Page 36 of Starfallen
Chapter 14
Ocean of Mars
Tilly shoulders herbackpack, then clips a small halter onto KJ, who woofs and turns in an excited circle at her feet.
“Let me carry your bag.” I reach for it, but she swats my hand away. “I’m not a fragile flower and I’m perfectly capable of carrying my own stuff.”
Seeing a bit of her inner fire return makes me chuckle.
Raising my hands in mock surrender, I give her a bow. “Then let the carriers run a quick medical scan and we can be off.”
As her attention lands on the robots, she frowns. “You know, I used to hate the site of these guys. But after Sparky...” She glances at me and pain flashes in her eyes. “It’s weird. He and I became friends, even though I thought he was a robot.” A tiny laugh shakes her chest. She reaches for my hand. “But he was you all along.” She tilts her head. “No, that’s not quite right. He was his own person.” Her stare moves across my face, as if she’s looking for something. “You know, every once in a while, it’s almost as if I can imagine him looking back at me when I’m talking to you.”
“Well, that’s not creepy at all,” I say, forcing my tone to remain light.Ishe lurking around in my head?
I pause for a moment.What do I say to that?The silence stretches, and I’m not sure if it’s to confirm he’s not in my head, or if I’m giving him an opportunity to speak up. He asked me not to let her know he isn’t completely gone, so I’ll respect that wish. I even understand it to some degree.
“It’s probably just my imagination. I wish I could tell him thanks for saving you...for everything he ever did for me...for his sacrifice.” She swallows, then swivels toward the carriers. “Well, you mechanical toasters, do your damn scan so I can get out of this underground shitbox.”
I nod to the robots and authorize a full OB workup, but turn her words over in my mind.
Well, if youarestill in here, you heard her. Don’t be getting any ideas. She’s mine and I do not share.
A faint wisp of laughter echoes in my head then disappears just as quickly. Or maybe it’s just my imagination.
The carriers steer Tilly to the couch and have her lie down. They run a hand-held medical-grade scanner over her body. A 3-D image floats half a meter above, showing her internal systems.
I move closer, inspecting everything myself, mapping it to what I know of human anatomy and chemistry, already deducing everything looks normal and in balance. Her nanobots are at full capacity and without any visible anomalies.
Moving my glance to her abdomen and pelvis, I step closer.
Every readout in this area is gray.
Releasing an irritated grunt, I shake my head. “He’s determined not to let anyone see him, isn’t he?”
Tilly lifts her head to give the augmented holoscreen a glance. “I can’t wait to feel him. Won’t that be exciting?” Her grin widens and her eyes sparkle with excitement.
I kneel and thoroughly kiss her mouth. “Yes, tell me the minute it happens so I can feel it, too.”
She grins. “Deal.”
“Scans completed. This human is perfectly healthy. No damage or deficiencies detected based on the available data,” Carrier 2322 says. “Would you like more invasive testing to probe the fetus in the womb?”
“What?” Tilly shouts, sitting all the way up, causing the display to flicker. “If one of you fuckers try to—”
“It’s okay, Red.” I hold out a hand to the carriers. “No. That’s enough. Thank you.” Reaching for her arm, I help her stand. “Return to your duty station.” They pivot in unison and march to the door. “Wipe this visit from your memory.”
“Authorization code, please.”
For a moment, I consider deactivating and destroying them, yet I hesitate. Every person and machine on Mars are vital to the terraforming project. Eliminating these two could cost someone their life down the road.
Instead of relaying a personal auth to their programming—which could be traced back to me—I access their data banks and load an overwrite command to replace the erased visit with random programs. This adds an extra layer of protection, ensuring no one can recover what they just did. Her protection depends on not leaving a trace, either physically or electronically.
They leave and I offer my elbow. “Would you do me the honor of allowing me to escort you to a new world?”
“Why, of course, dear sir,” she drawls, thickening her Texan accent. “It’s been brought to my attention that I’m quite pregnant, and incapable of doinganythingon my own.” She smacks me across the chest. “Why, I might stub my toe and need a man to sweep me off my feet.”
“And then give you one of my special massages.” I catch her gaze and stare, already imagining what I’m going to do to her tonight.
