The mission was scheduled for tonight. Midnight, exactly.
Thankfully, that day was also a library day at V's office. My favorite kind of day. That would occupy my anxious mind, at least.
I loved leaving the house with him in the morning and chatting during the quiet loop ride. Even when we parted ways, I didn't mind, because it meant he'd be waiting for me at lunchtime. And again in the evening.
There was something so peaceful about having someone wait for me. I had never experienced it before.
"Ready to go?" he asked, handing me the new backpack I'd printed and left by the door. "Whoa—why is it so heavy?"
"I need all my notebooks. My plant sketchbook. My study notes. And a new one since that one's almost full. Plus, snacks," I said, lifting one heavy strap onto my shoulder.
"Give it to me," V chuckled, taking the backpack from me and slinging it over his shoulder instead.
"What's that?" I asked, pointing to the oddly shaped bag on his other shoulder.
"My squash racket bag."
I tried to take it, wanting to carry something too, but he stopped me.
"No, no worries, it's not heavy."
"I'll carry our drinks then," I said, grabbing the two purple smoothies of Studious Squeeze on the table.
"No, I'll take mine," V said, holding the door open for me.
"It's fine, I've got two free hands—"
Before I could finish, he took the bottle from my right hand and slipped his left hand into mine.
"But I need that one," he said with that smile I loved so much, the one deepening the lines on his cheeks.
We walked hand-in-hand down the beautiful path of the neighborhood, all the way to the loop station. My steps felt light. I smiled the whole way.
It felt so easy to just be with him.
"I'm going to play squash with my colleagues after work today," he said, slurping his smoothie and giving a small nod toward the racket-shaped bag on his shoulder. "You'll have to head home alone. Is that okay?"
"Of course," I feigned indifference, even though one of my favorite parts of my day had been taken from me.
"But we could have our study session when I come back?" he added, and I couldn't hide how delighted I was. "It's just that my health app has been nagging me lately about getting some physical activity..." he added with a chuckle, but then he paused, as if something had crossed his mind, before quickly becoming serious again.
"Does it bother you?" I asked. "The health app?"
"The nagging? Not really," he said, shaking his head and taking another sip of the smoothie I'd chosen for us this morning. "Prevent to Preserve, as they say. Cure is Cost," he added with a laugh, as if quoting from something.
I made a face to show I didn't get what he referenced.
"It's all part of the City's system," he explained further. "Eat healthy, track movement and sleep, limit alcohol... It's designed to keep everyone in top shape. I think it's great!"
He slurped up the last of his smoothie and dropped the cup into a bin before we stepped into the loop.
We chose a four-seater section, one with a table in the middle for me to set my drink. Another passenger was already seated there, using the table to rest their tablet. He looked up briefly at us, then back at his screen.
I sipped slowly on my smoothie, still thinking about the health app.
Kira had mentioned a device at Malik's dinner party. One that would disable the guests' health apps and let them drink as much alcohol as they wanted, without the nagging.
Immediately, I remembered Firinne's instructions for tonight: I had to bring my tablet down the tunnel to open the door. I'd protested, knowing it was dangerous to carry something that could track us outside the City walls, just as V had warned me the first time we went to the oasis.
But Firinne had brushed it off. They had a way, she said, to strip the tablet of its geolocation feature. All I needed to do was hold it near the door handle when the time came. Both its location tracking and its log of my authorizations would be wiped.
Was it the same device Kira had mentioned? What was it called again?
"What about the... dehabilitetors?" I asked V, trying a version of the word I found in my distant memory.
"The what?" V frowned.
"I heard someone mention it at Malik's dinner..." I half-lied. He gave me the same confused expression I had just given him, so I went on. "It's something... that disables the health app on your tablet?"
Right away, the passenger across from us looked up and directly met my eyes. I looked away, wondering if we were speaking too loudly.
"Never heard of it," V said with a shrug. "Why would you even want to disable it?"
"Desabilitator, maybe...?" I spoke in a lower voice, trying to recall the name.
The passenger across from us glanced from me to V, then around the cabin. Were we bothering him? There were plenty of empty seats. Why sit at a shared table if they didn't want to hear conversation?
"No idea," V replied after thinking, a genuine small pout forming on his lips.
When the loop stopped at the next station, the person across from us abruptly gathered their things and promptly exited.
Strange. I hoped that had been his stop. If we were that annoying, he could've just moved to another seat.
The loop continued its route, and I got reminded of another moment.
"But, last time, when we were at Stellar Slices," I recalled, and V gave me an eyebrow raise, "You did shut it off after you had wine and—"
"Sade! Sade..." V interrupted with a nervous laugh, patting his hand over mine, "I didn't shut it off. You're misremembering," he laughed nervously, but his worried eyes scanned the space around us. "I just... put it in the fridge," he whispered, his face wincing as if reminded of a shameful behavior. "No one can deactivate their app. It's not possible," he concluded in a serious tone.
