An Unexpected Gift

by Grace Bridges -

Ave rested against the wall with the little ones piled on and around her. Their slumbering breaths formed a restful haze in the dimly-lit service corridor.

A vibration in the floor brought Ave to full wakefulness. She tensed, and the children around her shifted in their sleep. They knew the drill.

Ave listened a moment more, then burst into action with a shake that roused all the babes. Within seconds they sat upright, watching her for instructions.

“E-38. Go!” The tousled heads hustled away towards the prearranged meeting spot. Ave made sure they were all out of sight before she tucked herself into the tiny niche behind a support pylon.

The footsteps grew louder. She still had to concentrate extra hard to make them out; the visitor intended stealth. Ave’s heart hammered. She squeezed her eyes shut and gritted her teeth. Then, like the turn of a page in an old book, peace washed over her with the silent song of a whale from the red planet far below.

She drew herself up to full height, breathed slow and deep, and opened her eyes just in time to spot a smallish shadow pass her hiding place. An orphan from one of the gangs? She was bigger. She could take him.

Ave darted out and grabbed the impostor from behind. Pinned at both elbows, he squealed and struggled. She dragged him back to the nearest light source, a small panel of blinking diodes. “What are you doing here?”

As she roughly turned him to face her, she realised he was hugging a bulging sack. Her eyes found his face. “Gavin!”

He relaxed in her grip. “Ave. Don’t hurt me. I brought food.”

“For us?” Ave boggled at the sack.

“I know you need it. The whales told me. I can get it.”

Ave gulped. “You’re not stealing from the wizard, are you?”

“No, silly. Spiner knows.” He laughed, then peered up and down the empty hall. “So where are your kids? Isn’t this your night zone?”

Ave looked away. “Not any more.”

Shadow

by Kat Heckenbach - 

Robynn’s legs cramped from kneeling behind the support column. And leaning against the cold metal wall was making her back ache. Why hadn’t Gavin come out of that man’s room yet?

And he was a man, Robynn had decided. He had to be. The no-blinking thing was creepy, but his eyes were far too human to belong to a droid. And no self-respecting droid builder would have made bangs so shaggy…

The door swooshed open and Robynn flinched, her heart suddenly fluttering like a hummingbird’s. She peeked around the column. Gavin leaned through the doorway and peered down the corridor. Then he stepped through; the door swooshed closed behind him.

Robynn stood and stepped out into view, arms crossed, as Gavin crept past. “What were you doing in there?” she whispered through clenched teeth. She smiled as Gavin jumped.

His eyes narrowed, distorting his little boy features. “None of your business, Robynn Shadow.”

The words hit Robynn like a brick. Gavin had never used that name for her. The other kids called her that, of course. “Robynn Shadow in the shadows…hiding, hiding…in the shadows…” Because she didn’t like being the center of attention—as if there was something wrong with that! She wasn’t hiding. And she didn’t care what they thought anyway.

But, Gavin…

Anger surged. Hurt anger that clawed its way out as tears burned her eyes. “Fine, Gavin Talker, do what you like!” She spun and stomped down the corridor.

“Robynn, wait!” His footsteps pounded behind her.

She could have easily outrun him, even out-walked, with her long legs and his short ones. But she didn’t speed up, and in moments he was next to her.

He tugged her arm. “I’m sorry. Please, Robynn.”

She stopped and looked down at him. His eyes were wide.

“I can’t tell you what I was doing here. No one can find out. Only Ave knows…and if she trusts me, then you should, too.” He squeezed her arm tighter. “And I’m sorry I called you that. I know you hate Shadow as much as I hated Talker.”

“Hated? What, you like it now?”

He smiled then, his wide eyes lighting up and his cheeks pushing out. “Course not! The kids’ll probably still call me that, but it’s not my name anymore, not for real.”

Robynn scrunched her mouth to one side. “So let’s hear it,” she said. “What’s your ‘real’ name?”

His eyes shifted down. “Okay, it wasn’t my idea…I know it sounds kinda strange…but it’s a real Earth name.” He looked up again. “Collodi.”

Robynn tilted her head, tightening her brow. “You mean like Carlo Collodi? The guy that wrote Pinocchio?”

“Pinocchio?”

“It’s an ancient story. About a man who doesn’t realize he wants a son, but he makes this puppet that becomes a real boy—because they love each other so much.”

