Chapter 30

Earth time: 7:43:22 PM Monday, June 27, 2022 (EST)

Aina time: high noon day 0 of 1423

"All systems are checking out fine. Are you ready?" Keona glanced at Mayoni and smiled. She looked completely relaxed and comfortable, hanging in her harness of ropes fifty-four meters above the rock path. Just above their head was the lip of the ledge leading to the sunflower plants and the solar tower. Below them was their base camp consisting of two tents, one for them and one for their traveling partners Kiana and Kahoku. Running the telephoto video was a two-person job, and the pairs had drawn lots to see which couple would get to do the core of the mission.

"Yep. And I think it's high noon right now. Let's do it!" Mayoni smiled at Keona as he very slowly raised the camouflaged telephoto video recorder above the lip. Mayoni stared intently at the small screen monitor in her hand. "Turn about ten degrees left... Slowly, slowly, you never saw Kapono's arrow, how quickly these plants can target... Stop... Back one degree to the right... A little more... Perfect! We are dead center on the solar tower..." Mayoni turned to give Keona a view of the monitor.

"Wow... The top crystal is huge. Are the plants targeting it?"

"Oh yeah!"

"Why doesn't it appear brighter?"

"Super good optics. All the light is reflected and beamed down into the core of the tower. Almost nothing misses."

Keona stared for a long moment. "Darling?"

"Yeah?"

"How could an optical surface stay that perfect for six million years?"

Mayoni paused for a moment as she considered her husband's question. "Yeah... You're quite right. An incredible mystery..."

"And the rest of the tower seems pristine too. But everything else is gone!"

"Everything else?"

"At the dam, we have generators, turbines, the switchyard, the transmission lines... It's not just a question of how could the solar tower survive so long. There's no evidence that it ever interfaced with anything. This makes no sense."

Mayoni stared long and hard at the video image. "You're quite right. Another excellent point."

"Yet the tower exists... Perhaps we're missing perspective of what this tower truly is..."

The long minutes flowed by in silence, Mayoni and Keona deep in their own thoughts. Finally Mayoni looked down at their camp below, smiled and sighed. "Thank you so much for accepting Kiana and Kahoku on this jaunt. It's really nice to renew our friendships with them like this..."

"Oh, I should thank you. Kahoku was like an older brother to me growing up. We had so many adventures together! I'll have to tell you about some of the pranks we pulled as small children, before we learned better... Ha! It really is kind of funny!" Keona sighed as he looked down at his friends. "I was close to Kiana too, growing up. I'm really glad you still get along with them so well... after what happened... you know..."

"Ah, it's all in the past. Now they're both my dear friends too. I think I'm enjoying this camping trip as much as you are. It's nice not to be nursing Lynnea anymore. Ha! Sometimes my mind feels a burst of guilt that I'm not with her. But I'm sure my parents and siblings are doing a fine job of caring for her."

"Yeah..." Keona wiped the sweat from his brow. "This trip must be a lot quicker than your last time here, huh?"

"Oh yeah! From the village, we got to the edge of the super canyon in what, two hours?"

"Ah, the miracles of the revolution, concrete roads and hydrogen cars..."

"On the way back Keona, you have to let me show you Lake Mayoni. Now that's a real miracle. Ha! As a tourist attraction, it really sucks!" Mayoni's sweet laugh echoed to the canyon below. She and Keona smiled at each other and returned to watching the monitor. The warm afternoon quietly passed by.

Earth time: 3:30 PM Monday, January 1, 2024 (EST)

Aina time: 9:29 PM day 271 of 1424

After feeling overwhelmed with waves of depression, Lois finally managed to get a few hours sleep. She was lying in her bed in a light doze when she dimly felt someone climbing in with her. As she felt a familiar hand start to caress her breast, she sighed and opened her eyes. "Hi Tal..."

"Hi..." Tal said nothing else. She just quietly stroked Lois's breasts in a loving manner. Eventually she curled her naked body against Lois, dropping her hand to caress Lois's stomach and abdomen. "Hiapo and Kalea decided to make a supper. It'll be ready in about two hours... Will you join us?"

"Oh, I don't know..."

"Kalea and I want to sing Happy Birthday to Hiapo. He's forty-five years old today... Earth years..."

