Read Online Join by Steve Toutonghi - Free Book Online Page A

joined to become Chance, each in late-teenage bodies. Chance is each of them and understands the differences between them, the emotions and beliefs that oppose one another. Chance reconciles them simply by inhabiting them all.
    They sit in the stillness of the vast plain. The distant shadows of mountains circle them like curtains of night. Sunlight fills the space around them, and the sky is blue, but it feels as though the sun is down and the lucid world is a lie. They all know this is a dream. On the other side of what they can see, on the other side of the blue sky and the other side of the salt flat beneath them, is the same endless emptiness.
    They’re seated around an old picnic table. A salvage from a place once called a state park. The table was a fixture in the home in Indianapolis where Ashton grew up. Ashton became Rocket One and then Chance One.
    At first, all five are silent in the face of the change they’ve undergone. Then Shami-8 and Javier start playfully kicking each other under the table.
    â€œYou need to stop, now, boy. You’re gonna get yourself in trouble.” Shami-8, who became Chance Four, flashes a perfect, toothy grin. Her wide forehead, narrow chin, dark eyes pinched with mischief—all are familiar, beloved, lit from within by enthusiasm.
    â€œI know your secrets. I know your moves before you move,” Javier says.
    She raises an eyebrow. She’s not impressed.
    Then she says to the whole group, “Even a sad meeting doesn’t have to start sad, does it?”
    Jake, who became Chance Three, says, “I spend years studying join sicknesses, and then my body is killed by a sick join.”
    The cold intensifies and all of them move, shifting uncomfortably where they sit. Jake looks down, not meeting the others’ eyes. “I was substantial,” he says. “I liked my body.”
    â€œYou had a nice body,” Ashton says, politely.
    â€œJavier is awesome,” Jake says, “but he’s—he may be a short-timer. Javier—I know how painful this is for you.”
    â€œIt’s okay. I understand,” says Javier. “I’m sorry about the, my—” He shakes his head, looks out at the plains, which are stark in the reflected light, then continues, “I can’t even say it. I didn’t know I was sick. Man, I worked so hard to stay healthy, to be so fit. I mean, my body is amazing. This is just . . . I don’t know how it happened.”
    â€œA nightmare,” Jake says.
    â€œI’m sorry about that too,” says Javier, quickly. “I mean, Rope.”
    There’s a long silence. When a choppy breeze finally passes between them, Renee, the young woman who became Rocket Two, and then Chance Two, says, “We were all going to lose our bodies, sooner or later.”
    She tilts her head and regards Ashton, across the table, recalling their long conversations from years ago, their shared speculation on how it might feel to watch centuries pass from within the comfortable security of each other’s company.
    â€œBut will I remember me?” Jake asks. “I want to remember myself.”
    â€œYou will,” says Renee. “You’ll be here. And that’s what this is, isn’t it? A memory?”
    â€œWe should take my body out more. Use it while we can. We should enjoy it!” Javier is forceful. He sits up and looks directly at Shami-8.
    â€œYeah, that might be nice,” Shami-8 replies.
    Ashton says, “We can do what we can, but we’re going to follow the treatment, and our doctor said to let Five rest and use its cycles for other things. Let it relax and try to heal.”
    â€œI just . . . that’s me . . . I want to experience more before I’m history.” Javier scratches the wooden tabletop with a finger.
    â€œYeah,” says Jake.
    â€œI’m sorry, Jake,” Javier says.
    â€œYou know, there’s still hope for Five,” Jake says.