Aestus, Book 1: The City

Aestus, Book 1: The City | Chapter 16

Chapter 16

Jossey blinked as Caspar dumped a pile of books on her bed.

She'd been stuck here for five days now. She'd run out of audiobooks. But she still eyed the pile skeptically.

"The Desert Rider?" she said.

The author's name was Chase Edward Spaulding. The cover had what looked like a black-leather-clad man on a...motorized vehicle? In the heat? She scoffed.

Caspar looked very pleased with himself, silver eyes lit with laughter.

"Oh, they're terrible," he said, grinning. "But they're classics."

She turned over the others. Pirates in Orbit. Books on aliens and Planet X. "You read this stuff?"

Amused eyes glanced at her. Caspar drew himself up, pushed the strands of dark hair away from his face with a grand gesture. "I beg your pardon," he said stuffily. He pointed to The Desert Rider. "I do believe this is the 250th anniversary edition."

He smiled crookedly at her expression. "I'm impressed it survived that many printings, to be honest, it's that awful. So are they all. But they were all I had."

Jossey was opening her mouth to respond when the door opened again and Perkins and Sally made their way through, awkwardly carrying a very large box of doughnuts.

Jossey's face lit up. She reached over and dragged the medicine tray over to the bed with her good hand. "Please. Be my guests."

Sally smiled widely and handed her a doughnut. "They were giving free ones out in the Square," she said.

"Didn't they ban chocolate last week?" Jossey asked around a mouthful of the stuff. Something about supply issues. She didn't know what that even meant, since the City's scientists grew it somewhere in a lab.

Perkins held a finger to his lips. "It's fake," he said, smiling. Jossey stopped chewing, thought for a moment, shrugged.

"Tastes fine." If it tasted the same, whatever, she thought.

She gestured to the books. "Look at my treasure trove."

Caspar pretended to be offended. "Those are excellent works of literature," he said, before his laughter betrayed him.

Sally blushed a little again as he glanced at her, and Jossey tried not to laugh. The poor girl. It was already bad enough when Gavin was around.

Speaking of Gavin – "Has anyone seen Gavin?"

Caspar glanced at her. Perkins shrugged. "Not so far today."

Or yesterday, Jossey thought. She knew he had Patrol, but still. With her being in the hospital, she had thought –

She took another doughnut, bit into it. Good. Maybe he finally saw her as a grown-up.

Caspar held one of the books out to her. "Here, Jossey. Please, do us the honors."

She pushed it away. "I only have one working hand. You read."

"Oops, right. Sorry." He looked at the book.

He'd grabbed The Desert Rider.

Perkins noticed the cover. "Oh, I had that book as a kid. It was – " He seemed to search for words.

"Amazing, right?" Caspar winked.

Perkins snorted. "If you say so."

Caspar made a show of making himself comfortable in one of the cushioned visitor chairs. He pushed the loose strands of hair out of his eyes and opened the book dramatically to page one.

"The sun beat down on the blinding sands," he intoned. "Dax Draperson stared off into the distance, remembering..."

"Wait – Dax Draperson?" Jossey interrupted. "Are you serious? What kind of a name is – "

"Are you going to let me read?" Caspar said, eyebrows raised.

Jossey held up the doughnut in surrender and took a giant bite of it.

"Dax Draperson was pretty sure they were coming for him," Caspar continued. "The secret agent glanced down at his bike. The gauges were shot, but by his estimate he had fuel enough for five hours, maybe six. The heat was intense. He was beginning to regret that he'd chosen his battle gear..."

"Duh," Jossey muttered. Caspar shot her a look. She mimed zipping her lips.

He went on, remarkably straight-faced, as the writer waxed eloquent about Dax Draperson's super-secret background as a spy.

They were howling with laughter at the terrible writing when Gavin opened the door silently and entered the room.

Caspar stopped short, looked over at him. "Commander. Please, join us."

"Where have you been?" Jossey asked.

"Patrol," Gavin said shortly. He took a seat, gestured for Caspar to go on, grinning a little as he noticed the book in the young Engineer's hands.

Despite his casual expression, Gavin looked like he hadn't slept. Jossey frowned. When he noticed her looking at him, he straightened, giving her a smile.

Caspar was glancing between them. "Shall I go on?" he asked.

"Yes. Please." Gavin smiled. "I've read it before. No back story necessary." For a minute he looked like a kid. "I really hope I haven't missed the motorcycle battle."

"Don't spoil it!" Jossey hissed at him.

Caspar grinned widely. "I thought you didn't like it."

"It's awful, but in a great B-movie kind of way. Don't spoil it." Jossey crossed her arms.

"The things humanity chose to preserve after its near-destruction," Caspar said, grinning even bigger. "Very well, Miss Sokol."

Sally passed Gavin the doughnuts. He took one absently, muttering, "Thank you."

Caspar leaned back in his chair casually.

He glanced at Gavin, one eyebrow raised dramatically. "So, Commander, just to orient you, our protagonist, Dax Draperson, super-secret-agent extraordinaire, has just found himself trapped in a burning desert cave against an overwhelming ambush..."

He cleared his throat and read.

"Dax reached for his trusty energy modulator. It was top-of-the-line technology. He'd paid dearly for it on that secret mission in Mumbai. That was when he'd met HER – "

Caspar continued on, gleefully narrating as the writing spiraled downward into what could only be described as flaming wreckage.

Gavin looked like he was trying hard not to react, but when Caspar got to the epic motorcycle battle, he lost it.

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