Page 43 of Dustwalker
When her head emerged in the new space, she stopped. The air here was heavier and warmer than that in the hallway below. A thick layer of dust coated everything, illuminated by the afternoon sunlight streaming through the rectangular window ahead. To either side, the ceiling ran up from the floor at sharp angles, meeting in a high peak at the center.
Lara climbed into the room, turning on her hands and knees to look through the opening. The floor below was covered in clumps of dust. Without her weight on it, the ladder had lifted slightly. Shepressed down on it to keep it extended, but whatever mechanism had locked it open creaked, and the whole thing swung back up, folding the ladder into place and closing the hatch.
She stared at the sealed entry briefly before she stood and dusted her hands off. She’d deal with that problem soon enough.
Turning, she studied the room. The slanted walls, from which jutted the tips of countless nails, were lined with wooden beams running from one end to another. The floor was also wood, constructed with close-fitting boards that lacked the impossible polish of those downstairs. Cobwebs dangled from overhead and clung to the walls.
The room looked…old. Unlike the rest of the house, there was no gleam of cleanliness up here, no fresh coat of paint to hide the age. A musty smell filled the air. This room had been neglected for a long, long time.
Stacks of gray bins stood halfway between the hatch and the window. Nearby was a small, square table with books piled atop it. The chair in front of the table matched the one in the main room downstairs.
Lara walked to the table and picked up one of the books, brushing the thick layer of dust off its cover. Between the discoloration and the cracks in the material, she couldn’t tell what the art upon it was meant to depict. The pages inside were crinkly, brittle, and stained yellow, but they were intact. She gently ran a finger along the top line of words on the first page. Paper was a rare thing amongst humans, and complete books were almost unheard of.
Setting it aside, she leaned down to look at another book. This one had a larger, thinner cover, with an image of a car in full repair. Glancing through the pages, she saw dozens more cars in more colors and shapes than she’d thought possible. They were sleek, shiny, and vibrant. The only cars she’d seen with her own eyes were the rusted-out remains scattered around the ruins, parts of which had been used to build some of the dwellings back home.
It was hard to believe that they’d once looked like the cars in this book.
Her attention shifted to the case of shelves beside the window. It was like the one in her shack, though this was larger and filled with jars instead of trinkets. Moving to it, she lifted one of the jars, using her fingers to wipe away the dust and cobwebs before brushing her hand on her skirt.
Lara scrunched her nose. “And I just washed my clothes, too.”
The jar was heavy, and something dark sloshed inside, but the dirt caked on the glass was too thick to see through. Gripping the lid, she twisted her hand. The metal ring resisted for a moment before the rust gave way. The metal plate beneath proved more difficult. She pressed her fingers on its edge, wincing as she pried at it. Finally, it came free, opening with apop.
The foulest odor Lara had ever smelled hit her directly in the face. Gagging, she nearly dropped the jar, extending her arm to keep it as far away as possible. She glanced at the unidentifiable black sludge inside through slitted, tear-filled eyes.
“Ugh!” Slapping the seal back on top, she quickly screwed the ring on and returned the jar to its place. “Whatwasthat?”
She reached up to wipe her face, but stopped when she caught another whiff of the smell on her fingers. Nose crinkling, she rubbed her hands roughly on her skirt.
“Yeah. Gonna need to wash these again.”
Strange how her attitude had changed overnight. She’d rarely washed her clothes before. Not only was it a waste of precious water, but it only made the garments wear out faster, and she knew they’d get filthy the next day anyway after hours in the heat and dirt. But feeling soft cloth against clean skin…it was going to be difficult to let that go. She’d have to enjoy it while she could.
It was only a matter of time before Ronin lost interest in her.
Despite the dust and heat, this room looked comfortable. She was sure it was far from perfect by Ronin’s standards, but it had a certain quality that appealed to her, like it had beenlivedin. It reminded her of her little shack. Long enough up here, and she might forget she was in the bot district at all.
Walking to the window, she used the end of her skirt to wipe the thick grime from the glass. The grassy field stretched out below, and from this height, the pond near its center was visible.
Was this how humans used to live? In quiet, peaceful comfort?
As Lara turned, her foot bumped into something. She glanced down at a pile of tattered blankets. Crouching, she lifted them up. The top blanket crumbled to fibers at her touch. She tossed the bunch aside, revealing an assortment of items that had been hidden beneath.
Clothing, which looked just as ratty as the blankets, lay folded over a few more books. But it was the strange device with a wire trailingoff it that caught her attention first. It was thin, rectangular, small enough to fit comfortably in her hand, and had a few buttons on the front and sides. Its glass face was cracked. The wire split after about two feet, ending in a pair of small, strangely shaped buds.
Placing it atop the blankets, she looked through the books. The top few were thin and flimsy, like the one with the car pictures, and she nearly dropped the third when she opened it.
Her brows rose high. “Oh.”
She’d turned to a page spanned by a photo of a naked woman who held her large breasts in both hands. Many of the pages displayed similar images—women in explicit poses, unclothed with their legs spread wide, baring their pussies and touching themselves.
They reminded her of the synths at Kitty’s. Their bodies were full and lush, their skin flawless, not a hair out of place…and most without hair on their pussies. Some of them had unnaturally large breasts, bigger, rounder, and firmer than any Lara had seen. They had splashes of color around their eyes and on their lips, deep reds and pinks, shades of blue, green, purple, and black. With their perfect figures and faces, she would have thought they were bots, but no.
They all had belly buttons. Crazy as it seemed, they were human.
She set it aside.
The book at the bottom of the stack was different from the others. Though it wasn’t as wide, it was thicker, bound in old leather. She opened it and carefully looked through the pages.
