Chapter 16

Log. 16895.h

I think wondering about defects for hours brings them closer. Yesterday, my battery failed. On the street, I blinked and fell. It was fast, just a few seconds off; however, it takes a good few minutes to fully reboot. People looked at me weirdly. But, in the end, I got up, slapped off the dust, and headed home whilst I contacted the Programmer. When I arrived, he was already there. I can't go to Workshops, so we'll have to work this out here.

Propelling his wheelchair around the corridors became a routine for Tovu. He liked listening to the sounds, and would spend a long time in the music room, just listening to people sing and play — it was therapeutic for many other patients, not only him. Once he was tired, Tovu would ask a nurse to take him back to his room, but he was slowly memorising the layout of the hospital.

In one of his tours, a voice called him. The voice of a child, though he knew none. Not in the hospital, anyway. There were some mechanical sounds, gears perhaps, and he felt a chill down his spine. Tovu decided it was best to run away.

— No, wait, I can’t go fast yet! — the child cried. — Please! Let me get a ride with you, mister, I’m tired and my legs are hurting and the doctor said I should walk to my room, but I really don’t want to walk anymore!

Tovu stopped. Maybe it was really a child. The gears sounded closer and closer, and he couldn’t help but be afraid until a small warm hand touched his right arm.

— Does this mean I can get a ride? — the child sounded happy all of a sudden; a robot couldn’t replicate that, or so Tovu hoped.

— I suppose. What’s your name?

— I’m Ryth. And you, mister?

— I’m Tovu.

— You’re the guy from Sand City! — It was like meeting a famous person! — Koira’s friend!

— I guess you could say that.

— So… can I sit there with you, mister? — Ryth insisted.

— Once you tell me what’s that mechanical sound when you walk around.

— Ah! I don’t really hear them anymore. Koira made me some braces, for my legs, because they’re kinda weak, so they help me walk. But the therapy makes me run, and jump, and squat, then stand again. I don’t like it, but my parents say I have to do it, so my legs can get stronger. — he explained without stopping to breathe.

— Oh. I see. — He thought for a second, then offered his hand to help the child. — Do you know how to get to your room?

— Of course I do! — And even though Tovu couldn't see the little boy’s smile, it painted his entire face.

Tovu helped the boy onto his lap, and followed the not so good instructions. Ryth would point instead of speak, and their little ride took much longer than Tovu anticipated.

Ryth didn't sound angry, he laughed when they turned into the wrong corridors, swung his legs up and down in excitement, waved to all the nurses. He knew all their names and giggled when he was told he shouldn't be using Tovu as a taxi.

— Don't worry about it. — Tovu said. — The little one weights almost nothing.

Ryth didn't like being called little, but since it was a good excuse this time, he didn't mind.

— You can stop now, mister Tovu.

— Are we at your room?

— Yes! Thank you, mister Tovu! Next time I’ll bring something so we can play together!

— Alright.

Ryth slid down from Tovu’s lap and opened his door. His steps stopped, then he added:

— And then, maybe, you can tell me what happened to you? Mother says I shouldn’t ask, but I’m always curious!

— Who knows, maybe.

— Okay! Good night, mister!

Then the door was closed, and Tovu was left alone in a hallway he’d never been before. He listened for a while, trying to figure out where he was, but all the sounds were too low to recognise. The man sighed, he would have to wander for a bit and ask for help.

He was getting tired, propelling himself with one arm was tough, and Krig was right, he’d have to strengthen his right arm. An intrusive thought said the electrical wouldn’t make him tired, but he shushed it right away. We would never sit on that abomination again.

To his surprise, a well-known friendly voice called him from somewhere ahead:

— Are ya a driver now? — Koira sounded like she was smiling. — Saw ya driving him around the hospital.

— Eh, it doesn’t hurt to help a kid.

— Ryth is adorable, but he’s a little monster sometimes. — She laughed. — Can ya get to your room by yourself?

