Dragonfly

Children are our most precious resource, say the wise, and are worth far beyond the price of gold and rubies and sapphires. But children, unlike those measures of value, require care, love, and most importantly in the mind of the selfish, food, and thus it came that Samma and Kyawu woke up alone in the tiny plastic apartment one morning, clutching each other in confusion. Everything edible had been stripped out of their house, up to and including the spoiled tofu in the cold-box, and even their clothes and toys, save for the poorest specimens, had been taken. Their parents were gone.
Samma knew why. The neighborhood was being evacuated by the government due to its high crime rate, and their parents, part of that crime rate, had been planning to split before the enforcers came. Their parents were not what would be called the most responsible or loving souls, and they obviously had decided to take the more profitable items in their possession, and leave the ones that they couldn't sell. Apparently, Samma and his little sister were included in the later category. They must have snuck out during the night, callously leaving them alone.
Samma sighed and cuddled his sister closer. A sober 12 year old boy, Samma was old enough to know his parents' many faults, but not quite old enough to hate them for it. And at 5, little Kyawu only knew that her mommy and daddy had disappeared, and that she missed them. He stroked her sleek black hair, braided into two thick pigtails that ran down her back. In retrospect, Samma reflected, this should have been a tip-off that something was up, because their mother never took the time to braid Kyawu's hair before bed. That she had should have made Samma suspicious, but he'd been so tired last night. His father had played catch with him for hours that evening; that was an even more unusual occurrence, but Samma had learnt long ago not to look a gift game in the mouth. Samma realized now, with a new cynical turn to his thoughts, that the pair had been trying to make themselves feel better. Well, yesterday had been great, but this was today. And they needed to eat. But how? They couldn't afford to buy any. . . . He suddenly remembered the cache in his bedroom. In all the bewilderment of their abandonment, he'd forgotten it. He wiped the tears off his sister's face.
'Hey, Kya, don't cry. Mommy and Daddy went to look for a new house for us. A really big house, where you can have your own room, and I'll have a big tool bench, and where you can eat oranges everyday.'� Samma tried to calm her down with a little fairy tale. His sister had tasted an orange for the first time on her last birthday, and had been so excited by its sweet freshness that she had declined to eat any of her synthesized cake. Samma hadn't really blamed her, to tell the truth. Real food had something that even the most delicious synthesized food lacked. 'They'll be back as soon as they find one. For now, do you want breakfast?'�
Kyawu, whose pet name was Kya, nodded vigorously, perking up. 'And a horsie?'� she asked hopefully. She'd only seen them in holobooks, but Samma knew that she'd wanted one for a while.
'Maybe. I guess we'll see when they get back. Sit here and play with Dolly, and I'll go make breakfast.'� Samma hugged his sister and went to his room. Luckily, her favorite doll was a patched mess of a thing, so it had been in its proper place when they'd woken up. If the doll had disappeared, Kyawu would have been a lot more upset than she was already.
He walked down a filthy hall, barely three strides long, and squeezed into his closet of a room. It was as clean as a 12 year old boy could keep it with no help from his mother, and as bare as the rest of the apartment. They'd even torn his posters down, he noticed with a hurt tightness in his chest. He didn't know why, but it was a senseless cruelty on top of the huge betrayal, and it stung. They taken everything they could find of value. Luckily, he knew better than to trust his parents.
A few months ago, they had started to skimp on food for the two siblings. In response, Samma had begun sneaking extra food home from the school lunches. They were free, and you could get as many refills as you wanted, so he'd stocked up on things that wouldn't spoil. He'd secreted them all in a hole in his floor under his one piece of furniture, a heavy wooden chest that he'd found on the street one day. He kept it next to his bedroll on the floor, in the hopes that any attempt to move the chest would wake him up. He put his back against it and his feet on the floor and scooted it enough that he could reach the food. He closed his eyes in silent hope and reached in. His eyes popped open when he felt the nutrition bar in his hand, and Samma sighed with relief. Well, they'd be okay for a little while at least. He'd have to figure out a plan after that, though. He pulled out another bar for his sister, pulled the chest back in place, and made his way back to her, avoiding the many holes in the floor.
'Kya, I brought breakfast. It's chocolate flavored!'� He showed the foil wrapped object with a winning smile, trying to make it look more appetizing.
