Girl in the High Tower - Chapter 6

This was always the hard part…

With tense fingers, Roger navigated the drone over the wall of the penthouse terrace, and lowered it, ever so slightly, to about six feet off the ground. The lights were on full blast inside the cavernous apartment, so there was still enough light to see the drone’s surroundings on Roger’s hand-held view screen; still, he was ever-cautious to make sure he steered clear of the elevated pool, lest the little machine take an unwanted, deadly bath.

The unit was a little harder to navigate than he was used to. Over these past several weeks, he had used the little machine to deliver a few frivolities — a note here, a flower there, both of which caused her to become visibly emotional — the small flying device had never carried a cargo this large before. He was pleased when it even got off the ground at all.

He edged the unit forward as slowly and smoothly as possible, pivoting it to the right when he felt confident he was close to the wide pair of French doors that led inside. They were open, as he supposed, and though at this distance — nearly the whole length of the floor away — she was still a little blurry, he could see her, sitting in her usual spot. He could make out the outline of her face, craning up to see if the buzzing noise was, in fact, him approaching. But even with this scarcely detailed feature, he knew it was her. Hers, after all, was a difficult shape to miss.

He imagined what it must look like for her, all alone in her apartment, to have this soulless machine hovering toward her. He wondered if the heart-pounding excitement he felt, every week when he first arrived, came across somehow through the wireless signal. He assumed it might. As he approached her, she had a big smile on her face, one that never failed to intoxicate him. It took almost every ounce of concentration he had to still control this little craft, what with his attention darting back and forth from her beautiful face, and to… the obvious.

As he could never get used to her smile, so too could he not ever quite get over the view of her when the little flying camera was still about eight feet away. He halted the drone for a moment so he could take it all in — he was certain there was a body perched on the oversized, cushy reclining chair, but he couldn’t see it: only a face, shoulders, and a pair of arms that rested lazily over two enormous breasts that were laid out before her, perched mightily on the table-sized ottoman. The crane, a recent addition to their weekly visits, was relaxed slightly, allowing the mass of her chest to rest completely. But whereas the natural elasticity of her skin would have normally allowed them to pile neatly, like two enormous half footballs, the taut tubes of opaque white fabric did what they could to constrict her endowments. They had already joked about what a strange fashion statement this was — with each of these encounters, she had opened up more and more, and had even been willing to make some self-depricating fun at her own expense — but he still found himself holding back from letting her know the odd mixture of feelings he had in seeing her so adorned. There an eroticism he still couldn’t quite explain, magnified almost certainly by the fact that her nipples and areola were still completely exposed, out of her sight completely, but entirely within his field of view (he enjoyed fantasizing that, somehow, she didn’t know that she was “poking out”). There was a small amount of pity. They had talked at length about, simply, how long it took her to get prepared for this weekly night completely on her own. The more he learned about her, and the more blanks he filled in, the more he realized that even the simplest of tasks were difficult for her and required a substantial amount of preparation. If, of course, they weren’t impossible. And then, there was a not inconsiderable amount of respect. This woman, he had come to realize more and more, was unflappable — optimistic to a fault, funny, and always willing to look on the bright side, even if sometimes that mentality contained a discernible vein of sadness. At least she was trying to make the best of things. 

“Come on, get over here,” she said toward the hovering camera. She patted a landing zone on her right breast. “I’ve got your spot all ready.”

Roger felt a tightening in his jeans as he hovered the camera forward. Confident that he was in the right place, he lowered the drone slowly into place.

He saw Nadya giggle in the corner of the frame. “This part… it always tickles,” she said, responding to the downward draft of the fans, which she could feel even through the white fabric. “I should paint a large letter H inside of a circle for you.”

Her expression shifted. “Oh, what did you bring me today? Can I see what it is?”

She looked at her phone, anticipating the three ebbing dots that would tell her Roger was typing. This was the nature of their conversations: Roger could see her and hear everything she said; she relied on responses to come only via Instagram DMs, so far their only form of communication. But that would change in a moment.

Sure! Open it up and see what’s inside! Roger sent on DM. You look very lovely tonight, as always. :-* , he followed.

She gave a little smile and blushed as she retrieved the small, gift wrapped parcel from where it was affixed on the top of the drone. 

Sorry, Christmas paper was all I had. :-P 

“That is okay,” Natalia said as she weighed the small parcel in her hand, turning her attention from the phone sitting on her left breast, to the camera perched on the right. “Before I open… Do I get a little hint?” She always liked to savor the process of opening a present, even if it was something small. 

Well… Roger typed. It’s smaller than a car… you can’t eat it… and it’ll open up the world

A grin of recognition before a guess lodged in her mind. “No… you didn’t…” The paper tore open; inside, a brand new iPhone.

“No!” Nadya let out a squeal. “It is so… shiny…” She turned it over in her hands, wide-eyed, and with a glance and a wide grin back at the camera, clicked the home button. The screen flickered to life, illuminating her face. 

Her expression shifted a little. “But… this must have been so expensive!” A text had already come through on her old, cracked phone.

And don’t you dare say it’s too expensive!

She laughed.

Ok, let me give you a tour. I know you can’t get online for almost anything in your apartment. So this has a SIM card in it that will give you 20 gigabytes a month. So you can download apps, go on youtube, listen to music, anything.

“And we can even talk?”

Yeah! Video, voice, whatever you want! Roger was hoping for video, but he would take what he could get.

