On a sea of glitter, as clear as baby oil, sits a sinking pinkish egg yolk of a sun on the horizon.
“It’s loud, for one.”
“Alright.” He turns it down. “How about now.”
A slender bikini clad woman lays back on her elbows, upon the broad hood of a orange vessel like a 70’s Cadillac, that hovers inches above the sea. Silvered wraparound shades covers her eyes, a contrast to her umber skin. With chrome tipped fingernails, she sticks her shades into her bob of purple hair.
“Sevie?”
“Sounds like everything else nowadays, Hidalgo.” She points. “As fake as the sky.”
Hidalgo lounges across the front bench seat, formal and white from head to toe, taps his foot in time with the thumping bass.
“You’re not listening.”
A squadron of Satellite’s fighter jets soars among the clouds above.
“Those kids, drilling and anxious... waiting for their day.”
“What day?”
“To do what’s right, when everyone wants action. The kids...” He shrugs. “I hope they never get a chance.”
“Without you, this still would’ve been a factory. Those kids would’ve been grinders and not protectors.”
Sevie twists her body, facing Hidalgo in the front seat. He stares into the sky blankly.
“What’s wrong?”
“Just a message I got.” He shows his palm, then, the back. With a snap of his fingers, he produces a business card between his pointer and middle fingers. Tidy handwriting fills both sides across a finance lawyer’s name and phone number.
Sevie takes the card. “We have comms. Who sends a note?”
“Hidalgo,” She read. “That’s you.”
“I hid during the riots. As rations were cut, visits canceled and quotas increased; I hid. I’d find a closet and hide. I’d keep my mind busy, free from panic and toxicity. I became a lead, I had Engineering’s door bolstered and that became my hiding space.”
She turns the card over.
“I smiled at my manager before it went down. She was kind, feeling the same pressure but counting on us. The brutality over the closed circuit. Us versus the establishment. Their bullets over bats and shields, man versus the machine, I worked while everyone in Engineering gawped. I’m glad I saw her leave unscathed. Since then I’ve made this prison home for us all. I’ve heard so much about the surface levels. I hope you know how ‘to live fast and die young.’ as I’ve heard from the interns.”
“Collider.” Sevie hands Hidalgo the card. He stows it in his jacket pocket.
“He’s a genius in those quirky ways. I’d follow the Classical music to Collider either his office or the power plant. I planned this whole vacation for a homecoming.” He sits up and turns to the shore. “We owe Collider for it all.”
Sevie shrugs on her drab leather jacket. “He made the Kruiser.”
“Well, its just a car.” He rubs his hand over the dashboard. “Whatever makes it hover is his work.”
“Can’t bring a terrestrial out on the water,” She crawls over the windshield, straddling Hidalgo’s lap. “For some privacy.” She leans in as a sonic hum rises behind them. Another Kruiser skims past, splashing Hidalgo and Sevie with their wash.
They both sit up soaking wet.
“What the fuck!?” She flips off the passing Kruiser. “An entire shoreline and you splash us. Dumb pill hea-”
“Ow.” He grabs his wrist. “Something stung me.”
“Mosquitoes?”
“Might be. Collider again, for natural agriculture. That guy knows it all” He rubs a red welt on his arm. “Shit.”
“So, I heard party.” She snaps on a bangle that rested on the dashboard. “Where at?”
“High Street.”
“High Street?” Excited, Sevie climbs over the front seat and stands on the backseat. “I can’t go like this.”
Hidalgo sits up. “I’d like if you did.” He rests his head between the headrests.
Sevie kneels and meets Hidalgo between the headrests. She wraps her arms around his shoulders. She leans in, but skirts his lips and whispers into his ear. “Take me home.”