Chapter 19

Log. 10900.z

I relived all the memories from when I went to the beach. It’s amazing being able to feel the sea breeze and the sand texture at my own home.

Even though Ganen and Séra were a bit afraid of Gayo, their fatigue was bigger still. They woke up with the sun on their faces whilst the perfume of coffee and vanilla filled the house. They sat on the sofa, Ganen still rubbing her eyes and Séra half-asleep; they barely had time to think before someone showed up at the door.

The woman looked quite similar to Gayo, she had long and wavy dark hair, strong brows, and her large eyes had the same tone of brown as her skin. Her smile was beautiful and inviting, and she seemed happy the guests were awake.

— Good morning! I’m Misha, Gayo’s sister. Come on, up we go, he’s making coffee. And there is bread! You must be Ganen and Séra, right? Come on, let’s talk in the kitchen.

Misha’s reception was much warmer than her brother’s last night, so, with a yawn, the women got up and followed her. After the living room, there were stairs going up, facing the gazelle skin on the wall. If one continued walking, they’d get to the kitchen, where a large cooling box and a wood burning stove caught their attention.

There were also a couple of chairs and a large table, and beside the sink, there was a door leading outside. They could now hear the goats, and when Gayo opened said door, one of the animals almost walked in with him. When he noticed, the man hit his foot on the floor and pointed outside. The goat looked at him and bleated, but after a second, the animal walked back out.

Gayo gestured something to his sister, and it made Misha laugh. She gestured back and looked at the girls, who were confused and a bit uncomfortable. Gayo waved and walked back to the coffee.

— I think it's safe to assume you two don’t know sign language, yeah? — Misha asked.

— I know a little — Ganen started —, but… it’s quite different from the one you use.

— Ah! That makes sense. Auntie Soña said this one was invented by our family generations ago, though everyone who uses it, changes it a bit. — She smiled. — Talking about Auntie Soña… Gayo said she sent you girls here on a quest for milk?

— Yah, she sent us here for the milk. Because there was a…

— Disagreement. — Misha interrupted. She made sure to have her back towards her brother, then continued: — Gayo said he wanted more fabric for the milk, but Auntie Soña said it had always been that price and it would always be, or else it would turn into a war. Besides, the Council would never approve it.

— A war? — Ganen didn’t understand where she was getting at.

— Yes, the milk would be more expensive, then Auntie Soña would increase the fabric. Then Ennath would decrease his fabric and his milk, and put both of us out of business, which would be bad for the farms up north, because they’d stop using our milk to make their cheese, in the end, one thing would lead to another, and it would be bad. The Farms have a delicate system, you know?

— Oh, I see. We know of an Ennath too, I wonder if they’re the same person.

— Ennath with the alpacas? — Misha tried.

— Yes! — Both Ganen and Séra answered together, then Séra continued: — They helped us back in Sand City.

— Ennath is a cutie. — Misha sighed, a bit in love. — But when I asked if we could start dating, they said they didn’t do dating.

— Well, some people don’t like it. — Ganen laughed. — But at least you were brave enough to ask them. By the way, is Ennath back on the farm?

— I believe so, I mean, they always follow a strict schedule. — She shrugged, then felt Gayo poking her shoulder.

He signalled “The coffee is ready, and so is breakfast, maybe we can eat and they can go?”, to which Misha nodded, and invited all of them to sit.

Log. 10845.y

I need to travel. I've been stuck in the caravan for far too long. It seems things are close to normal again. The Programmer distributed some light memory drives with the antidote code, at least to people close to him. Some of them told us they no longer use the Cloud, but some alternative Nets, at least to keep their memories. I even opened accounts in some of them, but I still hold on to my physical drives.

— So, have you got it? — Qena asked Koira, pointing to the program on the datapad.

They were sitting in Qena’s bedroom while Koira learnt how to design the chainmail, so that they could print it in the Office’s relic, an old 3D-printer.

— Yah, I’ve got it.

— Good. — She got up from the bed and stretched, then she walked to her closet to get a towel and a robe. — I’ll get some coffee running and take a shower. It’ll help me fix my hair before the meeting.

— I can help ya with that. — Koira offered, her face so innocent and naive.

