XVII

The Pearl seemed to glide weightless down the street as Elodie stood outside the MediCenter. She glanced at her bracelet. Five minutes were left until its scheduled arrival time window, but it was only a block away. Astrid had been right about its punctuality.

It wasn’t difficult to see how the automated vehicle got its name. Its round, opalescent shell alternated between gleaming white and muted swirls of rainbow in the patchy sunlight. Each Pearl added a level of whimsy to Westfall’s otherwise serious palate of muted grays and aged whites. The only spots marring the car’s pristine coating were two half-moon shaped windows on either side as if the zippy vehicle had freed itself from a tight pinch and had its glimmering sides sheared off.

The Pearl silently weaved around the clunky MAX train and paused for pedestrians with the intuitiveness of a human, but with the endless, split-second calculations of a computer.

Elodie leaned forward, then abruptly stopped herself. Astrid’s text had said to meet the Pearl outside, but not to approach the curb or the Pearl until it had made a complete stop and the door had opened. It was part of the testing for the newer, smarter prototype, and Astrid, who hated using exclamation points because they didn’t feel “emotionally specific” enough, had used five.

The Pearl smoothly transitioned to the right lane, slowing as soon as it reached the corner of Elodie’s block. It eerily crept along the curb. Its tinted window seemed to peer at the citizens entering and exiting the restaurant on the corner before it sped forward and came to a halt directly in front of Elodie. It had stopped so precisely that she only had to take a few steps to meet it at the curb.

A chime sounded from the Pearl, and Elodie’s bracelet flashed brilliant white as the back door swept open. She slapped the passenger side window. Giggles burst from her lips as she waited. She never was good at scaring anyone. Anyone other than herself, that is. The window silently slid down. She’d expected to see Astrid in the “driver” seat. Instead the front seats were empty. Elodie bent over and poked her head inside the car.

Astrid’s long legs and signature navy and green checkered shoes were the first things Elodie saw.

“What’s cookin’, good lookin’?” Astrid leaned forward from the backseat and winked. Her shimmery green eyeliner beautifully accentuated the delicate upturn of her eyes. She clicked her tongue and motioned for Elodie to join her inside.

“The Pearl was so accurate, I figured you’d be driving.” Elodie shrugged off her backpack and slid into the Pearl’s plush interior.

Astrid’s sleek ponytail brushed the headrest as she shook her head. “Nope. Observing slash meeting my best friend who I hardly ever see in the real. Work and play combined.” She interlocked her fingers. “Throw a little bit of work in there, and every hour becomes billable.”

“I wish I could get paid for socializing.” Elodie settled in to the seat and the door closed automatically.

“You? Socialize? ” Astrid clutched her chest in mock horror.

Elodie shook her head and ignored the comment. “Well, I’m glad you did. A lot happened at work, and it’s better to talk in person.”

Astrid stretched her legs out in the open interior, toeing the seat across from her before crossing her long legs at her ankles and resting them on the fleecy carpet. “Real life meetups are highly overrated, and always seem to interrupt things.”

“Gah. Thanks, Astrid. I’m so glad you could make some time for li’l ol’ me.” Elodie batted her eyelashes sardonically.

“Shut up. None of that applies to you. Just, you know, to . . .” Astrid tapped her black polished fingertips on the tinted window at the pedestrians briskly walking along the sidewalk. “Everybody else.”

“You’re only saying that because you get reclusey in that apartment all by yourself,” Elodie commented with a little more brusqueness than she’d meant.

“Thea is crashing with me for a bit, so I’m no longer wild and free. You remember my sister?” Astrid didn’t wait for a response. “Did I detect a hint of jealousy in there somewhere, Miss Elodie Grace?” She combed her fingers through her hair and settled back against the seat. “Gwen’s on one again, isn’t she?” She brushed the end of her ponytail against her cheek. “What am I saying? It’s always something with Gwendolyn Benavidez.” Astrid stuck out her chest and lifted her chin in the same ostentatious way Elodie’s mother did anytime she introduced herself to anyone.

Elodie let her hair down and massaged the tender spot where the rubber band had pulled at her scalp. She couldn’t tell if the tight tie or the mention of her mother had made her temples start to throb with the first dull pains of a headache. “Don’t get me started.”

“Couldn’t if I wanted to. A ride out to Zone Six wouldn’t give us enough time.” The apples of Astrid’s highlighted cheeks lifted with a smile. “And this bad boy isn’t charged up with enough juice for a trip like that.”

Elodie blew out a long, lip-rattling sigh. “It’s nothing new anyway. Same neurosis, different day.”

And this day had truly been different from the rest.

Elodie pressed her hands against her thighs. “I met someone. He’s really . . .” She bit her lower lip, pausing as she searched for a word that encompassed the mohawked stranger. “Interesting.”

Elodie flicked the zipper on her backpack as she replayed her encounter with tall, dark, and handsome while Astrid listened, her dark eyes widening with each detail.

