Paolo Bacigalupi - The Doubt Factory

“No. I don’t want you getting nailed. He might see the USB key, and when he does, there aren’t enough other people to blame. You’d get caught for sure.”

“I would not.”

“Well, I don’t want to risk it.”

“You were willing to risk me before.”

Moses had the grace to look embarrassed. “Yeah, well, now I’m not,” he said. “So don’t do anything stupid. I don’t want to risk you. I like you too much to lose you.”

“You like me?” she goaded. “You like me?”

Moses rewarded her with an even more embarrassed smile. “Quit hassling me. I’m a guy. Guys don’t talk about this stuff.”

“I think that’s just dudebros. Real men talk about their feelings.”

Moses shook his head and blushed. “Just don’t do anything stupid, okay?”

He likes me , Alix thought as she stared at herself in the mirror.

Downstairs, she found Jonah complaining to Mom about how his trig teacher hated him. Alix found a nonfat yogurt in the fridge, watching with amused distance as Mom and Jonah went back and forth.

“Jonah,” Mom said finally, “it would be a lot easier for me to take you seriously if Ms. Scheibler didn’t like you as much as she does.”

“That woman hates me.”

“Nah.” Alix dipped her spoon into the yogurt. “She’s a sucker for bad boys like Jonah.”

“I’m a bad boy?” Jonah perked up at that.

Mom gave Alix an exasperated glance. “Please don’t encourage him.” She paused, studying Alix more closely.

“What are you smiling about?”

“Who? Me?”

“Who? Me? ” Mom mimicked.

Bad boys , Alix thought. I was thinking about bad boys. Bad boys like Moses Cruz—

“Batman,” Alix said. She rinsed out the empty yogurt container in the sink. “I was thinking about Batman.”

“I WISH YOU’D QUIT CALLINGme that,” Moses said.

“Batman? Why?”

“I’m not a superhero.”

“I don’t know.” Alix laughed. “You are kind of unbelievable.”

They were on a walking trail by the river. They’d met on the turnpike and then driven into the Connecticut greenery to find a walking trail. It was far enough away from Alix’s normal haunts that she felt safe from anyone she knew seeing her, and it was still close enough that she could pick up Jonah at Sirius Comix within an hour.

“I’m serious,” Moses said. “My uncle could pull off amazing things, too. And then he teamed up with the wrong person, and it all went sidewise so fast he didn’t even see it coming.”

“You were with him a long time?”

“Since I was eleven,” Moses said. “I’ve been orphaned twice. Once after my parents died, then after Uncle Ty got himself arrested.” Moses kicked a rock ahead of him. “Maybe that’s why I’ve gotten so lucky recently. Universe is trying to balance me out.”

Alix didn’t know how to answer. There was a hole of loss there that she didn’t really know how to fill. “I’ve got more files from my dad,” she said, fishing in her purse and handing over an SD card. “It’s a good one.”

“Yeah?”

“His latest idea is to create a cheap news-syndication service. He actually wants to sell slanted news, instead of worrying about trying to make journalists take his quotes. I took some pictures of the mock-ups he had in his briefcase.”

“Alix—”

“There’s one other thing in there, too. He’s got a whole notebook with a hiring plan to put a bunch of sock puppets out to monitor news articles for keywords. It’s like a whole professional trolling operation to get the first comment on online news articles—he’s calling it BSP Lightning Response Services. The whole pitch is that the first comment gets almost as much reader impact as the news article itself.”

“So you just piggyback on the news story and refute from comments.” Moses was nodding.

“And it doesn’t even look like a PR company’s doing it,” Alix added. “Just Bernard Henderson from Indianapolis.”

Moses stopped walking. Alix had already taken a few steps before she realized he’d stopped. She turned back to him. “What’s wrong?”

Moses had the memory card in his hand but didn’t pocket it. “You know you don’t need to bring me this stuff, right? That’s not why I’m with you.”

“I know that. It was my idea to do it in the first place.”

“Still, it’s not your fight.”

“This from the guy who told me it was on me if another kid died from Azicort?” Alix looked at him incredulously. “Of course it’s my fight.”

“When I said that before, I was just trying to manipulate you.”

“Yeah, I know…. But still, you were right.” Alix went back over to him and looped her arm through his. Frustratingly, he was looking away from her, and she couldn’t get a read on his face. When she could see his eyes, she had a better sense of what Moses was thinking. “So… what are you trying to do now?”

Finally Moses met her gaze. Alix was surprised at the emotion she saw there. “I’m trying to make sure you don’t do something stupid and get yourself caught,” he said.

The words were so genuine that Alix felt her heart warm. She reached up and patted his cheek affectionately.

“You’re worried about me?”

“This is serious stuff, Alix.”

Alix laughed. “I think I can snoop on my dad without getting caught.”

A guy with six dogs on leashes came down the path. The guy was sweating, running after the panting pack. Alix and Moses got out of the way of the stampede.

“That’s not what I’m saying. You’ve got a good life. Your parents…” Moses trailed off. “They’re good to you.”

“But bad to everyone else, right?”

Moses shook his head, his brow furrowed with frustration. “How did we end up on opposite sides of this argument? I’m the one who’s supposed to be all crazy, and you’re supposed to be the one who doesn’t want to make waves.”

“Relax, Batman.” Alix grinned. “Just enjoy it.”

“Seriously, Alix. Cut out the superhero stuff. That’s the kind of thinking that gets people nailed. Don’t get cocky.”

Alix sobered and reached out to him. “I get it.” She held his gaze, trying to let him know that she wasn’t crazy, that she wasn’t reckless. “I’m careful. I’m really careful. You can trust me on that.”

“I just don’t want to lose you.”

They started walking again, their arms interlinked. Alix leaned against him, enjoying the stolen time together. Moses still didn’t seem totally relaxed, though. Alix glanced up at him again. “You’re not going to lose me,” she said. “Okay?”

He blew out his breath. “I know.”

“But you don’t believe me.”

“Sometimes things get under your skin. You watch two parents die. You see your uncle locked up….” He trailed off, looking troubled.

“Moses?”

“Yeah?”

Alix swallowed, unsure of how to ask the question. “What were your parents like?”

“You really want to know?”

She slipped her hand into his and squeezed tightly. “I just want to know whatever you feel like telling me.”

As she said it, she was surprised how true it felt. She just liked being with him. She liked the way it felt to have Moses holding her hand, and she liked the easy way he gave her room to stand aside when a jogger zipped past them. Everything she did with him felt right. She didn’t even have to think about it.

When she’d dated Brad Summers in her sophomore year, she’d always felt self-conscious, trying to figure out even the simple mechanics of holding hands, let alone kissing. Let alone anything more. It had all been something she had to think about. She worried what Brad would think when she held his hand, or when she didn’t. When they kissed, she worried about what he was thinking when she let her tongue slip into his mouth…. It had all been so much work . Watching herself from the outside, and trying to do everything right .