The Nick Of Time (and other abrasions)
A Heart Full Of Dust
by
Al Bruno III
(Fifteen)
She didn't like to sleep because of the dreams that came. It was the familiar world of her subconscious but every object and player was sculpted from binary code. Then again, Lily corrected herself, it wasn't really her subconscious was it? She wasn't even sure a robot could have a subconscious, maybe it was just old data rambling around in her personality subroutines. She closed her eyes and tried to sleep but the bunk was too much like a coffin for her tastes. She was afraid that she might waken to find herself sealed in on all sides, alone, trapped and left to die.
She had to give Rhea credit, she had even included Lily's claustrophobia in her programming. There were times when she even began to feel trapped in her own body, almost entombed in this creation of plastic and copper wire. The problem was that she couldn't feel anything but she could remember what it was like to feel something. All the sensations were locked in her memory banks- the perfumed scent of a rose, the cool feel of a sunshower, the bittersweet taste of chocolate, and of course, the delicious agony of the lovemaking she had shared with Vagabond.
Now that was a memory!
“Girl?”
A figure was crawling into the bunk with her. The half-light coupled with her cracked screen left her near-blinded, but she knew just from the sound of his voice that it wasn't her beloved.
It was Kurt.
Lily started to scream but his hand clamped down over the image of her mouth, his touch left grease stains on her screen. “Hush now,” he whispered, “I just want to talk. A fuckin' word or two.”
Of all the people that Surkotchi could have saddled them with, why did it have to be this bastard? He was the one that had torn up the floorboards of the church and used one of them to crack her screen. He was the one that had referred to her as a that and as a thing.
And now he was here, in her bunk, so close that if she had olfactory senses his oily, sweaty stink would be filling her nostrils.
“Get away from me! I'll scream.”
“Listen to me. Just fuckin' listen to me and I'll go.”
Lily stopped struggling and tried to relax, but he was right on top of her and the bunk was so cramped that it made her claustrophobia all the worse. “All right.” she said, “Talk.”
“First of all, I'm sorry for hurting you-”
She thought to tell him that since she couldn't feel anything she couldn't be hurt but then decided not to, that might give him other ideas...
“-I was trying to hit the Hanged Man, you just got in the fuckin' way,” he leaned in close, examining the face in her monitor, “and secondly, when all this is over your lover dies. By my hand he dies.”
“He's trying to help you!”
“We wouldn't need his fucking help if not for him! If he hadn't betrayed the Pendaroth-”
“If he hadn't betrayed the Pendaroth you'd all be Monarch shit by now,” she spat, “My mother knows, she was there.”
“Your 'mother' is the one that promised him to us when this is all over.”
Lily knew that if she had a heart she would have felt it sink, “What?”
“Why do you think we're helping?” Kurt gave her a pitying look, “Out of the kindness of our fucking hearts?”
“You're lying.”
“No, I'm not,” he slithered back out of the bunk, “Your mother gets the Xenon Splinter and I get to bring the fuckin' Wandering Fool’s head home in a bag.”
“Why are you telling me this?”
“Because, I don't want you to get in the way and be hurt again. You're an innocent and our religion prizes innocence above all else,” he turned to go.
Lily sat up and grabbed his shoulder, “What's to keep me from warning him myself?”
“If you do that, I'll kill him, you and that fuckin' ugly mother of yours.”
“I thought your religion prized innocence above all else?”
Kurt pulled out of her grip and turned to flash her a murderous grin, “It does, but I'm no fanatic. Go back to sleep.”
Leaning back in her bunk, Lily pulled her blankets up to her chin and mumbled “Yeah, like I'm gonna get any sleep now.”
No comments:
Post a Comment