Alone. He was absolutely alone and he still heard it. He had abandoned his name and was now simply Sigma. All he had now was that blasted melody.
He wasn't ALWAYS alone. His doctor came in every day some days several times. Rose. As beautiful as the flower of her name. She was a young woman, more than half his age in fact, but as brilliant as they come. More so than some of his old colleagues. She knew him not only as his doctor. She came to actually befriend him.
Her 26th birthday had just passed and she was all smiles when she walked in to his chamber that day.
"Siebren! How are you today?" she said excited to see him for some reason.
"Ah Rose lovely to see you again" he said turning towards her as he floats around the room. "And what may I ask are you doing here at," he looks to the display outside his chamber "good lord it's only 5am! Have i stayed up all night again?"
"Today is special actually, You've stabilized enough with your harness to come out of your chamber for a while! I was so excited to tell you that I rushed over as soon as I found out."
Sigma felt shocked and a sense of dread. It had been years since he had been out of this room. he had entire life in here and now...
"Rose are, are you serious?" he stammered and got a bit closer towering over her due to the 2 feet he had between him and the ground
She looked up at him with the widest most innocent and happiest smile he had ever seen her wear.
"If today goes well you'll be a free man again." she said smiling and handing him a parcel. " I picked these out for you. I had to guess your size. but I hope they fit.
He looked in to the bag and saw a pair of slacks a off white button down shirt and a brown tweed blazer.
"I also have this for you." she says holding up a folded garment.
He picked it up and put it in the air to see it it was a knitted vest with an intricate design of stars planets and telescopes. He loved it no matter how tacky and silly it was. He began to haul off his equipment and go to change.
He caught a glimpse in the mirror of her sitting tapping away on her phone and smiling.
A ghost if a smile passed his lips as he got dressed. He could not bring himself to put the socks and shoes she had brought to him on though.
'It doesn't really matter does it. I don't touch the ground anymore.' He hadn't had shoes on in quite a while to be honest. So he set them aside and floated back over to her. turning to be inspected he wore his shirt with the top buttons undone and untucked as he always had and his pants resting on his hips cuffed a bit at the bottom of the leg he slicked his hair back but realized he had no product of any kind in it. so it just stood back up.
Rose giggled seeing this. she dug through her bag and found the pomade she used and motioned him to come down.
Instead he thought she should come up. He had learned how to control the gravity around him very well.
"Why don't you come up instead?" he said with a smile gently lifting her without even touching her.
Shocked but delighted she fixed his hair, touching him for the first time in the 6 years she had known him.
They realized this at the same time and in his shock he seemed to bring her closer to him that he had intended to. Her chest now nearly touching his back. As she looked in to the mirror and locked eyes with him.
No fear only a bright blush across her face. He was very warm she thought as her back felt the chill of the AC blow on her.
"Siebren are you running a fever? You are very warm." She said touching the back of his neck with the back of her hand. Sending sending a shiver down his back and to places he had long forgotten about.
Sigma now rather red himself realized just how close they where and turned to her for a chance to see her up close for the first time.
Her eyes where so many colors as was her hair. Blonde and brown with flecks of red and her eyes all manners of greens, blues and golds.
She was remarkable looking.
Rose got a good look at Siebren for the first time as well. He absolutely did not look to be a man of 58. He looked much younger, his early 40s really. His eyes pierced her like he could see her soul and she felt her heart and mind race.
Rose had had a thing for Subject Sigma from the first week they spent together. When she saw how excited he had gotten over some news about some space agency finding a new proto planet. She saw a much younger man in him that day.
Rose smiled as she caught the scent of his cologne, it was the one she had gotten him last Christmas.
She wanted to reach out and rest her hand on the side of his face but she knew that she may not actually be able to.
"Shall we?" she said looking to the ground.
"We shall." he smiled and gracefully put her back on the ground. and straightened up some peering in to the mirror.
Both of them satisfied with his appearance she led the way out the door. feeling just the tiniest bit lighter than normal. Though due to the butterflies she felt in her stomach or due to her proximity to Siebren she wasnt quite sure.
Later after the security screenings and the longest elevator ride of his life. They made it out of the building and as it turns out it was a beautiful early spring day. Where he was he was still unsure but the trees around them where pink with flowers.
He floated and she walked down a path passing a few more residents of the place he was. The music was a bit quieter out here.
"Come come! I have another surprise for you!" Rose led the way for a while to a very secluded area quite a ways off the main path. there was a clearing laid with a feast of a picnic. Siebren noted that they where actually alone together for the first time. AMD for the first time in 6 years he fully landed on the ground. the soft grass damp under his feet. Rose had taken her shoes off as well here.
Rose then gasped seeing him fully down on the ground.
"you really have gotten quite good at controlling that. would it be a problem if I came closer to see?"
He nodded and she came across to him, now sitting on the ground lounging back and lifting some of the macarons from their plate and over to him.
as she came near to him the sun shone through the sundress she was wearing and he could see her figure outlined her slim legs and curved hips looking quite tempting to him.
she kneeled down on all fours and smiled at him looking at his chest and shoulders and reaching out to see how close her hand would go to him.
As it turns out there was no resistance and her hand laid on his chest feeling his irregular heartbeat ebb and flow like the melody of a song.
With her hand in his chest she gave a gentle push to really make sure what she was feeling wasnt interference but actually him.
He placed his hand over hers and entwined their fingers, an act which signaled to Rose at least that he didnt mind the contact. so she came closer sitting next to him feeling a gentle breeze like feeling across her skin.
...
next chapter
Several months later
Sigma had been living up in a private apartment among the rest of the professionals that resided here. Including Rose, who unbeknownst to him was planning something.
She had taken to calling him Sigma now, more as a pet name than anything.
A knock sounded at his door "Sigma! Hey its Rose!"
Rose knew that at this time he would likely be having a shower, and as a result come out in a robe or even just a towel.
They had become much closer now that he was no longer her subject but just a close friend. she however wanted to deepen their bond significantly.
The door to the apartment came open as if by its self and she entered the well lit room books and things floated aimlessly and other oddities seemed to gently bob in their spots.
"sigma! its important! " she called heading towards the back where his bedroom was. He opened the door and though she had seen him shirtless a handfull of times she had never seen him so close. The scars on his chest and ports in his shoulders where shocking and without realizing it she was reaching out and looking up at him "Siebren I have something I need to tell you" she said entranced as she always was around him " I think I am in love with you. And I want to if you have any kind of these feelings towards me."
It was sudden. He realized what she had said and felt every hair on his body prickle with joy.
he looked down at her and smiled.
she looked so frightened ut at the same ti.e hopeful and happy.
"Rose how could you feel that about me? I'm so, broken. You deserve someone whole. Someone better." mourning his words as he said them because he did in fact feel the same for her.
"Siebren. I don't care how. broken you think you are. You are what I want."
She pushes him back which she found surprisingly easy, and closes the door behind her. "Please give me this chance to show you."
His breath caught. He had of course been with women before. he did after all attend a rather good college and had a life before this happened.
but none of those experiences compared for what he felt for the young woman in front of him.
He lifted her in to the air so she was eye level with him. She suddenly reached out and put arms around him pulling him in to a tight embrace. He too wrapped arms around her. He then felt something familiar yet very foreign. soft lips grazing the skin on his neck his breath hitched and he floated there frozen for a moment as one of her hands began to go from his shoulders down on to his back. and the other c ppl me around to his face. She looked at him intently and took her chance. she kissed him. and despite all of his sense saying she couldn't possibly feel this for him he kissed her back. gently at first then a bit rougher pulling her into him tightly and feeling her apparently ample chest press against him.