by Nirina Stone
Then they step into the city.
Chapter Forty Two
Sidney
THE CITY, SHE THINKS as they walk through. Gideon has said they’d look through the ‘wreck’ on the place, but from what she can see, other than a fine layer of silver dust much like in the Blue Dome, it’s not a wreck at all. In fact, from this angle, it looks like an almost exact replica of the Blue Dome. All that’s really missing is the vast amount of greenery they’d had in the Blue. Here, it looks like there once were trees, but they’re now all rotten, dried up and on the streets after years of neglect and abandonment. Even in the quiet streets of the Blue Dome, old bots were busy working, cleaning up the alleyways and pavements as they were programmed to do years before the Blue Dome was shut down.
Here, even the bots are long silenced.
“What is this place?” Henry asks Gideon again. “What was it called?”
Gideon turns to him as if making a decision. “I don’t remember its name,” he lies. It’s definitely a lie, Sidney tells herself. She noticed him do this thing a couple times, where his eyes shoot up as if to snatch an answer from the air. That’s his tell, she decides. She’ll need to keep a closer eye on this mysterious fellow.
She says, “Will there be any water in here you reckon?”
“Doubtful,” Gideon says. “Though it would be a good idea to look through the old cabins—they had them out here too.”
“We should split up,” Henry says then he adds an “Is it safe?” quickly as his eyes land on Sidney.
She knows he’s right. They only have a small amount of water left, not to mention food. The sooner they find what they can salvage here, the sooner they can make their way to the Red Dome, to safety. Still, he’s worried about her and she doesn’t understand why. It’s not like she hasn’t managed to survive for a long time before he showed up. Then she remembers how she’d worried about him being injured out there near the snake. He thinks of me as a friend too, she realizes, and she smiles. It’s nice to have a friend, to have someone other than Nayne and Petra look out for her. I could get used to this, she thinks. I could get used to having more friends.
“It’s safe,” Gideon says. “None of those snakes can burrow through our domes, the ground beneath us is too thick. There are no assassin bots here either,” he adds. “Still it’s been shut down for longer than I’ve been alive so, of course be diligent.”
Whatever that last word means, Sidney thinks. I’ll be careful, I always am.
So, before Henry can change his mind, she starts East on a street that reminds her of Mackenzie Street in the Blue Dome. If it’s set out exactly the same way the Blue Dome was built, she thinks, I know of at least one cabin I can check down this way.
She sees that Henry heads South and Gideon North East. At least she’ll have a general idea of where they are in case anything happens.
She turns a corner and after about twelve minutes of walking, finds the cabin she’s looking for. She pauses before its door. She’s suddenly anxious and recalls why.
The last time she’d wandered into one of these things was a trick cabin the twin sisters had set up. They’d had her believe a baby was about to be attacked by a snake and by the time she’d believed she was bitten by the snake herself, it was too late. They’d tricked her, kidnapped her, and she has no idea what else they had planned, but luckily Petra and Henry showed up.
So she hesitates at the front of the cabin, then shakes her head. She tries to reason with herself. This place has been shut up for years, she thinks. It’s safe. Safer than the illusion trick they’d set up. Still, when she opens the door wide, her eyes shut automatically in fear.
Then she opens one eye followed by the other and peers through. Like the cabins in the Blue Dome, this one’s solar light automatically turns on and she takes it in. She takes a deep breath and walks in.
Chapter Forty Three
Henry
HE WONDERS WHY GIDEON’S not forthcoming, then he scolds himself for following the man all the way out here when he knew there was always a part of him that didn’t fully trust him. Still, what choice did we have? he thinks. It’s not like those cats were going to stop hunting us if we stayed in the Blue Dome. We had to leave.
As he looks through old vehicles strewn around the place, keeping his eyes open for signs of water, food, weapons, anything, he knows what he must do the moment they get to the Red Dome. He must let Sidney know his suspicions about Gideon—as baseless as they are—and they must get away from the man. Doing so prematurely, when he’s the only one who knows the way there, when he’s the only one who knows how to fix the car, can be an exercise in futility, if not suicidal.
