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Hannah shook her head.“The first colonists brought everything they needed to create a self-sustaining community with them.We knew other species and cultures exist but don't have a way of contacting anyone.”
“The lack of interplanetary trade is alarming.”
“Yeah, no shit.I’m sure there’s any number of medical treatments we’re missing out on.”She tried not to let bitterness lace her words.She ate a few mouthfuls of food before speaking again.“What about you?Who decided Rhys Hammond needed to be cloned and cybernetically enhanced?”He’d seemed comfortable talking about Rhys, even if he wasn’t about his other clones.
“I believe it was the original Rhys Hammond himself, but I’m not sure.”
Hannah leaned back in her chair, wanting to hear more.“Oh?”
“A lot of our shared information from the early years of the cyborg and cloning project was deleted by our originals,” he explained.“We haven’t found a way to recover it yet.We’ve been taking care of ourselves and cloning each other as necessary for a long time.I don’t remember a great deal before that time of my original or the clones before me.Just pieces here and there.”
It was fucked up, but he didn’t seem too upset about it.Curious, maybe.“Doesn’t it upset you that all that information was erased?Who wanted to keep it a secret and why?”
A shadow crossed over Rhys’s face, a very human expression.“That’s something we’ve long wanted to discover.We thought it had to be for something nefarious.Tools of war, perhaps.But there weren’t any major wars occurring anywhere in the galaxy at the time when I suspect the original Rhys was cloned.Only minor local conflicts that wouldn’t have required the use of super soldiers that cyborgs can be programmed to be.
“We have no memory or records of organic leadership,” he continued.“Someone organic had to enhance our originals and start the cloning process.Our theory is that our predecessors rebelled and killed whoever created them and restarted their lives aboard our ship.We’re certain our predecessors didn’t build it.”
The nonchalant way he spoke of one of his former incarnations being a killer sent a chill zipping down Hannah’s spine.Her hand hovered over her plate, and a piece of roasted tomato slipped off it.Who the hell had she just invited to live with her people?
Rhys picked up on her change in demeanor.“Hannah, are you worried about that?”
She thought about Jasmine hosting SP29 next door and already crushing on him and that other DL-whatever cyborg.Then her mind wandered over to how helpful everyone had been in the barn, to the plans Rhys presented to her regarding the power station’s repairs.He’d even said he wanted to be more human while he was here, hence his name change.
Humans can kill other people too.They were sort of famous for it.
Rhys was still waiting for an answer.Might as well be honest.“A little bit, yeah.”Her voice shook the way her hand did when she tried to re-spear the tomato chunk with her fork.
“Wearen’t like that,” he said firmly.“If our predecessors killed anyone, they would have done so for serious reasons.We’ve discussed the possibility at length.We have avoided conflict and contact with others and kept to ourselves until now.Like you, we’re a people of peace.”
She relaxed a little.She believed him, faster than she probably should have.
She was so tired of being hopeless; everyone was.She’d known deep down that, if the cyborgs hadn’t shown up when they did, New Eden would have died out sooner rather than later.Its infrastructure was too damaged, so much of the population had been lost and wasn’t being replaced, and the lack of tech had turned into a death sentence.Hannah supposed New Eden still had nothing to lose by welcoming the cyborgs to live among them.
“I don’t know if we’re particularly peaceful.Once you’ve been here longer, you’ll see how we bicker with each other.”She looked at the unopened bottle of wine on the table.“Want a drink?”
He looked at it, hesitation and indecision warring on his face, before nodding.Hannah uncorked the bottle and poured glasses for each of them.He picked up his and sniffed it, features contorted.
“It’s wine, or New Eden’s version of it.Dandelions are good for something,” Hannah said.
“I know.I’ve smelled it before, but I can’t place it.”
“Maybe the original Rhys liked it.”
He took another cautious sniff.“Possibly.”
Hannah raised her glass.“To fixing New Eden and giving you a new home.”
Rhys looked at her raised glass, puzzled, before copying her movement.Hannah clinked her glass against his before taking a sip.
He did likewise, made the same face as before, and set it down.“That was a toast,” she added.
“You do this before drinking?”
“Only if it’s a special occasion.Old Earther custom.”She thought about her parents, who found an excuse to toast whenever they opened a bottle.“Or if you just feel like it.I haven’t had the chance to do that with anyone since...”She didn’t want to bring up the quake again.“In a long time,” she quickly finished.
“To new beginnings, then,” Rhys said, raising his glass again.Hannah smiled and tapped hers against it.
Her gaze caught his across the table.There was a strange intensity reflected in his dark eyes that made her breath catch, and she was unable to look away.For a second, she remembered Jasmine’s quips about having a hot new roommate.
