**** Elysium 1986 ****

It had been quiet at the North Beach villa for the past five months. It was only when Ralph, Yuri and, much later, Harry were released from Central Hospital that life began to return to TRAP’s headquarters. Abigail and her comrades had managed to escape the underwater base and dive back to their submarine after a wild panic broke out over the killing of the soldiers. The programmer had barely managed to dissuade Yuri from destroying life-support systems such as the oxygen filter, thereby dooming the rest of the base’s crew, and had convinced him to use his last ounce of strength to escape to safety. The base was no longer a threat to Elysium, as the PFN knew from the agents’ infiltration that this hideout and their plan had been exposed.

It was fortunate for the escape that the base was at a depth where no sharks were hunting, as the TRAP agents were unable to prevent their blood from entering the seawater due to their injuries. Harry was hit the hardest, with two broken thoracic vertebrae and more broken ribs, leaving him in a cast for weeks and requiring rehabilitation. Abigail, the only one unharmed, had visited her comrades every day, trying to find words of comfort, though she grieved as much as the others. Together, they had managed to stop Lazarus, and the PFN’s covert advance had been halted for the time being. But the price had been high, very high.
Once Ralph had managed to heave Yanny’s remains into the trunk of the car, he had simply driven away. He knew he needed to get medical attention as soon as possible, but he had returned to the mansion instead, still in shock. He had carried the body, no longer steaming with heat, from the garage to the basement, to the large freezer where they kept their food supplies. After hastily emptying the freezer, he had placed Yanny’s body inside and closed the heavy glass lid. It had been the only thing that had occurred to him at that moment, and it had been the most obvious thing to do. There was still some human tissue on top of the mechanical skeleton, and he had a clear idea of what would happen if he didn’t freeze the remains. Only then had he made his way to the hospital and finally collapsed in the emergency room while a night nurse filled out his personal information on a form.

Things had changed. When Harry was released from the rehab clinic, the doctors had warned him never to get into a physical fight again. He was more than lucky that after all the injuries he had suffered, no major restrictions would remain. However, his time as an agent was definitely over. He had taken it all in stride. There was no emotion on his face, his eyes seemed to stare into the void. Ralph had found him one night in the basement. He had been sitting on a stool, slumped over, staring at the freezer, its glass lid covered from the inside with thick flowers of ice, evidence of the last warmth from Yanny’s body after it was destroyed. He had sat here every night since his return from the hospital without saying a word. Ralph had taken him upstairs to the living room and made him drink whiskey with him. They had talked for a long time, until sunrise. They had talked about everything that had happened, listened to each other. It would take time, a lot of time. They came to the conclusion that at some point they would have to bury Yanny in order to come to terms with everything. The really hard part was yet to come. But they didn’t have the strength yet. A little more time had to pass.

Unlike Harry, Yuri had made a full recovery and the flesh wounds he had suffered had been well treated and completely healed. Only a few scars remained, of which he already had so many on his body. Of course, he was as depressed and grief-stricken as his comrades, but he tried his best to help the group get back to normal. Finally, he accompanied Abigail to an appointment with the police chief, Will Morgan, whose phone number the agency still had from the Crawler mission. Abigail had urged them to explain the destruction of the waste recycling facility to him. Ever since the events in the subway shafts, Morgan had trusted TRAP, and she knew they could make his job a lot easier with a detailed report and solid evidence. And she was right to trust him, handing over a hard drive with all the important information for analysis. Morgan quickly realized the magnitude of the situation and knew how to present the facts to the mayor so he could properly assess the situation.

A week later, a telegram arrived with a letter of condolence from the city and a special order for a large sum of money that would keep the group financially secure for at least another four years. In addition to the savings they had already set aside, there was no shortage of funds. After a long phone call with Carla Brandon, a letter of condolence from her arrived shortly thereafter. Those were the last days of the TRAP agency, finally Abigail had their joint ad removed from the Yellow Pages. They wouldn’t be able to take on any more jobs, it was over. When it became clear that there was nothing more to do professionally, Yuri decided to visit the stewardess Lisa again on the Sea Lord, and this decision seemed to change his life profoundly. Just two weeks later, the two of them, along with Yuri’s dog Anton and a well-equipped camper van, set off on a long journey to see the vast land around Elysium together. It was an open-ended trip, and Carla Brandon agreed to put her employee on indefinite leave. She knew what the agency had prevented and wanted to show her appreciation. The villa became even emptier.

It was deep winter when the phone rang one night. When Harry answered, he expected to hear Yuri’s voice, who usually called every week or two late at night to keep his friends up to date. Harry already knew that Lisa and Yuri were planning to get married in a small, quiet village near the metropolis of Sundale and spend the rest of the winter there before continuing their journey as a married couple. But it wasn’t Yuri’s voice at the other end of the line. It was a lady. Harry was surprised to hear who it was. When he put Abigail on the line and told her that Dr. Kelly Malcom, the head of the POWERS power plant, wanted to talk to her, she was just as surprised. Malcom was unsure about the conversation and stuttered several times at first, but slowly the conversation got going and lasted for half an hour before the CEO finally worked up the courage to ask Abigail if she would like to meet for a business dinner. The young woman had no objections and was looking forward to it. A distraction from the daily grind. It had been a long time since she’d had a chance to wear the fancy dress she’d bought for the mission on the Sea Lord.