As he continues to scold himself, he tries one of the old cars. Who knows how long it has sat here unused—dozens if not hundreds of years if what Gideon implied is right. So when he depresses the button, hoping for it to at least sputter, something, nothing happens. He sighs out loud. That would have been some good luck, he thinks. Some good luck would be nice right about now, but Henry also knows he’s not one of the luckiest people in the world. He finds himself wishing that Petra was here. She’d know what to do to maybe make this machine work.
He turns as he sees Gideon walk down a street several feet away. She’d know what to do about that old man, he thinks. Then he stops, wondering where all this is coming from. Admittedly, he’d started to rely on her and on Sidney in the short time they were together, but he wonders—was there something else there? She was attractive, certainly, reliable, a truly intriguing being.
But she’s a machine for crying out loud, he yells in his head. Don’t be stupid. He gets himself even busier, trying to look for things, trying to keep his head preoccupied instead of thinking ridiculous thoughts about a bot.
A bot, Henry! his brain yells again. A dead bot at that. Stop missing someone—something—that you’ll never see again anyway. That you would have had no sort of any kind of relationship with at all. He’d known most of his life about bots and how they were built to ease the lives of Allendians. He knew about companion bots too but would never have sought one out himself. Just the thought of it skeeved him out.
But Petra—he pauses and remembers her gray-blue eyes, the slight dimple on the corner of her left cheek as she smiled, the way the sunlight hit her skin just so and gave him the impression she was illuminated from within.
Oh no, he thinks. No. Then he runs before he can think any further as he hears a yell from Gideon in his mask.
Petra
WHEN HER SYSTEMS COME back online, she immediately shuts them down again, leaving only her emergency systems. Something’s wrong. She’s no longer standing in the same position as she had, the day before. All the buffalo are gone—her scanners tell her they’re not within the immediate vicinity.
Her eyes open to complete darkness, and a shifting sliding movement over her. The danger is not clear—it’s not animal, she knows that much, but it is a danger, and she needs to move.
Red. The colors of the planet surround her, but she can hardly move. I’m buried—under several feet of earth. The how doesn’t matter at the moment. Only—how to get out.
She allows her proximity and location systems to switch on, and finds herself facing down. The sky, the direction up and out of here is above her head.
Her arms adjust, and she places her hands slightly ahead as she pushes up. Her shoulders and arms push her as far up as possible and earth moves around her shoulders. She does the same thing again, only finding herself sinking lower into the ground. So, with a swift movement sideways, she keeps her scanner on the sky above and twists herself around until she feels a more solid pack of earth beneath her. Then she turns her head up, forces earth out of her way and digs her way up as her legs push and kick beneath her. She’s moving in the right direction now. She doesn’t stop until her fingers find air and she finally pulls herself to the surface. Whatever it is in the earth has strengthened her but her systems tell her she’s been under far too long, a
nd she’ll need to recharge again. She faces the sky—a storm is passing through, and she may get buried again. She has no choice—her energy has been repleted from digging herself up from the earth. So, she faces the direction of the sunrise and shuts down again.
Chapter Forty Four
Sidney
SHE IS DRAWN TO ONE of the buildings on the northern end, in the exact layout as the building where she’d initially met Petra. She fights a mix of fear and excitement, knowing that chances are low she’d meet another bot there, but still wondering—
She heads up the flights of stairs, not sure if the others can hear from this far up, but figuring she’s better off not telling them where she’s headed anyway. She’s been so accustomed to just going wherever she wants without an adult’s permission, besides it’s not like either one of them is her parent. Nayne had always taught her to be respectful, to follow Nayne not only because she would likely know what was ‘best’ for their safety but also because Nayne was her mother. Though she respects Henry some, she doesn’t feel it necessary to treat him the same way she treated Nayne. Well, not yet. Petra was different, she decides.
