A Stargazer in a Tunnel World

CHANCE

Scanner ready, Elise bumped into the stranger. “Sumimasen.”

She smiled, then ran off. Right, left, left, right, then into an opening in the wall. The dimly lit interior wafted into view, yellowish lights and orange walls reminding her of a sunset she’d never seen. Taking her usual seat, she inspected her scanner for her winnings.

The owner ambled over, sliding a glass of muddy green liquid towards her. “Baby sparrow.”

A rich kid? She followed his gaze. The boy was about her age, maybe eighteen.

Attention focused on the greetar board in front of him, he carelessly threw the worn-out dice, but the motion of his fingers belonged to someone used to the game. That made it easier.

She strolled over, taking the opponent’s seat. Multicolored eyes blinked up at her. He was a handsome prey, but not the first she’d seen. “Bored? Willst du spielen? Quelles sont tes langues?”

“English works. Name’s Julian.” He slid the dice towards her. His hands were smooth, no visible callouses or wounds.

In contrast, hers contained several small scrapes. “I’m Liz.”

The song in the background changed to something upbeat, and the grouchy old regular complained, “Play something from this century!”

Elise would’ve told him to shut up, but she couldn't deviate from the current persona. Fun, bubbly, that’s usually what sparrows preferred. She tapped the silver device on her wrist, her companion. “How about a bet?”

“I don’t bet money.”

Be a good little prey. “Don’t you want to live dangerously?”

“Don’t you do enough of that?”

Her fake smile slipped. His gaze made him feel less like prey and more like a predator she’d unknowingly surrendered herself to. And yet, she didn’t feel threatened. It was oddly liberating.

She smiled, letting her real self show. “Everyone lives dangerously here.”

His eyes lowered to the board, a finger tracing the edge closest to him. “How about another type of bet? If you win, I’ll give you whatever I have on me.”

Elise reached across the table to touch his shirt. The material was good quality. “Even your clothes?”

A slight blush colored his cheeks. “Whatever you want.”

Elise resisted the urge to teased him more. She twirled a die between her fingertips. “And if I lose?”

“You’ll be my guide for a week.”

Even a week of taking him around might not be wasted if she could clean him out at the end. Besides, she could enjoy being herself around him. Could be fun.

For the first time in her life, Elise was fine with losing.

***

LUCK

“Where are we?” He couldn’t pretend he wasn’t lost.

Laughing, the girl who called herself Liz ran through the maze of tunnels until he had no idea how to get back. She did it on purpose. It’d been that way since day one.

An alarm sounded and she came to a stop. He looked upward, following her wide eyes. A haziness was forming near the ceiling of the large dome.

She let out a string of curses in several languages. “It’s a storm.”

“Inside the dome?”

“That’s what we call it when idiots release gases that react with each other. We need a place with airlocks.” She dragged him into a faded building that dwarfed the neighboring units. “How much do you have?”

“Not much.”

She pulled out her scanner, touching it to his wrist. During their weeks together, she’d stolen a little bit here and there, but never so overtly that he couldn’t pretend not to see.

At a closed door, her trembling hand placed her scanner over a terminal. Only when they were inside the elevator did she breathe easily. Up they went before being deposited into a room that was nicer than he expected for this shabby moon.

Liz sat on the wide windowsill, staring out into the dark made to mirror the night. “Sorry, I used all we had.”

“It’s alright.” It wasn’t his money anyway.

He sat next to her, tapping at the glass. They were so high up, the top of the dome looked closer than the ground.

An explosion lit up the gaseous clouds, then another. Liz trembled with each one. “Play music. Something I like.”

A slightly upbeat melody filled the room. He recognized the song that’d been playing when they first met. Liz pressed her forehead against the window, breaths fogging up the glass. Rich edged closed, fighting the urge to hold her.

Outside, clouds mixed and sparked beneath them, a colorful storm. Above them, the reflections flickered on the underside of the dome.

“It almost looks like stars, doesn’t it?” Her eyes, reflecting the same lights, looked wistfully at the dome ceiling. “I miss the stars.”

Had she spent a long time on a ship? There’d been nothing of that in her file.

“The storm should clear before morning.” No trace of fear lingered in her golden eyes when she turned to him.

He should move away. Her petty thefts weren’t the only things he’d pretended not to see.

She leaned closer, gaze captivating.

His heart raced. If she were just some girl. If he were just—Her lips were soft. The kiss, all too brief. He wanted so much more. His fingertips brushed against the back of her neck.

She pulled at her hair tie and blondish hair spilled over her shoulders. “I’m gonna shower. They have water here.”

He wanted to hold on to her, but didn’t.

Tossing her hair tie and a pair of dice onto the bed, she disappeared into the bathroom.

Rich stared at the closed door. When he heard water, he moved to the bed. Pulling the hair tie to him, he lifted it towards the light. He found a hair that contained a follicle and pulled it out, stuffing it into the fold in his pocket.

He still couldn’t believe that she’d talked to him first that day in the graytek. It’d been so unexpected. That’s why he asked her for that ridiculous bet. He didn’t think she’d lose. Elizabeth Castillo was known for being a greetar player.

