Chromeheart

by Alia Hess

  Kissing two girls in one day. I should have become an adventurer a long time ago.

  He pulled a tie from one of Dewbell’s braids, unravelling it into a small blonde waterfall. She pulled out her others, the loose hair falling onto his shoulders. Dewbell ran her fingers through his dark curls, then tugged up on his shirt. Sasha pulled it off and unbuttoned his shorts.

  A loud rip cut through their aroused murmurs and styrofoam pellets gushed as the bean bag collapsed, causing Dewbell to fall onto Sasha. He laughed. “We broke it before even doing anything, baby.”

  Dewbell grinned and pushed herself up, sitting on a different bag. Sasha climbed on top of her. For a moment, he thought of Dusty’s petite hand on his face as she admired his eyeblack, then of Dusty putting her arms around him and kissing his split lip. He pushed the thoughts away and pulled off Dewbell’s shirt, staring at the freckled cleavage spilling from her pale pink bra.

  “I would ask you to say something else dirty to me, but writing on tablet is not that sexy.”

  Dewbell made an obscene gesture and Sasha chuckled, wiggling off his shorts.

  “I have weak heart, so if I start to pass out, you slap me awake. Okay?” She smacked his cheek playfully and he laughed. “Hey, not yet. My heart got to go faster than this. I think you can make it do that, yeah?”

  Dewbell nodded and unhooked her bra.

  Sasha lay on an exploded bean bag, staring at the black ceiling. “Oh, that was fun, baby.” Dewbell probably couldn’t read his lips in the dark. He fished his tablet from his shorts on the floor and wrote her a message.

  Dewbell pulled on her shirt and took the tablet, replacing his words with her own. Once he read the message, she erased it and wrote:

  Sasha grinned.

  She chuckled.

  He nodded and crossed his heart, pretty sure Lucky already knew this was going to happen. After dressing and bidding Dewbell good night, he sauntered toward the mattress store, hands in his pockets and a satisfied smile smeared across his face. As he crept into the dark building, his foot hit something hard and he swore loudly. “Irina. Half-light.”

  The camouflaged drone glowed like a small moon, highlighting moldering mattresses and the path to the shopping cart. Dusty slept on a nearby bed, wrapped in a dingy orange sleeping bag. She was still wearing his shirt, and the dainty silver bracelet on her wrist sparkled in the soft light of the drone. He sighed, dragging his hands down his face.

  It’s better this way.

  He shut his eyes, picturing Dusty on the bean bags with him instead of Dewbell. Dusty unhooking that black bra and tossing it aside. Dusty sliding out of her baggy trousers and running her pillowy lips across—

  He shook his head and let out a breath.

  I don’t feel guilty. Besides, she slept with that dumb cowboy. If she likes me so much, why’d she go and do that? He frowned and slumped onto the mattress. She did that because she’s selfless. Trying to help children. This selfless, fun, clever, strong-spirited girl who likes my jokes. I need to leave her alone. I wasn’t even good enough for Irina.

  There was another woman on his mind as well. Owl needed to know what happened with the virus, and that he was going to Hammerlink to find her brother. Now that a little time had passed and the event didn’t feel so fresh, it was time to talk to her—not that the conversation was going to be easy.

  Drone access via tablet might not even be possible anymore, for several reasons. For one thing, having all the drones in standby over different areas was pointless now with the map near completion. They might all be back in Priyut. And for another, he didn’t know if his password would still work after leaving the facility. There were ways to hack around it, but it would take a while and his tablet was only at half-charge.

  He could send his current drone, Irina, to their house, but it would be much more convenient if he could use one already near the Islands.

  After accessing the facility’s database, his access still worked and he was able to patch himself into drone B5, happily discovering that it was still hovering over the island of Nis. Sasha used the controls to send the drone west, flying it over forested hills and white houses. It was much harder to command the drone by tablet than with a joystick, but still doable. He stopped over a spiral-topped house with a sprawling garden, a chicken coop in the backyard.

