Dreaming in Static

Chapter 21

Ali

Victor flickered to life across from Ali as he ate pancakes in the hallway, feeling too awkward to socialize with the others in the kitchen-slash-dining hall. He could tell that Victor was becoming increasingly adept at manipulating his memories; after more than a year of feeling around Ali's mind, perhaps the insertion in Polaris's brain had helped him master the skill.

Ali put down his fork. "What is it?"

"You didn't tell her?" Victor asked, a smirk playing across his lips.

"She doesn't need to know. And I would've thought that you preferred it this way."

"I do, Alistair. But I must say that I didn't think you would hold out for so long."

Ali shrugged. "It's been years."

"Years?"

"Since Kaya."

***

Ali had been four years old when Kaya was born. He remembered scruffy brown hair and brown eyes, and fingers that grasped his own whenever he extended his hand in wonder. He remembered sitting outside her incubator for hours, reading his favorite books to her, stumbling over the words that he couldn't yet pronounce. And he remembered thinking that nothing in the books had ever prepared him for this love.

By the time Kaya turned four, Ali cast away any affection he had ever felt for her and decided to insult her and prank her all day long, as was the way of most eight-year-old boys. A while after Kaya blew out the glow panels on her eighth birthday cake, the two moved from typical brother and sister to rivals in every subject.

Ali soon came to regret his constant reading to Kaya when she was an infant; she seemed to be more intelligent, more highly praised, than he would ever be. He kept a chart of Kaya's progress compared to his progress when he was her age, and he was forced to constantly work harder to surpass her predicted aptitude. In the months after he was admitted to UC Berkeley, Ali worked himself to death, eating almost nothing and hardly sleeping in order to pursue his studies.

"He spends hours in his room," Ali's mom murmured into her iTap in her bedroom one night. She thought thirteen-year-old Ali had gone to bed earlier, not knowing that he was standing outside her room, listening. "I'm worried about him."

A pause.

"Do you think I should?"

Another pause, longer this time.

"Okay. Thank you."

Ali's mother confiscated his college textbooks the next day, despite Ali's tearful protests. But much to his surprise, Kaya threw a tantrum (made even more astonishing by the fact that it'd been years since the last time she yelled at her parents), insisting that she wanted the books.

"I need to study too! I need to be better than Alistair!" Kaya pouted.

Ali's mother glanced at his father doubtfully, but seeing his resigned expression, she sighed and handed the books to Kaya.

Ali returned to his room afterward, crestfallen. Kaya followed a minute later and tossed the heavy stack of books onto his bed. He looked up, his brows knitting together. "Didn't you want them?"

Kaya huffed. "You think I care about your nerd stuff?"

That was the first time in a few years that Ali had really looked at Kaya. The first time since they were mere children playing together that he saw her as an individual, someone who preferred Edgar Allen Poe to Stephen Hawking, someone who dove into mathematics purely for the purpose of making music.

She winked at him. "Just remember, put them on my shelf when you're done. And get some more sleep, would you?"

He tried to be nicer to her after that.

***

With a jolt, Ali was brought back into the present.

He stabbed his fork into his pancakes again and twisted. The pancakes reformed wholly. "Why'd you have to do that?"

"I wanted you to realize our origin," Victor replied. "And how important it is to get rid of the android. You know I cannot read your thoughts, Alistair, and I'm horrid at recognizing emotions. Memories...fabricating stories for you, that is where my skills lie."

"That was hardly a fabrication." Ali made to stand up, but Victor reached out and gripped his wrist, imploring him to stay. "Let go."

"I'm sorry, Alistair. I didn't realize how much impact that would have on you."

"Reliving the first thirteen years of my life?" Ali spat. "You're right. No impact at all."

Victor paused. "Do I sense verbal irony?"

"The word for that is sarcasm," Ali said. "And you should let me get back to reality. I'm getting tired of staring at illusory pancakes."

Victor released his hold on Ali's mind, and he shifted back into the real world. Ali blinked, noticing that his cheeks were wet. What was it with Victor making him cry all the time? He knows my weak spots, Ali realized.

He shook the thoughts from his mind and dug into his cold pancakes.

Andromeda

Ali reappeared after breakfast, slinking into the kitchen to place his plate in the sink. Andromeda guessed he'd found some isolated corner to eat in. As much as she wanted him to open up and socialize more with the others, she admitted to herself that she was being a hypocrite. Andromeda herself had barely said a word all morning.

She breathed a sigh of relief when Ali ventured over to talk to her. "This place is kind of small, isn't it?" he murmured.

"It's not the main base, so it makes sense that the living areas are smaller than they'd usually be," Andromeda said. "I'm sure the training area will be fine."

"Oh, yeah," Ali whispered. "Training."

"Hey, don't worry," Andromeda said. She flashed him what she hoped was a reassuring smile. "You'll probably be more of a strategist for the squad. I doubt you'll receive anything more than basic defense training before they stick you on the computers. I, on the other hand, have to go through all of it and then, I guess, kill people."

Ali gazed at her, furrowing his brows slightly. "But you'll be fine, right? You're an android, after all. You don't experience overexertion."

"I suppose not, but think about it, Ali. The emotional toll that must take on people. I might not be able to truly feel emotion, but as you said, I'll react accordingly. I just hope you didn't program me to freak out at the sight of blood," Andromeda said, grinning a little in her attempt at a joke.

Ali laughed. "Don't worry, I tried to make you as rational as possible."

"Andromeda, Ali, it's almost time for training to start," Janine told the two. She was walking past them, intently reading off a clipboard in her hands.

Ali pushed himself to his feet, but Andromeda laid a hand on his arm. "Wait, Ali. I forgot to ask you earlier--are Serfdroids usually like Polaris?"

Ali looked back at her, his expression unreadable. "No. I don't know what's wrong with Polaris."

Andromeda exhaled. "Okay. I was just curious."

The red-haired boy gave a curt nod and left the room to change into his uniform, while Andromeda stood up to follow Jack to the training area. In reality, she had no idea how a training regimen meant for cyborgs would affect Ali, a physically awkward human. She only prayed that the person leading the training would take that into account.

***

[A/N] Shorter chapter, more of a filler~ I'm trying to stick to an update schedule haha. If you enjoyed, then vote, comment, and follow, as always! :)