Chapter 14

Log. 19500.k

I have sent a complaint to The Great Government. “Why isn’t anything being done about the virus? People are losing their memories from the Cloud and you are not doing anything about it! You need to take responsibility, after all, you forced us to change bodies.” We await for an answer.

The electric wheelchair invaded Tovu’s nightmares over and over. He could feel the cold, metallic arms holding him so tight it hurt, he saw the wheels turning into blades and mangling what was left of his body, the arms ripping his stomach open and spreading his guts all over the floor.

He woke up scared, screaming, darkness surrounded him and it was difficult to know whether he was still stuck in the nightmare or not. The nurses tried to calm him down, even gave him some drugs, but nothing would make his mind relax enough to even consider the manual wheelchair.

Nothing except Koira’s voice. She didn’t tell anyone else Tovu had been sent to kill her, that would be a death sentence for him — the Underground people wouldn’t kill him, but they would leave him up there on the craters to die.

— Hey, Tovu. — Koira opened the door to find a lump under the blankets. — The nurses said I’m giving ya nightmares.

— I’m sure you’re having fun with it. — he mumbled from under the blankets.

— Oi, that’d make me a horrible person. — She sat on the chair beside his bed. — I don’t like ya, but I don’t hate ya. Not enough to give ya endless nightmares, anyway. Wanna talk about it?

— No.

— Nightmares are just like wishes, both follow the same rule: they don’t happen if ya tell. — She waited for an answer that never came. — I’m sorry. I didn’t think the electric chair would scare ya so much, because it’s kind of like a…

— Immortal. — he interrupted her.

— I was going to say car. Have ya ever met an Immortal?

— I was offered. Before I was left in Sand City.

— Oh.

— I don’t like cars. Never been in one.

Silence filled the room as Tovu mourned his childhood and Koira was looking for a solution. She had been quite busy working on braces for a little kid, but she could make some time, try to adapt a manual wheelchair for the one-handed man. It wouldn’t be easy on him, but at least he could have some autonomy.

Koira got up out of the blue and Tovu flinched under the blankets. She walked out of the room, stopped by the door, walked back in, and touched what she hoped was his shoulder:

— I have an idea, whether or not it’ll work, well, I suppose we’ll find out later. Don’t forget to eat, and think about the prosthetics. Bye!

This time she walked away and didn’t come back.

Log. 19468.g

Apparently the news have spread. People are getting more nervous. There are reports of fights and several people have been taken to hospitals. Well, I find it all quite convenient. That way, Robot Physicians can activate the viruses. It may be just another conspiratorial thought, but I think that this could be fake news to create chaos and distrust.

Ganen woke up slowly, she felt like a fly trapped in honey. Her body was all sore, the texture under her hands wasn’t grass or fabric. She opened her eyes and the view paralysed her in the same instant: the texture was bark; she was on top of a tree. The woman blinked a few times, took a deep breath, she was wide awake alright.

When Ganen looked down, the world spun too fast for a second; she had no idea how high she had climbed, but at least the memories were coming back. She felt the rope tied around her waist a few times, enough to secure her up the tree, and thanked her years of exploring for making things like that instinctive. If she had slept there without the rope, she would be dead, there was no doubt about it.

— Séra? — she called. — Where are you?

— Down here! — Séra’s voice was so far away, metres and metres below Ganen. — Oi, how did ya get up there?

— I guess I climbed? — She let out a nervous laugh. — Can you help me down?

— Of course, love. — Séra looked for something she could use; she had the right intentions, but none of the tools.

— Hold the rope! — Ganen started to untie herself and hoped it was long enough. Now that she was moving, it was impossible to ignore how painful her arm was. But focusing on the pain was good, at least it avoided her from freaking out. — Did you get it?

— Yah! Come on, I’m holding ya!

There was no other option, so Ganen breathed in and out, and started going down the tree. Séra let the rope go up slowly, she followed the rhythm of the woman’s steps, and prayed to the universe there weren’t any spiders or other dangerous creepers crawling on the tree.

Time seemed to slow down, she wasn’t as strong as before yet, and her arms were shaking with Ganen’s weight. Séra remembered some stupid idea of getting the clouds out of the sky, she remembered being too afraid to climb. If she was being honest, helping Ganen like that was giving her a sense of deja vu.

— Almost there, love, just a bit more.

Ganen nodded from above and kept going down, one step at a time. She repeated to herself she was used to heights, some of the tree paths were tall enough one could barely see the ground; “But they are safe”, she added to her thoughts.

