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“Maybe ‘innocent’ isn’t the best word.‘Inexperienced’ might be better.”
“I’m inexperienced in a lot of things,” Rhys replied.“That doesn’t mean I can’t learn.”
She regarded him thoughtfully for a moment.For the first time, he fiercely wished that he could read her mind like he could with the other cyborgs.Or for his sensors to detect more about her than her core body temperature, which was normal for a human.“I’m sure you could,” she said.“I bet you’re a quick study.”
He’d heard that term before, but not as the 103rd iteration of Rhys Hammond.His fork hovered over his plate as he tried to remember.
A giant of a man in a dark gray uniform, similar to the matching flight suits all of the current cyborgs wore, yelled at him about not being fast enough at something.Was it exterior repairs in zero-g?Had he erred in repairs and was now facing consequences for it?“I thought you were a quick study,” the man in gray shouted at him.“A quick fucking study!And then this happens!”He reached for a small pen-shaped device at his belt and jammed it into Rhys’s neck.Then everything went black.
“Rhys?”
Hannah’s voice snapped him out of the memory.He dropped his fork with a clatter against the plate.“You just blanked out for a minute there,” she said.“Are you okay?”
This was the second time today that something had him frozen in place, although he wasn’t sure what he had just remembered.He had the distinct feeling that he had just watched and felt one of his previous clones be killed.“Yes,” he lied.
The look she gave him told him plainly that she didn’t believe him, but she didn’t push.He appreciated that.He had no idea how to feel about resurfacing memories of people who technically weren’t him.He wondered if the other cyborgs were experiencing something similar and if he should bring it up on their shared broadcast the next time they were in range of each other.But surely, if one of the others was having memories of his original and iterations, he would have said something.
After dinner, Hannah announced that she would visit with her friend next door and left the house after cleaning the dishes.He took a cold bath in the tub upstairs, wanting to get the smell of the bulkhead water off him.
According to his sensors, the bathwater was a bare fourteen degrees.While he could tolerate the cold, he hated to think that the unenhanced Hannah had been enduring this for years.“Hot water,” he murmured aloud.”She’s going to be so happy with hot water.”
He helped himself to her soap, a handmade waxy square that smelled of mint and something flowery.His cybernetics identified it as being sap-based, probably from the trees native to New Eden, and the same substance used for the planet’s candle supply.The soap was only one of the scents he noticed on her skin.The other was that of the sun, a smell he hadn’t known existed until he met her.
What was she doing at her friend’s house?Curiosity pulled at him at what she and Jasmine could be talking about.Perhaps his lack of social graces in relation to the rest of the cyborgs?SP29, Brandon, and everyone else seemed to be having an easier time adapting to organic living.
Her comment about him being inexperienced wounded his pride.How the hell was he supposed to gain experience, and in what areas did he need it?
The bathwater’s chill suddenly reached him.His teeth chattered for the first time.Perhaps this was the organic experience he needed, he thought as he stepped out of the tub.Wrapping a towel around himself, he hoped he could hone in on the other areas where he needed it.
Jasmine was only toohappy to see Hannah on her doorstep.“Come in!”she said excitedly.“SP29’s down at the barn, trying to grow a chicken in a tube or something, I didn’t quite get it when he explained it to me.We’ll havemeatagain soon!Do you want some wine?I have a couple of bottles I’ve been saving.”
“Keep on saving them.I had some last night.”
Jasmine looked at her quizzically.“You don’t drink alone.”She held open the door and Hannah walked through.
“I wasn’t.Rhys had some too.”
“Is that what RH103 is calling himself now?”
“Yeah, he said it’s his original’s name.I guess SP29 hasn’t jumped on board that train?”
“He hasn’t mentioned anything about that to me yet.Is dandelion tea all right?I just boiled some water.”
“Thank you.”Hannah followed Jasmine through the foyer to the kitchen.Her friend’s house was smaller than Hannah’s, not meant to house more than one or two people.It was one floor, with a combined living room and kitchen off the foyer.Two small bedrooms and a bathroom were on the other side of the house, one of the bedrooms barely large enough to hold a bed.Jasmine used it as a lab of sorts, for creating the planet’s supply of soap and candles.The house was filled with the pleasant scent of tree sap.
“How is it living with SP29?”Hannah asked while Jasmine fixed the tea.
“Cramped, but since we get along well, I don’t mind it too much.”They took seats on her couch, its cushion covers made from repurposed garments.A couple of blankets were folded on one of the arms.This was probably where SP29 slept.“What about Rhys?”
“He’s a bit weird.”Hannah may as well get that out now.
“Well, yeah, they’re all a bit weird.So are we.We have to be the only planet in existence that has never had contact with other people until now.”Jasmine looked up in excitement over her teacup’s rim.“SP29 wants to make an off-world supply run sometime, and he said I could go with him.”
“They’re leaving?”Hannah couldn’t keep the dismay out of her voice.The idea of Rhys taking off didn’t sit right with her, as odd as he was.
“Not leaving, like they’ll never return, but he said at some point, we’re going to need supplies we can’t create here.Building materials, medicine.You know that.I think the days of New Eden being the center of its own universe are numbered.”She blew away some steam before taking a sip.“I welcome change.”
So did Hannah.It was the whole reason she had cobbled together a communications system to broadcast a distress call.“You’re right.”
