The first days living there were a strange experience for him.
Adam felt like a fish out of water, not only in the apartment Trevor entrusted him with, but in that area of the city as well. It wasn’t a family neighborhood like his. There was no peace here. No quiet streets, only busy avenues and traffic jams. All the places he knew were far, far away. Every time he went on foot to the gym or the supermarket, he looked up and watched the daunting skyscrapers around him; there wasn’t one he could see the top of. In front of those structures, he felt small. And he hated that feeling.
“All right! Give me that damn fine and get out of the way, you freaking robot!”
Adam turned to see a truck driver sticking half his body through the window, yelling at the traffic officer robot, who also showed no interest in quickly complying with the man’s request.
A bus, which had had to stop behind the truck, honked its horn.
“Hey, bastard!” The trucker turned to the bus. “Don’t you see they are fining me?!”
The honking and shouting continued. Adam’s heart raced, and he had to get away from there. Fights in traffic during rush hour and reproaches against the traffic officer robot or the parking meter robot were not foreign to him; they were common currency every morning when he went to work in the other neighborhood. And yet, witnessing one grated on his nerves more than before.
His perception of the city had changed. The opulence and magnificence of Proxima, as well as his life, had gained a scary, almost aggressive vibe to it.
However, a good business manager always knows how to gain some profit out of misfortune.
After having unloaded his rage against Simon, Adam didn’t experience for a while the overabundance of static energy that had him blowing up light bulbs and everything working with electricity. That’s how he discovered he had to get rid of the energy excess often if he wanted to avoid inconveniences.
In the evenings to come, when the sunlight was diffuse, but the night was still quite clear, Adam would hide between some crags by the sea, and after making sure he was alone, he vented streams of white fire into the water. A couple of minutes of continuous bombardment against the water was more than enough to make him feel empty. The good thing was that the same water vapor that he raised also served to hide him from the curious eye, in case someone was hanging around.
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But if the scourge of the electric current in his body was very strong and there was no time to reach the coast, on the other side of the city, he went to a nature reserve near the apartment; and after making sure the park ranger android was making his round on the opposite end from where he needed to go, he went into the woods until he reached a pond and did the same thing as in the sea. He let the water consume his fire.
He asked his friend, doctor Sarah Lanen, for a medical checkup. With so many energy releases and exposures to weird radiations, he needed to be sure his health was not at the edge of decline. Lucky for him, except for the lack of sleep and the eye bags, he was just fine physically. At least, for the time being.
He visited his loft to see how the repairs were going, although he went during the day, so he couldn’t see Ruben Blue, the late shift doorman. It was better that way. He didn’t want to hear himself babbling again without knowing what to say about ‘the horrible fire because of that domestic accident.’
And then there was his physical appearance.
He would stand in front of the mirror and make sure nothing was out of place. He shaved and used special hair products with greater zeal than before. Until one morning, he ended up giving in to that stubble and those messy hairs that insisted on appearing as if by magic every time he woke up. He wasn’t sure how, but he was sure that, having absorbed Juzo’s Binary proteins, he had also assimilated his personality and even part of his behavior. And there was no better proof of that than when his phone chimed, he answered and heard a, “Hello, Adam, my love… why haven’t you come back to me—?” His lady friends’ mellow voices were so exasperating to him that he clicked off calls before even saying ‘hello.’
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“I’m glad there were no delays with the shipment this time,” Adam nodded, while Rita told the company’s news on the phone. “I know. Francisco is a very capable guy. He’ll do just fine while I’m gone.
“—I already told you, it’s nothing serious,” he said later, trying not to let his exhaustion and discomfort escape from his voice. “—And no, I’m not on vacation with one of my girlfriends... Nor in a hospital. I’m here at home. I just... decided to take a few days, y’know? Of course... Well, I’m glad that everything went well with your mother’s results. Hey, what about Trevor? He has never been outside for so long—Come again? Oh! I didn’t know he was already back. Yes, yes, he’d told me that he had to fly, that he was going to a meeting in Principia, but... Well, I thought he would let me know when he returned. I see, he went and came back on the same day... No, surely with so many things he must have forgotten to tell me, y’know? Very well, Rita, I... I must go to... Well, anyway. Another for you. Bye-bye.”
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“Hi, Trevor!”
“Adam… How are you?”
“Hey, I just wanted... Well, to know if everything’s okay.”
“Everything is fine.”
“Okay… Good.”
“Adam, I’m sorry... Right now... I’m already in bed. We can talk tomorrow?”
“Of course, of course!” he said and hung up. Time had never been an impediment for them to talk, but now...
He looked at his hands. There was the answer to so many evasions. Trevor really wasn’t just scared for him; he was scared of him.