Christmas on Chaos

by Sophie Stern

  “Are you sure?” Sasha looks a little nervous about separating, but this isn’t the wild. It’s not the jungle. It’ll be totally fine.

  “Yeah,” I tell her. “We have our communications units so if anything happens, just call me on there, okay?” I usually don’t wear one, but today I did. If we can’t find each other in the busy shopping pods, the comms will give us an easy way to reconnect with each other.

  “Okay,” she finally says. Sasha gives me a quick hug – she’s quite physically affectionate, especially for a Cravenlouan – and then she heads over to the Earth food pod.

  Me?

  I turn toward Pod 17 and start walking. I take two glass walkways to reach it. The pod itself it entirely made out of purple glass and if I look down, I can see right down onto the streets of Mayhem. They’re bustling and crazy, just like the store is.

  I look around for a minute. This is definitely the perfect place to find a gift for Bri. There are so many different toys here that I just know I can find something she’ll love.

  “Earth dolls for sale,” a robotic assistant rolls up to me. It’s holding a glass box with an Earth doll inside of it. The doll looks very small and his big, blue eyes.

  “No,” I shake my head.

  The robot leaves.

  I used to try to be polite with the robotic assistants, but the reality is that they aren’t programmed to understand much more than “yes” or “no.” I’ve found that simple commands, including simple rejections and acceptances, are better than trying to be polite.

  “Hi, hi, hi, no, no, no,” a tiny voice beside me says. I look over and see a small child standing by one of the displays. “No,” the child says again. “Hi, hi. No.”

  “Now Milly,” the child’s mother says. “Be kind.”

  “No,” the child repeats.

  “I’m sorry,” the mother says, looking over at me. “But my daughter is just fascinated by your baby.” She smiles gently and shakes her head a little.

  “What?” I ask, but the mother picks up her daughter and starts walking away with her.

  My baby?

  I shrug, not knowing what she’s talking about, but then I take a step to move, and my foot kicks something. I look down, and sure enough, there’s a little baby sitting in a small robotic cart. It’s the kind of moving vehicle I’ve been seeing all over the pods today. People can shove their purses, their purchases, and yes, even their children in these moving wagons. They’re very convenient, but apparently, this child’s parent has wandered away. That woman thought this kid was mine.

  It is not.

  “Uh, hey,” I say to the baby, who looks up at me. “Where’s your mommy or daddy?” I ask it.

  The child blinks at me, but says nothing.

  Of course it doesn’t say anything: it’s tiny. I don’t know much about babies, but I know that at this age – whatever age that is – kids can’t talk. Hell, this baby can’t even walk or move.

  So why is it alone?

  I glance around.

  There’s really no one else around. Everyone has moved deeper into the pod, into the store, but this child has been left unattended in a little robotic wagon. Obviously, someone thought I was this kid’s mother, which I’m not, but I also can’t just leave it here.

  I reach for the little cart. It’s a robotic wagon, so it’s almost like a box that’s elevated and glides along the floor. There is no handle, but there are a series of buttons on the front. I touch them, running my fingers over them as I try to figure out if there’s any sort of identification on it. When someone checks out a wagon, they have to show their ID. At least, that’s how it was described to me by my sister when she was giving me a crash-course in how to be normal on Chaos.

  Fat chance of that, but whatever.

  Nothing pops up. There’s no identifying information in here. There’s just...nothing.

  “Where did you come from?” I ask the little one.

  More importantly, what am I going to do now?

  Chapter 2

  Acacius

  “WHAT THE FUCK HIT ME?” I ask, trying to open my eyes. I’m groaning because everything hurts. Literally, everything.

  “Ah, you’re awake.” The feminine voice sounds mean and sarcastic. It doesn’t sound surprised that I’m awake: more like, it’s annoyed that it took me so long to open my eyes.

  “Who are you?”

  “I’m the person who saved your life. You’re welcome, by the way.”

  The woman standing over me is harsh and to be honest, she’s a little scary. Her hair is pulled tightly back in a bunch and her makeup is smeared. She’s wearing normal clothing: not hospital clothing, and I realize I’m not at a hospital.

  I’m still at the mall, but I’m in the medical bay.

  “I thought this area was only staffed by a skeleton crew,” I say.

  “A thank-you would be nice,” the woman sighs.

  “I’m sorry,” I say. “Thank you.”

  “Autumn,” a man says from the corner. He’s sitting on one of the chairs for guests. “Play nice.”

  She sighs and looks at him.

  “I will, but for dragon’s sake, Caleb. We were doing our holiday shopping. We didn’t have to stop and help him. I didn’t have to stop to help you,” she turns back to me.

  “I appreciate that you did,” I say, rubbing my temple. I haven’t even tried to stand up yet.

  “You passed out,” she says, frowning. “Do you have any medical conditions that would cause this to happen?”

  “Yeah,” I grumble. “I’ve got diabetes.”

  She frowns.

  “Diabetes? What’s that?”

