A Heaven for Toasters

CHAPTER 11: Sergeant

Monday, 2:24 p.m.

I didn't get much sleep that night, despite my exhaustion. My body was still high on adrenaline from both the warehouse chase and my encounter with Sergeant, but there was more. I had the nagging feeling of missing something—some important detail. It lurked at the edge of my consciousness, disappearing every time I fixed my attention to it. Coming up with a plan for our next steps felt wrong until I figured it out.

When I had finally managed to drift into an uneasy sleep, I dreamed of Richard, his face contorted in terror as his zoomer careened out of control. A scream made me focus on his passenger—a copy of Richard who had raised his hands in front of his face. More Richards filled the zoomer's back seats, all of them terrified. The cacophony of their screams pierced my ears and sent shivers down my spine.

I woke up with a jolt, my heart racing. Ta ma de. I rubbed my eyes with one hand and touched my temple with the other. "Cancel noise, off," I said out loud. Whispers turned to sounds like someone had turned up the volume: a donkey braying outside, a baby crying, a dog barking.

"Open shutters." With a soft whirr, the shutters lifted to reveal a bright day. From the level of brightness, it had to be noon or early afternoon. A quick check of the time on my hololens confirmed it was almost 2:30.

Still struggling to shake off the nightmare, I slipped on my robe and stepped out of the room. Leo was in his chair, his eyes closed as if napping. I stood at the door for a minute, watching him. It felt strange. His chest rose and fell in a relaxed rhythm. Did he really need to breathe or was that just to make him more lifelike? I took a step closer and raised my hand until it almost touched the stubble on his cheek. Did he need to shave or was that purely decorative?

His eyes popped open. I let out a small yelp and jumped backward.

Leo flashed me his easy smile, causing the dimples on his cheeks to deepen. "Sorry if I startled you."

I rubbed my hands against my robe and pulled the fabric closer to my body. "No, I..." My cheeks flushed. "I didn't know if you were sleeping. I just woke up."

"I know. I saw you."

"But your eyes were closed."

He chuckled at my confusion. "I didn't really see you. But I have other sensors as well. In this case, if you must know, it was the difference in the air pressure that alerted me to your room's door opening."

"Oh." I shifted my weight from one foot to the other like a nervous boxer in the ring. "Well, I'm taking a shower."

"You haven't eaten in almost twelve hours," he said, sounding concerned. "Would you like me to order something for you?"

"Oh," I repeated, feeling strangely embarrassed for oversleeping. You don't have to prove him anything, I scolded myself. He's just a machine, remember? My eyes caught on his dimples. "Lunch sounds great. Order me some." I whirled around and dashed into the bathroom. "Please," I added as I shut the door.

By the time I got out, fully dressed, lunch had already arrived. No soup this time, thank goodness, just some Greek stuffed tomatoes with a side of fava beans and capers. It was better than I expected and I ate with growing appetite, stealing glances at Leo. Being watched while I ate was making me self-conscious. Is he as curious about our kind as I am about his? "You're staring," I said, wiping my mouth with a napkin.

"Yes," he admitted.

"Are you curious about me?"

"Are you about me?" he asked with a smile.

I tried to sound indifferent. "I guess," I said with a shrug I was hoping did not come off as too deliberate. "But we have more immediate concerns than..." flirting with each other, the voice in my head whispered. I cleared my throat and took a sip of water. I found no good way to finish that sentence so I skipped to the next one. "Like, what's our next step?"