As AJ entered the cobalt gadget-filled workshop, Dave lifted his goggles.
“Ana Tar,” he said as Pete. “What’s the matter, get sick of the brig?”
“I heard you might need some help putting your junk together for market day,” she said.
Dave covered his heart with his hand. “Junk.Junk!For a Cralite, you sure are judgmental.”
“And I feel very bad about that,” said AJ, examining a Twister spinner. “What’s this?”
“That, dear Ana, is an ancient human morality compass, and it is an absolute treasure.” They quickly fell into a game of Pete Explains Wormhole Junk to Ana. Under his guidance, a pool floatie became a disciplinary instrument, a vibrator became an herb grinder, and a jump rope became a tool for predicting how long the winter would last.
Playing with Dave was comfortable and fun, like moving pieces around a game board with a skilled opponent. Every so often, AJ would pause to consider whether she was acting like her character, and if this was what Em had envisioned for Ana and Pete.
They had just begun messing around with a bunch of iPhones when Noah’s unmistakable boot steps sounded in the hall. AJ’s heart ratespiked as he came into view. He looked on edge, like he’d been up half the night. And so goddamn beautiful.
“Hey,” he said, and now they were playing hair dryers.Can I comein?
“Hey,” said AJ.I guess.
Thoughts of Toni, Ian, and Em receded as Noah entered the workshop. Ana and Rho were at a sweet point in their relationship, having just returned from their medical goodwill mission.
The actors, however, were on tenterhooks.
After the bus, AJ had gone straight into her shower to try to calm down. It was the first evening she’d skipped the firepit—she couldn’t spend all night staring at Toni’s and Noah’s empty chairs.
The steaming water had been bliss on her skin, on her nerves.Thiswas what she needed: some time alone. That’s why she was getting so turned around, she reasoned. She hadn’t had a minute to think.
As AJ sat in her towel, watching Noah’s shadow pace across the courtyard, she realized grimly that this was nothing more than a time loop. He was paying attention to her now for the same reason he always had: he was trapped and bored.
These feelings weren’t real; they were an echo from the past. For fuck’s sake, he was a celebrity, and she was a normal. When this shoot wrappedin six days,AJ would go right back to her questionably legal loft, and Noah would go back to being the HBO abs plastered over her L stop.
“Rho,” said Dave, looking up. “Rho, Rho, Rho your b…iceps. What can we do for you?”
At the mention of his arms, AJ’s cheeks colored. Last night, she’d dreamed them back at Reel World Video, in the Genre room, but the only genre had beenAstronauticals.The air had been charged as they examined a single empty shelf labeledPrequel.
Then Noah was turning her toward him and kissing her slowly. “You know me,” he whispered. “You know what I want.” She was naked now, and he was lifting her against the stacks, against him. His arms werestrong and safe, and he felt so good as he pressed between her legs. “I’m going to fuck you now,” he said.
AJ shook herself as the real Noah strode past her to hand Dave his beat-up ship’s communicator. “I think I might have broken it.”
As Dave lowered his goggles to examine the device, Noah’s eyes sought AJ’s—he was asking about yesterday.
AJ’s breath constricted, but she didn’t look away. “Those things have been through a lot,” she said reluctantly. “Are you sure it wasn’t already broken?”
“Yes,” said Noah, firmly. “I pushed too hard on…that dial.” He searched her. “Can it be fixed?” he asked after a beat.
“I think so,” said Dave without looking up.
AJ bit her lip. The day before had unmoored her, but that hadn’t been Noah’s intention. Seeing him this upset about it now made her thaw. “Most things can be,” she agreed.
Noah nodded, and AJ felt the rush of his relief as their energy locked in.
And now the scene came to life.
“Rho, you’re just in time,” Pete sang out. “Ana and I were just starting to mess around with these light squares. Aren’t they shiny?”
Rho took the iPhone from Pete and examined it. “It’s primitive Earth technology. See the hieroglyphs?” he said, clicking the home button to reveal the apps. “My grandfather had a much larger red one in his study. He used it to prop up his ceremonial furs.”
He said it with such a straight face that both AJ and Dave almost broke.
