The Other Side of Life (Book #1, Cyberpunk Elven Trilogy) (10 page)

She found herself daydreaming now, of his
streamlined body, height, and lean frame. It gave his physique a
fluidity that most guys she knew didn’t possess.

Much better thoughts.

Such pleasant musings soothed her inner
worries and tension. For a minute, Anya’s mind even drifted off to
imagine the break-in at Gilbreth doubling up as an impromptu date,
between she and Nin. Music lovers attended rock concerts on a first
date—the destination of choice for art lovers would be a museum or
art gallery—what better choice could there be for two people who
shared a thieving habit?

We’re just friends, not
lovers,
Anya promptly reminded
herself.

She straightened her shoulders, and looked
squarely at her image in the mirror. She had suitably calmed down,
and was ready for the challenge she had been recruited for.

* * *

Nin was by himself, waiting outside the
stone church. He was viewing one of the downloaded maps of the
Gilbreth, stored in his N-Gage.

He tried hard, to be honest with himself. He
was envisioning a past conversation with Saerah, an Elven
princess.

“
Humans are all useless,”
he had said to the very young, demure, well-mannered member of
royalty. “They run around like headless chickens, not even knowing
it.”

“
They are…deprived?” Saerah
replied with a conceited smile. There always seemed to be a trace
of superiority in her tone, when she spoke.

“
They’re shallow…they don’t
have good taste…they can’t tell the good from the bad…” Nin went
on. He felt almost polluted, just talking about humans. “Human
beings are wretched, and an utter disgrace.”

A disgrace!
he repeated in his mind, as he waited for Anya to
arrive. He was the disgrace, not the other way around.

He’d snuck into the elves’ SystemOD lab,
when he had a few moments to spare earlier. Dresan spent the most
amount of time tweaking their system. The system offered a
simulated reality, which could retrieve events from one’s memory
and enhance one’s imagination. It could be trippy—one could be
plugged into SystemOD, and think that whatever was imagined had
really been a reality, complete with the physical sensations which
reinforced one’s experience via the system.

Nin had plugged himself in
through the system’s industrial goggles that displayed the images
in one’s ongoing thoughts. He was simulating a date with
Anya—
what should he greet her with?
“Hello?” “How are you?”
—and wondering what
she liked to do in her spare time.
Smoke
cigarettes? Drive faster than the speed limit—go skydiving—sleep
late when she had work to do—buy some happy pills after clicking an
ad in one of her email inboxes.

He kicked himself out of the system
halfway—why was he doing this, when he was going to meet Anya
later?

Nin thought it was slightly
hypocritical—that he’d just recruited a human, after some of the
awful things Nin had said about humans in the past, to his Elven
acquaintances…

Nin had spoke disparagingly about humans for
a while. It was an orthodox Elven “thing to do,” though he stopped
once he realized that he didn’t actually mind human contact. He
joined in the trash-talk against humans, to fit in within the
circle of Elven noble families. While humans were “guilty as
charged” regarding certain things—he doubted that bashing the
species was going to end up being of any real help to anyone.

So he decided to enter the human realm
instead—another “disgrace,” in his immediate family’s eyes. Most of
the Elven elders did not keep in contact with those who decided to
leave. But Nin knew where to find Tavia, who’d located Dresan
earlier, through a mutual friend. The first thing Tavia had handed
him was an updated cybernetics wardrobe.

“
Don’t forget
karma.”
Wasn’t that what he had said to
Tavia and Dresan, when he had been listening in on their
conversation the day before, as he pored through some blueprints of
The Gilbreth?

Karma was the law of moral causation. Every
act done, no matter how insignificant, would eventually return to
the doer with equal impact.

Perhaps it was some kind of divine
retribution that it wasn’t an elf, but a human girl, who stirred up
his thoughts and feelings on life, technology, and everything in
between.

And now, here he was standing, about to meet
and greet Anya, who was riding in on her motorbike.

The sky was beginning to change color,
signaling the arrival of nightfall. Anya first spotted his fine
hair, which seemed whiter than the moon.

