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“Are you still there for me now in that dark
we stood in for hours
letting it sweep as far as it could down over us
unwilling to move, irreconcilable? What he
wants to tell me,
his whisper more like a scream
over this eternity of engines never not running,
is everything.”

– What the End Is For, by Jorie Graham, 1995

 

 

 

 

Restoring

“You could love someone so strongly, for so long, and still forget—until the memories returned.”
― Jason Heller, Cyber World: Tales of Humanity’s Tomorrow

 

 

Lisa wasn’t there.

Mike felt it the moment he ran to the entrance to the Carpe Librum after leaving the undertrain station. Fearing that he was being followed. He was afraid that he would be tackled and brought back to his golden prison, and to his oblivion. His heart burned in his chest and he had trouble breathing. He felt like suffocating – as if an invisible grip was tightening around his throat.

He closed the door behind his back and slowed down his pace as he walked through the main hall of the library. He noticed a couple of people passing by and turning to look at him as if he was some madman. Which he was, in some way. He was elated, thrilled and desperate all at once. He needed to calm the fuck down.

And yet he knew. The moment he stepped into the library he felt the immense weight of her absence. Lisa had been there but was not anymore. He blinked, his brow furrowing. Where was she?

Was it too late, after all? Once again too late for them?

The next thing he saw was that mountain of a man named Akira striding toward him. His eyes were narrowed and his face serious. For a moment Mike feared the worst. But then Akira wrapped his massive arms around him without a word, lifting him from the floor and holding him close to his huge body, hugging him.

Mike patted his back, then made a face.

“Hey, let me go! You’re killing me with that grip!”

He heard Akira giggle and couldn’t help but smirk, suddenly relieved. Finally something he recognized as familiar! He patted his friend’s shoulder once again as he finally put him back down on the floor.

“I thought you were dead.” Akira watched him with his serious, yet innocent eyes. He looked like a kid trapped in a giant’s body. “Or worse…”

“I thought we didn’t have any bromance going on, you and I.”

Akira frowned.

“…And yet here you are, alive and still a bit of an asshole, Mike. I’m real’ glad to see you’re fine.”

“I missed you too, panda bear.”

He snickered.

“What?”

“Where’s Lisa?”

Akira’s eyebrows sprung up.

“Oh, isn’t she here?”

“I don’t think she is.” Mike glanced around, setting his jaw. “I had asked you to keep an eye on her…”

“Hey, what was I supposed to do? Follow her around 24/7 like a puppy? She’s not a toddler. She’s free to go wherever she pleases…” He stepped closer and placed his huge hands on Mike’s shoulders. His face lost every trace of playfulness. “But she’s safe, Mike. I swear she is. She lost her job at the company and grandma… well, grandmother gave her something to do here at Carpe. If she’s not here at the library, she’ll be back soon.”

Mike lowered his eyes and cleared his throat. He was embarrassed. Ashamed. And he was afraid that his friend could see it in his eyes.

“How is she?”

Not hearing Akira’s reply, he looked up at him again and only found uncertainty and sadness. As if he wasn’t sure if he could speak freely or not.

“I don’t think it’s my place to tell you that. You’ll have to ask her… as soon as she comes back.”

Mike blinked and nodded.

“Right… Oh, hey, I got something for you.” He extracted the earpiece from his pocket very carefully, as if it was something very precious and very fragile. Or something that could explode in his hands without any warning. “This is Sydney’s… she uses it to… control us.”

“Did you steal it?”

“Yeah.”

Akira took the small object in his huge hands and observed it.

“It’s just a wireless thingy, Mike… what do you expect me to do with it?”

“I don’t know… something…”

“What did she say? Did she tell you that she used this device to keep an eye on you?”

“No, she didn’t say anything. But I saw her doing it all the time. Talking to someone. Or something… I’m not sure.”

Akira took a deep breath.

“Alright… did you find out anything else? Did she…” He paused and hesitated. “…She fessed up about her involvement, right?”

