What Comes Next

The past may be lost but the future is not

Julius had stopped trying to explain the bear. People always looked at it eventually. Some asked. Most did not. The little thing was worn nearly smooth in places, its yellow raincoat faded beneath years of dust and weather. Julius kept it secured beneath the strap of his pack where it could not easily fall.

DJ noticed it anyway.

They had been sitting on the edge of an old rooftop for nearly an hour, watching the lights of the City wake beneath them. Blake sat with his back against a ventilation unit. Laoch hovered nearby, turning slowly in the evening air. Trout had disappeared somewhere behind DJ's shoulder, occasionally emerging to inspect something that did not need inspecting.

DJ nodded toward Julius's pack. "You always carry that?"

Julius glanced down. "Usually."

"What is it?"

"A bear."

DJ looked at him. "Really? I couldn't tell."

Blake laughed. Julius almost did. He pulled the bear free and rested it across his knees. DJ's expression changed when he saw the tag. The writing had faded, but it remained legible.

To Maisie from Daddy.

DJ did not make another joke. Blake had seen the bear before. He had never asked.

"Maisie?" DJ said.

Julius ran one thumb across the edge of the tag.

"Was she yours?"

Julius looked out over the City. "I don't know." The answer hung between them.

Below, a jumpship crossed between towers. Somewhere in the distance, music drifted from an open window before disappearing beneath the hum of engines.

DJ leaned back on his hands. "You ever think you'll find out?"

"Every day."

"And?"

"Nothing that tells me what I want to know."

Blake finally spoke. "Maybe nothing can."

Julius looked at him.

Blake shrugged. "Doesn't mean you stop looking."

DJ nodded. "That's what I was going to say."

"No, it wasn't."

"It absolutely was."

Trout emerged from behind DJ's shoulder and gave an approving chirp. "See?"

Laoch rotated toward him. "Your Ghost agreeing with you is not independent verification."

DJ pointed at Laoch. "You stay out of this."

For the first time that evening, Julius laughed. It surprised him. Not because the joke was particularly good. Because the sound came easily. The three sat quietly after that. Julius returned the bear to his pack. He had spent so much of his second life looking backward. A ruined room. A handwritten tag. A name he could not place. A man he could not remember being. For a long time, Julius had believed that somewhere behind him was an answer large enough to explain everything. Maybe there was. Maybe there wasn't.

Blake stood and offered him a hand. "Come on."

"Where?"

DJ was already getting to his feet. "Drinks."

Blake looked at him. "That wasn't the plan."

"It is now."

Julius glanced at the bear, then followed them.

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