Page 26 of Alliance
I took the cable in my palms.
“Is it compatible? It doesn’t look the same as my previous one.”
Traveler leaned into my cheek with lidded eyes and a flirtatious grin tugging at his mouth.
“No clue. Why don’t you take off that hood and show me your hardware?”
I gave him a sideways glance.
“Fásach told me to say fuck off if someone asked me to take off my clothing.”
The captain bit his black lip with shiny gold teeth. “Fascinating.”
“What is?”
“You’re coded to take instruction and yet you don’t.”
I gripped the charging cable until my knuckles were white. “I’m not just a doll. I’m human.”
“Are you?” Traveler tapped my forehead. “Could have fooled me.”
My brow creased. “I have living code. I’m alive.”
The captain’s teasing aura dissipated. He held me captive with a straight face and unblinking eyes. “Not quite. Your download corrupted, didn’t it?”
“How did you—”
He traced my brows with his matte black fingers. “I can take care of that for you. Fix up the intrusive brain fry that lets your originator’s memories seep through your LMem. Repair corrupted files...” He looked at my mouth, too still to be breathing as his hand tested the edge of my thermophobic hood. “I can even correct your pesky sensory input control. No more overload. Wouldn’t that be a relief?”
I pushed his hand away. “No thank you.” Then my expression brightened. “Oh! But I’d love access to databases to fill in my data gaps. I don’t know anything about Fásach’s species, and I’d really like—”
Traveler burst into laughter as he leaned back, cutting off my sentence. “You’d prefer to stay broken?”
“I’m not broken,” I insisted. “I’m just me, and I like it that way. It comes with some inefficiencies, but I think I can make up for it in other ways. That’s what other humans do.”
“And how do you know that?”
I kept quiet. Would I have the same conversation my entire life? Yes, my unit was only a matter of days old, but my memories had been alive for much longer. Did that delegitimize my existence just because I was out of sync?
“The same way you or anyone else does.”
Traveler tilted his head at me. “Ah, so you think we’re the same.”
I hugged myself, unsure. “Aren’t we…?”
The captain paused, searching my face as he rubbed his index finger and thumb together. TheMummer’sdeep hum rolled through the room a little louder than before. It was a thoughtful sound. Sentient.
“I’m a biognostic. I was born on a planet called Eruditia as a tiny scrap of coding and cobbled myself together as I grew,” heexplained. “I’m not human at all. Not even a little bit. And I’m very muchnota doll or clone.”
“But you look human.”
He shrugged. “I get bored keeping the same casing and humans are trendy.”
“So you get to choose what you are?” I hedged.
“Sure.”
[Calculation] I sat down on my bed, arms wrapped beneath my chest. “Then I’m not a doll or a clone either. I’m human. I don’t care if that’s not how I was born, I choose who I am,” I said with conviction. “Just like you.”
