“I’m sorry. You’re right.” Atlas put down the wand.I said the wrong thing again.He cleared his throat. “I do appreciate your help.” He waved to his plants, his gaze lingering on his cherry tree. “That was crass of me. I understand having more interests than what you were intended for.”
“Don’t over apologize.” Zero sighed. “It’s usually true.”
“Not always. What do you believe about these humans then, Zero?”
There was not an immediate answer, only a calculating gleam that passed through Zero’s gaze as he focused. “I don’t know either. But I want no part of whatever plans Stella and her group are pushing with the neurochip.” He patted the side of theultrasound. “And I think you’re not being honest. You are fixing this machine. You obviously want to help.”
Atlas’s jaw tightened. He clicked off the machine and put the wand back in the holder, powering it down.“Yes. I’m a doctor, after all. I want to make sure they’re healthy.”
Chapter three
Anna
Anna glanced up and met one of the androids’ gazes, sending a jolt through her. They all looked similar in perfection, but different in their individual features, and they all smiled in a way that didn’t quite reach their unblinking eyes.
She kept her eyes down as she sat in the common room, the largest meeting area of the ship, drawing with Tilly.They really do watch everything, huh.
This area, the kitchen, her bedroom, and the hallways in between were where she mostly had spent the past two weeks. If she hadn’t started her baking experiments, she would have gone stir-crazy by now.
“Can you help me open this?” Tilly shoved a container of amber juice in Anna’s face.
Anna put down the crayon. “Did Nora say you can have more?”
“I’ll ask.” Tilly whipped around, blond hair flying. “Can I have more, Mama?”
Nora looked up from across the table. She was busy learning to write next to Simon, who taught her with a patience only an android could have. In front of them were long lists of words they had written together. The chalkboard, brought from Earth, was chipped and weathered, looking out of place on the clean, white table.
“What is that?” Nora’s eyes narrowed. “More juice? Yeah, one more cup.”
Tilly accepted the cup Anna poured, then frowned after she took a sip and licked her lips. “Not as good as the red one.”
Anna took a sip herself. “Yeah, Tilly’s right, not as good as the red. That red juice was something else. What’s this one, Simon?”
Simon blinked his eyes, and Anna could almost see him zooming in to focus on the container she held. “That is an apple. It is another Earth fruit.”
“Huh.” Anna held the cup out. “I’ve never heard of an apple before.”
Tilly pushed the almost full cup away, returning to coloring on their limited paper supplies. She had her crayons out and was drawing the androids around them.
All the scribbles Tilly created were disproportionate—the torsos in particular were unnaturally large. But that didn’t stop her from handing out the pictures one by one to the androids in the room. The common room was now covered in her drawings, similar to Nora’s house back home.
“Here. This one is for you.” Tilly walked around the room delicately on her pink cast, handing them out. She gave one to an android who accepted it with a confused expression, holding up the drawing that had their face with crazily drawn hair.
Anna snorted into her apple juice, watching the android add the picture to the walls. Every one of them took the picture. She went back to her own drawing, coloring the same spot over andover, darkening the colors.A soft, fuzzy patch of fur pressed against her leg. She glanced down. “Hey, Tatertot.”
The orange and white cat blinked his amber eyes up at her. Then he jumped on the table, right in the middle of her completed drawing.
“Tater!” Tilly reached out to pet him, her elbow bumping into the apple juice.
“No!” Anna reached with both hands, but it was too late. The cup fell over, and apple juice sloshed all over her coloring and down Anna’s front. She flinched, Paul’s voice coming in strong in her mind.Pick that up. Always making a mess.
But when she picked the cup off the floor, instead of Paul, it was Tilly looking at her with wide blue eyes. “Oh no! I’m sorry!”
Juice dripped on her hands. Anna wiped them on her equally damp shirt. “It’s okay. It’s just some juice.”
“Tater, shoo!” Nora waved her hands from across the table.
Anna picked the cat up and put him to the side. He resettled on the chair, completely unbothered. She glared at him. “You didn’t get a drop on you, did you?”
