There was a new Area 51 built. Rebuilt, specifically, from the attack of the Harvester Queen. It had been completed within five months due to the orbs interference and numerous short cuts. President Adams had made it clear that she won't help them rebuild but with technology they could work with that. President Adams had voiced concerns that it would seem they were heavily dependent on her. The sphere had agreed with the assessment. They were taking baby steps or so Adams claimed. There were new scientists working alongside Okun but they could never refill the void alongside him. It was like he was missing a part of his heart.
A half of Okun died five months ago.
It was December 25th, 2016.
Julius Levinson was in the middle of the adopting process of four children and that one small dog. Jake and Patricia were in the efforts of rebuilding, doing their best, and dating the process. London was in the middle of rebuilding as was Hong Kong and Japan. The moon base was still being rebuilt. There was a new wall of honor set up for those who had risked their lives this time around to save the planet. Including the fighter pilots and the former president whose name was bolder and bigger than the others. Dylan was heavily involved in the solar patrols. Charlie and Lao were dating but still getting to know each other for what it was worth. It seemed everyone was dating including Catherine and David. Okun was not among the ones who returned to the land of dating.
Okun sulked, in his new apartment, and at his line of work. Doctor Okun was a workaholic. Okun loved what he did. When he was not working, he would be tending to the flowers his late spouse had left behind. They had married on the fourth of July, right down to the day that one of them was lost and one of them lived. And it happened again. This time. . . Okun had to be the one to wait. Okun had seen the Jurassic Park franchise, without his life partner, knowing that Isaac loved it felt like a punch to the stomach. Oh, and those Transformers movies. They had some balls doing what they did within that universe. A universe without the war of '96. That Okun knew due to the technology in the movie. And he had seen the new Star Trek series including the movies. They were all ready in the league of establishing a united federation of planets. Lacking possibly entirely other planets in their solar system.
Okun discovered a majority of the actors from Star Trek, at least the newer ones, were still alive. Apparently it cannot be said the same for the original series cast (Or what was left of them). They were wiped out in the attack launched by the harvesters. The sphere had been visiting Area 51 often with a whizz and some stares but no one stared at her as she flew by them in her mobile state. She had a new space craft in progress to allow her movement through the cosmos. Area 51 gladly allowed her to stay until the ship was completed. Until then the sphere was able to contact the rebel planet and inform them of their new leader. Earth was the head of the resistance. Okun was heavily involved in perfecting an machine called the Transporter invented in the 1960's.
Okun had lost his husband of one day and partner of fifteen years.
"Doctor Okun." Came a soft human like voice.
Okun didn't need to turn.
"Why hello there, sphere lady, what brings you here?" Okun said.
She scanned the machine laid in front of her that looked like a doorway with several bulbs to the side, power cords hooked into the side, and two beams that kept it up. It was plugged into a large device that perpelled electronic power inside of it. There was a large console that seemed to be ripped out of the 1990's science fiction movies with the wires, the screen. and the buttons. The blue light vanished. Okun had often wondered why her race had not invented a frontal facial face to it. Much like one of those emotes. As creepy as it was, it would have shown her change of mood. Then again, it was the worst idea. It was indeed logical not to have a face on the sphere.
"I am intrigued as to why you have not invented . . . beaming." The sphere said.
"Beaming? Beaming!" Okun said. "Well," Okun rubbed the back of his neck with a amused laugh. "That has a lot of glitches."
The sphere floated her way over toward the machine.
"I do not understand these glitches." Sphere said.
"Watch this apple." Okun said, then he placed onto the small pad a apple. He came over to the large console. "And in. . 3. . 2. . . 1!"
In a white flash the apple appeared to be distorted. It had several holes and didn't seem like an apple in the first place. Suddenly there was a roar of laughter coming from the sphere. Okun turned his head in the direction of the sphere. She had never laughed in the time he had gone to know her. In fact, she had never laughed. He had started to wonder if she had to eliminate emotions to integrate herself into the machine a millennia ago. The sphere eventually stopped laughing.
"That can be fixed." The sphere said.
Okun looked over in the direction of the sphere with a raised eyebrow.
"Oh really?" Okun said.
"Yes, really, Doctor Okun." The sphere said.
"Call me Brackish." Okun said.
"Call me. . ." There was a deliberate pause. "I have no name that you can pronounce."
"Okay, tell me how to correct the error and I will give you a name, if possible." Okun said.
"A effective quid pro quo," The sphere commented. "Show me the design and the coding that goes into the failed transporter, Brackish."
Okun retrieved a wide pad from the table. One that had fortunately survived the attack five months ago. Business were just coming back from the brink of extinction including the factories. The wildlife were having a party coming back into the average every day life. Some animals were misplaced due to the attack such as lions, cheetahs, buffalo, and wolves to name many. One could spot a herd of lions in Montana. They were promptly returned to their environment after their discovery. Illinois farming hadn't been attack nor had Iowa so that meant the continuing products such as corns and its relative products were safely assured. Magma flow had covered the hole made by the harvesters due to the laser affects against the sea floor.
