The Other Side of Life (Book #1, Cyberpunk Elven Trilogy) (12 page)

Nin looked down at his N-Gage. He’d switched
the volume off, but his Google news stream was still coming in
constantly. He logged off, so that he could concentrate on the
conversation with Anya.

“
Well…some good came out of
it—Leticia and I got into hacking that way,” Anya said animatedly.
“We figured out how to change our IP addresses—cover our tracks, or
stay hidden, so to speak. How to stay invisible online, browsing
with anonymous proxy servers. All that led us to…do what we do.”
Apart from Leticia, Anya had never shared the story with anyone.
“Oh, and it made it easier for my dad to contact me,
too.”

She didn’t feel overly cautious, sharing the
details with Nin. From what she knew so far, she didn’t think he’d
have much to gain from their background information. Nin reached
for a small stone dish on the counter behind him. There were pieces
of what looked like little black tea leaves inside. He set it on
the table. “Yesterday…at the train tracks. You said your dad’s on
the run? What did he do?”

He remembered,
Anya thought to herself.

Nin set a pot of hot water on the table, and
handed a teacup to Anya.

“
He was an activist.” She
looked at Nin, and saw him scatter a pinch of the black leaves into
his teacup. She took the same amount. She would have taken triple
the amount, otherwise. “He used to stand around in public, on the
streets…he’d hand pamphlets out to people, telling them to, be
themselves…to not be afraid, to stand up for something. He got
arrested for being a public nuisance. But then he escaped from jail
with two other inmates, ha ha.”

“
I see where you get your
bandit skills from,” Nin said, toasting his teacup. “Establishments
are a joke too. They just brainwash and control people—why not
start a revolution?”

Anya took a whiff of the tea. It was
strangely stimulating, yet relaxing, at the same time. And that was
just the tea’s scent.

“
Coca leaves. The Mayans
lived a good life.” Nin raised his eyebrows for a moment. “You can
smoke it too, but this brings out the flavor better.” Anya figured
what Nin meant, after her first gulp. The drink seemed to ebb away
any tension in every fiber of her body, and gave her brain a light
buzz, like she was ready to float away.

Anya gazed at Nin,
wondering why he was being so nice to her.
Maybe he’s just nice to everyone.

“
Have you?” she
asked.

“
Have I what?”

“
Have you ever fallen in
love?”

“
Better—I was supposed to
get married.”

Anya’s eyes would have widened more, if it
weren’t for the calming effects of the black tea. She made a note
of the Coca leaves to herself. This was a good way to get somebody
comfortable to talk about anything.

“
Whatever
happened?”

Nin took a sip of his
drink. The teacup was made of delicate fine china, high quality
stuff. He thought of Saerah, the Elven princess, who was exquisite,
but exquisitely boring too. “About…two human years ago. It wasn’t
what I
wanted
…it
was arranged…she and I had nothing in common. Just…royal blood.” He
paused, waiting to see the well-known effects of
elitism.

Anya narrowed her eyes, as if trying to
sharpen her vision. “You’re royalty…a prince?”

Nin sat up and rested his elbows against the
table. “Used to be—Ithilnin, Prince of Helli’sandur.” Ever since he
had relinquished his duties, the title felt like a foreign
language. “But I’ll settle for being King of The Velvet
Underground.”

“
You must find this more…”
Anya looked around the pantry, at the sturdy, handmade cabinets,
and small orange lights that graced the ceiling. “Fun.”

Another boom went off outside. Not as loudly
as the first.

“
I miss the snow, though.”
Nin had a faraway look in his eyes. “Helli’sandur’s a ravine. A
canyon of ice.”

If Anya looked hard enough, she thought she
could see an ice kingdom in the depths of his pupils. Whether he
chose the title of ‘prince’ or ‘king,’ he was still ‘in charge,’ to
some extent. “What do you do, as a leader?”

Nin mulled over it. “I delegate,” he said
with mock superiority, and the most charming wink Anya had ever
seen.

