Paradise of Lead Trilogy

by Mackenzie Morris

  They stay there, holding each other and not even a blizzard can come between them, never again. Isidore swears it.

  The culmination of Isidore's grief and loss now releases him from its grasp. The shock of it all is overwhelming. His mind can't focus as he holds tightly to the woman he would give his life for. Even if she doesn't want to be with him anymore, Isidore can die happy now, knowing that she is alive. Overcome with relief and joy, he kisses her, not caring that everyone is staring at them. He's missed this feeling, the intimate connection of two souls, even if he doesn't truly have one, bound in a moment of time with each other. If this makes Clara uncomfortable, she will have to deal with it. Isidore needs this. He needs to taste her sweet mouth, feel her smooth lips, and revel in the comforting warmth of her breath on his face. When Clara's hands move up to his neck and tangle in his hair, he kisses her more passionately than he has ever kissed her. If he could, he would take her right here and now in the snow.

  Clara pulls away from him and takes his face in her cold pink hands. "Yes. The answer is yes!"

  "To what?"

  "I will marry you. I was wrong. I was so wrong. I love you and I can't be away from you ever again. I need you to be with me. I have been dying inside all of this time, but now I know the truth and I don't want to lose you. Make me your bride and never let me go."

  He kisses her again then his fingers find something on the back of her head. It feels all too familiar and he feels sick. "What's this?"

  "Oh. A USB port."

  Isidore moves her hair out of the way and gasps. "What? What did they do to you?"

  "I'm like you now." Clara says. "Whoever they are, they are trying to change M.A.G.E.s into T.I.M.E.s to replace the ones who were slaughtered on the space station. I'm a T.I.M.E. now."

  "How? You're not a M.A.G.E."

  Clara takes Isidore's hand and holds it out in front of her. A pale green mist envelops their hands and a warm sensation dances across Isidore's skin. She smiles. "Regeneration magic. I tried to hide it from everyone. I was never very powerful, but it was there none the less."

  "So you're a computer . . ."

  "Less of one than you are, but yes. I'm still learning about it and I passed my time in that horrible place when those people were gone by programming what little could be programmed. I'm mostly human still. I just have a microchip."

  "I see." Is it bad that he is so turned on by this? Sexy doesn't even begin to describe her now.

  She clings to his chest and shivers as the snow piles up on top of their shoes. "I'm cold."

  "Come on. Let's get into the Jeep. I'll hold you and warm you up." Isidore picks her up, causing a small bit of pain to himself from his still healing wounds, and carries her to the backseat where he joins her. He finds himself a bottle of water then he takes off his coat and bundles her up in it. Isidore wraps his arms around her and swears that he is never letting go of her again.

  Isidore says a prayer of thanks to God, if he will hear the prayers of an android, for bringing Clara back into his life. He watches Blice, Damien, and Byron talking out in the quickly falling snow. He should probably be out there discussing everything, but he can't leave Clara. He will get Blice to fill him in on the drive back home. When Isidore starts to say something to Clara, he looks down and smiles. She's asleep between his legs with her head on his chest. Gently kissing her head, he closes his eyes and breathes in her scent.

  They eventually finish talking and Blice removes his snow-covered coat before sitting in the driver's seat. He gives Isidore a thumbs up and starts the engine. "She asleep?"

  "Yeah."

  "You're still crying, aren't you?"

  Isidore dries his eyes. "Sorry."

  "You have nothing to say you're sorry for. Love doesn't need an apology. What are you going to do with her now?"

  "She wants to get married."

  Blice's smile vanishes. "Oh."

  "What's wrong with that? It was your idea in the first place."

  "I don't want her to crush you again."

  She won't. He knows it. Something is different now.

  "Before you jump back into this, I want to talk to her."

  He can't let him hurt her. "Don't hurt her, Blice. Please."

  "Hold on-"

  "I'll take whatever you're going to do to her. Hurt me instead. I can't see her in pain."

