Dear readers, hope you enjoy this chapter! It's about to get interesting as we wind down Part II, but don't worry, that means Part III is coming up! Please review or message me and tell me what you think is next, because I want to see if you're on track or not (no shame in not getting it right, because that just means I'm doing a good job at keeping you guessing!). Also, I really appreciate those reviews because they help me to find out what I can make better about this story.
Happy reading, readers!
Interstellar: Revivisco, Part II
Chapter 16: Ianua Clausa
She was pleasantly surprised when Cooper put the hammock on the porch. It made for a nice place to read or nap, and now that it was warmer, it was most certainly welcomed.
Cooper was always doing stuff around the house and in the barn now it seemed, with the baby's arrival only five months away. At first glance five months seemed like plenty of time, but they knew it would fly by. I won't have time to do it then, he'd remind her when she begged him to take a break.
He told her that he was 'tech-ing up' the barn even more so than what it had been when they'd moved there. Amelia still wasn't sure why you needed a barn if you didn't have animals to put in the stalls.
"Whatcha doin'?" she heard over the radio, picking it up and bringing it close to her lips.
"Just laying here in the hammock." She heard him laugh. "What?"
"I knew you'd enjoy that thing. I'm glad I put it there," he replied sweetly. "Wanna come see the improvements to the barn?"
"Sure, if I can get myself out of this." Amelia was serious - it was hard to get out of.
"Need my help?" She rolled her eyes.
"I'm not that bad off yet, Cooper." She looked out toward the fields, admiring the green sea they created. She attempted to get out of the hammock, succeeding. "Okay, I did it."
"Come to the barn, please."
"That's really amazing. So you don't even have to direct the combines to a specific spot to drop off the corn? They can do it on their own?" Cooper nodded, showing her the program on his tablet.
"And I can keep up with everything right here," he explained as he pointed to the screen. "TARS doesn't even have to send the combines back anymore. They're on a timer to leave the barn and to come back." Cooper folded the top onto the tablet. "This is going to save me so much time!" He sounded excited and Amelia couldn't help but chuckle at his enthusiasm.
"Well I'm glad you're excited." He smiled at her response. "What about the robots that are supposed to get the stuff off the fruit trees?"
"The stuff?" Cooper mocked. "I'll start to program those guys tomorrow. Shouldn't take but a week." He took his hand to his forehead, wiping away the sweat, and Amelia noticed.
"Let's get you some water and then you can get your shower. Dinner will be nearly ready by the time you're out," suggested Amelia.
"Yes, ma'am." He knew she hated being addressed like that, so he added a smirk to the end.
"I'm trying to help you. Now come on," she said as she grabbed his hand and drug him out of the barn.
Within five minutes they were back in the house. "Here." Amelia handed him a glass of water, watching as he leaned against the island.
"Thanks," he replied as he took the glass.
"I don't want you to wear yourself out." She was concerned about how much stress he put on himself, naturally.
"Hey, I'll be fine. Don't worry about me," he said as he finished off the water in his glass. "I'm gone. Be back in fifteen."
She watched as he left the kitchen as she opened the fridge, grabbing everything she'd already cut up. "Where's the robot that cooks everything and then cleans up?" she whispered to herself. "And we think we're advanced..."
"Shields up, TARS." TARS replied that it was 'secure'. "Wanna go on a walk?" Amelia nodded and followed him out the door.
"When it got hot out here, it got hot quick, didn't it?" she asked as he led the way. "I'd be covered in sweat if I stayed out here all day like you."
"You of all people can't be scared of a little sweat." He suddenly remembered the way she would come into the unit after a long day, dried sweat covering her, giving her skin this iridescent look that anyone else would have had trouble pulling off. But not Amelia. No, it fit her somehow.
"I'm not scared of sweat," she replied, playfully tapping him on the arm. "You think I'm scared of a little sweat? I'm not that dainty."
"You're dainty to me." He suddenly realized that his statement needed a followup. "I like that."
"Yeah, right." She looked up into the sky at all the stars. "I'm weak, I get it."
"You're not weak, but I mean, you're delicate, feminine. Don't go giving me an 'equality' speech, because that's got nothing to do with this. It's just who you are. Doesn't mean you're any less strong." Amelia could tell he meant that just by the way he'd said it. Kind of smooth and mellow, like when he would tell her stories about Tom and Murph, or when he'd try to calm her down from a bad dream.
She took his hand in hers. "That was very sweet... I love you."
"I love you." She looked cute in her sweatshirt jacket, one hand in a front pocket, her other hand still holding his. "Your face got a lil tan today."
Amelia immediately whipped her left hand from her jacket pocket, bringing it to her face to check for heat. "Am I burned at all?" He shook his head 'no'.
"You used to be a little tan when it was just us, then you started spendin' more time inside once we moved and got pale again, like when I met you." She smiled softly.
"So you have a preference?" she asked him.
Cooper chuckled lightly. "Not really. I like both."
Amelia looked up at the sky again. "Isn't it just unbelievable to look up at all of these stars and know that not a single one of them is Earth's sun? We are that far away." Cooper squeezed her hand gently.
