Cash leaned against the wall by the door. “We’re all going to have that start to happen. Or we’ll be overtired. I fell asleep for no good reason in the middle of the day today. The medicine is wearing off. We’re going to have withdrawal symptoms. Like, maybe, Judge unreasonably blaming you for something we know you wouldn’t do.”
“Is going off the US machine going to make you all sick? I don’t want you to be sick. I can …”
Cash put his hand out in front of him. “Whatever you were about to say, please don’t. I’ll face whatever discomfort to have you. I think Judge would say the same thing for sure.”
“Me too.” Damian smiled. “I know Sterling’s got no issues. How about Lewis?”
“He’s good,” Cash answered for him. “So forgive us if we all seem a little tired for a little while.”
As long as that was all it involved. I wouldn’t make them sick or risk them in any way.
That night, my five set out to teach me the card game again. This time I was able to follow them perfectly and even won a few rounds. My third time taking the pot, I looked around. I could see the exhaustion wearing on them. Sterling rubbed his eyes a lot. Lewis hadn’t moved since he sat down, and even Judge seemed subdued.
If they weren’t going to call it a night, I would. “We should all go to bed.”
“Agreed.” Cash nodded. “What time do you want her tomorrow, Lewis?”
The other doctor grinned. “Nine is fine.”
“What? You don’t want her as soon as the sun rises?” Judge snorted.
I put my hand on Cash’s knee, hoping he’d not take the obvious bait. He didn’t respond, standing up before he took my hand.
I looked around the group. “Goodnight everyone.”
Later in Artemis, while Cash used the bathroom, I noticed a blinking light on the screen where my family’s pictures flashed through. I touched the screen, and Judge’s voice played lowly. “Hey, Di. I need to tell you that last night was the best of my whole life. I set up this frequency. No one uses it. It can be our thing. You leave me messages, and I’ll get it on my computer. I’ll leave you some. It’s not breaking rules. Or maybe it’s only bending them. Goodnight.”
I smiled at the screen. He’d made us a frequency?
Cash came out the bathroom. “All okay?”
“Yeah. Give me a second. I’ll get into my ridiculously big pajamas.”
He laughed and climbed onto the bed. “Your bed is nicer than mine. Bigger. Comfy.”
I hurried through my routine and came out half expecting to find him asleep. He sat on the bed, waiting for me. I crawled into his arms. “Artemis, lights out.”
The room bathed in darkness. Cash kissed me on both cheeks. “Goodnight, Boo.”
“Sleep well, Champ.”
Chapter Thirteen
A Cave of Wonders
Cash was not a hard person to spend the night with. He barely moved, and he breathed in an even manner that made it easy for my own to match. We were wrapped up in each other the next morning when I woke up. He didn’t move, even when I got out of the bed. Exhaustion from the withdrawal was going to be hard to watch.
I took a shower and grabbed all of my laundry. With a few minutes to spare before I had to meet Lewis, I got my laundry started.
“Hey.” I looked up to see Sterling carrying his own basket of clothes. “We need to get you some more clothes. I’m going to tell Lewis to turn on the replicator.”
“You guys wear the same uniform every day.”
He nodded once. “Sure. But ours fit. You must burn calories just dragging around the clothing on your body.”
I smiled at him. “How was your night?”
He yawned and jumped up on the dryer. “Not bad. I didn’t sleep well. I guess that’s going to be for a while. I’ve been through worse things. Sleep is a luxury. Important I never forget that.”
There was one washer and one dryer. A thought dawned on me. “Do you do your wash at this time every week? Am I imposing on your washer time?”
He smiled, showing me one of his dimples. “You’re so cute. No. We don’t have set times. And even if we did, I’d give you mine if it would make you smile.”
Sterling flirted with me. We hadn’t had much to do with one another since the night he’d discovered he couldn’t perform and I’d not had a clue what was going on.
“How have you been?”
