“Where are we heading?” she asked, enjoying the ocean breeze over her skin. The morning chill was the quickest way to wake up; better than coffee and faster than an energy boost.
“We're headed back to the settlement,” he answered. “The men are going to the homesteads nearby to question the other farmers and see if they know anything that we don't. Plans haven’t changed.”
“Oh,” she said with disappointment. “Won’t the other farmers suspect something if two Cyborgs show up? Cyborgs who came to our settlement first?”
“They’ll keep our contract quiet and act as agents for the government.”
The steps of someone large coming from the stairs interrupted their conversation. She turned around to see who it was, hoping for Netto. When the expanse of blue-grey skin came into view a moment later, healed of all the damage incurred the night before, she bit back a smile.
Then she remembered kissing him before fleeing. He held her gaze as a blush spread up her neck and over her cheeks. Rylie found the courage to look away but couldn't stop her heart from beating faster... or her throat from closing up. She coughed as Netto took a seat beside her, only furthering her immediate discomfort.I hope he doesn’t bring the kiss up—she looked at her da—in front of him.
She licked her chapped lips. The salt on them could've been the same salt from his cheek the night before. The warmth from his cheek could still be felt hours later. Netto’s presence only made it worse.
Rylie blinked hard and willed her awkwardness away despite the growing silence between them. She checked the map on the screen above her da’s head.
Having made the trip out to the furthest agri-lots many times before, she knew it would take several hours before they made it home. The island lots were the worst to harvest because of distance, and that distance often triggered something to go wrong.
Even though she had lived at the edge of the ocean her entire life, Rylie hated coming out to the farthest isles, because if she went out beyond them there'd be nothing but slate-colored water on every side for hundreds of thousands of miles.
Giant sea creatures would sometimes appear, wading through the ocean between the islands. They terrified her. Especially since they had no reference for them.
Everyone at home and in the nearby settlements called them leviathans. Everyone had stories; everyone had encounters. There were graveyards of pale bones along some of the beaches with skeletons big enough to walk through and build a home inside.
Once, a creature had knocked into her watership, throwing her to the floor. When she righted herself and peered over the side, all she could see was a black shadow swimming beneath. Rylie had stood there, frightened for hours, even after the shadow of the beast vanished.
Her da said there was nothing to fear from them, that the biggest ones never came close to shore and that all of the homesteads and the surrounding lots were protected. Rylie looked out over the water and breathed in the cold air as the ship gained speed.
Whenever a leviathan appeared, no amount of words could stop the thoughts of being shipwrecked, eaten alive, lost at sea, or waiting to drown in the ocean deep. Despite the rising sun, the ocean darkened under her gaze.
Netto leaned back and the movement pulled her eyes away from the water. Somehow, he made her feel safe, as if there were no monsters on the entire planet that he couldn't protect her from. They were dangerous thoughts to have.
She couldn't get attached to him because when he left, it would hurt her all the more.
Rylie took a deep breath to calm her nerves and to release the tight feeling in her chest.
“Morning, Netto,” she said, at last, minutes after he had joined them. “Did you sleep well?”
“Enough.”
Her lips twitched up. “What will you do after you question the other farmers?”
Netto turned to face her and her eyes shot to his neck where the muscles and tendons strained. It was thick. He was huge. “It depends.”
She lifted her gaze to meet his. “On what?”
His jaw ticked. “On what we find out.”
“You could check out the shipwreck,” she said without thinking. Her da stiffened and looked her way.
Netto asked before her father could speak, “What shipwreck?”
There was a look of worry in her his eyes and she regretted mentioning it. Rylie didn't know why he wanted to keep it a secret, but she knew how to read her father, and he looked at her with a yawning worry. She glanced back and forth between him and the Cyborg.
“What shipwreck?” Netto asked again, his voice lower.
“One of the waterships drifted onto shore. I don't know where.” Rylie palms dampened.
Her da looked away from her to address him, his face grim and tired, suddenly wearier than she had ever seen him before. He had never looked so withered nor the grooves on his brows so deep.
