Auld Lang Syne

Anna's face was red from exertion. Her jaw was tensed and her teeth were gritted. A bead of sweat rolled down her forehead. She throttled the thing she held in her hands, struggling against it until eventually, she heaved a sigh and gave up. Wordlessly, she slid it over the counter to Elsa who was reading the news on her omni-pad.

Elsa easily caught the jar of pickles without looking, then with the barest amount of effort, she opened the jar, fished out a pickle, and then slid it back to Anna.

"Damn things are impossible to open," Anna fished out a pickle for herself and popped it into her mouth, crunching down. "You'd think after a hundred years, they'd have learned how to make jars that were easier to get into. Anyhoo," she sat down next to Elsa. "What do you want to do today?"

The day in question was December thirty-first, a Thursday, and the last day of the year 2099. By the stroke of midnight, the new century would roll around.

Anna and Elsa had spent the last few months adjusting to life in Arcadia. Since their arrival, they had found a new apartment, new jobs, and a new outlook on their lives. All told, life for them was good, or at least as good as it could get.

"There's the fireworks show at Elysium Park," Elsa said, looking at Anna and smiling. "I'd like to see that."

"Yeah, sounds cool," Anna nodded. "That's in the evening though, right? We can head out after work."

"Okay. Do you think you'll be busy at the office today?"

"Nah, probably not. Most of the upper brass took the rest of week off, so there isn't much for us lowly interns to actually do."

"But they still expect you to show up at work."

"Uh huh. God forbid the working class from taking New Year's Eve off. But what about you? Anything you need to deal with for Teng-Lao?"

Elsa pursed her lips and shook her head. "No, just need to put in my hours, monitor their net, the usual," she said. "Much as I enjoy working remotely though, I may go for a drive while you're out. Otherwise, I'm just sitting at home missing you."

Anna smiled. "You dork," she gave Elsa quick peck on the cheek as she gathered her things and stood up. "I gotta run now, babe. I'll see you later."

"Wait, you're forgetting something," Elsa said.

Anna paused and turned around. "What?"

Elsa grabbed Anna's hands and pulled her in, giving her a longer kiss on the lips. "Okay, now you can go," she spun her around by the shoulders and gave her a slap on the rear to get her moving. "I love you."

"Ugh, so dorky," Anna rolled her eyes and made her way out of the apartment. "Love you too!"

… … …

"Hey, Yasmine," Anna greeted her coworker as she entered her shared office space. "How's tricks?"

"Hi, Rachael. Not too bad," Yasmine replied as she examined her reflection in a pocket mirror, doing her makeup. "Yourself?"

Anna hung up her long coat and turned around. "Oh, just fine and dandy," she said. "Woah, what are you getting all dolled up for?"

"I got a date tonight. Soon as I blow this joint, Ali is taking me to that new restaurant in the Scarlet Crescent."

"Ali, the carpet salesman? You're still seeing him? I thought he was just a fling."

"He's actually a really sweet guy."

"The carpet salesman."

"Yes," Yasmine shot Anna a glance, then resumed applying some eyeliner. "They can make some pretty decent credits, you know."

"Better than here?" Anna asked as she sat down at her desk and booted up her terminal.

"Well, yeah, if you're working commission."

"Huh. Go figure."

"You got any plans?"

"Nothing crazy," Anna jacked into her terminal and brought up her tasks for the day. "Me and my girlfriend are just gonna hit up Elysium Park for the fireworks show and then probably call it a night."

Yasmine put away her makeup and looked over at Anna. "How do I look?"

Anna gave her a good look and then nodded in approval. "Not too shabby," she said. "I hope this carpet salesman is rolling out the red carpet for you tonight."

"Thanks, and he better," Yasmine smiled. "How long have you been going steady with your girlfriend?"

"Uh... it's a little complicated," Anna leaned back in her chair, reluctant to part with the truth since to anyone else, it would have been quite difficult to explain. "A few months now, but we've known each other for years. Pretty much our whole lives."

