A Xenogeneic Return
Once the words blurred into clouds, Cate knew it was time to leave the sofa. She stood up slowly and shuffled toward the hallway, placing her book on one of the many piles stacked on the floor. Nearly sixteen years had passed since Aiden made the jump back home, but she’d kept her promise to herself to use no new technology until xir return. She’d even disengaged her smart home system, placing the hub in a closet stuffed with dusty digitalia. Tempting as it was, she couldn’t bear to hear the stolen replica of xir voice, trapped in a corporate shell.
Propelled by a sigh, Cate extended her hand to complete her nightly switch-flick ritual. But tonight, something was different. Flick…er. Flick…er. The light wouldn’t turn off. How odd, she thought. Usually it’s the other way around.
Once more, she tapped the toggle. Flick…crack-kow! A surge of electricity erupted from within the wall, whipping around the room and coursing through her body. Cate crumpled to the floor, and the lights went out. All except for a faint glow outlining the door of the abandoned closet.
“What happened?” Cate said, as she came back to consciousness. Noticeably absent was any sound from her neighbors, so the surge must have affected her apartment only. She looked around, and on seeing the pulsating closet, crawled toward it and stood to open the door. There, amid the pile of old technology, was the deactivated hub — glowing beyond its programmed capacity. How was this possible?
She hesitated, then picked it up. Immediately, a voice resounded in her headspace as if it were her own. “Cate, please don’t be afraid. I’m sorry for the shock. It was the only way I could return. We’ve only got a small window of time — will you come with me? I can…”
“Yes, of course I will, Aiden.” Her tears were liquid joy, dissolving into the device along with the rest of her. The hands-free hub hovered in the air of the empty apartment for a moment, before smashing onto the wood floor and out of existence.
After the dissolution, Cate found herself in a crystalline lattice of light. She seemed to be traveling forward, or maybe in all directions. But there was no her to be found — no limbs, and no form. Just pure existence. Pure consciousness. A far cry from the lonely lifestyle she’d had for years. She might have panicked, but her transition was eased by her traveling companion who, despite xir own formlessness, held her close. The journey lasted what seemed like an eternity, until the motion stopped, and they both began to take form.
“We’re here,” Aiden said, as a new realm unfolded before Cate’s emerging eyes.
…to be continued
