Despite Dr. Klimâs reassurrances, Luna wasnât sure it really was fine. But she didnât protest. Instead she simply nodded and followed his gaze â which seemed to be staring not at the garden but past it, at some future or past only he could see.
There were plenty of those, Luna supposed. Futures and pasts and future-pasts and past-futures. That was what happened when a person could fling their consciousness through space-time. It altered the very basis of chronology.
Whatever it was he was seeing or contemplating, the doctor seemed to be deep in his own thoughts and she didnât want to interrupt. And he didnât seem quite as melancholy or⊠Or rather, as resigned as he had before, and she took that as a good sign. So Luna fiddled idly with her necklace, enjoying the roomâs atmosphere â the sound of the little stream, the movement of the clouds projected on the âskyâ, the deep green of the grass. In fact, she got so caught up in the details of the garden that she almost didnât realize that Dr. Klim had spoken at all.
âHm?â Luna asked, although she knew by the softness of his voice he had probably been talking to himself. âDid you say something, doctor?â
It felt as if he had been ripped from the past and placed back onto the bench where he sat. Usually, itâd be a familiar feeling thanks to all the SHIFTing heâs done, but this was more a proverbial sense of the matter. Klimâs gaze dropped to his hands, glossing over the creases and wrinkles in the faux flesh. He spoke, this time a bit more audible in volume, âSomeone once told me that... that âhappiness is closer than you thinkâ. I didnât see it at first, back when I heard that, but now... Now I can see what she meant.âÂ
The past seemed to flicker into his mind like an old projection reel. A young Sigma--no, Doctor Klim even at that point-- walking though the new-yet-familiar halls of Rhizome 9. There were no bracelets, no chromatic doors, no AB Game--not even a bionic eye and proper limbs at that point.Â
Another flicker; heâs underneath some machine, tinkering away with a wrench in hand when a door hisses open. He assumes its Akane, but itâs not. A woman, an almost confused and lost expression on her face, seems to melt away when they lock gazes. She claims she knows him. He has no idea what the hell is going on.Â
Next slide; theyâre closer at this point. Heâs getting used to the prosthetics, thanks to the womanâs patience and kindness. She tells him about a bomb at a facility back in Nevada where he risked his life to stop it. Again, he has no recollection of this. Sheâs used to his answer at this point, and merely chuckles. They both feel at ease with each other.
One more; the two of them are sitting together at a table for dinner. He begins to reflect on life back on Earth. The conversation drops to more general level about the AB Project and life on the moon in general--how lonesome and mundane it gets. The woman stops him and says, â...I was going to ask you something about Dcom, but I know you wonât remember it, I guess.â He asks her to continue. She states that there was a timeline in which the two of them were trapped in the facility and had to make the best of life as time progressed. She goes on to say that it wasnât easy at times, and how emotions wavered, but living on the moon, to her, was in that same idea--take what you can get, make the most of life. Even in the isolation, take the time to improve upon yourself, focus on what needs to get done with no distractions... âEven though you said I was wrong then, I still believe it--that âhappiness is closer than you thinkâ.Â
The reels faded out into the present. Doctor Klim picked up his gaze from his hands and over towards Luna, his good eye pausing on her necklace for a second before finally meeting her pale blue stare. There was no sadness in his expression, or, at least he didnât think there was, but more of a look of firm understanding. It was true advice. Even if Klim felt hopeless or overwhelmed in his endeavors, he still needed to look at things from afar and see the bigger picture. It wasnât about him wasting time--it was him putting others needs before his own. And he was always more than happy to do such.Â