  It was late, and Sasha wasn’t sure if Trav and Owl would still be awake, but the risk of waiting until morning was too great now. Someone in surveillance might notice what he was doing and cut off his controls. He carefully tilted the holographic joysticks jutting from the tablet and the drone descended, then bonked against the front door of the house. After a moment, the door opened, and a very confused Islander looked into the camera. He was shirtless, his shoulder-length blond hair disheveled. He rubbed his pale face. “Sasha? Is that you in there?”

  Sasha hopped off the mattress and walked outside. He turned on the screen of the drone and smiled into the tablet. Recognition creased the Islander’s strong, angular face.

  “Hey, Trav.”

  “What are you doing here this late? And are you wearing eyeblack?”

  “Yeah, I’m adventurer now, like you guys were! I would like to talk to Owl, and some stuff happen you want to hear about. I tell you all about it in the morning but right now I have to ask you weird favor.”

  Trav frowned. “Okay. Uh, this is going to sound weird too, but do you want to come in?”

  “Yes. Thank you. Is Owl sleeping? She have baby already, right?” Sasha sent the drone past Trav’s imposing form and into the house. Shafts of moonlight streamed into the dim front room from the ceiling and glazed the sage green walls. He set the drone on a sturdy wooden table near a window, and turned it to face Trav.

  “Yeah, she and Son of Owl are asleep. Where are you?” Trav squinted into the drone’s screen. “That doesn’t look like your lab.”

  “No. I am at some strip mall in Nebraska. Er, the East. By Hammerlink. We can talk more in morning. But right now, I need your help. I need you to break control module on back of drone.”

  Trav pulled out a chair and sat, raising his barely-there eyebrows. “You want me to break the drone?”

  “No, no. Just control module. It is tiny box on back of drone. Looks like little square with two metal things sticking out. Just rip it off.” Sasha leaned against the wall of the building.

  “And why am I doing this?”

  “If you don’t, someone else will fly drone back to facility, and it will be harder to talk to you again. I want to tell you guys some stuff. Please.”

  The view of the living room wobbled as Trav put his hands on the drone, turning it until the camera faced the thick window molded into the clay wall. “I’m not going to get shocked or something, right? I’ve had that happen before and it’s not fun.”

  “No. It is only for flight control. It’s fine.”

  After a moment, a red error message blinked on the tablet, indicating controls were disabled. The drone swung around, the screen facing Trav once more. He held up a small, black object. “I pulled out the right part, correct?”

  “Yes. Perfect. Now there is no flight control and you can keep drone in your house and talk to me whenever you want. It’s like face-chat!” Sasha grinned.

  “Uh, you’re not going to be bugging us about stuff every day, right? Because if so, I’ll put the drone in the coop with the chickens.”

  Sasha laughed. “No, no. Only sometime. We can talk more in morning, or I can talk to Owl in morning if you are already sick of my face. But keep drone in your house, yeah? And you call me tomorrow, okay? I don’t want to turn on drone and see you walking around naked or something.”

  “You better not be planning to point this thing into our bedroom. Is the camera on all the time?”

  “If I did that, you would hunt me down and break all my bo
nes. Camera is not on all the time. Drone will be turned off unless I really need to talk to you. Maybe turn it to wall or something.”

  Trav pointed his finger at the screen. “Chicken coop. Remember that. And I’m not sure I should trust you, especially after that stuff you said when you were drunk—”

  Sasha frowned and looked away.

  “But you did apologize. And Owl seems to like you, so… How do I call you?”

  “Okay, so there is sensor above screen. Is little red light. You cover this sensor with your finger for few seconds, and drone will give me tamper message. Then I know you want to talk to me.”

  Trav sighed, then smiled, revealing his filed teeth. “Alright. See you in the morning, Sasha.”

  Sasha turned off the drone and his tablet and walked back inside. Dusty had shifted positions, one arm over her face and her shirt hiked up above her navel. He walked to her slowly, staring at the welts on her stomach from the corn kitten’s paw. Her soft hands felt so nice in his… With a pinched face, he gently pulled the sleeping bag up around her and went back to his mattress to sleep.

  7 ~ Aleksandr~

  “What’s that say?” Dusty asked as Sasha pushed the shopping cart down the highway. Lucky’s party walked slightly ahead.

