Page 19 (1/1)

The den was to the left, and the doors to the bedrooht The kitchen took up an entire interior wall, and she enjoyed looking out over the living rooain, soun as Optitherapy, but Jack seemed to enjoy her efforts and she’d learned to find satisfaction in it She loved the lazy summer afternoons when she and Jack would retract the balcony s into the walls and the entire apartment felt like it was outside Shelves lined an interior wall, holding her talis the button in her pocket, her se plate-glass s, he shifted the glass to an opaque one-way It was aas they sort of lived in a bulletproof fishbowl Detroit glowed in the near distance, the buildings red in the sunset Randoh-Q traffic and security drones were allowed above the city streets 24/7, but low-Q delivery and recreational drones were not, and thethe rely before their s machine on the counter beeped, and Peri picked Carnac up, collar bell ringing Jack was trying to hide it, but he was on edge and growingho up

"Youthe words between his ears Grabbing a few kitty treats froe s, Carnac still in her ar clay pots on the cold balcony, the chopsticks she’d stolen from Sandy and used to tie up weak steht?" Jack asked, his back to her as he took doo glasses and opened a red "Bill wants to meet at Overdraft to debrief"

"Overdraft?" she questioned as Carnac spilled out of her arms The bar was one of the few places that drafters could call hoh transitions and therefore soht by Opti’s psychologists and staffed by the saenerally too busy for a proper chat, with Peri’s psychologiststhe bar, but it would be more cooing for

"I thought you texted Bill that I was fine," she complained, button in hand as she went to her talis at me?"

"Apparently not," Jack ?" Peri sighed At least at that hour, it would be close to e else to do" Other than read my diary and catch up on the last six weeks of TV eye candy, that is "I e my blouse" Sandy would still see the shiner, but that wo

Out of sorts, she set the button beside a picture of Jack and herself It was night, and there was a huge fire gone to coals behind thenize She was dirty, her hair even longer than it was now Jack was relaxed with his arms around her New Year’s? she wondered as she picked up the heavy fra h the speaker "You home yet?" The heavyset iven hiive his lacked

Peri’s eyes closed as thetold her that she’d used the picture as her own private talisazes tooled around the frame Carnac’s collar and the half-knitted scarf both sported the hourglass-like glyph as well That it looked like Opti’s logo on its side didn’t hurt She only put it on things she’d want to recognize as her own if she ever forgot theists wouldn’t approve, and she hadn’t even told Jack about her experi that with soination iven her the idea, after a cryptic conversation about how ht not be as lethal as Opti ht before Opti had moved him out west She still missed their occasional chats over dessert coffee

Anticipation siht the frahty metal She tried to remember the feel of the thick red dust between her toes and the heat against her face, all of which she could see in the photo

With an oht cale of adrenaline: it had been New Year’s after all The Aborigines who had found theifted theiven back, the blessing the old man had pronounced over each of them It had been heaven, and Peri stood there, elated as the memory held and returned a small part of herself to her She had remembered She had reitated voice ca Peri froave you the day off, but that was before Peri’s le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">