Gavin stared at her, wide-eyed again, lip quivering.

Robynn knelt down. “Are you okay?” she asked as she wiped a tear from his cheek.

He nodded and smiled. “Very.”

Naming

by Kat Heckenbach -

Gavin lifted his head, blinking. His eyes ached from straining over the microscope. Dr. Spiner had shown him how to work all the buttons and dials, how to focus and find the tiniest of particles. It had been fun at first, but today’s work was boring and Gavin couldn’t stop his mind from wandering.

“Dr. Spiner?”

The wizard-scientist’s eyes were all that moved. And at that they only peeked out from under his shaggy bangs for a moment.

“I know it’s late, and you’re tired, son. It won’t be much longer though.” His hands shuffled nimbly among the various instruments in front of him.

“I just had a question, sir.”

“Hm?”

“What’s your first name?” Gavin hoped he hadn’t crossed a line by asking. It had only been a few months since he started his apprenticeship with Dr. Spiner, and the scientist had never treated Gavin like the child he was. Other than calling him son—which put a lump in Gavin’s throat each time he thought about it even though he knew it was just a nickname.

Dr. Spiner raised his whole head this time. “It’s Spiner, of course.”

Gavin felt his forehead scrunch. “But…but you’re Doctor Spiner. I thought…”

The scientist shifted on his stool. “What kind of first name is Doctor?” He smiled, but it was a smile that didn’t travel to his eyes.

The smile dropped and he sighed. “My first name is Spiner, Gavin. I abandoned my last name years ago. I suppose it’s still in my records, but no one knows it, not here. I’m just Spiner…or Doctor Spiner. And no one, until you, has asked me about it.”

Gavin’s skin flushed hot. “I’m sorry, sir. I didn’t mean to…” He reached for the microscope again, but before he could put his eye against the lens Dr. Spiner was standing beside him. Gavin slowly looked up and met his dark eyes.

“I don’t mind, Gavin. I come from a family I’m not very proud of, that’s all.” The scientist lifted his hand and stroked a stray hair from Gavin’s face. “You don’t have a last name either, do you?”

“Just what the other kids call me. “

“And that would be?”

Gavin swallowed, throat burning. “Talker.”

This time the scientist’s smile lit up his whole face. “Seems we both need one then.” He turned, grabbed his stool and pulled it over. When he was seated, he leaned his elbow on the tabletop, work seemingly forgotten. “What shall our new last name be, son?”

Missed Lift

by Kat Heckenbach -

The lift doors shut with a quiet hiss as Robynn watched the man—‘droid?—disappear around a corner at the other end of the corridor. She shook her head and jabbed the touch panel again, angry that she’d gotten so distracted and now had to wait on another lift when someone could come by at any moment and throw a fit about her being where she didn’t belong.

Angrier that Denton and Strand had abandoned her…

Angriest because she knew she didn’t dare say a word to them about it. She needed their protection. They were the toughest urchins she knew, besides Ave. But Ave couldn’t be around all the time to stop them—or anyone else—from picking on Robynn. Better to befriend the bullies than be bullied by them. It was a matter of survival.

Tears burned her eyes and she chewed at her lip. It wasn’t her fault she had no home, no parents. So why did she have to be treated like a stray dog?

The metal wall in front of her hummed, and a ping sounded with each change of number above the door. The lift was close. Robynn shifted her weight nervously from one leg to the other. Hurry up, hurry up…

And then movement caught in the corner of her eye. She snapped her head to the side, expecting to see a grown-up, someone ready to scream at her (filthy little urchin!), and threaten to call Level Security. But it was a boy, crossing past the end of the corridor.

She stepped away from the lift doors just as they opened and jogged along the edge of the wall. When she reached the end, she peeked around the corner.

He snuck along, glancing side to side, like he was playing “secret agent.” His clothes were clean, his hair trimmed, and he’d gained a few pounds, but Robynn still recognized him.

Gavin.

What was he doing here? Ave had told Robynn…well, something. It was always something. Excuses for why Gavin never seemed to be around.

Robynn skulked along the adjacent corridor, following as Gavin rounded the next corner. He stopped in front of a door and she ducked behind a support column, pressing her cheek against the cold metal.