— I don’t think so. I’m rather lost.

— Want some help?

He sighed; asking for help was still a struggle.

— Yes.

Koira didn’t reply, but he heard her steps closer and closer, until she held the handles and started to push the chair. She asked how his experience was going and apologised for being absent — she had been working with Qena to fix the energy distribution in the city.

— Ya know how people are, some say there’s a Machine tinkering with the cables, others say they’ve seen glowing eyes in the dark. — She scoffed. — It was most probably a cat.

— There’s a Machine in the city? — Tovu, on the other hand, sounded scared.

— Of course not! All of them were deactivated who-knows how long ago! It’s a stupid idea, a story parents tell kids to keep them home at night.

He didn’t seem convinced. The city was excavated from within, there were thousands of tunnels on all directions — or so he had heard. It wouldn’t really surprise him if something terrible was hiding in a dark corner.

— There’s nothing to be afraid of. — Koira insisted. — And! Next time ya get lost around here, just find the door handle, and follow that direction until ya cross three corridors. Then, turn right, go straight until ya find a wall, then turn left. Your room is the fourth on the right wall.

— I’ll try to memorise that… — He wasn’t confident, though.

— How good is your Braille?

— It’s… not as bad as before.

— I’ll write it for ya, then. I have a Braille typewriter, I found it deep in a pile of rubble not much after I arrived, so I studied it, it’s fun, ‘cause now I can read at night, even when there are no lights. — Koira, on the other hand, was excited about the idea. — I can get ya some books once your reading is better.

— Ah. That… that would be nice, I guess.

— I think I have some advanced exercises too, but I’d have to look for them.

— Take your time.

Koira looked at him in silence; he had never been a man of many words, but he was even quieter around her. However, it didn’t matter how much he refused to talk, Tovu looked better. More alive. The wheelchair gave him some of the autonomy he had lost.

She excused herself with a whisper, touched his hand and, when he didn’t flinch, she put his fingers on the wall, so that he could count the corridors. She had never helped someone like him, and she wanted to win him over. Koira wanted to change his mind, show him how wrong he had been, how wrong his religion was, but she needed Tovu to trust her, or else he would never accept the prosthetics.

— Here we are. — She opened the door and pushed the chair inside. — Need help getting on the bed? Or would ya rather stay on the chair?

— You can leave me on the chair. I can go up the bed on my own.

— Okay, then. I’ll look for the books and get some here, I just can’t promise when. Qena hasn’t given me any free time lately. — Koira made a crying sound, but then she laughed a bit. — I’ll see ya then.

She didn’t wait for an answer, she was sure there wouldn’t be one, until she heard Tovu’s voice, low and shy:

— Thank you. For helping me. And, uhm, the chair.

— Don’t ya worry about it. — She smiled. — I like making this kind of thing.

The door was closed gently and Tovu was left alone with his thoughts. Again.

Log. 16467.m

There’s a little snag in the program we used to deceive the virus in my case; it recognizes the simulation is me, because the Net recognizes it that way. My documents, my possessions, my diplomas... everything is linked to simulation. In other words, I, the real person, am illegal. If by any chance I turn off on the street or get taken to the Workshops, I’ll be considered a mere copy and my memories will be erased. My body is likely to be destroyed, and only my physical drives will remain. It's scary.

When Ganen woke up, the sun was yet in the sky and Séra was fixing the car. She got up slowly, and walked silent steps towards her lover. The hook was finished, but there were still some pipes and pieces on the floor. Séra’s top was stained with sweat, coffee and maybe some grease, and even though Ganen was right by her side, she didn’t notice her.

— Hey, hun.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

— OH GOSH! — Séra almost dropped one of her tools on her foot. She covered her face and cleaned some of the sweat. — Don’t scare me like that, eh. — She stared at Ganen with her eyes wide open.

— Sorry, I didn’t mean to. — She yawned. — Uhm, how are things going?

