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Chapter forty-two

Nora

Nora didn’t even bother putting the hover away when they got home; instead she brought it right up to the front door.

She yanked futilely on the jammed doors, permanently rusted shut. “Damn these doors that don’t open right.” She looked over Simon in concern. “Can you get out? I can get in to try to lift you.”

Simon tried. Slowly, he hefted himself over the side of the hover. Nora realized how injured he was when he would have fallen had she not been there to grab him. She brought him into the kitchen, half dragging, and put him down on the exact spot in the kitchen where she had initially spent weeks repairing him.

Nora leaned forward and pulled his hand aside to assess him closer. “Is it only this battery area?”

Simon moved his hands back to cover his chest. “Yes, and some wiring was severed, that is why there is leaking.”

She watched him with concern. “Every time you move . . . it gets worse. I need to take it, the battery, out completely. Maybe turn you off really fast to get it done quicker.”

“Nora, no.” Simon’s eyes were open and wild.

A surge of protectiveness came over Nora. “Yes, Simon. You got hurt protecting Tilly. Of course I’m going to fix you. We will get you fixed. I just gotta take this and do it.”

His voice was rushed. “Nora. I am functional enough. I can stem it . . . I have backup reserves from the real food I’ve consumed.”

Concern for Simon clouded everything. She shook her head. No. It would be faster if I just do this myself. I can go get the parts really fast. The battery is leaking all over while he is awake like this. “Simon. Your battery compartment is all smashed. You can’t move from the solar array. And every move is making it worse. It’s leaking acid.”

“Nora . . .” His face drained of color.

Her eyes flashed with determination, overriding his concerns. “I’ll fix you like before, right before you woke up. I can do it. You don’t have to suffer through this, and if I take the battery out the acid will stop leaking.”

Before Simon could say anything more, Nora leaned forward and kissed him passionately while reaching behind and firmly turning him off, using one of the ways that the manual taught her long ago.

Shock and hurt shone in Simon’s eyes as he powered down, the expression tearing at her heart. She cupped his cheek as his face went slack. You don’t need to be in pain. I’ll get it fixed. Nora whispered as his eyes lost their spark, “I’ll get the parts and come back. I don’t want you moving and making it worse.”

Tilly’s eyes were wide while Nora disconnected the battery. “Can he feel that?”

Nora shook her head. “That’s why I turned him off. Didn’t need me taking him apart like this when awake.”

Tilly sniffled as she cried. “I’m so sorry, Mama. I didn’t listen and now he’s hurt.”

Nora took a deep breath and moved away from Simon to pull Tilly into her arms. “Tilly, it’s okay. Simon is fixable, I can get him extra parts. I can’t do that for you.”

Tilly cried harder and Nora held her a minute, then pushed Tilly back to look in her eyes. “We’ll get him fixed back up. Here, help me. The sooner we can do this the sooner I can get him turned back on.”

She gestured to the shallow cut on Tilly's knee. “Go get a bandaid for that. Let's wash that off too.”

Tears kept falling down Tilly's face. “Okay.”

Nora worked while Tilly assisted, pulling all the frayed wires to the side until she could pull the dented battery out along with the wiring.

Soon there was a pile of frayed wires and a joint she couldn’t bend back. It was lonely in the house without Simon awake, adding to the din. “I think . . . we need to go to town, Tilly.”

“Town?”

“Yeah. This, I can’t . . .” Nora glanced down, frustrated, at the wires. “We need another battery.” The leak had stopped since she turned him off, the corrosive battery acid no longer destroying more circuitry. That much was easy to repair. She held both the destroyed battery and the wires in her hand.

“Can this help?” Tilly asked, bringing over a large battery that they used to power the solar AC. “Can he come awake now?”

Nora shook her head. “We could use that, but it won’t fit. That would have to be strapped to him or something. I need a smaller battery to stick inside. And this joint needs to be fixed.” She looked outside. Only midday. “Let’s go get some cables and a battery from town real fast and then we can plug him in, good as new. I think for that bent part I have something on the hover that I can reuse. It’s shaped the right way.” Nora smiled down at Tilly, who was tapping on Simon anxiously. “C’mon, let’s be fast. I miss him too. This should be an easy fix.”

***

Nora flew to town in the hover. The drone overhead followed right behind them. Her hands were slick on the steering wheel. Gotta hurry up. She couldn’t get the betrayed look in Simon’s eyes out of her mind. I’ll be right back to fix him.

It was odd going to town without Simon. He had been a part of her life for so long now that Nora felt jittery not having him by her side. She felt unprotected alone, taking the hover out with the drone following silently behind watching everything. Before entering the town she reached over and pocketed her gun. Got that at least.