So it came to a business dinner in one of the finest sushi restaurants downtown Elysium had to offer. A dinner where there was absolutely nothing business-related to discuss, and where both women had agreed on the pretended reason without saying it outright. Instead, they talked about many other things. Their eyes met again and again, and Abigail hid her hands, dry and chapped from too much disinfectant, under the table, kneading them nervously. The time since the last mission, the stress and grief over Yanny had rekindled her obsession with cleaning and hygiene and left clear traces. Her counterpart seemed to have been just as nervous since the beginning of the evening. At first, Kelly talked a lot about her company, the changes since the death of her proxy, and the cleaning of the Aon-I’s underground city. At some point, however, she turned the conversation back to the TRAP agency, and Abigail, who had been evasive at first, finally began to talk after drinking three small cups of sake. She told everything, the whole story, from the founding of the agency, to the many small and large missions, to her last mission at the underwater base. She knew that she should not have talked about it, but deep in her heart, she felt that she could confide in this woman. When she finally told the story of how her comrade’s remains were still in the freezer in the basement of the villa, she didn’t realize that her tears were already falling onto the tablecloth. Kelly was completely shocked by the story. The CEO of the power company had met Yanny in her office, and Abigail had briefly explained who and what she really was. After the cyborg had effortlessly disabled the power plant’s security systems, it had been obvious that the young woman could not be a normal person. As the restaurant finally closed and the last patrons filed out, Kelly offered Abigail a ride home in her limousine, and the programmer gratefully accepted. During the drive, however, they changed their minds and went straight to North Beach to continue their conversation and end the evening.

Due to the temperature, the North Beach boardwalk was much less crowded in the winter than in the summer, but the bars and nightclubs were still busy even at this late hour. Compared to the north of 86, winters here in the south were mild and there was very little snow. But enough to turn the beach into a romantic scene bathed in moonlight. Shimmering snowflakes fell sporadically on the two women as they walked slowly across the cold sand, wrapped in their warm coats.
“I don’t want to give you false hope with what I’m about to say,” Kelly resumed after a minute of silence. Abigail paused and looked at her questioningly from the side.
“What do you mean?” she replied uncertainly.
“POWERS employs two scientists, two developers. He has a Ph.D. in electrical engineering and she has a Ph.D. in mechanical engineering. They’re both a little eccentric, to say the least, but absolutely brilliant in their fields. I know you said you wanted to bury Yanny in the next few days… But maybe, just maybe, we could take her remains to the Nuclear Power Plant Development Department first, so they can take a look at the body? If anyone has any idea if it can be repaired, it would be these two. I promise you it won’t be a matter of scavenging the parts of old technology. You have my word.” Kelly cleared her throat sheepishly. She couldn’t gauge how Abigail would react to this suggestion, didn’t know if she had struck the right note. She wanted to help, maybe there really was a glimmer of hope? If anyone could perform such a miracle, it was these two scientists who had solved all sorts of obscure technical problems together. Abigail swallowed and thought before answering.
“You would really do this for us?” she whispered.
“Yes,” Kelly nodded and smiled at her, standing in front of Abigail and lightly rubbing her hands, which were in soft gloves. “The chances of success in such an endeavor are probably slim. Yanny was at a much higher level of development than my entire company. But shouldn’t we at least try?”
“That…” Abigail began, her voice shaking, “…we… I don’t know what to say. Of course I want you to try! You’re right, if there’s even the slightest chance, it would be fantastic if you gave us that chance.” Abigail knew exactly how much it would cost to try to fix old technology, and Kelly was offering her the chance without even thinking of asking for anything in return. Abigail sniffed slightly. Kelly couldn’t help herself, so she took a step closer and hugged Abigail. The programmer returned the hug, tightly and fervently. It lasted until the two women slowly pulled away and looked into each other’s eyes again. It was as if a knot had been untied, creating a deep intimacy that they both felt.
“You smell of lemongrass,” Abigail whispered, sending a shiver down Kelly’s spine. The sentence was completely unexpected and touched her in a very strange way.
“Yes, this is, uh…” she began to explain.
“I like it, the scent goes well with your blonde hair,” Abigail interrupted, smiling at her. Kelly stopped and was so embarrassed that she didn’t know what to say back. This time it was Abigail who took a step closer, standing on tiptoe to make up for the difference in height and planting a soft kiss on Kelly’s lips. It happened in the moment, it was unplanned, unpredictable and wonderful. Kelly’s heart skipped a beat and yet she was thunderstruck. “Thank you for a wonderful evening,” Abigail added.
“What…?” Kelly croaked, still confused.
“Huh, what? I kiss on the first date,” Abigail explained with feigned seriousness, shrugging her shoulders.

Categorized as: Novel 7 (EN) | Novel Chapter (EN)

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