Chapter 6

Joshua could hardly keep his eyes open as he watched the old movie with Olga. The huge sofa they were lying on was very comfortable. It was big enough to accommodate them both, and Olga was lying against him, warming his chest. Her voice startled him as she asked, “Are we going back to Miss Danette’s lab?”

The sofa was very comfortable, and he was much too tired to get up. He knew that they could get to the laboratory during the curfew, but it would take longer.

“Do you want to go?” he asked.

“Not really. I’m very comfortable here at the moment.”

He smiled, relieved that he could stay like this for a bit longer. He knew that he needed to find a suitable place for later where he could sleep until curfew was over. He wasn’t sure if Olga wanted him to stay the night.

“Me too,” he sighed contented.

Olga turned her body towards him. She smiled but then, as if somebody had flipped a switch, she suddenly looked scared. Her sudden change of mood made Joshua feel insecure and start wondering if he had done something wrong. They had been silent when they had devoured their meal as if they hadn’t eaten for weeks. Olga had thanked him profusely after they had finished clearing up and had suggested that they watch a movie. But now she looked as though something bad was about to happen and he asked softly, “What is it, Olga?”

“I don’t want you to go.”

“But, I’m not leaving,” he said surprised.

She rested her face against his chest and whispered, “I know, but that’s not what I meant.”

He loved her attention and caressed her back gently as he tried to understand what she wanted. It was clear that Olga was pretty shaken up by everything that had happened and that she felt insecure. Then it dawned on him: she wanted him to stay the night!

“I don’t mind sleeping on the sofa if you want me to stay,” he said sincerely.

“No!” she exclaimed.

Shocked he looked at her blushing face and asked, “You don’t want me to stay the night?”

She moaned and gently slapped him as she chided, “Do I really have to spell it out to you?”

Joshua snorted, “What is obvious to you is definitely not clear to me Olga.”

She opened her mouth to speak and then closed it again. He didn’t understand what she was trying to say which was so obvious yet so embarrassing. He said with a desperate voice, “Look, just tell me what you want. I’m just a nerd with no experience of women, except you, of course. I guess I’m not smart enough to understand what you want.”

She giggled nervously.

“What Olga? Please,” he whispered.

She took a deep breath and said with a thick voice, “I want you, silly. I want you to be with me. I want to fall asleep together with you, in my bed.”

He gulped before asking disbelievingly, “You do?”

Olga moved up to kiss him very tenderly on the lips. She whispered, “I know I need time to come to terms with what happened to me, but please give me a chance.”

He couldn’t fathom what had just happened. Was she really suggesting that she wanted to start a relationship with him? He stuttered, “You, you are serious about this?”

He could see the determination in her eyes as she said, “Yes, this screwed-up girl wants to be your girlfriend.”

To ease the tension a bit he joked, “Oh I see. All right then. I’ll make sure I have enough gloves to hand.”

Olga growled as she climbed off the sofa as she asked with a tight voice, “What the hell are you playing at Joshua?”

He sat up straight in an instant, looking completely bewildered, and replied hoarsely, “I was just joking Olga. I’m sorry.”

Her eyes narrowed to slits as she whispered, “Get out.”

He didn’t understand why she was suddenly so angry and asked, “What did I do wrong, Olga? I never wanted to hurt you, honestly. It must be a misunderstanding.”

“I understood you all right; you pervert,” she retorted tautly.

“But Olga, why do you think I’m a pervert?” he asked in disbelief.

“Out!” she screamed.

Joshua’s mind was running at top speed as he sought the answer to what he had said to provoke such a reaction from Olga. The only thing that came to mind was her reaction to his suggestion that he needed kid gloves while around her. He slowly walked to the door of her apartment and just before he closed the door he said, as a last attempt to save the situation, “Maybe you should look up the expression ‘handle with kid gloves’.”

His comment was met with a stony silence, and so he stepped into his boots and headed to the lifts. He had no clue how to get home; there was no possible route without crossing one of the curfew zones. He sighed deeply hoping that the bench he had seen in the lobby of the building was still free. As he waited for the lift to arrive he wondered whether it was such a good idea to start a relationship with her at all. Maybe because of his remark it was already no longer an option. He still couldn’t fathom why she had reacted so vehemently. He had thought she was smart enough to understand the pun. He could only presume that his comment had unintentionally triggered a bad memory.