“
Where’s your friend?” Nin
asked, when Anya alighted from her bike. He was completely unaware
of his natural charm and grace having any effect on Anya, who
enjoyed maintaining her “tough cookie” image. But she wasn’t sure
how long more she could do it.

“
Can I ask you something?”
Anya got straight to the point, before Nin could notice the rush of
blood to her cheeks. Her blush would wear off quickly, but it was
intense while it lasted.

I had a dream,
she wanted to mention. She had a flurry of things
to say.
Does it mean anything? I nearly
wore spiked boots here, to be taller next to you—plight of the
vertically challenged—but it would’ve been impractical, wouldn’t
it? Oh, and I had a fortune cookie. Do you like Chinese
food?

Where should she even start? Then she
remembered Nin’s question, and that Leticia was missing.

“
Do you…absolutely
need…Leticia to be around for the briefing?”

Nin seemed a little surprised—Anya’s face
was as serious as her tone of voice. “Well, I was wondering if she
could help Dresan with the surveillance. Is she all right? Is she
upset or offended about something?”

“
No, that’s better,
actually!” Anya relaxed a little, as she focused on taking slower,
deep breaths. “She…” Anya waved her hands up and down in front of
her, palms facing each other. “Had to meet her…boyfriend,” Anya
ended flatly, half-hoping it wasn’t the lamest excuse Nin had
heard, even though it wasn’t false.

“
Right…” Nin said, a lot
more understandably—and with less sarcasm—than Anya expected. He
ran a thumb along his slim jaw line, in thought. “Will she be
meeting us at midnight?”

“
She’d like to.” Anya knew
Leticia would.

Nin gave a nod. “I suppose she could still
help Dresan, then. We can tell her where to meet later.”

Anya was glad she hadn’t antagonized an elf.
She wasn’t sure what that might result in, and she didn’t want to
know, either. Even the most beautiful of faces could hide the
deadliest of natures.

They started to walk in the direction of the
train tracks. They were walking almost an arm’s length apart. Nin
absent-mindedly ran his hand along the tattoo on his lower neck,
before covering it. But Anya had spotted it.

It was glowing, very faintly. It was the one
thing that’d give away an elf’s emotions, even if their minds and
expressions said otherwise.

Nin shrugged, pretending not to notice.

“
Is that a tattoo?” Anya
asked. “May I have a look?”

Nin acquiesced, and dragged his shirt collar
down a little bit more.

“
Very nice,” Anya replied,
impressed at the aesthetic design. There was nothing worse than a
cheap-looking, tacky tattoo on a beautiful body.

“
We’re born with them, and
free to make our own interpretations of what the design
means.”

“
Every elf has a different
one?”

Nin nodded. “Unless you’re from the same
family—then there can be similarities, if you’ve a well-trained
eye.”

Anya had a good look at the design. It
seemed to be a funky and calligraphic form of the letter “B,” with
a Sanskrit script type of flair.

“
It’s a cool mix of…random,
poetic nonsense,” Nin elaborated. “I figured it looks like the
Arabic word for ‘words’…and then I thought it might have something
to do with the word ‘Bushido’, which is a Japanese concept meaning
‘The Way of the Warrior’.”

Even if it didn’t make much sense, Anya had
to admit it was a cool mix.

“
You have any?”

Anya shook her head. “Too scared of the
pain.” She had a fear of needles anyway.

“
I had a dream of you,
earlier,” Anya continued, in a casual tone.

“
Did you?” Nin said with a
sideward glance. When he spoke to Anya, he gave her his full
attention. He couldn’t sense if she wanted to say more. He was more
cautious with keeping his own guard up. He suddenly realized it was
because he liked the
idea
of being in love. Going through the emotions,
however, was a new, somewhat unfamiliar experience. “What
about?”

“
We were learning how to
ice-skate.”

Nin gave a nod, and shifted a little
uncomfortably in his seat. Was she hinting at something? He didn’t
feel like going there. Not just yet. “I used to wonder, what dreams
were made of.”

