Kimber wasn’t going to let her get away that easily. She smirked when Mandy didn’t deny her claim and took a seat.
“There’s a bounty, not on ro-androids, but I can cut you in,” She waved the documents in front of Mandy with a devious gleam in her eyes. “All you have to do is take the documents and say yes.”
“You’re asking me to jeopardize my living-”
“What living?” Kimber shook her head. Her eyes looked over Mandy’s head as a waitress appeared with a bottle of whiskey and glasses. “This industry is dying. It won’t be long until it’s dead. You might as well try something new.”
“If that’s the case then I’ll just go home.”
“Goodluck with that. They’re restricting the amount of people they’re allowing back into the cities. You’d be better off trying to be stationed on Mars.”
Mandy rolled her eyes at that. If this place was dying, Mars was dead and had been dead for a long time. Still, the people that were domesticating the planet cried about voting rights. She looked at Kimber before sighing. The Martians couldn’t vote. They were citizens of the world, more accurately citizens of a different world, it would be unfair.
“They might pass it. Allow those previously from here to maintain their voting rights while in space,” Kimber poured the whiskey into the glasses before sliding one of them toward Mandy.
“Still a bourbon girl, I see.” Mandy didn’t care what they did. Voting meant nothing. It was a cheap way of making the public feel heard. “It’s not like they’ll ever be back anyways. They knew what they were signing up for.”
Tiring of the talk Kimber pushed the documents toward her. “Just a fingerprint and then we can be on our way.” The documents shimmered.
If she had really wanted sex, Mandy might have done it, but Kimber had always been more to her than that. It was hard just fucking someone you knew you loved. To the other woman, it was simply a matter of business. That’s what really tore Mandy up inside, more than she would have liked to admit.
No matter how good it had been or could be, Mandy couldn’t do that to herself anymore. She swallowed what was in her glass and closed her eyes as it burned the whole way down. When she opened her eyes, Kimber was already pouring her more.
“Save it.” Kimber stared at her confused as she stood. Mandy pulled the scarf from around her neck closer to her mouth. The dirt was blowing bad outside and she didn’t feel like destroying her lungs. “Maybe, I’ll see you another time.”
“If you don’t accept this now,”
She pulled Kimber into a hug and gently kissed between her neck and collar bone, before pulling away. She didn’t wait to hear what the other woman said in response. Dust engulfed her as she left the tavern.
A bracelet on her wrist allowed her to see that she was just a few blocks from her home. It was a struggle and she cursed herself for not waiting the dust storm out at the tavern. Had she stayed any longer though, her resolve would have cracked and she would have woken up beside the beauty she had left behind.