"And alive." Looking over toward the barn, Cooper noticed he had left the lights on. "C'mon, I gotta turn 'em off."
Amelia didn't find the concrete-like substance that covered the barn floors the least bit attractive, but she had to remind herself that it was only a barn. "Can't you turn the lights off from wherever? Just tell TARS or CASE to?"
"I could but I like coming in here," he told her. "It's nice and you should like it too since everything in here is so well organized."
"Thanks to robots," Amelia retorted, watching Cooper head over into the corner. Suddenly the lights were out, causing her to emit a small scream. "Dammit, Cooper. What was that for?" She heard him chuckle. "Now I just feel like someone's going to sneak up and kill me."
"Oh, now calm down. Have a little fun, Amelia." She could tell he was getting closer.
"This isn't fun. I can't see. How are you even walking around?" She thought about maybe walking toward where she thought he was. "I swear, Cooper, I-" She felt his hands grab hers, balled up into fists.
"Relax, I'll get us out of here. The lights are all the way on the other side." He heard her huff.
"You could have warned me." She pulled her hands away from him, straightening out her fingers. "Good God."
Cooper laughed again, shocking Amelia once more as he pulled her to him. "Are you scared of the dark or somethin'?"
"Well, I don't particularly enjoy it when we're outside with no source of light whatsoever," she explained.
"A little fear never hurt nobody." Cooper felt her slender form beneath the baggy jacket. "Loosen up."
"I'm not loosening up! I think I'm justified in my feelings right now." He could hear a hint of humor in her voice.
"Justified?" She put her arms around his neck.
"Mm hmm." Cooper chuckled again as he broke awake from her, and walked toward the double barn doors, opening it.
"The way out." Amelia came over to him. "I want you to look at that." He pointed toward the skyline, their house in front of it.
"It's beautiful," she whispered as she stood beside him.
They began walking back toward the house, not saying a word to each other, appreciating their surroundings. Amelia suddenly wrapped her arms around him, tightly.
"Did you hear that?" The barking - they heard it again.
Her hold loosened, and Cooper put a hand on her back. "Yeah. Come on, we're really close to the house, and from the sounds of it, they're about half a mile out."
"But I heard you - I heard you tell TARS to put the shield up." He nodded, looking at TARS's screen.
"I did put the shield up, didn't I? TARS?" TARS walked toward them.
"You did. I've got a record of every time the shield has been put up, and you told me to turn on the shield about an hour ago." Amelia paced the sitting room floor.
"So our protection from the beasts is nonexistent. Great." She began to bite her nails, a nervous habit.
"I'll try and fix this tomorrow. Must be some kind of glitch. Not with you, TARS." Cooper turned around to look at him.
"No, because I'm perfect."
Six days before the launch of the Endurance Mission
"Do you just sit in here all day when we aren't in a meeting or training?" Amelia jumped in her seat, turning around. "Hey there."
"You could knock," she reminded Cooper, not expressing her frustration to its fullest potential. "Prep for Plan B." Cooper tread over next to her, looking over her shoulder at the notes. "Trying to finish up matches." He nodded and Amelia stood up from her seat.
"Why not just pair the two things you need randomly?" he asked, watching as she tucked the papers away in a file cabinet.
"Doing matches on the remaining samples means we get the healthiest embryos," Amelia stated, shutting the drawer.
"That makes sense I guess," Cooper replied. Amelia leaned against the cabinet. "Wouldn't want to combine DNA that sperm and egg both have big histories of colon cancer or whatnot."
"Exactly." Was she actually being tolerable right now? Not that she wasn't tolerable herself, she just didn't tolerate him most of the time, it seemed.
"You know it's midnight, right?" Her eyes got big, shocked at how late it was.
"Shit," she exclaimed, tossing off her lab jacket and hanging it up as she walked past him. Cooper decided to follow her out of the room. "Where are you going?"
"We live across the hall from each other. I knew you were still in here because your door was wide open like it normally is during the day." Observant, she thought.
"You came to tell me to go to bed?" Amelia chuckled as Cooper caught up to her.
"You should know that this 'staying up late all the time' thing isn't good for your immune system." Cooper watched as she smiled gently. "Gotta be healthy to go out there."
"I suppose you're right," she said, pressing the elevator 'down' button.
"You aren't talkative at all, are you?" The elevator doors opened and they walked in. "Don't take offense to that." Coop pressed the button for their floor.
Amelia smirked, shaking her head. "There's not much to say." This elevator ride seemed to be taking forever.
"That's the point of conversation, Dr. Brand: findin' something to say then going with it." Finally, the doors opened. "After you."
"Thank you." Amelia turned left toward the apartments.
"She speaks!"
"It is so cold in this house. What do you have the AC on, 60?" Amelia asked as she walked downstairs. "I'm freezing." She crossed her arms, trying to convey her discomfort.
"It's as hot as hell outside, Amelia." She rolled her eyes and went back upstairs. "Where are you going?"
"To get a sweater," she yelled down the stairs. Keeps it like an icebox in this house. She pulled a sweatshirt out of one of the dresser drawers and flung it on quickly.