— The shower? — Qena smiled.

— Oh no! No, I meant the hair! I can help ya with the hair! — She blushed, her cheeks bright red, and looked away. She didn’t notice Qena right behind her, and got startled when the woman’s arms slithered down her shoulders.

— I wouldn’t mind if you helped me shower. Actually, I think I’d love that. — She whispered in Koira’s ear, and almost made her fall off the bed.

— This game of yours ain’t as funny as ya think, ya know? — She managed to reply.

— What do you think it is?

— Ahn, I think it’s… — Koira tried to think of something else besides confusing because it’s kinda hot, but she took too long.

— Hey, it’s fine. — Qena let her go. — This time, only.

And as much as Koira was relieved, part of her was worried, a bit disappointed — though she would never admit it. She watched as Qena grabbed a few of her hair products, then walked out of the room. The silence left behind was as loud as the woman who left, and Koira found herself lonely, almost suffocated by that horrible lack of sound.

She took a deep breath, opened a window, and sat by the datapad again. Qena could make her feel things she had never felt before, and it was strange, confusing, alluring even. In her mind, she should be the one who understood everything, or most of it. It was strange being so out of her scope. She was older, afterall.

Instead, Qena always seemed to be one step ahead, her mind was so fast, sometimes Koira had to focus all her attention to the one thing the woman was explaining rather than do all her three or four simultaneous things.

She needed effort to follow Qena’s train of thought, and that was a challenge, it was so fun, and meeting her had been one of the best things that happened after she left Sand City. The challenge wasn’t surviving or avoiding the people’s fury. It was getting everything perfect the first time.

Of course she had asked Qena to explain something more than once, their lives had been thoroughly different until that moment, there were so many things Koira had never heard about, and she loved when Qena had been appointed to teach her the ways of the Underground City.

Koira stopped her thoughts for a moment. Maybe this was something she could learn… She closed her eyes and hid her burning face. That was too much, she couldn’t even imagine it, and it was so ridiculous!

— I’m 35, for fuck’s sake!

And yet, there were things she couldn’t quite picture.

One of those things was how long Qena would take in the shower. It had been almost two hours when she finally came back, the datapad was out of battery and Koira was laying in the bed with her head hanging down, dying of boredom.

— Your hair is… is red! — She stumbled out of bed, so big was her surprise. She had never pictured that either.

— Yeah, I got tired of the blonde. — Qena offered her a sandwich and a glass of coffee. — Everything okay around here?

— Yah, the designs are done and I think we’re ready. — Koira smiled and pointed at her packed bags.

— Good, so eat and shower too, we’ve been at it for way too long. Then we can run to the Office and hopefully do well at the meeting.

— Yah, okay. Can I just eat first? I mean, ya took your sweet time in the shower. — She laughed a bit nervous.

— I actually was making our snacks while the dye was doing its job. — Then she rolled her eyes at Koira, with a smile. — You can do whatever you want, however you desire. — And faster than the woman could answer, Qena continued: — But I need to get dressed, so I’m getting your opinion.

— Are ya sure? — Koira wasn’t sure. — I mean, I’m here in the room and such.

— Yeah, saving time. And I don’t mind. — Qena opened her closet and got a suit with light green monstera leaves. — What about this one? I particularly love it.

— Ah… Yah, uhm, it’s quite pretty. — She had now realised Qena was wearing only the robe, and she would have to take it off to wear something else. Koira didn’t know what to do.

— I also have this one, mother says it evokes more power, because it has this black-and-white tiger print. I mean, we don’t even have tigers around here! But I must admit I kinda like it.

— I think I like the plant one more. — she said, with a hand in front of her mouth. It sounded like she was chewing.

— You do like green, right? — Qena smiled.

Koira nodded, her mouth full of the last — large — bite of her sandwich. She pointed to the green suit, got her bag and stopped by the door. She didn’t know where the bathroom was, she had never been in Qena’s house before.

— Can ya help me to the bathroom? — she ended up asking.

— Yeah, I’ll help you. — She couldn’t stop her smile at the other woman’s face, the disbelieve, the earning she was trying so hard to hide. — I can even keep you company, if you want.

