by Scott Baron
A small blossom of red dotted the cutting board beneath her nicked thumb.
“Shit, Daisy, now I’ve got to wash that again,” Finn whined, but behind the words, she could see he thought that was ridiculously cool. As her metal-fingered friend gathered up the knife and board, Gus stepped into the double door and sealed it behind him.
Finally!
“You know something? You’re nuts, Daisy. But you’re my kind of nuts,” Finn said with a laugh. “I mean, I already have metal fingers. Is this just your way of saying you’re jealous and want some too?”
“Not on your life. I like my bits just like they are. One hundred percent human. Catch ya later, Finn.”
“Yeah, yeah. See ya, crazy girl.”
Daisy made her way back to her pod thinking about what she’d said to Finn.
One hundred percent human.
She looked at her bandaged finger and had a flash of doubt.
It didn’t cut deep enough to hit bone, she reluctantly admitted to herself. And there’ve been rumors of AIs who don’t even know they’re artificial. But, no, there’s no way I could be one. I bled more than a skin-job would, didn’t I? And besides, she placed her fingers on her neck. Thump-thump, thump-thump. Daisy smiled and relaxed. Cyborgs don’t have a pulse.
She put those thoughts aside upon arrival at her quarters, cycling the doors open as fast as they’d allow, then anxiously snatching up the readout tablet. Two more scans out of the way, and it wasn’t even dinner yet. Not bad.
She pulled up the readouts for Reggie and Gus. While they were both alive and human, the results surprised her.
Reggie’s hand, the scan confirmed, wasn’t his only replacement part. He was also sporting one partially metal leg, though Daisy had never noticed any physical tells on Reggie’s part. Of course, how could she? The femur had been replaced with a stronger metal replacement, but that didn’t really matter. It wouldn’t affect his oxygen consumption by much at all.
In Gustavo’s case, while she knew the basic extent of his modifications, it seemed his eye was part of a larger network, one which intermingled with his nervous system, running directly into his brain and spine. The tendrils of fine wires fed into servo assists in his arms and wrists. Multiple organs were also synthetic, as she already knew, but seeing them on the readout made her wonder what exactly had happened to him to require such drastic measures. It was unusual, and somewhat unsettling, but he was still a man.
Getting scans of Tamara and Doctor McClain had been proving more difficult. The botanist spent most of her time in her series of interconnected garden pods, and the doctor, well, she liked her routines. Unfortunately, that meant Doctor McClain made a habit of using the opposite airlock door than the one fitted with the scanner, while Tamara, likewise, often decided to enter by another route.
Daisy had to find a way to lure them through the right one.
Chapter Fifteen
“Are you all right?” Barry sounded genuinely concerned, which for a machine was a rather unsettling thing in Daisy’s opinion, given what she now knew about her fellow crewmembers.
She wiped the tears from her eyes. “It’s just getting to me, you know?” The frustration and sadness in her voice was palpable, her face flushed as her pulse raced. “Sarah, I mean… she was snatched away in a split second, gone so quickly. I don’t know who to talk to.”
The cyborg momentarily cocked his head like a confused pup, or a dog hearing a whistle only audible to its ears. His head straightened, then without further hesitation announced, “I’ll get Doctor McClain. Please, remain here.”
“Thank you, Barry.” She sniffled. “I’ll be in the galley.”
Daisy concentrated on keeping her heart rate elevated. With her newfound meditative control, she found it was becoming easier to do.
Gotta keep up appearances. She dabbed her eyes once more. The burning was immediate, tears flowing freely. Okay, that’s more than enough, she thought as she sealed the tiny piece of onion stolen from Finn’s kitchen back into the small plastic pouch in her pocket. She took the long way to the galley, using the adjacent pod’s access rather than the main one, and took a seat. Now all she had to do was wait.
It didn’t take long. The airlocks were soundproofed, but she saw the lights change as someone keyed into the controls and stepped in from the other side.
Gotcha!
