An Unintentional Evil

by Elsie Charlotte

  He liked her maroon eyes. They were sweet. She had long dark eye lashes that she could hide behind when she was being shy. And when she talked about something she was passionate about, her eyes would shine bright. And he liked how her hair would change shade with the season. It was winter so the days weren’t long, the sun wasn’t out as much either, her hair was pure silver, her roots black.

  He liked how smart she was, how pretty she was, how daring she was.

  “How’s your research?” He asked, just to see her eyes shine.

  That was the subject that really got her going. She’s told him a few things, but she thought he was beneficial to her project.

  “I need someone to try it on.” She said and leaned closer to him. “Be my test subject?” She asked quietly.

  They’ve discussed this before.

  “You can do whatever you want to me.” He continued to smile at her.

  Dri couldn’t wait to make an official move, but for now he would wait. He put everything out there, and he was waiting for what Celeste might do.

  Plus he was curious about the research, too. He liked the idea just as much as she did, but he knew what he would be risking if he got involved with the idea. He would love to help, but maybe he shouldn’t.

  “I’m still trying to figure out why it’s so important.” Celeste said. “All Hariette told me was that she wanted it finished.” She said.

  “You ask her?”

  “She won’t show me anything else except the blue prints.” Celeste sighed miserably. She had this idea that something happened. “I think something went wrong. They were so close to figuring it out, and all of a sudden they stop? I don’t think it’s that simple.”

  She wanted to know, but she couldn’t ask. Hariette wouldn’t tell her everything. There had to be records somewhere.

  “I would hack the system and find out myself, but...” she stopped herself from going on a tangent about her dad being able to track everything she does.

  And it’s not her fault.

  He did rewrite the system.

  "And I guess I want to know more about..." Celeste stopped and put her hands down. "Did your parents tell you about what it was like?" she wanted to know.

  "You mean in space?" Dri asked her. She nodded. "Yeah, they said it was...just the same, you know." he shrugged. "Then I talk to some of the other sector leaders for the main forces and they said it was hell, so I don't know." he didn't have much of an opinion.

  Celeste took a breath. She didn't want to show her frustration so she continued working on Dri's arm. He could sense her unrest. Did she want to know a few things and get a few answers?

  He could help with that.

  “We can go on a little adventure together if you want to." He suggested. "What’s a small tour going to do?” Dri wanted to help. Celeste has been going on about the confusion and concern for a while now.

  What better way than for her to actually hack the system?

  “My arm still upgrading?” He asked her since she stopped moving. She was thinking about what she should do, and it seemed like a good idea to find out what’s going on.

  “You’re the one who asked for the upgrade.” Celeste said.

  “Come find me tomorrow. I’ll show you around.” he figured that she hasn’t been in the Capitol building before. “Or...we could...”

  “Could what?” Celeste was interested to hear what Dri was thinking. She already knew that it had nothing to do with her project or going to find answers to her question. “Are you ready to take me, or are you still trying to be a gentleman?” she asked quietly, leaning closer.

  “I could never touch you without taking you out to dinner first.” he smiled at her, his eyes dark watching her closely.

  “If you don’t want me, Zinnia will entertain me.” she flirted with him.

  She definitely put a rather provocative image in his head. It was something to think about for sure. Dri knew that he could only have half of Celeste’s heart. The other belonged to another woman. But still, he believed her heart was big enough for two.

  “You might want to warn her. It won’t be long before I take you from her.”

  If only Celeste could have them both. Her dream would come true. Her heart ached to be with them. She couldn’t have all of Zinnia, and Dri was waiting for the right moment. She wanted someone to just get to her already. How much longer will she have to wait?

  The hologram over the arm began flashing pink. The upgrade already finished. Celeste looked away and moved her hand to tighten a few parts and made sure the system was still running. Dri flexed the metal fingers easily, then he lifted his arm, and pulled his elbow in. The arm was working.

  Her name was carved in tiny letters on the index finger. No one would be able to see it unless they looked close. A part of Dri belonged to her.

  He lifted his hand and took hers. It was warm, like a real hand would be. It didn’t feel like metal. It felt like his own hand. She let her fingers intertwine with his lightly as he came closer to kiss her cheek.

  She closed her eyes.

  She really did like him. And when he did things like this, she liked him even more.

  "I'll come find you tomorrow." She said quietly.

  They could go on a little adventure together. Who knows, maybe Celeste might even find something.

  Celeste promised that she would see Zinnia at the end of the day. They practically live together, but Celeste would get so wrapped up in her research that she would disappear for some time. She couldn't help it.

  She got it running at ninety-three percent. That's just by the Computer's standards. She doesn't know what it's going to do in a human body.

  "Why won't you let me use your body?" Celeste asked Zinnia, the question having two meanings to it. Zinnia was only going to address one part of the question.

  Celeste needed a test subject.

  Unfortunately for her, it wasn't going to be Zinnia.

  Zinnia stopped moving around her apartment for a second, a few items in her hands just before she could put them in a small box. "Like hell am I going to let you put something in me."

