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Right in front, there's a dusty air-sled that looks as if it's older than I am. "Here's your vehicle," Lucy announces. She moves to tap a panel on the wall, and a storage unit descends from the ceiling, with several crop-bots lined up on a rack. "There's your bots. There's an instruction manual written in English back in the house," Lucy says, with a reluctant smile on her face. "Well, mostly English. You'll get the idea. And if you get stuck, you can always ask around. Someone's always willing to help."
"I don't know anything about farming," Tessa admits.
"Oh honey, none of us do." Lucy gives Tessa a sympathetic look. "We're all figuring it out together. Come here, let me show you the control panel."
Tessa's hand slides from mine and I watch the two women as Lucy explains the complicated control panel that will release the bots and activate them. I can tell by a glance that the bots are completely out of date and rusted, to boot. They'll need to be serviced before they can help with any sorts of crops, and I'm sure Tessa won't know where to start.
"Well, this is all great," Tessa says brightly, smiling at Lucy. "Thank you so much for showing us around."
"Oh! Before I forget." Lucy fishes something out of her pocket and holds it out to Tessa. "Your cows."
Tessa takes the small vial with a look of confusion on her face. "M-my cows?"
"Yep! Well, they call them 'meat-stock' here and they've got no horns and four big eyes, but yeah. Your cows." Lucy tilts her head, indicating one of the built-in incubators. "That's enough DNA to start you a herd. You pop that bad boy into the machine and it'll walk you through how to start the cloning process."
"Cloning process," Tessa repeats, still holding the vial.
"I'm told it's cheaper than shipping actual cattle out to everyone," Lucy agrees with a grimace. "It's not ideal but you get used to it." Her smile brightens again. "Story of our lives, right? Just keep rolling with the punches."
Tessa holds the vial tight against her chest. Her expression turns to one of tight determination. "Yup. Gonna keep rolling."
Lucy clasps her hands in front of her. "Any other questions?" When Tessa shakes her head in silence, Lucy gives her another cheerful pat. "I'll come by in the morning with some fresh baked goods. That's how I channel my nervous energy—cooking." She slaps her ample hip. "Clearly been doing that a lot."
"Baked goods sounds absolutely lovely. Thank you so much, Lucy. You've been so kind." Tessa seems emotional but manages to smile. She hugs Lucy, squeezing her tight, and they exchange goodbyes, with Lucy promising to return in the morning once Tessa is all “settled.”
I let the females have their space, since I know this is the first human Tessa's had a chance to talk to in a while. They head out to the front of the barn to talk for a little bit, and as they do, I decide I can work on the crop bots. I hit the switch for the release…and it doesn't work. With a sigh, I pry off the face of the control panel and get to work. Lord va'Rin should be ashamed of the run-down equipment they've given these humans. No decent farmer would use a bot of this caliber. I'm guessing he acquired a lot of them for cheap and went for quantity over quality. I shouldn't be surprised. Quantity over quality is how the mesakkah government works, and why I do such a brisk underground business. Once I get the panel re-wired, I set to work on the bots, pulling each one out and looking over the damage. They're all terrible, but some are worse than others. I shake my head and get to work.
Maybe an hour passes before I realize that Tessa has never returned to the barn, and I can no longer hear her and the female Lucy speaking outside. I set down the bot I'm working on and program it to run a diagnostic, then I wipe my hands free of oil and check outside the barn. No humans. Lucy's sled is gone, too.
My skin prickles with alarm and I race toward the small, run-down house, an array of horrible thoughts running through my mind. Something's happened to Tessa. The vagrants that Lucy mentioned are back and have stolen both of them. While I wasn't watching, someone attacked my Tessa and—
Inside, Tessa's seated on a chair near a window.21ZAKOARI exhale slowly, relieved. My heart thunders in my chest and I've never felt such a spike of adrenaline. Kef me. I clench a fist. It's either that or lie flat on the floor, trying to calm myself. "I didn't know where you were." My words sound harsher than I intend. "I thought something had happened to you."
