her awareness. The smile was an introduction—a great big beaming idea of a smile. Like the Cheshire cat, but friendlier, no sign of sinister to it. A welcoming smile. A hello smile. She found herself smiling back.
Once she’d started relaxing, Lena realised that the presence was familiar. It was all the things she’d experienced when she touched the ship before. Her friend? Maybe it could be. It was like those early heady days of play dates with someone new. The connection was there, everything lay undiscovered and neither person knew where it could lead. It seemed as though she was lying in a hammock, but her new friend, she’d need a name soon, calling her ship seemed rude, her new friend wanted to take her hand and show her round.
In front of her, her nebulous Cheshire cat was juggling balls, but all different sizes and colours. Not balls, planets. Was she being given a choice here? Which one was her favourite? That was easy. With a ceiling full of planets on wires since she was a child, she’d always had a favourite. She reached out and tapped the halo of the beautiful dun-coloured orb of Saturn. Her friend grinned. How was it possible to know that? Regardless, she could feel the fizzing enthusiasm for the idea, then a hand reaching for hers again. Would she like to go outside? It’ll be fun. Sure, why not?
Everything was stars, whipping past at a blinding rate, Lena’s arm was outstretched and in her hand was a small warm opalescent egg attached to a long white tentacle, one of a massive glowing and pulsing mane of them. The ship was like a huge phosphorescent deep-sea creature with frills and flashes, rolling and twisting through the deep, but so, so, so fast. Part of Lena’s mind, the analytical part of her, wanted to know what was really happening, how was it happening, how fast was she travelling and how was she going that fast? As a small part of her opened that door, she could see herself, stretched all the way back to the dock, a piece of impossible elastic and she heard screaming, panic everywhere around her, bright lights shining, sharp pain in her arm. She felt woozy. Wait. Stay, it’ll be okay. It’ll all be fine. Nearly there, don’t worry. But she couldn’t keep her awareness aware anymore and slipped away.