Astrid stopped twirling the ends of her hair and sucked in a sharp breath. “So, he asked you if you’d ever had a water bath”— disgust pinched her features—“and then told you that he works in the morgue?”

Elodie hugged her backpack against her chest and pressed into the seat’s milky soft fabric. “Yes, but not in a way that sounded as creepy as you just made it.” At least, she didn’t feel like what had happened was creepy. Strange, yes. But not creepy. Creepy implied danger and fear, and Elodie didn’t feel threatened or afraid.

“It sounds creepy because that’s really the only way it can sound.” Astrid’s inky black ponytail swished emphatically as she spoke. “When we talked about you being able to speak to guys, I didn’t think you’d shoot so low. And I mean that both figuratively and literally since you found him in the basement.” She rested her elbow on the armrest dividing the two bucket seats. “Although, I guess I should be happy that you talked to anyone at all about something other than work.”

“I knew you could find the positive if you just looked hard enough.” Elodie relaxed a little, letting her backpack slump into her lap. “And it wasn’t super awkward. I managed to speak the whole time and everything.”

“Did the whole ‘Let me give you a bath in the ELU’ conversation happen before or after you ran face-first into the door?” Astrid sucked in her lips to keep from laughing.

“Oh, don’t remind me.” Elodie groaned and slid down in the seat of the self-driving Pearl, tucking as much of her face as she could into the collar of her shirt. “He probably only spoke to me because he felt sorry for the weird girl who couldn’t manage to enter the building correctly.”

As the Pearl glided out of the city and into suburbia, the chunky gray freeway barricades ended, replaced by the blushing pink of flowering plum trees, brilliant green pines, and the steady thrumming of construction bots still working to upgrade the thousands of stores and homes that had made up the prepandemic suburbs.

“Possible, but I bet he wanted to talk to you because of how gorgeous and fabulous you are.” Astrid held up her long finger. “Not that I am in any way rooting for or condoning an emotionally romantic liaison.”

With how much Astrid obsessed over the rules, the thought that she would hope for something as torrid as an emotional liaison never crossed Elodie’s mind. Plus, Elodie wasn’t quite sure what an emotionally romantic liaison would even entail.

Astrid threw her ponytail over her shoulder. “Actually, if you ever encounter him again, tell him you’re engaged to a Key Corp Major and then turn and run in the opposite direction before he has a chance to attack you with one of those End-of-Life Unit body carving bots.”

Elodie zipped and unzipped the small front pouch of her backpack. “I don’t think I need to worry about being attacked.”

Astrid pursed her lips. “You say that now, but when you’re lying face up on an exam table with bots waving their blades overhead and you hear creepy mohawk dude’s maniacal laughter echoing around the room, you’ll remember this conversation and wish that you had listened to me.”

Comments like that made Elodie question whether or not Astrid had ever read one of the banned books she went on and on about having destroyed.

They passed by the faded orange Home Depot building stretched next to the freeway like spilled juice. Elodie held her breath. She’d seen a video of some kids who had broken into the abandoned warehouse-sized store not too long ago. It had been fifty years since the Cerberus virus first tore through civilization, yet blood still stained the concrete floors within.

Elodie drummed her fingertips against her knees. “Another incident happened today too,” she said, changing the subject. She didn’t want to think about Cerberus or let Astrid continue to destroy the only pleasant thing that had happened all day.

Astrid cocked her head and fingered the top button on her denim jacket. “Another scary real-life convo with a different creepy weirdo?”

The Pearl maneuvered off the highway and onto the nearly empty four-lane street that led to Elodie’s neighborhood.

“No,” said Elodie. “Do you think that your dad could use his connections at the MediCenter to get me an update on a patient?”

Astrid stilled in the way she did whenever she felt Elodie about do something she wouldn’t agree with. “Why don’t you ask for an update yourself?” Astrid said, her voice stony and low.

“I tried, but Holly still showed this patient as being in my unit.” Elodie adjusted the hair tie around her wrist. “She’d just been transferred, so it might not have updated yet.”

“Problem solved.” Astrid clapped. “I’m sure Holly will have all the info when you go in tomorrow.”

Elodie pressed her chin against her backpack. “Yeah, but there was something weird about the whole thing.”

“Weirder than the guy you met in the basement?” Astrid waggled her sharp brows.

“Astrid, I’m serious. The transfer team came a lot faster than usual, and they didn’t wait for me to sign off. And when I called their unit director, she said they’d never received the transfer order.”

Astrid crossed and uncrossed her slender legs. “Then who came and got her?”

Elodie threw up her hands and glanced out the window, distracted by the holographic blue and orange MAX logo floating in front of the transit center like a human-sized button.

Astrid’s brows pinched and she shook her head as if brushing away a thought. “I’m sure someone on the transfer team made a mistake and will come find you in the morning and have you sign off. No biggie.”

