by Matt Ryan
“Let’s get a nighttime setting so we can see the stars.” Poly pushed on the Panavice.
The sun fell off the horizon, and the darkness covered them with sparkly stars in the sky. The cold air crept in with the sun gone. They lay there in silence, looking at the stars.
He had a spot on his roof at home, where he would lay down and stare into the darkness above. So this was peaceful, familiar, and he relaxed a tad, moving his hands behind his head.
Poly rubbed her arms.
“You okay?” Joey asked.
“Just getting cold out here.” She shifted her body next to him, her arm rubbing against his side.
He tensed up with her close to him.
“Don’t worry. I won’t stab you,” she joked.
He laughed, felt her warmth, and relaxed a bit more as he looked at the stars. The crickets chirped and a flying bug buzzed by. It felt like home, as if he could be sitting under the oak in his back yard, and not stuck in this stagnant, recycled world of a bunker.
A glowing firefly buzzed above them. “Look,” he said.
“Oh wow,” she said.
The single firefly became two, then three, and then they popped into a mass of soft glowing bulbs above them. They landed in the oak tree and blinked randomly, forming a light show. Joey stared at the magical swarm doing their dance for them.
She laughed and pointed at them as they swarmed in different shapes. The maelstrom of lights above was mesmerizing—almost as much as Poly’s glee at the sight of it all. He took his first easy breath since leaving Earth. It was the best thing he could think of doing right then. The dots of light flew high into the night sky and blinked out into stars.
“Poly?”
“Yes?”
“Thank you.”
She turned on her side and draped an arm over his chest, squeezing him in a hug. “You’re welcome.”
They lay there, watching the night sky in silence, holding each other. For the first time in days, he felt some weight lift off his chest. He let his body relax, enjoying the moment. It was so natural lying with her; at some point Joey brought his hand down and was drawing circles on the arm she left draped across him. Her head nestled on his shoulder.
“Joey?”
“Yes?”
“Do you think MM is going to find us here?” She propped up on her free arm as she splayed her hand across his chest. “I keep having nightmares about him. He takes us and does horrible things,” she said, looking somewhat panicked.
He wouldn’t let them take her. He would protect her to his death, if that’s what it took. He looked over at her, and laced his hand with hers. “Poly, I’ll do anything . . . I’ll make sure that never happens.”
She nodded, their faces so close, he could feel her sweet breath on his cheek. She laid her head back on his shoulder and snuggled in closer, putting a leg between his.
He tilted his head to her hair and breathed in deeply. Then, it suddenly hit Joey, how close they were—what was happening. Her body pressed against his. They were holding each other, face’s inches apart. He exhaled and his heart started racing. He could actually see his chest moving in rapid rhythm. She had to feel it.
“This is really nice,” Poly said, looking up at him.
She continued to talk, saying something about trying to get him alone ever since their birthday party, but he just couldn’t follow along. However, he was keenly aware of her lips moving and the connection of her body against his. The words didn’t matter as much as he knew what she was telling him.
Poly’s sentence trailed off when she noticed his focus on her lips. She moved her hand over his heart. Feeling the pounding in his chest, her face changed indecipherably. She tightened her leg on his, and parted her lips as she slightly moved her chin forward.
Everything happened so fast.
Joey stopped thinking and went in for what he wanted. Rolling her on her back, he lay on top of her, their lips meeting in a heated kiss. Grabbing both sides of his face, she tilted her head and opened her mouth to him. He groaned as their tongues entwined. Pushing his weight into her, he—
“What are you two doing?”
Joey and Poly froze, breathing hard. Who was there?
The scene turned off and the grassy ground turned to a white floor. The hill of white flooring lowered to the ground. Joey jumped off Poly, adjusting his clothes and putting his hands in his pockets. She quickly followed suit, keeping her eyes averted to the ground.
Harris was at the edge of the grass field. “This machine uses a massive amount of power, and if not properly channeled, it could be traced back to here,” he said, frowning.
“Sorry,” they both said in unison.
Still looking at the ground, Poly continued. “It’s my fault, sir. I brought Joey here.”
“Dang, you’re as bad as your parents were, always sneaking around and getting into stuff. Your dad couldn’t keep his eyes off your mother either.”
Poly’s face turned red at the conversation.
“Why don’t you lovebirds get back to your rooms.” Harris held the door open with a smirk.
They hustled through the door, without making eye contact, and didn’t talk until reaching Poly’s door. She turned around to face him. It was awkward, and then they both broke into soft laughter over Harris catching them.
Just when Joey didn’t know how to say goodbye, Poly got on her tiptoes and leaned in, kissing him lightly on the mouth. She winked and darted into her room.
He turned and smiled to himself the entire way to his room. Throwing himself across his bed, Joey lay there, trying to figure out what had happened. He took off his shoes and set them next to the nightstand and that is when he saw the small velvet box. He picked it up and his thoughts drifted from Poly and him on the blanket, to the night on the balcony with Samantha. Guilt washed over him. He bit his lip, remembering Samantha’s lip-gloss. What had he done?