“Yeah… she did. She said quite a lot of stuff that you might find interesting. And I’ll tell you all about it… but I gotta go looking for Lisa, first…”

“There’s no need… I’m here.”

Her voice was thin, fatigued.

Mike spun on his heels and found himself face to face with the only person he wanted to share the rest of his life with. He noticed Miss Oshi standing right next to Lisa, but his eyes and mind barely registered her presence. Everything was blurred in his vision. Everything but the woman that had reached him and found him through the invisible, dusty folds of space and time.

Lisa had lost weight and looked even tinier than he remembered. She also looked pale. But she was more gorgeous than she had ever appeared in his dreams. Her eyes were huge, deep and so very blue. A bright hue that reminded him of watercolors, or the Caribbean Sea in those wrinkled pictures from the old world. Mike swallowed and, suddenly, didn’t know what to do. She was staring back at him – wearing a hoodie and athletic pants, her hair down on her shoulders. In her arms, she held a box full of books and that trivial detail snapped him out of his trance.

“Here… let me help you…”

Giving her a shy, tentative smile, he stepped closer and felt the sizzling tension charge the air around them. Without a word, he took the box from Lisa’s hands and his fingers gently brushed hers. Her lips parted and she blinked, as if his touch had made her realize that he was indeed there.

“Mike…” Her hands finally free, she reached up and touched his cheek. He closed his eyes and sighed. Then opened them again. “How are you feeling?”

God…

“I love you, baby… Endlessly. And I’m so sorry.”

She needed to know that before anything else. She had to understand that he was back. That all of him has finally returned.

Lisa’s eyes were swimming in tears, her breath was a bit short. She bit her lip, a small, cautious smile barely kept at bay. She was surprised. She hadn’t anticipated any of this.

Flustered, his face flushed, Akira stepped closer and took the box from Mike’s hands.

“Gimme that thing… Gosh, you guys are so damn complicated…” He shrugged. “There you go… so you can… you know… kiss the bride… or something…”

“Aki…” Miss Oshi admonished him, softly.

Mike and Lisa didn’t hear them. They just sunk into each other’s eyes for a moment that froze in time and that meant everything. Then he covered her hand with his own, kissed her wrist. He gently pulled her closer and against his body, and she melted into him, her body soft, warm, pliant. His chin on the top of her head, finally inhaling her scent, he allowed himself a second of complete and perfect bliss. His eyes closed and he savored what he had been waiting for, in this life and the previous one. Now he knew who he was. And who he wanted to be.

When Lisa tilted her head up and watched him, she smiled and he thought that his heart would burst and become stardust. Glancing around, he noticed that both Akira and Oshi had left the hall.

“Can I talk to you in private?” He cocked his head to a side and ran his thumb over Lisa’s lips. “Please.”

She didn’t even blink, but took his hand instead.

“Yes. Let’s go.”

 

 

 

 

She guided him to their room, and he was stunned when he realized the condition it was in. Lisa, usually quite the neat freak, had been entirely immersed in the files Cromer had sent from the black market. She had buried herself in her own purgatory.

Mike’s heart ached for her. He could almost physically feel the sorrowful obstinacy that had been guiding her research. And he hadn’t been there with her while she relived the past and the traumas that had plagued it. In fact, he had polluted her mind even more, giving her a twisted version of the events that had nothing to do with the truth. He had been lied to and had lied to her in return.

The bedroom was a mess. There were pictures, nanodisks, books and notes everywhere. Several binders were scattered on the bed, and half a dozen boxes were placed against the walls. A computer screen, volume muted, replayed old videos again and again. Dates, information, images of who they once were. Michael and Lisa Marie. The feeling was eerie and familiar at once. The room had become a microcosm that showed the depth of Lisa’s confusion and grief, her quest for the truth and utter loneliness.

Mike noticed a scribbled note on the floor. The page was crumpled and it looked as if Lisa had written it in a frenzy.

 

“Last phone call June 2009. NO PROOF of any involvement!!!

Planned to see him. I know how she felt. Wanted him again. LOVED HIM MISSED HIM

NOT INVOLVED, NO INVESTIGATION, NOTHING!!!