BLICK BLICK BLICK.
"These new technology these days hate me." Okun said.
"You are tapping your fingernail on the screen." The sphere said.
"Right, I knew that." Okun said.
"I highly recommend you take care of it." The sphere said.
"I will do it later." Okun said.
"It appears you strike the screen rather tap on it whenever I am in your presence." The sphere commented.
Okun looked down toward his fingernails to see they were long. They hadn't been long when he had awakened. It became apparent someone had clipped them in his twenty year slumber. Someone being Isaacs. Okun sadly sighed then he carefully, and lightly, using the tip of his finger tapped on the screen. The screen changed to the design layout of the transporter.
"No, I don't." Okun said.
"Yes, you do. You feel anger that I was responsible for the death of your partner." The sphere said.
Okun briefly closed his eyes.
"You are not responsible. It was my idea. It is my fault." Okun said.
"Apparently, you do not blame yourself. You blame me. Logically, you must forgive me." The sphere said.
"I don't harbor any bad feelings toward you." Okun said.
The sphere hovered staring in Okun's direction.
"You are a strange species. You act as though you harbor a grudge and you deny it." The sphere said.
"Says the one who claims our language is primitive!" Okun said.
"Telepathy is more sophisticated than your speaking." The sphere said.
"Ah sucks, we are getting there. Give us another three hundred years." Okun displayed the screen to the sphere.
"Hmm. . ." She sounded deep in thought. "It appears this is a outdated machine. Fifty years inferior of your current technology." Okun did not seem to be pleased. "You must rebuild it in the vision that you see it."
"The first operational Transporter. . ." Okun gasped. "Oh my."
"What is it, Brackish?" The sphere asked.
"We would have achieved one of the stipulations to Star Trek." Okun said.
"I do not understand." The sphere said.
"Look up Star Trek The Original Series." Okun said.
"I shall endeavor to do so after you have given me a name." The sphere said.
"Oh," Okun said. "Right. Hold onto that thought."
Julius was in the middle of adopting Sam, Bobby, Felix, and Daisy. Sam was fifteen years old. Not yet sixteen. She was turning sixteen next year. Despite the adoption agency being stretched thin, David had asked the president a favor. A kind of favor that has volunteers running around doing work to put orphans into the hands of people who survived the attack and had either lost their own or had realized they wanted children. Surprisingly there was a lot of people who fit into both categories.
Julius lived mostly on his boat, and, there was not enough room for a entire family to live on it. The children were living in shelters while Julius was still on the prowl for a new boat. Big enough for a family. At least the boats that were still around. People were now swarming to boats,RV's, and small houses as a place to live in. Julius had got his boat back on the ocean surface thanks to a crane. Beside David sat Catherine. They were going to be questioned about themselves and how adequate Julius was as a caregiver.
The sound of a Tyrannosaurus Rex coming from David's pant pocket drew Catherine's attention.
"You said that you turned your phone off, David." Catherine said.
David sheepishly looked over toward Catherine with a shrug.
"No one calls me as much these days," David said, taking his phone out. "I thought everything else had been taken care of. Who would . . ." He paused then had a sigh. "I do not remember giving Okun my phone number!" He looked over in the direction of Catherine with a bewildered expression on his face. "When did I give him my phone number?"
"After you bailed him out of ruining our date." Catherine said.
"Oh, the fish restaurant." David said.
"Be light on him," Catherine said. "He lost his partner."
David understood how Okun must be feeling. After Constance died, life was rather depressing and sad and the only thing that was there for him was his father and the Earth Space Defense Initiative. It was a rough period for David. They never had children. They preferred not to have any. Julius had wanted to be a grandfather so badly but he understood their decision. Then a few years later came Catherine into David's life at one of those conventions regarding the aliens. They were being called 'The Tentaclers' and the victims were called 'the mind rapee's. Treatment for their illness was still being sought after. There had been countless rumors of it for two decades. It was a myth, a legend, one that should have existed. But with the sphere's arrival there was immediate treatment to soften the effects of the mind rape.
David slid his finger on the screen then put the phone to his ear.
"Brackish," David said. "I am rather busy right now."
"On Christmas day?" Okun asked.
"Yes," David said. "Christmas."
"Well,Director, we have a wee problem." Okun said.
"You are lonely?" David asked.
"No!" Okun said.
"Then what is it." David said.
"The Sphere does not have a human name." Okun said.
"She can translate her name." David said. "English is a very. . .Crazy language."
"That's the problem," Okun said. "Her name is unpronounceable."
"David Levinson and Catherine Marceaux." Came the interviewer standing at the door.
"Okay." David said.
"Okay? OKAY? That's not acceptable!" Okun said.