  Sasha looked at her, then back at his tablet, checking for a tamper message from drone B5. Those Nisians sure slept in late. But he had to cut them some slack—their baby couldn’t be more than a month old.

  “What does what say?”

  “Those symbols on the back of your tablet.” Dusty pointed to the label on the cover.

  “Aleksandr Roborovskiy.”

  “Is that who you stole that from?”

  Sasha laughed. “No. That is me, silly.” Dusty raised her eyebrows. “Sasha is nickname for Aleksandr. But don’t call me that, okay? That is what my mom called me all the time when I was in trouble. And I got in trouble a lot.”

  “You still get into trouble a lot.”

  He opened his mouth, then shut it, nodding. “Okay. I do something makes you mad, you call me Aleksandr.”

  “Oh, Aleksandr, I will.”

  Sasha looked at his orange shoes sheepishly. Dusty hadn’t actually accused him of sleeping with Dewbell, but he was pretty sure she knew. Cal hadn’t so much as glanced at either of them that morning, and that was fine with Sasha. Dewbell occasionally peeked back as he rolled the shopping cart over the asphalt. He appreciated the view he had of her from behind, but more enjoyed that Dusty still wanted to walk beside him, even though she was a bit surly this morning.

  The sky today was a dull disk of pewter, a chilled wind occasionally gusting past as they traveled south toward Lucky’s computer scavving spot. Buildings had thinned out, replaced with corn fields and far off barns and grain silos.

  “What about you? Dusty is real name or nickname?”

  She scowled. “Nickname. I don’t like my real name, either. But… you told me yours. My real name is Dessantia Daughter.”

  “That is nice name.”

  “No. It’s not. Daughter is the name given to girls owned by Bosses. I don’t remember my real last name… but I’m sure it was better than Robo—Robo—”

  “Roborovskiy.”

  The tablet chimed with a tamper warning. His stomach cramped. “Okay, got to make phone call now.”

  Not a conversation I really want to have, but Owl deserves to know.

  He turned on drone B5. Owl Melonvine, a fair-skinned Mainland woman with long, chocolate hair and dark eyes, appeared on the screen. Many small raised scars dotted one side of her forehead. She wore the bright, airy clothing of an Islander and was looking at the drone in confusion.

  Sasha turned on the drone’s screen. “Hello, beautiful.”

  A smile lit Owl’s face. “Hey, Sasha.” She squinted into the screen. “What happened to your lip? Every time you visit me you have a new injury on your face. Who did you piss off this time?”

  Dusty cocked an eyebrow and shook her head.

  “It was just little misunderstanding. I’m fine. You are looking great as always. Trav there too?”

  “Yeah.” The drone’s view swivelled to the kitchen. Trav stood at the counter, his hair gathered into a ponytail. A billowy navy blue shirt hung from his broad shoulders. He looked back and waved.

  “So where is cute baby?”

  Owl sighed. “He’s taking a nap, thank goodness. I was up half the night with him. I would have slept in later, but I know you wanted to talk to me this morning. It’s so weird to be talking to you in my house, since you usually ambush me from the trees on my way back home from the market.”

  “You just can’t help yourself, huh?” Dusty looked into the screen.

  “Hey, I have real reason to talk to Owl. Not to hit on her.”

  “Who’s that?” Owl asked.

  Sasha tilted the screen and gave Dusty a squeeze around the shoulders. “This is my new friend, Dusty.”

  “Hey.” Dusty shrugged Sasha’s arm away and he frowned.

  “Hello. So, Sasha, I haven’t talked to you in a while. What’s going on?” Owl put a hand on her chin and leaned toward the drone’s screen.

  Sasha’s smile fell away. “Dusty, you want to walk a bit ahead so I can have private conversation, please?” He stopped for a moment, letting Dusty take the cart. She shrugged, then pushed on ahead.

  He looked at Owl and paused, heart pounding and hands clammy. “So, um… I told you if I knew more about Dr. Krupin releasing virus, I would tell you.”

  “Yeah…” She frowned apprehensively. Trav appeared, sitting down and putting an arm around her.

