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“Without consulting you first?”
“I was surprised, but pleasantly so.”Hannah leaned back, crossing her feet at the ankles.“It was a relief not to be in charge for a few hours, you know?”
Jasmine nodded.“I get the feeling, although we haven’t had any cyborgs volunteer with textiles.”Jasmine was a seamstress by trade but had a knack for repurposing almost anything.On a planet with almost nothing, its existing stock of housewares rapidly depleting due to age, it was a valuable skill.
“Would having some of them work with clothes or anything help?I can ask RH103 about that, although I’m not sure any of them would have experience with either.”
“Clothes and making soap from tree sap is hardly a priority yet.”Jasmine peeked over her shoulder, as if she expected one of the cyborgs to listen in on their conversation.Hannah already knew her next words would have nothing to do with textiles.“Are they hatched from tanks or something?I thought it might be rude to ask SP29.”
“He’s the friendliest cyborg I’ve met so far,” Hannah replied.“I don’t think he’d be offended if you asked how they reproduce.They’re probably really proud of their cloning techniques.He’s ready to start cloning cattle and chickens the first chance they get.”
“Really?”Jasmine’s face was hopeful.“I miss meat.”
“Wheat too.”
Her friend’s face mirrored Hannah’s feelings earlier in the day, when she thought about the possibility of eating bread again.“Oh, my God.”
“I know.”
Jasmine’s voice dropped to a whisper.“Do you think they know about human methods of reproduction?”
Hannah felt herself blush.“I’m sure that’s included in their data banks.Or brains, I don’t know.I feel like they would have an instinct for what to do.”
“Do you think they’d be interested in, well...”Jasmine shot a furtive look around their backyards, as if nervous that a cyborg might pop up out of nowhere.“Us?”
The image of RH103 in all of his flight-suited glory, hinting at an impressive physique, flashed in Hannah’s mind.“Um,” she said uselessly.
It was one thing to have a new roommate.It was another to have one she fantasized about.She didn’t want to fall into that trap.
“I’m just saying, SP29 and that DL-whatever number guy are the finest examples of his species that I’ve seen,” Jasmine said.
“I think they’re technically the same species as us, just with a lot more wires.And I don’t know which one DL is.”
“The tanned one with short dark hair.And I haven’t seen someone that hot, ever.Don’t look at me like that,” she sniffed.
“Like what?”
“Like I’m wrong.There was a distinct lack of eligible men before the earthquake, and there are none now.”
Hannah hadn’t thought about her dating life, or lack thereof, in years, but she knew Jasmine was right about the dearth of potential partners.The only brief relationship she’d ever had was with James Thierry when they were sixteen, a decade prior.James had disappeared five years ago, when he took a trip to the northern part of New Eden’s landmass and never returned.It had been ill-advised and stupid.Everyone knew that the north was an inhospitable and uninhabitable wasteland.
She chose her next words carefully.“You’re living together for the time being.Maybe it would be best to put a possible relationship with a cyborg on the back burner until he has his own house.”
She made a face.“Ugh, I hate it when you’re reasonable.”
“Someone has to be.”
“You’ve been reasonable for too long.You’ll have an opportunity to relax soon.All of us will.Maybe you’ll stop going to the fields to pick carrots in the middle of the night now.”
Hannah rose to her feet to check on the eggs.They tumbled around merrily in the pot.Idly, she wondered if RH103 liked hard-boiled eggs.“You knew about that?”
“Of course I did.Everyone does.Weren’t you doing that last night, when the cyborgs arrived?”
For some strange reason, she felt embarrassed to be called out about her late-night habits, her insomnia.“It needs to be done.”
“You’re already doing more than enough without sacrificing your sleep,” Jasmine said.
“My being up worked out for all of us,” Hannah pointed out.“You wouldn’t have a hot cyborg in your house if I’d been sleeping.”