  Blice sighs and rubs his eyes. "Why does everyone think I'm a violent person? Why on Earth would I hurt her? No. I just want to talk and figure things out, like why she said no the first time. Do you really think I'm that evil?"

  "Will I get hurt if I lie?"

  "Damn it, Niko. Stop. You're breaking my heart."

  Clara stirs awake and looks up at Isidore. "What's going on?"

  Isidore kisses her. "We're just talking. You can go back to sleep."

  "Nope. It's time for our talk." Blice says.

  "Talk?" Clara asks as she pins her hair on top of her head.

  "Okay. I am so happy that you are alive, Clara. However, I have something to ask you." Blice slams on the brakes and turns around to look straight at Clara. "Who the hell do you think you are? You think it's okay to play with his heart and when he falls for you, you betray him?"

  Her eyes are wide as she looks at him. "Let me explain-"

  "No. Let me explain something to you. I don't care who you are. No one hurts my Niko and gets away with it. He tried to kill himself when he believed you had died. He gave you his heart and would have done anything to make you happy, but you only wanted to destroy any human emotions he has managed to form. You just couldn't marry an android. Is that it? Do you think that computers and androids like him don't deserve to be loved?"

  "Isidore killed six children in Rubble City." Clara says plainly.

  Isidore pushes her away. "What? No! Never!"

  "Who told you that?" Blice asks.

  "Inquisitor Clark. I know now that it was a lie. He had been spreading that rumor around and I found that it was all lies. That's who kidnapped me and set my truck on fire. Then he brought me out here. That's why I couldn't marry you, Isidore. Inquisitor Clark hacked into the network and found out that you had Kazimir's insignia so he sent out a warning to the Inquisition stating that you had begun to malfunction and you were trying to kill children."

  Killing children? "Does that sound like something I would ever do?"

  "No. Looking back, I should have known it was all a lie. I'm so sorry for all those terribly mean things I said to you. I don't feel that way about you. Can you forgive me?"

  "Why didn't you come talk to me?" Isidore asks. "Do you not trust me, Clara?"

  She rubs his leg. "I do. I was so confused and trying to work on another case-"

  "Another case?" Blice asks as he starts driving again. "What case?"

  "It's personal and involves someone high up in the government. I'd rather not incriminate myself for any crimes involving slander."

  "Damien is a murderer. It's not slander if it's true." Blice says.

  "How did you know? There are too many coincidences surrounding Seth's death, the bombing at the Outlander Force headquarters, and Maria's death. That last one they ruled a suicide, but I'm not convinced. While I sometimes enjoy Damien's company and I don't question his authority and ability to perform his duties to the government, I can sense a darker side of him. I don't have any evidence to accuse him of those crimes, though. There has to be something."

  "We are waiting for a toxicology report from the police to tell us what kind of substance she overdosed on." Blice says.

  "They didn't tell you? It wasn't an overdose. It wasn't drugs or poison. It was nanobots. They were injected into her bloodstream where they quickly multiplied and devoured her internal organs within seconds. I've never seen anything like it."

  "You know? How do you know?" Isidore asks.

  "I had access to a computer in there which is how I sent you that email. I'm so glad you knew it was me."

  "We didn't know it was you. We figure
d someone had stolen your password. Anyway, what did you find about Maria?" Blice asks.

  "First, we have to look at what we found out about Seth." Clara says. "I don't like talking about the deceased, but I think this needs to be known. He was left impotent after Damien paralyzed him. That wasn't his child."

  "Whose was it?"

  "No one's. It was an android fetus. Turns out that Seth was doing his own experiments on the side. I was able to hack into his data that he saved to the Outlander network."

  Blice nods his head. "That means that Damien had access to that information as well."

  "Precisely. Little does he know that he killed six trillion dollars."

  Isidore chokes on his water and wipes his mouth. "What? Six trillion dollars?"

