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“I have none.”
“Where do you sleep?”
RH103 nodded toward a corridor and started to walk.Hannah followed him, noting screens inset into the walls that flared to life when he strode past them.She was dying to ask what information scrolled across them, to find out what New Eden had been missing over the last few generations, but was distracted when RH103 halted.He held out his hand in an oddly grand gesture, revealing rows of coffin-sized closets on either side of the narrow room.As it was, she and RH103 could barely stand side by side, given the close quarters.
He turned to the one closest to him on his right side.“This pod is mine.”
“How do you live in that?”
“I don’t.I merely rest here.”
Hannah stared at it, agog.“How?”
“This is where we rest and download reports and scans.We interface with the cruiser and each other.”
“No, I mean, how do you sleep standing up?With all these wires plugged into you?”She reached into the pod and picked up a thin red cable.“And wouldn’t you go nuts listening to all your friends talking to you telepathically?”
“It isn’t sleeping so much as recharging.”
That made sense, given that he was probably half-machine, at this point.“How will you take to sleeping in a bed?No one has any pods in their houses.We don’t even have power yet.”
RH103 gave the barest of shrugs.“We’re capable of sleeping the way organic humans do.We can still communicate with each other via our broadcast link.Or I could walk to another house, knock on the door, and speak to someone.”He reached into the pod, his arm brushing against Hannah’s, sending unexpected sparks across her bare skin.
That was weird.She pulled away, hoping he didn’t notice her flush.
He pressed a button inset in the wall that she hadn’t noticed before.A drawer popped out, and he removed a duffel bag from it, slinging it over his shoulder.“I have my things,” he announced.
She shouldn’t have been surprised, yet she was.“That’s it?”
He nodded.“I have two changes of clothes and some hygiene items.”
“Wow.You pack light.”
The look he gave her was inscrutable, and she wondered if she’d said something wrong.
“I have some other things I’d like to bring,” he continued.“We have universal batteries to share with you.”
“You mean mobile power sources?”Excitement welled in her at the idea of again having lights that didn’t come from tree sap candles.
“Yes, and they can recharge power sources too.Everyone living with a human was told to bring one.”
“That’s a hell of a hostess gift,” Hannah replied.“Better than a bottle of wine or bouquet these days.”
He led her down the corridor, farther into the belly of the ship.“Are these types of gifts typical on this planet?”
“This one, and I’m sure others with Earther-descended cultures.I haven’t met any others.”Lights flared to life as RH103 strode beneath them and she looked at them, fascinated, until they reached a closed door at the corridor’s end.RH103 stood before it until a slim beam of red light scanned his eye.Something whirred, and the door opened.
Hannah looked around him to see a small room, brightly illuminated by a glowing yellow-white panel in the ceiling.It was stacked with weapons and gadgets that looked like the things she’d seen in the yellowing comic books she’d read as a child.
As though he could read her mind, RH103 said, “This is one of our weapons lockers.”
Mild alarm flared through her.“Are the batteries weapons?”
Just as quickly, it was gone with his response.“No, but they can recharge weapons, so we keep them together.”He picked up a nondescript-looking gray cube and held it out to her.
She gingerly accepted it, turning it over in her hands.It fit neatly into her palm and weighed about the same as a ripe tomato, surprisingly heavy for something so small.Tiny pinpricks of green light glowed along its surface on all sides.Ports were inset into one side, and she guessed they were for cables.“How long does it last?”she asked.
“They can provide ten thousand hours of service before being recharged.We have recharge banks on the cruiser, but they can also be charged in sunlight.”
