Lin

Ray woke up from a very nice dream. He had slept really well, felt immensely refreshed, and was stretching. On the chair were his pants, underwear and a t-shirt that he wore very often. His sneakers looked like new. He looked closely: everything was new, sneakers, pants and t-shirt. Impressive what they could do! He dressed quickly and went into the next room. The table was set, breakfast like at home. He had a leisurely breakfast and smoked a cigarette, then looked at the model of his spaceship again. He floated the camera back into the throne room. He knew the camera wasn't a camera, but something very sophisticated that he didn't know a word for. Next to the throne room was the command center. He floated the camera in and was amazed to find that everything was in motion, parts appearing from nothing and being inserted by invisible hands. "It's not a model, it's the real command center being set up!" whispered the voice in his head. Ray rubbed his eyes. "Is this all real?" The voice fell silent, giving him time.

He reached for the wooden box and took another cigarette, poured himself a cup of coffee and looked up.

She stood in the doorway smiling. He recognized her immediately, the girl from the video. She was much younger than him, 20 at most, and slim with beautiful black hair that reached her hips. He looked at her beautifully shaped face, the full breasts under the translucent summer dress and her slender build. She wasn't wearing any underwear, he noticed that immediately. He smiled back.

"Come closer," he asked, watching her gracefully walk toward him and stand still in front of him. He put his hand on her back and let it slide down her small butt. "Do you know me?" he asked and she replied, "Yes, of course, you're my man, Ray!" She had a very pleasant, full voice. Her beautiful almond eyes rested on him. "What do you want to call me?" she asked, looking at him expectantly. The thoughts tumbled in his head, he had had a vacationer from China in the Caribbean, she was great and very impressive in bed and hasn't left his mind since. Her name was Lin.

"Lin," he said simply, and she nodded, "Lin, like the gem!" He made her sit down next to him and grabbed her hand.

"Would you like to be my wife, Lin?" he asked quietly and she nodded and kissed his cheek.

"Yes," she said, smiling, "that's why I'm here!" She leaned against him. He poured a second cup of coffee and offered her a cigarette. They drank and smoked in silence.

"Would you like me to show you my spaceship?" he asked and she shook her head. "I know it very well, we did it" she said and he realized that he was speaking to the Jareel through her. "I want to go to the command center and familiarize myself with the devices." Lin nodded and followed him. They let the camera take them to the command center and spent most of the day in front of the consoles. Lin could explain everything to him like the most competent engineer. She paraphrased the sometimes difficult to understand terms in terms of his world and remained patient if he did not understand something right away. He was a lawyer and not a fighter pilot, he knew that. Nevertheless, he stubbornly continued to practice, trying to use both the voice input and the manual controls. Lin was a very good teacher, patiently explaining over and over how it actually worked. He needed a break, a coffee and a cigarette. Without a word, Lin got up and served. They kept practicing until he got hungry. What he would like to eat, Lin asked and he only thought about it for a moment. "Steak with fries and salad like yesterday," he said, "and then vanilla ice cream with whipped cream." She nodded, "We'll eat in 10 minutes, shall we have an aperitif first?"

They drank a martini and talked about their situation. He said that unfortunately he hadn't showered, he hadn't found a bathroom in the morning. She laughed out loud and ruffled his hair. "The bathroom is right at the head of the bed," she said, "you can take a shower with me before bed if you like!" She smiled faintly because it hadn't escaped her notice that he would have preferred to skip dinner. But the table was set, the hot steak was waiting for her. After dessert he had Lin serve him an espresso and they smoked and chatted happily.

Lin stood up. "Shall we take a shower?" she asked teasingly and he followed her. They showered and splashed happily, then lay down on the bed. The Jareel had done an excellent job, Lin was the sum of all good memories.