The door opened, and Gavin stepped through. A man’s hushed voice said, “You weren’t followed?”

“No, sir.”

“You’re sure? There were some kids poking around earlier.”

“No, sir.”
A grunt, and then the man leaned his head and shoulders out the door, facing away from Robynn. She held her breath as he turned in her direction. It took everything she had not to gasp. It was him—the ‘droid!

Words

by Kat Heckenbach -

Gavin stood next to the wizard—gotta stop thinking that…he says he don’t mind, but if I slip up and say it out there he could get busted—who wiped his hand on his already smudged lab coat. Thick, black bangs hung in his eyes as he peered into a bubbling test tube. And he keeps tellin’ me I need a haircut.

The table in front of them was covered with odd-looking equipment that whispered with ticks and whirs. Shiny steel and tarnished brass competed for dominance between modern technology and—what’s that word Ave told me once…oh, yeah—Victorian.

“Dr. Spiner, tell me again why you use this old stuff? It looks archaic.”

The man peeked out from behind his bangs and gave the strange smile he always did when Gavin used words for older people.

“Newer isn’t always better, son. Especially when you’re studying things of such antiquity.” The wiz—scientist winked and looked back at the table, then reached for a spindly metal contraption without further explanation.

Antiquity was the kind of word no one but Ave would use when speaking to him, at least not without patting him on the head and giving him a dumbed-down definition. But Dr. Spiner had trusted him to understand. Gavin bit his lip to stop the grin that wanted to push his cheeks out with pride.

And then, as he climbed onto a stool for a better view, he realized Dr. Spiner had used another word no one had ever spoken to him before. A word that made his eyes burn pleasantly with tears.

Son.

Midnight Song

by Kat Heckenbach -


“Sir, they’re singing.”

Spiner looked up from his lab table and found the boy staring through the tiny porthole into the pitch black of space. Surely he’d heard wrong…

“Singing, Gavin? What are you talking about?”

Gavin tilted his head to the side, but didn’t answer.

Spiner propped his chin on steepled hands and stared at the young apprentice. The boy’s freshly cut hair held the slightest curl at the back of his neck. His shirt still hung like a sack on his wiry frame despite weeks of eating four full meals a day. Fortunately he devoured knowledge as easily as he did food and had proven very quickly that Spiner made the right decision by taking him in.

Gavin sighed and turned around. “It’s stopped now.”

Spiner shook his head. “What—?”

“The sea angels,” Gavin said. “The ones Ave told me about, down on the planet. I felt it the other day, but didn’t know where it was coming from. But just now, I realized, it’s them. Not singing with sounds…” He bit his lip, and searched Spiner’s face with his gaze. Finally, his eyes brightened. “They sing emotions. They were singing…joy.”

Apprentice

by Kat Heckenbach -

The sight of the boy huddled in the corner stopped Spiner in his tracks. If he were caught following up on the illegal experiment…

He slipped behind a support column. He couldn’t chance anyone seeing him, not even a homeless child. But pity tugged at his heart as he watched the tattered urchin pull scabbed knees to a skeletal chest. Tears streaked through grime on the boy’s cheeks. Spiner leaned his forehead against the cool metal beam.

“You can come out, sir. It’s okay.” The boy’s voice squeaked mouse-like. He couldn’t have been more than seven years old.

Spiner stepped out into the corridor and walked softly toward the boy. He knelt down as the boy wiped away tears with the back of his hand. “Are you hungry?”

The boy nodded but didn’t meet Spiner’s gaze. “I won’t tell anyone you’re here, even if you don’t feed me,” he said.

“I appreciate that.” Spiner reached out and brushed a string of blond hair away from the boy’s eyes. “You know what I am?”

“A wizard, sir.” He lifted his head, eyes wide. “I’m sorry, I know you don’t like being called that, but I mean no disrespect.”

Was he only seven then? Such a big word for a little boy.

“No worries, kid. I’ve no apologies for my beliefs.”

“I believe, too,” the boy said. “I-I want to learn.”

Spiner studied the boy’s face. Intelligent eyes. The eyes of a survivor. He whispered, “You’d like to be an apprentice?”

The boy’s “yes” was barely audible.

Spiner leaned in. “Let’s go. Food first, and then some lessons.”

One corner of the boy’s mouth tugged up into a half-smile as hope sparked in his eyes.