Already feeling a bit better, Nick walked over to the base of the bridge and took a long look around, searching for danger residing both in and out of the water before stepping onto the paved stone surface. At least he didn’t have to watch his back, not with Sophia watching it for him.
Side-by-side, they climbed the shorn structure to its terminus then sat down, dangling their legs over the edge while staring into the water below.
“You can take the first turn.” He took a grub that he had found by digging in the mud along the shore, put it on the end of the hook, and then handed the rod to Sophia. “I’ll stand watch and make sure that nothing nasty sneaks up on us while you’re busy. I saw some blackmist in the distance, but it doesn’t seem to be heading our way. Oh, and my rod didn’t come with a bobber, so just tug if you feel anything take the bait.”
“I should be able to manage. I used to go on fishing trips with my father every spring until he passed away, a little over ten years ago now.”
“I’m sorry,” Nick said, wiping away a tear. Her words had reminded Nick of his own family, evoking a surge of mingled sorrow, worry, and hope. He knew that his parents were likely already dead, joining Angie and the other three quarters of the human race who’d been exterminated the day the System came to Earth. He tried to hide his feelings so that he didn’t ruin the mood, but Sophia must have heard it in his tone or saw it in his eyes.
“No worries,” she smiled at him with sympathy writ clear upon her face. “Everyone alive today has lost loved ones by this point, thanks to the calculated cruelty of Taltos and the brutal indifference of the System. May they both suffer and rot. It’s just so unfair.”
For a moment, her brave façade crumbled, showing all the pain and regret that she normally kept hidden below the surface. “We didn’t ask for any of this.” With a hard look in her eyes, Sophia regained her composure, flicked her wrist, and cast the line into the river.
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“No. We didn’t.” Nick felt the embers of his own fury flare. While he had chosen not to let his anger rule him, he had a score to settle with Taltos and the System too, impossible as exacting his revenge seemed in this moment.
“I might be just a minor character playing my role upon an infinite cosmic stage. But if I ever find a chance to thwart either of them. To make them pay for what they’ve done, even in the slightest way, I’ll put it all on the line. Make them regret that they chose to fuck with humanity, so they never forget what they did.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Sophia let go of the rod with one hand and reached into her pack. To Nick’s surprise, she pulled out what looked like two of those little bottles of liquor they serve on airplanes and in hotel rooms. Which turned out to be exactly what they were. “My safe room was the interior of a commercial airplane,” she explained. “It was stocked with dozens of these.”
She tossed a bottle to Nick, who plucked it out of the air effortlessly, thanks to the improvements to his dexterity. He saw that it was filled with whisky as Sophia handed him a little bag full of peanuts. “A toast,” she gestured and unscrewed the cap, waiting for him to follow suit before continuing. “To all the people we’ve lost and the ones we’re fighting to protect.”
“To the Earth. The home we will reclaim for generations yet to come,” he added as they raised their bottles and tapped them together. They looked into each other’s eyes before tossing their heads back to drain the flasks in a single shot.
As the heat of liquor slid down Nick’s throat and into his stomach, he stopped to appreciate just how surreal it was to be taking a shot of whisky with a beautiful woman, fishing for crystal creatures as they explored the surface of a world so far away from their own. In unison, they poured the final drops into the river in tribute, honoring the memory of the fallen.
As the glow of alcohol spread throughout Nick’s body for the first time in his new life, the twin drops of whisky fell, sparkling in the sunlight before plunging into the river below. The fat purple fish, which had stubbornly refused to take the bait thus far, erupted in a frenzy of motion the instant that alcohol entered their domain.
They began whipping the surface of the water into froth with such intensity that for a moment, Nick thought they were under attack. Especially when Sophia suddenly lunged forward, bracing her body against his own so that she didn’t fall over the edge.