Real

by Dena Nicotra

  I heard the front door open and knew that it must be Giz. I gave myself a moment to take in my surroundings for the last time, and then went to meet him. Alice was standing in the living room with the baby on her hip as I entered. Giz looked exhausted, and I stood back to give him a moment as he embraced her and kissed his daughter.

  After a moment, he looked over Alice’s shoulder and, seeing me, he pulled back from her to address me. “Lee, are you okay?”

  “I’m all right, Giz. Where’s Two?”

  “She’s powered down at her place. I left Isaiah there to finish up.”

  “Deraline?” I questioned.

  “She’s still at the jail, watching over Maude. But considering everything that’s happened, it’s a risk to have her there. I want to make sure we get her out of here before anything else sparks up.”

  “Yeah, I was just about to head over to the jail,” I said. Giz turned his attention to Alice. Kissing her on the forehead, he told her to go and gather their belongings and be ready to go as soon as possible. Then he turned his attention to me. “I’ll go with you.” Alice gave me an understanding nod and retreated down the hall to do as Giz asked. I wanted to say more, but I just didn’t have the energy and I think Alice knew it.

  Giz and I walked together to the jailhouse in silence. As the sun was setting, I marveled at the bands of rosy clouds that embroidered the sky. The winds had died down, leaving us alone with the sounds of our shoes crunching in the road and our thoughts. As we approached the jailhouse, I stopped short and gripped Giz by the shoulder. “Whatever happens next, please try to remember what she’s done. I know that might be hard for you, but she killed Ross and God knows what else she would have done if we hadn’t stopped her.” Giz looked away as if he needed a moment to grasp my words. “Yeah. Yeah, I know,” he said.

  I opened the door and we stepped inside. Deraline was sitting on the edge of the desk, her posture erect. Hands in her lap, she turned to greet us as we entered. “Lee, Giz, I am happy to see you. She is unharmed, as you can see.”

  “Yes, Deraline, you’ve done well.” Giz said this more for her benefit than mine. Maude was sitting on the cement bed, her eyes focused on the floor. I stepped up to the bars and she stood up. Clasping her hands behind her back, she took a step forward. “I assume you are here to bring me news. Don’t keep me waiting. Just tell me if my nephew is alive.”

  I wrapped my fingers around the bars and met her eyes. “Mic is dead. His fate has been sealed by his own actions, and I have no sympathy to give.”

  “You have no sympathy to give? Lee, you might as well be a simp yourself because you have no emotional connection to anything other than yourself! You’ve killed the most brilliant man the world has ever known!” She raised a trembling hand to her lips and sat back hard on the cement bed. “My nephew is gone and YOU are the reason for that!”

  “I’m not the reason he’s dead, Maude. He is.” The defiance in her eyes assured me she’d never see it that way. “I would like to know where his body is and I expect that I’ll be able to take his remains when I leave.” She jutted out her chin and looked up to the ceiling as she wiped her eyes. “He’s not up there, lady.”

  “You go to hell!” she snarled.

  “You first,” I retaliated. Her eyes narrowed. “I will see that you pay for what you have done, Lee.” She nodded her head as if she were assuring herself of this fact. “When the circuit judge gets here, we’ll see who has sympathy for you!” I laughed.

  “Let’s save the vengeance for those who deserve it. If I were you, I’d be more concerned about what your sentence will be for murdering a man of the law in cold blood, and who said anything about a circuit judge?”

  “I did what I had to do in self-defense,” she said as she clenched her fists. “What are you going to do, kill me too?” Giz stepped forward, touching my arm lightly. “I’d like to talk to you for a minute, Lee.” My eyes were locked on Maude. “Lee,” he pleaded. I relented and followed him outside. Giz steepled his hands and then raised them to his mouth.

  “What?” I demanded. He turned in a little circle, raising his hands and interlacing them behind his head. Standing there with his back to me, he began, “I think we should send for the circuit judge,” he said, dropping his hands to his sides and turning to face me. “Let’s just let all of this end, right here and now, before any more blood is shed. If you do this, you’ll have to live with it, Lee, and so will I,” he cautioned.

