Nora stood up and ran her hand through her hair.What does he have?She squinted to see better.Wiring? Maybe something sealed in plastic?
He stepped across the rubble and held out the wrapped items to Nora. Two books. “Not much was left, but these were in plastic that kept the seal and appeared intact. Do they count for artifacts? They are books from my time.”
Looped around his arm was a long rope of copper wiring, aged green. It was more than Nora had been able to collect in years. She gave him an eager smile a second later. “This is amazing, Simon! I can ask around about the books, but that amount of wiring will sell for so much!”
She looked back to see that Simon was staring a bit longer at her face, a pleased expression on his as well from her excitement. A bigger grin flashed on her face. “You did good!”
Simon shook the wiring. “There is more as well; should I go back?”
“Yes!” squealed Tilly, arms in the air.
The wind whistled over the rubble as Nora looked down at the books and debated. “Was it safe? You were gone for so long.”
“I was searching for more than just scavenge. It was safe enough.”
She bit her lip. “Okay. I want to get back before dark though. Is there a lot that’s easy to grab?”
In the afternoon sunlight, Simon stretched his arms out. “No, it will require some work.”
Rubbing the packaging, she turned the items over in her hands.With this much we can get so many things in town the next time we go in.Her hope from this morning was not misplaced. Nora eyed the books, examining them, before smiling up at Simon.
He was watching her again, closely. “They are what is needed?”
Nora shifted her feet on the rubble. She squinted back up to him, hands too full to shade her eyes from the sun. “Absolutely. If you can do it safely, then maybe just a few minutes more. Are you sure you’re okay going down there, Simon?”
He patted her hand before turning back toward the rubble. “I’m fine, Nora.”
Chapter fifteen
Simon
Simon could feel Nora and Tilly’s excitement as they loaded the hover. With him helping, the sun had barely hit late afternoon by the time they had gathered what Nora declared, “A good haul.”
In the back of the hover lay the items he had collected. He resisted the urge to reorganize the components Nora stacked in the back, his natural tendency toward organization clashing with the way she loaded. He was not heated from the sun but saw Nora was. She wiped her brow frequently as they put the last bit of the wiring in. The wiring, at least, he was able to coil into a long, neat loop. It sat next to Tilly, who was busy putting her seatbelt on.
Nora handed him the two sealed books once he was seated back on the container in the hover. “Here, these are too important to go back there. Can you hold them?”
“Yes.” The books were transferred over to his lap.
Nora started the hover and sat for a moment, drinking some water. She pointed with the canteen toward the books. “Are those any good, those books? I know we need to sell them, but I like to . . . we only have a few books to read ourselves. Nothing like old stories like that.”
Simon looked down at the weathered packaging, the inside barely readable through the yellowed plastic. One was on finance and the other was a self help book with a dove flying away on the cover.Are there even doves anymore?He held them in front of him, finger resting on top of the dove. “No. They are both more like manuals instead of stories.”
The hover rumbled as they started to pull away. Nora shook her head. “Well, I guess I feel better having to sell them then, and won’t be tempted to try to read them. The radio stories can get kinda bland sometimes.”
“I know some others I could share. Stories.” The words left his mouth before he could pull them back, but he didn’t regret them when he saw how Nora’s eyes sparkled.
“I bet you do. We have some things. Songs mostly.” She hummed an unfamiliar tune, bending over so her voice carried to the back.
Tilly joined in, singing loudly over the hover's engine as the miles began to fly underneath.
The song made him smile. He listened to their tune, committing it to his memory processor.Their joy is infectious.Simon couldn’t help also feeling positive despite the conflicting feelings he had from seeing the mall.
As they drove back, he noticed that the drone from before was hovering over them again. He frowned, scanning its dusty green metal side as it flew overhead.It really does seem to be following.
Nora wasn’t paying attention to it though, so he didn’t bring it up again, enjoying the sound of them singing. He continued to watch the drone out of the corner of his eye as its shadow followed them on the ground.What does it want?Eventually, he breathed easier once it left, as swiftly as it came, across the desert afternoon.
He sat in quiet contemplation the rest of the ride back. Seeing the mall and where he hid brought a finality to his thoughts that was not there before, along with a sense of acceptance that he was truly living in a different time and a different reality. Ultimately, he was an android, so he was predisposed to be logical, but with his sentience there was always a bit of incongruence when strong emotions came into play.
