sneaking water.” Not that there was any to sneak. The container was dry as dirt.
I gestured for them to move down the hallway ahead of me. My room was the first on the right. I stopped and placed my thumb on the red square in the door. An audible click preceded my door swinging open, and I tossed their guns inside before locking it again.
“I couldn’t help noticing the double-sized chamber in there, Tora. I’m willing to share with you, if it’ll help.”
“In your dreams, Markus. Keep moving.”
Across from my room was the sole lavatory. Aside from the small unit that evacuated waste, there was a small cabinet filled with waterless soap for washing clothes—and bodies. Thinking of how much sweating I’d done in the last few hours and how fantastic I must smell, I couldn’t wait to steal a few moments in there. An energetic wand, called eTeeth, used high-frequency vibrations to eradicate plaque and bacteria from your mouth. I’d have to hide that in my room. I didn’t want my wand in anyone else’s mouth.
“The bathroom lock is the only generic one in this place. It’s triggered by any thumbprint. All the others were keyed to our individual thumbprints, so you can’t lock—or unlock—anything else in here.”
Next to the lavatory, farther down the hall, was a small study. It was intended as a place for my father to continue his work. Not his weaponry work, but his work in the antigovernment movement. It was a small space containing his writing station, a stack of thermoplastic-fiber notebooks, and a padded bench. The furniture had been brought in from the pod city. It wasn’t much, but it was my favorite room in this godforsaken place. After his death, I would lie on the bench either watching old videos or reading archived books on the Infinity, escaping to different worlds for hours at a time. I could make the three-dimensional screen as large as I wanted, so, at times, I literallysurrounded myself in words. It was the closest I felt to happy.
I looked back at the room. “Someone could have the bench in here, I guess.” I hated that someone else might have my favorite space. “But the couch up front is probably more comfortable than this.”
We turned the corner and continued down the narrow corridor. My old room, the one I’d shared with my sister, came next, about halfway down the hall. It contained two twin sleep pads. Mine had been the one closest to the door, like I could better protect my sister that way. I had no idea what I might be protecting her from, but I’d foolishly thought she was safer with me as the first line of defense. There’s no defense against Mother Nature—she’s one fatal bitch.
I stared at the group. They didn’t deserve to sleep where she did. But they sure as hell weren’t sleeping with me. I sighed. “Two of you could sleep in here.”
“Great. Guess I’m stuck with one of you, since James needs his space, and I’m not about to sleep on the couch out in the open,” said Britta to Markus. She glared at me like I had developed a master plan to kill her while she slept.
Kale nodded at them. “You two take this room, James can have his space, and I’ll take the couch.”
James needed his space? What did that mean? Maybe he and Britta had been an item and now he wanted to get away from her. If that was the case, he had some serious bad taste in girlfriends.
Across from this room was a small recreation room, with a motion machine and several other pieces of equipment. My father deemed it important to stay healthy since we had no access to medical care aside from our first-aid kit. His long-term plan involved our relocation to a magical new planet—I think he overestimated the chances of finding one just as much as he overestimated Markus. In the meantime, Dad said forty-five minutes of exercise per day was optimal, so that’s what I did. I didn’t do a second less, but I didn’t do more either. And in truth, my activity on the motion machine was
I gestured for them to move down the hallway ahead of me. My room was the first on the right. I stopped and placed my thumb on the red square in the door. An audible click preceded my door swinging open, and I tossed their guns inside before locking it again.
“I couldn’t help noticing the double-sized chamber in there, Tora. I’m willing to share with you, if it’ll help.”
“In your dreams, Markus. Keep moving.”
Across from my room was the sole lavatory. Aside from the small unit that evacuated waste, there was a small cabinet filled with waterless soap for washing clothes—and bodies. Thinking of how much sweating I’d done in the last few hours and how fantastic I must smell, I couldn’t wait to steal a few moments in there. An energetic wand, called eTeeth, used high-frequency vibrations to eradicate plaque and bacteria from your mouth. I’d have to hide that in my room. I didn’t want my wand in anyone else’s mouth.
“The bathroom lock is the only generic one in this place. It’s triggered by any thumbprint. All the others were keyed to our individual thumbprints, so you can’t lock—or unlock—anything else in here.”
Next to the lavatory, farther down the hall, was a small study. It was intended as a place for my father to continue his work. Not his weaponry work, but his work in the antigovernment movement. It was a small space containing his writing station, a stack of thermoplastic-fiber notebooks, and a padded bench. The furniture had been brought in from the pod city. It wasn’t much, but it was my favorite room in this godforsaken place. After his death, I would lie on the bench either watching old videos or reading archived books on the Infinity, escaping to different worlds for hours at a time. I could make the three-dimensional screen as large as I wanted, so, at times, I literallysurrounded myself in words. It was the closest I felt to happy.
I looked back at the room. “Someone could have the bench in here, I guess.” I hated that someone else might have my favorite space. “But the couch up front is probably more comfortable than this.”
We turned the corner and continued down the narrow corridor. My old room, the one I’d shared with my sister, came next, about halfway down the hall. It contained two twin sleep pads. Mine had been the one closest to the door, like I could better protect my sister that way. I had no idea what I might be protecting her from, but I’d foolishly thought she was safer with me as the first line of defense. There’s no defense against Mother Nature—she’s one fatal bitch.
I stared at the group. They didn’t deserve to sleep where she did. But they sure as hell weren’t sleeping with me. I sighed. “Two of you could sleep in here.”
“Great. Guess I’m stuck with one of you, since James needs his space, and I’m not about to sleep on the couch out in the open,” said Britta to Markus. She glared at me like I had developed a master plan to kill her while she slept.
Kale nodded at them. “You two take this room, James can have his space, and I’ll take the couch.”
James needed his space? What did that mean? Maybe he and Britta had been an item and now he wanted to get away from her. If that was the case, he had some serious bad taste in girlfriends.
Across from this room was a small recreation room, with a motion machine and several other pieces of equipment. My father deemed it important to stay healthy since we had no access to medical care aside from our first-aid kit. His long-term plan involved our relocation to a magical new planet—I think he overestimated the chances of finding one just as much as he overestimated Markus. In the meantime, Dad said forty-five minutes of exercise per day was optimal, so that’s what I did. I didn’t do a second less, but I didn’t do more either. And in truth, my activity on the motion machine was
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