  Most people, when confronted with a moral dilemma, rely on their upbringing. If they were raised well, they react appropriately. I, on the other hand, had moved well beyond those parameters. Time and events had left me cold and dead in places. I couldn’t help thinking that this woman had raised a monster and she was willing to kill to protect him. How was I not justified in removing her from the planet?

  “You can’t play God, Lee. Don’t you get it? If you do, you’re no better than Mic or Aaron!” His words reverberated through my head. He was right. Resigned, I bit my bottom lip and nodded. “Okay. Call for the judge,” I muttered. Relief flooded his expression. Caught up in the moment, he hugged me. “You’re doing the right thing, Lee.”

  “Yeah? Then why do I feel so shitty?” He shook his head. “Because doing the right thing isn’t always easy for you.” I smirked, “smart ass.”

  I decided it best that I not go back inside the jailhouse. I think Giz was concerned that she’d say something to piss me off and I’d end up losing my temper. He was probably right on that. Giz assured me that he’d take on the responsibility of making the necessary arrangements to call in a circuit judge with Dallas’ help and I promised to stay away from Maude in the interim. I planned to get further away than he realized.

  I knew that I was probably leaving more to Giz than was fair, but I had an agenda and I was determined to see it through. If he knew what I had planned, he probably would have tried to talk me out of it and I just couldn’t allow that to happen.

  I quietly entered my cabin, and felt a wave of relief to see that the guest bedroom door was closed. A stream of light under the door and the faint sound of Alice humming a lullaby made me pause for a second. I stood there listening for a few minutes, enjoying the sweetness of the moment. Alice was a good mother, and Giz was a very lucky man. I doubted that I would ever know that kind of life, but then again, maybe I wasn’t cut out to be a mother. Once I was sure she was preoccupied, I continued to my room and collected my bag.

  Throwing it over my shoulder, I moved swiftly down the hall to the front door. I took a moment to look back before I closed the door to the only home I’d known since the simp war began and charged off into the darkness of the desert. It was brutally cold, but I knew my hovcar wasn’t far.

  I was determined to demolish the I.D.E. headquarter offices in the bay and then the satellite office in Los Angeles if possible. The way I saw it, these two locations still harbored the tools of technology that could wipe out the human race. I wasn’t about to leave any monsters under the bed.

  I was grateful to find my hovcar right where I’d left it when we snuck into town. While that felt like a lifetime ago now, I knew that there was still work to do. I powered up and ignored the flashing com light on the dash. The two I.D.E. locations were in opposite directions, so I decided to go to the satellite office first because it was closer.

  I didn’t have a plan for how I was going to destroy the facility, but I trusted my ability to figure it out somehow. I ended up flying right into the storm that had passed through Redburg and the turbulence was so bad I seriously debated turning around. Memories of the stories of stalled hovcars causing accidents made my hands sweat. “Get a grip, Lee,” I said out loud and tightened my seatbelt. I had to see this through. I lowered my altitude manually and lit a cigarette.

  The com light flashed again, and the system voice filled the cabin, “You have two missed video messages pending your review.” I was sure they were from Giz, but I just didn’t want to go there right now. If he
could deduce what I was up to, he was most certainly trying to convince me to stop. As much as I admired his convictions, I wasn’t about to abort my mission. Sure, there were plenty of other countries that probably had facilities in some operable state, but I had to start somewhere. “Ignore messages,” I said flatly.

  I landed on the roof of the Los Angeles facility just as the rain stopped. It was eerily quiet as I exited the hovcar and collected my pack. The facility was locked, but I trusted I’d be able to enter with the eye I’d collected. I doubted that Mic had thought to block Aaron’s retinal scan, and when the door slid open, followed by the arrogant pre-recorded greeting of “Welcome father,” I sighed in relief. Thank God for predictable men. I wrapped up the dried-out eye and stuck it back in the top pocket of my pack.

