We Leapt Into the Sky

Chapter 38

Kendra shifted against the stone floor. Slowly, her awareness returned, but she didn't dare to open her eyes. The ground was cool beneath her, solid, and yet different in ways she couldn't articulate. Had it worked? She noted the configuration of her body: legs and arms, a torso, and head. Gingerly, she shifted her leg. Her ankle met the floor with slight resistance before dipping through the ground, sending an unsettling vibration through her. Kendra's eyes shot open, and she scrambled back, wrenching her leg upward.

She was like liquid, moving with more fluidity than she had ever experienced. She examined her body, holding her arms to the light. Her limbs were grayish with the luminescence of a pearl. Shadows formed her body, shifting and flickering at the edges like a fire. Streaks of color moved beneath the surface.

"How do you feel?" the ship asked.

"Lighter. I'm not in pain anymore."

"The procedure worked as expected. Your body has retained the physical configuration you are accustomed to, but you may change form as you see fit."

Her chest vibrated in an unfamiliar way as her words filled the air. "Am I speaking aloud, or are we communicating telepathically?"

"You are speaking. It seems you intuitively learned to create sound in your new form."

"That is a comfort. Though I admit that phasing through the ground is unsettling." She tried to stand, but the movement didn't translate, as her limbs had no real purchase on the stone beneath her. Instead, she found herself rising into the air and hovering there.

"It will take time to adjust," the ship said. "My analysis confirms you are in excellent health. You are free to leave and explore your new capabilities."

"Thank you—I'm alive because of you," she said.

"And Aster, who has recovered because of your assistance and inspiration. You helped each other, and that enabled me to help you."

Kendra smiled, sending a burst of red light through her. It shimmered in a wave from her face down to her hands.

She ran her fingers along the walls of the ship as she left the chamber. Colors danced, glinting off the sharp angles of the ship's inner structures, geometrical shapes of uncertain purpose—perhaps solely decorative. Cobalt and violet swirled over burgundy and gold alongside other colors she could not name, but instead experienced like brief bursts of joy and melancholy and hope.

Aster leaned, arms crossed, against the outer wall of the ship, wearing a faint frown as he waited. Relief flooded her at seeing him, rushing forth in a wave of light, a golden glow that washed over Aster's face and hair. "Goodness, it worked," he said.

She met him, reaching for his shoulders, but her hands passed through him, sending another faint buzzing sensation through her. "Ah, sorry."

"No worries; you'll get the hang of it. Let me adjust." His body grew fainter at the edges. He reached for her, grasping the shadowy form of her hand. "See? Now we're both less aligned with physical matter, but we won't phase through each other."

She studied his face, from his wide, dark eyes to the shadows flickering at the edges of him like the last embers of a fire. There were colors buried in those shadows, shifting beneath the surface, swirling patterns in pools that went deeper than she could imagine.

"What are you thinking, Kendra?"

"Relief. It hasn't all sunk in yet, but I feel ... better."

She clasped his hands in her own. It was unlike the sensation of skin touching skin, and colors flickered where their hands met. Beneath them was something solid, like the solidity of the night sky compressed into palpable shadows resting against each other. And if she pressed down further into him, she wouldn't feel the firmness of muscle and bone below, but she would brush the edges of his mind.