He smiled. “Really? I’ve been okay. I’m tired but nothing I can’t get over. Looking forward to my day with you. We agreed not to tell each other what we do with our alone time. I like the idea. I don’t need images I don’t want in my head.” My cheeks heated, and if he noticed, he ignored the blush. “I only wish I knew if the others did the things I’m imagining so I wouldn’t repeat. Don’t want to bore you.”
I walked until I stood between his knees. “Even if I’d done them, it would be a whole different experience because it’s the first time with you.”
He leaned forward and whispered, “Good answer. Even if that isn’t entirely true. Seeing the same movie twice could be dull.”
“Okay, I’ll tell you if I’ve seen the movie.”
He nodded fast. “Sounds like a plan. Now get out of here before I forget this isn’t my day, and Lewis kills me in my sleep.”
I pointed at the laundry. “I have to move them into the dryer.”
“I’ll do it for you when it stops, and I’ll throw my own in. I’ll even fold the monstrously large clothes for you and put them in your room.”
“Sterling.” Maybe small things like this shouldn’t be bothering me anymore, considering I’d been naked with Cash and Judge, slept with Damian, and made out with Sterling. Still, it kind of did. “You’re going to fold my underwear?”
I only had the one pair and one bra. Fortunately, I was covered in my uniform, and my breasts were small enough I could walk around without one reasonably well.
“Yep.” He nodded. “Totally not a perv. Going to wash them and put them in your room. I’m not going to do anything weird with your undies.” He winked at me. “Not unless you tell me someday you want me to.”
I must have been a tomato because he roared with laughter. I fled the laundry room and ran into Lewis on my way back to Artemis.
“Hi.” He grabbed me and tugged me into a tight hug by way of greeting. “I was coming for you.”
I pointed at the laundry room. “I had to do wash.”
“Oh, right. Of course. Do you want to wait until it’s done?”
“No, thanks.” I took his arm. “Sterling says he’ll take care of it for me.”
He nodded once and didn’t show any outward sign of being bothered at all. “Great. Then let’s go.”
We walked the long path from Artemis to the main part of the enclosure. “Are you hungry?” He pulled out a protein bar, and I took it from him. These guys were preoccupied with me eating.
“Thanks.”
He nodded once. “You’re welcome. I thought we could go do something a little bit different today. Something I’ve been wanting to do for some time. None of the others want to do it, and it’s not the kind of activity I want to do alone.”
He had my attention. “What did you have in mind?”
“I thought maybe you’d like to leave the enclosure.”
I stopped walking. “Is that possible?”
He grinned and then looked at the floor. “It is. If we have the right clothes and equipment, sure. We happen to have that stuff.”
“Where did you want to go?” I had never considered leaving the enclosure. I figured the next time I went away would be when my family came for me. The thought panged my heart. How was I going to leave these guys? But then how would I tell my family I wasn’t coming back with them?
“Our equipment isn’t perfect. We missed you for a while there, didn’t we?” Lewis raised his head. “But it looks like there is somewhere with some heat readings. No life signs. It’s a cave structure. I thought we’d take the truck and go look.”
He looked at me expectantly. I’d never explored anything in my life. I knew where I was going all the time, except for when I was in the black hole and then there was nothing particular to look at.
I touched his shoulder. “What about the Infected?” I was trying not to call them Zombies anymore. They were sick people. I needed to have more respect. Maybe I was finally getting used to them.
“That, our computers are good at. I’ve checked the scans. I see nothing but a few strays from here to where we’re going. No hoards. And even if there were some, they can’t get into our truck. We’d run them over if we had to.”
I smiled. “Then let’s do it.”
“Okay, we’ll suit up and go.” Lewis put his arm around my shoulder. His touch was tentative. He didn’t grab or pull. He questioned and asked. I wondered if he’d ever kiss me or if I’d have to initiate it. For now, I was happy to go exploring with him. He took me into the room with the pods and the US machine. They kept their outerwear in the pod room.