He lied to me because they lied to him”

 

Baby girl hadn’t been expecting him to return anytime soon, otherwise the space would have looked different. That much, Mike knew. And it saddened him to no end.

As he stood near the door, glancing around and trying hard to find the right words to say, he detected her discomfort. Lisa’s face was flushed, her eyes reddened and swollen and she had trouble looking at him. After that first moment of wonder, when she had seen him in the hall, she had now retreated and folded over herself.

“Hey… Uhm… This place is a mess. I’m sorry, I wasn’t…” Shaking her head, she gathered some files and folders and threw them in one of the boxes. “It’s just… I needed to find some motivation, you know? I had to redirect my energy onto something productive and stop feeling sorry for myself… I had to know if she… what kind of person my original was… I hoped knowing the truth would at least bring me some peace…”

Quietly, Mike stepped closer and touched her shoulder. When she gasped, he wasn’t even surprised. He really could not blame her. He, too, had contributed to this.

“Lisa…” He shifted so that she could finally face him. “Where were you?”

She looked up, studying him. Prudence was painted all over her face.

“Just running some errands with Miss Oshi… I didn’t think…” Her brow furrowed and she shrugged. Then stared at him again as bravely as she could. “Mike…”

“Lise…”

His vision blurred and he couldn’t do anything but pull her closer and hold her again. Wanting more than anything else to be held in return. He realized now how much he had longed for her. How he had not allowed himself to miss her, and how his own denial had threatened to consume him.

Lisa understood, and just wrapped her arms around his torso. Her hands slowly ran up and down his back, as if she was not yet entirely sure that he was real. Her face buried in his chest, she kissed the spot over his heart again and again and he just crumbled. He finally let himself go and gave himself permission to break down. Before he knew what was going on, he was sobbing in her arms, his forehead on her shoulder, his whole body shaking and trembling.

After freezing for the shortest instant, she just held him and comforted him. Her fingers tangled in his hair as she held his head, caressing him and soothing his pain, like she would have done with a kid. Rocking him slowly. Needing to be there for him and knowing that he was finally back at being there for her at the same time. It was more than necessary. It was vital. To survive. To heal.

“I am so sorry, baby… So fucking sorry… So sorry…”

It sounded like a mantra. The words bubbling free almost without intention, stumbling over one another. And her whispering voice in his ear, making it all go away, live an invisible hand brushing off the dust. Chasing the darkness away. The desperation. Halting the atonement.

“It’s OK… It’s OK, baby. It wasn’t your fault. I love you, Mike. I love you for real… That has never changed.”

She kept holding him like that for what felt like forever and, when she finally pulled back, her small hands framed his face. She watched him, her eyes bright and luminous. She guided him to the bed and they sat side by side, as his hand came up and covered hers. Finding it warm and soft.

“I had been trying to figure out how to reach you for weeks…” She stroked his cheek. “I hoped you would find your way back to me… and you did, Mike. You came back. Just when I thought I would never, ever have the chance to talk to you again.”

Words had left him. What she said was true in so many ways. He just nodded his head, then turned his face and kissed the palm of her hand. Lisa smiled, surprised, blinking back a set of tears that had been threatening to spill for quite a while. But she was trying so much to be strong – sensing his uneasiness, his guilt – and he loved her even more for that.

“I remember now, you know? Everything. And I don’t know what they did to you, to confuse you like that, but what they said I did… she did… well, it’s not true, Mike. I swear to God, I didn’t… she didn’t do anything, she wasn’t responsible for what happened…” She removed her hand from his face and turned, glancing around the room. “…Wait, let me show you… I want you to see it… I got evidence, I got…”

He took her hand.

“Hey… no. Don’t. Look at me. Look at me…”

Her gaze lowered and she bit her lip. He could tell that she was scared.

“I don’t need to see no evidence. I know you’re right. There’s nothing there – it was all a lie. And I am so fucking sorry I believed it. I should have known better. I should have trusted you… trusted us… And I should have found my way back to you.”

