Not Your Damsel

The door clicked, and Simonee rushed at Dalia. “Oh my god, Dalia, I’m sorry, I have to tell you—”

Dalia’s glare stopped her cold. “You have something to show me.”

Simonee nodded, eyes to the floor, and pulled the hard drive from her pocket.

“I need to show you why I did it. You were in danger—”

Dalia plucked the drive. “Stop.”

Simonee swallowed. “Night of the thirtieth. You know the password.”

Dalia slid the black cylinder into the hidden port under a wall display. It flickered to life, accepted the password, and spilled out a list of dated thumbnails. She scrolled once, down to the bottom, and tapped 21950730.

The image was all wrong—Simonee’s kitchenette, bed, and table all warped into the same cramped space. Dalia pinched and swiped until the stage was set—the kitchenette left, her bed right and the table dead center.

Then she navigated the timeline. As she swiped, Simonee rolled about on the bed until Mason appeared through a bubble. Dalia stopped.

He stood there, a grinning statue carrying a tea-service by splayed fingers. Simonee shuddered at the memory—laying there unawares under the gaze of a predator. With another tap, Dalia watched, and Simonee relived.

When Simonee’s head hit the table on the screen, the display went dark. Dalia’s distorted reflection in the black mirror of the display was unreadable, but her hands clenched tight at her side. Simonee didn’t know how to read that tension.

Dalia turned halfway and her eyes glistened in the low light. “You think this absolves you?” She rasped.

Simonee shook her head. “I... I—”

“You think that I’m your damsel?” Dalia faced her in full, stepping forward with those fists still tight at her side. “You think I’m someone who needs protecting?”

Simonee’s mouth opened and closed as her stomach curled up into her ribs.

“You could have told me,” Dalia barked. “How would they know? I could have helped you. I could have been a part of it with you. I’d have watched you crack my father’s safe, and run off with you. We should have done this together!”

Simonee darted glances around the room. “But… Mason said—”

“Mason said!” Dalia shook her head—hair swirling, fists raised. “You trusted him over me?”

She wrapped her arms around herself and paced. “You, my father—why won’t the people I love just trust me!”

“I trusted him to hurt you,” Simonee squeaked. “He was watching everything—our comms, our visits. He knew every detail, how could I have—”

Dalia shook her head. “Last night? This morning? No. You tried to drug me. When that didn’t work, you choked and ran away.”

Simonee wiped her nose on her sleeve. Then her eyes. Dalia sauntered to where the shimmering crescent of Enceladus sliced across the window.

“When I walked into that bar five years ago, I was running from something I’d learned that day. Something so terrible I didn’t know what to do with myself. I didn’t know who I could trust anymore.”

She turned and the starlight glimmered in the damp of her cheeks. “Then, I met you—this cute girl with a cybernetic eye and a bad reputation. Of all people, you went out of your way to help me. So, I took you home, listened to your stories, reveled in your tales of adventure. I’d never met anyone so cool in my entire life. I looked up to you. You were part of a larger, more colorful world, and you made me forget what I was running from.”

Simonee looked away to the stars.

Dalia uncrossed her arms. “Soon, I realized my place in this relationship. I was just a shoulder, a warm body—comfort for your troubled soul. I was your safe haven and get-out-of-jail free card.”

“Dalia… I… you’re more than that,” Simonee whimpered, but the words smacked dry on her tongue.

Dalia waved a hand and turned back to the window. “So, I thought maybe, if I was a target, if I was in danger, my lover—my friend—might include me on just one adventure. That I could be part of your world for a change.”

Ice poured into Simonee’s stomach as she gaped at Dalia’s eyes reflected in the glass.

Dalia’s forehead met the window and she shook it, her voice low. “Aunt Ragana told me I was fooling myself, but I hoped... She’s been right about so many things, Simonee. I wish you would have proved her wrong this once. You should have told me. Things could have been different—we could have been partners. I would have done anything for you.”

Simonee’s chest was stuck, her breath gone. The floor seemed to roll beneath her and she staggered. Catching herself, she forced a breath—and another. Her eyes burned; her face flushed. She glared at Dalia. “Aunt Ragana? Dalia, what did you do?”

“I told you she was my favorite niece.” A voice lilted from the shadowed entrance to the bedroom. Ragana Ledas stepped into the light with a grin to scare Death. “Even if she doesn’t heed all of my advice. I wanted to use my own people, but she just insisted on hiring you.”