Lewis handed me a suit, which was going to be huge on me but would do. We needed to put it on directly over our skin. Clothing underneath would actually interfere with the warming process. I held it in my hands.
“This should go over my naked skin?”
Lewis was across the room, his back to me. I turned around in time to see the suit zipping up over the strong muscles of his back. He zipped from the front, so he had no idea I peeked. I felt like I’d broken a rule and quickly looked back forward. He’d given me privacy. What was the matter with me?
“Your underwear is fine.”
“I, um, don’t have any. I only have one pair. They’re in the laundry room. I don’t suppose it matters, right? I’m going to be keeping the suit on.”
He was quiet for a moment. “I’m so sorry I didn’t think about your needs. Stay here. For a second, okay?”
“Sure.” I turned to watch him leave the room. I’d spent so little time in the pod room, not since Judge had shown it to me. They’d arrived in the pods, and some day they were supposed to leave in them. I touched the outside of one. I knew which one was Judge’s—he’d shown me—but whose did I look at now?
The US machine buzzed in the corner of the room. I was ridiculously curious about it. Cash said it was a ritual for him that got the job done. He knew he liked her to hold the headboard. I’d liked that, too. What did it do for the rest of them? Big adventures or just-down-to-it sexual acts? Would they be satisfied with me when it came to it?
Lewis strode back into the room and handed me two pieces of clothing. A bra and a panty. He didn’t look at me when he handed them to me. “I left the replicator on. It draws a lot of energy, and for some reason the guys decided I should be in charge of it. I have no idea why. Seems it should be more of Damian’s thing. Anyway, I made you these. Left it on, so it would make six more pairs of, um, different covers. Then next week we’ll get you some clothing that fits. Does that work? Forgive me for being thoughtless.”
“Nothing to forgive. I’ll put them on.”
He nodded and looked at the floor. “I’ll turn around.”
I quickly took off my too-big indoor outfit and dropped it to the floor. The underwear he’d brought me fit perfectly, and it was so nice to have brand new clothing on my body. I wondered if he peeked at me changing like I had him. The thought made me hot, and I once again had to question my sanity. I’d had Cash, Judge, and Sterling all over me. Did I have to force my attentions on Lewis when he hadn’t indicated to me in any fashion he wanted me yet?
I zipped myself into the outdoor outfit. When I was done, Lewis handed me his black coat. I grinned at it, and his smile back. “Thought you might like this one. I’ll use one of the ones they issued us.”
“Your black coat?” I put my arms through the sleeves, and Lewis zipped me the rest of the way in.
We finished getting ready, including the facemasks. I followed him out a door of the enclosure and into the truck that was going to take us wherever we explored. The bright, direct sunlight made me squint. I had so little experience with real, direct sunlight it hurt. I had to squint against the glare from the white ground. We clomped through the snow until we got into the truck.
I guess I’d been in it before although I didn’t remember the trip with Damian that brought me to the enclosure. The truck was huge, with a large section in the back which presumably could move big pieces of machinery. Lewis turned on the vehicle, and we pulled into the snow on our way to wherever Lewis had seen on his computers.
“When I was little,” he finally spoke after a few minutes of driving, “they found me on the side of the street on Ochoa. My family was gone. I was two. They can’t tell me where I came from; no one knows. For years, they kept me in a small house with twenty-five other boys waiting to see if anyone would adopt us. I hated being cooped up. Eventually we took the achievement tests, and I must have scored high enough to get Evander’s attention. Off I went. I could move around. Go outside.”
I could picture him. Small, lost, and stuck in a house too tiny for the children running around it. Finally, getting some freedom. “I guess the obvious question is, why did you pick this assignment out here in the middle of nowhere where you’re stuck in an enclosure?”
“I was hoping a really smart, beautiful girl would fall out of the sky and crash land nearby. It seemed a good plan.”
I laughed, throwing my head back when I did. I hadn’t seen that answer coming. “Very funny.”