“
Funny thing, though.” Nin
mumbled his uncensored thoughts. “‘Cold as my heart,’ that’s what
Saerah said of me—Saerah’s the…one I was betrothed to—quite
fitting, with all the ice around, don’t you think?”

Anya was half-listening.
She was daydreaming about Nin—who seemed to be a walking enigma. He
wasn’t overly aggressive, but wasn’t a complete pushover. He seemed
to be genuinely nice, and seemed to have an honestly devilish side
too. An eclectic and rather delectable mix of qualities.
He’d have a
lot
of admirers, if he were in the human world a lot
of the time.

“
Is that true?” Anya had
heard something about his cold heart.

She listened to the soft sound of Nin’s
breathing, aware of how it had a soothing, calming effect on her,
somewhat.

“
Love is a game to me.” A
dark shadow seemed to go across Nin’s fair face.

He’s been bitten
before,
Anya thought.
Or maybe elves are just born wise.

Nin glanced at Anya. She shifted a little in
her seat—he was looking at her with an intensity she was not quite
used to. “Do you think I’m…heartless?” His voice was barely more
than a whisper.

“
That would be a shame,”
Anya tried to make light of what Nin had said. “Then there’d be
nothing for me to steal.” But she noticed Nin didn’t quite react to
her attempt at wit and humor, so she said with more sincerity, “No.
If you were…heartless…you wouldn’t bother to find this…missing
parchment piece. And you’re right about love.” Anya curled her
right fist, in a kind of weak air punch, to show her agreement.
“Maybe life is just a game too. Or a…popularity
contest.”

“
I thought she was the
one…” Nin went on. He loved how comfortable it was, talking to
Anya. “But the closer it got to the date…the more demanding she
got. And I realized it was more of a political move on her part.
She later accused me of getting cold feet, and being immature.” He
paused. Perhaps there was some truth in that, to an extent. “Why
shouldn’t we be free to love, or pursue who or what we want in
life?”

Anya nodded, even though her head felt a
little heavy. “Love is a lie, a fantasy…an illusion people buy to
escape a dull life.” She felt relieved to say it, in fact. It came
straight from the complex cynicism which resided in her innermost
heart.

“
True,” Nin said, “but I
also think that a shared, real love is the most precious
thing.”

“
How would you know it’s
for real?”

Nin traced a small area of the circular
golden rim of the teacup. “When you see the person for what they
really are, not what you want to see…when you accept them, flaws
and all. When what’s inside matters more than what’s on the
outside.”

Anya and Nin leaned back, both gently
smiling. They were lulled by the conversation they had just shared,
along with the soothing effect of the Coca tea leaves. They seemed
to have the same hopes and dreams. They felt a strange kind of
kinship, a bond forming—like they had something in common, even
though they just didn’t know what to call it, exactly.

Chapter 7:

Anya’s phone beeped—she read the message
from Leticia:

Break time. Hey I was just wondering...do
elves live forever? Are they immortal?

‘
Break time’?
Anya wondered.
Does she
mean ‘break-in’?
Anya thought it was
strange Leticia had messaged. She usually considered it easier to
make a phone call straight away. Then Anya remembered where Leticia
was, and felt silly for misconstruing the word. “Break time, as in,
rehearsal break,” she reasoned. No wonder Leticia had chosen to
text-message instead.

The question stayed on her mind. After a few
moments she posed the question to Nin. “Are you immortal?”

“
Immortal? No. We die
too.”

Nin took a sip of tea, enjoying the taste
that lingered. He was sinking into a state of quintessential bliss.
Philosophy, good company, and a nice cup of tea made for a
combination he derived a great amount of satisfaction from. He
usually found himself with his own company, when dealing with the
weightier issues of life. His thoughts shifted back to Anya’s
question, and the difference of years between their two races. “But
elves live much longer than the average human,” he added as an
afterthought. “More than a few centuries.”

Tavia interrupted the conversation as she
came into the pantry for some water. She filled half a cup with
water, downed it in one gulp, then filled the cup again to the
brim.