“But you did… You came back.”

Yeah, he had found his way back to her. Eventually. But not before…

“Yes, but I should have done it sooner, Lise…”

“What happened?” She held his hands again. Her face showing openness now but also something else. As if she was waiting for the other shoe to drop. And yet, there she was. With him. Solid in her love. “You can tell me. I promise. Whatever it is, I am on your side… And I also know it won’t change how I feel for you.”

OK…

Mike blinked. He could do this. And he had to. Everything had to be out in the open – the good, the bad, and the ugly. That had to be the starting point if they wanted to go somewhere.

“I got… reprogrammed. Sydney, she did this. She cloned us both because of some sick obsession she has… And when I told her that we were leaving, she managed to keep me there and did something to me. I think it was drugs, but I’m not so sure. I was shackled to a hospital bed, but I can’t remember half of it. I just know that when I woke up again, I was so convinced you had done… what I said you did…” He bit his lip.

Lisa’s hold on his hands tightened.

“It’s OK… You were confused. I could tell something was wrong… I just didn’t know what it was. I’m so sorry I wasn’t able to help you.”

She was sorry? He shook his head.

“You couldn’t have. What she had done to me was too powerful. Whatever it was, it had a firm hold on me. But eventually… it just didn’t work, Lise. I started to remember again. Maybe I haven’t only inherited Michael’s memories… but also his feelings. And…” It had become weird to talk about that man in the third person. That man who was no longer a stranger or a shadow. That man who was nobody else but himself. “…And what I feel for you became part of my DNA. I don’t think any reset or drug can take it away from me. Maybe even my cells remember how much I loved you… and how much you loved me.”

He looked up at her, his heart racing in his chest. OK. This was something. But he had to tell her what had snapped him out of his trance. What had awakened him and what he had been doing when he realized the downward spiral he had been going through. Part of him feared her reaction, and still… at that very moment, Mike Jackson didn’t care about who he was outside that room or to anyone but her. He only cared about how much he would despise himself if she didn’t tell her the whole truth.

This time it had to be different.

Staring into her eyes, he knew that she remembered everything just like he did. Their complete, clear memory was finally restored and he didn’t need to see evidence to believe that, if anything, Lisa Marie would have done everything in her power to avoid Michael’s death. They had both made mistakes in the past, but theirs had been nothing but the progression of a very profound, very complicated, authentic relationship between a man and a woman. A love story burdened by too much external pressure.

It was uncanny how those old struggles from the past had somehow found a way to enter their present. Doubts, mistrust, fear. And that was why Mike and Lisa needed one another now more than ever. Especially because they would have to deal with the fact that whoever they had once loved and cherished was dead and gone. Those people – family, friends, allies – no longer existed. While Lisa and Mike still did. It was excruciating and bittersweet to realize that.

“How did you break free?”

Lisa’s question was the rope pulling him back where he needed to be. He opened his mouth, then closed it again and shook his head. He lowered his eyes.

Lisa stayed quiet for a minute, just observing him carefully. His body language, his reddened cheeks. The way he set his jaw.

“…You slept with her, didn’t you? You slept with Sydney…” Her voice sounded sad, but also calm. Very collected.

No point in lying.

“Yeah…”

Another long pause.

“And then… what happened?” He felt the soft touch of her hand on his forearm. His eyelids fluttered closed, and something resembling comfort washed over him.

“And then I realized what I was doing… and I stopped. I remembered everything and I stopped, Lisa… I pretended all was OK, and when she fell asleep, ah… afterward… I left…” His head lowered. “…I’m so sorry. I’m not sure why I did what I did. I know I didn’t want to… And I’m not OK with it.”

She scooted closer and framed his face again, this time firmly, forcing him to look at her. And what he found were her eyes – and they were strong and brave.

“Hey. You were… confused. It’s not your fault. It doesn’t matter what she did or said to you. It’s over. You don’t belong to her. Nobody owns you. OK, Mike? It’s over. You’re free now.”