— Well, I guess. I’m almost done, was just checking some things up. Just in case, ya know? — Her fingers were twitchy and her eyes darted here and there, to Ganen and back to the car.

— Do you need anything?

— Coffee?

— I don’t think you need more coffee. — Ganen squinted her eyes. — You look too nervous as it is. Was it a bad one? The car, I mean.

— Ah… well, it wasn’t too bad, but I have to be sure I’ll fix it right, or it’ll become a nasty problem, eh. — Séra looked at her work, then back at her sleepy lover. — Guess I can take a pause, make us something to eat.

— I’m sure you’ll do well. And if it breaks later on, we’ll just fix it again. — Ganen yawned one more time. — And I was thinking, the food we have now will take a long time to go bad, yes?

— Yah, I think so. Why?

— Well, I think we should eat something else and save that for emergencies.

— What do ya mean? — Séra asked.

— I mean, I’ll go set some traps in the woods and try to hunt something.

— Oh. Okay. Ahn, should I go with ya?

— I think it’s better if you stay here, just in case those people come back to rob us once more.

Séra stared at her for some seconds; Ganen was right, that was a sensible idea, but the engineer wasn’t sure if going alone was a good idea; they couldn’t be sure those people wouldn’t steal lives as well as food. And Ganen’s arm was still hurt.

— Let’s at least fix your bandages first, yah? — Séra didn’t want to let her go. She didn’t want to be left alone.

— Oh yes, that’s a good idea. Yesterday night I only cleaned it, but it would be better to redo some of the stitches. Can you help me?

— Ah… — She didn’t want to. — I guess.

— I’ll work the needle, you just need to tie the knots. Is that okay?

Séra took a deep breath and nodded; she didn’t want to do it, but she wanted to help somehow. She watched as Ganen got their first-aid kit and started preparing the needle, scissors, and nylon thread. She also got some gauze to bandage her arm once the wound was closed again, then rolled one of her tops and bit it a few times.

— So that I can bite something as I stitch. — Ganen shrugged. — In case it hurts too much.

— Yah… I see.

— You ready?

— As ready as I’ll be. — Although she didn’t sound confident.

— So here we go.

At first, Ganen didn’t bite her top; she cleaned the wound and applied some anti-infection cream, which also had a numbing effect. Then, after gathering her courage, she put the thread on the needle and tried to pierce her skin where the nurse had pierced it some time ago.

The cream helped a little with the pain, but it wasn’t an anaesthetic. Ganen felt the burning sensation as the thread travelled across the layers of skin on each side of the cut, then she offered the tips to Séra.

— Can you make the knot?

Séra swallowed hard as she nodded. She crossed the tips of the thread, put of them through the loop, then tightened it.

— Is this good?

— Make two more, just in case.

Séra nodded again, then did as she was told. The woman did her best to avoid Ganen’s face. She still felt like it was her fault Ganen had gotten hurt, and she didn’t want to see the pain in her lover’s eyes. After finishing the first stitch, Séra could feel the adrenaline rush in her veins, but the other woman just prepared more thread and pierced her skin again; there were plenty of stitches to redo.

After a few others, Séra’s hands were firmer and she didn’t look as nervous as before. Truth be told, she managed to look at it as a car part she was fixing, which made things a bit easier. She knew that would scare her, it was bleeding and she was quite sure Ganen would need her for more than knots once they fixed the back part of her arm.

The smell of blood wasn’t so strong, but it was enough to make her mind wander. And not to good places. It wasn’t such an absent smell when she was small, and Séra was sure it should have been. It also wasn’t so different from the smell of her hands after she killed Ori.

Thinking of that made her shiver, and she almost hurt Ganen with the needle. The woman didn’t complain, but Séra could see the pain in her eyes. She just wanted to run away.

And as sudden as it started, it was done. Ganen washed the wound again and wiped off all the blood as if it was nothing, then she applied the anti-infection cream once more. The bandages were easy to wrap and Séra didn’t have any trouble with those, and soon enough the arm was on a sling.