And when she least expected, Séra wrapped her arms around her, and rested her head on Ganen’s hair.

— Love, you’re down, you’re here, I was so scared! I was trying to keep it cool, but, oi, I was…

— Me too, hun. — Ganen felt herself melt in the arms of the woman she loved so much. — Me too.

Holding onto each other, the women just breathed for a long time until their hearts were calm once again.

-– Okay. — Ganen then said. — I think we should go back to camp and check on our things. AND — she added — we’re not having mushrooms again. My stomach is a mess.

— Oh! Yah, that makes sense. Do ya think we got high?

—Honey, I'm sure we got high. — Ganen sounded a bit angry. — I’m just glad I remember stuff this time.

— Are ya upset with me? — Séra asked, her eyes down to the floor.

— No, hun, no, that’s not what I meant! — Ganen smiled and held her hands. — It’s not like you did it on purpose, and I also looked at the mushrooms and thought they were safe. If any of us are guilty, we both are. Let’s just avoid them next time. — She laughed.

Séra smiled again; she had been feeling insecure and anxious since the incident with Ori, and her need for approval was almost physiological. Holding hands with Ganen helped, it was good to be cherished, not scorned.

What she didn’t notice, however, was that Ganen was a bit nervous. Her eyes darted from one tree to the other, and all looked the same. She didn’t even remember seeing trees that tall when they got in with the car.

Following that train of thought, Ganen got to two options: they had either taken a different direction, or went too deep in those woods. Both of them were bad.

— Séra… — Ganen stopped walking.

— Uhm? — The woman looked at her, a mix of confusion and preoccupation.

— I think we’re lost.

Séra stared at her in silence for a moment. Then she looked around, at the trees, at sky so high above, at the ground with no footprints. In Sand City, people always carried a flare when they left town, and there were watchers within the walls ready to shoot a flare back, to avoid losing lives to the endless sands. She even felt her pockets for a one, but there were none, of course.

— What I was taught is, when lost, get to a high place, and try to find a path. — Ganen interrupted her thoughts. — But I’ve just got back to the ground, I didn’t want to climb again. — She made a crying face; her arm was still sore and she was afraid of checking if all the stitches were still in the right place.

— And I’m sort of afraid of heights.

— Yeah… Let us rest our arms a bit more, then you help me climb like we did to get me down, can it be?

— Sounds like a plan.

— Gosh, we’re soooo not using any kind of drugs again! — Ganen laughed to hide how anxious she was. She could almost hear her own heart racing in her chest, ready to jump out.

— Hey, what if I try to climb this time? — Séra looked at Ganen’s arm; the bandages weren’t red last night.

— No, don’t worry, I can do it.

— But your arm is…

Then Ganen had to look. She was unwilling to remove the bandages, she knew it was hurting, but now she had to check and, as she expected, some of the stitches had come off.

— Welp, that’s why it’s hurting. But, Séra, there’s nothing we can do about it now, so let’s rest, then you help me up again, and I find our way.

Séra was forced to agree, and started looking for a place to sit.

Log. 19457.h

Some scientists say Comet Treiny will hit Gaya. They say Gaya's orbit has changed by a few millimetres in the past four centuries and this will influence the comet's route. They want to use weapons in satellites to destroy the comet and avoid any risks. The Great Government’s in the process of evaluating the results; a young woman from the Group showed me the numbers and graphs, but it’s not a subject I understand. Although I understand about the human body and understand more than most people about our inorganic bodies, I don't understand anything about physics, let alone physics in space. But it’s true that both routes look different, I can’t deny that.

Koira had stayed up all night; the city lights were turning on when she crawled to bed. But even if she had laid down before, she wouldn’t have slept: a great idea hit her at the very moment her head touched the pillow, and she was forced to get up and put it in action.

Which was good, because she had spent the last two days working on a manual wheelchair for Tovu, which was kind of a challenge. Now, however, the braces were ready, they had an awesome and adjustable knee joint, designed to limit how far the knees bent until the kid’s legs were strong enough to do it alone.

She was satisfied with her work, it was a piece of art, and, most importantly, it was comfortable. The kid — a little 6-year old boy — had complained the last ones hurt his legs, the plastic parts chafed to his skin as he tried to walk, and they were a hassle to remove, but she had high hopes for the new ones.

— Later. — she whispered to herself. — I’m sure he can wait a few more hours.