She didn't move to take it, having become depressed again while he was gone.
Samma tried to jolt her out of it. 'Oh, I forgot, you don't like chocolate. You'd rather have my nutritious vegetable bar.'�
Kyawu's bottom lip trembled. 'Sammy,'� she said, changing his name as children are wont to do, 'I don't think Mommy and Daddy are really coming back. You're just trying to make me feel better, aren't you?'�
Samma winced. He'd almost forgotten how bright his sister was. She'd had too many dealings with their parents to fall for such an obvious lie. He sighed and sat down next to her, crossing his legs and hugging her tightly. 'I'm sorry, Kya. I just wanted you to be happy. I shouldn't have lied to you.'� He handed her the food, and she took it sadly. 'No, I don't think they're coming back. But you know what?'� He let her go and smiled at her. 'I'm still here, and I will never, ever leave you. Okay? So if you're very brave, we'll be fine.'�
The little girl bit her lip, trying to be brave for her adored older brother. 'Okay. I'll be good.'� She looked down at the bar in her hand and frowned a little. 'Hey!'� she said indignantly, her mood temporarily forgotten. 'This is veggie!'�
Laughing, Samma switched with her. 'I wanted to see if you'd noticed,'� he said, teasing her.
'Hmph.'� The healthy child settled down to eat her breakfast, nibbling delicately at the bar as she played with her doll.
Samma took larger bites of his food. He'd been eating less for days so that his sister could have a larger share, and he felt the pinch of hunger in his stomach. He hesitated then went back to his room for another one. He needed to think really hard about what they were going to do, and he couldn't concentrate with his stomach screaming at him for nourishment.
He couldn't go to Child Services for help, obviously. They'd take one look at them, find out who their parents were, and split them up forever. Kyawu was adorable, and young enough that some wealthy family would snatch her up immediately, but he'd get bounced from one foster home to another, and never see his sister again. Kya would forget all about him, and the rich people would teach her to hate and fear the poor. He couldn't let them make her into one of them.
Munching on his bar, his eyes hard, Samma realized that he'd have to start scrounging even more for food. They couldn't go back to school, because someone would remember that their area had been cleared out, their family moved. He'd have to teach Kyawu himself, and learn whatever he could for his own knowledge at the library. His teeth clenched with the unfairness of it all. His hopes, his dreams were lost forever, because he had to take care of his helpless little sister, because his parents refused to take their responsibility. He choked on the dry food and thrust it into his threadbare pocket impatiently, shaking his head. There wasn't time for this. It might not have been fair, but this was how it was.
Samma promised himself that he'd find a way to keep his dream of being a robot engineer alive. He'd always loved playing with tools, and he'd gotten a toy robot from his father once. The man had tossed it at him carelessly, having no use for it himself, but it had been Samma's most cherished possession for years. He'd played with it, studied it, and finally, last year, as its lifespan wore out, taken it apart to examine its insides with amazement. All those tiny little parts and pieces had combined to make this miraculous thing that talked and walked and almost seemed to think, it was so well crafted. He wished that he had some sort of mechanical helper now.
'Samma? Samma!'� Kyawu cried frantically from the other room.
Shaking the reverie from his head, Samma raced back to comfort her. He'd gotten lost in his thoughts and forgotten to return after getting his food. 'I'm sorry, Kya,'� he said soothingly, rocking with the impact of her panicked hug. 'I was just in my room. I told you I wouldn't leave, sis. You can trust me.'�
Kyawu's body shook with terrified sobs, her brown eyes big with misery. 'I know,'� she hiccupped, 'but I wasn't sure if somebody hurt you, or if, or if maybe you forgot me, and I was so scared!'�
'Forget you? How could I forget you?'� Samma felt guilty and held her closer. 'Don't worry. I won't leave you alone like that again, I promise. Do you believe me?'�
His sister nodded tearfully. 'I believe you, Sammy.'�
'Good. Now, I have to tell you something, and you can't get upset, okay?'�
'Okay.'�
'You can't go to school anymore. If you go to school, Child Services will find out that Mommy and Daddy are gone, and they won't let us be together anymore.'�
Kyawu didn't look entirely pleased, but she nodded her understanding.
