“Your parents told me you committed suicide!” I shouted. This time I did rub my temples.
“Hello,” DNA said, stepping up. “My full name is deoxyribonucleic acid, DNA for short.” Force turned to DNA and just stared at him, all the emotion on his face turned toward DNA. I thought he was going to punch DNA in the face.
“Hi,” Force said.
* * *
—
I slept for twelve hours. I knew the exact time because I checked with my mind. The ability was still there. I’d slept, though, without being aware that I was being watched and without being aware enough to watch back. I awoke with blood crusting my nose and my left ear. I stared up at the “sky” of chaos for nearly ten minutes. “The Red Eye never closes,” I whispered. Swirls and gusts of dust and debris dimly lit by glimpses of sunshine that somehow managed to penetrate the storm. What a “sunrise” it was to look at. I squinted.
What was that? I could have sworn I’d seen a speck of something that wasn’t dull sandy brown. It was a glint of something lighter than the shadowy beige of the dust, but I’d only glimpsed it for a second. The ceiling of the anti-aejej’s field was about a hundred and fifty feet. High enough for me to not see it clearly, but low enough for me to know I’d seen it.
I shuddered and sat up, looking away from the “sky.” I brought my metal legs to my chest and pressed my face to them. The cloth of the long green kaftan spanning my legs was soft and smelled like Force. I inhaled the scent trying to let my angry memories of him overpower the thing I knew I’d seen fly by above. I was still angry with Force but this didn’t work. “You know you saw it, you know you saw it,” I muttered, pressing my face harder against my legs. “Shit.”
I’d just glimpsed one of the most disturbing facts everyone knew about the Red Eye. I’d always assumed it was urban legend designed to keep people away. But I know what I saw. Even if it was for a split second, I know that I saw a cluster of bones. Human bones. When one got caught in the winds of the Red Eye, the winds took you. First the storm thrashed you about until you were dead, then it stripped you of flesh and sinew. And then you flew forever.
The Red Eye’s winds were full of the dried tired bones of unlucky people who’d never find rest. Around and around they flew, the winds keeping the bones in their own clusters. I pressed my face to my legs and shut my eyes. Then I opened them because the pomegranate of eyes was looking back at me, and in looking at them, I felt the connection to everything else and this threatened to swallow me. I felt blood oozing into my nose as I took deep breaths to calm myself.
Something lightly kicked one of my metal feet. When I looked up, a young woman was grinning down at me. She was wearing a bright orange sari, no shoes, and her long braids were piled atop her head. “DNA is up already and went for a walk. We all thought you should sleep, but the sun’s been out for hours now. The day is going. You want some breakfast?”
I sniffed the blood back into my nose. “I . . . I . . . ugh.” I rubbed my head and hair and sighed, getting up. Dolapo was Force’s long-time girlfriend. I liked her. Her happy demeanor was its own sunshine, and I needed all the sunshine I could get. She was a coder who’d come to the Hour Glass out of pure curiosity and loved what she discovered so much she decided to stay. She also seemed to be my biggest fan, which was weird.
“I made some egusi soup, dodo, suya, or if you only want a snack, I have dates and groundnuts.”
“Thanks, Dolapo, but I’m not hungry.”
“Well, just tell me when you’re ready. I think you should eat, though. You need your strength.” She paused, staring at me with a grin on her face. “Anything you need. I’m over at the hearth for now.” Then she bustled off. I dragged myself up and, as I did, I saw Force emerge from between the field of high corn directly behind our sleeping area.
“Dolapo texted me you’re finally up,” he said.
“Yeah,” I said.
“Eat and get dressed, I want to show you something before your DNA returns.”
CHAPTER 16
Stone Hut
“What is that?” I asked. It was a soft but steady buzz that started the moment we stepped up to the building. We’d stepped into some sort of gentle electrical field, a feeling I was actually quite used to with all my cybernetic parts.
“You’re being scanned,” Force said. “I know, it feels weird. Some feel it more than others, but everyone feels it. It’s why we call them Mosquito Huts. They buzz in your ear and take a bit of your blood.”