Automation Era: The Battlefield

[3] discussion

[3] discussion

The boy didn't give Scarlett and I the chance to negotiate among each other. Sighing like we were this weighted nuisance on his electronic heart, he locked my arm behind my back and dug the tip of his sword into Scarlett's spine, pushing her in front, in his cabin's direction.

"Quick," he said. "I'll explain everything when we're out of sight."

The boy's grip was steel-hard. It hurt my arm and it hurt my shoulder, but my mind couldn't stop panicking over stepping nearer to the ocean. Still, I moved with him. Scarlett was a little ahead of me, guided by the sword's pressure. One meter away from the shoreline. Half a meter. Inches. Then inches dwindled into centimeters, and then I froze.

The water lapped at the sand. Almost touching my feet. I stepped back.

The boy pushed me. "Move."

Scarlett looked at me, eyes filled with concern. Then she glared at the boy. "Give him a second."

She was right. Just a second. I needed it to gather my shit and convince myself that no, the bridge wouldn't break under me as I'd stride and the water wouldn't fill my lungs and choke my soul and ugly little eels wouldn't nip at my toes. Yeah. That...That wouldn't happen.

I could feel the boy's eyes on the back of my head, could sense the skepticism in his voice: "He's scared of water?"

Before I could open my mouth, Scarlett had craned her neck and glanced at him. "Don't even try making fun of him."

Silence. "I'm the one with the swords and you're the one threatening," the boy said, disgusted. "The audacity. Or the stupidity."

He pushed us forward. I moved and stepped onto the bridge and none of the nonsense in my head happened. When we made it to his threshold, he unlocked the door, shoving us in first. I didn't know if I should've been relieved the ocean was out of sight, or still uncomfortable considering the entire place was floating above it.

As the boy made sure no one had seen us, I looked around the cabin. Small and stuffy and messy. Sheathes dangled off the rickety burgundy couch, half-eaten cookies scattered over a coffee table with a crooked leg and...wait. Cookies? Androids could eat?

The door slammed shut. The boy leant against it and sighed like he'd never been more stressed. "Sit," he said, looking at the small windows in the walls. "Give me a second."

Scarlett rolled her eyes, hands on her hips. "Hurry," she said. I was about to sit down, but the dartboard hung above a worn cupboard caught my attention. I walked closer. The top drawer was four inches open and there were a few darts inside. The edge of my lip curled up. Stepping back, I took a dart and threw it. It hit the bullseye.

"Really, Jake?" Scarlett shook her head. "Obsessed with this stuff even here?"

I nodded. Of course I'd be obsessed with the only thing I was decent at. How would I feel good about myself otherwise?

The boy finished closing all the curtains in the house, and the place dimmed down. "Alright—" He stopped. Stared. At us, then at the dart protruding from the bullseye. My heart rate sped up. I opened my mouth to explain, but he'd already continued, "Huh. You threw that?"