As he got out of the lift, he was pleased that the bench was occupied by one person only and there was enough space for him to sit. He had slept in worse situations and sat down on the bench crossed legged. He stared down at the floor, thinking about the time he had spent with Olga. The intense days at the plateau and the amazing adventure to get the truck down to town which had given him an opportunity to see a different side to Olga. Her suggestion that they start a relationship had startled him at first, but now, doubt was seeping into his mind as to whether he could ever be the kind of man that she needed.

With a bowl of noodles in her hand Andena sat on the sofa thinking about what she should write to Haruz. Her tablet was lying next to her ready to be used, but the text she had written so far didn’t sound right.

“Do you want help Andena?“

She sighed and said, “Yes, I think I need to rewrite the text.”

“You should try to take control of the situation Andena. Haruz is willing to pay a large sum of credits which gives you a better starting position in the negotiations.“

“So you think I should demand more?”

“It will give him the impression that you truly have something of value to him.“

“And therefore he may be more willing to accept my terms.”

“Yes, most likely, but what do you want to achieve Andena?“

That was a good question. What did she want to happen? One thing was clear: the bombing had to stop. She recalled the conversation she had with her core about her accusing Haruz of being responsible for the explosions at Bionex. It was true that she had no proof that Haruz was behind the attacks but she knew that Haruz had recommissioned all the nuclear warheads. Andena assumed that to be true if she believed what she had heard from the discussion between Joshua and Olga.

“I want him to stop using those nuclear warheads.”

“You’re still convinced that Haruz is responsible for the destruction of Bionex.“

“Yes and the detonation of the EMP bomb above the Bangly plateau.”

“Why don’t you talk to him first?“

Andena wasn’t convinced that was such a good idea because she didn’t know why Haruz was so keen to find her; a warrant of five-thousand credits was not to be sniffed at. Was it because she had managed to deflect the attack of the vines at the alien field and escape? Nobody had been there when she fought against the strong grip of the vines, and she was convinced that Lunn had done his job and wiped the footage of her from the curfew camera archives. With a smile, she remembered the euphoria she had experienced when she felt safe in Lunn’s strong arms. She promised herself to visit him once everything had settled down. Suddenly she realized she might have a solution to her problem; make Haruz disappear into one of the fields!

“Z, where is the closest alien field to Haruz’s office?”

“There’s one very close to his office, Andena. If you jump out of his window, you’ll land on top of it.“

Andena grinned as she said, “Oh that’s perfect! Let’s see if we can get into his office tomorrow. The only thing is that I need to go back to my apartment to get my carbon suit and my machete.”

“Are you planning to grab Haruz and jump onto the field?“

“Yes, something like that. He won’t see any danger if I get close to him and I think he will be too stunned if I suddenly hoist him on my shoulders and leap through the window.”

“Do you think a carbon suit will give you enough protection?“

Andena was tempted to roll her eyes, but then she realised that her core hadn’t witnessed her adventure in the field and replied, “Yes, Z. I have survived an attack in a field before so I know what to expect.”

“Why do you need to bring the machete? It’s a dangerous weapon, and it might be difficult to smuggle it into Haruz’s office.“

She had to smile because she understood her core’s concern and because of this she was able to keep her voice friendly, “I need it to free myself from the vines, and I don’t think they will notice the knife because it’s hidden in a specially designed sheath in my boot.”

“It is risky Andena, but your enhanced capabilities mean that the chance of success is good enough to support your plan.“

Now Andena deliberately rolled her eyes and asked her core with a silvery voice, “What would you have done if you didn’t like my plan?”

“Such speculations are irrelevant Andena. It’s in both our best interests that I try to keep us out of danger.“

As soon as she read the comment, she immediately regretted challenging her core again, but its patronising presumption had infuriated her! Aware that she needed to keep her emotions under control, she sighed and said, “Well, at least we’re in alignment on that.”

“I understand you’re less than happy about my trepidation, which you may perceive as interfering but there are too many unknown factors which lead me to be cautious.“

Andena was flabbergasted as she read the core’s comment, and she said with a brittle voice, “I know Z, I fully understand your reasoning, but I have always been independent and self-supporting. It is going to take me some time to get used to it.”

“Andena, your urge to be self-supporting saved your life. If you hadn’t stopped the repressor program, you would most likely have been at the Bangly plateau at the moment that the electromagnetic pulse was fired.“

She thought about it for a while, and she came to the conclusion that it was Z’s choice of words that irritated her, not the actual message. It gave her a sense of reassurance, and she said, “You’re right Z, and I appreciate your help. We’ll make a great team.”

“We are already Andena.“

As she picked up the tablet, Andena laughed at her core’s remark and with renewed energy started to compose a completely different message for Haruz.

