Page 29 of Frosted and Sliced

She didn’t have a vision in her head for him, mostly because she had no idea what he was. Roommate? Tenant? Handyman? Hobo? Her mind constantly flicked through the catalogue of known archetypes, always searching for Burke. It continued to come up empty. And now he was taking her to see “The Oracle.”

Who was this person?

Strange that she had no answer for that question, and yet she trusted him completely. Why, though? Was it because Elyse trusted him? That was part of it. Clearly Elyse knew him well enough to tell Georgie if he was unsafe. But it was something more than that, some instinct that told Georgie it was okay to put herself in Burke’s hands. It was more than physical safety. She had that with her brother. But Brody wasn’t exactly known for his ease with her emotions. She felt like she always had to tamp them down, so as not to burden him further by exposing her crazy. Burke, though he hadn’t exactly known what to do with her at first, hadn’t shied away from her difficult feelings. He’d just let her feel them, hadn’t tried to rationalize her out of them or fix the problem. There was so much freedom in that, so much space to be herself, whoever that was.

“So, where exactly is this Oracle?” she asked after another long stretch of silence. He was comfortable with silence, and she liked that about him. Georgie couldn’t stand a lot of background noise; it overwhelmed her senses that constantly tried to parse, attempting to separate important noise from inconsequential. Hearing people took for granted how much of their brain space was used for processing all the noises they took in during the day. Georgie’s brain had to be much more involved in the process; it made her keenly aware of all of it.

“Nowhere you’ve ever heard of,” he said.

“I’ve lived in Maine all my life,” she reminded him.

“It’s not exactly on the map, which is sort of the point of it,” Burke said. She didn’t think he meant to be cryptic, rather he understood in a way she couldn’t. And since she probably wouldn’t be able to until they arrived, she sat back and enjoyed the scenery.

Even though she’d slept in more than she had in recent months, she still felt drowsy, lulled by the gentle vibration of the car and the monotonous scenery. One could only take in so many oversized pine trees before the mind began to drift.

The next thing she knew the car had stopped and Burke rested a gentle hand on her forearm. Her eyes snapped open and saw him saying something to her. “We’re here.”

Georgie blinked the sleep out of her eyes, sat up, and looked around. They were still in the woods, which told her nothing. Away from the coast, most of Maine was woods. In the distance she saw a small building and in the time it took her to fully wake, Burke had rounded the car and opened her door for her. She hadn’t taken him for the overtly gentlemanly type, but there was a lot she didn’t know about him. When he extended a hand to help her out, she thought he might actually be a tiny bit chivalrous, another surprise to add to her growing collection.

There was no electricity running to the small shack, or at least none Georgie could see, but when they reached the door, Burke held his palm to a keypad that looked as if it had been pulled from the spaceshipEnterprise.The door slicked open with a soft hiss and then clicked closed behind them, as soon as they were safely inside. Lights flicked on, and they must have been motion detection because Burke didn’t touch anything.

He sat at a desk in front of the largest computer Georgie had ever seen. She eased closer and tried to take in the full scope of it. It took up an entire 8 foot wall, with multiple processors and what must have been acres of wire.

“What is this place?” she muttered.

He glanced at her, motioning toward the wall. “I told you, The Oracle.”

“The Oracle is a computer?” she exclaimed.

“What else?” he said.

“An elderly voodoo woman, renowned for her mystic understanding,” she said.

“That was the old Oracle. She got fired and we replaced her with a computer,” he said, smiling when Georgie snickered.

She wandered around the tiny space, which didn’t take long, and then made herself stand still so she didn’t pace back and forth. She wanted to explore outside but was afraid she would get lost in the woods. She considered asking Burke to explain what this was, but didn’t want to make him have to turn around and face her while he was doing whatever he was doing. With nowhere to go, nothing to do, and no explanations forthcoming, she sat criss-cross applesauce on the floor, trying to be patient.

He took less time than she thought he might. After a bit of typing on his part, he stood and pushed the chair in, holding out a hand to help Georgette off the floor.

“You’re done?” she asked.

“I’m done,” he affirmed.

“When do I get to know what this was about?” she asked.

“As soon as we’re back in the car.” He didn’t turn off the lights to the building or lock the door, but those things happened automatically. Georgie stared at the little shack, trying to figure it out.

“What?” Burke asked, observing her pause.

“How is there power here? A generator wouldn’t be able to power that computer,” she noted.

He put his arm around her shoulders and herded her toward the car. “Military tech that isn’t available to the public, and that’s all I can say about that,” he said.

“Like some kind of perpetual energy?” she asked, brows aloft.

“I can’t say,” he replied.

“You could, actually, because I wouldn’t understand a word of it. Kitchen chemistry is the extent of my scientific knowledge.”

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