Michael Siemsen - Exigency

And they had a little wide-mouthed bottle they’d designated for this purpose! Where was it? Buried in a bin somewhere, outside!

Another violent groan from John.

This was hell frozen over. She knew it now: hell was the stabbing pain of an adamant bladder, and the inability to resolve it.

Just go! Get up and go!

“Fine!” she blurted, and fumbled with her bag’s zipper.

She’d disturbed John but didn’t care. He sucked in a fast breath, croaked on the exhale, and fell right back into his breathing pattern. Minnie wasn’t quiet about leaving the tent. She groused and grumbled, swore at the stubborn door zipper, and crunched across a thin layer of snow to the nearest shrub. Cold wrapped her head like a vise and tightened.

Wrestling off the top of her suit with one hand, she tried to keep pressure on with the other. With gravity against her, she couldn’t hold it any more.

Come on, hurry up! Almost there!

“Shut it! I’m not just taking my time here!”

She threw the top of her suit behind her, bent over, and pulled it through her legs, out of the line of fire. Dancing from foot to foot, she unsnapped the environment shirt from the trousers, and then, in one swoop of her thumbs, dropped her suit bottom, environment trousers, base layer, and undershorts. One hand on the shrub for stability, stinging cold raking at her exposed skin, all she could focus on was the too-slow draining. The pain had yet to subside.

There you go… yes… halfway home…

Bliss replaced anguish as the last few drops cut through the rising steam. Heaven was the relief of an emptied bladder, and she’d arrived at the gates. Not even the breeze nipping at her legs and backside could lessen her joy. It actually wasn’t so cold, now that she was in it.

She pulled up her shorts as she stood—too fast—a potent head rush. A glance down at the crumple of clothes at her ankles. What a mess. Too much to deal with right now, and besides, she was a little hot anyway. The cool air felt nice on her face, neck, and bare knees. No need for all those layers right now.

She shuffled toward the tent, suit bottom bunched around her ankles, top dragging behind her as she snickered at how this would look to a passer-by.

No passers-by out here, that’s for sure.

“Right? You know Aether would die laugh—”

Ouch. Poor choice of words there, babe.

A couple meters from the swaying tent door, Minnie stopped. With a flashing biostat alert filling her fone view, Minnie stared at the tent, at the space she knew John currently filled. She could feel her pulse in her fingers and toes, chest beating.

Feels like a big one coming on, hon. Probably best to run it out.

“Dad said never try to run it out. Said lay down.”

Dad said not to think of him. Kind of messed up, really, but I’d say the advice applies here. Feel like running?

“Yes.”

So run.

“Okay.”

She tried to start, tripping on her suit, and yanked a foot from one boot, planting the socked foot in snow. And fell over. Her hand crushed the thin sheet of snow and landed on an unseen sharp sticker.

“Dammit!”

She plucked the thing from her palm and kicked violently at the suit bunch ensnaring her other ankle. The foot broke free, and she was free.

Long-sleeved environment shirt over a tank, plus undershorts and a pair of thick envirosocks. Probably underdressed for the weather, but she’d be running, generating her own heat, and wouldn’t be gone for long.

The first few strides felt good, the next few even better. Glands rewarded her for her cooperation. A fresh wave of euphoria. She knew exactly what was happening, and sped up her pace.

Of course you know. And you’re doing what you need to. You’re doing goooood.

“Now you have to tell,” Minnie said with steamy breath.

Tell what?

“Whatever it’s too soon for me to know. Tell or I’ll stop and go back.”

So demanding… very well. You were right. It’s about Aether.

Minnie dodged an orange shrub at the last second. She realized her biostat alert was still flashing, obscuring her vision. Real helpful. She tried to shut it off, but it wouldn’t go away. What a stupid design. A few more strides and she realized the thing was also buzzing in her ear.

“Goodnight, fone.” She enabled optical pass-through and the world regained clarity. “You were saying?”

Aether. But I’m not sure you want to know this—

“So help me, I swear I’m gonna turn—”

It was never real.

Minnie continued running, chewing on this. She hopped a decaying epsequoia trunk.

“Expound. Real what? Real for who?”

Her. Of course it was real for you. You loved her with all your heart. Still do.

This line of thought wasn’t entirely new. She’d worried in the beginning, couldn’t believe she’d found real love, couldn’t understand what Aether saw in her, thought she’d come to her senses at any second and say, “Whoa, sorry everybody! John is definitely the love of my life. My mistake!” But Wise Minnie was making it sound like some sort of conspiracy.

Private moments with Aether flashed through Minnie’s head as she skipped left-right-left across an outcropping of round-headed rocks. Aether’s skin and hair and lips and breath. Heady conversations, sore-gut laughter, M’s.

“You’re wrong. It was real.”

Yeah, you’re probably right. Let’s forget about the whole thing.

There was something more. What was she trying to hide?

Nothing. Focus on your footing.

Minnie skidded to a stop and headed back to camp.

Fine! Look, you were doing so well until a couple years back! Remember that review?

She reversed again, resuming south. “Damned John and his stringent BS—”

You started isolating yourself, went all passive-aggressive with quotas…

“Hahah… if I made a quota I was pissed. I think I only hit my water that first month.”

Right, but exercise, game, missed meetings, hygiene, going silent in group…

“Childish, but those were good times. Drove John crazy, I’m sure.”

Not just John. Everybody was worried! You’re the lynchpin of the team! It was bringing down everybody’s morale. Something had to be done.

Minnie slowed to a jog, trying to remember. It hadn’t seemed like others were worried… everything seemed fine otherwise. Only John was gnashing.

When did your behavior change? When did your quotas return to normal?

Minnie felt a pinecone in her throat. She knew exactly when she’d shaped up. Her biweekly one-on-one with Aether. Something was different, from the second Minnie closed the office door. Aether had said—

“I need to tell you something…”

“… and I’m afraid of the consequences…”

“… but I can’t go another day without telling you how I feel.”

“I’ve fought it.”

“I’ve taken meds.”

“She laughed with a little tear forming in her eye and said how she’d consulted with a sim therapist in her game. And I still had no idea where she was going with it.”

She leaned forward in her chair, put one hand on your hand and the other on your cheek.

“ That’s when I thought I knew where she was going! But I still couldn’t believe it.”

And then she said…

“I’m madly in love with you.”

Minnie stopped to catch her breath. She was shaking violently.

Don’t stop! Not yet!

“You’re crazy. That was the realest moment of my life.”