Chapter fifty-one

Nora

Nora had a hard time processing the offer. The androids’ offer. The room spun from blood loss and pain as she sat up, holding her head while trying to listen. “My head hurts.”

Simon sat next to her. They spoke softly in the quiet, a lantern turned on at the bedside. Anna had gone into Tilly’s room when the little girl had a hard time settling, still scared after the day’s events.

Simon pushed away from where he was holding Nora to grab the mug on the bedside table. He held the water mug up, offering it to her. “You lost a lot of blood. I’m just happy you’re awake.”

“Thanks.” She took it and drank deep. Then she looked outside at the dawn just starting to streak across the night. Nervous energy buzzed in her body. A beautiful new world, huh.

That thought made her look back down at her house and see it, and all its limitations, in stark relief. The cracks in the ceilings, but also the beautiful drawings on the walls. My home. She swallowed audibly before she spoke again. “I thought you said the lottery isn’t real? That they weren’t taking humans there?”

Simon put the mug back on the nightstand. “It wasn’t. Isn’t. They are making an exception for you three.”

The words hung. Nora held up three fingers. “ Us three. So Anna too?”

“Yes.”

Nora settled back down in the bed. An exception. She cleared her throat. “Glad it's all of us. Well, we do need to go away. I don’t think we will be able to go to town anymore.”

Simon put his hand on her knee, speaking earnestly. “Stella, one of the androids I have been communicating with, says there has been activity all around. They’re searching for us.”

Searching for us. A heavy feeling came over her. “I bet they are. But it’s hard . . .”

Simon squeezed her knee. “It is hard. But you’re not alone. Not anymore.”

Her eyes lifted to look at Simon’s. Both of his green eyes were trained on her, despite the left one being cracked. “Was not . . . expecting this.”

“Neither was I.”

Nora let out a huff. “I’m scared to go, but I’m also scared . . . if I don’t. I’m no fool. I know this is only half a life here for me and Tilly. And I don’t want any life like Anna had in town either, that’s for sure.”

Simon moved his hand from her knee and scooted close, delicately wrapping his arms around her as she tried to process all the day’s events. In her hair he murmured. “I'm so glad to be holding you again.”

She leaned against his chest. “Me too.”

The night deepened, still and quiet, while Simon held her tight. With her mind spinning it’s way towards acceptance, she asked in a small voice, “How do you know Mars is okay?”

Simon’s hand paused where he was rubbing down her back. “Androids are different from humans. We are a lot more transparent in most ways. They have shared over our connection the pictures and videos. I have no reason to believe they lied, and the photos hold no signs of manipulation.” He reached up to rub her cheek, right over her dimple. “I would not suggest this if it wasn’t good, Nora. I would stay here on the Earth with you if it was the better option. They’ll be able to help your leg. Maybe even fix Tilly’s limp.”

Fix it? That’s . . . “Why are they offering for us to go now?”

He hooked a strand of hair behind her ear and rubbed his finger along her cheek again. “Because they have come to know you. Both through observing, and through my memories.”

“Memories?” Nora’s tone was wary. Uh . . . Then accusatory as she grabbed his arm. “Simon? What did you share, exactly?”

He chuckled, low in her ear. “Not of us like that, Nora. Never. But of the smaller things. Like how you and Tilly are trying. How kind you were to me when I first woke up. How you two care for each other, and me. How I feel about the two of you.”

“Oh . . .” Nora felt warm, the feeling slipping down deep inside.

Simon nuzzled her ear. “They’re afraid as well.”

That made her chuckle. Afraid? Of me? “Didn’t you say they have humans there too?”

“They have a colony of humans there on Mars, where we would join. Only they said that those humans are the AI’s children, rather than the other way around like it was on Earth.”

Nora put her fingers on his chest, right where his artificial heart lay, feeling its steady beat. “Why though? Why do they have any humans at all?”

Simon took his hand and put it on her heart as well, before moving it lower to cup one of her breasts. “The humans they took with them were the ones they themselves loved, back during the war. And now it’s their descendants that live there. The colony is smaller and older now, with fewer children having been born throughout the years. The androids are very protective of them.”

The window outside showed the moon shining above, obscured by the dust and barely visible. “Oh. They loved . . . like us?”

“Yes. And.” He angled himself back to gaze into Nora’s eyes. “They came to see you the same way I do. They feared for your safety when you were taken. They are willing to take a chance. Honestly, they’re as scared as you are.”

Nora snorted. “You’re the only one not scared.”

The corners of his mouth curved up. “Well, I am sort of in the middle between you both.”

