{"id":604,"date":"2013-02-26T16:31:23","date_gmt":"2013-02-26T22:31:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hanilives.com\/?page_id=604"},"modified":"2013-05-03T09:05:35","modified_gmt":"2013-05-03T15:05:35","slug":"ch-5-b-sure","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/hanilives.com\/?page_id=604","title":{"rendered":"ch 5.b   Sure"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"ch 5.a   Double, double, toil and trouble\" href=\"http:\/\/hanilives.com\/?page_id=598\">&lt; previous\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <a title=\"ch 5.c    Spirits Dance\" href=\"http:\/\/hanilives.com\/?page_id=609\">next &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/hanilives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo14.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft size-thumbnail wp-image-599\" alt=\"light under door\" src=\"https:\/\/hanilives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo14-150x200.jpg\" width=\"150\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/hanilives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo14-150x200.jpg 150w, https:\/\/hanilives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo14-225x300.jpg 225w, https:\/\/hanilives.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/photo14.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/a>I woke abruptly, from a great depth, as if I\u2019d been asleep for several lifetimes.\u00a0 As if the sun had suddenly flipped up over the horizon.<\/p>\n<p>My room was dark, but there was an unaccustomed sliver of light shining from under the closed door; and an echo of movement beyond.<\/p>\n<p>I felt my body vibrating, like a kid on Christmas morning.<\/p>\n<p>Sure, sure, so <i>sure<\/i>.\u00a0 The feeling echoed through my head, vibrating deep down into my bones.<\/p>\n<p>Every fantasy, fairy tale and futuristic film I\u2019d ever seen, they all tumbled together in my head; the sum of them didn\u2019t come close to representing this awakening, into a day that promised to take me someplace new, someplace that, this time yesterday, I would have sworn didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Sure\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/i0vFzt9kN6Y?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Pure science fiction, really, except it wasn\u2019t. \u00a0I felt the reality; heard, faintly, the very real sounds of people stirring in my home, felt the inevitability of it all; wondering, in a way, why no one had thought to tell me before now that this was my destiny.<\/p>\n<p>But wait.\u00a0 I thought back to the few times I\u2019d had interchanges with my teacher, what he\u2019d said to me, talking about places I would go.\u00a0 I thought about how I was leaving him, too, but I couldn\u2019t feel regret.\u00a0 Or doubt.\u00a0 It felt more like I could feel his hands at my back, gently nudging me forward.<\/p>\n<p>What was awaiting me\u2026out there?\u00a0 Up there?\u00a0 Who would I be?\u00a0 Surely that Future Perfect world didn\u2019t need anyone to champion the rights of women?\u00a0 Not from what I\u2019d picked up from Uhura, a woman who definitely didn\u2019t need anyone else to champion her.\u00a0 But even saying goodbye to what had been my life\u2019s work felt like a natural progression, a joyous and inevitable completion.\u00a0 Whatever was out there, I was, well, sure I\u2019d find my way.\u00a0 I always had.<\/p>\n<p>Nothing in this world ever felt more natural to me than this.<\/p>\n<p>So natural, I poured myself out of bed without another thought and stumbled down the hall, into the light, unable to wait another second to get visual confirmation of the new world awaiting me.<\/p>\n<p>Yep, there they were.\u00a0 Testosterone filled the room, and I realized I hadn\u2019t even considered my appearance, which was hardly the stuff of male fantasy, hair un-brushed, the worn t-shirt that was oversized even on Bob, and cartoonishly so on me; bare feet and bleary eyes.<\/p>\n<p>I didn\u2019t really care.\u00a0 My heart leaped up, just knowing I wasn\u2019t alone.\u00a0 These new friends were going to save me, and take me away.<\/p>\n<p>Not exactly a rational attitude, but damn, even for a woman about to be murdered, in that moment, I felt on top of the world.<\/p>\n<p>Jim and the doctor were deep in conversation over by the windows.\u00a0 They both looked up and greeted me with grins that made me aware my half-dressed state might be more appreciated than I imagined, but it was the alien Mr. Spock\u2019s look that unnerved me.\u00a0 Brushing past me on his way back to his array of technological toys spread out on the dining table, he greeted me with that flat voice; then his gaze went straight to my chest.\u00a0 I reflexively looked down to see if somehow I was revealing more than I thought, but that was hardly possible; the old black t-shirt reached almost to my knees and was so baggy my body was only a hint beneath.<\/p>\n<p>So I self-consciously assured myself even a\u2026a Vulcan couldn\u2019t find me indecent, though my quick downward gaze did remind me I wished I\u2019d gotten a pedicure.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cInteresting,\u201d said the alien.\u00a0 \u201cNot strictly accurate, and predictably Earth-centric, but one might say, suitable to the occasion.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This guy was so freaky.\u00a0 What the hell was he talking about?<\/p>\n<p>I guess I was just a little slow on the uptake.\u00a0 I realized the other two were smiling at me.\u00a0 I followed their collective gaze again, and finally got it.\u00a0 I was so used to it, I\u2019d forgotten.\u00a0 My worn and faded t-shirt was the one with that famous image on it; the picture of the Milky Way, a big arrow, and the words, \u201cYou Are Here.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>I was glad that Uhura chose that moment to walk through the door, a large paper bag in her arms that smelled deliciously of fresh pastries.