Barry emerged first.
Shit!
Doctor McClain stepped out right behind him. Apparently, they’d come through the airlock together. She hadn’t expected the cyborg to personally escort Doctor McClain all the way to her, but whatever. She already knew what his scan would show. What really interested her was the woman who stepped out behind him.
“Daisy, dear, what’s troubling you? Are you okay?”
“I don’t know, Doc. I was doing fine. As good as I could expect, that is. I mean, I thought I was doing fine, but then I made some headway on my work and was all excited, so I went to tell Sarah about my progress isolating the leak, and then I realized—” She sniffled loudly for effect.
“It’s all right to cry, Daisy. You experienced a terribly traumatic loss and still haven’t fully processed it. Working through grief takes time, and you simply haven’t been afforded the opportunity to deal with these emotions. I’ll tell you what, I’ll talk to the captain and see if we can have Barry take over testing pressure variances. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind, would you, Barry?”
“Of course not, Doctor McClain. I’d be glad to help in any way that I can.”
“Excellent. Come, Daisy. Why don’t we go to my office pod? We can discuss it in private as long as you like.”
“Thanks Doc,” she said, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I appreciate it, really, but I’ve got to finish this. Occupying myself completing Sarah’s work actually helps me get through the day. Like I’m honoring her memory by making sure it gets done, if that makes sense. Is it all right if I take you up on that offer a little later? If I focus on the task at hand, I can keep the dark thoughts out of my head, at least for the time being.”
“Of course. I don’t want to push you in any direction that makes you uncomfortable. If work helps, then by all means, keep at it, but if you need a break, you can count on me to talk to the captain for you.” Doctor McClain turned to leave. “My door is always open for you, Daisy, whenever you need me. I want you to know that.”
“I appreciate it, really.” She turned to the artificial man observing quietly. “And Barry, thank you too. It’s nice knowing you’re looking out for my best interests.”
My ass, she added silently.
“It is my pleasure, Daisy. Anything I can help with, please feel free to ask.”
“I will.” She wiped the tears from her face. “For now, I had better get back to it. These tests aren’t going to run themselves.”
“We’ll leave you to it, then,” Doctor McClain said, exiting the galley. Barry hovered a moment longer, watching Daisy gather her things.
“You coming, Barry?” McClain asked from the open door. The cyborg paused, then moved to the airlock.
“Right behind you, Doctor McClain.”
“Thanks, guys. And, hey, if you see Tamara, could you ask her if she could spare a few carrots or a pepper? I think a little fresh produce might help settle my stomach. If she can spare a few, of course. I’ll be right here, working on this for a while.”
“I’ll mention it to her,” the cyborg replied, then stepped in and cycled the inner door closed.
Daisy just hoped the scanner would be able to recharge before Tamara made her way to the galley. If she wasn’t still too pissed, that is.
She shouldn’t have worried. Tamara eventually came to see her, all right, but she entered the galley via the airlock at the far end of the room. The one connecting to the equipment storage section of one of her botanical pods.
What was she doing in there? Daisy wondered as the sturdy woman walked toward her.
“Heard you wanted some produce,” she said, caref
ully placing a small bunch of washed carrots and a small red bell pepper on the steel table in front of her. “Look,” she said uncomfortably, “I’m really sorry about Sarah. I know how close you two were.”
Daisy accepted the gift, and despite being on a mission to ferret out the truth, she still felt like an ass. She’d been putting this off, but now was as good a time as any. Maybe better, even.
“Thanks, Tamara,” she said. “It really means a lot to me.” She paused, uncomfortable. “I wanted to apologize for what I said the other day. About your replacement parts. I was upset, and I was speaking impulsively, and I didn’t think before I went and blurted out something stupid. I hope you can forgive me and my fool mouth.”
A faint grin formed on Tamara’s face. Or maybe it was a trick of the light. Whatever the cause, her hard eyes softened ever so slightly.