One week had turned to three, with her never once asking when it would be over. He let himself lay back on the bed.

Pretending was tiring. Lying even more so.

He shouldn’t sleep. Shouldn’t let his guard down. But… His lips already missed hers.

The storm drew closer, rattling the windows. Rich’s eyes drifted shut.

***

TRUTH

Elise stuffed a hand in her pocket, spinning the die between her fingertips. It wasn’t the first time someone had lied to her. Definitely not the first time someone had tricked her. It might’ve been the first time she allowed herself to be tricked. It was definitely the first time she’d been hurt.

Stupid lightning strike and those multicolored eyes of his. She should punch him next time she saw him. And then kiss him. He looked cute when caught off guard.

She laughed, startling one of the lowlifes that worked for Faso.

The man pointed at the terminal. “Scanner.”

Elise tossed her hair back, glaring at him. Different persona this time, different accent. “It’s empty. There was a damned storm.”

If only she could escape this place, but she’d never leave here alive.

He tapped the waiting terminal and Elise touched her receiver to it.

Yeah, it was all the lightning strike’s fault. That, and his eyes.

A door behind her opened. “Boss wants a word.”

It was a nice dream to think there would be a next time.

***

LIES

Rich woke up when he hit the floor. Why was he sleeping on the windowsill?

Outside, lights shone brightly, mimicking a sun that was over six billion kilometers away. The bathroom door was open.

Liz was gone. Only a single die remained on cold bedsheets.

She hadn’t stolen his companion, so he pulled up the surveillance recording for the previous night. On the display, heat signatures appeared in the layout of the room. He was on the bed when Liz returned from her shower. She tried to wake him, gave up, and laid next to him.

He skimmed through the recording. One hour, two. It was almost three hours when he saw himself sit up.

“Julian? Are you alright?” She sounded worried. “Julian?”

“Why are you calling me that? That’s not my name.”

Rich went cold. His classmates at the academy once said he’d talked to them for five minutes before they realized he was still asleep. He hadn’t thought it was this bad.

He watched in horror as his target, Elizabeth Castillo, asked him about his lies, one after another. While answering her, he walked to the window and laid down, saying he preferred the hard surface.

“Were you told to seduce me?”

“No.” That part was true. “J’ai eu un coup de foudre.” Hell, a little too true.

Thankfully, he’d become unresponsive after that, and Liz left.

He stopped the recording and checked his pocket. The hidden fold was undisturbed. Among the secrets he’d divulged, he hadn’t mentioned the DNA sample.

He no longer had any reason to stay, but he couldn’t leave without seeing her. Without begging her to run away with him. Insane, maybe, but why not?

Rich was trying to find his way back to the graytek when an explosion shook the surroundings. Unlike the gas explosions yesterday, this had been on the ground.

A pillar of smoke rose in the distance, alarms blaring all around. He heard airlocks closing nearby and frantic shouts for evacuation. More of the world shook, reverberating from the first explosion. One of the old buildings nearby collapsed, and he couldn’t escape the debris.

He blinked, and when he opened his eyes, he was in the academy hospital.

His handler told him his assignment was over.

Elizabeth Castillo was dead.

***

FATE

Rich was daydreaming again. Running down winding tunnels that reeked of decay.

Mayumi touched his shoulder and he winced. “Is your arm still hurting from that transport accident?”

He nodded. Not like he could tell his friends the academy loaned him out for an assignment in the crime-ridden Linneon.

A familiar song started playing over the speakers, or maybe in his head. It was the song Liz had played that night. He hadn’t noticed before, but it was a love song.

He covered his face with a hand to hide a bitter smile.

If only he hadn’t kissed her. Hadn’t followed her. Hadn’t made that bet.

His fingers played with the die in his pocket. He closed his eyes, shielding himself from the world.

If only he hadn’t accepted that ridiculous assignment.

Would she be alive if they’d never met?

“Rich!” Mayumi brought him back to the sun-filled present, so very different from the hazy tunnels of that underground world he’d shared with Liz.

He was met with golden eyes that twinkled of starlight despite it being midday.

“This is Brianna Elise, she’s transferring here,” Mayumi introduced.

Rich froze, unable to exorcise the ghost that was speeding his heart. Was he dreaming?

“Rich, you’re staring!”

“Sorry.” But he couldn’t look away.

“Will you show me to the main building?” A familiar voice, an unfamiliar accent.

Rich nodded, still in a daze. His friends’ jokes barely registered as he led her to a more secluded spot. “How? They said you died in the explosions.”

“That’s a good look on your face.” She punched his good shoulder, making his flinch. “It wasn’t hard to add Elizabeth Castillo to the death toll.”

“Still, you know the investigators were focusing on you, so why are you here?”

“You have something of mine.”

His fingers twitched, remembering the strand of hair he’d destroyed instead of handing over to his superiors.

A lonely die sat in the palm of her hand.

He pulled the matching one from his pocket.

She placed her hand onto his, intertwining their fingers. Her smile lit up her eyes.

Every cell in him refusing to let go, Rich drew her closer. “Care for a game?”

Marilia Bonelli has had several wonderful short stories published in several anthologies. She toils away currently on a what was once a trilogy, but keeps growing against her will…