As she reaches the top of the building, not even breaking a sweat, she’s met with a twitter of birds from within the roofs. The similarity to the Blue Dome so far is uncanny. Everything the same, though this place has been closed in for who knows how long. Still, the birds always manage to survive. They’re definitely the true rulers of this world.
Then, between the tweets, she hears another sound—one she can’t quite place. She looks up, meaning to take a closer look in one of the nests in the roof. She knows better than to walk away from a nest. Who knows how long their dry rations will last by the time they reach the Red Dome. Besides which, it’s been a couple days since she’s had fresh eggs, and she reckons Henry and Gideon would enjoy some as well.
So she climbs quickly and finds a nest tucked into one of the floating ceilings. She counts eight eggs as she gingerly places them into her little carrier, then she pauses as movement from a nest across the way catches her eye.
Not at all the expected movements from a bird.
She leans in closer to find herself staring into the biggest eyes she’s ever seen. Brown, with long thick lashes, topping a slightly whiskered little nose, so tiny she can barely tell it twitches in her direction. The face is covered in a thick fur so red, she’s reminded of the same color as the earth outside the dome.
When the thing launches itself from the nest, she jumps back automatically, throwing herself out of the floating ceiling as it lands on her face, its tiny paws attaching to her temples. Its belly muffles her scream as she falls back and lands on the ground below, the air stolen from her lungs, as she knows she’s broken something.
Chapter Forty Five
Henry
“GIDEON?” HE ASKS AS he rounds a corner and finds Gideon crouched in front of one of the many dead vehicles strewn around the place.
The old man throws things into the air behind him as he rummages through the vehicle’s guts and Henry jumps to the side before he gets conked in the head—some of it is heavy metal bits, some wires.
“Gideon,” he repeats, louder now. “What are ya doing mate?”
“This is gold,” Gideon mutters without turning around.
Henry assumes that means the man’s found what he’s looking for and knows his presence is likely a distraction. He hears a loud huff from Sidney in his mask, and her breathing sounds labored.
“Sidney?” he speaks into his mask. “Where are you? What have you found?”
She yells out, “Get off, get off, get off, GET OFF!”
Henry breaks into a sprint, though he’s still unsure where she is. He decides starting off where they’d split up was as good a place as any.
Then he hears a coo and Sidney mumbles something incoherent. “Sidney!” he yells into his mask. “Where are you?”
Finally, after a sputter and rustle, she whispers, “I’m okay, Henry. I’m fine. I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
Down? So she must be in one of the buildings, but where, and doing what?
“Sidney, what was that sound? What happened?”
She makes a hesitant noise then breathes in and out. Finally, she says, “I fell, that’s all. I’m okay Henry, I promise. I’ll be down in a moment.”
“What were you yelling, ‘Get Off’ for, then?”
“I thought—” she pauses for a while, he wonders what she’s really up to. “Just a—a lizard,” she finally rushes out. “Freaked me out.”
When her breathing sounds normal, he stops running. This kid, seriously. He looks around again, but realizes he has no idea which building she would have picked. Okay so she fell—if she was injured, she’d tell him, right? Somehow, he believes she would even if she is stubborn. So he says, “I think Gideon found what he’s looking for, so make sure you’re down sooner than later. We’ll be heading out shortly.”
“Okay,” she says.
“Okay,” he repeats, hopeful she actually listens.
Chapter Forty Six
Sidney
WHEN SHE YELLED AT the thing to get off, it leapt off her masked face as fast as it leapt on. It crouches in front of her, head slightly bent as it purrs. She’d thought for certain it was about to chew her head off so this position of what she determines is reverence is unexpected.
Its tiny hind legs hide behind more red fur, topped with a long feathery tale that sways in the air. She notices two small stripes on either side of the thing’s flanks as it sits, watching her.
