Too sparse. It didn’t feel right. What could he add?
Atlas brought a few plants in, placing them in the corner, adjusting the lighting above them. Electricity was turned on for the shed that afternoon, and the power grid here was now active and stable. The temporary solar lighting had been wound up and put away. The concrete on the floor had been painted as well, something Anna insisted on, taking away the industrial hardness. The walls as well.
He carried and arranged the plants until they dotted every corner, spread around instead of being clinically in rows like the way he had them in his office. He kept flipping images back and forth, between the warehouse the building originally was intended to be and the home it was turning into now. The gray area in between the pictures was satisfying. Like a hidden puzzle.
And he studied that crib, sitting in the middle of a half-finished nursery.
Until . . .
“Atlas?” Anna’s voice was thin from the other room.
He quickly walked back to her. “I didn’t mean to wake you.”
Anna was sitting up in the bed, her eyes half open. “Is everything okay? It’s not morning yet.”
“Sorry.” Atlas climbed back into the bed next to her, opening his arms wide. “I was getting lost with my plants.”
“Oh. They look good here.” Her voice was sleepy as she reached out for him. “I like having them here; they make the place feel cozy. Like a real home.”
Atlas settled himself, pulling her close. “Yes it does.”
She snuggled in. “Are you sure everything is okay?”
No.He fixed his gaze on a point outside the window, on one of the trees in the distance. But it didn’t do any good to say anything other than . . . “Yes, Anna. Get some sleep, alright? I’m here.”
Chapter forty-one
Anna
Anna wrinkled her nose. The sharp smell of cows never really went away. Not here in the milking station, at least. The facility at the end of the large pasture was bigger than both the barn or warehouse that they claimed as their home.
Two helper androids, identical with pulled-back brown hair and light copper skin, showed them the milking schedule. Everything was rubber tubing and mechanical, a clinical contrast to the cows mooing outside.
Everything inside was cleaned to a mirrored perfection, with a long alleyway that allowed the cows to come in and out through another door when milking was done. Large tubs stood nearby, pasteurizing the milk and dehydrating it in turn. All the milk was dehydrated soon after production, the androids not having any need for fresh supplies.
Anna stood to the side with Tilly while Atlas directly engaged with the large animals along with Nora and Simon. She watched,absorbing every detail. Once she was no longer pregnant, she wanted to help every way she could.
Tilly held up a halter. “Hold it like this?”
“Yeah.” Anna handed her another. “Can you do all the buckles back up now?”
“Sure!” She crouched on the floor playing with the buckles.
The milking barn had a rhythm to the operations. Anna could feel it in her bones—from the way the machinery operated in cycles to the mechanical way the androids handled the large animals. It was almost lifeless. Like the cows were part of an assembly line instead of being creatures that were alive. The milking process was automated as much as possible, but that also meant that with living things—cows in particular—it didn’t work well.
Anna kept glancing back and forth at the two different worlds—the cows outside in a grass pasture, and the technology in here. She tapped her fingers on the fridge the milk was stored in.I bet they would neurochip all of them too if they could. Make them all androids. Robot cows.
She gently touched the back of her neck, rubbing her fingers lightly over the silicone patch.That’s not completely fair though.
The two androids showing them the systems were not cruel. One of the cows they’d brought in this morning had a cut above their hoof. They treated the wound clinically, but still checked on her after.
No.Anna amended, watching them explain how to pasteurize the milk.They are trying. They don’t know what to do.Especially with all the different personalities the cows displayed. They had a few cows labeled as difficult that they didn’t even try to milk, instead monitoring their health from a distance.
Once the androids left after their demonstration, Simon slipped a halter from Tilly over one of the cow's head. “Alright. Ready to try?”
Both Nora and Tilly rushed to his side. A brush was in Tilly’s hand. She pumped her little fist in the air. “Yeah!”
Atlas joined Anna by the fencing. “What do you think?”
