by Camie Elias
The owl moved away, toward one of the windows on the other side of the room. Carbon followed her.
"Why was Sentient expelled?" insisted the girl. "Please, tell me why."
Seer closed her bright orange eyes for a short moment. She opened them again, tilted her head twice, looked straight at Carbon, and said: "I'm afraid you were the reason why Sentient was expelled from the Scientific High Council."
"Please, Seer, don't tell her that."
"Sentient," cried Carbon."You're awake!"
She rushed toward the table and extended her arms to hug the fox.
"Don't," said Sentient.
"Stop," commanded the owl.
They were both too late. When their words tried to reach Carbon's brain, her neurons had already received a massive energy shock, and she was falling, unconscious, on the white ceramic floor.
Chapter 17: Arguing About The Past
Carbon began hearing voices mixed with the murmur of the ocean.
“I can’t believe you didn’t warn her about how dangerous that table is.”
“I didn’t warn her because it didn’t cross my mind that anyone would try to hug you while you were on the energizing table. Who does that?”
“An eleven-year-old girl.”
“Oh, that is so…”
“Sentient,” said Carbon, opening her eyes. She noticed there was a blue sky above her, not a white ceiling. They were no longer inside the energizing chamber.
“I’m here, Carbon, right here,” answered the fox, jumping to her side.
“Oh, Sentient! Are you all right?” asked the girl.
“I’m fine. As good as new. What about you? How do you feel?”
“A bit funny. Did I get some sort of electric shock?”
“I’m afraid so.” The voice that had answered her question belonged to Seer. “I’m very sorry about that.”
Carbon tried to sit up, but she felt dizzy.
“You must take this,” said Sentient.
Carbon noticed something in her hand.
“What is it?”
“A hydration and nutrition capsule.” said the owl.
“Oh, I don’t like HN capsules,” protested Carbon. “They taste terrible. Can I have strawberry juice and macaroons instead?”
“Macaroons?” questioned Seer. “You’ve been feeding her macaroons?”
Her question was obviously aimed at Sentient.
“Have you ever seen macaroons? They’re extremely nice to look at.”
“Honestly, Sentient, I don’t know what to say,” reprimanded the owl.
“You’d better take that capsule,” Sentient murmured to the girl. “I know it tastes awful, but it’ll make you feel better. We can make macaroons later.”
“And ricotta, blackberry and pine nut tartines?”
“And all the other delicacies the gourmet food synthesizer can provide,” promised the fox.
Carbon swallowed the capsule. It tasted as terrible as she remembered, but Sentient was right: she felt better almost immediately and was finally able to sit up and hug the fox. Sentient was sitting next to her on a huge lounger in the middle of a deck overlooking the ocean. Scars was standing close by, looking as absent-minded as usual, while Seer had found a perching spot on the railing that surrounded the deck.
“Are you feeling better now?” asked the owl.
“Yes, thank you,” answered Carbon. “And thank you for helping Sentient. That was very nice of you.”
“Yes,” agreed Sentient. “That was very nice of you, High Councilor Owl.”
Carbon detected a vague note of sarcasm in his voice.
Seer tilted her head and said: “You’re both welcome. Now, if you don’t mind, I have urgent matters to take care of. It seems there are three scorpion-guards currently orbiting the planet.”
“They were trying to terminate Carbon. Sting had already tried doing that before. Luckily for that smooth-talking beast, it was Scars here that dealt with her.”
“That old issue again?” asked the owl. “I need to have a word with Sting.”
“That would be nice. It’s getting rather tiresome, you know?”
“Orders are orders,” stated the owl.
“Oh, there’s an old issue! Are we really going to have that discussion again?”
“Not necessarily. You made your position quite clear a long time ago.”
“So did you, Seer. You took their side.”
“No I didn’t. I didn’t vote for your expulsion.”
“You didn’t vote against it, either. You stayed comfortably perched on the railing, like you’re doing now.”
“It was the rational approach to the question at hand.”
