Catalina was thankful that she was not a complete stranger to what Yensid was like. Sure, there was a huge difference between hearing about a place and actually being there, but she wasn't going into things entirely blind. She would have preferred Suzee being there with her, or at least guiding her through the process, but the Christa was still not out of harm's way, and her best friend's attention was (understandably) elsewhere.
Catalina quickly went over what she remembered from the hours of talking with Suzee in the early years of their friendship. Back when it hurt too much to talk about the sudden death of her parents, or hear about Suzee's happy family. So, Suzee told her about Yensid. It was a planet somewhere between the size of Earth and Saturn. Not that people live on Saturn, as it's a gas planet. Titan was less than half the size of Earth, but it's not nearly as populated, not even a billion people compared to the thirty-five billion living on Earth, so there's plenty of space for everyone. And for the industries, of course.
With a spark of fear, she remembered that as much of half of her friend's planet contained regular gaseous storms which made it uninhabitable for "regular people, because you don't have gils." But, then, the memory that she lives--lived--in an area that's most common for those that breathe oxygen. "And, besides, we prefer not having to use our gils all the time," Suzee had added. So, Catalina would be able to go outside and not suffocate. Which was great, because the planet could be a place of remarkable beauty, far more than Titan. There was the typical balance of rainforests, farmland, barren deserts (usually in the vicinity of the storm-filled areas), frigid temperatures at the poles, and about two-thirds of the planet was covered with water.
Suzee and her family lived in the country called Armonia, which was the largest and most populated country on Yensid. There were ten official counties in all, and Yensidians can live wherever they want, as long as they fill out the necessary paperwork from the government. Maybe it's because she's lived there all her life--until now--but Suzee would boast that Armonia was the most desirable. Her dad would occasionally disagree on this point, as you could get more land for the same price if you chose to live in Macredia, the focal point of the gaseous storms.
Catalina recalled that the surface of the planet wasn't the only place people lived. A growing part of the population lived in underground cities. But that wasn't very desirable for most. If you couldn't afford to live on Armonia or Sucremia, and didn't want to live in the more acrid areas, you could always opt to live in a space station. There were mostly reserved for the military scientists, for research and surveillance, but families didn't have to pursue that line of work. While Yensid had lived in peace for the past ten thousand years, out of their twenty thousand years of civilization, their peace and prosperity was the envy of their neighbors, as well as those outside the immediate Polaris solar system. The Skyriver system, in particular, was especially violent and invasive.
From images sent by Suzee of other people in her life, she knew that Yensidians mostly looked like the humans from places like Earth, Saturn, and Mars. Unlike Mercurians, they didn't have hair or skin tone that wasn't in the usual range of dark to light. They also didn't have antennae on their face to conduct electricity, although Suzee had once observed that this would have been useful. The only noticeable physical distinction from humans from Cat's dimension, at least when their clothes were on, were gils. Hair color and length varied--like Saturnians, hair grew extremely slowly until you reached your teenage years--and the older you became, the more colors your hair formed. When Catalina first met Suzee, she had only purple in her hair, but within their years of friendship, some pink formed. In another few years, blue would have a place in her best friend's hair--and, by then, it would reach the middle of her back.
Another trait, or perhaps tradition, was the naming pattern of kids. Every Yensidian had a name with two syllables, and every name ended in the same vowel, only which vowel the parents used changed every twenty-five years. This didn't mean that Suzee's name would become Suza or Suzo in another ten years--only that she was born within the twenty-five year span where names ended in "E." Her older sister, Carmee, had been born in the middle of the "E" cycle, as well as her younger sister, Mizee. Suzee had said that there were still five more years for kids to be given names that ended in "E." The next letter would be "I," followed by "O." Both of Suzee's parents had names which ended in "Y."
Of course, every twenty-five years after two complete naming cycles, parents chose whatever vowel they wanted. But this only happened every five hundred years, and no Yensidian lives nearly that long.
Much like Saturnians, no one had a last name--although they did have scanning technology that distinguished people with the same name. This wasn't as common as you might think, because Suzee's name was one of the plainer ones on her planet.
Catalina kept all of this in mind as she opened the door. A mix of feelings filled her, anxiety being the main one. Sure, she'd always wanted to visit Yensid, but with Suzee, not alone. It seemed that the rules that governed their dimensions made it impossible for both of them to be together in the same one at the same time. She supposed that this was better than dying (although Saturnians did believe in an afterlife), and perhaps it would all work out.
Still. She'd feel better about the whole thing if she still had her connection to Suzee.
"Hello?" she asked, tentatively, crossing into the hallway. "Is anyone there?"
