Chapter 17: BUT SATISFACTION BROUGHT IT BACK

During their conversation, Future-Malik had off-handedly mentioned that the most complex thing he could bring back from death might be a cat. And, as it turned out, Dekka had once lost a cat. Edith Windsor, sometimes just E for short, had been a little rough around the edges, but then again, so was Dekka. That cat was the closest thing Dekka had had to a friend, for most of the four years since the FAYZ. Until Dekka had learned to use her new power and had accidentally shredded the unfortunate feline in the process.

If they were going to be fighting for their lives inside a simulation of a simulation just to give Future-Malik's world a chance to meet their God, Dekka reasoned, then the very least he owed her was to give her her stupid cat back.

It seemed like such a small thing, the life of a cat, but it gave her a weird sense of purpose, she realized. As if E had been the real reason, all along, why Dekka had asked Future-Malik if he could bring back the dead. As if it had never been about Brianna.

It was now a couple days after that conversation, but even now, at the thought of Brianna, Dekka sighed shakily, her breathing ragged. She was not quite sobbing, but not quite okay, either.

Hope was a dangerous thing, but of course she had long-since known that. No, it was better to never expect anything good of the world. Hope would always lead to disappointment, and disappointment to sorrow.

Dekka sat on the bed of her "apartment," and held her head in her hands, fighting back her own emotions. Suddenly, right in front of her, there was a black and white blur. It startled her, but of course it was only E, sensing Dekka's mood and jumping up onto her lap to comfort her. She petted E, her thoughts still on the inevitable hopelessness of life, and so she only vaguely sensed that something was very wrong. That feeling of wrongness, finally, drew an actual sob from her.

The moment "Edith" began to purr, Dekka knew.

This, this thing, it was not her cat. It looked like E and it moved like E, but it was not E.

Dekka had, many times during the year and a half since she had owned E, broken down sobbing, just as she was now. The events of the FAYZ had always stayed fresh in her mind, even two, three, four years later. And whenever her mind drifted to thoughts of Brianna . . .

Edith Windsor's reaction to this had always been the same. First, a condescending scowl from across the room. As if to say, get over yourself. If that didn't work, and it usually didn't quite, she would saunter over to Dekka and give her exactly one headbutt on the chin. Okay, you've had your cry, now buck up.

If Dekka ever tried to return the affection right then, E would always scamper off in a huff and go back to giving Dekka that condescending scowl. The cat simply would not allow herself to be petted or cuddled until Dekka had regained control of her own emotions. Nevertheless, the aloof tactics usually worked. Dekka had always responded better to a bit of tough love than to any open displays of tenderness, anyway.

But this cat? This cat was purring in her lap and gazing up at her with loving eyes that were certainly not Edith's. All of which only made Dekka cry harder. She had only wanted her stupid asshole cat back, damn it! Was that too much to ask?

She angrily pushed the cat away, suddenly doubting that the fake animal even had enough consciousness to care. Indeed, the cat didn't seem hurt or offended by the angry shove (as literally ANY cat should have been), but only meowed once and tried to get back in Dekka's lap. The meow, at least, had been a perfect simulation of Edith's. But that only made the rest of it worse.

"How hard can it possibly be?" she raged up at the ceiling and at the unseen Future-Malik, "to simulate a God damned CAT?!"

Future-Malik had the good sense not to suddenly appear and answer that. But he must have done something, from wherever he was, must have somehow tweaked some personality setting inside the "mind" of the fake Edith, because the cat suddenly hissed angrily, and ran for the door of Dekka's apartment and into the common area. Dekka blearily followed the cat, feeling responsible somehow. Future-Malik had clearly adjusted the cat much too far in the other direction. It had looked like a wild animal, ready to attack.

Edilio, meanwhile, was coming out of his own room, which happened to be the door next to Dekka's. He was heading from into the common area to join the other members of the Rockborn Gang that were already lounging there, which was pretty much everyone except for Sam, Francis, and Dekka. They had the giant TV set up to watch "The Matrix," of all things. Edilio guessed that was appropriate, a simulated story about life in a simulation, to be watched by people who were inside at least one simulation inside of another.

And he could use a little downtime, for once. He had been coordinating with Eliopoulos for the past three hours about how to prepare for the possibility of a super-powered epidemic. But there just wasn't anything anyone could do, not that Edilio hadn't already known that. It wasn't like you could quarantine people who could walk through walls or teleport or even simply destroy buildings. At this point, Edilio was mentally exhausted. He was more than ready to sit down, relax, and calmly and quietly watch-

"¡AYE POR DIOS!" Edilio yelled as he was suddenly hit from behind. He had no time to process what was happening, all he knew was that he was being attacked by something with sharp claws digging frantically into the skin of his neck.

As quickly as it had attacked, the cat ran off. Future-Malik had, apparently, corrected the cat's aggression back down to sane levels.

But in the sudden adrenaline rush, something had happened to Edilio that took everyone by surprise.

Edilio had morphed.


Thank you to my friend Mandie (D-man!) who supplied a Spanish phrase for Edilio to yell.