— I’ll catch something for us to eat, can you get the fire going?

— Yah. I’ll prepare some paper, lantern and pen for us to check the stars as well.

— Good call, I had forgotten about that again. Gosh, my head is a mess and I hate it so much! — She kicked a patch of grass from the floor and watched as the bugs spread out. — Anyway, give me some bottles, I’ll get more water too.

— Are ya sure ya wanna go alone? We have enough for today, and we can forage together tomorrow.

— The sooner we start, the better. And this way I can check the forest and know what we might find in there. Last time, I didn’t even think about it. And it’s best if you stay and look after our stuff.

— Yah… okay. Just be careful, alright?

— You know me, I’m always careful. — Ganen forced a smile. She needed to clear her head and stop worrying so much, or else her brain would stop working properly.

Log. 16382.b

Research says the infections have stopped. Or at least, that's what they show on the surface. When I look deeper, what I find is that infections have increased drastically, but memories have not been erased. That is, the virus infects, but does not destroy. The code is hidden and only few discover it, because there are no symptoms. I wonder how we can fight like that! Whoever is behind it is smart. They already know a few of us are aware of the situation, and that does not please them at all.

]It was late and Koira was still awake. Ever since she left Sand City — left Séra all alone —, sleep broke up with her. They weren’t friends anymore. If she was being honest, ever since her sister died, she hadn’t been close to her pillow and dreams. She was new to her twenties when Séra moved in with her, and life took a crazy turn.

She loved Séra more than anything in the world, and knowing she had abandoned the child made cry for days on end, but it was impossible to bring her along on such a journey, where she almost lost her life countless times. Koira hated to admit it, but Séra was safer in Sand City. At least for the time being.

She took a deep breath and stared at the empty tequila bottle; it had helped her sleep on her first days, but years had gone by and it finished way too fast. Koira was tired, exhausted, but she knew she wouldn’t sleep so soon. So she decided to take a look on Qena’s papers once again.

Qena was the only child of the family who had always taken care of the electricity in the Underground City; they were responsible for the wind turbines on the outside and the deep wells on the inside, the cables going around the roof and walls of the gallery where the city was built, and the distribution of such an important resource.

This last part, however, had been tricky since the beginning of times, perhaps. Some people would steal energy for their own devices and projects, instead of doing the paperwork for getting more in a legal way. It was quite common to find broken cables attached to all kinds of weird things, from vibrating chairs to a freaking hole in the wall.

Some people said it was the work of a Machine, one that didn’t turn off when the Moon swallowed the Sun, and had been planning its comeback, the destruction of the new world. Koira didn’t believe in any of that, she was a woman of science and mechanics, there was no way a Machine could hide for so long.

The energy distribution problem, however, remained, whether there was a Machine or not. And Qena’s parents’ solution was making the access to it difficult. All houses would have one single cable, instead of many, and only people from their department would have the authority to even touch the cables.

Fixing, building, adjusting, all of that would not be in the hands of the people anymore, but concentrated on the family’s hands. And those who tampered with said cables or just energy itself, would be fined or even expelled from the city.

Qena was against it, she said that was too extreme, and there had to be better ways to fix that problem once and for all, but her parents didn’t quite like her ideas, they were fond of having all that power and ruling over the most advanced city in Gaya, and everytime she presented her solutions, they were scorned.

That’s where Koira came in. She was invited to the Underground City, which was a rare achievement, and her work had proven again and again she was a genius. Qena started bringing her papers and ideas to the woman before presenting them to her parents, and Koira could come up with an answer to almost every imaginable question, and a solution to all the problems she could think of. At least her insomnia was being put to good use, as Qena would say.

A long yawn escaped her mouth, the exhaustion was really kicking in, and the words on the papers were dancing before her eyes; maybe it was time to go to bed. There was a meeting on the next day and she would have to wake up a bit earlier than usual to read Qena’s ideas one last time.

