by DeVere, Taya
“It’s just a matter of time before they start taking from us, instead of asking.”
That’s what Claudia had said. Dennis had shrugged his shoulders and waved her off.
“They’re just hungry people who lost their jobs. Just don’t open the door.”
And she hadn’t. But every evening after sunset, Claudia stood at the balcony above the entryway, staring into the darkness.
“They’re stealing all the fruit, Dennis,” she had complained over and over again. “Soon, there will be nothing left for me to sell.”
“We have more than Earl’s crew has time to pick, Claudia. Just ignore those bastards. They’ll go away eventually. Maybe one of them will step on a rattlesnake or fall down the old well. That should teach the rest.”
But no one stepped on snakes or got injured at the plantation. Very soon, Earl knocked on the front door, holding his hat in his hands, telling Claudia they lacked five sacks of oranges from that month’s order. That’s when Dennis agreed to order the security system but refused to give Earl one of his guns.
“Just fix the holes in the fence line, Earl,” Dennis had said. “Who will run the business if you’re in jail for manslaughter? Danny?” He had blown air through his lips. “That boy can’t boil water without ruining a kettle.”
It hadn’t been the first time Dennis waved off Claudia, refused to agree with Earl, and made fun of his son. But it had been the last.
The conversation had happened only a few weeks ago. Earl avoided the house when Dennis was home. Claudia moved her clothes and make-up and whatever else women hold dear, and moved into the guest room next to Danny’s room. The boy had just gone off to college. When they had asked when he would visit home, the boy had mumbled something about weekends and driven off in his brand new Lamborghini. Danny had never lacked for anything his entire life. Dennis’s late oil baron billionaire father had made sure of that, leaving all his wealth to Dennis.
And now, only two years after his father’s heart attack, Claudia and Danny have left him too.
He presses the new AR-glasses against his face. The ringing sound stops. His breath flows more smoothly. Dennis stares into a reality he had been about to start exploring, just before his family was slaughtered. He stares at the neon colors, the colorful trailer of a smiling woman with AR-glasses, identical to the ones on Dennis’s face. When the memory of Claudia’s high-pitched scream fills his ears, he shakes his head and taps the side of the glasses to open a menu.
“Enter room one,” he says.
After a glitch in the system and a four-second delay, a smooth female voice calls back.
ENTERING HAPPINESS-ROOM.
CHAPTER 4 — UP HIGH
The plane lands smoothly and rolls down a runway lined by an endless row of spruce trees. Dennis stares out the window, not wanting to wake up Maria. She’s fallen asleep somewhere above the Atlantic, and not even the landing wakes her from her rest.
Considering his sleepless night and the exhausting conversation with Doctor Solomon, Dennis should be sleeping too. But instead of gathering his strength, he has spent his time in the VIP-room, sipping champagne and chitchatting with Pearl. He needed some normality, something that his mind could still cope with. Anything that didn’t include knee-high assassins or bodiless masterminds living in an egg. He needed to break from it all, even the sleeping beauty next to him. Though he has had a corporation to run and a seat at the founders’ table for years and years, Dennis is not used to having to work his brain this hard.
The flight attendant arrives to collect the empty glasses and bottles. Dennis had drunk the first bottle himself and ordered a second; Maria had dozed off soon after having her drink. Feeling tipsy and exhausted, Dennis looks around for something to throw at Maria. He wouldn’t dare shake her shoulder to wake her up, and it’s clear that the flight attendant is scared shitless of the Unchipped woman.
Dennis fingers the side of his seat and finds a metal box with cup holders. He presses the top, and the box opens silently. Inside is a pile of old-fashioned magazines. He picks one out, opens it to the middle, and tears a page. The crumpled paper ball lands on Maria’s cheek. She jumps up and fumbles for something by her waist. When she can’t find her gun there, she frowns and sits back down, looks around angrily.
“Morning, sunshine.”
“Where’s my gun?”
“It’s in your backpack, remember? No guns allowed on black market flights.”
“Says who?” Maria says, grumpy and bothered. “It’s not like it’s a coherent organization.”
