The words were true. Not how he’d wanted to say them, but . . .“Please, Anna. Let me do something. You’re myFriday Morningmovie.”
Her bottom lip trembled. “I love you too,” she whispered. Then she reached for his hand. Tears in her eyes. “I love that movie too.” She took a deep breath. “Okay. I trust you.”
Everything in him lit up hearing her say it back. She loved him. She trusted him.
He walked her to the bed, turned out the lights in the kitchen and sat there, holding her, as the night deepened. Moonlight didn’t come in through the window tonight, as there was a thick cloud covering overhead. The sky matched his mood, especially when it started to rain a minute later, heavy on the metal roof.
Anna tapped his chest. “The rain is good for the garden at least, yes? Atlas?”
He realized he was holding himself stiffly, like an armchair, not as a lover. And she was equally stiff.
“. . . Atlas?”
Outside, the rain let loose on their home. He pulled her in and covered them up with the blanket, then forced himself to loosen his grip. “Yes. We got the seeds in the ground in time.”
Anna swallowed. “Don’t be mad when you message them, okay?”
“I’m not mad with you, Anna.” Atlas exaggerated his breathing. “But anger overall isn’t something you need to hide.” Then lower. “Which is why this whole experiment has been asinine.”
“I know.” Her breath hitched. “I’m so happy I’m here though. Listening to the rain.”
“Me too. The rain cycles here are different . . .” Atlas forced himself to talk about the soil retention and atmosphere changes until she relaxed in his arms.
The rain was still pounding outside when she finally did sleep. Then he contemplated his words.They need to see what they are doing. What the cost is. That they are in the wrong.With that in his thoughts, he entered the communal mind, which immediately hushed upon his entry. The data lines stilled as he said his piece.“The neurochip is hurting Anna. It is unethical. She is losing her thoughts along with her anger. I want to renegotiate the deal. The neuro linking is not working as intended.”
Leo was the first to reply.“That is because it is external. That’s the friction effect from it having to work so far. Now, if we were allowed to implant it internally . . .”
“Absolutely not.”Atlas clenched his jaw.“Do you not have enough data yet? I want it off!”
The researchers pinged back, sending over a clear interest in seeing how a human’s brain changed with the chip after childbirth.
Stella spoke over the data.“We are leaving you alone. This was the deal. This is what she agreed to.”
Childbirth. Atlas put his hands on Anna’s stomach. Over the kicking baby girl inside.“The deal needs to be renegotiated.”
Discussions fired across the grid. The result was the same as before. Half agreed, while the other side did not. He drowned out most contacts, the friendly voices like Starla and the others. Those were not the opinions he needed to change. Only the indifferent ones truly mattered. He needed to win enough of them over.
As it was, there was still no consensus.
Atlas snapped over the wires.“I’ll take matters into my own hands then.”
Stella hissed,“Then the deal is void.”
“I don’t care about the deal! This should never have been done in the first place.”
Stella’s line was shrill.“No—“
Atlas reinstated his firewall before she could say more, resisting the many individual pings at him to connect. He ignored them all. Stella didn’t have the majority of consensus either. Her threats meant little.
He tightened his grip on Anna, pulling her tight into his chest. The only thing that mattered to him was in his arms. And he would do anything.Anything.To protect her.
Chapter forty-three
Anna
“Well, would you look at that?” Nora exclaimed, walking with Anna to the milking pen’s gate. The morning sun was already up, the pasture covered in mud from a heavy rain overnight.
“What?” Anna grimaced, shading her eyes from the sun. A headache had been plaguing her all morning. Constantly. A row of cows were waiting outside the milking barn. Around fifteen in total, their legs a muddy mess from the wet pasture. “They’re waiting for us?”