Joshua concentrated on his surroundings with his eyes closed. It was a little game to pass the time when he couldn’t sleep. Now he was sitting crossed legged on the bench in the reception hall of Olga’s apartment building. He wanted to clear his mind, but every time he tried Olga’s pretty face popped up which in turn, brought back the disturbing memory of her shouting at him. He sighed wishing he had kept his funny remark to himself because he felt sad that he had hurt her. Her anger had made him feel stupid, and he had instantly regretted his dismal attempt to be funny.

He was so occupied thinking about what he could have done differently that he only noticed the footsteps when they were just a few feet away from him. He quickly opened his eyes, but had to wait for his eyes to adjust to the sudden increase in light. He was a little surprised as he saw two bare feet coming into his field of vision. The nails were painted with a ruby red polish which made them look very elegant and he wondered whether he was hallucinating. Olga’s small voice startled him out of his thoughts, “I think I made a huge mistake.”

He looked up and instantly saw that her eyes were a little puffy; she had been crying. He had great trouble fighting the urge to jump up and hug her, but he knew he had to be careful not to overstep the boundaries again.

“You didn’t,” he said softly.

“Oh?”

“You came down to look for me.”

A little smile lightened her face as she responded, “You’re lucky I managed to connect to the internet.”

He chuckled as he gladly took her hand and rose from the bench. He was barely standing when she hugged him tight making him feel a little awkward. She whispered in his ear, “Please come back upstairs.”

He wasn’t sure whether it was wise to go back. He had made a fool of himself up there, and he didn’t want that to happen again. He sighed and whispered, “I don’t know Olga.”

“I would like to explain why I got so mad at you and I really would like to do that without any other people around.”

Joshua realised the awkward situation and said, “All right. Point taken, Olga.”

Reluctantly he let her go from their warm embrace, and they walked silently towards the lifts. As soon as they were alone in the lift, Olga said softly, “I’m sorry.”

He hated people who were saying sorry because most of the time they didn’t mean it at all. He sincerely hoped that she wasn’t one of them.

“For what Olga?” he asked flatly.

“For not believing you and that I didn’t trust you.”

Her unexpected answer blew him away, and he was too stunned to reply. Olga took the opportunity to continue, “I think I need to tell you why I got so upset. When you mentioned the word gloves, I was overwhelmed with emotions and I was blinded by rage because you dared to make fun of it.”

As Olga walked into her apartment, Joshua wasn’t sure what to do. She saw his hesitation and as she held her hand out she said with a brittle voice, “I know we didn’t get off to a good start but can we try again?”

Joshua knew that his joke about the gloves was borderline. He should have been a bit more careful and thought more about what effect his words might have. He smiled as he said, “Yeah, I guess I could have been more thoughtful as well.”

Olga pulled him close by his arm and hugged him tightly as she said, “Maybe Joshua, but please don’t stop teasing me because it makes me laugh.”

Joshua was dying to know why the word ‘gloves’ had such an effect on her but he didn’t dare to broach the subject again. He decided to wait patiently for her to open up about whatever it was that was troubling her. She looked a lot more relaxed as they sat down on the sofa again. She moved forward and kissed him. As she looked him in the eyes, she asked seriously, “Do you mind if we go slowly, I mean really slow?”

He assumed she didn’t want to have sex which was clear to him. However, he was pleased that she wanted him to be so close.

He said slowly, carefully choosing his words, “Olga, considering what you have endured I completely understand. I really like you, I have always liked you, and as long as we are honest with each other, I think we can work this out.”

Olga laid her head on his chest.

“I want to feel safe, and that’s how I feel right now,” she whispered.

“I’m glad you feel safe.”

She gently patted his chest as she said, “Let’s go to sleep. I don’t know about you, but I’m shattered.”

He yawned lazily and confirmed, “I think I could use a nap.”

She got up and pulled his arm as she playfully commanded, “Come on then, lazy bum, off to bed.”

Andena had to hurry because the extra trip to her apartment had taken much longer than she had expected and on top of that she’d managed to end up at a coffee corner where the service was extremely slow. In the end, she’d had to leave before she could finish her bagel. She hated to eat on the move but this time she had no choice.

Now she was fighting her way into the carbon suit which was a lot more challenging than she had anticipated. It seemed as though she had gained some weight because the suit felt a lot tighter than last time. With a tense expression she looked at her body in the mirror noticing how well the suit fitted her form. She sighed in frustration as she desperately tried to reach the zip at her back. It was the last hurdle she had to overcome before dressing herself in some non-distinct clothes.