The yawn followed Koira to bed, where her cats were already sleeping; she didn’t really mind waking them up, as they would do the same every now and then. She spread the blanket on the mattress and fluffed her pillow, then she sat down and checked the alarm. Five hours. It wasn’t bad. She could always sleep a bit during the day.

As soon as her face sank on the soft fabric of the pillow, she heard someone at the door. If it was Qena, she would come in whether she got an answer or not, so Koira just waited. As expected, in less than a minute, the woman was standing by her bedroom.

— You should really lock the door, you know? — Qena tried to make a joke, but there wasn’t much fun in her voice.

— Ya should really stop getting into people’s houses, ya know? — Koira was too tired to notice anything.

— I know. I didn’t want to be alone. Can I sit?

— Yah. Did ya fight with your parents again?

— You’re so wise. — Qena sat on the bed and crossed her legs in front of herself. — I don’t understand their need of power, I really don’t. We don’t need to cut down the distribution or make it less accessible, we just need to share it better. If we did, there wouldn’t be these fluctuations we’ve been suffering.

— Have ya guys found the problem this time? — Koira couldn’t even keep her eyes open, but her mind was still wide awake.

— Not yet. We’ve sent some people to look after it, but I haven’t had the time to read their reports. I think neither have my parents, so… so far so good.

— They do understand ya’ll take care of the energy department once they’re gone, yah?

— I don’t think so. I want it, I actually do, and I’ve studied so much for it, I know the whole thing as well as the palm of my hand, but they don’t trust me with it. — Qena looked at Koira and thought she was sleeping until the woman opened one of her eyes. — Were your folks more supportive?

— Up to a point. They died when I was a teen, not long before Séra was born. They were old already when mum had me, so… yah. But my sister used to say they were good people, respected in the city and quite useful. They used to be good with me too, and they loved Séra while they were still around.

—Oh. Well, you can have mine, if you want.

— I’m good. — Koira turned around and felt Qena’s hand on her back. She always had warm hands.

— Is it weird if I lay down with you? I just need some good cuddling before the meeting.

— I guess I don’t mind. — Although it felt a bit strange. — But I thought ya had a boyfriend or something?

— Something. — She didn’t sound sad at all. — I don’t wanna call him and give him false hope or whatever.

— Then I guess it’s okay.

— Can I be the little spoon? — Qena risked, not sure what she would get for an answer.

— Aren’t ya asking for too much, young lady? — Koira laughed a bit, then moved to let her get under the blankets; she didn’t really mind.

— Perhaps. — Qena climbed over the woman and snuggled between her arms like a needy cat. — You comfy?

—As I can be.

— Thank you. — Qena whispered.

— Don’t ya worry ‘bout it.

— And I’m not that much younger than you, old hag.

— Old hag. — Koira repeated. — Imma kick ya out of my house.

— I’m sorry, I’m sorry! — She laughed; Koira always made her laugh, though the woman would push her buttons quite often. — You don’t have to be all nervous around me, you know that. — Qena said, as she pulled one of Koira’s hands around herself in a hug. — Is this okay?

— Yah, it’s fine. It’s just a bit strange, I’ve only ever slept with Séra when she was very little. Or a bit older, when she had nightmares.

— Wait. — Qena turned around to face Koira. — You have never slept with anyone?

— No. — The woman opened her eyes, a bit confused and worried. — I’ve never had the opportunity, I guess? I was always the weird kid growing up, didn’t have many friends besides my sister, and then I suddenly got a child when I was twenty. — She shrugged. — It’s fine.

— I’ll fix that for you.

— Please, don’t, I already have a lot on my mind.

— Ah, yes, with old man Tovu. — She made a lewd gesture.

— Just go to sleep, Qena. — Koira forced her to turn around and rested her head on the pillow, too close to the woman’s bleached curls. They smelt like honey and lavender, which put her mind at ease for once. — Wake me up if ya need anything. — she added, already half-asleep. She didn’t even get Qena’s answer.