  So people on Chaos don’t exactly have to deal with the same Earth illnesses the rest of the galaxy has to. It’s okay. It’s not their fault that their bodies are stronger than a human’s. It’s just part of the deal. I do as much as I can to lift heavy, workout regularly, and eat healthily so I can compete with the men on Chaos, but at the end of the day, I’m about as human as they come, and trying to manage a health condition when you’re on a planet other than your own can be really, really messy.

  “It’s an Earth disease,” the man, Caleb, says from his chair.

  “Yeah,” I manage to say, closing my eyes again.

  “Why do you have a human disease?” The doctor says.

  “Because I’m human.”

  “And you’re on Chaos? Why?”

  Another question.

  Just what I need when my head is spinning and I feel like I’m going to puke. I must have hit my head when I fell because everything – and I mean everything – hurts.

  “Okay, I don’t mean to be rude, seeing as how you saved my life and all, but if you could just leave me alone, that would be great.”

  I finally manage to sit up.

  “I don’t really want to answer any more questions,” I tell her honestly. “And I don’t believe that I have to.”

  The medical office at the shopping pods is just that: an office. It’s the kind of place you go to deal with cuts and bruises: nothing more.

  “That’s fine,” another woman steps forward. I hadn’t noticed her before. She looks like some sort of nurse. “You’re under no obligation to receive continued medical care,” she says. “In fact, you’re quite permitted to leave.”

  The doctor glares at her.

  “His diabetes is a problem,” the doctor says.

  “I’ve got it under control,” I say.

  “I don’t think that you do.” She crosses her arms over her chest and I suddenly get the feeling that her boyfriend or lover or mate, whoever he is, has his hands full with her. She’s bossy.

  “Well, you’re not my mom, and you’re not my wife, and you’re not my girlfriend, so let’s just say you leave me alone,” I tell her, irritated.

  She sighs and shakes her head. The woman turns to her lover, as though he’s going to give her some advice, but he just stares straight ahead. I realize the man is blind, but I probably never wou
ld have been able to tell if it weren’t for the fact that he’s not reacting to her exasperated glances.

  “Look,” she turns back to me. “Your blood sugar levels were quite low when I brought you in.”

  “You tested my levels,” I realize. She must have given me something for them. That’s probably why I’m in here. I don’t take insulin or medication to deal with my diabetes. Instead, I carefully track my food intake and follow a strict diet. My case is mild enough that I can generally manage everything with diet and careful planning, but there are always exceptions.

  Like today.

  I can’t believe I passed out in the middle of a shopping pod with my kid.

  Wait.

  “Jason,” I murmur, moving my legs to hang off the table. What happened to my son? He’s out there all alone and I have no idea where he is.

  I need to get to him right away.

  “My name is Autumn,” the doctor says, frowning at me. She shakes her head and pushes me back down. I’m embarrassingly weak, and I tumble right over.

  “No,” I shake my head. “My son. He was with me when I fell. Is he here?”

  The doctor and nurse both exchange surprised looks and that tells me everything I need to know, but neither one of them says anything.

  Luckily, the doctor’s darling, Caleb, speaks up.

  “My friend, when they found you, there was so much chaos surrounding your body and the fall you had that no one noticed a child. They brought you here right away and sent out a distress message for anyone in the shopping pods with medical training to come help you.”

  “The medical pod is generally only used for cuts and bruises,” the nurse says sheepishly.

  So they don’t have my kid.

  Nobody does.

  “How long have I been in here?” I ask.

  Again, silence.

  “For dragon’s sake,” Caleb snaps. “Someone give the man some answers. He’s worried about his child. Can’t you two understand that? Sir, you’ve been in here for at least an hour dozing in and out of consciousness. Where was the last place you saw your son? We’ll start looking for him.”

  I close my eyes and try to think.

  The problem is that I just can’t remember.

  Chapter 3

  Scarlett

  THE SHOPPING POD GETS busier and busier, and I move to the robotic kiosk where you pay for purchases.

  “Hello,” I say to the android.

  “Thank you for shopping,” the robot says. “Please place your purchases in the bin.”

  There’s a little bin in front of me. When you place your selected items on it, the android automatically scans them for the price and charges you accordingly. They’ll even package them up and ship them to your house. You don’t have to carry parcels. You don’t have to do anything.

  “Actually, I have a question,” I say.

  “Sizing information is available with each shirt,” the droid says.

  “I have a question about a customer,” I try again.

  “Customer service is located in the primary pod.”

  Dragons.

  Dragons.

  Dragons.

  For dragon’s fucking sake.

  I shake my head. I grew up on Hawk! I should be able to do anything. I should, at the very least, be able to get some answers from this android freak, but for some reason, I can’t seem to do even that.

  “Answer question,” I say.

  “Customer service is located in the primary pod.”

  “Oh, I hate these things,” Sasha says from beside me. “They never seem to work the way you need them to.”

  “Hey,” I say, turning. “I thought I was meeting you.”

  She just shrugs.

  “I grabbed a little sandwich, but I couldn’t really find anything else that hit the spot, you know. I figured I’d come over and find you and...your new friend?” She eyes the baby and raises an eyebrow as she looks at me questioningly.

  “I found him,” I say.

  The baby coos.