I frowned again but chose to believe him over Kira. After all, V was a proper citizen of the City, born and raised here. Kira, on the other hand, came from the Autonomous Territories.
V dropped me at the library, and I picked up my studies where I'd left off.
"I have to visit Shellby at the mechanic," Norah warned me before she left to see her robot turtle. "Will you be alright alone here?"
I assured her that yes.
She had just shown me how to run Nora (the Neural Online Resource Assistant, not her) directly on my glasses. This way, I could flip through the library books while asking questions out loud.
"What's a greenhouse?" I read the description of an image in one of the books. "How does it work?"
Nora's voice played through the glasses via the bone conduction design V had explained to me.
A greenhouse is a structure, usually made of glass or clear plastic, that helps plants grow by trapping heat from the sun. It stays warmer inside than the air outside, which is ideal for growing plants, especially during cooler seasons.
Fascinating! It was a much more efficient way to study. Instead of constantly switching between the book and the horticulture glossary to look up unfamiliar terms, I could simply ask NORA.
Related terms, NORA continued to offer, Greenhouse Effect, Greenhouse Gas, Greenhouse Biotechnology...
"Greenhouse effect," I said, curiosity pulling me down another rabbit hole.
Definition: Greenhouse Effect.
The Greenhouse Effect is a scientifically acknowledged process by which certain atmospheric gases, many of which increased due to past human industrial activity, trap solar radiation. While early human behavior caused a dangerous imbalance, today's technocratic society has taken responsible steps to monitor and optimize the effect through advanced ClimateTech protocols, AI-assisted emissions regulation, and Urban Ecosphere Engineering.
Thanks to coordinated global data systems and citizen compliance with EcoConduct Protocols, the greenhouse effect is now leveraged as a controlled asset, to stabilize urban environments and ensure climate continuity for future generations.
Source: Ministry of Climate. Year: 2170.
I nodded to myself but wasn't sure I fully understood. I wrote Greenhouse effect in the final notes section of my notebook. During our study sessions, I'd usually ask V about terms like that. He was like my own personal NORA, but even better, because he could tailor his explanations to what I already knew.
Around lunchtime, he was waiting for me at the library entrance. At the cafeteria, he held both of our trays as I selected our meals. I chose his too, as he claimed not to care much, and he enjoyed watching me try new dishes.
When we were close by or inside his office, we didn't allow ourselves to hold hands. My presence with him was already attracting enough unwanted attention.
But every time he would leave me in front of the library, he'd find a way to make my heart flutter.
"See you then," he said, his fingers brushing the inside of my palm for just a second.
Back in the library, my heart beating fast, I heard the door open again.
"We'll meet later at home, remember?" he reminded me, his head passing through the door. "Bye. See you later. For our study session," he said with a small smile before really leaving this time.
I pressed my back against the cold metal shelf, heart pulsing so hard I had to clamp a hand over my chest. I felt so lucky I got to experience these new feelings.
I knew it was all temporary, but just like when I would savor every meal in the City, I couldn't help but enjoy these moments.
I had just slid my glasses back on, ready to return to my studies, when I heard the library door open again.
Did V forget something?
I was about to speak to reveal my presence when I caught a glimpse through the narrow gaps between the shelves.
It wasn't V.
My whole body froze, my eyes stuck on the vision of this tall man in a dark suit.
I could only see his figure, not his face, as he stepped inside and paused, peering into the room.
Why was I afraid? I was allowed to be here. My cover as a Botanical Agronomist had held so far. No one had questioned me or V. It helped that no one in this research center seemed to care much about plants. And that V held a certain importance among the staff.
But it was still false. If anyone asked, we had no real proof to offer.
Not even V knew that my presence in his home was already a lie.
In the distance, the man moved slowly, deliberately.
His posture suggested he was scanning the room, searching. I wasn't sure if he'd seen me yet. I wished I hadn't worn this green dress as it stood out more than I wanted to.
The silence grew heavier around me, and all I could hear was the rush of blood in my ears.
"I know you're here," the man said.
My blood turned to ice.
Who was he? What did he want from me?
Even if our eyes hadn't met, he must have seen the outline of my body through the bookshelves, just like I was seeing his.
He closed the door behind him. The locking sound resonated in the whole library, and I felt my heart drop in my chest.
I didn't move. I barely breathed.
I was locked in a room with a man I didn't know.
His silhouette moved behind the shelves, his footsteps echoing faintly across the floor, slow and measured. I watched as he drew closer, nearing the place I was.
Instinctively, I got up, thinking that in any scenario it would be better to be on my feet.
