by Elin Peer
Getting up from her chair, Shelly moved around, uncoordinated and nervous. First, she rolled her chair back to the desk, then she began moving things aimlessly around. “It’s probably best if you leave now.”
I was still angry but nowhere out of questions.
“Leave? I don’t think you understand the ramifications of what you’ve done.”
“I’ve made you angry and I’m sorry.”
I scoffed and walked over to turn her around. “I’m just fucking confused about why you did it, and I would have liked a choice.”
“I understand.”
“I doubt it.” I hardened my jaws. “It means that we’ll be marrying.”
Shelly took a step back. “No.”
I scrunched up my face. “Don’t be stupid. When you slept with me you chose me. You can’t sleep with a man and then not want to marry him. That’s not how it works here in the Northlands. You’re mine now.”
Shelly gave a chuckle of disbelief. “Marco, you’re angry and not thinking straight.”
“Don’t think so. I’m not the one pretending to be something I’m not. It’s obvious that your genius pushed you toward insanity. I’d say I’m the one with the clearest mind here.”
“I’ll never marry you.” Her eyes were wide open and she was staring at me.
I jerked my head back. “Wow. That’s harsh, even for you.”
There was a flash of regret on her face before she looked away. “I’m not trying to hurt you, I just don’t believe in marriage. It would never work anyway, since I’m only here for a short while before I’m going back to the Motherlands.”
“Then why the fuck did you sleep with me?”
She walked away from me and stopped in front of a large glass board with notes on it that made no sense to me. With her back to me, she repeated what she’d told me before, her voice back to being low and apologetic. “I was just curious.”
My head was exploding with questions but I was too confused, upset, and humiliated to talk about this in a calm way. “And it never occurred to you to tell me who you were?” I hissed.
Shelly’s head was bent down in shame and her tone of voice was defensive. “Yes, but then things just escalated. I didn’t know you’d be this angry about it.”
“I’m fucking furious.”
“I can hear that.” Her voice was thick and she nodded her head, still making sure to keep her back to me.
I watched how she moved over to stand in front of Mindy and fiddled with the robot’s hands, making herself look busy and shutting me out at the same time. The small bobs of her shoulders told me how she was suppressing her tears. Her breathing was shallow and coming in fast inhalations, as if she was taking in air but not letting it back out. I had seen this behavior in Nboys many times when they were too proud to cry in front of others.
“You want me to go, don’t you?”
“Yeesss.” Her word broke and I could tell she was close to the last straw before she would be sobbing. It pulled at my soft core. Shelly was still sensitive and proud, as she had been ten years ago.
“We’ll talk about this later then. This should teach you not to lie,” I said, throwing her own words right back at her before I slammed the door behind me on my way out.
All the way home, I was in a state of shock and my initial anger turned to disbelief. I’d had sex with a real woman who had given herself to me freely. In what world did that happen?
Shelly was beautiful and smart, so why was I so bothered by what had happened between us?
Because it felt like she’d been laughing at me the whole time. She’d known what was going on, while I’d been the dumb fuck who was tricked.
But that was only half of it.
I kicked at Storm’s shoes, lying in the middle of the entrance area, when I came home wondering again why I hadn’t recognized her. Maybe because every time I’d thought about Shelly these past ten years, she’d been fifteen with a large mane of unruly hair just like the last time I saw her. Opening the top drawer in my bedroom, I picked up a small box and pulled out a seashell she had given me before she left the school. Memories took me back.
“A seashell is symbolic in a way,” Shelly said while holding the small stone I’d given her as a joke. I had called it a portrait but only painted her gigantic brain on it.
“Symbolic of what?” I asked.
“Of you. The animal who lived inside that shell was soft and vulnerable on the inside and needed a hard shell too.”
I laughed and insisted that I was as tough as they come, but Shelly knew better and just shrugged. “If you say so.”
“I’ll treasure this shell. If people ask me I’ll tell them it’s a wonderful reminder of a genius girl who was wicked smart but needed to learn to shut up once in a while. You know, like a clam or an oyster.”
In her usual way Shelly retorted with ease. “And I’ll show people your gift and say it’s a reminder of a young man who had stones for brains.”
I would have never made fun of her lack of a filter if I’d known that the one time I needed her to speak up, she’d quiet and not tell me who she really was.
The thought that I had been inside Shelly Summers had me plunking down on my bed, my arms spread over the top of my head, and my eyes fixed on the ceiling with memories from that day.
Shelly had always been like a fucking unicorn. So rare and special that everyone around her knew they should be honored to know her. She was the kind of person who would go down in history for making the world a better place with her goddamn genius. Kids would learn about her in school and talk about her contributions to the world. I just knew it!
If I’d known who she was that day in the testing facility, I would have treated her with the respect and care she deserved. Her sad face when she left me was back to haunt me and made me curse out loud. I had hurt her feelings and made insensitive comments about her body and her skills in bed. I had fucking talked about her imperfections and shoved my cock down her throat. Jesus!
