by Divya Singh
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I woke up with a start. ZA-vi woke me up as he kept his metal cold hand over my shoulder. But for the end of such a grave night filled with repentance, no morning could have gotten any better. Seeing ZA-vi was getting innocent once again. Then he waved-
“Good Morning Madam.” He said to me.
I heaved a sigh of relief and said, “Good Morning ZA-vi! I am ashamed that I inflicted assault on you, tried to kill you. You are really my friend and actually, the most efficient machine-person-robot I have ever met. I promise I will never hurt you or even ask you anything about myself or my past nor will I ever let anyone harm you.” My words were laden with emotions.
ZA-vi: “OK Madam! Consider me a human, for now, who just understood your emotions. Although you know that I don’t. OK, now something of a great significance! It is your first day of having been authorized to explore the nooks and corners of this ship. So are you ready?”
I said: “Please wait for a half an hour, arrange me new robes, let me do my hair & freshen up, so that I can spend time with humans. I am really excited. By the time please do some work you can.”
ZA-vi smiled and said: “OK Madam as you wish.”
Seeing that smile around was indeed very convincing. Anyway, I had to step over the past and move on to new life. Today is special, I am a welcomed person on the ship, authorized to roam about, interact with everything surrounding me that I wish and investigate. I am a little nervous too. I don’t know if people on the deck shall ever approve of my appearance. I know I look ugly and blue and a complex mix of man and woman. I know nobody would like a corpse walking on the deck. People will interrogate about me before I could investigate about the surroundings or interact with them. It will really be strange for them. So I must brace myself up for any kind of trouble. I am determined to ward off any such criticism. I will stand strong and not back down on any of such ill talking.
I was given a second chance to live and I had to live it up as a challenge. I had a right to live and fight for my right.
Whatever I looked like, I was me. I had to believe in myself and will have others convinced to believe in me. Everyone must accept and appreciate my existence. Every life on the earth has a reason for its existence. I was going to use my voice in my defense. I was sure not all of them were going to see me with hatred. I thought that I will be brave to go through it all. I was absolutely ready irrespective of the expected negative reactions of people who would be meeting me. I wanted to be accepted but my life was my own, I was determined to live it even if I was despised. I had been through death to have this new life. To know what I must do, and to accomplish it with all my right will be my sole purpose.
Just then ZA-vi stepped in with new robes for me. I was going to wear a tight white dress then. No long, apron or sick hospital type light blue loose clothes. A white top and coat with white pants.
ZA-vi said: “The dress code on the deck is white; doctors wear light blue, though you can wear any color elsewhere. But to put to ease all the unwelcoming eyes I suggest going out conforming to the dress code, on the first day.”
I said: “OK I am ready to go out in white. Please step out, and I will join you in a few minutes.”
ZA-vi nodded and went out of the room. I changed my clothes, looked at my hair and face on the screen. Fluffed my white robes again and patted my back for looking my best I could. I stepped out and joined ZA-vi and we reached the elevator and I proudly called out my passkey-
ZA-vi: “So where would you like to go now, Madam?”
I said : “I think that we will start a new floor, what about ‘-12’
“What do they have there? You would be knowing if that is not a top secret type floor?”
ZA-vi: “That is a medical ward, hospital in other words. That would not be interesting for you and you will be unwanted in the hospital. I do not suppose your trip will be useful there.”
I said: “Then I am willing to take the risk. I want to go to the hospital and see if I can find anything worthy there.” and I pressed button reading ’-12’
The doors opened on the next floor. When I peeked out of the elevator, this floor interior looked almost identical to that of the Navigator. Just with the difference of transparent glass walls. Here all the rooms are opaque and smaller and are numbered. It really looked like a hospital with private wards. ZA-vi led me towards the end of the right corridor. This corridor did not start in front of my elevator, but we had to walk till the end of the elevators to the right and then this well-lit corridor began, it had rooms double as big as the ones in the corridor facing the elevator we got off from.
These rooms were transparent, as I walked past them. I saw some of them had lights and were empty, but others were pitch black. Then we reached the one on my right, it had two big cylindrical glass enclosures first one was empty , the other had a body suspended in a liquid which reminded me of my first memories of this life as I woke up with just a head inside a liquid.
It was a male body. I knew this because I think some of my memories were coming back, and general concepts were memorized by my brain more quickly as against the particular events of my own life. But this I knew that this was a male body coming from the past. His reproductive organs were normal sized and not vestigial. So I have had a guess that he belongs to the past just like me.
Another clue that suggested me of his life in the past was that he was suspended in liquid just as my brain was. So be it, either way, he must have been living in a different era than this. Then I thought my android could help. I turned to ZA-vi for more.
ZA-vi : “ I have never seen this body before and I cannot tell you much because I have no intelligence in this respect, but all that I can say is that this body does not belong to this era. What you think must be correct.”
“Ok! ” I said and looked back at the male body. It was tall-ish not sharp, but he had beautiful facial features, white, brown hair and broad shoulders with big hands. It was naked; hence my female brain was tickled with amusement. I thought, oh well I got to see a human male capable of reproduction from the past, otherwise in an era which grows humans in the labs it would not make for an easy sight to be around. I felt like I was in a museum with a rare artifact. It was amazing to see a proper naked man and I smiled at ZA-vi triumphantly. I telepathically told him that my decision of coming to this hospital floor was justified. Then we stepped away from the room holding the male from the past.
ZA-vi turned right and led me to an oversized enormous hall with glasses for walls. It was bright and white lights whispered the optimism of being a human again in my ears. I was pleased to go unmasked in lights.
Chapter 15: Dr. Doom and a heated argument