"An old flame, huh?"

"Sure, you could say that."

Yasmine nodded and returned to her business, making no further comments. Anna took that as her cue to get started on her work as well. For the next little while, she and the rest of the interns diligently performed their work-related tasks.

Not that there was much to do at all, since most of the staff were gone including the upper brass. The ACN building was practically empty, with only the overworked and underpaid interns milling about.

At around noon, they all took a break for lunch. Yasmine and the others were in the breakroom, chatting about their weekend plans. Anna was sitting by herself in the corner, happily minding her own business, looking at funny pictures on her omni-pad, barely tuned into their conversation.

"My god, it really is a slow day today, isn't it?"

"Yeah, and we gotta do this again tomorrow right before the weekend."

"What the hell do they really expect us to do? I've already reorganized the filing system, like, five times already."

"Sit around with our thumbs jammed up our asses, apparently. If that's what they want to pay us for, hey, I'm getting lubed up."

"Got to be something we can do to make the day go faster. Still stuck here for a few more hours."

"Well, I do have one idea," Yasmine reached into her purse for a small bottle of tequila. "Shots, anyone?"

An uproar of laughter and eager agreement followed. Coffee mugs were gathered and shots were poured out.

"Rachael, shots!" Yasmine waved. "Come on, we're all doing one."

Anna looked over and arched an eyebrow. "No thanks," she shook her head. "I'm good."

"Oh, come on," Yasmine carried over a coffee mug filled with tequila and slid it over to Anna. "Just one."

Anna barely glanced at the liquid, but the scent already stung her nose. "Yeah, no," she pushed it away. "I don't drink."

"Sure, have it your way," Yasmine gave Anna a sidelong glance and then shrugged it off. "More for me," she picked up the mug, knocked back the shot, then went for seconds.

Needing some air, Anna left the break room and made her way towards the elevator. When she reached it, she pressed on the button then waited. A minute later, the doors opened up and Anna came face to face with someone very familiar.

"Elsa?" Anna gasped, lighting up immediately.

"Anna!" Elsa walked out of the elevator, holding a bag of food in one hand and giving her a warm hug with the other.

"What are you doing here? I thought you were working at home."

"I was, and then I said I'd go on a drive, so I drove here because I wanted to surprise you with lunch."

"Dork," Anna chuckled and gave Elsa a long kiss on the lips. "Well, consider me surprised."

"Good," Elsa lifted up the bag. "I brought poke from this poke place down the block."

"Poke, like that Hawaiian food?"

"Mmhmm."

"Awesome," Anna spun Elsa around and nudged her back into the elevator. "Come on, let's eat outside. I've been feeling cooped up in the office."

"Oh, okay," Elsa followed along, happy to acquiesce.

Anna punched in the ground floor, then once the doors were closed, she pinned Elsa against the wall and gave her a hungrier, deeper, and needier kiss on the lips.

When they broke apart, Elsa giggled. "Someone's feeing frisky."

"I am feeling pretty frisky today," Anna grinned. "So, how did you get past security? They just let you in?"

"No, I had to get a visitor's pass first," Elsa tapped the little badge she wore on her chest. "But the security robots were nice to me."

After reaching the ground floor, the exited through the lobby of the ACN building and stepped out into the Martian afternoon. The sun was high and bright, and the streets were bustling with traffic and pedestrians.

Anna and Elsa walked a short way down the block until they found a nice seating area beneath the cool shade of some trees. Then, they laid out their food and drinks, and tucked in.

Lunch consisted of steamed sushi rice, on top of which sat chunks of raw, marinated tuna and salmon. As additional garnish, there were slices of avocado, pickled seaweed, corn, tomatoes, cucumbers, edamame beans, and toasted sesame seeds for added crunch.

"Busy day?" Elsa asked.

Anna took a bite of food and shrugged. "Slow as all hell," she said. "Management has us doing really menial stuff. My boss wanted me to clean out his email inbox and, hoo boy, he has a ton of fetish porn subscriptions."

