Missing Stars

Chapter 7 | After

Chapter 7 | After

Warm water drips from the tap, cleaning away the black smudges on my fingers. I bring my hands to my nose and sniff. The smell of grease has vanished. I dry my hands, ignoring the girl in the mirror. I know what I'll see: a tall girl with shoulder-length blond hair and brown eyes.

Closing the washroom door, I head back to the café. The aroma of tasty food wafts to my nose. I walk past a group of noisy construction workers feasting on ugali, cabbage stew and fried fish. Beyond the front door, a mkokoteni guy pushes a cart full of fresh fruits, calling out to potential customers.

I sit behind the counter, grab a stool and settle down. Lydia, Ben's mother, is taking orders from the old mechanic who lent me his toolbox. He looks up at me and gives me a thumbs-up. I smile at him.

"How's Caro?" Lydia asks when she returns to the counter.

"I need to do a bit of tweaking. She's not as terrible as I'd thought," I say.

"That's great." She walks into the kitchen and returns a moment later with a plate of matoke mixed with peas and diced carrots. She sets the plate in front of me and winks. "Lunch is on me."

"Oh no, I wouldn't—"

She shakes her head. "Don't worry about it."

"Ahsante sana." I grab a slice of lemon and squeeze the juice into my meal. Picking up a spoon, I take a bite of the cooked bananas. "It's delicious."

Lydia beams at me, satisfied with my assessment. A bunch of schoolboys wave at her. She goes back to serving her customers, leaving me on my own. I eat my food slowly, watching a speedo bus pass through the street. It's hard to think that by tomorrow at this hour, I won't be in Kenya anymore.

Loud laughter disrupts my thoughts. I spot Alex helping Ben clean the tables. Ben says something and Alex repeats hesitantly, scratching his head. Ben shakes his head and laughs at him.

"My little boy seems to get along with Alex," Lydia says behind me. Startled, I sit straighter. I hadn't seen her return to the counter. "He's teaching your boyfriend Kiswahili."

The spoon slips from my grip, clattering on the plate. "He's not my boyfriend."

"I'm sorry. I just thought...the way he looks at you—"

"He's not."

Lydia pats my hand. I keep my gaze on what's left of my meal.  

"I hope whatever problems you two have will be resolved before you leave," she says.

Her words seem to echo in my mind and I feel a rush of hopelessness seize me. I've always thought that by leaving Earth, I can finally start a new life, become a stronger new me. I cannot achieve my dreams if I let the past tie me down and drag me farther away from my future.

But ten years is a long time, enough for my friends, my neighbors and everyone I have ever known to forget me. Something about it makes me sad: to be nothing but a fickle memory and then to be cast away altogether.

"I can never forgive him," I say hollowly.

Ben's mother doesn't ask any more questions. She squeezes my hand and leaves me alone. I finish my meal and return to the cellar.

The room is lit by one tiny bulb but with the help of my EyeCOMM, the cybernetic microchip in my optic nerve, it's enough to let me work at ease. Caro sleeps on a table, her eyes closed. A tangle of wires and chips of metal lie exposed on Caro's chest.

My EyeCOMM zooms my vision, focusing on the source of Caro's malfunctioning. The power connectors are loose so Caro can't charge up using electricity. She must have broken down when her back-up energy got depleted. I pick up a spanner and unscrew a bolt. Pop-up screens appear before my eyes as I separate the colored wires, labels showing me names of each part of the android's anatomy and its function.

CAROLINE XIII-2V, the name I found engraved on Caro's chest plating is one of the second generation of androids. She's a little old but it's easier to find her replacement parts in the market than it is for the new models. Caro doesn't need much work though. I only need to fix the power connectors and she'll be back running. It doesn't take me long to get the work done.

"They don't look so human when they're like that," Alex says, standing in the doorway.

It's true. Androids look human enough to fool real humans but when you've worked with robots for seven years, you tend to see through the façade. "They always slip. You need to look at them closely. See the hesitation in their facial expressions, the rigidness of their movements, and the emptiness in their eyes."

He comes to the table and watches me screw the plating back in place. "Chase has never liked them. He always says they give him the creeps."

Alex has three brothers and though he once introduced me to his family, I can't remember which of the twins was Chase. They were younger than Alex by a year and though they looked nothing like him, they all had grey eyes.

"Sorry I forgot which one was Chase," I say, shrugging.

Alex snorts. "The evil twin."

I grin. So Chase was the boy with the sweets wrappers on his nightstand, empty beer cans under his messy bed and holo-posters of rock bands on his side of the walls. I'd found it funny how the twins were so different. Adam's side of the room had been neat and tidy, with medals hanging on the pinboard and books lining the shelves.   

"How are they?" I say, connecting the power cable to the android. I turn off my EyeCOMM and wait for Alex to respond.

"Better than they've ever been. Look there's-"

He takes a step closer to me, close enough that I can feel the warmth of his body. I stand still, my heart racing fast. Alex reaches for my face, traces his fingers on my cheek. His thumb comes away smudged with grey stains, streaks of grease I must have left on my face when I accidentally wiped my cheek.

"I never thought I'd see you again," he says softly.

I look into his eyes and see longing there and something else too—regret.

"Isn't that what you wanted?" I say, anger biting its way into my heart.

"No, it isn't." Alex draws back his hand. He looks wounded. "How could you even think that?"

How could I even think that? Is he playing dumb for what he had done to me? I bring my arms up and shove him so hard that he stumbles back. "You left me! I waited and waited and you never came!"

"I didn't leave you, Kelrina." He looks sad. I want to believe he is telling the truth but something in me stops me. I didn't spend all those months trying to forget him only to fall prey to his lies. I am a wall. I must never crumble.

"CAROLINE XIII-2V booting in progress. Reporting status in nine...eight...seven..."

I glance up at the android. She is stretching her limbs. Her face goes blank while her operating system loads.

"I'll get Ben." Alex turns away from me, shoulders slumped. He pauses at the door. Once. Then he walks away.   

______________________________________

I'm really sorry for the delay. I had so much stuff to deal with but I got some free time to finish this chapter. I hope you enjoy it! I've also written a short story (it's only 4 pages long) set in the same universe as Missing Stars and it's called Bleeding Stars. There will be clues connecting these two stories together. Do check it out if you're interested ;)