  "What's wrong? Didn't know you were worth so much?" Blice asks. "To the Inquisition, knowledge is worth more than money and with the backing of the government, they will spend whatever they have to in the name of science. You are worth more than all the T.I.M.E.s who died and the M.A.G.E.s currently alive combined."

  "Why? What's the point?"

  "To say that they created an artificial human. What else? Do we need another reason?"

  "But spending all that money on me when so many people are starving in the wasteland is . . . absurd. It should be a crime."

  Clara grabs his hand. "But Isidore, your primary goal in life is to-"

  Blice interrupts her. "Shut up, Clara. Not one more word about that. He doesn't know."

  "You haven't told him?"

  "No. He doesn't need to know because it's not going to happen. Now drop it."

  "I can tell him if I want to tell him."

  "I don't want to know, Clara." Isidore says. "I don't want to know if it's such a bad thing. I'd rather live my life while I can then face that when the time comes. For now, I want to be happy with you and get married."

  "When?" Clara asks.

  Isidore looks out the window as the wind dies down and the snow has stopped at this point. The tall evergreen trees surround the dirt road on both sides as cardinals peck in the snow for food. The sun peeks through the spaces in the clouds, making the white glitter with yellow and orange from the western sky. It's too perfect to pass up. "Let's do it now."

  "Now?" Blice and Clara ask in unison.

  "Yes. Right now before anything happens to stop it. I'm ready to make our relationship official and I swear to you that I will be the best husband I can be."

  Blice stops the Jeep. "Are you sure? Clara?"

  She nods her head and smiles.

  "Okay then. Everybody out. Let's get this crazy wedding over with."

  Isidore takes Clara's hand and they run out into the snow, scaring the birds up into the trees. So this is actually happening. Now he starts to get nervous. Even as he takes her in his arms, he is terrified that she will run off. He knows deep down under the insecurity that smothering her isn't going to be beneficial to this marriage, but he needs her at this point and nothing is going to keep her away from him. He will do everything in his power to make sure that she never leaves.

  Blice joins them and takes both of their hands. "We'll do this simple and quick. Isidore Nikolai Williams, do you take Clara Amelia Lifestone to be your wife?"

  "I do." Isidore squeezes Clara's hand and says another prayer. Let her say yes this time.

  "Clara Amelia Lifestone, do you take Isidore Nikolai Williams to be your husband?"

  Clara looks up into Isidore's eyes. "I do."

  "Clara, tell Isidore how you love him."

  She smiles and blushes. "Isidore, never in my life have I been so deeply in love. Something in my soul is desperate to be with you. You are innocent, caring, and the most self-sacrificing man I have ever met. I am the luckiest girl in the universe to have found you."

  "And you, Isidore."

  How can he put this love into words? It's impossible. He has to say something so he speaks the rawest embodiment of his feelings. "Clara, every minute I've lived since meeting you has been filled with more meaning and hope than the other minutes of my life combined. I thank God every day for deeming me worthy of a love like this. You make me human."

  Blice digs in his pocket and slips something into Isidore's hand as he leans close and whispers to him. "Here you go. I had it sized so it should fit perfectly. I'm proud of you."

  Isidore looks in his hand. The rejuvenation ring. He takes Clara's hand and slides the ring on her finger.

  "By my power as President of the Unified State, I now pronounce you husband and wife. Niko, kiss your bride."

  * * *

  Down below the apple trees where the tiny pink blossoms blanket the fresh soft grass with a sea of fragrant petals, Isidore kneels down and lays his bride in the pale moonlight. The Presidential Gardens are alive and vibrant even this time of year. The sparkling stars high above them in the midnight atmosphere do not outshine the glimmer of anticipation and clarity in Clara's glossy eyes as she gazes into his. As he touches his fingers to her warm chest, he becomes lost in her beauty. He is enraptured in her spell, her gentle breathing, the quiet and nearly undetectable whispers of her heart. Her timid lips quiver against his fingertips, their delicate nectar clinging to the shallow curves. The hushed symphony of the water in the fountain surrounds them as they kiss, breathing in each other's essence.