Self-loathing made way for shame as details from that day stood out clearly in my mind’s eye. She had been so beautiful, and I’d complained that I couldn’t make her breasts bigger. What a moron I’d been.
By some miracle, a woman had taken an interest in me and I’d been given a chance to prove myself worthy of her.
What had I done with this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity? I had fucking blown it.
Not that I stood much of a chance to begin with. This was Shelly Summers, for fuck’s sake. The genius.
I was mad at myself and mad at her for tricking me into thinking that she was a machine and nothing else. Fuck, I wish I had known. She should have told me!
My apartment was quiet and I sat on my sofa just thinking for a long time. When Storm came home, he went straight to the kitchen.
“Don’t drink the last beer, it’s mine,” I said from the open living room.
“Shit, you scared me,” he exclaimed. “I didn’t see you. Why didn’t you turn on some lights?”
“It was still light when I got home, and I guess I dozed off.” It wasn’t true. I’d been so deep in my thoughts that I hadn’t paid attention to the sunset outside.
“You missed out on the best part. Why the hell did you leave so soon? Hunter and I got to ride in the winning drone with Tristan. It was only a few minutes, but still. You wouldn’t believe how fast it accelerates. It’s like your whole body gets smashed back into the seat and you can’t move.”
Storm was building a pile of food on a plate. He came in with it balanced in one hand while carrying a glass with the other. “Tristan said he was there with Shelly, and that you took her home.” He took a seat on the couch next to me.
“Yeah, she had a headache.”
“I remember Shelly. She was a quirky type.”
“Still is,” I said in a flat tone. “Definitely out of the ordinary.”
“But I’m confused. If Shelly was the one sitting next to Tristan, then how come you thought she was a sex-bo
t?”
“I was wrong.” I turned my head and looked at Storm. “She just looked similar, but once I got closer I could tell it wasn’t her.”
Storm began stuffing his mouth and made non-verbal sounds because of all the food in his mouth.
“I have no clue what you just said.”
He swallowed. “I said, I can’t believe that Shelly turned out this hot. She was butt-ugly when we knew her.”
“Hey, I recall you with a fair portion of zits too. We all looked funny when we were teens. At least Shelly had more brainpower than all of us together.”
Storm laughed. “True, but remember how she would always go off about random things no one cared about? Or how we all dreaded it when she had kitchen duty?”
I gave a lazy roll of my shoulders, the corners of my mouth curving upward. “I remember one time when she and I had to do arts and crafts with you children. Shelly had this idea that we could all do something called knitting. She had studied the technique and could explain it perfectly, but she was so fumble-fingered that it was a big waste of time. I was laughing so hard because she refused to give up and kept at it long after the kids had left. It was ridiculous, but she had stamina, I’ll give her that.”
“I don’t remember the knitting, but I remember she couldn’t run or fight for shit.” Storm peeled a banana. “Remember how she always got lost on the morning runs because she got distracted by some flower, tree, or animal that she had to get closer to?”
“It’s the curse of smart people,” I said. “They don’t have much common sense.”
Storm made grunts of agreements and I snatched some chips from his plate, adding to the conversation: “But when it came to the academic stuff Shelly was phenomenal.”
“I can’t argue that. But to be honest, I always found it a bit spooky,” Storm mumbled.
“What do you mean, spooky?”
He lifted his shoulders in a shrug. “I don’t know, it was just like she wasn’t all human, you know.”
A triangle formed between my eyebrows as I frowned. “No. I’m pretty sure Shelly’s all human.”
“She had that freaky photographic memory and she could read a page a second.”
“She couldn’t read a page a second.” I threw a chip at him. “That’s sick.”
“Maybe not a second, but she would read a chapter in the time it took me to read a page, and we used to do quizzes on her to test how much she could remember. It was spooky.”
“You mean impressive.”
Storm ate his food for a few minutes and then he spoke again. “Hunter said that Willow might come visit soon. You know what would be fun?”
“What?”
“A reunion. We could invite all the first students from the school and have a summer party. I mean Shelly and Tristan are already here.”
“Tristan didn’t go to our school.”
“No, but he was there a lot, so he counts.”
“I don’t know. It sounds like a lot of work to track down everyone. Especially the ones from the Motherlands.”
“It’s not that many when you think about it. Mila and Raven live on the West Coast with their families, and with Shelly living here and Willow visiting Hunter, it’s only six others that we need to find. Rochelle is easy since she’s Shelly’s sister, and I’ll bet being a Motlander she has contact info on the others too.”
I lifted my hands in the air. “If you want to do it, be my guest. If you can pull it off, I’d love to go.”
Storm drummed his fingers on the armrest and looked thoughtful. “I’ll ask Hunter and Tristan to help. It’ll be epic.”
“That’s great.”
Storm leaned back in the sofa, brushing crumbs off his t-shirt. “Maybe we can do another test on Shelly. See if she’s still sharp.”
“Test her?” My neck began itching as it flamed up.
“Yeah, I’ll bet she still has her photographic memory. Do you think she’ll let us test her?”