“You do have a temper on you,” she agreed. “Though it’s not like I’m one to talk, I suppose. Apology accepted. Shake on it?”
She reached out and offered her metal hand. The gesture was not unintentional. Very little she did ever was. Daisy didn’t hesitate, taking the cool metal hand in hers.
“Thanks, Tamara.”
The older woman smiled at her and headed back to work. For just a moment it looked like she was going to pass through the central doors, which were almost certainly recharged, but she paused, as if in thought. Moments later she shifted course and exited the way she came.
“Damn,” Daisy muttered. “So close.”
Something had to be done. Dinner would be in a few hours, and once the crew started to filter in, there’d be no way to control when the auto-charging scanner would use its limited power. Tamara was the one she needed, but how could she—
I’m a goddamn genius!
Daisy cycled the door open and set the scanner to standby. It had a full charge and was primed, but with a two-hour timer locked on to the release mechanism, she could be certain it would be ready for one specific scan window beginning in exactly two hours.
Yeah, this should totally work, she hoped, not nearly as confident as she pretended to herself.
She tightened the locking screw on the panel, then stepped out of the galley, leaving her notes and tablet on the table as she jogged down the passageway. When she reached Tamara’s main work pod, she stopped and keyed the door’s intercom system.
“Yeah, what is it?” Tamara finally asked.
“Hey, Tamara, it’s Daisy. I was wondering if I could borrow your portable chemical analyzer. The DMZ-2200. Mine’s been acting up, and I really need to verify some of the trace gas readings I collected before the accident. Would you mind?”
A silence hung in the air as Tamara mulled over the request.
“Well… yeah, I guess. Hang on, I’ll grab it for you.” A minute later the door cycled open, and Tamara handed her the bulky device. “Take good care of it, all right?”
“Promise. Thanks a lot!”
“Uh-huh.”
Tamara closed the door and returned to her work, while Daisy hurried back to the galley, lugging the heavy piece of equipment, which she tucked under her metal table as she focused her attentions back on her calculations.
One hour and forty-two minutes. Where’s Finn?
She needn’t have worried as Finn entered the galley minutes later to begin his meal preparations. Since Tamara was the lone vegetarian on the crew, her meal was always a pretty easy one to prepare. That’s not to say it was uninspired or lacking in any way. Far from it, in fact. Finn took great care to ensure her food was every bit as flavorful and interesting as the rest of the crew’s. What it did mean, though, was that Tamara would more often than not be served and done before everyone else. That was something Daisy was counting on.
Vince came in not too long after and sat down across from his girlfriend.
“Hey, what’s this?” he asked, tapping the large device with his foot.
“Be careful with that, it’s Tamara’s,” she replied. “She lent it to me so I could run a few scans. Mine’s been acting up for some reason.”
“You two make peace?”
“Yeah, I think we’re on good terms now.”
“Cool. Not trying to be a dick or anything, but you did sound a bit prejudiced. I can see why she was offended.”
“I wasn’t trying to be. It just came out that way.”
“Well, someday you’ll accept that the mechanically enhanced and AIs are people too, just like everyone else. Anyway, I finished my ridiculous to-do list a bit early today. You wanna join me for a little movie time later?”
“I know what that means,” she replied with a knowing smile. “But I really need to finish this stuff first. Rain check?”
He leaned in and gave her a kiss. “Sure thing.”
“I’m sorry.”
“Not a problem, babe, seriously.”
“Okay, as long as you’re not just saying that.”
“You know me. Subterfuge is not my forté.” He flashed that grin she found so irresistible and took another bite of his dinner.
Gradually, the rest of the crew filtered in, and not long after, everyone was happily eating, a full fifteen minutes before the scanner would power back on, no less.
Excellent, it’s all timing out just right.
With five minutes to go, Tamara got to her feet and scraped her tray into the compost bin before turning for the secondary doors.
Shit! Too soon!
“Hey, Tamara!” Finn called out. “Don’t you want any dessert?”