Anya listened, not knowing if she’d mention
the later half of the dream. She also didn’t know that Nin didn’t
often voice his spontaneous thoughts.

“
I came to the conclusion,”
Nin continued softly, “that sweet dreams are made of these: the
luxury of a voice that cares…a touch that says more than a season
of words.”

It was the sweetest thing Anya had ever
heard someone else say. At that moment, she was dying to feel his
luscious lips on hers, instead of watching them as he spoke. She
didn’t even dare touch him—she feared her hand would be too rough
on his invitingly soft skin. She decided not to mention the other
portion of her dream. She didn’t want to ruin the moment with
something morose.

What Nin described was exactly what his own
touch was like too. Did he know what she wanted?

“
So…are you…psyched up, for
the assignment later?” Nin asked Anya, as they made their way to
the tree which led to the elves’ underground abode.

Anya wrapped one arm in front of her, across
her midsection, as a cool breeze blew. “I just hope I don’t mess
things up.”

“
You’ll be fine,” Nin said
in a velvety voice.

He asked if she had eaten anything.

She nearly choked on almost mentioning the
fortune cookie. She thought back on her day. “Two tubs of
ice-cream.” Had she left the chop suey behind? She rarely forgot to
eat, and never skipped meals.

Nin was flabbergasted, almost stopping in
his tracks in horror and disbelief. “You’ll need something
more…substantial, to last till after midnight.”

Anya gave a laugh, which eased some of her
tension. Before long, they reached the birch tree, and were making
their way down the narrow stairs.

Anya could sense the bustle of activity, as
soon as she stepped into the room. She could hear someone furiously
hitting a keyboard. She didn’t see the golden goblet anywhere.

“
Hey, thief,” Dresan
greeted her with a sly smile. He had gloves on and was carrying a
glass jar, which contained a light blue solution.

“
Leticia will be joining us
later,” Nin told him, as he went to get some maps from the table,
which he passed to Anya. He had marked directions in red
ink.

“
Can Leticia be here at,
say, eleven forty-five?” Dresan asked, taking a few short steps
backward. He seemed to be in a rush.

“
Sure,” Anya replied, and
messaged the information to Leticia right away, before focusing her
concentration onto the papers in her hand.

The first map was an official one, printed
by The Gilbreth Institute. The “Omega” building, in the center of
the entire Gilbreth complex, was circled.

The map below was a blueprint showing the
interior of the Omega unit. The “Key Room” and “Janitor’s Room /
Secret Vault” were circled. Anya noticed a line of small text at
the bottom, which read: “Copyright © 2035 by Dresan.”

The map underneath the
blueprint—
the third and last map,
Anya thankfully noted—showed the layout of the
vault itself. One spot was circled, accompanied by a scrawl of
passionately handwritten text: “X MARKS THE SPOT: Medieval
parchment pieces, HERE.”

Nin explained the first map to Anya. “We’ll
enter by the back of the building, then grab the keys from the
metal case on the wall—you, I mean. The combination on the lock is
‘2, 1, 7,’—Gilbreth’s exact time of birth, at 2:17 a.m.”

Anya memorized the numbers by heart.

“
We’ll give you fake keys
to replace the ones we’ll be taking. Look for the keys labeled,
‘Janitor’s Room’ and ‘V.’”

Nin got Anya to repeat the labels out loud,
twice, before pointing to the second map. “The head guard keeps
watch at the corridor where the janitor’s room is at. Tavia will
create a diversion to lead him away, and we can enter the secret
vault.”

Anya’s head was beginning to spin, though
she was still following Nin.

“
I’ll lead you around,” Nin
said cheerily. “Tavia’s—”

Suddenly, there was a loud boom. Anya and
Nin ducked, as Tavia ran out from her room. A heavy door across her
room swung open—Dresan stepped out, wearing gloves and a pair of
yellow goggles.

“
We’ll stick to the old
plasma slugs,” he said, holding up a charred plasma gun with
spewing smoke from one end. He threw an empty canister onto the
ground—
a slug,
Anya presumed—before returning into the room.