“What’s that?”
“The black market. You know, with leaders and such.” Her head jerks back a bit and for a fleeting moment, she looks at Dennis with a more neutral expression on her face. “Or is it?”
Dennis looks at her in wonder. “This is news to you?”
The annoyance returns to Maria’s face. “It’s all new to me, Dennis. Not all of us got a penthouse seat to watch the world burn and re-form during The Great Affliction. Mansion or no mansion, I’ve been off-grid ever since they fucked up my chipping.”
They didn’t fuck you up, doll. You’re as close to perfection as they come. Grunting, Maria moves around in her seat, stretching her legs and arms. “Are we there yet?”
“We’re here,” Dennis says, giving Maria his best smile. “Now we just need to find them. Do you know what any of these people look like?”
“Kaarina and her Yeti? Pfff. How would I know? The girl lived inside Bill’s head, not mine.”
“How about that Chipped fella? What’s his face…”
“Markus? Also, no. All I know is that Bill would sometimes call him Mophead.” Maria looks out the window, the airport’s blue lights making her wince in pain. “I don’t see anything but black clothes out there.”
Dennis follows Maria’s gaze, scanning the scenery outside the plane. She’s right. No groups or travelers with luggage. Just black-clothed men and women standing around vaping and waving at the pilot, pointing at a spot by the terminal. He sighs deeply, the words sticky in his mouth. “Could you ask Margaret quickly?”
“You think we’re connected at all times?”
“Isn’t that how it works?” When Maria sends a dirty look in his direction, Dennis lifts his palms in the air. “You’re right. I know nothing about you. Or the Unchipped. Just brainstorming here to find our refugees, is all.”
Maria’s eyes narrow, but a small smile appears on her lips. Is she amused? After a moment of staring at each other, she says, “Fine, I’ll ask. If she’ll answer my tapping, that is.”
“Why wouldn’t she answer?”
Maria spins on her seat and throws her hands up in the air. “Oh, for fuck’s sake, do you want me to go find you an Unchipped for Dummies manual or something?” She exhales and softens her expression. Dennis feels something deep inside, a slightly queasy feeling. “Can I just ask her, without having to explain the process?”
“Be my guest, doll.”
Dark eyes flicker back to him, but something soft remains on her face. She knows it was an intentional doll. And she finds it… funny.
Eyes shut, Maria sits in her chair while the plane parks by the terminal. Dennis doesn’t move an inch, not even when the stairs attach to the plane, giving them an exit. The same plane will take them back to City of Maine, as soon as they find the refugees.
Without warning, Maria gets up from her seat and starts walking toward the exit. Dennis stumbles on his own feet, struggling to follow Maria’s catlike moves. Once he catches up with her, she’s already halfway down the stairs.
“Hey, whoa! Hold on there, tiger!”
Maria keeps going, but peeks over her shoulder and gives Dennis a reassuring smile. “Just follow me, old man. I know where they are.”
“Margaret told you the location?”
“Nope. I couldn’t get ahold of her.”
“Then how would you know?”
She marches off and says, “Who needs Margaret Lewis when
you can just ask the big bad Yeti?”
***
The plane fills with chattering and murmurs. Two people with the hoods of their sweatshirts pulled down to their eyebrows—Kaarina and Yeti—sit across the aisle from a man with overgrown hair and a girl with long black locks silky against her narrow back. Sanna leans into Markus, holding something round under her oversized hoodie. The girl can’t be older than ten or eleven, so she can’t be pregnant. But by the gentle strokes on the bump and her protective pose, one might easily think she was.
Here, up in the air, Dennis feels a strange peace enter his mind and body. Ever since they took off and left City of Finland behind, he’s been thrilled to just sit back and observe his newly found companions and their somewhat strange behavior. How they show affection by actually touching. How they look at each other with trust and care filled eyes. After what seemed endless hugging and patting each other’s backs, they’ve finally calmed down to discuss something that has turned their happy and relieved faces to stern, serious frowns.
Maria walks down the aisle, carrying two bottles of champagne. The pale-faced flight attendant follows her, with six champagne glasses in his hands. He stops by Dennis’s seat, a few rows away from the rest of the travelers.