'But you can't do anything in life without an education, so I'm going to teach you.'�
The little girl giggled a little. 'But Samma, you're not old enough to be a teacher!'�
'Ah, but I'm older than you.'� He tweaked her nose, making her giggle more. 'Which means that I'm much, much, much smarter than you are.'�
She stuck her tongue out at him. 'You only play with your pieces of metal and wires all the time. That doesn't seem very smart to me.'�
'Shows what you know, brat.'� Samma stuck his tongue out in return. With it still hanging out, he mock threatened Kyawu with a garbled 'and now I'm going to lick your face!'�
'Ewwwww!'� she shrieked, understanding him from previous games, and they played tongue tag around the room for a little while, before Kya got frustrated with running and needed a nap. For the rest of the day, Samma did his best to distract her from their troubles, but he knew the next day would bring even more.
Which it did, of course. Kyawu didn't want to eat another foil bar. She didn't want to play with her brother. She wanted to go outside and see her friends, which Samma knew was impossible. Their parents would have taken them to the relocation site. He hated to bring up their abandonment again, though. 'Wouldn't you rather go look at the windows?'� he asked, playing his last card.
'The windows!'� Kyawu agreed excitedly, her crankiness forgotten. 'I want to go look at the pretty windows!'�
'The windows'� referred to the storefronts on Shop Street, the most upscale shopping area in the city. By a strange quirk of zoning, it was only a few blocks from their condemned apartment, and is a quick trip, even on a disappointing breakfast of more nutrition bars. Their mother used to take them on trips here to act as a distraction while she pick-pocketed from well-dressed society women, but Samma chose to ignore that less savory memory. While most of the stores were clothing or jewelry ones, a select few were bookstores and hardware stores, there to keep the husbands, boyfriends, and butch girlfriends from getting bored as their loved ones tried on fifty dresses at each shop. Samma hoped that he could convince his sister to let him linger for a bit at one of those, especially the specialty hardware store. He'd made a friend there with Tommy, the loud women who ran it, and she let him have the slightly disheveled items that invariably turned up in inventory. He'd acquired wires, a hammer, and other tools that way, luckily all secreted in his cache of food. Maybe she'd have something today. He'd gotten an idea with his earlier complaint; he'd started thinking about trying to build a robot to help him with their new, tough life. It wouldn't have to be really complicated, just a distraction so he could steal food, or beg, if he had to.
'Samma! Look, look!'� Kyawu tugged on his shirtsleeve and pulled him to a toy store window. He sighed a little, putting aside his daydream for the moment, and looked at their display. It was only a quick glance at first, with a mumbled 'That's great, Kya,'� but then he looked closer and gasped with glee. It was full of toy robots, flying ones. Beautiful multi-colored creatures with broad wings, they flew inside against a backdrop of genetically altered flowers. The plants were impressive in their own right, but Samma only had eyes for the magnificent machines. 'Wow, Kya,'� he said, running his palm light over the glass, 'those are amazing!'�
'What are they, Samma?'�
'Some kind of bird, maybe.'� Samma stared in, fascinated. How had they gotten them to fly so gracefully?
'Those are butterfly robots, young man,'� an older man standing next to them said. He smiled at them kindly. 'The real ones are insects, like flies or mosquitoes.'�
Samma glanced up at him warily then peeked back at the window. These robots were too magical to look away from for long. He couldn't believe that they were related to flies. Something so beautiful shouldn't share its genetics with something that buzzed around trash cans. He looked down at his sister.
Her eyes shone like young stars, and he grinned to see her reaction. He watched her reach out longingly for one, and his throat tightened. They could never have afforded one, even when their parents had been here; this was one of the most expensive toy stores on the strip.
Her joy dimmed as she presumably realized the same thing, and she turned away bravely. He wanted to cry for her, but he just took her tiny hand in his, and they continued down the street. 'Kya, do you mind if I stopped and visited the hardware store? Tommy's?'�
'Tommy!'� she cried in excitement, quickening her steps in response. Kyawu adored the woman, who always gentled her loud actions around her. Tommy's sister made girl's clothes for a living, and she let Tommy give out slightly mis-made pieces to whomever. In fact, Kya wore an unevenly hemmed pink and yellow flower dress from that very source at the moment. Kya dragged her brother behind her, almost running to the store. Samma struggled to keep up with her, the privileged people cursing as he pushed past them. Kya expertly avoided them on her part, the talent of a tiny child with a sweet smile.
