“. . . Even you?”
“I’m part of everyone.” Zero’s voice was hollow. “But at least I feel guilty about it. Aren’t we doing a bait and switch, testing them like this when the humans just needed a safe haven?”
“None of that is my concern,” Atlas said.“A doctor is needed, and I have the necessary training. Between this and fixing the child’s limp, I have done my job.”
Zero grinned, then pointed at a picture on the wall that Tilly drew for him before the surgery. A child’s drawing with a cat and a human stick figure standing together. “I see you kept that, though.”
Atlas softened, looking at the picture. “You don’t reject gifts from a child.” And then softer, he added, “I was happy her foot could be healed.”
“Yes. I really hate that she never received any care for it before.”
“Well, we aren’t like Earth.”
“That’s true.” Zero snapped the cover back on the machine. “Let’s see if this starts now. I replaced all the wiring.”
They both stood back as an ancient startup screen displayed code. A red light lit up at the top, quickly fading to a green standby status.
Atlas grabbed the ultrasound wand and held it to his own hand. Circuits and wiring illuminated the gray screen. He gave a quick grin. “It works. You’ve still got it, Zero.”
Zero wiped his brow. Not to remove sweat—androids couldn’t sweat—but the layer of grease from working underneath the machine. His blond hair got pushed up out of his eyes. “Not complicated at all. Well. You want to grab the human and try it out?”
Atlas focused on the grayscale monitor as he calibrated the settings. “In a few moments. I want to learn how to operate it first.”
“Alright.” Zero coiled the wires he’d replaced with expert precision. “I’m sure there are some additional shared files in the communal mind.”
Atlas shrugged. In his files, there were schematics of similar machines, but they were from nearly 150 years ago, and for machines from hospitals back on a pre-war-torn Earth. Every sort of medical manual took up space in his backup drive—from diabetic management to renal failure. He assessed his inner files.Including . . . pregnancy and fetal monitoring.It took a moment for him to access his files that had the data stored. “I’m sure the communal mind holds more, but this is adequate. The data is still all stored from when I was put to work in those Earth hospitals. I reuploaded it all from my personal files a few days ago.”
Zero rubbed his chin. “Anything to avoid the communal connection, huh?”
Atlas adjusted the wand, lighting up the inside of his other hand. “I’m tired of hearing the humans being discussed. They are dissecting everything Anna and the others are doing when all the humans are doing is baking and reading. And talking. Nothing that interesting, really.”
“They are stirring up trouble. Stella and the others.” Zero tapped on the machine. “You should listen to the discussions. Stella has been leaning heavily on the researchers to work on future plans for these humans.”
Future plans? Why am I not surprised?Atlas shook his head. “You know how Stella is. Having these humans on board is the first time in years she’s had something new to discuss. I’m sending all the medical results directly to Sterling. He has kept me informed enough about their ideas.”
“Well, she is trying her hardest. Won’t shut up about that neurochip.”
Atlas’ body stiffened. “Why do you think I have her on mute?”
"Smart man." Zero laughed. “Okay, but you must have an opinion?”
The question made him pause. “No. Not really.”
The ultrasound machine worked perfectly. On the screen, Atlas had moved on to examining his arm.It’s all functional.
“I think you should speak to everyone, Atlas." Zero began packing his tools. "We could use a more balanced perspective.”
Balanced.The image of Clara flashed across his mind again. Could he even be balanced? Atlas fiddled with the ultrasound settings. “I know as much as you do, Zero. I haven’t made up my mind yet on these new humans either. I would rather ignore them.”
“But . . . you’re directly caring for them.”
“I know. Unfortunately.” He pointed the wand toward him. “How about you and all your brothers? I know your model tends to all think alike.”
Zero pointed a screwdriver back at him, then turned it around and returned it to his tool belt. “We don’t all think alike.”
“Really?” That made Atlas chuckle. Everyone knew the model-Ms moved as a unit. “You even laugh similarly.”
“Ouch. We can’t help that all our vocal boxes are the same.” Zero crossed his arms. “But, see? I’m the only one of us here. Three and Fourteen aren’t here helping you like I am. I even helped with Tilly’s surgery.”
