1:4:1 Cambridge (Part 6)

“Three mugs.” She retorted.
“You’re not supposed to be here…” They sat opposite Lore, in front of their mug and stared. They lifted the mug to take a sip. The liquid just barely missed their lips. “You’ve not made one for Clayton.” They seemed almost offended.
“Emm, it’s fine. I doubt they knew we were coming.” Clayton chuckled, pouring herself a mug.
Lore took a sip and scaled their tongue. They checked their Breacher and forty five seconds had passed. “You’re Emm? It’s really you?”
“How do you know my name?” Emm looked at them worried. “You shouldn’t know that yet.”
“Um.” Lore paused and thought for a moment.
“You know what, it doesn’t matter. You know now and I’ve got to clean up the mess.” Emm’s breathing had grown much heavier in a short span of time. They started to deepen their breaths and artificially slowed their pace. Clayton gave them a reassuring pat on the shoulder before settling into a side hug. “So, now what?”
“I’ve got questions.” Lore sat forward in their chair. Emm gave them a nod which they took as them giving permission to begin. “What the hel is going on? What is this?” Lore withdrew the tablet. It still hadn’t updated since just before Mauve’s death.
“I think it’d be ok to tell them.” Clayton clung tighter to Emm.
“You… Actually, what do you already know?”
“I know bits. A bit of this, a bit of that. I know that this.” Lore waved their arms about as if to illustrate their point. “All started after one of us saw the omega outcome. I’ve seen that, bits from before and after the cycle began and all of the three year month.”
“Hmm. Did you get all of that from the cubes we gave Char?” Emm barely gave them time to breathe let alone respond before they continued. “Shame we left our collection in The Republic; could have caught you up a bit. The tablet’s another story. Standard issue I’m afraid.” Emm gestured for Clayton to hand them theirs. “Everyone’s got one. Where’s next for you?”
“I don’t know. The tablet’s not updated since Mauve…” Lore couldn’t finish the sentence.
Clayton looked at them and then to Emm. “What?”
“There was a battle over Rexel five. Crait pulled out all the stops; there wasn’t a weapon in creation that they didn’t bring along. I had been captured, so had the clones; we needed an opening and Mauve just charged.”
They both just sat there, still and silent. “That… That wasn’t supposed to happen…” Emm started frantically scrolling through their own tablet. “Mauve’s supposed to lead… What? Are you sure they’re dead?”
“There was nothing left.” Lore took a drink. “They’re dead.”
“That complicates things…” Emm managed to eke out.
“What about the kids?” Clayton whispered.
“They’ll say they’re needed.” Emm returned.
“We’re planning on dropping them off.” Lore interjected.
“You’re planning on what?” Lore had caught them off guard. “Hmm, maybe we did something right making you. The others wanted Sky and Blue flying the drop ships during the last battle.”
Lore stood and slammed their fist on the table. “They bloody well aren’t. Sure as hel, they’re not fighting.”
Emm smiled. “Let’s see if we can’t find them somewhere safe then.” They put their tablet on the table and started combing through their files. “That could do.”
“What could do?” Lore apprehensively took another sip from their tea.
“If you’re heading for Johned then you’ll have to stop by on Tarthesis.”
Lore parroted. “Tarthesis.” Lore stirred their tea despite it being nearly finished. “What’s Tarthesis?”
“It’s a planet not too far into the Johned Nebula. It should be safe enough to leave Sky and Blue.” Clayton showed them an image of the planet in question. “Earth-like or at least more earth-like than Rexel. There should be someone there who can look after them until we can spare someone to pick them up.
“Should be?” Lore stared at them.
“We’ve got someone on Tarthesis but you may get there first or they may only be available for a little bit so we’ll have to send someone else in the meantime.” Emm shrugged. “Time travel isn’t an exact science.” Emm handed them their tablet and touched it to Lore’s. There was a confirmation ping as a data packet was sent over. “The co-ordinates to our contact on Tarthesis. Hope you find what you need.”
“Thanks.” Lore finished their tea. They opened their wallet and left the money they had withdrawn on the table as they stood to leave. “Sorry about Mauve.”
Lore looked around as they left and realised that everyone in the cafe was either a Lore or a Char; not knowing quite what to do with that information, they quietly opened the door and left.
“Hi!” Tay was waiting for them outside.
Lore climbed back into their skin. “Whoa, what are you doing back?”