— I just need the directions. — Koira mumbled back, waiting for Qena’s reply.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

— Uhm, no clothes?

— You’re too… — She tried to speak, gesture, but all she got were weird hand movements which didn’t mean a thing. — for your own good, ya know?

— I know. — Qena smiled. — But I also know deep down you like it.

And Koira didn’t have an answer for that, all she managed to do was ask again for the bathroom directions and, in the end, let Qena guide her there. For the well-being of her brain, the woman didn’t keep her offer of staying there with her.

Log. 10564.k

Finally. We managed to create a simulation the virus recognizes as me. Now I can access the Cloud without fear (but I’ll still use the computer for more important things: they’re more difficult to track). We thought about putting the antidote code in the Cloud, so that people can protect themselves, but we are afraid those responsible for the virus may find out. If they do find out, it will be even more difficult. So we bought several light memory drives and installed the antidote in each of them. You only need a backup of your memories and then you could be yourself again. I believe this way we can help some people, at least here.

The breakfast was rather silent with Gayo and Misha talking in signals. Ganen wanted to pay attention and try to understand at least one or two things, but the gestures were too different from the ones she had learnt. And she didn’t want to look too curious; it was impolite.

Séra, on the contrary, focused on the food. She couldn’t care less that Gayo didn’t like them, because his coffee was exquisite. There was a tangy sweetness to it, and she couldn’t recognize it for nothing in this world. She had to ask.

— Misha, excuse me, what’s in the coffee? It’s so good!

— Almonds and vanilla. — She smiled proudly. — It’s a family recipe. A farm south from here grows some kinds of nuts, you should stop there if you like them. Of course, it won’t be for free.

Gayo poked his sister and gave her an idea: they had to deliver some milk to that farm, and maybe the women could do it, once they would have to come back anyway, to bring the fabric. She said that was a good idea, and a perfect way to avoid a trip.

When Misha presented it to Séra and Ganen, both looked at each other, and neither found a reason not to do it, especially after the sister said she could give them some extra coffee and goat milk for their work. They needed resources, and doing some odd jobs here and there wasn’t a bad way of getting them.

As soon as the meal was finished, Gayo called them over and showed them where the milk was stored. He pointed at the gallons and made the number six with his fingers, then pointed to the outside.

— Auntie Soña? — Ganen asked, making sure he could read her lips.

Gayo nodded, then he made the number two, and pointed at them. Ganen smiled and thanked him in silence, and Séra followed what she did. They would have to put the milk in smaller bottles, to fit all of it in the car and mini-cooling box, and hopefully, there would be enough.

The drive back to Soña’s farm was so different from the first time! The sun was shining over the grass, giving each little leaf a new glow. There were colourful flowers painting the green in reds, yellows, and oranges, it was beautiful to look at.

Ganen said she wanted to stop and get some of those to press between the pages of a book, so that the flowers could dry and become page markers. She said they could also make some impressions of the flowers on paper, all they needed was some hot water and a pot, which they had. Séra got interested, and she even stopped the car to get some yellow orchids growing high on a tree.

Once they arrived, however, the old woman didn’t look very happy. Her oldest son helped them put the gallons of milk inside, then headed to work on the farm. Soña stared at Ganen and Séra for a few seconds before asking the reason for such delay. After a brief explanation, she let out a loud laugh:

— Gayo doesn’t like people very much, but even he wouldn’t let someone spend the night outside.

— Is it dangerous at night? — Séra asked. — We were robbed some days ago, but it was further north.

— Well, I wouldn’t say it’s dangerous, but sometimes the Forest People come a bit too close to the farms, and they’re not quite civilised. And — Soña opened a proud smile. — we were raised to be good people to one another. That includes the two of you.

— Oh. — Ganen smiled back, a bit surprised. — I’m glad for it.

— Well, let’s have a snack, shall we? Then you two can finally shower, I hope you stay at least one day over here, so we can show our good behaviour, right, Little Finny?

— Yes, grandma Soña. — The boy, sitting on the other side of the room, mumbled the answer. He was holding a small collar with a leash; the girls imagined it had belonged to a guinea-pig. Onesie, perhaps.

— Good. Little Finny has forgiven both of you for the accident. He knows you only did it because you were hungry. — She turned once again to the boy: — What do we do when we find hungry people?