They finally made it to their destination, and Kya dropped Samma's hand as she rushed into 'Tommy's Parts,'� slamming into muscular Tommy. 'Tommy!'� she shrieked again, her voice almost a little shrill.
Samma sighed. She was tired. This was too much for such a little girl. 'Hi, Tommy,'� he said to the woman, who had picked Kyawu up and balanced her on a hip. 'Got anything that you don't need today?'�
Tommy, a tall, muscular woman with red hair and kind blue eyes, looked closely at her young friend, even as she bounced Kya, making her giggle. The boy was always solemn, but he looked even more serious than usual, and there were dark circles under his eyes. She could tell that something was wrong, not the least because Kya should have been in weekend school right now. It was not the sort of thing that Samma would normally forget. 'I might,'� she said lightly, walking towards the back with the girl shifted to her shoulders, 'if you'd like to tell me what's going on.'�
'What do you mean?'� Samma stammered, walking behind her to the storage room. 'Nothing's wrong.'�
Tommy raised an eyebrow, studying the boy and his glossy black hair and brown eyes. He resembled his sister so much that it was almost uncanny. 'It's time for Kya's weekend school, Samma. You can't tell me that you've forgotten.'�
The boy's face turned white then red. How had he forgotten how much she knew about their lives? Kya jabbered on about her school all the time. She became still as well, sitting on Tommy's shoulders, remembering what her brother had said about secrecy.
'We just really wanted to see you!'� Kya said brightly, attempting to dissemble.
Unfortunately, Samma blurted out 'It was canceled for today!'� at the same time, and their lies jarred with one another.
'Uh, huh.'� Tommy set the child down and stood akimbo, looking at them with worry. She'd figured out a while ago that the two didn't have the best home life, but this was miles beyond the usual problems she read between their conversational lines. 'Look, you two, I don't know what's going on, but it's obvious that something is. If you don't want to tell me, I'll let it go, but I wish you'd let me help.'�
They looked at her soberly, and Tommy was the first to turn away, her face flushed. Geez, they acted as if they were older than her, sometimes.
'Just whatever tools and parts you've got would be fine,'� Samma said softly. She wouldn't be able to resist calling Child Services, he knew. Adults were like that. She acted as if she wanted to help them, now, but grown-ups didn't always know what actually helped and didn't.
Tommy sighed and ran her fingers through her short hair, making it stand up. 'You make things harder for yourself than you need to, Sam. Come on, then. I've got a bunch of stuff today, and a new dress for Kya.'�
'Hooray!'� Kyawu couldn't contain herself.
Tommy bundled up a larger bag for Samma than usual, surreptitiously throwing in a few extra items that weren't meant to be discarded. Then she theatrically presented Kya with her new dress. Coincidentally, it was printed with butterflies of all colors flitting about on the skirt and bodice. Kyawu was enchanted with it, and held it in both hands as if she feared she might break it. Tommy was glad to see both of them smile: Kya at her present, and Sam at his sister's delight. They were both much too solemn for their ages.
'Thank you, Tommy,'� Kya chirped.
'Thanks,'� Samma agreed. He gathered up his prizes and his sister's hand, nodding goodbye with full hands.
'Bye, Tommy! Thank you again for the dress!'� They left the store and began walking home. Kyawu was too excited about her present to look at any more windows, and Samma was worried stiff about the school issue. How could he have forgotten about her weekend school? She still couldn't go, but the fact that he hadn't remembered was not a good sign. Not to mention that he would have to start teaching her soon. A few days off wouldn't hurt, but more than that would be a bad idea. They needed to go to the library. Not only could he brush up on what she actually learnt in her grade, but he wanted to look at some robot books. All the butterflies had made him determined that he would make a robot one for Kya, no matter how hard it was. It wasn't like there was much else he could do with his time. He was far too short to be mistaken for legal working age, and the new hermetically sealed garbage cans meant that he couldn't go dumpster diving as he used to with his mother when they'd run really low on food. He didn't know what they were going to do when the bars ran out; Kya was going to start fussing about the boring diet before that, which was another problem. He bit his lip and hurried his sister along a little bit, wanting to lose himself in his reading.