THE NEXT MORNING WAS THE same. Joey kept thinking of that kiss during training, and he missed a man with a bow and arrow in the tree. The electric shock didn’t seem to bother him. Harris called training early and told Joey to clean his weapons.
Dinner was meat and mashed potatoes again. Afterward, Joey saw everyone in the hallway, but told them he was going to go to bed early and avoided eye contact with Poly. He lay in his bed worrying about Samantha, but his mind kept floating back to Poly. He thought on his actions a long time, rolling the jewelry box in his hands.
Had Samantha made it to the stone and gone with them, would things be different? Would he have kissed Poly and enjoyed her body against his? When he got back to Samantha, what would he tell her? He thought he wanted to be with Samantha but each moment spent with Poly made him question it. Nevertheless, it didn’t excuse the fact he’d made a move on both of them. He couldn’t imagine hurting either of them, but he couldn’t escape the sinking feeling he had done just that.
Joey slept roughly again.
THERE WAS ANOTHER SOFT KNOCK in the morning for breakfast. Followed by training. After training, Joey avoided the others again and headed to his room.
HARRIS FELT THE GRIP OF his guns and let out a long breath. They were some of the few items he’d kept from his childhood; his father had given them to him so many years ago.
He sat at the desk across from Compry, Nathen, and Almadon. “How are they all doing?”
Compry answered first. “Poly is as lethal as anyone I’ve seen with a knife, but she’s weaker in her emotions. It could be her age, or that she has a thing for Joey.”
“Yes, I saw that as well. We should keep those two apart if we can,” Harris said. “Ever since I caught them in the scene generator, Joey’s been distant.”
“Young love,” Almadon said.
“I don’t know. There’s something else going on with Joey,” Harris said. “How’s Lucas doing?”
“Lucas is a natural with the bow. He could play at world games, I think, with some of the stuff I’ve seen from him. But he needs some time to
mature,” Nathen reported.
Harris witnessed Lucas in action and wasn’t surprised at Nathen’s response. “And Hank?”
“He’s something of a physical phenomenon. He took me to the ground in our first sparing session and has progressed quickly from there. I think he might give you a run for it, Harris.”
He raised an eyebrow, but in all honesty, he hadn’t expected much less. However, there was a person he was most interested in hearing about. “How’s Julie?”
“Julie’s learning fast.” Almadon paused.
After many years with Almadon, he knew how to spot when she was holding back. “What is it?”
“She got into MM’s network and found Alice, or I should say, Alice found her.”
Harris leaned forward with shock. Alice was known to very few people in the world, and most of them sat in that room. “Alice came to her?”
“Yes, she asked Julie who she was—probably unable to recognize someone from another planet.”
“Did she find us?”
“No, Julie did it right. She kept us hidden.”
“Unbelievable.” Harris knew the kids were quick to learn, but this seemed beyond anything he expected. “What do you think about this?”
“I don’t know. She is progressing almost too fast. Beth was good, average really, but Julie is scary. I think she could hack our mainframe if she tried.”
Harris leaned back in his chair. He thought the same thing of all the kids. Joey was far better at shooting than he should be and he absorbed every instruction the first time shown.
“Yeah, I was thinking the same thing with Hank and Lucas. Their skills are far above where they should be,” Nathen added.
He knew what they were getting at. “Did you run all the tests yet?”
“Yes, there are a few anomalies in each of them. It will take me some time to go through and make any sense of it,” Almadon said.
Harris gazed at her. “But one of them stands out from the rest?”
“Yes. Joey’s a bit different from the rest. Whatever Isaac did, it seemed to take hold of Joey the most.”
“Yeah, his time manipulation is something I’ve never seen in any mutation.”
“How is he doing?” Compry asked.
“He’s okay. I’ve been working with him a lot on picking targets and making the right decisions.”
“Has he done his slow-mo thing with you?” Almadon asked.
“No, it seems to trigger in extreme situations only.” If he could get Joey to harness that skill, he’d be unstoppable.
She nodded. “If we can monitor him while it’s happening, we might be able to figure it out—replicate it even.”
“Let me see if I can even get him to do it again,” he said. “Any news from MM?”
“The insider said he’s still holed up in the bowels of their bunker,” Almadon informed. “I’ve noticed a lot more negative traffic online about MM. There’s even been rogue programmers that have a ‘kill MM’ program going at some of the scene centers, but they were murdered.”
Harris took in the information. While it was encouraging to hear people posting negative things on their blogs and websites, it was a whole other thing for them to stand in arms against him. So, Marcus was still holed up in the bunker. With John Smith gone, he’d be suffering, probably clinging to life. The man deserved everything he got. Harris realized he was touching his ring finger. He hadn’t worn his wedding ring in fifteen years, but he found himself feeling for it lately. He stopped, extending his fingers and placing them on the table.
“How long are we going to stay here, Harris? It won’t take MM long to see where a massive power surge went to,” Almadon pointed out.
“We better show Julie and Lucas a few stone locations, just in case,” he replied. “I don’t want any surprises this time around.” He wouldn’t let another group of kids die for his cause.
JOEY THRASHED AROUND IN HIS sleep as he dreamed of Simon grabbing Samantha by the neck and choking the life from her. Then he morphed into Simon. His own hands around her perfect neck, choking the life from her. She communicated with her eyes, asking why, why was he hurting her. He woke up sweating and breathing hard.