He took the first deep breath in a very long time and he anchored himself to that love that was both ancient and new at the same time. And just like that – a beacon of hope was restored. Tenuous at first, it became stronger and warmer as he kept staring at her. Maybe the senseless events of the last weeks could be turned into something useful. Perhaps those horrific days could be the starting point to learn from their mistakes – old and new – and find a way to live the life that they had always been prevented from living. This time everything had to be different. It just had to be. Shock and trauma, albeit still there, became shapeshifters inside of him. They became acceptance of his fate without denial. They became a purpose that he wanted to fulfill. With Lisa.

He entwined his fingers with hers.

“I am. And there’s so much I’ve found out… so much I gotta tell you.”

“Yeah… I know…”

She came closer and she was everywhere. She was everything he saw. He wanted her with an intensity that burned him deep inside, and yet he felt dirty and disgusting. Very shy and insecure all of a sudden. Did she really want him? Despite everything that had gone down?

When Lisa straddled his lap, keeping her body slightly lifted, and wrapped her arms around his neck, Mike backed off a bit and stared at her. Feeling so unworthy of such intimate contact and yet knowing that she understood.

“I can tell you now…”

“You can tell me later…”

Her lips found his neck and he exhaled a long sigh. Closing his eyes, the sensory experience suddenly felt magnified. The scent of her freshly washed hair. Her fingertips gently skimming over his chest, stimulating him through the fabric of his shirt. The regular rhythm of her breathing. The softness of her lips. It was like water pouring over a desert, resurrecting the soil almost annihilated by the drought.

“First you gotta feel better…” She placed light kisses all over his skin and he shivered. “Let me help you, baby. Let me heal you.”

How did she know that he was starved for intimacy? How could she soothe the loneliness and darkness that he felt just with her small, perfect body? The desolate land of his soul relinquished of all fears. He had been horrified when he had realized that he had been screwing Sydney. He had felt stained and repugnant, insignificant and violated. While now, just being there with Lisa, his hands tentatively caressing her back as if he was touching her for the very first time, it all felt beautiful and right once again.

No more words. No more explanations. She knew and understood. And she responded with the most intimate act she was capable of, and that existed in the interior before taking place on the exterior. It was about love – and commitment, honesty, openness, acceptance. But also sacrifice. Mike knew that his revelation had hurt Lisa. But she had pushed the pain aside. Because he mattered more to her.

Her hand tangled in his hair and she found his mouth. She kissed him and he stayed passive at first, his lips only slightly parted. Her tongue sought entrance and was welcomed. When she pulled at his shirt, silently communicating what she wanted, he got rid of it slowly and she did the same, her eyes tethered to his. Keeping him sheltered and secure.

Lisa pushed him back gently and Mike lay down on the bed, sighing when he felt her weight over him.

“Take me home, baby,” he whispered when her kisses started their descent. On his collarbone and chest, on his stomach, while her fingers got busy unbuttoning and unzipping his pants, then removing them. Her movements slow and careful, as if he was precious and fragile and, for once, not the strong, passionate and domineering lover she had come to known.

His body covered in goosebumps, Mike let her undress him and watched her as she got rid of her clothes. His eyes got reacquainted with the warm beauty of her naked body, with her tanned skin and her perfect curves. The toned legs, those perfect breasts. Her lips were everywhere, continuing their descent as he kept trembling. His body reacted on autopilot just because she called out to him, and when her hand found him, he was painfully hard and felt tears burn behind his closed eyelids.

He raked his fingers through her hair, not holding her, not stopping her, not directing her. Just letting her know that he was hers forever. And that he trusted her, body and soul.

Lisa’s hand ran on his muscular thigh while her lips kissed his pelvis. Her other hand was still holding him, her caresses comforting and familiar.

“Let me make it feel good, Mike…”

He glanced down at her, his breath already erratic, and just surrendered to her touch. When she started kissing him and took him into the heat of her mouth, ever so gently, he sighed and blinked. His hand, up until that moment very still, stroked her hair as she kept loving him and pleasuring him that way. Restoring him. Cleansing him. Reassuring him. Making him whole again.

