Chapter 34 — The time and the place

Still in her bed, Angie was thinking about the meaning of her dream.

That vision of a strange and beautiful galaxy… She had already seen it once. In another dream.

Yes, she could remember it very clearly. It was in that dream she once had several years ago, after which she craved a kitten so badly that she just couldn't refrain from going to that animal shop the next day. There she bought a small grey female ball of fluff. It was Fluffy.

It had been a suggestive vision sent on purpose by the cat goddess so that Angie would come and pick her up at the pet shop. They could do such things from their spaceship. It was certainly the same kind of thing now.

She remembered that Fluffy explained once that the sight of the Fluffy galaxy was their visual signature. Whenever they sent a psychic message, the galaxy appeared at the end of the communication.

So, it was obvious. That dream she just had was a message from Fluffy's space crew!

"But if it is a message… What does it mean?"

She thought more thoroughly.

"Could it be… an appointment?"

That hypothesis made a lot of sense to her. After all, the dream contained a time and a location. The glade where she used to gaze at the stars with Marvin. 3:33 A.M.

"I have to be there at 3:33. But… does it mean… tonight?"

She had a small shiver, because the nights were starting to become a bit chilly. And the worldwide government had passed a law imposing that the central heating units be turned off.

It was half past one now.

"I guess I have no choice. I have to go."

She walked out of her bed, got dressed, and went to the kitchen. Taking a short look through the window she saw the calm city immersed in the night.

She prepared some of Eugene's stuff in a bag, putting his bottle, some powdered milk, diapers and so on. After hesitating a bit, she added a few packets of Fluffy's favorite treats.

Then, silently, she pushed the door to Eugene's room.

The baby was sleeping tight in his crib, holding his fox cuddly toy against him. Angie watched him sleep a moment, and felt a bit of unexplained sadness.

Gently, she took him in her arms. Milky started to move reluctantly, although he did not wake up.

Angie laid down the baby on the changing table and changed his diaper. Then, she started dressing him for going outside.

"M… Mommy?" went the baby while his eyelids were still closed.

"Yes, my love."

He moaned softly.

"It's still nighttime, Mommy. Why do we have to get dressed?"

"Because it is cold outside."

But he fell asleep again before being able to ask more questions.

Angie dressed him in warm clothes with a furry hooded jacked so he would not get cold outside.

Lifting him up from the changing table, she held him in her arms, then went back in the kitchen, took the bag she prepared earlier, and walked towards the entrance door. She turned off the light.

When he figured out that they were leaving, Milky went half-awake.

"Mommy, can we take Mr. Fox with us?"

"Of course, my love."

After that, they took the elevator down to the garage. The child was now hugging tightly his fox astronaut plushie. Angie installed Milky in his baby car seat, then sat down next to him, behind the wheel.

"Where do we go, Mommy?" asked the sleepy child.

"To a nice place. You'll see. It's going to be a great journey."

"Really? Oh yeah!"

"Sure. And we'll meet Fluffy again. Don't you miss her?"

"Oh yeah! Of course I miss her."

"Then you're going to love that place."

"Great! I'm sure I'm gonna love it."

She smiled with a hint of bitterness, then turned on the headlights and drove out of the garage.

They drove for a while outside of town. Angie remembered exactly the way that lead to the glade, so she drove confidently on the highway.

Then she took a little road that was going through the woods. It was completely unlit, and thus very dark. Only the car's headlights were shading some faint light through the oppressive darkness. Angie had to drive carefully.

They finally arrived at a spot she recognized. It was a place barren of trees, the nice glade where she and Marvin used to come.

She stopped the car and turned off the headlights.

"Where are we, Mommy?"

"We are… at the center of a great forest."

"Oh. And what do we do now?"

"We wait. And we can gaze at the stars."

"The stars? What are 'stars'?"

"It's all those bright little spots that you can see through the windshield. Look up in the sky! Do you see them? Stars!"

"Oooh!"

Milky was looking up with awe.

"I never realized there were stars up there."

"It's normal." Angie chuckled. "You're just a baby."

She was still not very used to the fact that her baby could now speak fluently with her.

"So…" continued Eugene, visibly making an effort to turn things over in his head. "These are in fact the things Mr. Fox always sings about, right?"

"Yes, exactly! See how they're twinkling?"

"They're so beautiful! Now I really wonder what they are…"

Angie chuckled again.

"Don't worry. You'll get to have a closer look to them."

"Really? So cool!!"

They waited some more. Angie checked the time. It was almost half pas three.

"If I wasn't wrong…" thought Angie "they should be there in a few minutes."

They waited. Eugene was still gazing at the sky, trying to figure out what these little stars were made of. Could they be touched?

Angie checked again. Now it was 3:33 A.M. She looked up in the sky. Still nothing.

The seconds rolled over and now the watch was displaying 3:34 A.M.

"They're late…" said Angie.

But then something moved in the nearby woods. There was a soft shuffle in the darkness, and Angie could make out some leaves moving in the bushes. She wasn't quite sure, it was but an indistinct shadow.

"What was that?"

But then, it went calm again. Nothing was moving anymore.

Angie thought "Maybe it was just some wild animal. Some deer, or wild boar… Or maybe something worse…"

It was now 3:35 A.M.

"Maybe I'm just crazy to be here." she thought. "What am I doing in the middle of a forest, at night, alone with a baby? God only knows what could happen if we had a bad encounter…"

Looking at the time again, she felt a jolt of frustration.

"I clearly was mistaken. They're not coming. It was just a stupid dream!"

A that moment, however, Milky noticed something else in the sky.

"Look, Mommy." He was pointing his little finger upwards. "Are these stars too?"

She looked up and saw five brights spots moving at high speed around a sixth bigger one. There was a golden shine to them.

Suddenly, the six spots slowed down and converged to the same location in the sky. There, they seemed to merge together in a bigger spot, releasing a great flash of light.

This newly formed object stood still, hovering in the sky for a few seconds just above the glade. Then, it suddenly came down with a trail of light at a surprisingly high velocity, but somehow managed to land smoothly.

Inside the car, Angie and Eugene were opening their eyes wide, trying to understand what appeared in front of them.

The mysterious object was now sitting in the middle of the glade, a giant egg whose shell was made of some sort of glowing yellow metal. Although golden like the sun, it had not its dazzling radiance, but rather the pale hazy brightness of the moon. 

A luminous wind was seemingly emanating from the object, swaying the high grass around it, and chasing the darkness away.

Milky clapped his hands.

"Oh, wow! Oh, wow! That was so nice! I loved it!"

"I wasn't wrong in the end!" said Angie. "It's them! It's them! I knew it!"

Then she added with a jeering smile: "You're late, guys."