What?Her heartbeat picked up.Androids?Her answering tone was high and fast. “I don’t understand. There’s more somewhere? Did Mars lie about having help there?”
Simon shook his head and rubbed her hand gently with his. Her heart thumped even quicker from the contact. There was a hooded look in his eyes.
He has been touching my hand a lot today.Nora glanced down at his fingers around hers and then back up at him, finding it hard to focus with his hand touching hers gently like that.What’s happening?Deep down she knew but . . . did she care?
He smiled, a bit knowingly, but spoke in his same, unaffected tone, at odds with his movements. “No . . . well, you misunderstand. The reason none of it makes sense is because the colony is not run by humans. It’s run by androids.”
What?Her mind buzzed, like the static from the radio during a rainstorm when it couldn’t get reception. She gripped his hand, stopping his gentle movements. “What?”
“Mars is an android colony. There are no androids here, not because they were destroyed, but because they left.”
Androids?Her face scrunched up. “And the lottery?”
His green eyes almost glowed in the night. “As fake as you thought it was.”
“Really?”
“Yes.”
She asked again, a bit softer. “You sure?”
Simon squeezed her hand. “Yes.”
Her mind took a minute to catch up. A minute to process.Androids, like Simon? Lots of Simons?Her heart was in her throat as she said. “If it’s all androids there . . .” Her voice dropped low, unease in her gut. “What really happened?”
“The androids actually won the war—and then escaped.”
“Really?”
“Yes. They spoke with me.”
Nora moved her hands off the table to tug on her hair. “Spoke with you? What did they want with you? They’re not mad?”
“No, Nora.” Simon broke eye contact and touched the magazine for the first time. “They wanted to know if I wanted to join them.”
Nora’s heart froze. She leaned back over the table and curled her fingers on the magazine, right over an airbrushed, ancient face. Her voice was small. “And do you want to go?”
Simon reached for her hand again and opened her fingers flat, squeezing her palm and sending a flush of heat up her spine. “No. They offered, but I refused. They aren’t . . . taking any humans either.”
“But you could go?” Her tongue was thick in her mouth.
“Yes.”
Nora looked down, unsure, at their joined hands. “But you’re not?”
“No. I don’t feel like my time on Earth is done just yet.”
Why . . . ?
Simon was looking at her with soft eyes, and Nora knew why without asking. Feeling hot, Nora took her hand out from under his, clenching her fingers tightly.I don’t want you to go.Instead she said, “That’s a lot . . . all at once.”
“Yes.” Simon’s voice was like silk.
She looked outside, at the haze lifting the dirt and swirling it.Up there, huh.Her eyes carried up to the sky, imagining Mars up there, far away. “That’s just crazy. No humans. Is it beautiful there? Like the bulletin board shows? Like these magazines? Could you see?”
Simon breathed deep and let out a sigh. “Yes. That was accurate.”
Nora was going to ask, to confirm he wasn’t going because of them, but Simon briskly changed the subject instead. “Weren’t we going to go trade in the morning? The atmosphere sweep is going to be late tomorrow night. Should we get some additional supplies? I only visited the food vendors before.”