He turned, his eyes now locked in what seemed to be my direction.
He walked straight toward me.
I had walked around the table to put something between us just as the man emerged from between the shelves.
Our eyes locked. I froze.
I knew him.
He walked toward me slowly, hands in his pockets, a sly smile spreading across his face.
I'd seen him before, at Malik's dinner party.
V's manager.
"I knew you were around..." he spoke in his dragging voice.
He stopped on the other side of the table, where I had left my spread of notebooks and sketchbooks open.
"H-Hello," I tried to greet him as normally as I could. "Can I help you with something?"
Maybe he was looking for V. Someone else might have warned him he had just been near the library. Yes, that was probably why his manager was here.
"What do you do here all day...?" the man mused, eyes drifting over the notebooks on the table.
He'd been watching me, I realized.
"I study," I replied curtly, just as his hand moved to one of my notebooks. He flipped through it, and panic spiked all along my spine. If he looked through my notes, it would blow my cover. These were certainly proving I wasn't the expert I claimed to be.
"Sorry, these are confidential," I began to protest, imitating the way V spoke about his research as I leaned over the table to grab my notes.
But he was faster. His hand closed over one of the notebooks just as mine did. I pulled on it, but he didn't let go. His fingers clutched on the other side of it.
Our eyes met, and I gulped. He was smiling, looking amused.
I let go first, heat prickling my neck. That one was only a sketchbook anyway. While he flipped through the pages, I stuffed the rest of the incriminating notes into my bag.
"You can draw," he said, appreciating a page full of sketches. "That's cute."
He chuckled, looking up at me as if expecting me to join in.
I remained cold, fear gripping at my chest.
Something inside of me was telling me to run.
To put as much distance as possible between the two of us.
His smile flattened, and something shifted in his eyes.
"I wonder..."
He began to step around the table, but I was already moving too, keeping it as a barrier between us.
"...what else can you do?"
He paused, and his gaze dragged across my figure.
"W-What do you mean?" I pressed my bag against my chest, trying to hide myself from his dragging eyes.
"Why did V get you?" he spoke slowly, his stare narrowing on me.
Get you, he said, like an object.
He was baiting me, trying to get a reaction out of me.
"We... We work together on his research project."
I spoke with as much confidence as I could, despite the fear tightening my throat.
"Are you?" he sneered again, his eyes going over my figure once more, looking as if he were mentally undressing me.
I wanted to puke. I wanted to run.
"Well... He clearly has excellent taste," he said, his voice thick with insinuation. "But I wonder... Why does he need a machina for?"
I stood frozen, unable to form words at first.
His lips curled in that smug, twisted smile.
"I don't understand," I replied after a moment, surprised at the steadiness of my voice.
I had to think fast.
He knew I was a machina. Or supposed to be one, at least.
But he didn't seem to know why V needed a machina.
Or maybe he was pretending not to.
"I know what you are," he smirked.
I kept my face blank.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," I managed to utter.
He snorted, clearly entertained.
I started moving, circling the table, with slow, steady steps.
He mirrored me, tracking my movement like a predator.
I couldn't let him lose interest in the game he was playing. I had to protect my secret, and even more importantly, V's secret.
"Okay, let me be clearer then... Are you V's slut?"
It felt like a punch in the gut.
I was so stunned, I let go of my bag on the table.
He seemed to understand this as an invitation.
His hand shot forward and grabbed my wrist.
"No!" I cried out.
I clawed at his arm, but he was too strong. His other hand slammed onto the table for leverage as he tried to climb over it to reach me.
"I'm your owner too!" he spat, eyes wild with a sudden anger. "You have to obey me!"
He got up on the table with both knees, towering over me, while I kept yelling for help.
"Stop! Let me go, please! Please!"
"Shut your mouth!"
I screamed again. His hand rose into the air, ready to strike.
But he lost his balance.
The table wobbled, then crashed to the side.
He fell with it, the table collapsing on top of him.
I didn't waste a second.
I grabbed my bag, and as I turned to run, something yanked me back.
He had managed to grab the hem of my dress. He pulled hard, anchoring me in place.
Breath ragged, vision swimming with tears now, I struggled to remove his hand. I had only a split second before he'd be back on his feet.
I gathered all the courage I had, stopped resisting, and instead, slammed the heel of my shoe into his face.
He let go with a cry.
I ran straight for the door, barely able to hold all my things.
I cried, I sobbed, I spiralled.
And I never once looked back.
In the next chapters, we will be going on a mission to the oasis! And we're about to meet a new character that's going to be a BIG plot twist... 🤭 What are your theories?? 👀
🗓️ Next chapters: this Monday, September 22nd 🗓️
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Thank you for being here ❤️