Nora reached back to grab Simon’s hand and held it. “No, really, Simon. You trust this? You think it will be better?”

In the darkness his eyes radiated sincerity. “I do.”

“Okay. Okay. I don’t trust much . . . but I do trust you, Simon. I do trust you.”

“Yes, Nora.” He held her close in the night, rubbing up and down her side the way he knew she liked. “I’m happy you seem so much stronger. I was worried when you were pale and slept so much.”

She reached up and touched his hand. “Me too. My leg hurts like heck though. Even with the medicine.”

“It has a lot of healing to do.” Simon rubbed her, all over, until he felt her heartbeat pick up. Then he placed his hand right over where it beat under her breasts. “I’m sorry, Nora. About our argument.” Her heart’s tempo thrummed under his fingers.

A flush ran through her. “You didn’t cause any of this, Simon. I’m sorry too, for earlier. We never got a chance to settle that. I was wrong to do what I did. To turn you off.”

He rubbed her again, moving his hands down low on her stomach. “I disabled all of my turn-offs so there is nothing to settle now. And when you were hurt badly, I understood that you just cared. You cared enough about me to not want me to hurt while you tried to do what was right.”

What was right. Nora breathed deep as she put her hand over his. “Yes. I love you Simon. I wouldn’t . . .”

“I know.” He tilted her head up to his and kissed her, firmly, deeply. Electricity seemed to spark between them, intensifying as broke away only to kiss her again.

Lust flooded her, making her forget the pain in her leg. Nora felt her body warm and her heartbeat pound even faster. “Simon . . .”

He kissed her forehead and murmured, “No more until your leg heals.” But his hands kept moving, rubbing her the way he knew she liked. Gently, to not make her squirm and move her leg too much.

He said, softly, her ear. “Will you go with me, Nora?”

A shudder went through her body. “Yes.”

She felt him smile against her skin. “Good.”

“How soon?”

“A ship is already on its way. They have a life-sustaining one a bit out of orbit that they dispatch the drops out of remotely. Around a week or so.”

Nora’s voice broke. “Okay. Okay.” She looked up at the sky. At where the stars should be, had there not been the haze to contend with. “All the way to Mars. That doesn’t sound real.”

“Yes, but it is.”

Nora swallowed heavily. “Oh, what do I say to Tilly?”

Simon stopped his rubbing and squeezed her tightly in his arms instead. “Tell her the creators of Princess Pearl and the Dastardly Three want to meet her.”

***

Nora gazed around the house, chest heaving with emotion as she sat with bins that she’d sorted her life into. Her attention snagged on the pictures that she and Tilly drew. So many memories. Tilly grew up here, and Nora did too, learning to trust and depend on herself to make everything happen. This house kept us safe. Tilly grew up here. A tear ran down Nora’s face. I did too. Mistakes and all.

The chickens were dropped off in the outskirts of town by Simon and left there in a container, the drone keeping watch to make sure nobody from the town saw him. They would be found by someone before too long.

Now, next to Nora, was a row of bins that held everything important from their lives. And a box with air holes that contained a very unhappy Tatertot, all packaged up to leave with them.

Nora bent down next to Tilly, who was done collecting the items she wanted to take. “You got it all?”

“Yes.” Tilly rubbed her face, where tears had been flowing all morning. In the end, a few more of the sack dolls than were necessary made it into the bins lined up in front of the door. Tilly was having a harder time saying goodbye.

Nora wanted to cry more as well, but she knew if she started she wouldn’t be able to stop and . . . She took a deep breath looking around the living room. This was our life for so long.

She stared at the radio that would stay there, thinking of how it would no longer get played when it was such an important part of their life before. In the open container in front of her, Nora had hardly packed anything. She had a few clothing items, her favorite utensils, the Grand Canyon mug, and Simon’s manual.

Anna sat next to her on the sofa. There was nothing in front of her for herself and no way to get anything, as her life had been left behind in town.

Nora’s heart ached for her friend as she placed one of Tilly’s drawings back in the bin. She reached over to touch her shoulder. “I’m sorry, Anna.”

Anna pushed her curly brown hair behind her ears and forced a smile. “Don’t be sorry. I’m confused as all get-out, Nora. And hurting. But you were always more family than anyone. It’s just the transition period and . . . not knowing.” She touched her belly, and then Nora saw the tears start to form. “Not knowing where this baby will be born and having no control over anything right now is kinda tearing me up.”