“You know I don’t eat most of that stuff, Finn.”
“Correct-o-mundo. That’s why I decided to make my world-famous vegan saffron crème brûlée.”
“Vegan crème brûlée? You pulling my leg, Finn? You know I could snap you like a twig,” she joked.
“Cross my heart. You can even run it through a scanner, if you want. I see Daisy has one under her table there, which I’m not sure if I should be offended at, come to think of it.”
“Just running tests, Finn,” she answered. “And not on your food.”
Tamara turned back and accepted the ramekin.
“What the hell. I can’t remember the last time I had one of these.”
She sat back down and cracked the caramelized sugar top of her dessert, lifting a spoonful to her mouth.
“Oh damn, that’s really good, Finn.”
The chef beamed with delight, as Daisy looked on with silent gratitude.
Saved my ass there, Finn. Thanks for that.
By the time Tamara had scraped the ramekin clean, the scanner had powered back on, right on schedule.
Now time for part two.
“Hey, Tamara, could you give me a hand with this? I think I’m going to finish the rest of my work back in my quarters, but with all these notes and things in my arms, I wouldn’t want to risk dropping your scanner on accident.”
“I can get that if you like,” Vince volunteered.
“Thanks, but it’s her scanner, and I know she’s as particular about her gear as I am.” Daisy gave Tamara a conspiratorial wink.
“Okay, Daisy, I’ll give you a hand.”
Daisy loaded her arms with her notes and portable tablet, then headed for the doors. The main doors. Tamara hefted the machine easily with her robotic arm and followed. The inner door cycled open, but Daisy paused.
“Crap, I forgot my tool pouch. Go on ahead, I’ll be right behind you.”
“I swear, you’d forget your head if it weren’t bolted on,” Tamara teased as she stepped into the airlock. The door cycled as Daisy retrieved her tools, sitting on the floor, exactly where she intended them to be.
Gotcha.
Chapter Sixteen
The ship was quiet as it flew through the cold vacuum of space on its path to Earth, and the men and women safe within the protective walls of the Váli were sound asleep.
Well, almost all of them.
It was many hours past dinner, and the crew had long since retired for the night, but Dai
sy’s mind was racing as she lay wide awake in her bunk. She looked at the clock on her wall.
1:27 am.
She needed something to take her mind off the horrible paranoia threatening to swallow her whole, but she didn’t dare fire up the neuro-stim. Not now. Not even with all twelve inhibitors fully engaged. A line had been crossed, she could feel it, and she really didn’t know what would happen if she disturbed the sleeping beast inside her, even slightly. No, she would just have to deal with the insomnia and troubling thoughts running through her brain like a storm-panicked herd of wild horses running blindly toward a cliff.
None of them, she thought, over and over. Not a single one of them is a cyborg.
The revelation was a kick in the stomach.
After dinner, once Tamara had carefully dropped off the chemical analyzer at her quarters, Daisy had pulled her tablet from under her pillow, her pulse racing. She took a moment to breathe, lowering the staccato beat. She needed a clear head to plan her next moves. She powered up the display and opened the images.
This was it. She’d managed to get both women through that door, and the results were waiting for her. Doctor McClain and Tamara’s secrets would finally be revealed.
Human.
Both of them.
But that can’t be right. I’ve quadruple-checked my numbers. Oxygen consumption, as a percentage of total air volume, is decisive. Even with that leak, the overall volume of air is slowly lessening, but the ratios are the important part.
Daisy scrolled through all of the scans she’d managed to capture of the crew, and although they had an unusually high percentage of artificial parts installed after trauma or illness, they were all undeniably human. Sure, Tamara was a bit more reinforced with sturdy replacement parts than most, and Doc McClain’s metal leg included a fully replaced pelvis, which surprised Daisy, but no, they’d all been merely patched up by that machinery, not constructed of it. Looking at their repairs, she realized the process had probably saved their lives, no less.
“Well, you’re well and proper fucked now.”