“She’s also your only niece, mother.” A posh accent broke in behind her, and Mason swaggered in, tugging down the brim of his bowler as he cradled a bandaged hand under his elbow.

Dalia sighed, turned away and wiped her eyes with a finger. She turned again, all poise and hauteur. “Simonee, you’ve met my aunt. And my cousin, George, of course.”

Simonee’s heart beat triple-time as she spun around, but she crossed her arms and stood firm. She wasn’t safe here anymore.

She jutted her chin. “So you’re Mae Chamberlain?”

“Of course,” Ragana answered. “It’s rather difficult to sign contracts when you’re dead.”

Simonee turned back to Dalia, and fought the squeeze in her face—the tears for what she had to ask next. “You had Mason sneak into my apartment in the middle of the night, and make me worry he might kill you? To... test me?”

Dalia’s eyes shifted, her lip fell.

But Simonee continued, “Was it also your idea to have me trade my eye for that recording? Was that another test? Because I would have.”

Dalia glared at Mason, her lips taut. “That wasn’t...”

Mason chuckled, nursing his bandaged hand. “I do love my trinkets.”

But Simonee wasn’t done. The tears broke their levies, and her voice cracked. “Did you... tell them?”

Dalia’s face went white. “What?” She looked to Ragana.

Simonee hugged herself and bit at her knuckles. “She threatened to turn me in to SynBio if I contacted you, Dalia.”

Dalia stared back at Simonee, jaw hanging, head shaking. “I didn’t... I wouldn't.”

Ragana groaned and stepped between them. “Oh, this is getting unnecessarily dramatic.” She nodded at Simonee. “Your blood betrayed you—we take samples from all our contractors.”

Mason grinned. “Company policy. It’s amazing the kind of leverage DNA gets you.”

Ragana stalked forward, arms crossed. “Now, if we can finally be done with this lover’s quarrel, there’s work to be done.”

She lifted an eyebrow down at Simonee.

Simonee glanced back to Dalia. “What does she mean?”

Dalia glared at Mason. “The reason he helped you get that recording is that we still need you.”

She looked back at Simonee, her eyes soft—the ice melted. “I still need you.”

Simonee shook her head and stepped toward the window. “You have the keycard, what else do you need me to steal?”

“Turns out, the keycard is part of a multi-factor authentication system,” Mason said. “There’s a numeric code, probably more after. It seems we are in need of a hacker.”

Simonee turned to Mason, but locked eyes with Dalia. “And if I refuse? Do I get locked up—my DNA sent to SynBio? The only reason I’m here, the only reason I agreed to take the keycard in the first place is so that Dalia was safe.” She turned to Dalia. “And you are. And I’m glad. But you have all the leverage now, Dalia. I’m at your mercy. Can you at least tell me what all this is for?”

Dalia pressed her belly and took a half step forward. “I... I don’t want there to be leverage. They won’t use it.” She glared at her aunt. “I won’t let them. I don’t have the power to clear your name... yet. If we succeed, I will.” She turned, blinking at the stars. “As for what we’re trying to open... I have to show you; I have to see for myself. My father betrayed me, Simonee. Now, I’m going to betray him.”

She looked back at Simonee, a shake in her lip. “And I need you to help me do it. So, see, really I’m at your mercy.”

Simonee’s arms fell and she sighed. Stepping lightly, she approached Dalia and took up both her hands. Dalia swallowed.

Simonee closed her eyes. “Okay. Together this time.”

Dalia nodded, her lips tugged into a half-smile. “Partners.”

Mason stepped up next to Ragana. “This is all very touching,” Mason said. “But what about the amazon and the old man—the traders? Are they going to be a... problem.”

Simonee turned to him, brow cinched. “They were just trying to help me. They have no stakes in this—no contracts.” She glanced between Ragana and Mason. “You don’t have to worry about them, and you certainly don’t need to hurt them.”

Mason shrugged. “And the cop?”

“No he’s—” Simonee began, but Dalia cut her off.

“Serving another purpose at the moment,” she said. “He's our fuse.”

Simonee raised her eyebrows at Dalia and Dalia pursed her lips.

“Alright then, we’d best be off,” Mason said. “Everyone cuddle up if you don’t want to leave any pieces behind.”

He pulled out the pocket interferometer as the four huddled in; The room wobbled, the air reeked of ozone, and they were gone.