Conduit

Ch. 5

Sleep didn't come for me. Or maybe I didn't look for it. After Frank left, agreeing to bring me the data I'd asked for, I just stared at the walls. My mind raced. I thought of the house and how I grew up. How my grandfather's best mornings were spent building small robots in the garage. He used science to calm his anxieties. Taught the same strategies to my father. And there I was, far from home, without the means to calm myself the way I knew how.

Running on two hours of sleep, maybe less, I sat at the kitchen island in my small apartment. I thought of scrolling my phone, but then remembered I wasn't allowed to bring it. I didn't want to turn on the TV because I knew it would be the same shit I'd seen in the lobby the day before. False promises. Fake commercials. That wouldn't calm me, it would make these feelings worse.

A gentle knock on a wall behind me made me glance back. Victoria stood in the open doorway to my bedroom. I was sure she was waiting for me to go back to sleep; she shouldn't have waited. Her smile told me she would continue to do so.

"I'll look around this kitchen and make you some coffee, how does that sound?" Victoria pushed off the wall, walking toward the kitchen. She kept her soft smile the entire way. When she got closer, she gently touched my cheek, fingers stroking along my jawline as she passed me. Then she opened a cabinet beside the fridge. "It looks like there is a dark roast and a light roast."

Putting my elbows on the island, I balanced my face into my hands. "Dark roast," I said, muffled against my palms.

Victoria chuckled. "Elijah, dark roast messes with your stomach."

Sliding my hands down from my forehead, I looked at her from the tops of my fingertips. "You offered."

"Because it's within the selections." She passed her hands over the cabinet door like it was a classic game show. "I won't lie about the contents. You know I'll be honest."

I lowered my hands more, fingers down to my chin. Sighing, I shook my head. "I know, and you know I won't lie either. I've gotten, I don't know, one or two hours of sleep. The stronger the caffeine, the better. I need it."

She frowned, reluctantly reaching for the canister of dark roast coffee. "I'll make it," she said. "And I'll see if there is any medication in the bathroom you can take."

"Thank you," I said, shooting her a weak smile. She returned it, stepping over to the coffee machine. For a minute, I felt like I was at home. Bright and early mornings with Victoria prepping breakfast. She'd pretend to eat with me, so I'd have the experience. I never got tired of it.

The coffee machine beeped, powering on. Victoria filled the filter to the brim and shut the small door. Within minutes, she filled it with water, then the scent of brewing elixir filled the space.

As morning peace settled, combating my exhaustion, I slid my hands on the island's counter. "Vicky, question." When she looked at me, I bit my bottom lip. "Since we're here, have you heard any other word from the androids?"

Victoria nodded as she reached for a coffee mug. "I have. Some have noticed me and you." She glanced back at me. "They're confused and optimistic."

Optimism was good. It meant they had hope. And if our presence made a shift like that, then it could work. Pull them out of whatever hostility Lyons employees, like the woman downstairs the other day, had done.

"Cool." Sliding my face back into my palms, I settled on closing my eyes until the coffee was ready. But the pin pad to my apartment beeped and the door opened.

I turned my groggy gaze to the person who walked into my place uninvited. Frank. I didn't have to rub my eyes as he waltzed in with a tray, whistling a happy tune. Rather than securely lock the door like a normal person, he kicked back at it with one look.