Lenora

My lungs are screaming when my palms finally slam against the lift sensor and I rush inside as soon as it opens. The doors couldn’t have closed fast enough.

“What in sky was all that about?” I whisper, my chest aching and my legs threatening to crumble. I slide down the wall, balancing on my toes as I brace myself, the sweat cooling on my skin and making me shiver.

“I’m not sure, but we just witnessed an Eviction,” Hugo states.

“And my father …” I cut the thought short and the trek from the Core to the still unfamiliar streets of my new house is quiet.

Back home, I rush up the stairs, hoping Mother’s slept through all the comings and goings. When my bedroom door clicks shut behind me, I finally feel safe.

“How is my father involved? Is that why my parents have been fighting?” I pace, my boots thudding with every step so I kick them off before I resume pacing.

“I don’t know,” Hugo says and then adds with a cheeky grin, “Want to find out?”

We end up breaking into my father’s office again, standing amongst the glowing data-spheres and searching through classified documents. After only a few minutes of flicking through more and more files, my head is spinning as numbers flicker in front of me and words like permanent removal and memory manipulation and for the good of the whole make me shudder. One metal drawer in his desk is full of rice-sized hard drives, thousands of them, and when I show a palmful to Hugo, he answers, “They’re memories.”

“I thought Jonas Morgan’s notebook said only a few hundred people have gone missing,” I murmur in dawning horror. “According to this, it’s been thousands!”

“It’s not that big a leap,” Hugo replies.

“And this? What does this mean? Ashville cleared?” I run my finger down the list of hundreds of names, whole families listed, one after the other. “I’ve never even heard of Ashville. Is that on one of the lower levels?”

“It was a neighbourhood,” Hugo murmurs, leaning over my shoulder. I imagine I can feel his breath on my cheek.

“Was?” I read more and have to sit, missing the chair and landing on the floor with a jolt.

Whole sections of the station sealed and hundreds of people Evicted in one swoop. With the residents gone, neighbourhoods were renovated and reopened. Instant space for a space station with very little.

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“How could no one notice?”

“The Guardian and his Mediators alter and delete memories. No one notices because no one remembers.” Even Hugo looks wrecked, kneeling beside me, his hands clenching his knees until the knuckles strain white.

“So Bryn wasn’t crazy?” Lenora dug her palms into her eyes, pushing back tears. “Who has the right to decide such horrible things?” Did my father?

“Your father will be home soon, Nora,” Hugo says and offers me a hand up. It surprises me when I automatically reach for him, my fingers slipping through his like the illusion it is.

“Hugo?” Never before has he forgotten we cannot touch.

“Come on, Nora. Bed,” he says instead, yet he is shaken, too, his lips pursed and brow furrowed. We close up my father’s office and I return to my room, changing into my pyjamas before heading to the kitchen.

“What are you going to do?” Hugo asks, as he follows me. The house flickers awake, asking if I require anything as I settle at the breakfast bar, where we never eat breakfast.

“A hot chocolate, please.” The house hums as it busies itself, the jug switching on and a mug sliding across the bench top towards it, a cube of chocolate already inside. A moment later, I’m sipping my drink slowly. It isn’t as sweet as the hot chocolate my old house used to make. Hugo lounges against the sink, palms propped against the tabletop, sleeves rolled up to reveal his lean forearms. He’d discarded his hat and his hair falls loosely around his face in waves.

“Hugo, may I ask you something?”

He tilts his head curiously and nods.

“Can you love? Like regular people do?”

Hugo unfolds his long limbs until he’s straight, and for a moment he looks as though he’s going to run. I duck my head, hiding my flushed cheeks behind my mug.

“Why do you want to know?” he hedges, but then Father comes home. The front door swishes open and there’s a clunk as Father drops something in the hallway even as he attempts to be quiet. When he steps into the kitchen, he’s surprised to see me waiting.

“Everything alright, Lenora?” he asks.

“Yes, just having trouble sleeping,” I lie. A confrontation now will be too much. I’m desperate to know Hugo’s answer, I’m exhausted, and my father looks happy for once.

“Mind if I join you, sweetheart?” He makes his own hot drink without waiting for my reply.

When I was younger and I had night terrors, before Hugo came into my life, I would always seek out my father and we’d sneak into the kitchen together for hot chocolate. He’d seemed like a bear, strong enough to take on the world and protect me from everything.

“I got you something,” he says after we’ve been sitting in an awkward silence and I jump, almost sending my empty mug skittering off the table.

“Really?” I ask, steadying it.

“I was going to give it to you tomorrow. A gift for doing so well. Now’s as good a time as any.” He hurries out into the hallway and returns with a bundle under his arm, a jacket wrapped tightly around it. He carefully sets it on the table and reveals it. It’s curled up and looks asleep, pointed ears twitching, its long sleek tail curled tight around coiled legs.

“Thought it could keep you company,” Father says, much like he did all those years ago when he activated Hugo.

“It’s a robot cat,” I state. It’s pretty battered and I wonder what makes it so special.

“Well?” Father says proudly, his hands spread out as though to say ta-da!

“Thanks,” I manage, working the right amount of enthusiasm into my voice. “I adore it!” He beams with pleasure and suddenly things are not quite so dire.