“That would be four thousand CC’s, sir.”
After a sigh, Dennis digs his AR-glasses from his chest pocket and taps the money over.
“Thank you, sir.” The man hands him one of the glasses and then—clearly reluctantly—follows Maria to the rest of his customers. Dennis is left alone, holding an empty glass. He leans forward to hear the group talking, but the plane’s motor muffles most of it. And the Finns tend to talk too quietly anyway. Even the rugged man murmurs his words in such a way that it would be challenging to make sense of them, even if Dennis wasn’t sitting twenty feet away.
“Iris… enough time… and Kaarina,” the man they call Yeti says, and then looks at Maria. “Did… California… and Bill?”
Maria shakes her head for no. Her words Dennis hears loud and clear. The woman’s not exactly the quiet and whispering kind. “Has Margaret talked to you all?”
They all nod, except for the sullen girl sitting next to Mophead whose name Dennis has once again forgotten. Mophead wraps his arm around the girl and continues the murmured conversation. “Doctor Solomon… that night… us escape.”
Maria nods at the black-haired girl. “This is Solomon’s kid?”
Dennis holds his breath. Of course he knew it already, he’s not dumb. But he was still craving this confirmation. It’s Kaarina who gives it. “Thanks to Sanna… got us out… to the woods. She is… Solomon… cares about.”
“And where is Iris now? Isn’t she supposed to be here too?” Maria asks. Dennis leans closer in his seat. That’s right, he thinks. Iris. He’s forgotten about the blue and white-haired woman who works closely with Laura Solomon. Worked. Still works? If Laura’s able to reach Dennis from beyond the grave, she’s surely talking with Iris as well.
Kaarina continues to answer Maria’s questions. “Margaret promised… back in… Iris’s home.”
“And where is that?”
It’s a relief to Dennis that Maria knows so little about everything that’s going on. She will surely share all the information with him later, once it’s just the two of them again, alone in his penthouse. The thought excites him.
“Iceland?” Maria continues. Suddenly she seems upset. She stands taller, staring at Kaarina. Her empty glass drops onto the seat next to her. Arms folded on her chest, Maria leans closer to Kaarina’s face. “Yeah, I’ve heard this story. That’s where you took Bill and Micky. Got them trapped.”
“We all got trapped,” Kaarina says, her tone cold. “What’s your point?”
“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe that a leader should have known better.”
“Known what exactly, Maria?”
“That if you’re blinded by your need for revenge, you better dig two graves. Or in this case, one for each of your allies.”
“So what, it’s all my fault?”
Maria shrugs. “Who else’s?”
Yeti starts to get up from his seat, but Kaarina blocks his way with her hand, pushing him back down. Then she gets up and stands right in front of Maria. The rebel has a pair on her, that’s for sure. Dennis has read Maria’s file, he knows about her special forces training from before The Great Affliction. Even if this Kaarina kid doesn’t know about her past, it’s a ballsy move to stand up to such a scary woman.
But there she stands, chin high, chest only inches away from Dennis’s newest bodyguard. “So let me get this straight…” Kaarina’s voice is now just as loud and clear as Maria’s. From the way she talks, the pale woman might as well be from City of California, though the short blond hair on her head tells a different tale. “You’re blaming me for everything that happened in Iceland?”
Maria makes two fists, not moving away, standing face to face with the rebel leader. “Margaret told me what happened. You should have laid low. Why the fuck did you go after Solomon like that? You got away from that lunatic. And not just once but fucking twice!”
At Maria’s words, Sanna buries her face into Markus’s blue coveralls. Dennis can’t hear well enough to be sure, but he thinks the girl’s crying now. Maria’s eyes flicker from Kaarina to the girl. “I’m sorry, kid. I know she’s your mother, but she did some really shitty things before she died.”
Now Dennis can hear Sanna’s sobs with ease.
“She’s not dead.” The mophead shakes his head at Maria, looking more flustered than angry. “She’s just gone away for a vacation. Right, Sanna?”
