​     A portal appeared in Trevor and Niki's shower room. Beyond the portal, Trevor saw the gray of Seatrailia.

​     "Looks cold," Niki said.

​     "We'd better get jackets," Trevor said. 

     "I still need to use the bathroom, too," Niki said. "You two need to get out of here for a second."

​     Five minutes later, the three of them stepped through the portal...

​     then, there they were, Niki and Trevor, back in Seatrailia after nearly a year of being away.

​     The first sensation they felt, oddly enough, was relief. They were, once again, on their home planet surrounded by the environment their species, humans, felt most comfortable in. Niki had no idea how much she'd missed the pull of Earth's gravity until she felt it again.

​     What she felt also, though, was fear.

     Immediately.

​     Although not fear for herself. She couldn't remember the last time she'd felt that kind of fear.

​     No, the fear she felt was for someone else, the person she'd been thinking about, dreaming about, for an entire year.

​     The moment she stepped back into her own universe, Niki felt overwhelmed by an irrational fear for her lover, for Fathom. In Niki's mind's eye, Fathom screamed out to her, "Help! Help!", with tears running down her cheeks and with scratches and bruises and streaks of blood all over her body.

     They'd come out in a deserted alley.

     "Sorry you two," Niki said. "Bye."

     She disappeared.

     "Grav," Niki said.

​     Her high top sneakers, the sneakers all three of them wore, were, in actuality, combat boots, virtually indestructible and with a few extra added features.

​     One of the extra features was that the bottom of the boots were dotted with anti-grav nodes.

​     Niki said the word, "Grav," and her combat sneakers allowed Niki to rise in the air. Niki leaned forward, and she moved forward, away from Trevor and Pomimi, out the alley and down Greatway Avenue.

​     "Niki!" Trevor called out after her. He was supposed to be team leader.

     Niki curled into a ball and continued to lean forward. Now she really zipped down the sidewalk.

     "Where's she going?" Pomimi asked.

     "I know where she's going," Trevor replied. 

​                                                  CONTINUE