Sherry Domingo was suspended in an oblong, gelatin-filled capsule, preserving her until her family could say goodbye. Her face retained its cinnamon hue. Her blood had stopped mid-whirl within her heart. Every enzymatic reaction and neuronal discharge was held still in their final moments.

 

Elias hugged his older brother, Jacob. “I’m sorry, Kuya. I can’t believe she’s really gone.”

 

They knelt before her encapsulated body in the triage pod. Their mother would have expected this. Before them was the woman who had spent her life sacrificing so theirs could be better.

 

Elias kissed his fingertips and reached towards her forehead. “Stop,” Jacob yelled, and Elias jolted back. “If you disturb the gel, you’ll trigger the sensors. We need all the time we can get.”

 

Elias tensed. He had barely processed the loss, let alone the next steps. “All the time we can get?”

 

Jacob shook his head. “I hate to bring this up, but we can’t let them take her.”

 

"Of course we can, Kuya. It’s the law,” Elias said.

 

Burial on Kambota was considered to be an antiquated and selfish exercise. The deceased were mandated by law to be offered for scientific discovery rather than serve as monuments of the past.

 

“Mom would have been so disappointed in you. She taught us to stand up for one another,” Jacob said. His face was now flushed.

 

Elias turned away. “Think what you want. But mom is good as gone. What difference does it make now?”

 

“You know how traditional she was. And it’s Mom,” said Jacob. He clenched his teeth.

 

The words echoed in Elias’s mind: It’s Mom. She had always taught them to respect their heritage at any cost. She said that Kambotans had lost touch with the ancient customs that wove generations together.

 

“I need to know right now if you’re in,” Jacob continued.

 

Elias sighed. “I’m sorry, but I’m not.”

 

The triage pod was intimate. There was a row of seats parallel to the presentation capsule, but Elias and Jacob hadn’t taken any time to rest. Jacob fidgeted with his hands, bracing for the onslaught that would ensue if he activated the alarm.

 

“Enough. I’m doing it,” Jacob finally said. Elias’s eyebrows shot up.

 

Jacob took out a dense package from his backpack which neatly unfolded to a 28 cubic feet coffin-shaped box. As it formed, he pushed the chairs to the side to create space. The surface was dark brown and shiny.

 

Jacob’s arm hovered above their beloved mother.

 

“No,” Elias spat, and wrestled his brother away. They struggled on the floor of the triage pod, grappling for control of the situation. Elias held a stony grip on Jacob’s wrist, but Jacob was stronger. His hand pierced the soft surface of their mother’s capsule, bringing his brother’s hand along with it.

 

The gel spilled everywhere, soaking their feet. The alarm was louder than they expected. The color fell from her skin and she went limp. Gone was any chance for her body to advance the science that the Kambotans treasured so dearly. The pod had now become a target sign and the Domingo boys were outlaws.

 

Elias shouted. “What have you done?”

 

"Help me,” Jacob said. He fumbled to grip her slippery body. “Grab her head. I'll take her feet.”

 

There was no going back. Elias helped lift her into the coffin.

 

He followed Jacob’s lead and pushed the coffin outside the pod.

 

“Time to say goodbye,” said Jacob, triggering the rocket on their mother’s coffin.

 

Elias mouthed the words: I love you mom.

 

The coffin was equipped with blaster cells just powerful enough for it to go beyond the limits of human reach.

 

The burners flashed as if lightning had struck the ground beside them. By the time their vision came back into focus they caught a speck of their mom’s vessel vanishing into space.

 

The great ancestors of her great ancestors: the Igorot of Sagada hung their coffins in the Echo Valley so that the deceased could be closer to God. On Kambota, there were no logs to hollow and no cliff sides to suspend the dead. Traditions can and must withstand the tests of space and time, their mom had once told them. This world has become too pragmatic.

 

Jacob smiled at the thought of his mom resting closer to God. But he couldn’t help wonder if they might have just sent her even further away.