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“You’re drowning me!”
Liberty laughed at how much fun Mender was having at the kid’s expense. The two of them had been in the lake long enough now that their skin should have been as wrinkled as an old man’s, but the boy had been covered with what appeared to be years of grime. He had obviously never taken a bath in his life, and had been so fearful of the water Mender had had to pick him up and throw him into the lake. Unfortunately, that had led to his near drowning before the boy realized that all he had to do was stand to get his head out of the knee deep water.
As soon as Liberty was certain the guys weren’t going to kill each other or drown, she finished filling the water tanks, then found a private spot to enjoy a good scrubbing herself. With her wet clothes thrown over her shoulder, Liberty hurried back to the safety of Airus. The run-in with the mountain men had unnerved her so much she wanted to get into the air as soon as possible. Once onboard, she pulled up the ladder and raised anchor. Since there wasn’t any wind here, there was no danger of the airship would move until directed to do so. She would have felt safer if hers hadn’t been tethered to Mender’s. If anyone boarded his, they would have easy access to hers.
Liberty checked the area just to be certain all was well and saw Mender pulling the kid out of the lake. Not wanting them to think she was spying, she headed to her cabin to hang her clothes up to dry. There, she rewound Boy.
Over the last few weeks she had never lost hope that by some miracle Boy would be up and moving around each time she went into the cabin, but was once again disappointed. He hadn’t moved and still had the same blank expression. “We were attacked by mountain men. I’m so glad you didn’t see it. It’s best you were in here, safely out of harm’s way.”
Liberty threw her wet clothes onto the foot of her bed and went over to dust his eyes with the sleeve of her clean blouse. Being here with him soothed her nerves like nothing else had all day, so she sat on the edge of the bed. “You no longer need me to breath for you since Mender added the ventilator. You’re doing that really well on your own now.”
She twisted her fingers together and listened to the hiss of the ventilator. If only it meant Boy could also hear her. She missed his constant chatter and questions.
“It’s just occurred to me.” She walked over and placed a hand on Boy’s head. “I’ve broken another one of my Father’s rules.” She closed her eyes. The truth was, she had broken just about all of them over the past couple of months, since meeting Boy, Mender and now one of the mountain men’s children. She had changed so much and would never be the same again. How could she go back to that solitary way of life after knowing such friendship and love? “Brother, I love you. I don’t why. You’re just bolts and wires after all. When you were able to, you couldn’t walk without waking the dead, nor did you ever cease with your constant chatter and curiosity.” She sighed before patting his head. The glass felt too chilly and hard to the touch ever to hint at the joy for life and humanity the robot had once held. “I’m not giving up on you because I know you wouldn’t give up on me if I were in your place.” “Liberty!”
She patted Boy’s head once more before heading out to see what Mender wanted. With the way her day was going, they were probably being attacked again. Once out on deck, Liberty stopped dead in her tracks. “You’re naked.”
Mender pointed upwards. “My eyes are up here.”
Even after his reprimand, Liberty couldn’t stop staring. “But you’re naked. Where’re your clothes.”
“Damn it. That’s not what I came to show you.”
Fortunately, hearing the obscenity made Liberty look up. “You cursed. You never curse.”
He grinned. “I can see why you do it, though. It gets results. Now at least you’re not ogling my bits and pieces.”
Of course saying that only made her look down again.
“Damn it to hell, Liberty. Stop eyeing my parts and look at the kid,” but when she did, Mender huffed. “Not at his bits and pieces but at his face and hair. For pity’s sake, woman, have you never seen a naked man before?”
A hot flush started at Liberty’s neck and crept upwards. “Of course not, and why would I want to anyway?”
He grinned. “I don’t know. You haven’t stopped staring since we got here, so you tell me.”
She closed her eyes. “Well go put some clothes on. Why are you on my ship, stark naked, in the first place anyway?”
“Just open your eyes and look at the kid’s face and hair and you’ll know why.”
It took a moment to regain her composure, but she finally opened her eyes, forcing herself to look only where directed. She blinked several times as she tried to understand what she was seeing. “His hair is the same red as mine.”
Mender pushed back wet hair off the boy’s forehead. “His eyes are the green shade of green as yours.”
She forgot about the men not wearing any clothes and walked over to get a closer look. The kid backed away as she neared, but Mender grabbed his arm and held him in place.
Mender said, “The two of you have the same high forehead, the same jawline and straight nose. How is it possible for the two of you to look so much alike?”
She didn’t understand it either, but it really was unbelievable how much the kid resembled her. Was it possible they were related? Liberty thought over the few facts she knew about where she had come from. “Father never said where he’d found me. He thought I was about two years old when he did, lost and crying for my mother. He tried looking for her but finally decided she was either dead or had abandoned me – not such an unusual occurrence since food could be so scarce in some areas.”
“She said she had left you there by the lake to save your life,” the kid said.
Liberty took a step back, surprised by the unexpected statement. “How would you know that?”
“Mother told me I had a sister but that she couldn’t keep her. If the mountain men had ever found a girl, she would have been used crudely, death a great release from the things they would have done to her. Mother said she had seen the balloon man at the lake many times over the years and so waited for him to stop by again. She hoped he would take you away to safety.” The kid reached out and touched her hair. “She said my sister’s name was Liberty and my hair was the same color as hers.”
Several thoughts came and went as Liberty tried to absorb the idea that she might indeed be this kid’s sister. It was hard to decide whether or not this was good news. To know she wasn’t alone filled her with hope, but discovering she might be a daughter of one of the crazed mountain men was troublesome to say the least. Was she doomed to succumb to their madness, to end up killing and eating people?
Realizing she had been silent much too long, she finally asked, “What’s your name?”
The boy met her eyes and studied her for a long time before finally answering, “Justice.”
She nodded. “Well, Justice, it looks as if you need some clothes. You seem to be about the same size as my father. I’ll go get you some of his.” She glanced back at Mender as she walked off. “You should put on some clothes too. This news is hard enough to take in without a bunch of naked men standing around my airship.”
Mender laughed and called out after her, “If I remember correctly, the first time we met you were only in your undies.”
She snorted. “Serves you right for coming aboard uninvited.”
He chuckled. “Did I say I didn’t enjoy the view?”