  The lights came on automatically and I moved down the hall with caution. I’d had more than my fill of surprises. The sound of my boots on the tiles echoed as I walked, creating a glaring reminder of my solitude. I missed Two. What was it Giz had said? She was me, but she was not me. He called her…volatile. I kept walking. How was that not me, exactly? I didn’t want to think about that.

  I paused at the doors to the main laboratory and used the eye again. They slid open with a quietly welcoming whoosh as the lights flickered on simultaneously. There were rows and rows of glass domes, like the one I’d climbed under to help Mic create Two and a bank of 3-D printers down the center of the room. A series of holographic monitors lined the walls and hung down in various places from the ceiling. If I were as smart as Mic or Giz, I might know instinctively what to look for…or at least how to request a fabricated meal. Instead, I stood there, turning in a small circle. Nothing I saw gave me any brilliant ideas. Now, more than ever, I missed my double. She would know what to look for. I shook my head and sat down on one of the tall metal stools. Reaching into my pack, I pulled out a mason jar filled with homemade whiskey and unscrewed the cap. I took a long sip and then returned the jar to my pack. There had to be something here that I could use.

  The monitors flashed with symbols and messages that made little sense to me. Frustrated, I lit a cigarette and propped my boots up on the stool next to me. The monitors continued to flash as I flicked ashes on the pristine, white tiled floor. Out of ideas, I starred at the hologram monitor and that’s when it hit me. One of the messages flashing said, “Cryo Bay solutions require flushing.”

  My mind flashed back to Giz ranting about me wandering into the Cryo Bay…he’d said something about what could have happened if I’d had a cigarette. Thank God for bad habits! I jumped up, crushing my cigarette out on the floor. I needed to find the Cryo Bay. Again, I wished that Two was with me. She would know how to access the systems and find what I needed.

  Since I was alone, I decided to do the next best thing. Push buttons until something worked, or broke. I managed to set off the automated sprinkler system and a few alarms before the automated system obliged. “Select location,” she said in her sterile voice. I pushed my wet hair out of my eyes, “Cryo Bay, bitch,” I said. “Level seven requires tier one security clearance.” The automated reply made me smile. I picked up my pack, pushed my hair back and marched toward the back of the room. Thankfully, Janelle’s office door stood open. Aside from a stack of files spread out on her desk, the room was overly neat. The artwork on the walls suggested she had a thing for butterflies, which struck me as a contradiction to my perception of her personality until I realized that the metal butterflies were arranged in a pattern of a double helix. Well, wasn’t she artsy and clever?

  I wasted no time tearing the space apart. I went through her files, opened every drawer in her desk, and tossed things on the floor as I went. I paused to look at a framed photo on her desk of her and Mic. It appeared they were accepting an award together. She’s very gifted in complex genetic studies. In fact, she’s received many, many awards for her work in genomic data and digital medicine...I hurled it at the wall and kept searching.

  Finally, I spotted a lab coat hanging on the back of her office door. I wiped water from my face and rummaged the pockets, laughing out loud and shouting out in triumph when my hand landed on the keycard.

  The elevator took forever to arrive. In the meantime, the sprinkler system soaked me, and the alarms threatened my nerves. Still, I knew it wouldn’t be much longer. I arrived on the seventh floor, and as the doors opened, I pulled my pack from my shoulder. The sign over the large double doors ahead read, “Cryo Bay.” I wiped my eyes and reached into my pack.

  I pulled out my slingshot and pocketed a handful of ball bearings before using the keycard to enter the secured space. Thankfully, the sprinklers had not penetrated this area. I took a few minutes to wring out and adjust to my surroundings. The cryo tubes were not empty and at first, that scared the crap out of me. I had to remind myself that the occupants were not human. In fact, they were just reminders of the reason I was here.