  “Well…” Sasha sucked in a breath. Tell her. You can say it. Irina forgave you. Hopefully Owl and Trav will too. “He did it. And—and I tried to stop him, but it was too late. ”

  Owl put a hand to her mouth, eyes wide. Trav grimaced.

  “I’m sorry.” He wasn’t sure if he was saying it to Trav and Owl or to the rest of the world. “I should have tried harder; I should have done more. I should have locked that fucking bunker door. I—I hesitated. I was ready to hit him with statue, but he pulled trigger. I hesitated, Owl. And I killed… everyone.” His chest hitched and tears fell onto his cheeks. He pressed the tablet to his chest in surprise, heat flushing his face.

  “Sasha?” Owl’s voice was muffled in his shirt.

  He stopped walking and faced the other direction, away from Dusty and the rest of the party, lip quivering and tears streaming down his face.

  “Sasha, are you still there?”

  He gave a little sob, then composed himself long enough for a response. “Give me second, please.” After wiping his face on his sleeves, he took a deep breath and looked at the screen.

  Trav looked away and Owl gave him a sad smile. “Your eyeblack is running.”

  Sasha cursed in Russian and wiped his face again.

  Owl stared into the screen, face pinched. “Thanks for coming back to tell us. I… I don’t even know how to process that. And I can’t imagine what you must be feeling. I’m so sorry.” Her frown deepened. “Wish you were here in person so I could give you a hug.”

  He huffed. “A kick in ass is what I need. Or maybe Trav should give me another black eye. I am failure. Killed everybody. And then, you think I do something good to make up for it? Like… like… well, I don’t know what I could have did, but I didn’t do nothing. I just got upset and left facility.”

  Sasha looked up. His party ahead had stopped for a break at a rest area overgrown with large bushes and oak trees. He was glad, sitting on a curb and holding his dizzy head.

  “Are you okay?” Owl asked.

  “Yeah, yeah. Just my heart. Need break.” He wiped sweat from his brow and blinked away black motes.

  “Please don’t beat yourself up over this.”

  “How can I not? I was not hero. I am screw-up. Just like always.” Sasha sniffled.

  Owl pinned him with a look she sometimes got—a look that said he was being foolish. “Did you p
ull the trigger?”

  Sasha shook his head vehemently. “No.”

  “Did you stand by and clap? Did you cheer Krupin on?”

  “God, no. You are going to make me sick, Owl. I would not do that.”

  “Did you run away and say, ‘Well, it’s not my problem?’”

  Sasha hesitated. “Almost. I almost do that. But I couldn’t. I try to stop him, instead.”

  “Then you’re a good person, and no one has any right to tell you otherwise. Not even yourself. You understand?”

  Owl wouldn’t have hesitated. She would have done something right away and stopped Krupin. I don’t have her moral strength. But even she thinks I’m being too hard on myself. I did try to stop him. Does that mean that despite my confusion, my indecision, I tipped over onto the right side? Does that mean that’s who I really am inside?

  “I did good?”

  Owl smiled. “Yes.”

  Trav said, “At least you tried. And I hate to sound like an ass, but before this, if someone would have asked me to predict what you would do, I would have guessed that you’d run away like a coward. Good to see that those aren’t your true colors.

  “If you ever decide to come to the Islands, be sure to see us. You know where we live, obviously.”

  “Well, I am heading opposite direction right now, but I will keep that in mind. Thanks.”

  “You better,” Owl said. “Because you do deserve a hug. Not a black eye.”

  Near the rest area, Cal stood close to Dusty, talking to her with a predatory stare. Sasha frowned. “I think maybe I should go now. Call me sometime if you want. Oh, wait! Owl, I was thinking about this virus stuff so much I almost forget to tell you that I am going to Hammerlink. You still want me to look for your brother?”

  A huge smile spread across Owl’s face. “Yes! That would mean so much to me. I miss him a lot, and letters are a poor substitute to being with him in person. If you could record a video for me like you—”

  “Actually, I have better idea. When I find him, maybe I can make meeting with you and him. He can use this tablet and you can use drone and talk to each other like we are talking now. So he can see your beautiful face.”