“What about… Spotify?” God, she was cute…

That too!

“Wow! Thank you! I… I do not know what I can say.”

Well… I have one idea.

“Yes?”

Would you like to go out with me tomorrow night?

When Nadya read this message on her old phone, her expression turned to one of disappointment. Without looking at the camera, she spoke, quietly. “Why do you ask this?”

Roger had already begun typing. The last thing he wanted was to come across as insensitive — he knew that, of the few points of self-consciousness they had left after their two months of getting to know each other, that her inability to leave her apartment was a big one.

Wait… I think you’re going to like this.

“And besides… even if I could… you know I have my treatment tomorrow night anyway. We have talked about this, Roger.” Her expression was still sad. He dropped the coy act.

Can you unlock the phone, Nadya? :-)

She did so. The usual collection of factory-set apps was on the screen.

OK… now click on GlassView. It’s on the lower-right.

Her brows furrowed. She wasn’t so disappointed anymore, more curious.

Roger led her through a small series of prompts that he had memorized from setting the app up on her phone a few hours before. Now… Click connect.

As she did, Roger could see her expression change. He knew what she was looking at on the screen of the phone: the streaming video of her, from the drone’s point of view, as seen on the LCD display of Roger’s control unit. 

She was confused. “I do not know what I am looking at… this is me?”

Roger turned his head up, and took a few steps toward the edge of his building’s rooftop. The view streamed onto Nadya’s phone.

“How… is this you right now?”

“Sure is,” Roger said. “By the way… I guess this is the first time you’re hearing my voice. I hope I sound okay.” His words emanated from her phone, along with an evening view of buildings and streetlights. 

“But…”

“It’s these glasses,” Roger said. “They have a little camera and microphone built in. So you can see and hear everything I see and hear.” He looked at the screen to see an expression of disbelief on her face.

His enthusiasm boiled over. His heart was still pounding over the possibility of offending her, so he blurted, paying little mind to the fact that this was the first time they had ever talked, more or less, live.

“I… I know you can’t leave your apartment. And I know you get a little lonely because you live in this big city, and you don’t get to see any of it. And… I know you have your treatment tomorrow, and that you don’t like it very much. So… I was kind of thinking… while you’ve got four hours to kill tomorrow, why not sync this phone up with your VR headset, and we can… go on a date.”

That was it. That awkward moment. The “D” word. The silence lasted for only a moment, but to Roger, it seemed like an eternity.

Suddenly, Nadya’s expression changed. Her smile returned. “Yes,” she said, straight into the drone’s camera. “Yes, okay!”

She could not see his expression, but he hoped she imagined that it looked very much like her own. 

“Cool!” Roger was over the moon. They were both silent for a moment. Nadya dreamily staring into the lifeless camera perched on her breast; Roger, flushed, dead-locked on the drone’s remote control unit. 

“You have a pretty voice,” she said. Roger felt incredible. 

“Thank you,” he said.

Nadya wasn’t sure why she did it now. She had been keeping this thin piece of metal safely tucked away, deep in the cushion of her armchair, for weeks. Always ready, at some point during their hours-long conversations, to pull it out, brandish it at him, and re-use the tape that normally came with some small present, on his drone. Maybe it was the enthusiasm over the notion that tomorrow, instead of being scared and alone inside that six-foot tank while her treatment took place, trying to distract herself with 30-year-old television, that she would instead finally get a glimpse of this enormous city that she had been so dying to see. Maybe it was the thrill over getting such a gift — notwithstanding the luxurious accommodations she called home, she had never gotten a present like this one. Maybe it was Roger’s thoughtfulness, or the trust she had, at this point, solidly built for him after their countless hours of text messaging. Maybe she just wanted to meet her friend for the first time, in person, and was sick of the fact that so little space separated them, and yet, he seemed a whole world away. 

“I also…” she said, plunging her hand down into the fold of cushion, “have something for you.”

Roger was taken aback. “Oh?” He said? “What’s that?”

Nadya held up a large key. She felt a lump in her throat. She had practiced mumbling this a few times already, always trying to be casual and sultry like she saw on some TV show, but the words escaped her mind. She bit her lip and said the first thing that came into her head.

“It is a key… duh,” she said, smiling. She leaned her face closer to the camera. “I will tell you what. If this date goes nicely tomorrow, then maybe next weekend… you can use it.” It sounded so much smoother in her mind.

Roger practically felt his heart stop. He wanted to tell her to put it on the drone now, that he would fly it back to himself, and that he would be up there in 10 minutes. But he stopped himself.

In so many ways, this woman was a mystery to him; but one that offered no short supply of surprises. And besides… for some reason, this felt natural. The timing felt good. He would have to make sure that tomorrow night was the coolest evening Nadya had ever even dreamed of… and if it was? Shit, was he going to get to meet her in person?

“Are you okay?” Nadya said. “Hello?”

“Ummm, deal!” Roger said.

“Ummm, good,” Nadya responded. She smiled into the camera while she taped the key to the top of the drone. And before Roger could respond, asking the flurry of questions that were blowing through his mind, she interrupted.

“So.” She leaned her elbows atop her breasts, and perched her head atop her palms, clearly settling in to be regaled. She could play the part of the ingenue, for sure, Roger thought. But why, when he was so convinced that she was naive, did she have an ability to say and do exactly the thing that captivated him? 

“Where are we going?”