  I pulled a silver ball from my pocket, and loaded it. The first one hit the wall and I cursed my lack of practice as I reached for another. “I can do this,” I chanted. The next one bounced off the tube with no results. “C’mon, Lee, focus!” I muttered. The third time I hit the tube in front of me with enough force to cause the glass to break…but it didn’t. “Fuck!” I shouted to no one. This wasn’t going to work. I should have known the tubes were reinforced. I squatted down and exhaled heavily. If I fired my gun, I was sure it would shatter the tubes, but it would likely kill me in the explosion.

  “Cryo Bay solutions require flushing,” the automated system announcement brought me back to my feet. “System, proceed with solution flush,” I said. “Sequence requires authorization.” Of course, it required authorization. It was a long shot, but I had nothing to lose. “Manual override!” I shouted. I held my breath in the silent seconds that followed. “Standing by for manual override.”

  My eyes darted around the room. There was a keypad near the door, but I had no idea what the code would be and I was sure that the system would lock me out if I didn’t get it right. That’s when I spied the retinal scanner. I pulled the eye from my pack and raised it to the scanner, “who’s your daddy, bitch?”

  “Welcome, father, full system access is granted.” I whistled as I unlatched every tube and then I collected my pack and moved to the doorway. “System, proceed with solution flush,” I said. The flood of liquid that followed gave me a great deal of satisfaction and I watched the tubes empty their content. The simp inhabitants slid out onto the floor like giant, dead fish. With my mission accomplished, I turned and ran.

  I stopped in the stairwell and lit a cigarette, taking a long hit before flicking it down the hallway. Then, I took as many stairs as I could at a time. The concussion of the explosion knocked me against the railing and I caught a quick glance at the fireball over my shoulder. I knew that I had to hurry.

  Leaping several stairs at once, I fled seven floors with more speed than I knew I had. My enhanced physical state finally felt worth it. I exited the ground floor and continued to run. Stopping near the fountain in the courtyard, I turned and watched as the glass blew out of the windows on the floors above. The orangey glow lit my way as I walked back to my hovcar. One down, one to go, I thought as I lifted into the dark sky.

  The flashing com light caught my attention as I made my way out of the city. Resigned, I lit a cigarette and pushed the button. The first message was from Mic, which took me by surprise. He must have left it when we were coming back into Redburg to rescue what was left of my people after the attack. His face exuded false concern as he pleaded for me to “stop my vigilante crusade, before it got me killed.” I smirked and hit the delete key. “Joke’s on you, Mic.” I said, lighting a cigarette and waiting for the next message. As I’d expected, it was Giz.”

  His pale face filled the screen. “Lee, if you’re watching this, I know what you’re trying to do. I’m begging you, don’t destroy the I.D.E. facilities. There’s something important that you haven’t considered. He leaned in close
r. “Those facilities are the only places where I can go to keep you alive. Did you consider the fact that you need to take the synthetic blockers for the rest of your life, Lee?” he squeaked. “How do you expect Two, Deraline, and Isaiah to last without proper maintenance? I need those facilities, Lee, and so do you!” I blew smoke out and pushed the delete key.

  “Fuck!” I shouted at the blank screen. What a cruel dose of irony life had just served up. Giz was right. I hadn’t thought about the fact that my body required the blockers. In fact, I hadn’t even brought any with me, which meant that I had who-knew how much time to get my ass back to Redburg for those little red pills before my body went into rejection. The other choice was painfully obvious. Without access to the pills, I would die. Without access to the facilities, Two, Deraline, and Isaiah would eventually deteriorate. I appeased myself with the fact that they weren’t human…and the fact that Giz was incredibly resourceful.

  I cried as I thought about how hard it would be to locate what I needed at the facility in the bay area facility, because I knew that the odds weren’t good. I wondered what, exactly, would happen first if I started going into rejection as I flew over the desert, solidifying my decision.

  The sky blushed with the first hint of dawn as the city came into view. The ocean below looked like black pudding as the first wave of nausea came over me. Beads of sweat formed on my forehead and upper lip as I pushed back the urge to vomit all over the cabin. The decision I’d made to press on with my plan came with a higher price than I’d realized.