Chapter 76: Sharing the Loneliness
The apartment was small, identical in its Night Corp-issued layout to Rhys's place in Santo Domingo. Aside from the window facing a different direction, it was a copy-paste job.
But this apartment felt different. The walls were covered in posters—all moon-related. Diagrams of lunar colonies, astronaut portraits. And in the middle of the room, a plush, circular bed dominated the space. Rhys couldn't tell if it was standard-issue for the Heywood megabuildings or something Lucy had bought herself.
"I'm going to take a shower first."
Rhys had just taken the synth-beer she'd offered him from the fridge. As he was about to open it, he heard her call out. He looked up, but she'd already turned and was walking towards the small bathroom, grabbing a change of clothes on the way. A moment later, he heard the hiss of the sanitary cycle, followed by the sound of running water.
There was no door, just a frosted glass partition.
From where he sat, Rhys could... see her silhouette. A slender figure, head tilted back, letting the hot water run over her face. Hands tracing graceful lines over her body... was she soaping up?
A strange awkwardness settled over him. Rhys took a swig of his beer and quickly stood up, moving to examine the posters. Can't keep watching. That's just... creepy.
He focused on the wall. [LUNAR PERMANENCY PROJECT. FLIGHTS AVAILABLE MARCH, MAY, NOVEMBER. MARLU AIRLINES WELCOMES YOU! P.S. — WE HAVE OUR OWN ROCKETS!]
He looked at the next one. [TIRED OF THE DAILY GRIND? WORRIED THE NEXT CORPO WAR WILL LEVEL YOUR HAB? CICERO SKY-TRAVEL IS THE NAME YOU CAN TRUST! A 30-YEAR VETERAN IN STELLAR TOURISM. LET US SHOW YOU THE STARS...]
They all had moon imagery, but they were just... ads. Airlines, travel agencies, real estate, info-tech...
"Going to the moon is expensive, isn't it?"
A cool, clear voice, now laced with a certain laziness, spoke up. Rhys turned. Lucy was standing there, toweling her hair, steam rising from her skin in a faint mist. The air filled with a pleasant, clean scent.
She was wearing a loose t-shirt, the hem of it hanging just at the top of her thighs, revealing a long stretch of pale, flawless legs. They weren't heavily chromed; he could see a faint pink blush on her skin from the heat of the shower. Synth-skin didn't do that. It was either a flat, doll-like pink or a pale, reflective white, not... this. Not the subtle, under-the-skin flush of real, living tissue.
Or maybe it was just a really high-end model? Not that it mattered. The point was... she wasn't wearing anything else.
"I've been to a lot of places. The ticket price for a lunar launch is usually around two hundred thousand eddies. The money... I've actually already saved that much," Lucy said, walking to her fridge and pulling out a soda. She popped the top and stood next to Rhys, her eyes on the posters.
"Then... why haven't you gone? You have the eddies."
"Two hundred K is just the ticket. If you want to live there... that's a whole other level of expensive," she replied calmly. "First, I'd have to get rid of my tourist status, get legal residency. That's another seventy, eighty K in fees. Then there's rent, cost of living... and it's not like it's easy to find work on the moon."
"So I have to save. A lot," she whispered. She turned her head, narrowing her eyes at him. "So now you see why I was so annoyed about you wanting me to pay for lunch, right?"
"It was thirty eddies. You really...?"
"Thirty eddies is, like, ten NiColas."
"...Fine, I'll wire it to you now," Rhys sighed, exasperated.
Lucy actually laughed, a real, bright laugh. "I'm kidding." She went back to explaining the posters, a true lunar fanatic, detailing the different colonies, territories, and even the demographics.
Rhys just listened, falling back into his old role from the Mox: the quiet, attentive listener.
Finally, she fell silent.
"Lucy," Rhys asked, "why... why do you want to go to the moon so badly?"
"..." Silence. Then, she blinked. "I'm not telling you."
She walked over to the circular bed and fumbled with a cabinet underneath, pulling out a high-end braindance wreath. She held it up, a small, anti-static BD case held between her teeth. The case... the design was... abstract. That, combined with her next move—patting the bed beside her—made Rhys feel like she was issuing a very different kind of invitation.
Well... why not?
He walked over. Lucy fluffed the pillows, slotted the braindance, and fitted the wreath onto his head. Then, she unspooled a secondary cable and jacked it into the port on her own neck.
"Here we go..."
With a whisper from Lucy, the world dissolved in a flash of white light.
Rhys found himself... in another world.
All he could see was a vast, white, cratered landscape. In the distance, unknown machinery glittered with lights. He looked up. One part of the sky was dominated by a blindingly bright sun. The other... by a breathtaking, swirling blue planet.