  “I can see that. Where is the little guy’s mommy or daddy?”

  I just shrug, and Sasha frowns, looking around.

  “I’m guessing they aren’t in the store anymore,” she says. “If they were, they’d have gotten upset by now.”

  “That makes sense. I mean, if I lost my baby, I’d want to know where it went,” I shake my head and the three of us leave the little pod. Then we stand in a large central pod that links many of the other ones. It’s kind of like a large lobby or hallway. There are maps and advertisements and several small sellers in the area.

  Everything smells...wonderful.

  It should feel wonderful, but it doesn’t.

  All I feel is concern.

  The baby seems overwhelmed by this change of scenery and starts to cry. Sasha instantly snatches him up and pulls him to her chest in a motherly gesture.

  “There, there,” she says, hugging him close. She presses her lips to his head and he seems to calm instantly. I’m completely shocked by her motherly instincts and I wonder if I’ll ever be able to do that.

  I’ve never had a child and I’ve really never spent very much time around them. How does Sasha seem to know just what to do? She seems to notice me staring at her, though, and she cocks her head, surprised.

  “Scarlett?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Would you like to hold him?”

  “I...I don’t know how,” I whisper, embarrassed. I’m a little ashamed by the fact that I’ve never done this. I’ve never held a baby. How do you get to be my age and not know how to care for a little child?

  “It’s okay,” Scarlett doesn’t seem upset or worried about my lack of experience. She hands the baby over to me and I instantly grab him and pull him close to myself. The baby laughs at the rapid movement, giggling, and I look at him.

  I’m surprised when he smiles up at me.

  “He liked that.”

  “Of course, he did,” she chuckles. “He’s a baby.”

  “You know a lot about kids,” I say. “Do you know what we should do next?”

  “Well,” Sasha says carefully. “Where would you go if you lost something? Is there a sort of intergalactic lost-and-found here?”

  “Lost and found?”

  “Is there a place where people can return things they’ve discovered that were discarded or forgotten by other people?”

  “Maybe the consumer information kiosk?”

  “Let’s try it out.”

  We make our way to the primary pod that has the information kiosk, but like the check-out station in the shopping pod, it’s guarded by only an android assistant.

  “There’s got to be somewhere else,” I point out. “Let’s think,” I turn to Sasha. “What would cause someone to leave their child?”

  She looks at me, blinking. I know Sasha has a sordid back story. I know she’s lost someone close to her – perhaps a child. In fact, now that I see the way she’s looking at the baby, I can practically guarantee that she’s a mother. I won’t ask her about it because it’s none of my business. If she wants to tell me, she can. I won’t force this on her, and I hate knowing that she might be feeling sad or nervous right now as we try to figure out what’s happening.

  “If the family got separated, the parents would be looking for the child,” Sasha said. “They haven’t issued any sort of alerts or warnings about a missing kid.”

  “So what else could have caused them to leave? They didn’t get accidentally separated.”

  “Maybe...an emergency?” She says.

  Okay, that makes perfect sense.

  Why else would someone leave their child and not come back for it? Maybe the parents had something horrible come up that drew their attention away, or maybe they were seriously injured.

  “What about a medical emergency?” I raise an eyebrow. “There’s a medical pod here, right?”

  “Yes!” She says, tearing her eyes away from the little guy. “We passed it earlier. Let�
�s go.”

  She leads the way and I follow with the robotic wagon and the baby carefully wrapped in my arms. I try not to think about how wonderful it feels to be carrying this little guy around or how much it’s going to hurt to hand him back to his real mom.

  It’s not that I have baby morka or anything like that. I’m not crazy about kids, but I would like children one day. I would love to be able to care for someone and be their mother. Doesn’t everyone want that on some level? Doesn’t everyone want the honor of caring for another?

  When we reach the medical pod, I look down at the baby.

  “I hope his parents are okay,” I say to Sasha. “But part of me also hopes they’re here so he can be reunited with them.”

  “Let’s find out.”

  She presses the button outside of the pod and a minute later, a holographic nurse appears.

  “How many I direct your emergency?” She says.

  I hold up the baby.

  “Uh, we’re looking for this child’s parents,” I say. “Do you happen to have any patients today who might be missing a child?”

  Is it just me, or does the holographic nurse look...relieved?

  She says nothing and the image flickers away. Then the doors slide open and the same nurse, no longer a holograph, comes jolting out.

  “Thank dragons,” she says, reaching for the baby, but I hold him tighter to my chest.

  “If you don’t mind, I’d like to be the one to give the baby back to his mother.”

  The nurse frowns and looks from me to the baby and back again, but she finally nods and gestures for me to follow her.

  Sasha and I step inside the medical pod and I look around, but I don’t see anyone’s mother. In fact, the only people here are the nurse, a doctor, a man sitting politely in a chair, and a patient lying in a bed with his eyes closed. The doctor’s back is to me and the man in the chair is looking at his hands. What’s the situation here?

  Are the two men the child’s fathers?

  Instantly, I’m a little embarrassed by my assumption that the child had a mother.

  I walk over to the man sitting in the chair.