"Sounds fun," Elsa nodded. "Your boss, Shang?"

"Yep. When he's not perving on all the women, he's just jerkin' it in his office."

"Eugh. Does he ever perv on you?"

"Ha! The first thing he asked in my interview was my cup size. So, yeah."

"Hmph," Elsa glowered. "I don't like him."

Anna smiled and pinched Elsa's cheek. "You're so cute when you get all protective of me," she said. "But don't worry, babe. He's nothing I can't handle. Little bit of objectification is the usual biz these days. I mean, look at that," she pointed to a billboard on a building which explicitly advertised male enhancement cyberware. "There's an ad right there for penis enlargement."

Elsa looked over and pursed her lips. "It gets to a point where it has to be asked, how much penis is too much penis?"

"I think that'd be toeing the line on too much penis. Besides, who needs penises? We sure don't."

"True."

"But enough about that," Anna took a sip of her iced tea. "What did you get up to while you were working?"

Elsa tilted her head to the side. "It's funny you should mention penises," she said. "Because someone at Teng-Lao accidentally caught some malware. Now, there's a bug in their company-wide net that's flooding their whole system with animated penises."

"Oh, nice!" Anna laughed. "Talk about sticking it to the corps. That's so funny. Was it a prank?"

"No, I don't think so. Maybe. Yes, definitely. No sensitive information was compromised and their dataforts are still secure, so the malware isn't all that malicious, it seems."

"How are you gonna fix it?"

Elsa shrugged. "I suppose I'll have to find the source code of the penises," she said. "And then run an anti-virus program. Should be simple."

Anna sighed whimsically. "What a day," she giggled. "Animated penises. So stupid."

They ate their lunch, exchanging pleasant small talk. When they were finished, they discarded of their waste, and Elsa walked Anna back to the ACN building, stopping inside of the lobby.

"Well, thanks for treating me to lunch," Anna checked the time on her omni-pad. "Wish I could hang out longer, but I gotta clock back in. You heading home?"

Elsa shook her head. "No, no, I'm running some errands now," she said. "I'll meet you at the park this evening."

"Errands? What sort of errands?"

"Just putting together a little something for tonight. Nothing big."

"Another surprise?" Anna perked up.

"Yes!" Elsa said excitedly, then she reigned in her enthusiasm. "I mean, no. It's nothing. I'm not planning anything."

Anna studied Elsa's giddiness and knew something was up. "You're not gonna propose to me, are you?" she asked, half seriously.

"No, it's not that," Elsa made a dismissive gesture and then gave Anna another excited look. "Unless you want me to."

"Elsa."

"Anna. You're right. It's too soon and we hardly know each other. We practically just met."

"Elsa."

"Anna, okay, I'm going now," Elsa gave her a hug and a peck on the lips. "Bye bye!" she turned around and walked away.

"Okay, I'll catch you later then," Anna waved her off, chuckling in amusement. "That nut."

… … …

Later that evening, after getting off from work, Anna went over to Elysium Park. She left her motorcycle in the parking lot, which was jam packed as many other people were there for the same reason.

As she made her way along the footpaths, Anna passed by happy families sitting on picnic blankets, loving couples sitting side-by-side, and all manner of other folk enjoying the Martian sunset. Outside the biodome, the skies were blue and violet, sprinkled with pinpricks of light from the stars hanging above.

To narrow down Elsa's location, Anna shot her a message via her omni-pad.

Me: I'm here. Where are you?"

Ice Queen of My Heart: By the lake, near the trees.

Me: Right, there's like a hundred trees by the lake. Which one am I looking for?

Ice Queen of My Heart: They're elm trees.

Me: I don't know tree brands. I need more details.

Elsa didn't respond with a text and instead, she called Anna. "I'm on the big hill near the center of the lake," she said. "Do you see it?"

"Big hill, why didn't you just lead with that?" Anna looked around until she found the hill in question.

"You asked me what trees to look for."

