is a weekly serial. While it is a work of fiction, it has elements from both my own experiences and stories I’ve heard from various people. The characters, while in some cases inspired by real people, aren’t directly modeled on anyone in particular. I expect there will be inconsistencies and factual errors. I don’t know where it is going, and I’ll probably forget where it’s been. Why am I doing this? To give me an excuse and a deadline for some creative writing and because I thought people might enjoy it. Gozatu!<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\u201cFor such a large building, it is remarkably empty,\u201d noted Kepa as they climbed what felt like the hundredth set of stairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Latxe nodded. \u201cI sometimes wonder if these big towers exist only to give those in power a high perch from which to scan their realm.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cLike the kings and queens of old, eh?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Latxe nodded again. \u201cPrecisely. For all of our technological advances, we still can\u2019t root out the desire for power. Or how power corrupts.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Latxe sighed. \u201cHow is it during your time? What is life like back then?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kepa chuckled. \u201cNot too much different, at least in terms of people wanting power. We of course don\u2019t have all of the marvels you do, and we are in a bit of an existential crisis, with climate change and the impact on our environment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He paused a moment as he poked his head out from the opening at the top of the stairs. He scanned left and then right. The hallway, like so many before, was dark. He climbed the rest of the way out and reached out a hand to Latxe. She smiled as she took it and pulled herself up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBut, it is good to know that some of those problems have been solved,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI remember reading about the climate problem in school,\u201d said Latxe. \u201cFor someone today, it is inconceivable that we let things get so bad that it threatened the very existence of the planet.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Kepa shrugged. \u201cAs a species, we can be pretty short-sighted.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Latxe laughed, and the melodic tone of her laughter made Kepa smile. And then blush. He turned away, pretending to examine the darkness down the hall. He felt a hand on his shoulder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDon\u2019t fret so much,\u201d said Latxe. \u201cI like you, and maybe in another world you and I could, you know, be together. But I know that, in this one, your heart belongs to Maite.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIn another world,\u201d Kepa mused. He hadn\u2019t told Latxe about the zatiak and the bubble. He couldn\u2019t bear to think about how he might be extinguishing her life, her history, when they pop the bubble. He kept telling himself that this bubble wasn\u2019t real, it wasn\u2019t the real time line, and that she had another life that maybe was better than this one. Maybe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Latxe smiled, thinking Kepa was considering that what if scenario. She looked at her tablet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe are very near Salazar\u2019s floor,\u201d she said. \u201cOnly one or two more to go before we reach them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Suddenly, the lights burst to life, nearly blinding them in their intensity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOh,\u201d said a voice at the end of the hall. \u201cDon\u2019t worry, you\u2019ve already found me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you get this post via email, the return-to address goes no where, so please write blas@buber.net<\/a> if you want to get in touch with me.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"De Lancre\u2019s suite was at the top of the tower and it took Kepa and Latxe a long time make their way up. The nanobots were efficient at making stairs and openings for them where none had existed before, but the two would-be rescuers were extra cautious after their encounter with the security guard and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4410,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2640,864],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventures-of-maite-and-kepa","category-bubers-basque-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/maite-and-kepa-v2-01.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2sYNu-1up","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5729","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5729"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5729\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5730,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5729\/revisions\/5730"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4410"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5729"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5729"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buber.net\/Basque\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5729"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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