"Brackish," David said, getting up giving the interviewer a 'give me a minute' gesture. Catherine stood up from the chair then she went in the direction of the interview room. "I know that you have better names than we do. Been in a twenty year coma and all but. . ." He rubbed his chin. "I am not the kind of man you should go ask to name a extraterrestrial alien being."
"Me?" Okun said. "Naming a living being after myself?" Okun sounded insulted. "No, I am sorry. I can't do that. Work ethics."
"Carter." David said.
"What?" Okun said.
"Carter,call her Carter, like it? Take it. She is named after Captain Carter. As a scientist she helped humanity achieve warp drive." He had been pacing in a complete circle. "Got it?" He came to a stop alongside the wall. "All right, good." David nodded his head. "Good luck with your-wait, what?" His eyebrows hunched forward. "You are making a transporter?" David seemed to be stunned, himself. "Did the president authorize this?" Suddenly the line went out. "I take that as a no."
David put his phone on air-plane mode, put it away, then headed in the direction of the interview room.
It became apparent to Okun that the Transporter had to be taken apart. There were some other scientists who were not spending Christmas at home due to their family being dead, their loved ones being dead, or that their life was not as bright at home. There were many scientists here that believed spending it here was better than nothing. They felt like a dysfunctional family. One that Isaacs likely briefly met when making his way to Okun's room. Piece by piece they took the transporter apart learning how to rebuild it by how it was built, its schematics, and design flaws that could be fixed with the newer technology. How come they didn't think of this earlier?
The sphere-no, Carter-had left during the conversation that was being shared by Okun and David. Well, that was just typical. Carter abruptly leaving. She had a bad habit of doing so. So much that those who were in the hall in her line of sight had to jump into other rooms so they wouldn't be wrecking balled down line a balling pin struck by a bowling ball. There was even a announcement coined by those who were in the proximity of her in the hall being "Sphere in the hall!" which would be shortly there after empty. One time,Rain Lao, a visitor then with her boyfriend, youtubed the scenario. That earned nine-three thousand forty-three hundred twenty-nine hits with six hundred thousand five hundred twenty-two likes and four hundred dislikes.
"Hello, Carter." Okun said, as he was in the process of casting the steel over a long curly 'c' edge to the transporter pad using the Okun Steelizer. It was in the shape of a large pen. "I have taken the time to thoroughly research your name. You are named after a great, fond woman named Samantha Carter who risked her life to save civilizations and humanity. Just like you."
"That is intriguing," Carter said. "I like the name."
"And she invented Warp Drive." Okun said.
"Warp drive?" Carter said.
"With Naquadah. Very dense. You do not want to mess with naquadah. Whole world can detonate if you explode a naquada bomb. Thank god we do not have naquadah deposits." Okun said. "Carter,shouldn't you be with the programmers?" The sounds of the machinery were loud. "They are the ones focusing on the whole body being moved from one place to the other."
"I have all ready done so. The machine will be connected electronically to the devices you refer to as ipads." Carter said. "My hearing is superior to those of regular humans when being in a loud environment. It is a benefit of my . . . advancement."
"Uh huh." Okun said.
"And I would like to offer you a once in a lifetime chance." Carter said.
"We are all ready constructing Starships with the best construction workers." Okun said.
"It can only be used once and it will never operate." Carter said. "They say your life mate was all you had."
Okun stopped sliding his helmet to the top of his head.
"He was." Okun said. "And you are offering me to bring back the man I love?"
"He died a senseless death, I recall." Carter said.
His anger had hit the breaking point.
"I SAVED YOUR ASS!" Okun roared. "THERE WAS NOTHING SENSELESS ABOUT IT! HIS DEATH MEANS SOMETHING. IT MEANS SOMETHING TO ME AND IT WASN'T A USELESS DEATH, EITHER. YOU ARE STILL HERE, CARTER!HE IS NOT THE FIRST MAN I LOST AND HE WILL NOT BE LAST, EITHER!"
"You have him in a stasis pod." Carter said.
"I knew him for fifteen years!" Okun said. "It's hard letting go. He wants his body cremated! I respect his wish. And I am waiting for the nearby cremation factory to be rebuilt. I suppose it has been too long since you lost someone you loved."
"It has. Three thousand four hundred eighty-three years," Carter said. "Thank you for bringing it to my attention."
"Carter," Okun said. "Leave me alone."
"I will be waiting." Carter said, floating her way out of the lab.
The other scientists were having lunch. Okun could feel himself trembling. He could feel something dripping on his cheek. His eyes was watering up. He took out a piece of kleanex then blew into it. In fact,Okun remembered just how he met Isaacs. Coming straight into Area 51, shaking hands, being so young then. His hair wasn't as long then but it grew out. Okun looked so handsome but his partner looked adorable cute. Old age did come with its perks.
Okun just should be sharing it with Isaacs.
The End.