It was amazing how his body seemed to have recognized her. How it responded to her touch, how it vibrated just because she was there. Mike had always taken pride in his ability to give her pleasure but now, for the first time, she was the one in charge and it just felt so perfect. So right and necessary.

Her mouth left him for a moment and he gasped, the loss almost intolerable. She kissed his belly, her tongue tracing a path from his navel down to his crotch.

“Baby… Oh, damn…” It was only a whisper, but she heard it. Lisa looked up at him, her eyes bright and serene.

“Tell me, baby. Tell me what you need.”

“Keep going…”

She smiled, then went down on him again. This time, he relaxed and his hand fisted in her hair, gently guiding her in the motion and rhythm he craved. The physical and emotional pleasure hit him with the force of a battering ram and, for a moment, he wasn’t sure he would be able to control himself much longer. But once again she was there with him, for him. After pushing him to the verge of the precipice, she eased up on him and he let out a long breath. Her kisses traced a path from his stomach up to his chest and collarbone, to his shoulder, then his neck. Her tongue drew small circles on his skin and he thought he would pass out.

“I missed you so much, baby…” His hands ran down her naked back, on her hips. “I was lost without you…”

Lisa sat astride him.

“I’ve found you.” She kissed him, her tongue slowly caressing his. “I got you…”

He just went with the flow and sat up, cupping her ass with both hands, and pushed up, grinding and rotating against her burning wetness. When she let out a whimper, he smiled against her lips. Still holding her in his arms, he managed to shift their positions until he was on top of her. The full contact of their naked bodies felt inebriating, her hot skin against his, his rock-hard penis already nestled between her open legs.

Lisa placed one hand on his chest, right over his heart, while the other one clutched to the back of his neck. Her eyes found him again.

“I’m here. I’m yours. If you want me… take me.”

Did he want her? Oh yeah. Yeah, he did, with all his heart. He wanted her. He needed her.

Biting his lip, he just slid inside of her slowly and, when she arched up with a whimper, he gently kissed and licked the soft swell of her perfect breasts, capturing her nipple with his mouth, biting down gently. Her taste was home. The feeling of being inside her tight warmth was home.

His hips rotating, he pushed inside of her and then started moving without any hurry, in those slow, dragging motions that had the power to always bring them both to complete rapture.

As they kept dancing together that way, finding their familiar rhythm, he closed his eyes and images appeared once again from the darkness. Vivid, spotless frames. The countless times they had made love. Sometimes gruff and hard, sometimes slow and tender. Through the years. Through the insanity of their previous lives and decisions, through their marriage and their long, often hiccupping relationship. Through their sorrow and repeated farewells. Through their deeply rooted, profound, undying love.

His pace quickened, his breath became ragged and uneven as he lost and found himself in her. He caressed her flat stomach, feeling her muscles contract against his thrusts, then his fingers moved up, stroking her breast, holding it in his palm. Her heart was racing. His eyes snapped open as his body kept doing what it knew how to do by heart – and she stared back at him.

And they saw each other. Again, after all that time. No visions, no memories. Just the sheer and honest truth. Nothing but reality.

Her hand cradled his cheek and she blinked, her eyes shimmering.

“Michael…”

That was his name. The bomb that had been tickling for months – or for centuries – exploded. His vision became blurred by tears.

“Lise…” He turned his face and kissed the palm of her hand, again and again. “Lisa Marie… Princess…”

She let out a desperate, breathless chuckle, her eyes watery, the blue of her irises liquid and stormy.

“Mike… Michael… Michael. I love you. I love you so much.”

Utterly overwhelmed, not knowing what to say, he bent his head and kissed her with all the pent-up love that ravaged his soul. There she was. His woman. Whole. And he knew – it was no-one but her. It was really her. Alive again. Just like he was.

Their lips locked, they rocked together and she wrapped her legs around his hips, pulling him into her. The rhythm of their familiar dance increased further, and he felt the tornado erupting from his chest, then down to his spine, straight to his groin. Tingling and shivering, his skin covered in sweat, he let go of her lips but kept his forehead leaned against hers, holding onto her gaze.