The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Destiny, however, had other plans. Not long before she closed her eyes, someone started knocking on her door and calling her name. She grunted, tried to hide her head under the blankets, but one of her cats jumped on top of her ribs and she let out a small scream.

– I know you’re in there! Open up or I’ll let myself in!

— Just come in! — Koira screamed back as she got up and looked for some trousers or shorts.

Qena walked into Koira’s house and found her half-dressed in her bedroom. The woman’s eyes betrayed her exhaustion and the messed up hair completed the story in details.

— Have you just got out of bed? — Qena raised one brow, surprised and a bit disappointed.

— Oi, shut up. — Koira yawned. — I was finishing that all night long. — She pointed at the braces. — I had a brainwave last night, had to make it.

— Do you think that’s the final version? — The judging eyes softened as she walked to the leg braces. — They look so good, I’d wear them just for fashion.

— Ya have a weird taste. — Koira laughed.

— Maybe that’s why we’re best friends. — Qena gave her the most innocent and treacherous smile; something only she could do. — Come on, let’s test those with Ryth, then I’ll let you sleep as much as you want.

— Yah… that sounds good. Oi! Let’s take Tovu’s wheelchair as well, I’m not sure how he’ll use it, but, eh, guess we’ll find out.

The city lights imitated the outside with perfection, and weren’t too bright; the day was young and hopeful. Koira really wanted Tovu to at least test the chair; she hated having her creations scorned like that. Also, she wouldn’t admit it, given the circumstances, but knowing Tovu had been offered to an Immortal as a child made her feel a bit guilty about the electrical chair.

The streets in the Underground City were the best she had ever seen, the cars were driven around with ease. Geothermal energy was harnessed from deep wells further east, and there were wind energy poles in a valley a few days south; energy was a basic need in the Underground City, and now Koira understood it.

All houses had electrical lights, wall sockets, almost everyone had datapads, radio communication devices — comms, for short —, no one was afraid of technology or photographs, children were learning how to build and create mechanical tools at school, and the hospital was incredible!

The innovations in prosthetics called to her the moment she visited the lab. Or, as she liked to call it, the human garage — no one else shared her naming conventions. She had learnt so much these past few years, her only regret was leaving Séra behind. If the city hadn’t threatened to kill her on sight, she would have travelled back to get her.

None of her letters ever had answers, but she would rather think Séra hated her for leaving, and was so happy with Treiny’s family that she wouldn't even want to read them. Any other thought scared her too much.

Qena woke Koira up, and she mumbled something about burning papers. She looked at Qena, completely lost for a second, then the gears in her brain started working.

— Did we put the legs and the chair in the car? — she asked, almost wishing they hadn’t, just so that she could sleep a bit more.

— Yes. Come on, we gotta test those braces, Ryth’s been waiting for months now.

— I know, I know. — Koira let out a long loud yawn.

— I’m glad you have wonderful ideas, but they could hit you during office hours, no? — Qena said as she unfolded the wheelchair on the floor and put the leg braces on top of it. — Come on, hurry up. — With a smile, she offered one arm to the sleepy-eyed woman, and both walked into the hospital.

Koira grunted and let herself be taken around by Qena. The place was big and she felt like she walked through a thousand corridors before getting to Ryth’s room. The small boy, with curly dark hair and withered legs, was having breakfast on his bed, and opened a huge smile as he saw them.

— Auntie Koira! Are those for me?

— I hope so. — She laughed; seeing a child this happy could heal anything. She still needed to sleep, though. — Finish your breakfast and we can try them.

Ryth ate as fast as he could, even after they told him to eat more slowly, and soon, he was waving his legs on the bed while Qena tried to hold him still so Koira could attach the braces. After what seemed like eternity to her tired and sore fingers, the braces were on, and the boy was on the floor.

— Now, walk around a bit, eh? — Koira said.

At first, she walked with him and the doctor, so that they could adjust the knee joints, but after a few minutes, Ryth could move from one side to the other with ease.

— That’s good progress, Ryth. — his doctor cheered. — And it looks so cool!

— It looks super duper awesome! — The boy waved his arms.

— Let’s test them for a while, then give auntie Koira our feedback, okay?

— Okay. — Ryth sulked a bit; he had been through that enough in the past months to know what was next: — Therapy?

— Physiotherapy, yes.

— Fine. — The boy crossed his arms, trying to imitate an adult’s movement, and pouted. He didn’t like it. He always got tired at the end of it. And sore.

