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“Are my friends and family safe?”
“I don’t know.” He looked at my food and gestured for me to eat.
“Can we go check?”
He gruffly cleared his throat. “No. It’s not safe to go there.”
“But you just said—”
“I know what I said,” he interrupted. “That I didn’t know. I’m an optimist. We can hope for the best and still be cautious. If your family could tell you, they’d tell you to stay far away from the city.”
“If the aliens are dangerous, why don’t the people just leave?”
“They can’t. The Sloths—and you—have a chip in your body that allows the Ai to know who you are and where you’re located. When the aliens arrived, the city locked down. You were only able to be rescued because you were already outside the city limits, and Bo had the means to eliminate your personal android.”
My eyes burned. Was it wrong that I mourned more for that robot than I did my family and friends? It had always been a non-judgmental and encouraging part of my life. It raised me. Then it turned on me.
“Please eat.”
I nodded and picked up my fork. “What is it?”
“Bacon and eggs.”
It smelled amazing, but… “Are these from animals that were once alive?”
Garrett pressed his lips tight, as if sucking them into his teeth to seal them. But the sparkle in his eyes showed he was trying not to laugh at me.
“You think I’m stupid,” I added.
“No, no,” he rushed. “Just naïve— sheltered, I mean. What did you eat in the city?”
I shrugged. “A lot of plants. We had protein, but I believe it was lab grown.”
“Eww. That’s gross.”
I lifted my brows. “But murdering for protein is not?”
“Hunting is natural.”
Rolling my eyes, I lifted a piece of meat that seemed both soft and crunchy. “What is this?”
“Salted bacon,” he replied. “From a pig.”
“Oh.” I’d had pork before, but it looked nothing like this. It usually came in square chunks or ground up from the factory. It was a mild, pale meat that was not that different from chicken. This slice of meat was darker and smelled stronger.
When I took a bite, I gasped at the flavor that exploded on my tongue. “Wow! This is good! I’ve never had pork like it.”
“Likely not. Too unhealthy for the city folk to enjoy. The Ai won’t supply it.”
“What do you mean?” I took more bites. I almost felt like the proverbial pig I was now consuming. I was eating too fast and too sloppy.
“The aliens want healthy meat, so you all eat healthy.”
“This isn’t healthy meat?” I licked my fingers. It was rude, but I didn’t care. “It’s so yummy.”
He laughed. “Not healthy by modern standards. Too much salt and bad cholesterol.” Garrett took what bacon was on his plate and put it on mine.
“Thank you!” I exclaimed.
