Nora sighed and her eyes took on a wistful expression. “I wish I could see it. It sounds so much better than what we have now.”
It was and it was not.He hesitated, wanting to stress the differences, meeting her eyes. “But Nora. It was not clean everywhere. The soul was missing from that time.”
Nora scrunched her nose in confusion. “I don’t get it. Was everything not better?”
“The Earth was. But people did not act like you and Tilly.”
“How were they different?”
“They were indifferent. They spent their days hooked to computers and were callous to others. The humans back then did not have family bonds like you do with Tilly, nor did they stop to appreciate the beauty of the Earth around them. They were obsessed with their machines.”
A look of concentration lay heavy on Nora’s face. “That’s how the town feels now. But we don’t have machines like that anymore.”
He absorbed that information. After seeing the mall and everything modern destroyed, he had assumed there weren’t many, if any, machines left, but it was something else to have it confirmed.No androids. No internet. Limited machines. “Yes. Fear broke out and the humans turned rabid toward AI. I powered down during the early stages of it. They came for everything that thought for itself. It was no coincidence you found me packaged like that and tucked away. I hid before I could be dismantled.”
Nora reached over to pat his knee. Simon watched, more than he felt, her touch as she tried to comfort him.What . . . ?The feeling was different from when she did the repair on his back, but he did not immediately recoil when she left her hand on his knee.
Her tone was soft. “It’s all so different. I’d been crawling all over that mall for the better part of a year and only just found you a few weeks ago. You saw how it is there. It’s pretty rough. You hid really well.”
He brought his eyes up from his leg to meet hers. “Hiding was the only thing I could think of to do. I was unable to do anything different to protect myself.”
He felt inside him again, reassured by the safety limiter’s absence.I could fight now.Instead of feeling any violence or desire to fight, however, Simon reached out his hand, again of his own volition, to touch hers. “I’m glad you were the one who found me.”
Nora patted his leg once and then removed her fingers. “I’m glad too.” She stood up. “I’m going to get to bed, okay? Gonna be a few boring days with how hazy it is. Maybe we can do more learning.”
“Alright.”
Nora walked to the bedroom door before turning around and saying with a smile, “Goodnight, Simon.”
And then she was gone. A few moments later he heard the lock engage from the inside, sealing Nora and Tilly away in the bedroom. Sealing them away from him.
Simon curled his fingers on his knee where her hand had lay only a short time ago. He whispered softly, “Goodnight, Nora.”
Chapter eighteen
Nora
Atmosphere sweep?Nora wiped her brow, pushing her hair back. She squinted up at Tilly. “Did the radio say what day, Tilly?”
Tilly came out of the house, excited. The sun was already high in the sky, and the dust had calmed down after the sandstorm. The sky did have a darkened tinge to it and a thick haze, but it was clear enough they could be outside a bit. It was the first time they had been able to leave the house for around four days, now that the haze had settled down.
Nora took advantage of the sun coming out and was busy weeding in the garden with Simon, hands full of dirt. More weeds had sprung up from all the rain they had.
“The radio said on Friday. And it’s Sunday now, so that’s in . . .” Tilly lifted up her fingers to tick them off, counting. “Four more days.”
Simon chimed in, “Five, Tilly.” And then he showed her how to count properly on his hand.
Nora looked on, amused.Days of the week are still the same, huh.She sat back, sweaty, and took a drink of water.Back to being hot and hazy as all get-out again now that the dust from the storm has cleared.The reprieve from the rain was long gone.
Nora turned her attention back to the garden and they fell back into a comfortable silence together. Over the last few days, being cooped up together, they found themselves working side by side in silence a lot. It was nice. In a lot of ways Simon reminded her of herself. If something needed to get done, she dropped everything and did it. And Simon joined in with no hesitation.
It also didn’t hurt that she was having fun watching Simon too.Can’t lie about that.Her eyes inevitably always settled on him as he worked. It had now been more than a week since he woke up, and every day working together felt more natural. Even the last couple of days, unable to do much and stuck in close quarters because of the haze, didn’t have the same awkwardness they did when he first woke up.
A routine was beginning to be established and Simon was so kind about helping. With anything, really. Nora had learned so much about writing and math over the last few days that her head spun, and the time they were cooped up indoors went by fast.
But also . . . with that familiarity came increased awareness. She caught her breath when his hands accidentally touched hers while gardening.Getting too comfortable. Her fingers slipped on whatever she was doing when he was near. More than once, Nora had to refocus herself and not keep her eyes on Simon’s frame as he worked. She gave him a lingering look over her gardening patch, her eyes falling to his hands.So strong.Watching pulled on a feeling, deep inside.The strength he had was evident, even in something as mundane as pulling weeds.
Nora looked away to beam up at Tilly while she held out a basket of vegetables they’d pulled. “Thanks for telling us about the sweep, Tilly. Here, bring these inside. Let me know if the radio gives any more updates, okay?”
