“The best.”
“Oh, that good?” He flashed a quick grin. “Well, I want to help you feel better. What helps when you’re scared?”
“Running away? No. Sorry. Bad joke.” Anna pulled on her hair, putting it behind her ear. “Um. Distractions sometimes?”
“Is that why you bake so much?”
“Yeah.”
He tilted his head. “And if you can’t, then you run away?”
“Well, no.” She pointed up and down the hall. “Because like on Earth, there’s nowhere to go.”
Silence fell. Anna watched as Atlas’s expression became detached. By now she had been around androids enough to tell when they were processing.Why does he care though? Is this just something else about me he’s trying to test and figure out?
And then his eyes brightened. “Ah. Distractions. Let me show you something different? I’ll need to stitch this cut and for you to stay still.”
“. . . Sure?”
Atlas leaned over and opened a control that Anna had never noticed on the feed. His fingers skated over the buttons, and soon a hologram feed covered the stars. The scene displayed a meadow with grazing animals.
Anna squinted. “Cows. And green grass?”
“Correct.”
The light was bright in the feed with the same sun that shone outside the windows here. She blinked as her eyes adjusted. The cows were familiar, but nothing else in the scene was. Particularly that bright blue sky. Anna breathed deeply, sighing. “Oh. I haven’t seen videos this close up of Mars before.”
Atlas’s voice was hushed. “Maybe you can run away by focusing on something different. Something nice to get used to instead.”
Anna looked up into his hazel eyes, a shade darker than hers, but they had an intensity she couldn’t match. Her mouth went dry. “This looks make believe, actually. Is all this there? On Mars?”
“Yes.” But he was no longer paying attention to her; instead, he was manipulating the cut on her hand and readying his supplies.
She focused back on the feed, but out of the corner of her eye she examined Atlas. His arms were loose at his sides but he still held himself with an unnatural stiffness. The area where he was stitching her hand was numbed, but she still felt the pressure. He was so focused on the slice on the side of her palm as he . . .
Oh, she couldn’t look.
While she turned away, he said, “I miss seeing home as well. The greenery.”
Anna frowned, keeping her eyes on the screen. “Oh, so the plants are more than just experiments?”
“Partially.”
The comment about his home hung in her mind.Mars is home for him. Not Earth. And it would be soon for her as well.
But what a home it was. The moving feed quality was so crisp that she could see the individual soft hairs on the cow’s back. The green was vibrant as the cow pulled up grass in mouthfuls.Mars is no home I know.She reached out to the feed with her free hand.But I guess it will be.
She glanced back at him. Was he even breathing?
Atlas focused in on her hand, making small, precise movements with the needle.
The feed showed her views of the cows, and then flowers, then nature everywhere. Large red barns stood tall, showing various grass pasture setups. It looked so peaceful. So unreal. Like a dream.
He let go of her hand. “Not only am I done, but your heartbeat is better now.”
“Oh.” Anna’s hands flew across her chest. “My heartbeat?”
“Nevermind.” Atlas said. “I forgot how sensitive nervous systems are when they are uncertain. This will take some gettingused to. Again.” His jaw tightened. “The nervousness bothers me.”