"I know, but I meant like the color or the shape or whatever."

"And I told you the specific tree."

"I don't know tree brands!"

"Do you see the hill?"

"I do now."

"Good. See you shortly," Elsa hung up.

Anna chuckled to herself and continued walking through the park towards the hill. When she reached the top, she found a view overlooking the lake. The sun was steadily sinking beneath the horizon, painting fractal shapes across the surface and turning the water into a portrait of dancing lights.

Off to the side, she found Elsa, who was kneeling on a picnic blanket and making a few last-minute preparations. She looked up and when she did, her ocean blue eyes and her snow white hair glowed in the fading sunlight, and the smile she gave was brighter than any star in space.

"Hey, you made it!" Elsa bounced up to Anna, wrapping her in a huge hug.

"Yeah, you knew that," Anna laughed. "We just talked over the holo, you nut."

"I know that. I'm just excited to see you."

"Elsa, we had lunch earlier today. And we see each other every single day and night."

"I know that too," Elsa grabbed Anna by the hand and led her to the picnic blanket. "I'm just that in love with you."

Anna blushed so hard her cheeks matched the color of her hair and she couldn't even think of something snarky to say. "Yeah, me too," she mumbled.

"What's that? I couldn't hear you."

"I said I love you too, you big goof. Now, what's this surprise?"

"This," Elsa sat down, pulling Anna down with her, and reached for a small basket. "Is the surprise," she opened it up, revealing its contents.

Inside was a bottle of sparkling grape juice, two glasses, some cheese and crackers, some fruit, and two chocolate bars.

"Something small," Elsa said. "To celebrate the new year and to celebrate us. Finding each other again. Finding a new life together."

As a gesture, it was certainly small. To Anna, it was something that nobody had ever done for her before.

"Elsa, this is so... so sweet of you," Anna said, smiling unreservedly. "I've never- nobody has ever-" she got a little choked up but managed to hold it together. "This is really nice. Thank you," she reached out and squeezed Elsa's hand.

"Good, I'm glad," Elsa sighed in relief. "I'm sorry if I missed anything. I haven't exactly had the chance to do many things like this, and I had to search up romantic things to do on the net, but I'm hoping I got it right," she fidgeted a bit nervously.

"It's perfect. And you're perfect."

"Ooh, Anna, that was dorky."

"You're the dork. Shut up and kiss me already."

Elsa gladly did so and the pair cuddled up on the blanket, embracing each other and kissing all the while.

In the skies above the biodome, as a prelude to the fireworks show, an airshow began. Starfighters zipped above Arcadia, leaving behind trails of colored smoke. Around the park, people pointed and gazed on in wonder.

The starfighters made repeated passes, flying around each other in tight formations, performing daring maneuvers. In their wake, they drew shapes and figures with their smoke trails.

Anna and Elsa watched it all, tucking into their picnic. They popped open the bottle of sparkling grape juice and filled their glasses.

When the sun had fully set, the skies were dark, and the cosmos above were fully visible, the fireworks show began. Rockets flew up into the night sky, bursting into dazzling novas of sparkling lights.

Anna took her eyes of the skies and turned her gaze to Elsa, watching the exploding colors reflected in her eyes. After a few moments, Elsa did the same, and the pair simply regarded each other in peaceful silence.

"It's pretty, isn't it?" Elsa asked.

"It is," Anna agreed. "Don't say it."

"But I think you're-"

"I said don't say it!"

"Much prettier."

Anna laughed, blushed, and cringed all at the same time. Elsa just stared at her, smiling, like she was the only woman in the universe.

"It isn't midnight yet, but what the hell?" Anna raised her glass. "Happy New Year, Elsa."

"Happy New Year, Anna," Elsa did the same. "To us?"

"To us."

With a clink of their glasses, they both took a drink of their grape juice.

Their hearts were full, and their lives were filled with color and hope like never before. The new century still wouldn't come for another few hours, but Anna and Elsa already had their new beginning.