Their breathing ragged, labored, they ran to the sun together. Lisa cried out, her torso arched. Michael’s hand fisted in her hair, and he pulled her head back enough to latch his lips onto her neck, her pulse frantic against his tongue as he sucked on her skin. He pounded into her, moaning loudly, as he found her eyes again, rushing to the point of non-return. Her body clamped down on him as she started convulsing and she came hard, clinging to his shoulders.

And he, too, had to let go. His vision blurred for a moment as he finally relinquished all control, her name on his lips, again and again, like a prayer, like a confession, as he gave her everything. Everything he had, and everything he was back at being.

 

 

 

 

The room was quiet and dimly lit, but they were still awake. Lisa’s head rested on Michael’s chest as he played with her hair. Every now and then he would glance down at her, and the emotion he felt was hard to explain. It was utter, unexpected completeness.

“I think I know, now…”

Her voice was husky and hoarse from long hours of lovemaking.

“What?” He turned and kissed her head.

“Why we fell in love so fast…” She ran her hand over his stomach. “…Now, I mean.”

“I know that too. It’s because nothing can change that… Not even time…”

Resting her chin on his chest, she watched him through hooded eyes.

“Not even death.”

Michael stayed quiet, just looking at her, his face grave and composed.

“We were dead, Michael… gone… and she brought us back to life… sort of. For a fucking game.”

He sighed. His fingertips ran along her spine as he kept watching her. Taking her all in. They were both so young. She was so young again. The same person he had always known and yet someone else. Just like he was.

“Yeah. But this goes way beyond Sydney. There are things she just can’t control. No matter how hard she tries.” His other hand traced her jawline. “Remember that voice message you left for me? Back then… One of the last times we spoke… You said that you would always love me, endlessly.”

She did remember. And she had not only said it. Eventually, she had those same words engraved on a vase that she had carefully placed in his mausoleum, after his passing. Lisa wasn’t sure her mind could go back there. Not yet. Having to live with two different souls was overwhelming enough. She had to carefully choose what she wanted to remember. Michael’s death wasn’t one of the memories she was especially fond of.

She cleared her throat.

“And I meant it. I still do. All that love we had for each other… it was so strong. It just didn’t end, did it. It survived everything. That’s why we’re here. We could have been strangers, in this life, and instead…”

Her voice trailed off and she rested her cheek on his chest once again, loving the feeling of his arm wrapped around her shoulders as he kept her close to him.

They had spoken plenty, after making love. And he had told her everything about Sydney and her project. The hows and whys. The sick reasons Sydney had decided to believe to justify her actions. Lisa had kept her composure, but when he had told her what Sydney had done to him – not exactly by forcing him, but by manipulating him – she had seen red. His sudden shyness right before they started making love hadn’t gone unnoticed. It wasn’t just embarrassment. It was something more profound, and now she knew: Michael had been used. And violated. And he had all the rights to feel that way. All Lisa could do was try to restore what Sydney had damaged.

“And instead, here we are…”

His touch had become more insistent and she looked up at him again. It was soul-shattering, to know who he truly was. To see him again, after all this time, after having lost him.

“Here we are…” She stroked his chin, felt his light stubble under her fingers, and the reality of it all struck her again. “What are we gonna do now?”

He kissed her forehead, his lips lingering there.

“Whatever we want. We’re gonna leave… and build our future.”

She backed off and drowned in his eyes. Their darkness so soothing, so comforting. So familiar.

“You still want it?”

He grinned in a way that looked almost sad.

“I’ve always wanted it. Don’t you know that by now, Lisa? All I want is time. All the time in the world… with you.”

Her heart cracked open, and before she knew what she was doing, they were kissing again, and he was pushing her back on the bed, moving on top of her. Urgent and ready again. Lisa moaned in his mouth and reached down, in between their bodies, holding him, burning him with her touch.

“Oh… baby… Yeah, that’s it…”

His hand found her thigh, and he wrapped it around his waist. His breath was already uneven.