\u00a0 Now there\u2019s a gal with initiative, I thought, as I noted she was carrying my purse, which answered one question.\u00a0 My next question, which I figured would be answered all in good time, was whether they had croissants in space.<\/p>\n<p>My spiritual high didn\u2019t exactly desert me, but other realities quickly intruded.\u00a0 Like the fact that our carefully laid plan called for me to face down Lester Worsham in person.\u00a0 Last time I did that, I ended up bolting in panic, and that was in the middle of a Georgetown cocktail party, and when my threats toward him were vague and insubstantial.<\/p>\n<p>Now, I was being asked to let him into my apartment, with only a cocky space dude, a doctor, and Mr. Eyebrows standing between me and Worsham, a man who now scared me even more than he had 24 hours ago.<\/p>\n<p>I just had to believe that these guys could truly protect me, that they were somehow going to be faster, stronger, smarter than a man who, by their own account, had already devastated an entire civilization.\u00a0 In order to get to that hazy Future Perfect, whatever it was going to be, I still had to survive the present for a few more hours, and that meant trusting them with my life.<\/p>\n<p>Then again, considering all the bridges I\u2019d burned last night, it wasn\u2019t any longer a question of wanting to believe.\u00a0 I pretty much didn\u2019t had a choice anymore.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019d decided I should go about my usual Saturday morning routine.\u00a0 Steeped in TV police procedurals, I figured we shouldn\u2019t leave any possibility that people could say I was depressed or irrational or otherwise suspect myself.\u00a0 That meant attending my Saturday dance class, the one I never missed.<\/p>\n<p>Jim refused to let me go alone, given yesterday\u2019s threats.\u00a0 He decided that he and Mr. Spock would come along.\u00a0 I admit I felt mixed emotions about this, but the main one was relief.\u00a0 The idea of walking my old familiar neighborhood alone was now slightly terrifying.\u00a0 Beyond that, well, I admit my thoughts were all over the place.\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t really like they could just sit and observe; it wasn\u2019t that kind of thing at all.\u00a0 I cast my mind\u2019s eye on the two of them, projecting how they might handle the expressive, even cathartic, aspects of the dance.\u00a0 Captain Jim, I\u2019d already decided, hadn\u2019t met the situation he couldn\u2019t handle \u2013 at least in his own mind.<\/p>\n<p>I didn\u2019t think that unkindly, really.\u00a0 I\u2019d not only picked up on the trust and deference the others clearly held for him, but I\u2019d begun to feel the effects of his, shall we say, command presence, myself.\u00a0 It\u2019s just that I had so much riding on that confidence being legitimate, and the ultimate proof was yet to be seen.<\/p>\n<p>As to the strange Mr. Spock, I just had to trust Jim\u2019s call on that.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t imagine this robotic guy flinging himself around a dance floor to a lot of New Age music, but I was beginning to think maybe he was generally handy to have around.<\/p>\n<p>Strangers did drop in on the class from time to time, men included (though surely none stranger than these two).\u00a0 One thing was sure, if witnesses were needed later, no one was likely to forget that I\u2019d shown up with a couple of guys in tow.\u00a0 Off the top of my head, I decided we could say (if anyone asked) that Jim was a cousin of mine, a naval officer.\u00a0 Well, he was a captain, right, in somebody\u2019s fleet?\u00a0 And he\u2019d brought his visiting colleague from Belarus.\u00a0 People in D.C. wouldn\u2019t blink at a story like that.<\/p>\n<p>I had to dig a little in the spare room to find some of Bob\u2019s old exercise stuff for them, but we made do, and the Vulcan lightly improvised with a bandana to hide those tell tale ears and funky eyebrows, as if he\u2019d done this before.<\/p>\n<p>While we were gone, McCoy and Uhura would set the scene in the apartment.<\/p>\n<p>We\u2019d be back by 10:30.<\/p>\n<p>Worsham emailed me just after 2 a.m. to say he would be at my place at 11.<\/p>\n<p>After that, it was just a question of rounding third and sliding toward home.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><a title=\"ch 5.a   Double, double, toil and trouble\" href=\"http:\/\/hanilives.com\/?page_id=598\">&lt; previous\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 <a title=\"ch 5.c    Spirits Dance\" href=\"http:\/\/hanilives.com\/?page_id=609\">next &gt;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; &lt; previous\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0 next &gt; &nbsp; I woke abruptly, from a great depth, as if I\u2019d been asleep for several lifetimes.\u00a0 As if the sun had suddenly flipped up over the horizon. My room was dark, but there &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/hanilives.com\/?page_id=604\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-604","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/hanilives.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/604","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/hanilives.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/hanilives.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hanilives.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/hanilives.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=604"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"http:\/\/hanilives.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/604\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":738,"href":"http:\/\/hanilives.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/604\/revisions\/738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/hanilives.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=604"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}