I don’t want to be rude and take her hand in mine. “Jovie.”
“See you ladies out there.” Cora walks out, a slight sway to her hips like she thinks she’s a runway model. Maybe she is.
The first woman clicks her tongue. “Well, anyway. The shower’s hot water is aswizzleto the left.” She waggles her whole body as if to mimic the direction of the lever and laughs lightly. “I had a big blue Thorian. I hear there will be a few.”
“Thanks. Good luck,” I say.
She backs out, stumbles over a bag on the floor, giggles, and points in the direction of the exit. “See you out there, Jovie! Hope you get the electric dude you want!”
I try to call after her to ask her name, but she’s gone before I can get the words out. So I pick a stall, close the curtain, and strip.
Is that what the drugs do? They make us dream about the man we want?
So I want the Amphiran?
I study my bodyweb, wondering if anyone will want me when they see it.But what other woman could handle an electric alien?
I shake the thoughts from my head andswizzlethe shower handle to the left, letting the hot water wash away my concerns and years of built-up gear grease and scrubbing away my old life.
Today, I start a new one.
8: Aurelius
A rumble wakes me from my dream. Allele drops us out of hyperspace, her smooth hum winding down to the deep thunder of reverse thrusters.
I slip my implant chip back into my head.Allele, where are we?
Aura, you have found her.
I blink and look up at the ceiling of my room. Allele rarely changes the topic. Sometimes, she ignores me when a matter is settled, and I won’t let go of it. But she never changes the topic like this.That was just a dream.
No.
I sit up. “Clarify.”
You and I speak in the same dimension as the one in which you dreamt of her. I have no other information.
Does she know I’m real?
I cannot say for sure. Humans do not have Storms.
But she does.
Allele is quiet. I’m not sure she knows the answer.
I don’t want to haunt her forever if she saw me.
Then, do something about it.
My Storm’s energy shifts as if some piece of me is finally in balance. SoI touched her? The one? That wasn’t just a fantasy built from lack of release?
It would seem so, Aura.
I need a moment to think privately again and scratch my head, covertly breaking the connection with my chip.
But that flash. What the hell was that? And how did I find her? She’s millions of miles away.
I shake my head, unable to think through the turmoil inside. My gut tells me Allele found a way to connect us, push me to go to her, to the female in my dream.She sure seems hell-bent on shoving me on one.
