“It sure was,” Nora echoed. “We are so happy to be here.”
“Yes, well. It was the least we could do.” Stella pulled on Anna’s arm with fingers painted with ruby-red nail polish. “Let’s get you seated, shall we?”
“Sure.” Did she even have a choice? Apparently not as Stella had an iron grip on her wrist.
Stella led her to the table and waved around. “Sterling you already met, and that’s his nursing counterpart, Alice.”
Sterling lifted his glass to Anna with a smile.
Alice did as well, but her smile was small and polite.
“And here are the others!” Stella pointed around the table to ten other models sitting there, an artful plate of food in front of each. “Leo in particular I wish you to meet. He’s in charge of research here, naturally, as he is part of the model-R series.”
Research. The chip. Anna remembered the talk from the room earlier. Right.
“It’s nice to finally meet you in person.” Leo had dark hair and brooding eyes. He was lanky, tall, and thin compared to one of the model-Ms, Forty-Five, right next to him.
Anna steeled her shoulders, facing them all head-on. “Thank you for putting this together.” She stepped closer to the table. Around them, the androids toasted and drank.
She joined them, raising a glass of water once she was seated. So many androids. So many different personalities. And after the talk with the humans earlier, Anna had no idea who to trust.
She eyed Leo in particular. The head of research. And there was Stella, cozying up to him as well, sitting directly on his right side, closer than the others. The only thing Anna could do was watch and observe. Like the glass room in the human quarters, everything was starting to feel more and more like a cage.
And where was Atlas? Anna looked around, only noticing a second later that he hadn’t followed them. Nervously, she touched her belly, feeling her baby girl kick inside.
“So. What do you think?” Stella leaned forward, speaking loudly across the table.
“It’s incredible.” Nora pointed across the hall. “I never thought we would be here. Do you eat dinner here every night?”
“No.” Sterling chuckled. “Only for occasions. We actually use this room more practically now.”
He waved across the hall, where boxes were lined up. Peeking out of the tops were familiar fabrics, stacks of ration bars, medicine supply kits. Everything that was sent to Earth in bulk, given away and looked forward to every few months. Things that had kept Anna alive all these years.
“Is that . . .” Nora narrowed her eyes. “The drop items?”
“Correct!” Stella crowed. “We do a lot of staging here. Our charity work.”
“This is incredible,” Anna said, overwhelmed at seeing all the items laid out. “I don’t know if you do know, but all of this—back on Earth, what you gave us really saved my life. Thank you.”
“Ours too,” Nora added. “Me and Tilly wouldn’t be here without them. I mean it.”
Silence fell down the table at their words. And then fell across the hall.
“Well.” Stella cleared her throat and said brightly, “We really try to do our best to help the poor humans, don’t we?”
“Yes,” Nora agreed before sipping her water.
Anna nodded, doing the same. But her head was buzzing. Help the poor humans. The words kept circling, even as the conversation moved on. She blinked back tears. Why did they help them in the first place anyways if it seemed like they didn’t trust them at all? She started to push food around on her plate. A gourmet meal. As if she was an honored guest? Not much on Mars made sense, and her head still hurt from the music playing to figure anything out.
Chapter eighteen
Atlas
“Poor humans.” Zero leaned in as they walked. “They seem nervous.”
Atlas frowned. “They really do.”
Once the first dishes had been served to the humans, Zero grabbed Atlas by the arm. He indicated to the side. “Now that they’re settled in, we wanted to talk directly with you. Not on the communal mind.”