She wants to ask it what it is, but bites her tongue at the last second. For one thing, she knows animals don’t speak back. Nayne had told her that once upon a time Allendians kept talking pets in their homes, smaller versions of the many cat bots around the city. This thing is real—Nayne said the real ones have their own languages. Besides, the last thing she needs is Henry hearing her have a one-sided convo and deciding to come looking for her after all.
So, instead, at the risk of getting bitten, she reaches out with her right hand, palm up. It watches attentively and croons. That’s the best word she can use to describe the sound. At least it doesn’t sound aggressive, in any case, but it doesn’t move.
So she pulls her knapsack to the front, cleaning off as much of the broken eggs as she can. She knows she’ll need to wash these off when possible—otherwise that smell will last with her for weeks.
She reaches in while still keeping an eye on the animal, and she pulls out the last of her dried protein bars, ripping off a small piece of it. She places this tiny piece on her hand and reaches towards it again.
Finally, it hops once, just close enough to her fingers—she hopes it doesn’t snap them off with what looks to be two sharp front teeth. Its tiny nose twitches again as it leans its head towards her hand. Keeping its massive brown eyes on her, it grasps at the food and swiftly throws it into its mouth and chews and swallows before she can react.
Okay, she decides. Friendly enough. Eyeing its beautiful red fur, she wishes she had something that she could use to take a lasting picture of it. Nayne had told her Allendians had such things once upon a time. She tries to draw, but whatever she creates looks like a really bad version of the original, so she tries to take what Nayne would call a mental picture of the animal. As she sits and attempts to memorize all its little stripes and whiskers, and those lashes, it hops forward again. For a second she thinks she should leave but before she can decide either way, it grabs her by the hand, looking for more food. She laughs and hands it a couple more bites, then it’s on her lap.
Oh. She gingerly places her index finger on its nose. It’s so soft and cuddly, before she can talk herself out of it, she rubs its head and scratches it under the chin as its purrs grow louder and then she’s in love with the adorable thing.
It hops back off and jumps on a table, then the wall and it’s back in the floating ceiling where she’d found it. That’s that then, she thinks as she stands to dust
off her pants to look around a bit more and head back out of the building. The animal makes a chit-chit sound and is back on the ground in front of her, carrying a deep purple fruit of sorts in its mouth. It stands on its back legs and holds the fruit in its paws then it pushes it up to the air, as if offering it to her. Well, that’s different she thinks as she’s sat back down again. It hops forward and places the fruit on her leg. She sees that it hasn’t been bitten and brings it up to her nose to breathe it in. Nayne always said to be careful around new foods, but that any food they’d find in the dome was safe for eating anyway. Still, the smell would always be the first indicator if it’s safe or not.
She’s not sure if she wants to risk it given she’d never seen a fruit like this in the Blue Dome. It smells a lot like a mix of grapes or fresh melon—what Nayne would call “the smells of summer.”
So, under the watchful eye of the critter, Sidney takes a small bite and closes her eyes involuntarily as its cool sweet juice bursts onto her tongue. “Oh,” she breathes out. “That’s the most delicious thing I’ve ever had.”
She’s sure she’s just imagining it, but she could swear the animal smiled a bit as it hopped back into her lap and took small bites from the fruit between bites of the protein bar.
Then Henry says in her mask, “You heading down soon, Sid? I think we’re ready to leave.”
She nods, then says, “Yes,” as she picks up the animal and places it on the ground.
Then she grabs her bag, waves bye bye and starts toward the stairs. She knows if she looks back at the thing it will be harder to leave, so she doesn’t look back. Not until she’s three floors down and hears the croon from above. She looks up. It’s following her!
She shoos it away as quietly as she can—she doesn’t need twenty questions from Henry about who or what she was talking to up here. He’d probably disapprove, she thinks. Nayne would have. Nayne always discouraged her from befriending any animals though some of the lizards they came across were super friendly. “They’re food, Sidney,” she’d say. “You can’t befriend your food.”