— Call me if ya need anything, yah? — Koira asked; her curiosity was the only thing keeping her awake.

— I’ll be sure of it. Now you should go home and get some sleep. — The doctor laughed. — Doctor’s orders.

— And they shall be followed. Qena, my dear, would ya be so lovely as to drive me home?

— Yes, I would. Or else you’d sleep right here, right now. Just show me how to use the chair, so I can teach the Sand guy.

Koira nodded; she could already feel the soft cotton pillow case against her face.

Log. 19337.s

There are great programmers in the Group. Great hackers too. They said they’ll help me search for the origin of the virus. I hadn’t thought about discovering its origin, only about fighting it. But if we know where it comes from, we can fight against the source directly and prevent it from becoming a global problem! That is, if it’s not already a global problem...

While they were resting, Ganen remade the bandages on her arm and prepared herself to climb the tree. She waited for Séra to get up, then told her to hold the rope so that she could have at least some sort of safety as she was climbing.

Throwing the rope over a tall branch took quite a while, Séra needed to gather her strength to throw it that high, but once it was tied safely around her thighs, Ganen walked to the tree and looked up; it would take a while.

— Séra, hun, do you have anything with you? Anything I could, uhm, lemme think, tie on the rope and throw down, so we can mark the right direction?

— I… will check. — She started putting her hands in her pockets and looking for something. — That’s a lot of thinking. Have I told ya you’re quite smart?

— Ah, yeah, well, not my first time. — She smiled, a bit embarrassed.

— I don’t think I have anything… — Séra looked down. — Will a shoe do?

— It’ll do nicely. — Ganen thanked her.

She tied the shoe-lace around the belt loop and prepared to go up. Ganen looked at her arm one last time, and tried not to think of how painful it was. However, the tiniest pull made her wince. And Séra couldn’t bare to watch it.

As much as she was afraid of being that far from the ground, she was worried about her lover. Just like Ganen, Séra wasn’t at full strength, but she was quite sure it would be easier for her to climb instead of the woman who had a knife through her arm less than two weeks ago. She stopped Ganen before she could try a second time.

— I’ll do it. — Séra put a hand on her shoulder. — Just… give me directions, yah?

— Are you sure? I… I… My arm’s still hurt, but I’ll just go a bit slowly. — “I can’t hold you if you fall”, she failed to say.

— I’ll go slowly too. I hope I can hear ya from up there. — She started getting her shoe back from Ganen’s waist. — Can I take one of yours?

— No, no, no, stop that! You said you were afraid, you don’t have to do it!

— Love. — Séra held her hands. — Ya saved my life again and again. Lemme repay ya at least a bit.

— You know you don’t have to, that’s not how things work, right? — She tried to deny still.

— Come on, just lemme do it. — Séra got serious. — Your arm is so hurt, if ya climb this again, it’ll hurt even more. I won’t fall.

Ganen took a deep breath, then let it out in a resigned huff. There was no winning in that, and she had to admit Séra was right. Climbing that tree would only make her condition worse, it could even harm her arm even further.

— Fine. — She gave Séra one of her shoes, took off the ropes around her legs, and helped the woman wear them.

— I’m so glad we caught rope.

— Me too. I think it was because we wanted to see if it was possible to climb a cloud. — Ganen couldn’t help but laugh.

— Oi, what a stupid idea! — Séra adjusted some knots to make it a bit more comfortable. — So, what do I do now?

— Pay attention on where you put your hands, try not to touch living things. If you get scared, try your best not to panic, and move away slowly. Always check if a branch if strong enough to support you, I’ll try to tell you the best ones.

— Okay… Hands, don’t panic, test branch.

— And once you’re up there and can see where we need to go, you throw me the shoe, and we’ll try to point it to the right way.

— Hands, don’t panic, test branch, shoe. Okay, got it, let’s go before I chicken out.

Séra slapped her face with both hands and took a deep breath. The first branches weren’t low enough, so she had to hold onto the tree and try to find places she could put her feet on. Ganen pulled her up one bit at a time; while the mechanic was able to pull her with her arms, the scholar had to use her whole body and walk away to find enough strength and pull the rope.

Reaching the first branch was a success, a moment to be celebrated before acknowledging there were plenty more to climb. It was a difficult task and Séra did her best to listen to Ganen without looking down. She was certain she would freeze the moment the ground got further away.