“Hey Max,” Nora said as she rolled up, grabbing a box with a magazine in it from Simon’s bucket seat. As soon as she parked she jumped over the hover’s door and walked to where Max sat, the radio by his side playing low. She wasn’t in the mood for pleasantries but fixed a smile on her face just the same.

“Where’s the droid?” Max asked in response, looking behind her as if he was waiting around one of the piles of metal just out of sight.

Tilly, still sitting in the hover, gave a wave back.

Nora frowned. “Not with me today. I need a few more items like you had before. Was wondering if you could help me with it. Parts are for him. I need a battery and some cables.” She held out the box she carried under her arm. “Here, I got a magazine for you. That should cover the cost.” She opened the box and held out one of the airbrushed magazines, watching Max’s eyes light up as he took in the cover.

“Yeah, that will do.” He took the magazine gingerly from her and walked to the back before coming out with cables similar to all the others she’d used to fix Simon up, as well as a box that had an assortment of batteries.

“You know, Nora,” Max said as he handed her the new components. He leaned in close and dropped his raspy voice to a whisper. “I’m glad you came alone today. Been meaning to ask you and can’t . . . with him here. Can’t be honest with him listening.”

What? Time seemed to stop. Nora’s hand froze over the battery box she was going through to pick one out that seemed like it would fit the best. “What do you want to ask?”

Max pressed against the table and scratched at his whiskered chin. “Well . . . you’re getting better scrap now, but that android . . . he could be worth a fortune compared to this. I was talking to some people—”

“You didn’t let anyone know about Simon, did you?” Nora said, her eyes narrowed suspiciously as she looked up from the box. The battery she’d decided on was clenched tightly in her hand.

“No. I wanted to talk with you first.”

“No, Max.” Nora shook her head.

Max tapped on the counter. “Wait, Nora. They would give a lot. A shit-ton lot. You should think on it. People would give enough that both of us might be able to afford one of them nice houses in the good part of town.” He shouted over to Tilly, who was watching from the hover, still quiet after crying earlier, her eyes rimmed red, “Wouldn’t you like that? Kiddo? Live in a big house here?”

Tilly froze and didn’t answer at first, her gaze darting between Nora and Max before yelling back, “I like my house!”

A sharp slice of fear raced down Nora’s spine. She attempted to give a small smile, even though her stomach felt queasy. No way. “No thank you, Max. I think we both are doing well from the extra I’m bringing in as it is. You’re getting good prices for this stuff, I know it.”

Max frowned. “Just think on it, okay? Just think on it. We could be living so much bigger.”

Nora forced another smile. “Thanks for the parts, Max. Take care of yourself. I’ll be back with more soon.”

Blood pounded in Nora's ears, battery clenched in her hand. She got back to Tilly in the hover and drove away, only looking back to see Max’s eyes narrowed on them as they left.

Tilly asked from the backseat, “You aren’t gonna sell Simon, are you? I don’t want to live here in the town.”

“What do you think, Tilly? No way. That Max needs to mind his own business.” She bit her lip. But Max starting to push like that is getting me worried.

Nora didn’t bother going farther into town, wanting to get back now that they had the parts. The drone almost appeared to lead her back home, but hung close to them as if it were listening. Nora yelled up to it, “I would never sell him out! Don’t you worry.”

The drone, as always, didn’t answer. It was almost obnoxious though, how closely it followed the moment they left the city and got back into the open desert.

Nora didn’t bother to say anything more, focused only on getting to the little stucco house in the distance. Her body relaxed as soon as it came into view. Home. She gazed at the little house with sadness in her eyes. A heavy feeling fell over her. “We might have to leave and try our luck elsewhere if Max keeps pressuring me about Simon though.” Might be about time. Simon had been making practical plans lately, and Nora found herself in agreement with most of them. Wasn’t that why they had been stockpiling all that stuff? There were easier places on Earth to live. And now they had knowledge of where that might be. Nora’s hands gripped the steering wheel. Yeah, it’s time.

“I don’t want to leave,” Tilly crossed her arms.

Nora shook her head. Didn’t mean to say that aloud. “We’ll see, okay Tilly? I just want us all to be safe together. And you heard Max. Simon is family. I don’t like Max talking about him like that. Not safe if that’s what he’s thinking.”

“I love Simon.”

Nora's heart ached. A soft smile came to her lips. “Me too, Tilly. Me too. Got the parts now; let’s wake him back up.”

Nora put the hover away in the garage and sent Tilly inside with the cables and battery.

Once she followed her in, Nora replaced the wires, double-checked the connections, and then turned Simon back on. Relief flooded her as the red light briefly turned on, followed by Simon’s eyes beginning to become aware again.

She sighed out. “There, good as new.”