Nora leaned over, her leg protesting the movement from where it sat propped up on a chair Simon had put in front of her, and hugged Anna’s shoulders as she started to cry. “I’m still sorry. Not what you expected.”

“No.” Anna took a deep, shuddering breath. “But I don’t think it’s gonna be bad though.”

Nora’s leg hurt too much to keep leaning over, so she sat up and adjusted herself on the sofa, looking outside the window. It had become an compulsion to gaze at the skies, even before the ship was scheduled to arrive today. “Yeah. You said it right though, Anna, a few months ago.”

“Said what right?” Anna’s face was confused as she wiped her red-rimmed eyes.

A wry grin crossed her face. “That you’re glad at least someone cares, when we were talking about the drop. We’re going to the only place it seems where someone cares enough to help.”

Anna gave a shaky smile. “You’re right.” She steeled her shoulders and closed the bin’s lid. “Keep telling myself it's a better world.”

“Should be, Anna.” Nora smiled back at her, then looked around the room again. “That’s the hope.”

A huff came from Anna. “Yeah. And I got you and Tilly.”

“Yes you do.” Nora reached over and patted Anna’s belly. “And that’s your own Tilly right there too.”

Anna laughed. “Sure is. Gonna literally be born in a new world.”

Nora bit her lip, looking around. Dust. Everything here would be left, collecting dust, when it had been a home before. That’s what bothers me the most. That her house would turn into ruins just like the rest of the Earth she’d scavenged from.

“Just saying goodbye to everything is tough,” she finished glumly, glancing at Simon as he walked in to take another of the bins outside. I want to start over. Completely new. But it’s still hard.

Simon came up behind her, sat down, and held her close. “I understand. I’ll take this outside, but then . . . they’re almost here, Nora.”

Oh. Sweat beaded down Nora’s back. “They are?”

She was reaching for her makeshift crutch when Simon hiked her high in his arms. “I’ll carry you.”

A chair from the kitchen was already waiting outside when Simon took her out, placing her on it gently before returning to the inside of the house and bringing out the last of the boxes.

A bouncing Tilly stood by Nora and Anna as they waited, scanning the heavens. The dust swirled, touching all of them in the wind. It was the same as always, but today it felt like a goodbye.

Tilly waved her arms in the air. “Where is it?”

Simon pointed in response, high in the sky. “There.”

Nora never actually saw the ship that brought things to the drop before, and it took her breath away when it finally came into view. The flying metal contraption was incredibly large, so large that it blotted out the sun, casting Nora where she stood with the others in deep shadow. The ship was bigger than the airplanes in the magazines she saw. Bigger than anything that she had ever seen, all sleek lines and technology.

Simon took her sweaty hand, grounding her as she watched with wide eyes as the ship settled in a clearing right outside the garage where her hover was. The metal hull took up the entire street area and then some, even sitting on the rubble of some of the other houses.

She shook her head in awe, trying to keep her mouth closed from openly gaping. That's. . .

Simon squeezed her hand and whispered, “It takes a few moments to make sure everything is ready to be opened.”

Tilly said what Nora was thinking, jumping up and down on the balls of her feet. “The ship is so big. It’s like ten of our houses!” She opened her arms wide. “All of the houses!”

Nora looked at the ship from end to end. And that thing can go up in the air. Up, out of here. Fear raced down her spine as Simon squeezed her hand again.

The doors to the ship creaked open and a male, looking as flawless as that magazine Nora held so long ago, came out, accompanied by a woman. They both looked different from Simon, with sandy blond hair and blue eyes, pristine and polished and out of place here in the dusty afternoon sun dressed as they were in summer dresses and shorts. They almost looked like the people from those magazine beach scene pictures from long ago.

The airbrushed woman had a smile on her face. She brought something out from behind her that looked like a rolling chair with large wheels on either side, then wheeled it down from the entrance to a stop right in front of where Nora sat.

“Hello Nora,” the woman with the perfect face said, her smile bright and cheery. Her blond hair was slicked back into a bun. She turned to the others. “Hello Tilly, Anna . . . Simon. I’m Stella. Nora, if you sit here, I’ll take you in.”

“Oh. Okay.” Nora reached to the side for Simon to help her stand and to transfer into the rolling chair.

To her side the male greeted Anna and Tilly before escorting them up the gangplank back to the ship.

Simon took the chair from Stella, who walked beside them, and pushed Nora forward, toward where Tilly had just stepped through the threshold.

“Wait.” Nora twisted around and Simon, noticing her movements, turned the wheelchair for her so she could look back. One last time. My home.