“I needed to tell you something but I couldn’t tell you earlier because you wouldn’t understand it yet…” Tay rolled her eyes. “Mum keeps telling me I need to get a new watch.” Tay waggled her Breacher; it looked as though it had seen more than its fair share of use. “Anyway… Their guy on Tarthesis is bleeding useless. Plus they’re not going to show up in time. I know someone who’s definitely on Tarthesis and will take good care of the siblings.” Tay tapped at her Breacher. “She’s an old friend of Sky’s. You’re looking for a woman called Dee. She’ll have a girl with her called Synran. They’ll be at these co-ordinates at this time.” She shared the map with Lore’s Breacher. It seamlessly transferred.
Lore looked at the map and compared the two points. “This is on an entirely different continent to the other one. Are you sure about this?”
She nodded. “Swear on my parent’s life.” She crossed her heart. “Emm’s guardian is… interesting. I suppose that’s what you get when you ask a group of disillusioned narcissists to find a babysitter.” Tay chuckled.
Lore stared at her, offended. “Is that a jab at me?”
“Not you, never you.” She sounded sincere. “You and your Char are different. Clones don’t count.” She waved her finger. “You two are going to be brilliant.” Tay vanished with a smile.
“Oh. Ok…” Lore spoke to the void she left.
There was a blinding white flash. “Sorry, that was rude. Wanted a dramatic exit but that was really rude. Good luck; see you soon.” Tay smiled, shook Lore’s hand then, once again, vanished with a smile.
“Right then, best get going.” Lore whispered under their breath, almost hoping that Tay would reappear to give them a last piece of guidance. When she didn’t show up, they decided to return to the park. They tried to remember the way back but soon realised that they could just use the map function on their glasses. Following the winding side streets and alleys Tay had led them down in reverse took them back to the park in almost no time. They hesitated just shy of the park, near to where they had first seen Tay and looked in on the group. Sky and Blue were beaming, sharing stories with the Quatarrian children and enjoying the sun and fresh air. They didn’t want it to end.
“Nice isn’t it.” Char stroked their arm.
Even though they didn’t see her arrive, Lore wasn’t caught off guard by her sudden appearance. “I was just thinking that.” They pressed themselves into her. “How…” They started but changed their mind.
“How what?” Char looked them in the eyes.
“You ever thought about having kids?” Lore just blurted it out.
Char sat with the thought for a moment. “I hadn’t but I’m thinking about it now.”
“And?”
“Give me a moment.” Char chuckled. “Where are we going next?”
“We’ve got a choice.” Lore paused. “I say we, they’ve got a choice.” Lore pulled up the map of Tarthesis. “I met our creators…” Lore began.
Char slapped their Breacher down and looked them in the eyes. “You what?”
“They call themselves Emm and Clayton. They don’t seem that bad.” Lore shrugged as if it were nothing.
“What did they say?” She braced herself for the worst.
“Not a lot really. They mentioned something about a Republic; they also seemed rather confused about how Mauve could have died.” Lore shrugged.
“How Mauve could have died? Was he supposed to survive?” Char looked back, confused. “Anything else?”
“As I was about to tell you, they told me about a planet just on the edge of the nebula: Tarthesis. They mentioned that there was someone we could leave Sky and Blue.” Lore showed them the map.
“You don’t sound so sure.” Char glanced the map over, noting the two map markers. “What’s that other blip?”
“Well, after leaving the meeting, I bumped into this weird kid.” Lore scoffed. “Tay. She told me that the person Emm told me about wasn’t going to be there and we should take the siblings to someone called Dee?”
“Dee? Did she mention anyone else?” Char’s ears pricked up.
“She’s got a daughter called Synran.” Lore shrugged. “You know her?”
“No but Sky does. They told me that they were raised by her.” Char paused. “So is that the choice? Hand them off to a stranger or give them to the woman who raised Sky?”
“I didn’t know that.” Lore blushed. “I guess that answers it.” They deleted the marker placed by Emm.
“I’ll go and get them. The Quatarrians were planning on leaving now anyway.” Char smiled before walking off, back into the park. Lore followed close behind.

“Come on then, we best be off.” Char corralled the siblings together. “It was amazing getting to meet you.” She smiled.
“Same to you.” Jo reached out her arm. Char grabbed it at the elbow with Jo reciprocating. “May our paths cross once again.”
Rolanda took Lore’s hand and shook it. “May the stars carry you to certain shores.”
Char whispered something in Lore’s ear. “And may they guide you to waters calm.” Lore parroted.
Rolanda and Jo nodded before turning to gather their herds and vanishing.
“What was that?” Lore looked to Char confused.
“It’s an old Quatarrian tradition. A way of saying goodbye and good luck without the finality of the typical human goodbye. It’s usually only heard in Quatarrian so to hear it in English is a rarity.” Char clutched Lore’s hand in her own. “Come on then.”
