Chapter 9: Data Stream, Part 2

They floated down the river until dusk, stopping occasionally when Alex had to relieve herself. She wasn't about to jump into the river, or pee off the side like Jack seemed to enjoy doing.

Jack fished a lantern from his pack and lit it with a flick of his hand. He set it on the floor in the middle of the boat. The light cast mysterious looking shadows across his hairy face.

"How are we going to avoid the rocks? It's so dark, even I can't seem to see them anymore," Alex said, poking the paddle out into the nothingness.

"There aren't any from here on, so don't worry so much." He offered her a spoon and an open can of ravioli.

"Oh thanks, I love cold ravioli."

Jack smiled and put his hand over hers. Warmth flooded through them and into the can until steam started to rise.

"It's warm now." He released his grip.

"Thanks." She sat stiffly on the front bench and ate the warm ravioli quietly. Something about him made her say things more harshly then she normally would. The words just tumbled out. At first it had been disgust, or a reaction to his phony accent, but now it was more like she was protecting herself.

"No problem." The can opened with a click as he tore away the top.

After dinner, Jack rinsed the cans in the river and put them back in the boat.

"What did you do that for? We can't carry trash around with us," Alex said.

Jack shook his head. "Do you know how the surface got the way it is?" He continued without waiting for her answer. "Well, I'll tell you. The people that lived on the surface hundreds of years ago didn't take care of it. Now, no one can live here. If we start to take care of it now, maybe it can heal itself and in a couple of hundred years the surface will be livable again. I'm just doing my little part for future generations."

Alex nodded. She liked that sentiment. Creating a safe place for Lexi to live. Maybe she could be free after all, well if she lived a couple hundred years. "So it's thinking like that that planted you into the lab? Dangerous thinking." She shook her head. "I agree with you though. People should think for themselves. In the city, all they talk about are what the Politicians want them to talk about, which is not very important and never gets solved."

Jack smiled and nodded in agreement.

A cold gust of wind tore through their shelter. The lantern flickered and the boat rocked. Alex pulled her jacket closer, her teeth chattering audibly.

"Are you cold?" Jack asked, almost sounding concerned.

"I'm fine," she said, "I just have to get used to it."

"Nonsense." He grabbed her hand and pulled her to him. She planted her foot and stepped around the lantern as she was propelled across the boat and landing on the bench next to him. He snatched her folded up blanket from the bottom of the boat and draped it around her shoulders, then wrapped an arm around her. She could feel the heat radiating off of him in waves. The liquid fire bubbled beneath her skin again which helped to warm her as well, but she pushed it back down.

"Your hands are freezing," he said, cupping her hands in his. He pulled them apart and a little orange fireball swelled up. She soaked up the heat like a sponge. Her teeth stopped chattering.

Another gust of wind cut through their shelter. She shivered violently. He squeezed her tighter.

"I guess I'm solar powered," she joked. He smiled. His blue eyes glinted with the lantern light as he looked down into hers.

"Hey, your eyes aren't really black, are they?" he asked.

She looked away, "No- I-" Her words failed.

"It's okay, I get it. It's a disguise. Why do you think I have this beard? It's so the authorities don't recognize me."

"Oh? I have to be honest here, I really don't like the beard."

"No? I think it makes me look dignified." He stroked his beard thoughtfully.

"It's scratchy."

"Scratchy?" He leaned over and rubbed his beard on her cheek playfully.

"Ahh, no stop it!" She batted him away, giggling a little, which surprised her. Wasn't she just mad at him? How could he make her do that so easily?

He pulled away. "You know that is the first time I've heard you laugh," he mused. "You're not too bad for a hybrid."

"You're not too bad for a grizzly bear."

He stroked his beard. "A grizzly bear? I think those things died out two hundred years ago."

"Well science must have brought them back when they modified you," she said and shivered against the cold again.

"That's pretty good, sweet cheeks. That's pretty good." He chuckled and held her close. He set his chin on her head as he tried to warm her up.

"Can we lower the poles anymore to block out the wind?" she asked, her voice muffled by his jacket.

Jack inspected the poles. "Any lower and we both will be laying down."

She shivered in response, her teeth chattering.

"Alright." Jack pulled his blanket from his pack and laid it on the bottom of the metal boat, then swiveled both seats to the side and collapsed the poles down. He tightened the tarp on the cleats until it was only inches above the little boat.

Jack blew out the lantern. "Take your jacket off. You can absorb more heat from me without it."

"I hope that's all I'll be absorbing," she said, giving him a warning glance.

He grinned. "Do you want to be warm or not?"

They both took off their jackets. Jack laid down and pulled her next to him, then righted the other blanket on top.

Alex lay with her head on his chest listening to his even heartbeat. Already she started to feel warm. His arms wrapped around her and she felt like she was stealing his heat.

"Don't you get cold?" she asked without looking up at him.

He stared up at the tarp. "Nope. Thanks to Genetic Tech, I am genetically modified to generate heat, hence all the fire. I do get cold when I don't eat though."

"Does that happen often?"

"Nope."

"That's good," she said, snuggling her cold nose into his chest. The corn chip smell wasn't so unbearable. She had been getting pretty ripe herself.

He patted her head. Their little aluminum boat floated quietly down the river as the cold rain turned into snowflakes.