Chapter 1

Kleena

Kleena trembled, her fists clenched.

The dull hum of transport vehicles whirring synthetically rang through the windows, which were themselves holograms now flickering at an inconsistent rate.

Is any of it real?

“Mmm,” the woman inside moaned as the ruggedly handsome man ran his finger over her slit. “God, I can’t wait. Please. ”

Kleena remembered when Jodin kissed her like that before he’d started pulling away from her. She longed to be loved like that again, wanting only to feel his passion.

And now he’s giving it freely to this whore.

She pushed herself out of sight, clinging to the wall and hiding behind the metal door, to continue peering into the living room. It was supposed to be her home, but as she stood outside, shivering slightly from the cool breeze that wafted over her, everything inside looked both familiar and terrifyingly different.

“You’re sure she’s not coming back?” the strange woman asked.

Kleena gripped the walls of her home, tears burning her eyes. The hard metal edges cut at her palm, the steel and hard nanofibers cold in her grip.

She wasn’t sure what to do as she tried to fight back her sobs.

“Nah, she won’t be back home for hours,” Jodin assured the woman. “You don’t need to worry about her.”

A wry, silent chuckle vibrated in Kleena’s throat as she peered inside. He doesn’t even know I’m here . She sniffled quietly to herself, feeling a tear run down her cheek.

In truth, she could have left, pretending she’d seen nothing at all. Maybe she could warn Jodin away from this strange woman, ensuring they never saw each other again.

She’d just need to cut back at work so he would never leave her sight again.

But as Kleena looked at the woman, the dim neon lights pouring into the apartment from outside, two realizations sank into her, nearly bringing her to her knees.

She’s prettier than I am , Kleena thought, noticing the woman’s perfect complexion, her bright, pouty lips, her high cheekbones, and her large, opalescent eyes, which were bluer even than the room around her. Bluer than she imagined the oceans on other worlds.

A sense of inadequacy crept over Kleena. She wanted to curl up into the wall and merge with it. Aching to disappear forever.

She also realized that if she cut back her hours at her job, they would probably lose the apartment. She was, after all, the only one working.

After Jodin had been laid off from bounty work, he kept moving between small odd jobs, never bringing in anything substantial. Kleena always tried to be sympathetic and to love him regardless, but look where that had gotten her.

And now, Jodin’s finger dug into the woman’s core, the woman’s hands sliding over the growing bulge in his pants.

And Kleena remained paralyzed.

Her eyes moved from the woman, currently undressing Jodin and sinking to her knees, to the side table.

A small picture frame rested behind the sofa, whirring over a series of images that brought a feeling of tainted nostalgia.

The first image on the display was a candid shot. On their first trip together, Jodin had insisted on getting a picture, wanting to show her off to his friends. They had traveled to a preserve, a place meant to represent the more positive aspects of life on other planets, where the worlds were more picturesque and less cold and devastated.

Holograms of trees decorated the imaginary landscape behind them, a bright gold sky paved in behind them. Even though Kleena had known none of it was real, it was just fun to pretend.

And as Jodin clung to her face, his lips wrapping around hers for the camera, Kleena had felt truly loved.

But it was all an act , she realized as another photo emerged on the frame, depicting them smiling together at home.

She wanted to wake up from this nightmare—wanted to join the world of the photo. But maybe that was the trap?

For a solid minute, Kleena stood immobile.

And as the woman in the living room tore open Jodin’s pants, gripping onto his erection, Kleena’s mind went blank, watching images of a life she thought she knew with a man she thought had loved her.

And something in her snapped.

“Eight years,” she screamed, slamming open the door. “Eight years of my life, and you’re nothing but a fucking snake !”

Immediately Jodin and his mistress recoiled, doubling back. They could see the severity in her eyes.

She wanted to crush them both, tear them apart. She could feel her anger commanding her, driving her toward unspeakable thoughts.

For as much as she had loved Jodin, and as long as they had worked together to build that love, Jodin was content to piss it all away.

I should kill him , she thought, irrationally.

But as she paused in the middle of the living room, Jodin zipped up his pants, his eyes wide in fear. Kleena wasn’t pushing him onto the ground. She wasn’t physically punishing him for his transgressions. Because while she stood there, thinking she held all the power, she realized she was helpless. She realized she could do nothing because she would never find the closure she deserved.

Kleena’s eyes darted toward the baseball bat in the corner.

And as her fiancé sputtered out incoherently, trying to explain the unexplainable, and the woman looked like she wanted to be anywhere else but their living room, Kleena stormed toward the bat. She picked it up and twirled it in her hand, looking from Jodin to the woman and back again.

“Please, honey,” Jodin begged. “Just calm down. We can talk this out.”

The woman sputtered in response. “You said she didn’t mean anything to you,” she yelled. “What the fuck are you doing?”

Too bad Kleena was done.

There are no more pieces to pick up, she thought. There’s no mending this.

Readying the bat to swing at her ex-lover and his mistress, Kleena instead stepped over to the table, preparing her follow-through.

“You knew what you did, you liar,” Kleena seethed.

The voice that came out of her mouth didn’t feel like her own. It felt like some unfamiliar monster—a beast ready to invoke the fury she could not.

The quiet, intimate scene was immediately interrupted. As transport vehicles sputtered by, and the intercom outside declared the weather forecast, Kleena swung.

Glass shattered. Electricity crackled out of the hollow frame.

Even as her bat collided with the display, she could feel its heat resonating, a device not ready to end its life. Like the home before her, it wanted to remain loved.

“Your woman’s a psycho!” the stranger screamed over the sounds of the bat repeatedly bludgeoning the table.

Kleena could see the silhouettes of ghosts scurrying out of the room in a panic, neither of them people she cared to know.

Her audience was gone, clearly aware they’d wronged her. She knew that should have been enough. But as the table crashed to the ground, no longer fit to hold anything at all, she could feel power in the bat. She knew that as soon as she let go, she’d be helpless again.

Kleena bared her teeth, driving the bat into the furniture, into the kitchen table, and into the entertainment center. Her ears became accustomed to the sound of crashing furniture, and of ornaments toppling from the walls. Yet no matter how much she broke, smoking electronics becoming prevalent, the bat remained completely intact.

There was some beauty in that fact. Kleena liked the idea that anything could resist destruction. She wasn’t even sure if she would weather this.

It used to be a home, filled with the sounds of their shared laughter. It was a place where they learned about themselves, discovering who they were alone as well as together. But he had ruined that. How could he have been so selfish? How hadn’t she seen it sooner?

While Kleena broke her back for this place, working to build something in an almost unlivable world, Jodin sat on his ass, dreaming of days that would never come. He squandered their time together, taking advantage of her.

And for all the times he told her he loved her, Kleena realized he had always been lying through his teeth.

She realized her screams were joining the sounds of destruction, but she didn’t care who heard.

She imagined her neighbors walking into the wreckage, perhaps to report her. Or maybe they’d be more sympathetic, asking what happened.

But Kleena was as alone as she’d always been.

She could feel her energy leaving her.

She collapsed to the carpet, looking at the room around her as the bat thudded to the floor.

Tears filled her eyes. They had been there the entire time. As loudly as she had been yelling, her despair was far more pronounced.

But on seeing the wreckage of her life, reduced to literal shambles, Kleena sobbed uncontrollably. The scene before her had been a nightmare, something she wasn’t convinced was real. She could still picture the woman with her hands wrapped around her fiancé.

However, the destruction was anything but dreamlike.

She couldn’t just wake up from this and have her old life back.

Kleena wept, lying down on the floor as the lights in the room gradually died.