  She chose her words wisely though. She looked back at Celeste and watched her expression. Celeste could address the second meaning behind her comment. Her lip twitched as she thought about pulling Zinnia down on her lap. They could definitely spend the night doing something fun.

  "We're going to have that conversation in a minute." Celeste put the thought on hold. "But I need a test subject. And I wouldn't do the surgery, I know a guy."

  "That can't be good." Zinnia didn't trust the idea.

  "Clover is really sweet. And he's the son of the Head for Health and Medicine." Celeste said. That should make everything less risky.

  She wouldn't put her test subject in the hands of just any surgeon.

  "I don't want you putting anything inside me." Zinnia said again, but she was referring to the implant this time. She didn't think it was a good idea.

  It didn't even function at one hundred percent yet.

  Celeste took her hand and pulled her down on to the couch with her. There were definitely a couple things she wanted to put inside Zinnia. Now they were going to talk about it.

  "You have to be tired of me just pressing my face into you." Celeste was sure Zinnia wanted more, but Zinnia didn't have that expression on her face.

  "Trust me, I'm definitely not tired of that yet." She could take Celeste having fun with her for much longer. "And I let you change things up once in a while." She thought about it.

  "I don't want you to get bored of me."

  "With the way you made my legs shake yesterday, I'm not going to get bored." Zinnia was blushing but she was seconds away from asking if Celeste would do what she did again.

  She could never be bored.

  Celeste puts her heart into everything, even into pleasing her girlfriend.

  "I thought Dri agreed to be your test subject." Zinnia said as she got up, removing the clips on her pants.<
br />
  "I feel like I'm using him." Celeste admitted. "I think he's only doing it because he likes me." She didn't want to make it seem like she only wanted him for her trial phase of her experiment.

  "I'd be doing it for the same reason." Zinnia said. "As cool as it sounds to be able to see my memories and replay them, that's just the government's fastest way to get information we shouldn't be giving them." She explained and she wanted to hold true to that.

  "I mean...let's say it does get implemented for society, I'm sure there would be laws against that." Celeste didn't blindly believe in the system but she thought it did more good than not.

  "And what if some other country uses it? That's just a means for war." Zinnia didn't seem that concerned, especially while she undressed in front of Celeste.

  And Celeste found it difficult to stay focused.

  "I forgot you're into conspiracies-"

  "No, I just pay attention." Zinnia pulled up her shirt over her head and put it on the couch. "Like how there's tension with Europe right now and it's so bad that we could go to war at any moment."

  Celeste was staring at Zinnia. All her words went through one ear and out the other because Celeste was staring. It was easy for her to get distracted, but she liked seeing Zinnia's body in front of her.

  She slowly set herself on Celeste's lap, her arms moving around Celeste's neck. She was completely undressed, the only thing she wore was her underwear which could easily be removed.

  "Didn't you say you wanted to put something in me?" Zinnia asked her since Celeste seemed to lose focus immediately while staring at her.

  She didn't know what the conversation was about at this point.

  "Mm." Celeste was trying to think. "If you're talking about the implant, we can discuss that later." Clearly her focus was elsewhere. She immediately had a few ideas in mind, and she was definitely going to make them happen.

  When Celeste couldn't sleep, she would put all of her energy into her research. She had made a device that was just about fully functional, but she waited because she thought something was wrong. She had changed the blueprint many times but she didn't feel like it would work correctly.

  She didn't know why there were only blue prints. She felt like there was a lot of information missing, like Hariette was hiding something from her, and she wasn't wrong.

  Celeste sat alone in her place, the lights off, the only beam of blue glint coming from the small images of her blue print.

  "Theoretically, it works." she said quietly to herself.

  She told herself she wouldn't try anything else until she got it running to at least ninety-five percent. Anything less and she felt like it wasn't good enough.

  She stared at the old blue print, the one that was before hers.

  There were three signatures on it.

  She only stared at one of them.

  She's spent most of her life with her parents but now that she was older, she felt like she barely knew them. This was the only blue print that she had that belonged to Aurora, and she knew he did more things than this.

  He won't share them.

  Celeste always had to find out things from other people. Like how her aunt told her that Aurora was too smart for his own good, that he loved making things, and came up with wild ideas.

  Celeste remembered when she told Aurora she wanted to be an engineer. She was nine. She loved science and hoped that one day it would be part of her occupation. She remembered the look in Aurora's eyes, that kind of sadness that a child doesn't recognize until they're older.

  He didn't tell her not to, but now Celeste felt like he hoped she wouldn't have done it.

  She took a breath quietly and turned everything off. She was working herself up and she could feel it, the way her heart would race in her chest and she felt like something terrible was about to happen. She was good at controlling her anxiety. She knew when it was time to separate herself from her stressors.

  She had to sleep.

  She planned to get answers in the morning.

  Chapter Six

  Today it was raining, no dome of protection over the city. The rain wasn’t going to kill anyone, but it wasn’t as pleasant as people would expect. It got dark, and the water was heavy. People held umbrellas as they walked around.

