Project Chrysalis by Willard Joyce

Author:Willard Joyce [Joyce, Willard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781637585122
Publisher: Permuted
Published: 2023-03-25T00:58:51+00:00

22

The next morning, Jenn awoke to streaks of sun reflected on the wall; it took a moment to remember the night before and where she was. She made her way back to the kitchen and retrieved her bag. No one else was stirring as she found a scrap of paper and a pencil.

She wrote Mykol a note: Will be working at brewery on Washington and Bright Ave. and will be done in the afternoon. Stop by if you can.

It seemed as though she should write something more, but subtleties eluded her. She glanced at the top of the pencil and saw that someone had bitten off the eraser: no second chances.

Thank you for last night, she wrote. Let’s see each other soon.

She remembered Mykol taking his tablet to bed with him the night before. There had been two other encrypted files on her father’s data stick, and they hadn’t gotten to them when Don appeared and they spent the rest of the night talking.

Bring your tablet, she added.

She put the slip of paper on the table with a saltshaker to anchor it, positioned her bag on her back, and went out back to her bicycle.

There was a pleasant smell of woodsmoke coming from someone’s house as she shifted gears and felt the crisp focus of waking. She threaded through the side streets toward downtown. It had been a good night’s sleep, the best in a while, punctuated by dreams.

First she had been on a boat, sunlight dancing in fractals on the water, then she was hanging for dear life to a handle on the side of a speeding van, then there were huge steel gates that dream logic dictated was the fortress of the Provisional Authority. There had been something she needed to retrieve from where she once lived, an item that belonged to her but was also larger than herself.

The cloudless sky resolved into thrilling electric blue. She stood up on the pedals, pushing harder and feeling her heart thrum as she crossed the bridge and watched the river flow. She felt her spirit expand as the air grew warmer, heated by sunshine, a welcome feeling of eternity and timelessness. She felt happy and knew it was because of the night before.

Rachel was brewing a pot of oats on the stove when Jenn got home. Her long hair was in braids that fell over either shoulder, and she was dressed for work in coveralls and a long-underwear shirt with the sleeves rolled up.

“You stayed out all night,” Rachel said.

“I lost track of time,” Jenn said. “It got dark before I knew it, and I didn’t want to ride home in the dark alone.”

Rachel glowered. “I wish someone at the Authority would tell me when we’re going to have working phones.”

Jenn knew this was her friend being conciliatory. She fetched a couple of bowls from the cupboard and laid them beside the stove, stopping to rub Rachel’s shoulders.

“You were with that guy?” Rachel asked from over her shoulder, rolling her neck in the feline way that meant Jenn was doing it right.

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