The End and Other Beginnings: Stories from the Future. Veronica Roth
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“Too soon,” I replied.
“Sorry. Coping mechanism.”
I sat down next to him and started to unbutton my shirt.
His eyebrows raised. “What are you doing?”
“Multitasking. I have to stick these electrodes on my chest. Remember them?” I held up the electrodes with the wires attached to them. They were the same ones I had used to show the art class my brain waves. “And I also want to stack the odds in my favor.”
“Stack the … Am I on drugs again?”
“No. If you were on drugs, would you be hallucinating me shirtless, though?” I grinned and touched one electrode to the right side of my chest and another one under it. Together they would read my heartbeat.
“No comment,” he said. “That’s a surprisingly girly bra you’re wearing.”
It was navy blue, patterned with little white and pink flowers. I had saved it all week for today, even though it was my favorite and I always wanted to wear it first after laundry day.
“Just because I don’t like dresses doesn’t mean I hate flowers,” I replied. “Okay, be quiet.”
I turned up the speakers, which were connected directly to the electrodes on my chest. My heartbeat played over them, its pulse even and steady. I breathed deep, through my nose and out my mouth. Then I turned on the CD player and set the track to the second one: “Inertia,” by Chase Wolcott.
Inertia
I’m carried in a straight line toward you
A force I can’t resist; don’t want to resist
Carried straight toward you
The drums pounded out a steady rhythm, the guitars throbbed, driving a tune propulsive and circular. My heartbeat responded accordingly, picking up the longer I listened.
“Your heart,” he said. “You like the song now?”
“I told you the meds would mess with my mind,” I said softly. “I’m just getting used to them, though, so don’t get too excited. I may hate the album again someday.”
“The meds,” he repeated. “You’re on them?”
“Still adjusting the dose, but yes, I’m on them, thanks in part to the encouragement of this guy I know,” I said. “So far, side effects include headaches and nausea and a feeling that life might turn out okay after all. That last one is the peskiest.”
The dimple appeared in his cheek.
“If you think this heartbeat change is cool, I’ll show you something even more fascinating.” I turned the music off.
“Okay,” he said, eyes a little narrowed.
I stood and touched a hand to the bed next to his shoulder. My heartbeat played faster over the speakers. I leaned in close and pressed my lips lightly to his.
His mouth moved against mine, finally responding. His hand lifted to my cheek, brushed my hair back from my face. Found the curve of my neck.
My heart was like a speeding train. That thing inside me—that pulsing organ that said I was alive, I was all right, I was carving a better shape out of my own life—was the soundtrack of our first kiss, and it was much better than any music, no matter how good the band might be.
“Art,” I said as we parted, “is both vulnerable and brave.”
I sat on the edge of the bed, right next to his hip, careful. His hazel eyes followed my every movement. There wasn’t a hint of a smile on his face, in his furrowed brow.
“The last visitation is supposed to give you the chance to say everything you need to, before you lose someone,” I said. “But when I drove away from here, thinking you were about to leave me for good, I realized there was one thing I still hadn’t said.”
I pinched his blanket between my first two fingers, suddenly shy again.
Heartbeat picking up again, faster and faster. “So,” he said, quiet. “Say it, then.”
“Okay.” I cleared my throat. “Okay, I will. I will say it.”
He smiled, broad, lopsided. “Claire … do you love me?”
“Yeah,” I said. “I love you.”
He closed his eyes, just for a second, a soft smile forming on his lips.
“The bra is a nice touch,” he said, “but you didn’t need to stack the odds in your favor.” He smiled, if possible, even wider. “Everything has always been carrying me toward you.”
I smiled. Reached out with one hand to press play on the CD player. Eased myself next to him on the hospital bed, careful not to hurt him.
He ran his fingers over my hair, drew my lips to his again. Quiet, no need for words, we listened to “Inertia” on repeat.
“I didn’t come here to skewer you,” she said, low and throaty. “Unless you give me a reason.”
She uncurled her fingers so the weapon would retract. It made a click click click as all the gears shifted, but she still heard its low hum as she brought her hands up by her ears to show she meant no harm.
She was in a bar. A dirty, hot one that smelled like smoke and sweat. The floor was covered in a layer of stale peanut shells, and every surface she laid a hand on was sticky. She had busted her way in the locked door a minute or two earlier, since it was much too early for the place to be open to customers, just shy of 10:00 a.m.
The only person inside it wasn’t human—which wasn’t a big deal, unless they were trying to pretend to be one. Right now they were standing behind the bar with a rag in hand, as if it stood a chance against the grime.
“Not afraid of getting skewered by some kid,” they said. If she hadn’t been who she was, she would have called them an average man, even a boring one. Their face was rough with a salt-and-pepper beard, and there was grease under their—very human-looking—fingernails. But they had all the telltale signs of digital skin: flickering when their eyes moved, a still chest, and a shifty quality, like they didn’t belong in their body.
“That’s too bad,” she said. “I find a healthy amount of fear improves somebody’s likelihood of survival.”
Flickering, flickering, as their eyes moved.
“What can we do to improve yours, then?” they said.
She smiled, all teeth. “Why don’t you take off your little costume so I can get a good look at you?”
The ET shrugged. Twice. The first time was a human shrug, a Whatever, if you insist. The second time was a bigger one, to shuffle off its digital skin.
For a time, as a kid, she’d thought the skin was just a projection, like a hologram. But Mom had explained that wouldn’t work—if it was a bigger creature, it would get itself into trouble that way—knock glasses off countertops, hit its head on doorframes, jab people with a spiked tail, whatever. The digital skin was more like … stuffing some of its matter into an alternate dimension. The skin was real, but it also wasn’t. The ET was here, but it was also someplace else.
She didn’t have to understand the science of it, anyhow. She just had to know what to look for.
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