'We're going to the library first, okay, Kya? I want to get some schoolbooks, and you can get whatever you like.'�
'Okay,'� Kya said agreeably. 'Can we go home right afterwards? I want to try on my dress.'�
'Sure.'�
They went to the library and stocked up, making the librarian stifle a laugh with their piles of technological books. She checked them out without comment, though, for which Samma was grateful. He didn't have the patience to answer more probing questions today. They shoved everything into a bag and walked the couple of blocks home.
Their area was already cordoned off with evacuation tape, but Samma and Kyawu slipped under it easily. Samma hoped that the demolition would take as long as it usually did with the government, long enough for him to figure out something else. They snuck into the apartment complex, Samma being grateful that nobody had bothered to lock it or install cameras, and went to their own cheap place. Samma locked it behind them, figuring that suspicion surrounding a locked door in a supposedly abandoned building was better than looters coming in.
Kya went to try on her dress and preen into the mirror in the bathroom, which their parents hadn't managed to pry up for sale. Samma took his bag of satisfyingly clanking objects and most of the library books and sat down in his room. Using the wooden chest as a work table, he dumped out the sack while opening the first robotics book.
Tommy had sent him a lot of wires, a nice pair of pliers that was only slightly bent, and some flat pieces of metal in the same condition. There was even a tiny engine and a thin tube, perfect for making his butterfly. He already had paint to color it with, left over from somebody's half-finished model.
The difficult part would be making the wings flap. He played with the engine, flipping through book after book, but he just couldn't figure it out. As he looked, a thin book fell out of the pile, and he picked it up, realizing that it was one of Kya's that he must have missed.
It was, he noticed with amusement, a book on flying insects that one of the children's librarians must have helped her pick out. The butterfly toys had certainly made an impression. He started to put it off to the side, but then he realized that it could give him ideas for his project. Samma leafed through it aimlessly, marveling at how many insects there used to be, when he saw a long, thin creature out of the corner of his eye. It resembled his partially made creation much better than a butterfly ever could, and he read the description more closely.
The bug was called a dragonfly, and he noticed with growing excitement that due to the way they flew, he could make a life-like one much more easily. Their skinny wings would be much easier to cut and attach, and they didn't seem to flap, instead vibrating. Samma could use the engine to power it, and the wings would most likely vibrate naturally. It wasn't a butterfly, but it was doable, and he knew Kya would like it almost as much. He got to work, cutting out the wings with great care and attaching them to the long tube with an old soldering tool. He found some metal balls stashed away in a corner of his box of odds and ends and put them on as well for bulging eyes. The engine seemed to come from another model kit, like his paint, and Samma found the remote for it with a bit of searching in the bag Tommy had given him. He tried out his robot dragonfly, and it worked perfectly the first time, zipping around the room with ease. That made sure, he painted it with a delicate hand, making it a metallic green to match the picture, with the addition of a smiling mouth for his sister's enjoyment.
Kyawu had knocked on the door a few times as he worked, but his request to stay out so he could finish her present had gone over extremely well, and he could hear her playing quietly outside, waiting semi-patiently. Samma decided he was done, but paused. Right now, it was nothing more than a glorified model spaceship. He could do better, and he knew just how.
When dismantling his toy robot, Samma had found all the chips that had made it seem so lifelike. He got those out now and modified them slightly so that the dragonfly would have a memory stored outside of its body, accessed by ancient wireless methods so that nobody would catch it. He gave it a connection to the internet as well, and shoved the tiny chips into the still open tube.
'Wake up, please,'� he said politely, activating the chips' voice functions.
'Hello,'� said the dragonfly in a fairly mechanical tone. Samma hadn't been able to fit the personifying equipment in, deciding that intelligence was more important. 'Are you my owner?'�
'No, I'm making you for your owner. Please stand by while I finish you.'�
'Very good, sir.'� The dragonfly hummed and stopped talking.
Samma laughed a little. It sounded like a butler from one of those old movies. He quickly added the finishing touches, making the body into a tapered, closed cylinder and painting the last few parts. He grabbed it and the tiny remote and opened the door.
Kyawu fell in, having been leaning on the door. 'Ow! Sammy, that hurt!'� she complained, rubbing her head where it had gently knocked the floor.
'Sorry, Kya. You shouldn't have sat there, though.'� Samma helped her up, brushing some dirt off the back of her dress.