  Celeste and Zinnia were walking together under a clear umbrella, both of them in their uniforms for work.

  Zinnia was a noticeable young woman with bright red hair down to her shoulders.

  Celeste almost hoped that other people were more noticeable than she was. She never paraded who she was as she was growing up. She didn't think people needed to know that her father was Head of Defense.

  So when Zinnia was the spot light of the room, Celeste would sit back and watch.

  It was just easier.

  Now that they were heading towards the Capitol building, Celeste tensed up a bit. She used to be here a lot more when she was younger, but as she got older she cut down on her visits. She has to admit that's it's been a long time since she's considered walking inside.

  But she had plans today.

  Dri was waiting.

  “Hi, Dri.” Zinnia said politely and waved at him.

  Celeste remained quiet as she smiled. She couldn't describe her crush on Dri, well it was much more than a crush at this point. Her eyes always lit up when she saw him.

  “Coming with us today?” He asked Zinnia, but he noticed the way Celeste was looking at him. He had to hide his glances at her.

  Zinnia noticed. “No, I just wanted to make sure Celeste got where she’s supposed to go.” Zinnia looked up towards her. “You know how scatter brained she can be.” her hand gently rested on Celeste's shoulder.

  “Yeah, I definitely know that.” Dri looked at her, too, not able to hide the subtle happiness.

  He was going to impress her today.

  He was still a sector leader in training, but one day training will be over. If she thinks he's cool now, he couldn't imagine what she was going to think when he was in charge for real.

  “Anyway...” Celeste had turned her focus on to something else. “This tour better be fun.” She said.

  “I mean, there’s not much going on in the Capitol building.” Dri shrugged, but he definitely had a few ideas of where to take her.

  Zinnia narrowed her eyes at the comment. “But Celeste-” she was about to say something but she didn’t get the chance when Celeste looked over to her sharply.

  Was it because she wanted to spend time with Dri? They could do that anywhere. Zinnia was sure that Celeste has been to the Capitol building before.

  She was practically raised here.

  Zinnia just didn’t get the chance to say that.

  “I’ll see you later, Zinnia.” Celeste gestured for her to walk away.

  Zinnia didn’t understand what she was keeping a secret but she chose to leave the issue alone. She’d rather not get caught up in it. It was clear that Dri didn’t know important facts about Celeste, but today he was going to find out.

  “I can’t believe you’re going to let me sneak around.” Celeste was excited. She held on to Dri’s real arm and they walked together.

  “We’re not sneaking.” Dri corrected her. “We’re going to see if you can get some answers for your project. Not sneaking.” He made it clear but Celeste laughed.

  “Sector one’s leader is escorting me around.” She smiled widely.

  “In training.” He had to add that since that was important. He'd love to flaunt his title but he didn't have it yet.

  “You and the others need to hurry up and take over your sectors. I bet the previous generation is tired.” She said.

  She heard about the transition that should happen in a year or so. Almost all of the sector leaders were planning to retire, and the new leaders were in training. When she heard it was happening, she was excited, as if it meant a lot to her that they were retiring.

  Dri wasn't so thrilled.

  “I am drowning in work, Celeste. I don�
��t know if I want this anymore.” He added, “I’m supposed to be in training for a year. It’s been five months and I’m already handling everything myself.”

  She thought that was great, but she definitely knew why he was handling much more than everyone else. “I mean it’s going to happen at some point, right?”

  “Yeah, if my sector leader doesn’t kick my ass into the ground first.” He sighed miserably.

  There was nothing that stressed him out more than knowing he was going to have to stay up for the next few days just for training. He had to admit it was tough. He was in over his head.

  “I’m sure he likes you.” She seemed sure of it.

  She had more faith than Dri did. She definitely supported the idea of him being a sector leader. He was strong, and he was good at getting people together. He was born for the job.

  They were going up to one of the top floors. It was quieter up here. Not everyone has a lot of clearance to be up here, and Celeste was definitely excited to see that Dri could get her there.

  “Just imagine picking up girls now.” Celeste said as she stepped off the elevator. She leaned against the wall and put her hand on her hip. “‘So uh, I’m a sector one leader if you didn’t know that. I kick a lot of ass and all that, nothing too crazy’.”

  “Would that work on you?” Dri asked her.

  “All day long.” She smiled at him.

  “I feel like you’re just saying that.” Dri walked ahead of her. “You know, you fight like you trained with the sector.”

  They’ve sparred before and he always got his ass kicked every time.

  “You think so?” She asked. “My left hook could use some work still.” She moved her left shoulder around. “I definitely wouldn’t mind doing a little helpful training.” She suggested but the training she was thinking was not what she was implying.

  She tagged along closely behind Dri and hoped they could pause their adventure for something different. It was a nice idea but today wasn’t the day.

  Dri has made his moves before. He's snuck in kisses while making Celeste blush, but it's never been more than that.