Anya took the opportunity to reply to
Leticia:

Asked Nin your question—his reply: more than
a few centuries…

“
Three cups will send you
to the moon,” Tavia was saying to Anya, as she refreshed Anya’s cup
of Coca tea.

Tavia would have said more, if her mind
wasn’t still buzzing from the various codes and combinations of
Gilbreth’s security systems she had been trying to hack. Tavia
rubbed her face with her hands, then covered her eyes with her
palms for a moment. “Hour and a half more to midnight,” she
muttered to Nin, who didn’t need the reminder. He had a good sense
of time, even in the absence of his wrist device to refer to.

“
Is everything
ready?”

“
Almost. I was trying to
deactivate the vault’s sensor system. No such luck.”

Nin sat up straight. “You tried your best.”
Looking to Anya, he added, with a touch of confidence and moral
support, “We’ll do our best, later.”

Tavia leaned over, speaking in a low voice
to Nin, “Did you show her our…side project?” Anya was already in
the elves’ abode. Their marvelous side project was what really
connected their underground network.

Nin’s face lit up. “Why didn’t I think of
that?” He tapped his foot on the ground, like he was already ready
to go.

Tavia gestured with her glass of water,
toward the stone dish of Coca leaves. Nin gave a nod, in
acknowledgement and agreement. Anya wondered what else the elves
could be spending their time on.

“
We’ll be back on time,”
Nin grinned at Tavia. He was still seated, but it didn’t conceal
his love for action and adventure.

Tavia stood, with the cup of water in hand.
“Don’t knock yourselves out too soon…” she advised, as she made her
way out.

Anya gazed at the black tea leaves, at the
bottom of her empty tea cup. Chloe used to tell her tales of
ancient China, where people could decipher hidden messages in the
way tea leaves settled. Anya doubted she’d be hit with a bolt of
enlightenment, in her present situation.

“
Anya.” Nin stood close to
Anya, placing a hand on her shoulder.

She gazed up at Nin, with an expectant look
on her face.

“
Would you like to see The
Velvet Underground’s best kept secret?”

Anya narrowed her eyes at Nin. “You’re full
of surprises.”

“
Says who?” Nin turned on
his heel, with a slight skip in his step, and started heading for
the cavern’s main hall. He added in a playful, lilting tone, “I’ve
already told you
so
much. Maybe too much…”

Nin handed her a slim pair of goggles, with
deep pink lenses. “To see better in the dark,” he explained. The
elves had good night vision, but the goggles were an extra help.
He’d use his own later, when they were at the Gilbreth Institute.
His was a little more hi-tech, with more built-in functions such as
calculating the coordinates for jumping distances.

He opened yet another door in the wall, and
Anya followed him through a dark passageway, lit by his pendant.
Anya felt supremely privileged to be allowed access to what must be
something rarely shown to humans. She relished the idea that here
they were stealing through the night, unseen and unknown to the
world above.

Nin held out his hand, to hold Anya’s, to
guide her down a couple of steps when they reached the end of the
passage. Anya had to admit it was nice when a guy treated a girl
well—and when it was done in an authentically courteous, cavalier
way.

Anya looked at the scrawled writing on one
of the walls. It was the neatest, spray painted graffiti art she’d
ever seen.

In a society that has
abolished all adventure, the only adventure left is to abolish that
society,
read the neat capital
letters.

“
Dans une société qui a aboli toute aventure, la seule
aventure qui reste est celle d’abolir la
société,
” Nin
said in fluent French.
“We stole that from
a slogan from the May 1968 uprising in France. It had everything to
do with politically-engaged youth that wanted their culture to be
put into their own hands, wanted their lives to be less ruled by
the state.”

He was cultured and committed, and Anya was
absolutely smitten. She looked a little confused, as she reached
out to touch the walls on the side of the tunnel. She stood
motionless, when she turned to the right and realized she was
gazing in the direction of a titanium train carriage, the bottom of
which was lit by a line of small amber-colored bulbs. A clear
portal, surrounded by a ring of cobalt blue, stood like a mirror of
shimmering water, a few feet away from the carriage. “What
is…this?”