They gathered their blanket and basket before making their way back to the alley and the cube. They walked in silence, just enjoying one another’s company. Sky and Blue skipped ahead, Lore and Char behind them wordlessly wondering how they would break the news to them. The roads were eerily empty with only a handful of people passing them by as they made it back to the alley. The smell was still there and strangely, it hadn’t diminished in the slightest in the time that they had been absent.
“Just be a moment.” Lore entered the cube and ran straight for the bedrooms. They grabbed a bag from the fabricator then scooped up Char’s robes before grabbing their own clothes and armour from the neat pile on the dresser. They double checked that they hadn’t left anything in their room before moving on to the room they lent to the siblings. Hesitantly, and in a separate bag, they collected up Blue and Sky’s things; their clothing was more carbon than cotton-polyester. Before they returned to the alley, they made sure to again, double check the room. “There you go.” Lore tossed the bag to Sky. “That should be yours.” They checked their own bag before nodding.
“Thanks.” Sky smiled. “And thanks for this, it’s been nice.”
Lore and Char smiled but their faces soon dropped.
“Why do I get the feeling that you’ve got bad news for us?” Blue moved in slightly closer to Sky.
“We’ll talk about it when we get back to the ship, okay?” Char’s voice was soothing. They nodded before linking hands.
“Ready?” Lore tapped in the tracking co-ordinates for The Destiny. “Hold on.” Lore swiped away the Breacher’s transit menu and opened up a text communicator. “Just wait for this to connect to The Destiny.” They tapped their toes impatiently. “Ah, there we go; send that… Come on… Next time I think we need to just set a static meeting location.” There was another pause as they waited for Destiny’s response. “Finally, she’s holding course for us at One seven six…” They started typing the co-ordinates in. “Two four three… Seven five six.” Lore nodded. “Right then, now are we ready?”
“We’re all ready Lore.” Char smirked. There was a flash of white as they vacated the alley and returned to the bridge of The Destiny.

They all quickly and silently retired to The Destiny’s mess. The high from their time on Earth had evaporated. Char fabricated a tray and brought a jug of water and four glasses over to the table.
“What’s going on.” Sky broke the silence.
“Char and I have been talking and… Neither of us feel comfortable with letting you stay on the ship; we don’t feel like we can properly look after you given what we’ve got to do next.” Lore began. “You’re both too young and you’ve already seen so much. We don’t want… Whatever this is, to become your life.”
Char nodded. “If Mauve were still here, we’d be saying the same thing but to him and you still wouldn’t get a say but we respect you too much to just drop you off with a carer without telling you why.”
“This isn’t fair!” Sky jumped up as they shouted. “I’m seventeen. I’m old enough to make my own decisions, hel, I’m old enough to join The Military Guild.”
Lore responded calmly. “It’s not just you though.”
Sky sat down. “I can look after them.” They looked over at Blue. “Give us a ship and I’ll take care of them myself.”
“And who will look after you?” Char poured Blue a drink.
“You will.” Their voice cracked.
“I don’t think we’re going to be coming home from this one. We’ve found you someone who can look after you. Someone who’s definitely going to be sticking around.” Char lowered her head.
“Who? Do you even know them or are you just palming us off on a random?” Sky hit their fist against the table.
“We’re going to Tarthesis to meet a woman called Dee and her daughter Synran.” That calmed them down significantly.
“Dee? Syn?” Blue finally spoke up. Their voice was quiet and subdued. “From Rexel?”
Char nodded. “The very same. She’s going to pick you up on Tarthesis and take care of you, at least until this is all over.”
“If we make it back, we’ll come back for you but it’s a big if.” Lore added. “It’s not that we don’t want you in the fleet, it’s just too dangerous.”
“If it weren’t for us, you would have had no hope on Rexel.” Sky scoffed.
“And you’d have never done whatever it was you did on Illia without me.” Blue’s courage had returned somewhat.
Lore smiled a sad smile. “And we thank you for that but now, we’ve got things under control.” Lore paused. Nothing happened. “We’re sorry to spring this on you but it’s for the best. You can go and say your goodbyes now if you want. We’ll be landing on Tarthesis in about two and a half hours.”
“We’ll be coming to meet Dee with you as well.” Char added. “We’re not just dropping you off and running.”
Sky shook her head. “The other Lores are going to hate you for this.”
They were doing it for a reaction and Lore didn’t want to give them the satisfaction. They simply got up and tucked their chair in. “Two and a half hours. Tarthesis.”