— We share our food. — Finny mumbled again. He didn’t seem to be in a forgiving mood.

— For what is worth — Séra kneeled in front of him:. —, I do feel very sorry for your guinea pig. If there’s anything else I could do, lemme know, okay?

The boy nodded, and that was enough for her. Soña invited them to the kitchen, where she offered them bread, jam, marmalade, cheese, margarine, and strawberries. She opened one of the gallons of milk and asked them how they would like it.

Little Finny didn’t look very happy still, but the strawberry milk his grandma was making looked too good for him to keep sour. During most of the day, he would stay at home, while the older ones worked on the farm. He was the only kid that wasn’t working yet, and he was about to start when Onesie was killed.

His grandma said, though it was a very sad mistake, his older self would have enjoyed some time off, and he shouldn’t be so sad about some forced holidays. He would get another chance really soon.

Little Finny thought her words were somewhat cruel, but that was also his house, it would be a bother to go to his cousins’, and he didn’t want to do that. So he accepted his strawberry milk with a smile, and tried to enjoy that moment.

Log. 10112.a.b

Needing a computer is burdensome. Even before having inorganic bodies, we had eye implants or special glasses, for those who didn’t want surgery, so at any given time, information was always within reach. It was simply thinking about it.

But for now let's think of a way to stop the virus from targeting me.

At the Office, Qena was explaining Koira the workings of the printer, as the aluminium was melted and shaped into the rings. Koira, on the other hand, was thinking that it would be impossible to print as many chainmails as they needed. Not impossible, but it would take too long.

While she was waiting for Qena to shower, she kept thinking of a way to make them faster, and in larger numbers; she wanted to come up with something completely automated, but all she could think of was a two-step process, with a few manual parts. If they made some of the machines she had thought about, it could speed the process quite a bunch.

— Once it’s printed, we just have to, like, unglue the parts, and it’s ready to be shown! — Qena finished her explanation. — We just need to be careful, maybe use some pliers. — She laughed a bit nervously. The meeting was closer at every second, and the energy wasn’t back yet.

Its was strange. The energy should have been back by then, the guards had been looking for the problem since last night, but nothing yet. However, that made Qena a tiny bit more confident: probably she would be the only one with something to show.

It was true they also had the issue of the cables being disconnected, but with the chainmails, if they covered at least the base of the transformer, they could weave some aluminium wire to keep all parts together.

— I know it sounds like sewing, but this — she pointed at the chainmail in Koira’s hand; now that the rings weren’t glued to one another anymore, it moved almost like fabric. — is basically crochet.

— I would say it’s a tad bit different. — She laughed.

— Really? — Qena looked at her, her face painted with friendly mockery. — It was just a silly comparison.

— Oh, sorry, I thought ya were actually confused!

— Ha ha, you’re so funny. — The woman rolled her eyes.

— I can teach ya, if ya want.

— What? — Qena looked at her, quite confused.

— Crochet. I found some magazines in a pile of old stuff once, made a hook, found some twine. It’s pretty easy. I made a duck for Séra when she was tiny.

— Are you serious?

— Of course. It’s relaxing.

— When do you even have the time? — She started getting worried.

—Eh, every now and then. — Koira shrugged. — What time is it? Should we get going?

Suddenly brought back to reality, Qena looked at her watch: there were fifteen minutes to the meeting. She nodded and agreed they should gather their things and go.

At the hospital, people were also confused. The building had a transformer as well, and some of the rooms also had a small battery, to power up the medical equipment, but the outside was pure darkness.

Tovu was told to stay in his room unless there was something urgent, and there he was, with a Braille book in hand, practising. However, his mind was full of worries. He knew the energy was down, he didn’t need the lack of light to know: the sound of the air vents was different, lower, when there were power oscillations. And it had been too low for too long.

He was having his lunch when someone knocked on the door: it was Ryth. Tovu told him to open the door and walk in, and it didn’t take more than a few seconds for the boy to sit down by his side.

— Shouldn’t you be in your room, Ryth?

— I have a lantern. And I found a book in Braille in the library the other day. — the boy started. — Can you read this one?