I didn’t answer because his words of testing Shelly brought back strong memories of being deep inside of her. The thought of any of the others being that close to her made anger flare up inside me.
“What’s wrong?” Storm asked.
“Nothing.”
“Then why do you look so pissed all of a sudden?”
“It’s nothing.”
Storm changed the subject and when all he got from me in return were grunts and one-word sentences, he soon disappeared into his room.
I, on the other hand, was left feeling shocked at the force of possessiveness that his talk about testing Shelly had caused in me. The last thing I needed was to develop feelings for her. She had made it clear that she wasn’t interested in me and that she would be going back to the Motherlands soon. Besides, I would be going to a tournament and hopefully marrying Louisa.
Giving a small groan, I curled up on the sofa. This was all so fucked up!
CHAPTER 9
Tristan’s Headache
Shelly
“You didn’t eat much.” Tristan nodded to the plate I’d pushed aside.
“That’s because nothing tastes good here.”
“The chicken pie is tasty.” Tristan snatched at my plate and popped a piece of broccoli in his mouth.
“Yeah, they know how to cook meat. It’s the greens and salads they mess up. Fried rice with vegetables shouldn’t be that hard. Even I can do it and that says a lot, because I’m no culinary expert.”
“True, my taste buds are still recovering from that awful cake you made.”
“I didn’t swap salt and sugar on purpose. Sometimes, I just get distracted.”
“Which is why I’m happy you’re not working in a lab with chemicals,” Tristan pointed out with humor sparkling in his eyes. We were in one of his favorite places. To me the pub looked like a pre-war museum with all the wood panels on the walls and the benches and tables made of solid planks. A large sign above the bar said McGregor’s Irish Pub and topless bar-bots were pouring out large-size beer glasses to the many patrons in the bar.
“Since you’re not eating anyway, do you mind if we look at the plans?” Tristan made room in the middle of the table for a large paper with drawings on it.
I felt the paper. “Is this real paper made from trees?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t you have it in an electronic format?”
“It’s just a draft. Why, what’s wrong?”
“Sometimes it’s like you’ve never lived in the Motherlands at all. You know that traditional paper hasn’t been used for centuries. In fact, the amount of wood in this place would be offensive to most.”
“I know, but I like it. It’s cozy and this is the Northlands – we’ve got nothing but trees.”
“Trees are living beings, Tristan. They communicate with other trees and if one is injured by lightning or under attack from insects the others will distribute water via their root net. As a Motlander you are raised to appreciate all living beings and acknowledge that their lives are meaningful and important too.”
“Sure.” Tristan leaned over the table. “But sometimes I’m a rebel and I use paper anyway. We did at the school, remember?”
“Yeah. But there are alternatives.”
“Shelly, you never complained about it at the school, so don’t get hung up on it now.”
I shrugged. “Okay, I’m not exactly the typical Motlander, am I?”
“Good. So now that you got your little rant out of your system, can we focus on my promotion?”
Placing my forearms on the table I leaned in to look at the drawings. “Walk me through it.”
Tristan was working on a public transportation system with the scope of supporting both the Northlands and part of the Motherlands. He didn’t find it as glamorous as designing racing drones, but he was passionate about how many people the system would benefit.
“Pearl specified that speed and comfort are on the wish list but are secondary compared to durability and reliability,” he explained.
“What will it run on?”
“Algae biofuel or electricity. I’m not sure. Pearl probably has an opinion on that.”
“I thought you were the designer.”
Tristan tapped his fingers on the table. “True, but as the ruler’s wife, Pearl has a big say in everything. Besides, I value her input. She takes time to understand things, and she listens to others.”
“She’ll tell you to find a way to make the drones self-sufficient. You’re using carbon fiber, right?”
“Of course, it’s lightweight and strong.”
“What if you incorporated modular sun panels? The carbon fibers could store the energy and the solar panels would charge them. It would be environmentally perfect.”
Tristan raised an eyebrow. “That would be brilliant, but I’m foreseeing all sorts of issues.”
“We’re engineers. Coming up with solutions is the fun part.”
“But I don’t have modular solar panels that can withstand the pressure or the weather elements. This isn’t like installing sun panels on a roof or a bike lane, Shelly. The wind resistance is significant, not to mention potential hail, rain, snow, and lightning. I don’t even think they had something that advanced before the war.”
“Then you’ll have to build them.”
Tristan gave me a look that said, That’s easier said than done.
“I’ll help you come up with ideas and you can have the engineers in the environmental department help you too. I bet they’d love this project.” Tapping on the drawing, I added, “And is this the design?”
“Yes, it’s just a rough sketch, but I was inspired by the military drones we have here in the Northlands. They can transport up to fifty people at a time and resemble large bumblebees.”
I stared at him. “Why in the world would you go with something like that?”
“Because you always tell me to imitate nature.”
“Yes, but when it comes to flying the bumblebee isn’t the most refined specimen.”
“I was focusing on the size of it.”
Letting my fingers trail along the outlines of the large drone he had created, I shook my head. “I don’t like it.”