Black Eyes

Chapter 14

Nakir was leaning on Dominik's doorstep. He looked at the neglected plants and wondered when Mariah had stopped gardening as he smoked one of his last cigarettes. It was late afternoon and on the wide alley you could see some passerby dragging a trolley with a suitcase on it or, alongside the richest people, there were butlers carrying two suitcases, followed by either a well-dressed gentleman or lady. They were the people who visited Zregan, obviously coming from the West and North, but who were forced to pass through the crumbling South if they wanted to reach the port.

Having put out the cigarette, he returned inside where he saw Mariah still intent on watching the small TV. He had never seen her cook in the three days he had spent in that house and she only delivered takeaway food for Dominik and Nakir. Eva obviously didn't need food. Nakir asked himself several times why the boy only ate takeaway when he had a stove in his lab. Maybe he just didn't know how to cook and maybe Mariah was a terrible cook. Nakir raised his shoulders. He didn't care much. Returning into the hole he saw Dominik intent on opening boxes that contained a series of biocomponents in good condition.

Where the hell did he get them? Nakir wondered, but decided not to ask questions. The curly-haired boy didn't seem to care about Nakir's presence at all and began to work screwing pieces on the surgeon's table. He wore glasses with magnifying lenses on top that made him look even younger than Nakir suspected. The demon sat down on the swivel chair of the desk and glanced at the papers scattered on the work desk. Android anatomical parts were perfectly described in any detail by an almost illegible handwriting. Resting on top of the desk that supported two screwed-on shelves filled with books was a black leather notebook. Nakir leaned forward to grab it.

"Don't touch it" he heard Domink say and moved by embarrassment of having been discovered, he withdrew his hand and stuck it in his pocket. What could that notebook possibly contain that was forbidden to his knowledge? And above all, how did Dominik see him? Then he delighted in spinning around in the swivel chair like a child. He was bored and wanted at all costs to approach that strange surgeon, to find out something more about that mysterious figure who was helping them implement the plan with the sole request of being able to escape. What kept him from living on the streets of Zraegan?

The silence broken only by the air conditioner humming reigned in that small room. Eva had left for the North area convinced that she could steal more biocomponents that had escaped the incinerator. Both Nakir and Dominik had protested. They believed it was too dangerous for her to get so close to the Kwer on her own, but Eva didn't listen to reason, trusting that she knew the incinerator's working well and that it was far enough away from the main Kwer palace to allow her to steal the parts without being spotted. She would have travelled through the Below.

Having gained some courage Nakir sat astride the swivel chair, his forearms resting on the backrest and with a push of his legs he arrived within half a metre from Dominik who was working on the attachment of a leg.

"So..." Nakir began "How old are you?"

No reply. The boy kept his eyes fixed on the manual to his left and worked meticulously on the inside of the plastic leg.

"You look more or less fifteen" Nakir continued to instigate him "Maybe sixteen"

"I'm nineteen" Dominik replied dryly, slightly offended.

"Oh... like me! So what are you? Some kind of... improvised elf-surgeon?" urged Nakir again. He wanted to shake him. Getting him to have some reaction that didn't seem hostile or nonchalant.

The boy put down his tools and slowly turned his head towards Nakir. The icy gaze he gave him made all the amusement slide away from the demon's skin.

"Don't ever compare me to a surgeon again" he replied in a low voice, a note of aggression made Nakir frown, but he didn't give up.