The soft knock at his door was the morning wake up call.
He went to breakfast for the eggs and meat again. At the end of the day, he walked to his door and saw his friends talking in the hallway. Hank shot him a hurt look as Joey stood in front of his door. He sighed and walked toward the group.
“Hey, look who’s come down from his mountain top to grace us with his presence.” Lucas gestured with sweeping bow.
“Yeah, I haven’t been feeling well,” Joey said. He glanced at Poly, who looked at Julie.
“Well, good to have you talking again, man. We were starting to worry about you,” Hank said.
“Hey, we’re going to go sneak into the scene generator and go somewhere that isn’t . . .” Lucas looked around the hallway, “here.”
Joey laughed and followed the group to the same scene generator he and Poly shared. The white walls were still there and there was no sign of a grassy meadow with a blanket for two.
“Julie found this awesome program,” Lucas said.
Joey uncomfortably looked at Poly. She was busy studying her fingernails.
“Okay, here we go.” Julie pulled out her Panavice and pressed some buttons on it.
The room changed to a city with people walking around them and small tube-looking cars going down the road silently. The people were beautiful here and they moved around them, not giving the group of five any notice as they went about their day. He recognized the outfits. They were similar to the ones in the mall scene used during training.
“There it is,” Lucas called and grabbed Julie’s hand.
Poly gave Joey a sharp look and hurried across the street. She wore a similar dress as before, but with red and white color-changing flowers on it. Where was she keeping her knives in that dress?
A wooden sign displayed above the door read Giuseppe’s Toys. He entered the store, amazed. It was much larger on the inside than he expected. Toys hummed around the store. Flying metal birds landed on a perch near the door and tweeted at him. He pet one on the back and it flew back to the second floor. The stuffed animals’ eyes followed him as he rushed by.
Lucas grabbed a kid’s bow and arrow and shot a foam dart at Poly who slapped it away. She grabbed a large foam sword from a bucket near the end of an aisle.
“Come on, gunslinger. Let’s see what you can do against a sword,” she said, waving the sword at Joey.
He grabbed a toy gun and shot rubber discs at her, but Poly swung her sword with grace as she dodged the discs, striking them away with her foam sword. He shot another and she moved toward him, slapping the projectile away with her sword. In one second, he found the end of her sword at his neck. Her narrow eyes and scowl gave Joey good reason to hold his hands up in surrender. Her expression wasn’t all fun and games anymore. There was something else there.
She lowered the sword and he realized how deadly she’d gotten, or maybe she had always been that dangerous. Poly took a second sword from the foam weapon bucket and spun them both around.
Joey set down his toy gun for a foam sword. He stood sideways and tried to give his best fencing stance, the end of his sword pointing at Poly. “En garde.”
“Oh really?” Poly raised one eyebrow and moved closer. In two quick motions, she pushed his sword clear and struck him in the chest.
He grabbed her sword and then hit her on the top of the head with his.
“No fair,” she claimed.
“There’s no rules in love and foam-war.” They stared at each other. “Poly—”
“Look at this, guys,” Julie interrupted as he started to speak.
Poly yanked her sword away from him and stuffed it in the barrel. She marched over to Julie and Lucas, each bent over a large glass aquarium.
Joey’s stomach sank. He’d already hurt her feelings.
Joining the group, he thought they were looking at a train set with little houses. However, as he got closer, he saw tiny people doing laundry in a pail outside of their house. He leaned in with his face next to the glass. Some goats were in a pen nearby, and their neighbors were all working around their houses. Everything looked so real.
“Is this some kid simulation toy?” Hank asked.
“Oh no, this is real. Rather . . . we’re in a simulation, but they aren’t. I mean, they exist outside of here, I think. Here, watch.” Julie reached over the display, picking up a goat. The tiny people nearby screamed and ran into their house. They poked their head out of their tiny house windows.
“Look at this goat. It’s mechanical. MM put a ban on all robots, except for small toys and dolls. The tech that would go into creating something like this . . .” Julie’s wide eyes stared at the goat for a bit, and then she placed it in Joey’s hand.
He inspected the goat. A fascinating creation. The realistic small village had tiny people and animals moving around. How was it possible? He placed the goat back in the pen.
“Watch, there’s a rain button here,” Julie said and pushed the button marked rain.
The clouds moved in above the tiny town and it rained down on their roof and fields, collecting in small puddles. The tiny people scattered around, pulling their laundry into their dry houses. A small baby goat stumbled into a rising puddle. It struggled against the sticky mud but couldn’t get out.
Poly rubbed against Joey as she jostled for a better view. The goat’s head submerged under the puddle. He reached in, lightly picked up the goat, and set it in the dry pen next to the other goat. They greeted the baby goat with a few licks and the goats huddled together for heat.
“Joey, Hero of Goats,” Lucas proclaimed.
The rain stopped and the people came out of their tiny houses and looked to the sky. They moved to their goat pens to check on their livestock, then to the gardens. But they kept looking up. Were they wondering if the large arm was going to come back and take one of them away?