Eyes focused on the crown, Séra grabbed a branch to her right — the one Ganen told her to — and felt the slight push of the rope around her. With a deep breath, the woman pushed herself up and kept going. Once she got a rhythm, things started to become a bit easier; testing the branches wasn’t so scary, and as she went higher, the tree offered much more support.

Until her hand touched something strange. It wasn’t bark, it could be some weird tree sap, maybe even some gross dangerous goo animal thing. Ganen asked something when Séra stopped, but they were too far to understand it well. The woman took a deep breath, repeated to herself she couldn’t panic, then she pulled her shaky hand back, millimetre by millimetre.

There was something between her fingers, some kind of goo, it was sticky and didn’t smell good. She tried not to think much about it, hoped it wasn’t venomous. She just cleaned her hand on her pants and started looking for another branch.

It felt like hours, days had gone by, and even though she wasn’t as slow as she thought, Séra felt stuck in the same place. The bark too close to her eyes was always the same, only the lichens promised her she was moving.

Smaller branches full of green leaves crowded her vision and made it difficult to find good support, “But maybe that means I’m getting closer”, Séra thought. And she was right. A few more steps took her high enough to push her head against the leaves and find the timid sky.

She basked in the sunlight for a few minutes, her arms and legs were shaking from the effort and fear, and the gentle breeze kissed her sweaty skin as a long lost lover.

— Okay, time to look for a way out.

At first, all she saw was a sea of green. Luxurious, glossy, beautiful green. Growing up in the desert, green was rare. It could be found underground and in the agave leaves, but green like the one she was seeing was new. For a moment, she even forgot what she was supposed to do, and just appreciated the view.

Mountains painted the east until the horizon, and if she squeezed her eyes tight enough, she could imagine the desert far north. The river which fed Bridge City shimmered northeast, but something else also caught her eyes: a very constant sparkle to the west.

Séra squeezed her eyes, put her hands on her forehead, to get some shade, and there it was. The car.

— I FOUND IT! — she screamed at the top of her lungs. — GANEN, I FOUND IT!!

There was no intelligible answer, which was expected, so, very careful as to not let it fall, Séra untied Ganen’s shoe from her trousers. Then she paused. She was supposed to tie it on the rope and throw it down, but the only rope they had was the one keeping her safe.

— Oh no, what now? I could hold the tree very tight, but… Uhm… Oh! I can tie the rope around myself, like Ganen did, it’s long enough.

Some weeks ago, before they got to Bridge City, they talked about cutting the rope in 5-metre pieces, so it would be easier to use. She was glad they hadn’t done it. She started pulling the rope and there was some resistance at first — Ganen was holding it —, but after a few more pulls, it came up easily.

Séra took her time to tie herself to the tree, and tried not to think how horrible her death would be if she fell, then she tied the shoe to the other end and threw it down. She had to break a branch to dislodge the shoe the times it got stuck, but in the end, she was happy to see the rope going down with no problems.

On the ground, Ganen heard a thud and her heart stopped. She looked around, scared and nervous, and almost fainted in relief when she saw the shoe. She looked up and tried to find Séra up there, which took quite some time, but once the woman pointed the right direction, Ganen untied the shoe and left it indicating the way.

Once again the rope went up, Séra untied herself, and let the rope down over a branch, as it was before; she had some trouble getting it below the see of baby branches, and almost fell in the process. As much as she was trying not to worry Ganen, she couldn’t help but scream when twig under her feet broke.

— I’M FINE! — She screamed back, once she found support again. — At least I’m a bit lower now…

Finding a silver lining in that situation wasn’t easy.

Once Ganen gave it some pulls to let her know she had the rope in hands, Séra started going down. It was a bit easier then going up, gravity helped a lot. She tried using the same branches as before, even though it was almost impossible to remember which ones they were.

Ganen was holding the rope with one arm and her whole body; her left was painful now, it hadn’t got better, but she was doing her best to help Séra and hold her up — even though she was the cause of a few scares in the process.

Once both of them were back on the ground, Séra hugged her lover tight; it was good to be back. The whole thing was a mix of emotions, the view from so high up was stunning, but getting up there was terrifying.

— How about you teach me how to climb and I teach you how to drive? — she whispered, breathless and tired.

— Once my arm is healed, yeah, we can climb together. — Ganen nodded a few times. — Let’s go before we get lost again, come on, hun.

Séra kept her lover between her arms a bit longer, then took a step back; the car wasn’t as close as they had thought.