Chapter Three
"Wow, Zoa. Cereal. How romantic," Zenon said with a smirk as Proto Zoa walked into the living room and sat on the sofa, two bowls in hand. He handed one to Zenon.
"It's the thought that counts, love," he replied with a smile.
She scooted closer to him. "Thanks," she whispered. "For everything."
"I try, Zee. I try."
She chewed her cereal for a moment. "Zoa, do you sometimes wonder if you're being watched?"
"What makes you ask?"
"Just...curious."
"Zenon, I'm an extremely famous rock star. Of course I'm being watched, all the time, actually. Seriously, though. What makes you ask such a thing?"
"It's one of those things that comes with the charges. I get this feeling that we're being watched by someone, even though I'm not exactly sure who it is."
"Have you seen this person?"
She shook her head no. "Maybe I'm just paranoid major."
"Maybe, maybe not."
"You're gonna say something about it having to do with the charges and the recurring nightmare, and maybe they're related major, and maybe it's coincidence major."
"Zee, did you take statistics?"
"Yeah."
"Did you know that the odds are astronomically small that three seemingly unrelated coincidences will occur within a small timeframe?"
"Yeah."
"Then odds are the charges, the paranoia, and the dreams are related, though how I'm not sure yet."
Zenon twirled her spoon around in her bowl. "Okay, so maybe they are related, but what about Numbar's Martian colony?"
"Based on what happened on the moon seven years ago, I'd say that the colony project is most likely the focal point. Mars wants Numbar to stop building on his planet."
"Like Numbar's gonna listen."
Proto Zoa smirked. "I'd figured as much the second I found out he snuck his way aboard the Wonder Bus."
"I remember that. Didn't you publicly threaten his life?"
"I may have, when I was seeing red. I don't remember much, and besides, that was almost a decade ago."
"Well, he's been mentioning a colony on Mars for several years. Doesn't surprise me that he's actually going through with it."
Proto Zoa set his bowl on the coffee table and wrapped his arms around Zenon, who set her bowl next to his and leaned into him. He twirled a strand of her hair around his finger. "You don't need to be afraid," he whispered. "I'm not going to leave you."
"Vega omega, that's rudicrous," she said immediately.
"Is it?"
"Yes, it is. Rudicrous major."
"Or is there something you're ignoring?"
"Zoa."
"Sorry."
Zenon took the bowls into the kitchen largely in an effort to gain some space, and as she glanced at the window, she thought she saw an unusually red man. Confirming that her eyes weren't decieving her, she turned to face him, watching him pass through the wall as if it, or he, were immaterial. "Z-Z-Zoa?" she called. Proto Zoa rushed into the kitchen only to stop the instant he spotted the man.
"Oh, good, you're both home," the man said. He studied Zenon. "Ah, yes, the strong-willed one. The one with the dreams. Very interesting. Dark days are coming for this world, and yours." He then looked over at Proto Zoa. "These dark days can break a person."
"Okay, who are you?" Zenon asked.
"You should know by now." With that, the man disappeared.
"Okay, what was that?"
"Mars," Proto Zoa replied. "That's me wagering a guess."
"It's the only one we have, but what's with this cryptic major way of talking? I mean, 'dark days'? Really?"
"Mars is the god of war, so they really could be 'dark days'."
"Okay, no, no. Nobody's going to die."
"You never know, and personally, I'm beginning to doubt that we can control anything in this mess."
"You know what, I'm going to find Numbar, and I'm going to give him a peace of my mind. He thinks he's going to start a war? Negatory."
He pushed gently against her shoulders. "Zenon, look at me," he said. "We don't know how much he knows yet. Give it time."
She exhaled harshly, looking down at the floor. He tilted her chin upward and kissed her gently on the lips. "It's going to be okay," he whispered.
"I hope you're right."
ZZZ
Dasha watched as Centauri perched himself on the couch. Her mind was too distracted to really think about anything of any importance, but still she felt the need to think anyway.
All she'd really comprehended was that Mars had wanted her to somehow convince Numbar to stop this colony project of his, which seemed, at least to Dasha, impossible extreme, and yet she had the strange sense that it was in some way expected of her.
A thought sparked movement in her, and she reached for her zap-pad, which she found on the coffee table.
"Dasha, what's up?" Zenon asked when she answered the zap. Dasha took a deep breath and explained in detail her encounter with Mars. Zenon went pale during her cousin's explanation and, at one point toward the end, had to sit down.
"What's up?" Dasha asked, knitting her brow.
"Vega omega," Zenon whispered. "He said the same thing to us. Dark days are coming."
"But talk about ambiguous major. What does that even mean?"
"Join the club."
"Well, well, well, Dasha Plank," Proto Zoa said, a bright smile on his face as he sat down next to Zenon. "More Mars business?"
"Affirmative," Dasha replied.
"Next question: given the state of things right now, do we let this thing run its course?"
"Well, we'd have to intervene at some point," Zenon said, "especially if we're all being visited like this. I don't know if we're supposed to do anything right now, but as inky major as this is going to get, we'll have to do something somewhere along the line."
"How?" Dasha asked. "I mean, what're we supposed to do?"
"I'm clear minor, but at least we have time to figure it out."