by TS Hottle
Someone had built a new hut in its place. She could still smell the fresh polymer from the 3-D printer. In fact, the 3-D printer still sat next to the structure. She did not recognize the barrow sitting in the yard or the self-propelled farm wagon holding a bin of what had to be raw building polymer.
A familiar man in civilian fatigues stepped around the hut. He smiled when he spotted her. "Good morning, Commander. Just got the generator hooked up for you."
Suicide stared at the building occupying the site of her former home. "What…?"
"Orders from Governor Best," said Colonel Sheridan, the security officer from the Thulian Colony. "Someone destroyed your home trying to get at the governor's daughters. He felt it only fair that the provisional…" He stopped. "Well, since we're under Metis, and Metis is independent now, I guess we're not so provisional anymore. Anyway, you lost your home in the line of duty. So, we replaced it."
She approached the hut slowly. It looked similar to the metal structure she'd lived in before. Since she kept most of her possessions in her backpack, she would need only supplies, furniture, and incidentals.
Inside, it had a chem toilet and a shower pod, both hooked to a water reclamation system. She had seen no rain basin or humidity capture devices on the roof, so she had to assume the hut wasn't finished. But the lake was clean enough to boil the water. The nearby strip-mining operation filtered its runoff, or said they did.
"It's not quite ready," she said. "Should I continue on up to Walden?"
Col. Sheridan grinned. "Why? You won't be here for six months. Actually, I thought you would have gone directly to the Colony first. This was meant to be a surprise when you completed treatment."
The treatment. That's what Davra Andraste had called it. She had heard Governor Best use that term as well. Neither of them talked about it with relish. "I suppose I did promise to undergo it. Is it as bad as they say?"
"The worst part, assuming you have too little Neanderthal DNA, comes when they replace your bone marrow." He shoved his hands in his pockets. "Afterward, you'll be hungrier, thirstier, and…" He frowned. "You'll be hornier than you've ever been in your life. Side effect of complete cellular replacement. You're shedding an entire human being."
Hornier. How would she handle that? She had felt no desire for anyone, human or otherwise, since Priya died. "Is it worth it?"
"Spending six to eight weeks more ravenous than any other time before or after?" He spread his hands. "We have dieticians to hand the hunger and thirst. The other part… There are ways to deal with that. Some choose not to deal with it at all. Anyway, yes, it's worth it. When you're through it all, you'll live forever."
She looked down at the floor of the hut, polymer like the walls and ceiling. Her old hut had a dirt floor. Already she missed it. "Don't know if I want to live forever." She looked up at Sheridan. "Know what I mean?"
"Well, amortal does not mean you can't die," he said. "It means your body won't deteriorate. You won't go senile and turn to dust. The universe has to come get you if it wants you back."
It was then she noticed the Puzzle cube pendant hanging around the colonel's neck. She once had a similar one in her Aphrodite days. "So, I get to die on my own terms?"
"More or less."
"And all I have to do is to help your people complete their project."
"If that's acceptable to you, yes."
She turned and stepped outside. Aside from the new building the attendant fixtures and equipment, it looked no different from than when her original home stood. According to Sheridan, she would be back in six months. Footsteps in the gravel surrounding the hut told her the colonel had followed her outside.
"Let's go, Colonel," she said. "Time I got acquainted with eternity."
THE END
Acknowledgments
Some compare writing a book to giving birth. And like most books, this one had a lot of midwives.
For starters, Rick Partlow, who gave me the idea for what I’ve dubbed my Stupid Writer’s Trick™ - creating an entire story arc in just over a year. The plan went a little differently than I expected, but here we are.
Walt Robillard, who talked me through Suicide’s elevator scene, preventing her from becoming an MCU reject.
Jenn Nixon, my first reader for everything science fiction, who also recommended this book for publication.
Beta readers Kenneth Myers, Wayne Ligon, and Dany Aubry. Different perspectives. Had me researching how people drink tea. (Turns out, Suicide is even more fanatical about it than originally written.)
And finally, Sarah Davis Brandon for taking a chance on this.
Also by TS Hottle
No Marigolds in the Promised Land
The Amargosa Trilogy:
The Children of Amargosa
Second Wave
Storming Amargosa
The Seeds of War Arc:
The Roots of War
The Marilynists
Gimme Shelter
The Seeds of War Omnibus
The Homefront Arc:
Broken Skies
Warped
Tishla
The Homefront Omnibus
The Gathering Storm Arc:
The Amortals
The Exile
Flight Blade
The Gathering Storm Arc
Check out https://www.tshottle.com/compactuniverse for details and excerpts
Or find Thomas’s work as crime fiction author Jim Winter at https://www.jimwinterbooks.com