Dressed in a long garment that Catalina knew had once been called a "tunic," another woman emerged from a once closed door. Her hair looked like it contained at least five colors, and her face was a rather older version of Suzee's. Her expression changed from neutral to solemn to a tentative smile as she saw Catalina.
"Are you...Catalina?" she asked.
Her voice even sounded like Suzee's, although rather more gentle. She spoke Catalina's name a bit strangely, enunciating every syllable, as though it were a word in a foreign language.
Well, the UPP had insisted on a universal language, but Yensidians definitely didn't belong to the United Populated Planets. Which made Catalina wonder how she could understand Suzee's mother (she assumed it was her mother...). Oh! The implant, of course. All Yensidians received them at birth. Still, how odd that it would extend to a visitor from another dimension...
Catalina realized she was just standing there, and forced herself to speak. "Um, yeah. I'm Catalina. Suzee's...invisible friend?"
Funny. She'd been used to calling Suzee that for the past three and a half years, but she'd never given much thought to how Suzee spoke about her.
The woman gave her a broad smile, crossed the distance, but suddenly pulled Catalina into a long, warm hug.
"Welcome! Let me fetch Forly, as I am sure there's much to go over. Wait just a moment."
Catalina nodded, almost shyly, yet feeling relief.
This woman, at least, knew who she was. Welcomed her. Perhaps, they could figure out how to switch them back, or at least, how to get the connection back.
She watched as the woman disappeared back into the room, only to return a moment later with the person who Catalina assumed to be Forly.
His hair was as long and vibrant as his wife's, but tied back behind his head. His face was also smiling, although rather tentatively. He reached out to hug Catalina, who accepted it with a bit more hesitancy than the woman's.
"Let's sit down, and have some sonja." He paused. "Mourly, do we have any left?"
The woman--Mourly--smiled. "I picked up some just this morning." Turning to Catalina, she added, "It's rather like tea. Our food and drink can be consumed by Saturnians. We've had a few visitors over the years."
"You have?" Catalina asked, following them downstairs.
"Well, not us, but other Yensidians. Approximately a fifth of us have friends in other dimensions, and Sorplur--that's yours--is the most common. Visitors from there come from time to time, and the Documentarians keep detailed records. When we learned that Suzee had made contact, we began to read them, just in case you would appear." They stopped in front of a large, vibrant room, filled with holographic pictures and furniture of varying colors. A plush sofa sat in the center of the room, and Mourly sat down, gently pulling Catalina down with her.
Catalina nearly gasped at the softness. The furniture at the Starcademy had been practical to the point of austerity, rather like the uniforms they wore. Used to the flowing clothes of Saturn, it had taken her nearly a week to adjust, to stop pulling at the required blazer. On the Christa, some areas had been more comfortable, but nothing like home. As Catalina sat, she had to force herself to remain upright.
After all, she surely had questions to answer--and to ask.
Forly took his place on a similarly plush chair, wide enough for two people his size, and gave her a friendly smile. She glanced to her side, and Mourly squeezed her hand.
"Take your time," she encouraged.
Catalina nodded, relief mixed with confusion. "I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but she told me it was impossible to visit her dimension. Only, I'm here, now," she added, attempting a joke.
"Usually, it is, and it's almost impossible to return. But we'll get to that in a moment. First, let's go over everything that happened up to this point," Suzee's father suggested.
Catalina took a deep breath as she accepted the steaming purple beverage that smelled vaguely of hot chocolate.
Author's note:
I mentioned in the last chapter receiving old Space Cases tapes from my parents. Unfortunately, I have way fewer episodes than I had expected, and maybe one full one from season one. Unless I can legally obtain the other episodes, I am going by memory and websites.
Here's what I do know from my limited episode collection and memory:
Catalina and Suzee's brains are connected on the same sonic frequency, which makes them able to communicate and see each other. Suzee didn't think it was possible for Catalina to visit her in Yensid. (She wasn't wrong, technically.) Suzee views Rosie as the sister she never had, but she has at least two sisters. Suzee's parents welcomed Cat into their home, even letting her wear Suzee's clothes. At the same time, they're all trying to figure out how to get the two of them back to their dimensions. (From what I recall from fandom, another massive explosion would be required on one end.)
There's obviously lots that we don't know, which I want to fill in. But I am also trying not to go against established canon.
The Christa provides food that people on the ship can eat (when they were in the Spung parallel universe, the adults could eat worms), and Catalina is not dying of starvation during her talk with Suzee several weeks after their switch, so I am going to write it that at least some food from Yensid can be consumed by people like Catalina.
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