"I just got in from workin', I'd like it to be a little cool right now," Cooper said from downstairs.
"Are you sure you two aren't married?" TARS questioned him.
"As close to without a ring, slick," he replied with a smirk. "You can't just stay up there."
"Hadn't planned on it!" Cooper could hear her moving around upstairs.
"I didn't realize you would react so strongly to me fiddlin' around with the thermostat." He heard her feet lightly hit the boards of the stairs.
"It's just very, very cold." Amelia sat down next to him on the couch and didn't curl into him as she usually would.
"Come on over." She obliged and snuggled into him, letting him hold her.
"I'm just freezing and you know I'm like a reptile anyway." Cooper lightly chuckled at what she'd said, rubbing her arm.
"I know." She closed her eyes, thinking that possibly she could take a nap. "Gettin' warmer?"
"A little." He grabbed a blanket from the other end of the couch, covering her in it. "How hot is it out there?"
"Not comfortable if you're doin' any work, I can tell you that. You'd have to slather up in SPF 100 or something." Cooper felt her shift to look up at him.
"Hey, that's wrong. It's SPF 75." He laughed again, watching her smile. She looked angelic there, her bright, brown eyes twinkling at him, it seemed. Was he just becoming more and more entranced by her during every second or was it something else? "How's the shield?"
"It's weird. It didn't look like anything was wrong with the program, but I think I fixed it." He knew she'd be happy to hear that. "I'm still interested to find out how that happened, though."
Cooper was still awake reading, unable to really concentrate. He smiled faintly to himself and put his tablet down on his nightstand, his light already out.
"What?" he heard. Amelia looked around for him, having just woken up.
"I didn't say anything." She shot him a questioning look. "I didn't."
"I could've heard you as plain as day. Must have been a dream, I just don't know what it was about." She sat up, adjusting her shirt.
"Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.
"Yeah. I think so." Amelia turned on her lamp. "I'm going to get a glass of water. Want anything?"
"No, I'm good." Cooper watched as she got up from the bed and left the room. She returned not a minute later, a glass of water in her hands.
"Why are you still up?" He looked over at her.
"I was reading the news. Seein' what's going on back there. And I got a message about joining that board of Hart's, which I declined, but I have to go for a meeting tomorrow. It shouldn't last long, according to the information." Amelia wondered what the meeting was about, but Coop didn't seem to know what, either. "What are the chances of me getting another cake soon?"
Amelia chuckled as she took a sip of the water. "Maybe there will be one here waiting on you when you get back."
He had just arrived at Hart's office after going to check on the baby, picking up the detailed medical records of the donors. Amelia was too curious for her own good, needing to know every detail of everything she could have knowledge of. It would be good to have these records though in case of future medical emergencies, God forbid. He had a tech go put them in the lander-plane, figuring they'd be a distraction at his meeting.
"I'd like for you to come take a look at our greenhouses' progress, Captain Cooper. Follow me." Cooper followed Hart down the long, grey industrial hallway.
"You got a good amount set up?" He hooked his thumbs into the belt loops of his jeans.
"We think so, but you're the expert," she said as she turned around, stopping. "Here we are." Hart opened the door, letting Cooper in first.
"Looks good to me. The starts look good from here." He walked toward one table, dipping his fingers into the dirt. "Where are you getting this soil? It's perfect."
"We're developing it here." Cooper watched her walk toward him. "I thought you'd be interested."
"I am. Amelia's been developing something but she's nowhere near done," he replied, not noticing that she was right up on him.
"I'm sure," Hart snarled. Cooper finally realized her close proximity.
"Look, now I don't know what your problem with Amelia is, but-" She cut Cooper off, coughing. "Let's try and be professional here."
"Cooper, I think we're beyond that, don't you?" He moved away when he felt her hand on his shoulder. "Oh, come on, Cooper."
"What is your problem?" He looked her in the eye. "What have either of us done to you?"
"Her, everything. Her existence bothers me, but you... no, you've done nothing." She began to walk toward him again, and he started toward the door, unable to open it.
"The fuck?" he whispered to himself. "What did...?" He turned around as she came closer. "What do you want?"
"Control," she said flatly, cornering him.
"I think you've got control here." Cooper was starting to get nervous, wondering what she was trying to do.
"You're a powerful man, you know that, don't you? Yes, yes, you must know that." He swallowed as he watched her, a hand inching up his arm, and noticed a probe key attached to a rubber band around her wrist. "I'm powerful here, too."
"I've gathered that. If you knew me at all, you'd know that I don't give two shits." Her hand moved to his chest, his heart thudding in nervous fear.
"That's what makes you all the more appealing," Hart whispered, watching him. "How do you even stand being with such a calculated person?"
"And you're not? That's only a part of her, and that's all you are." She laughed, smiling up at him. "I love her."
He swallowed again, trying to make an exit plan as her hand moved lower, slowly. "I want control, Cooper. I like having power. You've got power. Imagine..."
Hart was attractive, but a psycho, and he had no desire whatsoever to be with anyone but Amelia. Why was Hart doing this?
Cooper shook his head. "You're making a mistake."