Dreaming in Static

Chapter 10

Andromeda

Dragging a girl-shaped hunk of metal into bed proved to be a daunting task, even for Andromeda. With all that titanium and silver alloy, Polaris must have weighed 200 pounds, and Andromeda felt every one of them as she flipped Polaris over onto the lower bunk uninhabited by Ali.

She stepped back and glared at her...team? Well, they didn't make for a very intimidating team. Andromeda was the only sensible, capable member of the trio. Polaris was capable but lacked heavily in the department of intellect; Ali was quite possibly the smartest person to have ever lived, but left alone, Andromeda had to wonder how he'd managed to survive these 18 years.

And now they were both unconscious. Andromeda had found Polaris sleeping on the kitchen floor, in a seeming state of tranquility, her ocean-colored hair splaying out before her and two boxes of Chinese takeout on the counter. Following a brief nervous breakdown, Andromeda had lugged Polaris back in bed.

Andromeda was quite honestly terrified. Both Ali and Polaris had inexplicably fallen unconscious; was she next? Was it just the stress of time travel and their impossible situation taking its toll? Or was there something more?

She heated up the food in the microwave and took a pair of chopsticks from the drawer, knowing Ali would want to eat chow mein and orange chicken properly. "Hey," came a voice right next to her, and Andromeda jumped, startled. She immediately regained her composure and glared at Ali, who was leaning on the cupboard, watching her. "Did I scare you?" Ali asked, grinning sheepishly.

"No," Andromeda snapped. She slammed her palm on the screen of the microwave, opening the door. The plate inside extended out of the microwave, and the scent of Chinese food wafted into the air. "Eat."

"Someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed today," Ali huffed, taking the box of food from the microwave plate. The door slid shut automatically, and Andromeda aggressively stuck the chopsticks into his noodles.

"I actually woke up in the exact center of the bed," she retorted.

"So what's your problem?" Ali prodded.

Andromeda glanced up at his chocolatey eyes and ruffled, overgrown red hair, a lump rising in her throat. She looked away forcefully. "Go comb your hair."

Ali opened his mouth to speak but seemed to decide against it, and put down his noodles to retreat into the bathroom to take care of his hair.

***

Andromeda ran a diagnostics check on her system, sitting in a chair with her feet propped up on the desk. Ali was eating while standing up. They went through their movements in stony silence, only interrupted by the occasional whir of Andromeda's joints or the beep that signified everything was okay. At the end of the test, she looked up and held Ali's gaze. He raised his eyebrows at her, although his hands continued shoveling noodles into his mouth.

"I don't understand how you're considered a genius," Andromeda remarked, swinging her feet off the desk and standing up.

Ali half-smiled and held his hands out in front of him in an "I don't know" gesture. "I mean, Andromeda, I kind of invented time travel."

"You've done nothing except take us into the middle of a war. Do you even have a plan? Because I don't. Without some kind of incentive, we are lost, Alistair. We're going to rot here in 2117, and then what happens to the us in 2217? Do we cease to exist? Is all of this for nothing?" Andromeda stepped closer, holding Ali's gaze even as his eyes flickered uncomfortably under her glare. "Please tell me you know something I don't, Ali. If not, we're...we're done for."

Ali dropped his gaze to stare at the ground for a few moments. When he looked back up, his eyes seemed to shine with renewed strength. "I have a plan, Andromeda. But you have to trust me, okay?"

Andromeda swallowed and nodded, trying to quench the relief that flooded through her. "Okay."

"And we're going to start..." Ali stepped closer to her and took her shoulders in his hands, making her gaze waver. "Today. Right when Polaris wakes up. We're gonna have some fun."

***

Andromeda didn't want to accidentally impair Polaris's system by waking her up early, so she and Ali stayed in the room, Andromeda downloading information about the war, Ali scrolling on his iTouch.

It was nearly noon when Andromeda began worrying again, the fear creeping up on the corners of her mind: what if Polaris didn't wake up?

Andromeda was about to forcefully restart Polaris's system when a whine from the lower bunk startled her. And then Andromeda was on her feet, jumping down to the floor and hovering over Polaris, who was hunched over, her face scrunched in discomfort, shaky breaths emanating from her slightly parted lips--but she was alive--well, she was functioning, if you wanted to be accurate, and Andromeda was shaking her gently, trying to get her to fully wake up.

"Andromeda, it's okay, she'll come around," Ali said in a slightly amused tone.

"Okay, I just need to make sure, so please let me--just let me wake her up--" Andromeda muttered, clutching her arms with trembling fingers. Ali took hold of her and pulled her backwards, and she stepped back willingly, but her eyes were round with apprehension as Polaris turned over and slowly pushed herself up into a sitting position.

"Victor's here," she said.

"What?" Andromeda asked, falling to her knees so that her eyes were level with Polaris's. "Who's Victor?"

"I don't know," Polaris choked, her eyes filling with tears, "he came and he...he told me to find him a--"

As if she'd been seized by an invisible hand, a spasm overtook her body, the tears spilling down her cheeks; her words stopped short, and she couldn't finish the sentence. Andromeda reached forward and grasped both of Polaris's hands in her own, fear thrumming through her veins. "P-Polaris? Are you okay?"

Polaris nodded, her head jerking like a puppet's. But her hands clutched at Andromeda's so forcefully that her fingers etched deep scratches of despair in her skin.

"Just leave her," Ali told her, and Andromeda shot him a venomous stare. "I'm serious, Andromeda. It's because of how I fixed her wound; her nerve centers are a little damaged. I did it in a hurry. The harder she tries, the worse she'll hurt herself. Let her be."

Andromeda reluctantly sat back and withdrew her hands from Polaris's shaking grip. Sure enough, she soon began to breathe more steadily, and she rubbed her eyes with the palms of her hands, inhaling and exhaling therapeutically.

"I think it's better if I don't talk about it," Polaris murmured, looking up at Andromeda with tired eyes.

Andromeda nodded. "Don't."

Victor

It had been assigned the name Victor, and as such, it assumed a masculine personality which it deemed fitting for the name. Gone was the blank white figure that had stood before the mind's eye of both Polaris and Ali. Victor was a charming youth, perhaps 16 years old, with perfectly chiseled features, olive skin, dark eyes, and what he thought to be a dazzling smile.

Anything for Polaris. She would be swept off her feet the next time Victor chose to alter her memories. He anticipated her smile, her eyes lighting up as she took in his new persona, her words, and their growing attachment when he took in her beauty.

The attachment: that was key. He had to adore her, even though he didn't know how. If anyone could inspire that sort of devotion, it was Polaris, he had no doubt.

Already he craved the difficulty of letting go. He wanted--no, he needed to sever the attachment that had not yet been formed; he relished the pain it would bring.

Attachment was the key to pain. Soul-wrenching torture. Soul-creating. He flitted about, searching for the love and emotion he so desperately desired, repeating the mantra to himself: attachment creates pain.

Victor needed pain.