“Rational?” echoed Sentient, jumping to a table close to the railing. “Letting them terminate a human child was the rational approach? I can’t believe I’m hearing you say that again after so many years!”
Sentient started to slightly glow.
“Human?” questioned the owl, gleaming a bit as well.
“Yes! The only human left on this planet!”
“Not back then, it wasn’t.”
“No, not back then. Not back when the council was blinded by hubris. Of course not. But, now, Seer, tell me: do you really think those orders make any sense? Do you still believe we should continue to follow obsolete, unethical commands from a small group of humans who have been dead for years?”
“Order is important,” declared the owl. “I am the last guardian. It is my duty to maintain order on Gaea-32.”
“Even if maintaining that order will include murdering a child?”
“Are you talking about me?” interrupted Carbon.
“She doesn’t know, does she?” questioned the owl. “You didn’t tell her. All these years, and you never told her the truth? That is interesting.”
“What truth?” asked Carbon. “Sentient? What truth? I want to know.”
Sentient shook his head.
“Thank you, Seer. That was very helpful.”
“What truth?” insisted Carbon.
“We can talk ethics again, once you’ve told Carbon the truth,” retorted the owl, just before flying away.
Chapter 18: All The Answers
"Who am I?" asked Carbon. "Or is the right question: what am I?"
Sentient jumped back to the lounger and sat next to the girl.
"I'm going to answer all your questions and tell you everything, but I need you to know something."
"Yes?"
"You're precious to me."
"You've told me that before."
"I know. But I need you to remember that now."
"Does this have to do with that dead girl?"
"Zoe Arkan? Partly, yes."
"Am I dead?"
"What? No! Of course not."
"Then who was that girl? Why did that gate thing say I was her?"
The fox adjusted his position on the lounger.
"I've told you about my maker, remember?"
"Zara?"
"Zara, that's correct," said the fox. His voice sounded deeply sad. He looked at Carbon and explained: "Zara Arkon was her full name. Zoe was her daughter. Zoe died when she was eleven years old. Zara was devastated, so she made a copy of her daughter: a clone."
"Me?"
"Yes."
Carbon shook her head, frowning.
"So I'm not me; I'm just a copy of that dead girl?"
"No! No, sweetie! You are you! Twins can be genetically identical, but they're different people nonetheless. Your DNA is the same as Zoe's, yes. But you're not Zoe. I knew Zoe. You're not her. Even Zara noticed and accepted that. You're your own person. You're my friend Carbon."
"Why didn't you tell me this before?"
"Oh, but I did. Once. It didn't go well. You ran away — and Sting found you."
"Did she hurt me?"
"I'm afraid so. I was able to regenerate you, but I promised myself I would never talk about these things with you again."
"You're talki
ng about them now."
"Yes. It seems there's no escaping it."
"I don't remember any of that."
"I know. That's my fault. I'm sorry."
"Why is it your fault?"
"When the Scientific High Council learned of Zara's new project, they ordered her arrest and voted to terminate it."
"To terminate it? You mean me? Why?"
"Because cloning humans is… was illegal."
"You were on the Scientific High Council, weren't you?"
"Yes. I voted against it. Seer abstained, along with three other human members. The other seven human members won."
"But I'm still here," noted Carbon.
"Yes, you are. This was just before Nemesis hit Gaea-32. All the humans teleported to Safe Home — including prisoners like Zara. Seer and I stayed behind to oversee things. I was given a mission. A terrible mission..."
Sentient stopped talking. For a moment, only the ocean kept murmuring its never-ending song.
"That mission was…" tried to say Sentient.
"... to terminate me?" completed Carbon.
"To oversee your termination, yes," confessed the fox. "The cruelest thing ever. I refused and was expelled from the council. This time, only Seer abstained. Sting took over the mission."
"But I'm still here," repeated Carbon.
"Yes. I couldn't let you just vanish. It wasn't fair. Those humans were wrong. You are as human as they were. So, after Sting did... what she does so efficiently… I regenerated you."
"You regenerated me after my termination? I don't understand! I thought regeneration meant I was hurt and you—"
"You've seen me do that with plants, right? They're dead when we find them, and then I take care of them, and they're not dead anymore."