Tears rolled down her face as she looked at the worn-down house, the hover that wouldn’t get used again, and the radio that she had left on in the living room. She crossed her arms, hugging herself. How long will it play before it breaks? And what would be left of her little house, years from now, when someone discovered it?

Nora slumped in the rolling chair and wiped her tears as Simon stood next to her with Stella. “I wrote a letter and left it there. About who lived here. I put it in plastic.” She let out a shaky breath. “Bad spelling and all.”

It was Stella who put her hand on her shoulder. She said in a cool voice, not without feeling, “This is the beginning, Nora. Not an end.”

Nora forced a smile. “I know.”

Simon came and wrapped his arms around her as they both stared at the little, broken house. His voice broke. “This was my first real home too.”

Nora sniffled, holding tight to his arms around her chest. “Sure was.”

They stood for a few moments, Stella stepping back to give them some privacy. Nora squeezed Simon's arm. “You ready?”

A choked voice answered. “Yes, if you are.”

Nora audibly swallowed. “Okay. Let's make sure Tilly isn't getting into trouble.”

Simon turned the chair and they crossed the threshold together. It only took an hour or so before they lifted off. They sat in the receiving area as the departing protocols were followed. Unease rolled through Nora's gut as a rumble was felt underneath and lights flashed as the ship was sealed back up.

Nora sat glued to the window as the buildings shrank while they went higher than she could have ever imagined. Tilly sat next to her, face smashed against the window.

There it is. Nora saw her first real look at the Earth then, unreal as they left the atmosphere. A round, perfect circle . In spots, the Earth looked almost blue where the ocean was, in the deep parts, but the swirling clouds around it were a decayed yellow.

Simon tapped the glass next to her. “The Earth was all bright blue and white, before.”

Nora couldn’t relate to that image, but put her hand on the window. This was my Earth. She closed her eyes, pressing her forehead to the window. Goodbye.

Soon, Earth became so small that she couldn’t make out anything other than a sea of off-color blue far in the distance of black space.

Anna walked away with Tilly, who was practically vibrating from excitement at all the robots wanting to talk with her and show her around the ship.

Simon, though, didn’t leave Nora’s side. Instead he sat next to her, looking off into space himself. At the stars that were now so much brighter than Nora had ever been able to see before, through the haze.

Nora said in a hushed tone. “This was all up here, and I never knew.”

Stella came up then, while they sat together without words. She brought with her a clean tray containing a few pills in a white cup. A crisp smile was on her lips. “You should take these, Nora. They will make you sleepy but will help your leg heal faster and prevent infection.”

Nora looked up into Stella’s perfect face as she took the pills from the sterile tray, swallowing them, too overwhelmed to think to question anything right now. It was all so different, with starlight instead of hazy sunlight outside the window and her body no longer connected to the Earth.

Stella smiled at her when she was done and walked away again, rubber-soled boots making no sound on the polished floor.

Nora leaned over and put her head on Simon’s shoulder while they sat together, looking at the stars. “We’re really on our way, huh?”

A deep sigh left him. “Yes.”

She looked up at him and smiled. Now that the goodbye was done, the actual last goodbye, she felt a spark of happiness at what lay ahead. The feeling was growing, starting from the moment she first got to see the stars clearly.

Simon held her hand and sat with her. She tried to put the feeling into words. The leaping sensation she felt deep in her gut. Nora pulled on his shirt sleeve. “I think I’m excited, Simon.”

He grinned at her and touched the dimple in her cheek before he settled her more firmly on his shoulder. “Me too, Nora.”

They sat there until the medication made her sleepy, and then he wheeled her through the ship to their room. On the way, he conversed with the other androids that walked around performing maintenance and checks. They were mostly just curious about Nora herself, standing in front of her and examining her much like Simon did when she first met him.

Nora squirmed under their attention, their perfect faces. She said out of earshot to Simon. “They look at me like they’re trying to memorize me.”

He chuckled. “They are.”

The room they were given was sterile, as if it had never been slept in. Nora turned as far as she could in the chair to see all the angles. In fact, that’s probably true. The bed looked out over space, and Tatertot was there already, lying on the foot of it. Simon helped Nora into the bed and held her close.

“Sleep, Nora.” Simon pressed down on her. “Everything is fine.”

“How long . . . ?” Heaviness washed over her. That medicine. . .

“There have been advancements in technology. It will still take around a month or so of Earth days for us to arrive.”

“That’s it?” It came out in a sigh as she snuggled in deeper.

Simon ran his hand down her cheek. “Technology and advancements didn’t stop on Mars. Just on Earth.”