And then someone knocked on the door.

“Shit…”

Michael buried his face in the crook of Lisa’s neck and she groaned. Inhaling deeply, she ran her fingers through his hair and stared at the ceiling.

“Yeah… we’re coming…”

He rolled off her.

“That was the plan,” he mumbled as he got off the bed and grabbed his pants from the floor, putting them on and wincing as he pulled up the zipper. Covering her naked body with the sheets, Lisa grinned.

Sighing, Mike walked over to the door and didn’t even bother turning the lights on. When the slice of yellowish light coming from the hall illuminated him, Lisa found herself mesmerized by his silhouette. His broad shoulders, his curly hair, the trapezoidal shape of his perfect back and his muscular legs. She blinked, realizing that she would need a bit of time to get reacquainted with all this. In a way, it was still so surreal.

Meanwhile, Mike couldn’t help but squint his eyes at Akira’s flushed cheeks. Noticing Mike’s attire and realizing what kind of activity he had just interrupted, the gentle giant couldn’t really look at his friend and glanced down at his own boots. His impressive weight shifted from one foot to the other.

“Hey, uhm. What’s up. I was…” He shook his head. “Sorry. Not the right time I guess…”

Michael leaned against the door frame, unperturbed.

“No, it’s fine, don’t worry about it. What’s going on?”

“Well…” Akira cleared his throat and frowned. “Believe it or not, that little earpiece you gave me wasn’t that useless after all.”

That piqued Mike’s interest.

“Really?” He straightened his back.

“Really.” This time Akira watched him in the eyes and didn’t even blink when Lisa, feet naked, hair wild and only wearing Michael’s shirt, appeared from the darkness.

“Aki… what did you find out?”

Akira’s shiny black eyes shifted on her.

“Did he tell you about the implants?”

“Yeah…” She raked her fingers through her hair and stepped into the light, not really caring about her getup. “…he did.”

“Did he tell you where they are located?”

“He doesn’t-”

“I don’t know that,” Mike interjected, his voice serious and cold now.

“That earpiece was sophisticated enough to allow me to crack their system via V1P3R. I actually acted as a MitM between the device and the mother machine and got in through a backdoor, bypassing authentication… I’m in, and they don’t know it. I mean – we’re in.”

Lisa frowned.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about. What about those neural… neuronal implants?”

“Neural, neuronal… it’s the same. You got two of those. I mean, each of you got two.”

“And…?” Michael’s eyebrows sprung up. “Focus, Aki… What are you trying to tell us?”

“Right… Well,” Akira showed them the palms of his hands, in a don’t-shoot-the-messenger pose. “They are both in your cerebellum. In your brain. Which means that we cannot physically remove them… I hoped they were embedded in a more accessible area, but sadly this is not the case.”

Her eyes still fixed on Akira, Lisa reached out and took Mike’s hand.

“What else?”

Mike sounded eerily calm.

“Did you know that one of the chips is for monitoring you and the other one is for active conditioning?”

“Mike… What you said to me… About that seizure you got…” Lisa’s voice trailed off.

He held her hand tighter. “Yeah…”

“What seizure?” Akira cocked his head, then shook it. “Whatever, you’ll tell me later. Anyway – that second chip is connected to an array of silicon nanowires arranged in an electrode grid.”

“A grid?” Michael’s eyes narrowed. “There’s a grid in our brain?”

“No, Mike… Not in your brain. It’s implanted all around your heart… Like a net. Like a very thin but solid spider web.” This time, concern was evident on Akira’s usually serene face. “You guys ain’t just clones. No clone has ever had anything like that. I wouldn’t even call you human. You aren’t just genetically enhanced… You are trans-human. You’re a freaking evolutionary leap.”

Michael just stared at Akira, mouth agape. Lisa leaned against the other side of the door frame and rubbed her forehead.

“I think it’s best if you guys get dressed and come on down with me. We can’t remove that shit, but we gotta find a way to deactivate it. It’s the only way.”

 

 

Soundtrack