Kepa and Maite waited in line to board the ferry to Santa Klara island. The whole time they kept seeing flashes of light coming from the peak of the hill that formed the island.
Kepa shook his head. “It is so weird seeing something no one else can see. I almost feel like we are chasing ghosts.”
Maite nodded in agreement. “Quantum ghosts. I still can’t quite wrap my head around this whole mixing of magic and science. It doesn’t make much sense to me.”
“How does the saying go?” asked Kepa. “Any science advanced enough will seem like magic to those who don’t understand it?”
Maite laughed. “Something like that.” She paused a moment as they climbed onto the ferry. “You have a point. I just don’t understand this science, at least not yet.”
She felt a rumbling in the back of her head. Garuna was stirring. She wondered how much the AI understood about the science of these quantum bubbles. It was new to it too. In its home bubble, it might have been able to expend a huge amount of energy to process what it knew, but here, with only Maite’s body as an energy source, she doubted it could do much analysis at all. But, then again, she never would have thought that she would be hopping from time to time, popping quantum bubbles, and having an artificial intelligence taking up space in her mind.
Maite made her way to the rail, Kepa following in her wake. As the boat pulled from the dock, she just leaned against the rail, watching the beach in front of her. It was a nice warm day and La Concha was filled with people, young and old, just relaxing with seemingly no care in the world. Some were just lying there, others, particularly the younger kids, were dashing into the waves. She could almost hear them giggle. There were a few kayakers in the deeper waters. She made a mental note to try it whenever life settled down.
She sighed as Kepa snuggled up against her, his arm around her hip.
“It’s pretty,” he said.
“Bai.” Maite looked Kepa in the eyes. “Do you think we’ll ever get to enjoy peaceful moments like that again?”
Kepa’s eyes flashed surprise for a moment, struck by the sudden gravity of Maite’s question. He then turned back to look at the beach. After a moment he nodded.
“I do,” he replied. “I think we will find our own peace some day. It might take a while, but I think we’ll have our happily ever after.”
“How can you be so sure?” she asked in earnest, a slight panic in her voice. “What if we are chasing bubbles for the rest of our lives? What if this never ends?”
“I guess I can’t promise it will end,” said Kepa as he turned back to look at Maite. “But, I have a feeling it will. The zatia can’t be infinite – I don’t think it is either hydrogen or stupidity.”
Maite laughed as she let the sun warm her face.
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