Fish Swim in the Lake

Part 8.1 | Is absolute zero cold enough

"I'm acting like an idiot. I'm really worried about Vas," alphaDana said. "We go back such a long way..."

"Yes, I know," Colin said. "I'm familiar with both your records. I probably know things about you that neither of you know about each other."

"Like what?"

"Don't be ridiculous," he said, slumping on the loveseat and opening the pillowcase full of fruit. "That's privileged information. You probably know the law better than I do -- you tourists always do."

"Listen," she said. "We're both in the same scene here. We don't know what's going on and they're going to jack us if we're not careful. Can't we work together here?" She rubbed the sides of her arms, felt the little ridges on the left elbow, tapped a little tremble into her voice. "I'm scared, Colin!" she whispered, and the reluctance to say so put credence in her voice. She had never said she was afraid of anything. She felt like a big plasteen doll.

"It'll be fine," he said, peeling an orange. "Just signe with Vlad, he takes care of everything."

"I don't trust Vlad," she said. "I don't know who to trust!" She flung herself on the loveseat next to him. She thought deliberately of the dead thing in her head, the dead things the heads of everyone she knew. She thought of the last time she'd seen Vas and how viciously she'd missed him and how little she'd allowed herself to think it. She thought of when she was seven and biking by the highway and her black and white terrier was hit by a blue pickup truck and the driver stopped and took them to the vet only three miles away but the dog was dead. Yes. Now she could cry.

She threw her arms around Colin and sobbed, "I don't know what to do!"

One of Colin's arms was pinned across her chest, the other held the orange. He dropped the orange and dragged his arm out, across her breasts as she'd intended, and put his arms awkwardly around her. She couldn't feel the skinjector yet, but that meant nothing, she wasn't in full contact.

"Just signe with Vlad," he said uncertainly. "Don't you want all this to just go away?"

"Help me, Colin," she whispered, looking up at him through long, gleaming lashes, lashes that were a gift from a well-meaning grandmother when she turned sixteen. She turned just enough that there was no mistaking her body. "Please. Tell me what to do."

Posted by gtaylor at July 03, 2003 10:57 PM