“What do you mean?”
“This chip.” She gripped her stomach. “Maybe if I had more to offer, I wouldn’t have had to make the dumb deal I did.”
“It wasn’t dumb.” He shook his head fast. “Nothing you did was dumb.”
Her whole body heaved as she took deep breaths. “I think they’re watching me now, for entertainment.”
What could he even say? “Not all of them.”
“I knew it. But that doesn’t matter.” Anna put her hands on her belly. “I’m this baby’s mother. Atlas, I feel it, right now. I’m needed for this little baby. It has been a long time since I felt like I was needed or wanted—for anything. And it . . . terrifies me. But hell, all I know how to do is bake. I sold my body to be this experiment the first chance I could . . .”
“. . . Anna.”
“I did it,” She sobbed out, “because I have nothing more I could offer!”
Slowly, wary of another rejection, he moved to sit closer to her, taking her hand and holding it in his own. He put as much feeling into his words as he could. “I think the neurochip is clouding your emotions, Anna. You’re not able to get angry, so itmight be making you sad instead. What you did . . . it was one of the bravest things I’ve ever seen.”
“Brave?” She took a jagged breath in. “Or foolish?”
“Brave. Absolutely.” He pushed her hair behind her ear. “You are the kind of brave the world could use more of.”
“I wish I could believe it.” She ducked her head. “Back on Earth, I was meek, weak, Anna. I know Nora . . . I love Nora—but I know she always saw me like that.”
“Nora cares about you.”
“She does, but she never understood why I stayed with Paul. And she was right. I was gonna have this baby and still be with Paul.” Anna hung her head, putting it right over their conjoined hands. “And . . . hell, I am such a fool.”
He squeezed the hand he still held in her lap. “No you aren’t, Anna. Do you know what I see?”
Her eyes peeked out over her fingers. “A pregnant mess?”
“Hmm. Only when you refuse to rest.” He peeled her hand away from her face. “No. I see someone who is doing what’s right. Even if they’re confused and not sure.”
“Right, right.”
“Anna.” Atlas said. “You are wearing a chip literally on your skin. And you’re doing it to protect your baby. That’s why you’re brave.”
She shook a minute, then wiped her eyes.
"I mean it," he said.
“You're right.” She gave a watery grin. “I think I’m having a hard time adjusting to this.”
“There’s a lot to adjust to. You kind of turned everything upside down in an afternoon.”
“My specialty.” Anna weakly chuckled.
"It sure is."
He sat there, eyes resting on their conjoined hands. His silicone smooth. Hers just as calloused as he remembered before.
"“You know what?" She straightened herself on the log. "Last night was the first night I actually slept well. Paul took so much. I’m not gonna . . . I’m not gonna let Stella or anyone take more from me.”
“There you go, yes.”
Lifting Atlas’s hand, she pulled it from her lap with both of her own. “So, they can say whatever they want. Be entertained by me.” She grinned. “They can think I’m an animal. I’m one of the cows now.” She took a deep breath. “And even if they change their minds about us staying here, I’m not going to go along with it.”
Atlas froze.This.This was what they’d been afraid of.This fire.And it wasn’t even anger.It’s willpower. Integrity.His body stiffened. She’s not controllable. It was the androids’ worst fear—but in Anna . . .