  Together without anything between them, they feel the heat of their bodies, the sensual thrill of their nakedness, and the expanse of time in concordance with the vibrations of the universe. These sacred moments belong to them alone, to carry them farther when the weight of their memories and past pains attempt to devour their hope. Encased in an hourglass of trust, their love will transcend even the boundaries of humanity.

  35

  Happiness is an understatement. Isidore has spent all morning searching through synonyms in databases and dictionaries trying to find a word to describe how he feels. Elation? Contentment? No. Nothing fits. He settles for happy.

  Today, he is the one making the pancakes. He sneaked into the kitchen after the chefs had gone to bed and began making hundreds of pancakes because he couldn't sleep. He was too overwhelmed with emotions and had to have an outlet for them. Clara was asleep, so he couldn't do anything there. Now he wipes his face and looks around at the kitchen where piles of pancakes are stacked on every surface. He got creative with some of them, adding berries or chocolate chips. Then he got overly creative and tried to put beer in them for Blice, but beer pancakes were never meant to exist. He found that out real quick.

  Isidore sits on the counter between two shoulder-high stacks of pancakes and nibbles on some apple cinnamon ones he made. Not bad. He glances up at the clock. Seven in the morning. He's been at this for eight hours. What to do with the pancakes . . .

  "What the hell happened in here?" One of the chefs enters the kitchen and looks around.

  Isidore slides off of the counter and hands him a pancake. "Hungry?"

  "Have you been cooking?"

  "What does it look like?"

  "Shouldn't you be with your wife?" The chef asks.

  "Probably. I wanted to make her pancakes, though."

  "I think you've made enough. What do you want to do with the rest? I can throw them out."

  "No. Take them to Rubble City. Give them to the people there. Tell Commander Alexi that they are a gift from his favorite computer who never dies. He'll know what it means."

  "I will have them delivered later this morning."

  "Thanks." Isidore makes a plate of pancakes for Clara and one for Blice, finds a bottle of maple syrup, then goes back upstairs to their bedroom.

  He holds the bottle of maple syrup in his mouth as he balances the plates and opens the door. Blice is already awake and going over some paperwork that is spread out all over his bed. "Morning."

  Isidore hands him a plate. "Good morning. Eat up. There are plenty."

  "Is that what you've been doing?"

  "Yep." He goes over to his bed where his wife is asleep under
the blankets, her hair cascading over the silk pillow. After he sets the food on the table, he crawls onto the bed and gently kisses her eyelids.

  Clara smiles and moans as she wakes up. "Hello, you."

  Isidore smoothes her hair and kisses her lips.

  "Did you sleep at all last night?"

  "Nope. I made you and everyone in Rubble City breakfast." He holds out the plate of pancakes with the strawberries and whipped cream that he made special for her. "Hope you're hungry."

  "Oh, darling. Thank you." She sits up and hugs him. "You're so sweet."

  "Niko, what's the plan?" Blice asks.

  "What do you mean?"

  "You two aren't going to live in the same room as me, right?"

  "I, um . . . I haven't thought about that."

  "Here's my dilemma. I need you here with me. You're the vice president and you're still my personal computer. You may have control, but I still have to have you with me."

  "I'm not sending Clara off somewhere."

  "I didn't say anything like that. I'm trying to figure out what to do."

  "Is ten thousand dollars enough to buy a house?" Isidore asks.

  "No. You haven't spent that yet? Money isn't an issue anymore. I have enough from what my father left me. Turns out I was still in his will. Crazy bastard. The more I try to understand him, the less I can figure out. But I can't have you living in a different place than me. This is one thing I will fight you over and I will win because I will take it to the courts and as an android, you have no rights."

  Isidore bows and stares down at the floor. "Forgive me, Blice. I didn't mean to upset you."