"Yeah, I remember when they did the calculation... January 1, 1979... My husband and I are the same age now. I'll turn forty-six in a few weeks... Oh Tal, I feel so old..."

Tal said nothing for awhile. She just kept pressing her body against Lois and caressing Lois's breasts. Eventually she lowered her head to the breast, sniffing the nipple with her nose and tasting it with tiny licks of her tongue. Lois giggled at the sensations. Tal started to let her nose wander, smelling Lois's ribs, naval, and then her armpits as she continued to stroke her breast. "Kalea is breaking out some of our remaining Aina food supply, what you call the super-potato. It'll be really good! Come! Join us!"

"Oh... Yeah, I suppose..." Lois sighed and tried to smile. Tal smiled back and positioned her body above Lois, kissing her forehead and then offering Lois her taut breast. Lois accepted the offer, reaching up with her mouth to hold Tal's nipple with her lips, and then drawing the breast briefly into her mouth to suckle. She released the nipple to caress it with her nose, and then sniffed across the side of the breast and into Tal's armpit. "Ah Tal, Kalea has you pegged. Your body really does smell a bit like fresh-cut hay. It's really nice..." They turned and kissed and hugged each other, locked together for a long moment petting each other's hips.

Tal finally broke the silence. "We had the TV on..."

Lois grimaced. "What's the latest? Any radiation heading this way?"

"We might be okay... Weather patterns are pushing the fallout up to Connecticut and out into the Atlantic... Boston and Cape Cod are being evacuated... From various satellite images, they think the bomb was right in the Times Square area... Estimated yield was over 300 kilotons..."

Lois was silent for a moment, and then burst out, "Everything we love is being taken away! Such sick minds Tal! Jerusalem's been deserted for years, and by their own bomb! Why bother to live out such hate-filled desires?!"

"I don't know... Jihad and Tawhid suffered so many losses against the Women's Freedom Movement last year, perhaps they thought we'd be an easier target, one less likely to retaliate. I guess the U.S. could start blowing up the Middle East, but what's the point? Meaningless revenge?" Tal hand descended and rested cupping Lois's uterus, and then Tal bent her head and returned to suckling Lois's breast again. Lois sighed and placed her hand on the back of Tal's neck, holding Tal to her body. The minutes passed quietly...

"Oh Tal, I don't want to live here anymore..."

Tal released her suckle. "A year and a half Lois! Have courage..."

"I'm tired of having courage. I'm tired of being patient... And we really don't know if the Path will open then either."

"It's Kalea's best guess. And when it does open, we'll be able to tell Aina what really causes the plague."

"I know..."

"Courage Lois! We still have so much to love! We have each other. And we have Aina waiting in our future, our beautiful and clean Aina..." Tal returned to her suckle. As the minutes flowed by, she dropped her fingers and began to swirl them slowly in the silky curls of Lois's pubic fur.

The physical pleasure and her love for Tal eventually overcame the depression. Lois spread her legs to give Tal better access to her, and Tal quickly accepted the invitation. Her fingers were soon probing and exploring into Lois's moisture. Tal also strengthened her suckle, drawing the nipple high against the roof of her mouth and giving strong rhythmic pulses of suction. In her first year of marriage, Lois had enjoyed Hiapo's playful and gentle mouthing of her breasts, and was at first shocked at how vigorous Tal would be with her in bed. But she also realized that Tal's intense suckling was extremely erotic.

Lois drifted in the arousal, dimly aware of Tal's eager fingers finding her moisture and coating her upper labia and clitoris with it. Soon Lois was gasping and thrusting her hips in rhythm with Tal sliding her finger down the length of her slit. Finally the intense physical pleasure overwhelmed her depression, and Lois began to whimper for release. Tal's slick fingers responded, her thumb pushing in and up above Lois's clitoris, popping the sensitive nub from its protective folds. Tal's other fingers penetrated her vagina. Coated with new moisture, Tal then brought her fingers up to caress and pinch the exposed nub. Lois cried out as her orgasm hit her. It was massive, her legs spasming as she involuntarily arched her back and felt her body shake. Tal kept up the simulation throughout the rolling waves of pleasure, letting Lois come down only when she felt Lois was close to exhaustion. Lois collapsed into Tal's arms, and Tal lightly kissed her cheek as Lois caught her breath.