Yeti grunts and stands up. This time no one stops him.
“Can you two focus?” his low voice now booms. “At least Bill’s not dead like Ava. He and Luna are still alive, and as discussed, we need to help them get out. That should be our priority.”
“I thought we agreed that popping in on City of Serbia is not exactly the most tactically sound plan at the moment. Or did I miss the latest memo or something?” Kaarina stares at the blond man, her posture and anger mirroring Maria’s.
“I know what we agreed. But don’t you think Luna deserves it?” Yeti says, staring at Kaarina with a stern look on his face. “After all she did for us? I’m just bringing it back to your attention.”
“Don’t do that.”
“Do what?”
“Turn this against me. You know I care for Luna. I care for her more than I care for your bullshit attitude right now.”
Yeti raises his hands in the air and rolls his eyes. “My bad. Sorry. Just figured that maybe it would be a good idea to save the only person who is actually smart enough to get us out of this fucking nightmare.”
“A knight in shining armor. Well, hey. If you want to go and be a hero in City of Serbia, be my guest. But forgive me while I sit out this round.”
“You wouldn’t wuss out on me like that. You wouldn’t be able to, not even if you tried.”
Kaarina closes her eyes and seems to count to ten.
Dennis takes a sip of his drink, only to remember his glass is empty. But it doesn’t bother him one bit. He finds himself intrigued by this little soap opera. Drama and chaos do not usually happen in his life. The city is too organized for that, the people too estranged. None of the rules seem to apply when it comes to this strange group of people. The rule of perfection doesn’t apply here.
Kaarina exhales and continues in a calmer voice. “Look. I don’t actually agree with Maria, but she’s not entirely wrong. It was me who came up with the plan to go after Solomon. And that plan got Ava killed. Trying to beat the Chipped is the reason why Bill, Micky, and Luna are trapped inside those hell-pods.”
“We all… Solomon… Kay.” Yeti has lowered his voice again. His words make the mophead look over at him, anger in his eyes.
“Not all of us wanted revenge,” Markus says.
Kaarina and Yeti stare at him while Maria spreads her hands and takes a few steps back
from the debate. She reaches for Kaarina’s full glass of champagne and starts to work on it. No one notices her thievery.
“Hey man, blaming me or Kaarina won’t bring her back—"
“No, you’re right. It won’t,” Markus says. “But maybe acknowledging what happened in Iceland will make you two understand that your actions have consequences. People got hurt, and I’m sorry if it’s hard for you to hear. But Maria’s right. You two were in charge. So no more soloing or being a hero. We’re all finally in the same place at the same time, so we need to work together as well. We listen to Margaret, do as she says, and that’s the end of the story.”
Kaarina opens her mouth, then closes it again. Looking wounded, she sits back down on her window seat and stares out with watery eyes. Underneath the plane, the ocean glimmers blue.
A strangely satisfying feeling has made a nest in Dennis’s usually hollow chest. He can’t help but smile. It’s all so refreshing, so real. Real flawed people, real conversations, real emotions. Not just AR creatures, showing off the latest lipstick shades and fake curves.
Yeti still stares at Markus, his eyes flickering between him and the crying girl he’s holding. Maria hands him the half-full glass of champagne. “Here, lover boy. Have a drink and just sit your ass down. The plane’s landing. You can continue this fun little family reunion once we’re home.”
Home. Dennis leans back in his seat and empties his own glass with one gulp. Home… with Maria.
***
The limo creeps slowly across the city and toward Dennis’s building. With Maria sitting next to him, he had kept his AR-call with Jenny brief, so that the green blinking wouldn’t cause his bodyguard more pain than necessary. Two limos follow them on the green tile road. His building stands murky and dark in the glowing green AR-city.
“Hey, Texas.” Her voice is friendlier than usual.
“Yes, Maria?”
A small smile. Very small, but any smile from this heavenly creature is so rare that Dennis could count the ones he’s received on one hand. In the AR world, everyone has a perfect smile. Perfect teeth. Perfect everything. The rule of perfection, he thinks. Why did I tolerate it for so long?
