A State of Future Existing

Chapter 6

Hyunjin slinked through the balmy night, the sound of his boots shuffling across concrete, as if both legs were made of steel. The empty night was a chorus of muted sounds in his head: the Sandy crunching of Iko's treads, the sputtering of streetlamps above them, the constant hum of magnetic superconductor beneath the street. With every step, the wrench inside Hyunjin's calf clanked. It all dulled in comparison to the video replaying in his mind.

His interface did that sometimes- recording memories of strong emotion and replaying them over and over. Like déjà vu or when the last words of a conversation linger in the air long after the silence has settled in. Usually, he could make the memory stop before it drove him crazy, but tonight he didn't have the energy.

The black splotch of Peony's skin. Her scream. The med-droids syringe dragging Hyunjin's blood from the flesh of his elbow. Peony, small and trembling on the gurney. Already dying.

He stopped, clutching his stomach as nausea roiled up. Iko paused a few steps ahead, shining her spotlight on Hyunjin's scrunched face.

"Are you alright?"

The light darted down the length of Hyunjin's body, and he was sure Iko was searching for bruise-like rings even though the med-droid had said he wasn't infected.

Instead of answering, Hyunjin peeled off his gloves and shoved them into his back pocket. His fairness passing, he leaned his shoulder against a streetlamp and drank in the humid air. They'd made it home, almost. The Phoenix Tower Apartments stood on the next corner, only the top floor catching the faint light from the crescent moon, the rest of the building cast in a shadow. The windows were black but for a handful of lights and some bluish white glares from flickering netscreens. Hyunjin counted floors, finding the windows to the kitchen and Adri's bedroom.

Though dim, a light was still on somewhere in the apartment. Adri wasn't a night person, but perhaps she'd discovered that Peony was still out. Or perhaps Pearl was awake, working on a school project or comming friends late into the night.

It was probably better this way. He didn't want to wake them.

"What am I going to tell them?"

Iko's sensor was on the apartment building  for a moment, the ground, picking up shuffled debris across the sidewalk.

Hyunjin rubbed his sweaty palms on his pants and forced himself onward. Try as he might, suitable words would not come to him. Explanations, excuses. How do you tell a woman daughter is dying?

The swiped his ID and entered through the main doors this time. The gray lobby was decorated only with a netscreen that held announcements for the residents- a rise in maintenance fees, a petition for a new ID scanner at the front door, a lost cat. Then the elevator, loud with the clunking of old machinery. The hallway was empty, save the man from apartment 1807 snoozing on his doorstep. Hyunjin had to tuck in his splayed arm so Iko wouldn't crush it. Heavy breathing and the sweet aroma of rice wine wafted up.

He hesitated in front of apartment 1820, heart pounding. He couldn't recall when the video of Peony had stopped repeating in his head, eclipsed by his harsh nerves.

What was he going to say?

Hyunjin bit his lip and held up his wrist for the scanner. The small light switched to green. He opened the door as quietly as possible.

Brightness from the living room spilled into the dark hallway. Hyunjin caught a glimpse of the netscreen, still showing footage of the market from earlier that day, the baker's booth going up in flames again and again. The screen was muted.

Hyunjin entered the room but halted mid-step. Iko bumped against his leg.

Facing him from the middle of the living room were three androids with red crosses painted on their spherical heads. Emergency med-droids.