Compile:Quest

Chapter 41: Rainbow Popsicles

Maple's Apartment, Upper Northbridge,

Africa Dome

A mop-bot bumped against Maple's foot. She glanced down, watching as it sucked an empty crisp packet into its mysterious depths. It zoomed away, heading for a crisp crushed to crumbs on the kitchen tiles. She jerked as something touched her hand and glanced up at Nick.

"You've hardly eaten, M." Nick's eyes narrowed in concern.

"Not hungry."

"She'll be back soon. Tomorrow even."

"Something's not right, Nick."

He sighed. "You keep saying that."

"I can feel it. It's this—" she pressed a hand to her stomach "—this cramp that just won't go away."

"That's probably hunger."

She shook her head and walked over to the weEat. But she only ordered a cup of coffee. Even the thought of eating made her nauseous.

"Phoenix, has Peppermint come back online yet?"

"Good p.m., Maple. Peppermint's profile is currently offline. I have set a trigger to notify you as soon as she rejoins the dome network."

"You see, M? Phoenix is on it. Just relax. Let's go see a movie or something."

"No."

She left the kitchen, ignoring Nick's irritated sigh, and sat down on the couch. She dragged a polka-dot cushion from the floor onto her lap. The living room was just as she'd left it last night — pillows of various sizes and shapes flung haphazardly around. Her cream-coloured sofas were arranged in a tight cluster around the coffee table where her and Nick had tried to hasten the morning by playing 3D Battle Tetris.

"I miss her too," Nick said, following her into the living room.

"Doesn't look like it."

"She's going to expect us not to mope around."

"And what if she doesn't come back?"

"Why wouldn't she? They haven't abducted her. She's at a laboratory, doing routine tests."

Maple shook her head. The knot in her stomach tightened with each of Nick's assurances. Peppermint had told them there wasn't any wi-fi at the laboratory, a fact Maple still had difficulty believing even after she'd Phoenixed it.

Nick sat beside her, his hand stroking her thigh. She gave him a small smile, but it quickly disintegrated as more dark thoughts poured into her mind.

"It's what happened to Rose," Maple said.

Nick flinched. "Why do you have to—"

"Rose went there because she was pregnant. And she never came back."

"But she did. Phoenix said she jumped—"

"So she came back just to commit suicide? It doesn't add up. What did they do to her?"

Nick pressed his fingers against his eyes, running them down the side of his face and over his jaw until they met on his chin. Maple cocked an eyebrow at him. He wore the same outfit as yesterday, a white t-shirt, the SUN logo in gold on his chest. There was a stain on the shirt, so he hadn't bothered to get a fresh set from her weDress this morning.

And he still wore his black-hole pants. Maple hated those pants. The fabric was so dark that light struggled to escape it. It looked like Nick's legs were two shapes cut into another dimension. They made her giddy. She'd changed into new clothes less than an hour ago.