“Turns out what I hate, more than being cooped up, is bureaucrats. Executives talking in my ears all day. When will this be done? How about you do this instead? I stopped being able to produce. Truth is, I’d be a much better physician than an engineer researching and developing medicine. They need me to do this. I do this.”
He was really beautiful to look at. Facing forward to drive, he wasn’t avoiding my eye contact or staring at the floor. I liked to see him so animated. “I love everyone’s stories of how you got out here. How you came to be here together.”
“It really comes down to a conversation I had with Damian. Drunk. Who makes plans drunk? I guess we do. He wanted to know how we could be productive, helpful, and serve Evander without the whole world breathing down our necks. I shrugged at him and finally said we could try to fix the Infected problem at the end of the universe. Next thing I know, he’s making plans, and I’m signing on. That’s Damian. Give him a problem. He fixes it. He thought of Judge and Sterling right off. Cash surprised us. Seemed such a golden boy. And there we all were.” His eyes widened. “I’ve been talking too long.”
“No.” I shook my head. “Not long enough. Keep going. I love the sound of your low voice.”
He smiled like I’d given him the biggest compliment on the planet. “Thank you.”
There was white everywhere. I’d told Cash I thought the landscape looked like it needed to be colored. I was wrong. This was perfection as it was. Next time—if there was one—I’d change my opinion and let Cash know I’d altered my thoughts. Sometimes it was okay to leave things untouched.
A ringing sounded, and Lewis rolled his eyes. He pressed a large black button on the steering wheel. “Yes?”
Damian voice bounced around the vehicle. “You took out a vehicle without even telling me? Forget asking me if it’s okay? You went ahead and just took it?”
He rolled his eyes. “Yep.”
“Yes. Yep. That’s all you’re going to say. You’re missing. The car’s gone. I had a small heart attack.”
I took his hand in mine and squeezed it. He smiled at me before he answered Damian. “Because you thought what? That I was overcome by a Zombie and then took the car out to take a drive?”
“Aren’t you having your date with Diana today? When do you plan to get back? What should I tell her?”
Lewis shifted in his seat. “She can hear you. She’s sitting right next to me.”
“Diana?” Damian’s voice rose. “Well, hello. Good morning.”
“Good morning, Damia
n.” We hit a small bump, and Lewis adjusted the gear in the truck.
“You took her out of the enclosure, and you didn’t even think to let me know? I realize we are doing things differently these days. I get it. I’m adjusting. I think you have to admit I am. But there are reasons for protocols.”
Lewis must have had enough. “Talk to you later, Damian.”
He disconnected the call by pushing the button. “Sorry about that.”
“Look at you. I had no idea you were a rebel. Taking out the truck without telling him. Why didn’t you?”
He drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. “Although I have learned how to obey rules and do as I’m told by Evander, and sometimes Damian as their representative, I am not, by nature, a rule follower. Sometimes I’ve got to steal the car and take the pretty girl out on an adventure without telling a soul what I’m doing.”
“We are having an adventure.” I grinned at him. “We’re going to find out what’s hot in that cave.”
“Yes we are.” He nodded vigorously. “Then we’ll go home, and I’ll hear from all four of them about all the reasons I should not have risked you doing this. What’s the point in life if we never have any risks? This one was calculated. No Infected. Just a warm cave.”
We arrived at the cave about an hour later. By then, I knew Lewis wasn’t afraid to be quiet. I’d never felt the need to fill the silence, and neither had he.
The caves on his map were huge. Lewis grabbed a flashlight, and we stepped outside. The cold hit me hard, but the clothes protected me from the onslaught. Lewis gripped my gloved hand in his. He had a bag slung over his other shoulder, and I had no idea what was in it.
When we got inside the caves, Lewis pushed a button on the flashlight. It brightened the entire area in front of us. Before the light went on, I knew there was something quite different going on. The caves were warm, almost stiflingly so.
Crashing Into Destiny Page 15