She stuck her tongue out at him. 'You better not have ruined my dress.'�
'Let me see.'�
Kyawu twirled for him, gracefully. 'Don't I look like a beautiful movie star?'� she asked, posing.
'More like a bug, if you ask me,'� he said, teasing. He held out his robot. 'Here's your present, little bug.'�
She made a face at him that quickly cleared as she saw his gift in all its shining glory. 'Oh, Sammy, it's so pretty!'� She happily ran her fingers over it, enjoying the smooth surface. Looking up at him, she asked 'but what is it? It looks kind of like those flying butterflies at the toy store, but its wings are different.'�
'I am a dragonfly, a flying insect of the scientific order Odonata.'� the toy answered for itself, humming loudly and letting its wings vibrate. 'Are you my owner?'�
Kya looked at her brother, who nodded. 'Yes, I am. What's your name?'�
'My . . . name?'� the robot repeated, obviously confused.
'What should I call you?'� she persisted.
'Does not . . . does not . . . I am a dragonfly, a flying insect of the scientific order Odonata,'� it said, humming even louder and vibrating all over its body.
'You have to name it!'� Samma said quickly, realizing that she was upsetting it by trying to make it choose. 'You pick one, and hurry up before it has a meltdown!'�
'Oh! Umm . . . umm . . . I don't know . . . how about . . . Ashena? Yes! Your name is Ashena, dragonfly, and you're a girl, because boys are smelly.'� Kyawu grinned at Samma.
The dragonfly stopped humming frantically and settled down. 'Ashena. Yes, master.'�
'I'm not your master, I'm your friend,'� Kyawu corrected. 'My name is Kyawu, or you can call me Kya for short.'�
'Friend. Kyawu. Kya.'�
'Hey!'� Samma mock-protested, interrupting the introductions. 'I made it for you, you know. You might want to consider thanking me sometime soon.'�
Kyawu hugged her brother tightly with one arm, holding the newly christened Ashena carefully out of the way. 'Thank you, Samma. I love her. Does she fly?'�
'Yep.'� He presented her with the small remote. 'You can make her fly with this. But be really careful, okay? It's a really fragile remote.'�
'I will. She's so beautiful, Samma! Even better than my dress. Can I go play with her?'�
'Sure. Just don't leave the apartment. And don't take her into a closet or anyplace dark; she runs on sunlight.'�
'Okay!'� The little girl ran to the living room, holding a piece in each hand as carefully as a five year old can.
Samma watched her go with a contented smile, pleased with his success in building his first robot. He couldn't believe how well it-she-had turned out. It seemed to be rather intelligent, for a robot, and flew well. Most importantly, Kya liked it, and that's all that mattered. Hopefully the thing would distract her from the seriousness of their situation.
He sighed. It had been distracting him, until now. All of his worries came flooding back. Most important was going to be food and water. He had a small amount of credits saved up, but he'd have to use all those at the public water pump. Food was another matter entirely.
He could get as much food as he wanted from Tommy, but she'd figure out the problem quickly and try to take them in or send them away. He couldn't have that. Besides, he didn't like taking her charity so much. He'd already begun suspecting that not all of the things she gave him were actually unsuitable for sale. He'd already ruled out trash cans. That left him either begging or the charity kitchens downtown, and he couldn't take Kya either place. Leaving her alone wasn't a very good option either. Even with the enforcers watching the area, scavengers would get in sooner or later.
He froze. Of course! He was already here; he could be a scavenger himself. The other buildings weren't going to be treasure troves of food by any means, but nobody was as miserly as their parents. There would be something. He could take any food, and sell some of the lighter things that had been left behind at a pawnshop. Small boys elected to take their family's possessions to a pawnshop were an everyday occurrence. Nobody would look twice at him. He smiled in relief, feeling a tremendous weight off of his shoulders. He'd start tomorrow. It was already growing dark, and he was exhausted from all the obsessive fretting.
Samma gave Kya another bar and got her to bed, putting the distracting dragonfly away in a drawer. He went to bed as well; it was much earlier than his usual bedtime, but he didn't really have anything else to do. Hopefully, by this time tomorrow, he'd have something better to make them than the nutrition bars, which were quickly becoming tedious as their only form of food. He fell asleep quickly, and did not dream.

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