A hand tapped his shoulder. It was Lucy.
In this virtual world, she seemed to come alive. All her tension was gone, the heavy burden she carried... lifted. She was smiling, a real, joyous smile, and beckoned to him. "This way!"
Rhys took a step and immediately knew... her rig was leagues better than his. Not only did it support a flawless secondary user, the sensory feedback was incredible. He gave a small hop, and without any real effort, he floated three, four meters into the air.
Lucy clapped her hands, and a lunar rover materialized, dropping from the sky and landing with a soft bounce on the regolith. She vaulted into the driver's seat and looked at him, raising an eyebrow in challenge.
Rhys understood. He grinned, grabbed the roll cage, and swung in beside her.
"Hold on."
VROOOM!
She floored it, sending the rover tearing across the lunar surface. On a dead planet, with no one else for millions of miles, a man and a woman were joyriding across the moon.
The world was a sea of white, the sky a black curtain. The rover hit a crater lip at full speed, launching them into the air. In the low gravity, they just... floated. The vehicle began to spin, out of control. Rhys was thrown forward, and Lucy was lifted clean out of her seat, her body weightless.
Her iridescent hair floated around her head, and she let out a peal of pure, unrestrained laughter. She grabbed the roll cage, climbed out onto the hood of the spinning rover, planted her feet, and grabbed Rhys's arm, pulling him out with her. She leaped, pulling him with her, off the rover and into the void.
Below them was a massive, thousand-meter-deep canyon. They were floating over the edge, but then, jets of cold gas hissed from Lucy's boots, stabilizing them, sending them gliding through the air.
"Holy shit, you can do that?" Rhys's eyes were wide with wonder.
"What'd you expect? This is why legit BDs cost so much!" Lucy laughed. She tapped at the air, manipulating a hidden interface. A moment later, Rhys felt a helmet materialize around his head. A full-on spacesuit.
"Come on! I told you I'd make you like this place, Rhys! We're just getting started!"
She pulled him along, guiding him through the virtual world she'd visited a thousand times, just... playing.
Rhys lost all track of time. In the BD, he lay on his back on a solar panel, the high-fidelity simulation so real he could almost feel the warmth on his skin. Lucy lay beside him, her eyes closed, the manic energy gone, now quiet as a cat.
...Just like the white cat from my dream. Noble, mysterious, elegant, beautiful.
They lay there in silence for a long time. Rhys opened his eyes, staring up at the blue Earth.
"You asked," Lucy's voice came from beside him, "if I was some kind of princess."
"I guess I was. A long time ago. Now, I'm just... running." Her voice was frank, open. "I've been to so many places over the years. Never staying anywhere, just... drifting. Night City is the longest I've ever stayed in one place, but..."
"You could stay here," Rhys interrupted. "Night City... it's not like those other places."
Lucy paused, then rolled onto her side, propping her head up on her hand to look at his profile. "How is it different? It's just... more chaotic. And chaos isn't a virtue."
"It'll be different. In the future," Rhys said, closing his eyes again.
Lucy pursed her lips, about to turn away, but Rhys spoke again. "Did you have fun today?"
She froze, looking at him. After a moment, she replied, "Aside from almost getting killed... I haven't had this much fun in a long time."
When had it started? When had she become so... alone? Eating with friends, drinking, talking about things she liked, doing things she liked... she hadn't experienced any of that since she'd escaped the facility. So, yes. She was genuinely happy.
A friend for a day... That was nice, too.
"Well," Rhys said, his hands folded on his stomach, "there's more fun to be had. But... you've gotta join the crew."
The only answer was the sound of her breathing.
But after a moment, her voice, firm and clear, cut through the silence.
"Okay. It's not like I have anywhere else to go."
"Welcome to the crew, Lucy," Rhys said, turning his head to smile at her.
Today... it had been a good day for him, too. If he hadn't run into Lucy, he'd just be at home, watching BDs alone. He wouldn't have had this experience... dangerous, yes, but what part of an edgerunner's life wasn't?
Besides, Rhys hated being alone. He already felt so disconnected from this world. Being alone... it just made him feel like he'd been abandoned by everyone. His identity, his memories, his values... his past was the only thing that separated him from this world. Without it... the loneliness was a prison.
People said that enjoying solitude was the highest form of enlightenment. That confusion came before it, and growth came after. Maybe everyone had to go through it.
But... maybe there's another way?
At least... you don't have to rush it.
He looked at Lucy and smiled. Reaching a hand up towards the virtual Earth above, he thought to himself...
Yeah. Let's share the loneliness.