The MAX red line pulled into the station and the platform was flooded in hazy purple orbs as the train doors opened and citizens poured into the suburbs of Westfall’s Zone Two.

Elodie pressed her back into the seat. “It’s against protocol to transfer a patient without a signoff.”

“Then that person will totally pay for their mistake.” Astrid resumed twirling the ends of her signature pony. “It doesn’t seem like as big of a deal as you’re making it. You’re not the one who’s going to get reprimanded.”

Elodie let out a breath as she studied the lines of white stitching on the upholstered ceiling. Astrid didn’t get it. People in the MediCenter didn’t make those kinds of mistakes. There were protocols in place to make sure nothing fell through the cracks, certainly not entire patients. They were dealing with people’s lives, not just making sure vehicles found their passengers without requiring them to walk to the curb.

Elodie chewed the inside of her cheek. That wasn’t fair. Astrid worked hard and built tech Elodie could hardly understand how to use, much less create. Plus, Gus had slacked off and not refilled Patient Ninety-Two’s sedation tube. But that wasn’t nearly as big of a mistake as losing the girl completely.

The Pearl turned down a narrow, sunflower-bordered road, their round yellow-rimmed faces stretched up toward the sun. Elodie envied the simplicity of the flowers. Grow, grow, grow. Bloom. Drink in the light and the early morning rain. Return to the earth. They possessed no curiosity, no want, no need to experience something greater than what was laid out before them.

“Think about it like this.” Astrid tucked her foot up underneath her and turned to better face Elodie. “What’s the alternative?” She tilted her pointed chin. “That there’s some big conspiracy going on that you know nothing about?” She snorted. “This is what happens when you read even a single page of a banned book. You make up all sorts of crazy shit in your mind instead of channeling that brain power toward productivity.”

No, Astrid definitely wasn’t reading anything unsanctioned.

Elodie twirled her finger into her scrub top. “You’re probably right.” She was beginning to feel a little silly. Gus had made a mistake, and so had the person who’d picked up Patient Ninety-Two from the Long-Term Care Unit. People weren’t bots. They couldn’t be expected to do everything flawlessly 100 percent of the time. When she arrived at work the next morning, Aubrey’s chart would be annotated and everything would be completely normal.

The Pearl turned into Elodie’s neighborhood and maneuvered down the main windy street that connected every cul-de-sac. Fir and big-leaf maple trees skirted the road, nearly hiding the one or two houses tucked back in each cul-de-sac. The original houses in the neighborhood had been built scrunched together with only a few feet and a sliver of yard separating one family from another. That design had died with most of the neighbors. Before Elodie was born, bots had come through and demolished the majority of houses throughout Zone Two and beyond. Now, where there had been four houses, one house remained, with an expansive front yard and backyard. Neither Elodie nor her friends had played outside much as children, but there was plenty of room if they’d made the decision to forego VR and meetup in the real.

“Now.” Astrid bounced in her seat, jerking Elodie from her thoughts. “I have to tell you all about my VR date with Roxy. She’s the chick from Madrid who I met at that lame worldwide tech ambassadors meeting.”

“The one with the piercings?” Elodie had a hard time keeping track of all the adoring girlfriends who were as in love with the Fujimoto name as they were with Astrid.

Astrid shook her head. “That’s Nadia. Roxy is the one whose hair is always a different color.”

The Pearl stopped in front of Elodie’s house, but she settled into the seat and hugged her backpack like it was a teddy bear and she was at a sleepover. Astrid always had the best VR meetups. Skydiving, creeking, cave diving. It was always something daring and fresh. Elodie didn’t have the guts to try any of those things. What if she splatted against the ground or got stuck in an underwater cave and drowned? Astrid had told her numerous times that dying in virtual reality didn’t mean you’d die in the real, since one was actually happening while the other existed in a computer world, but Elodie didn’t want to try . The word reality was in the name, and from what little she’d experienced of the VR update, it was as real as real life.

“You have to tell me everything,” Elodie squealed. “But first, can we keep driving? I can’t see her—yet—but I can feel Gwen staring at us.”

Astrid pulled her holopad out from the storage pouch nestled inside the armrest. Her fingers danced over the screen as Elodie’s gaze swept along the house and its ordinary mud-brown siding, brick steps, and flat green lawn. Soon she’d move into a house with Rhett. Into a house just as ordinary as this one.

The front door swung open and Gwen stepped onto the porch. Her long hair was swept up in a tight coiffure that didn’t budge as she floated down the steps, her fingers dusting the air with each wave.

“Elodie, dear.” Her practiced cheeriness passed through the window muffled and distorted.

Elodie’s palms went clammy.

Astrid rolled down the window, stuck the top half of her body out, and used the door as a seat. The Pearl crept forward as Astrid drummed on the top of the vehicle and shouted, “Sorry, Gwendolyn. Your daughter and me got places to be.”