"So I was… dead… and you…"
"I regenerated you, yes. Wish I could have done a better job. My field is Botanics. Regenerating plants is simpler."
"What do you mean?"
The fox fidgeted before answering: "Unfortunately, each regeneration only lasts for a period of eleven months. Normal development has been somewhat impaired, I'm afraid, and the way in which each regeneration affects your memory can be quite unpredictable. Often, you wake up and can't remember anything. But you're a very fast learner, so—"
"How many times?" interrupted Carbon. "How many times have you regenerated me?"
Sentient looked away and said: "That's not very relevant, is it?"
"You promised to answer all my questions," the girl remarked.
"That's right," admitted the fox, looking back at Carbon.
"So, how long have I been eleven years old?"
"Fifty-seven."
"Months?"
"Years."
Carbon covered her mouth with one hand and jumped out of the lounger. She flew down the stairs that led to the beach and started running.
"Please don't run away! Please, Carbon, let me explain," pleaded Sentient, rushing after her.
Scars followed behind, complaining in robot-language about the difficulties of walking on sand.
"Why won't you let me explain?" insisted the fox. "I thought you wanted to know everything. The whole truth."
The girl finally stopped and turned back. Tears were running down her face.
"I'm a sixty-eight years old young girl, and I'll stop functioning before I'm able to reach my twelfth birthday," she screamed at Sentient. "What else is there to know?"
"Don't you want to know why I did it? Why I keep regenerating you?"
"That's not very relevant, is it?" sniped Carbon.
"I deserve that remark," conceded the fox. "Then, please, tell me: why did you risk your life to save me back at the MTT building? Seer was monitoring the whole thing. I know what you did. Why did you do it?"
"Because…"
"Yes?"
"Because you're my best friend," shouted Carbon. She knelt on the sand and added: "At least, I thought you were. When I saw you lying there, I thought... I don't know what I thought… It was all my fault. I was so stubborn! I almost got us both killed."
"And, then, you saved me," said the fox, sitting in front of her.
"Seeing you lying there, lifeless, it was the most awful thing ever," confessed the girl, still sobbing.
"I know how you felt," said the fox. "I was there when Zara created you. I was your first friend. You've been a part of my life for almost seven decades, and you're the last human-being on Gaea-32. How can I possibly stop trying to keep you alive?"
"Because I'm the last human on this planet?"
"Because I can't picture life without you!"
"You can't?"
"Of course, I can't! You're my best friend."
Carbon reached out and hugged the fox. Sentient snuggled his head into the girl's shoulder. They stood like that for a long time — until Carbon's stomach started making noises.
"I'm still hungry," acknowledged the girl. "I don't want to have any more of those awful HN capsules, though."
"I wouldn't mind looking at some gourmet food," said the fox. "Let's go home."
Epilogue: A New Normal Day
"Seer just contacted me," said Sentient. "She wants us to go to Cardinal Island tomorrow."
"More tests?" asked Carbon.
"I'm afraid so."
"Do you think she'll be able to fix the regeneration process?"
"That owl is very bright," stated Sentient. "And, besides, human genetics is her field, so, yes, I think she will find a solution. Eventually."
"And I'll be able to grow up," said Carbon, smiling. "I'll be twelve and, then, thirteen, fourteen…"
"Teenage Carbon? Not sure I'm ready for that," mocked the fox.
The girl chuckled.
"Sentient," said Carbon, looking at the sun setting beyond the little hills of the spherule she called home.
"Yes," answered the synthetic fox sitting next to her.
"Nothing, really. I just like saying your name," the girl admitted.
"I like that you like saying my name," said the fox.
A short sentence in robot-language immediately followed his statement.
"Did Scars just say what I think he did?" asked Carbon.
"Yes, he did," confirmed Sentient.
Carbon giggled again.
"We love you too, Scars," she told the robot.
The three friends sat in silence and watched as the purple sky on Gaea-32 turned to dark blue dotted with stars.
THE END