— If it’s not too difficult, I suppose I can. Do the nurses know you’re here?

— I guess. — He shrugged. — And we practised the words so many times, I think you can do it. The librarian said the story is really cool! I tried, but there are no pictures, so it was kind of boring.

— I see. — Tovu laughed. — Maybe the pictures are also in Braille.

— What do you mean? — Ryth looked at him, quite confused.

— Instead of drawn with lines, the pictures might be drawn with dots. — Tovu read the title, The Blue Dragonfly, and touched the first letters of the book. It was a dialogue, and as Ryth said, the words weren’t too difficult, they came to him quite easily.

It was a story from long, long ago, before the Moon swallowed the Sun, before there were robots, and when the world was still divided in countries that would often create wars out of greed.

Tovu read the first chapter — about some students who were exploring a forest — and he himself felt a bit nervous: there were so many mentions of technology, crazy science experiments, he wondered how people lived in the past. The cover did say it was Science Fiction, and he hoped that was all it was.

Ryth, on the other hand, was a interested, and he would ask Tovu to explain some things every now and then, things he was too young to understand, or things he hadn’t studied in his history classes yet.

It was late when the boy left, a nurse came looking for him, because his parents — both guards — had come to visit him. There were no news on when the energy would return, and Tovu couldn’t help but wonder what had happened.

Ryth’s parents said it could be an animal who was climbing the cables and disconnected one, or maybe one of the oldest transformers had broken and would need repairs. There were some areas, especially closer to the energy-harvesting grounds, that were off-limits for civilians. Guards and some specialised workers were the only ones allowed there.

That area hadn’t been checked yet; it was too far to go on foot and the cars were out of battery. The guards and engineers sent there, following one of the largest cables, were probably arriving now, late in the afternoon, with the only vehicles they had in hand: bicycles.

The Mayor was just starting the meeting when her walkie-talkie spoke a message: “Group 03 is here, we’re gonna start looking for the problem, over.”

— Well, folks, this is good news. — The Mayor, Odessa, raised her walkie-talkie and smiled. — I dare say this is a good start. — Then she brought it closer to her mouth and pressed the button to speak: — Good job, my people. Take a breath, drink some water, don’t tire yourselves out. Over.

— Yes, sir! Over. — Vone, one of the guards, answered the message with a smile, then looked at the group; she was sure they would fix the problem.

It took them almost a day to get there, they had no idea how much time it would take them to find and correct the problem, and there would be another day of travelling back. She had talked to Odessa about going back by car; they would need to wait a little while longer, until the cars charged and arrived, but the trip back would be much more enjoyable.

Vone was confident. She sat among her friends and they all shared a small meal before continuing their search. The tunnel was dark and large, even with all the lanterns and torches on, they couldn’t see the beginning nor the end of it.

Water dripped every now and then — stalactites — and the sound echoed far, far away. Vone wondered how all those cave animals seldom got in the city; maybe it was just too far. Maybe it was the lights. The city was never truly asleep; the lights were always on.

The terrain soon became difficult; no one used to come to this part of the power plant, it was an old, powerful transformer from a wind turbine dozens of metres above ground. It never broke nor had any problem, so people decided to simply leave it be.

It wasn’t a good idea, deep down everybody knew it; however, no one could find the courage to tinker with it. They studied it, every inch of it, engineers and researchers slept days near the transformer just to understand how it worked.

That was one of the transformers which powered most of the city, so they had to know it well. They had to be prepared for times like this.

— Are we there yet? — Yurt asked; he was the engineer who suffered the most to follow Vone on her bike. The woman was good. And him… well, he would often describe himself as a couch-potato. Not a fan of biking or hiking.

— Hell yeah, Yu. — With a proud smile, she pointed to a building some metres ahead, barely visible beyond their light: — That’s the place.

— Holy shit, Vone, I can’t even walk anymore. I’ve never been happy to see something in the shadows before. — The poor lad was exhausted.

— Come on, just a bit more. — She pushed his back and got him walking again. — Don’t be a wimp just ‘cuz daddy is important.

He grunted and continued walking. That hadn’t been a good day so far, and he offered to come just to be away from everyone. He would have never volunteered if he knew there was so much walking before getting there.