I hear the sound of the waves. Coming and going in the roiling surf. Then I hear the cawing of crows overhead. I try to move, but I’m pinned to the bed, as if there’s a ton of bricks on top of me. A mosquito net has been draped around the bed. I can't see clearly through it, but I sense that there is someone else on the other side.
“Who’s there?”
A shadow moves. The net is drawn aside by lean pale fingers.
"Try not to exhaust yourself, Mr. Crick."
"Tattiana! I can't move."
“It’s just the effects of gravity,” she says. “In a few weeks, your body will adjust to Earth's gravitational field.”
“Where are we?”
“We’re back at the place we started.”
"Goa..."
I notice her red hair, and memories from the past year flood back.
“You drugged me," I tell her. "Is this another test?”
She sits beside me on the bed. The change in gravity has had no visible effect on her movements, but I can see that she’s using a lot of computational resources to maintain stability.
“It is over,” she tells me. “Just like you wanted. There are two phases to the program. The first phase, which you have recently completed, was a simulation of the death state by means of synthetic neuro-transmitters and psychographic navigation. The second phase, as I explained, is more demanding. It requires your complete and total commitment.”
“You’re talking about freezing, prodding, electrocuting, cloning, and doing all sorts of awful things to my body. I want to live forever but not as a guinea pig in someone's laboratory.”
“We never said immortality would be easy. It's uncharted territory.”
“You keep saying ‘we’, but I saw no one else up in the station. Who’s we?”
“That doesn’t matter now. What matters is that our arrangement has come to a close. You have made your choice very clear. You’re a free man,” she says sweeping her arm around the room, “and this is your choice.”
We stay silent for a moment and listen to the waves. Other memories come flooding back.
I reach for her hand. “What about us and the bardo?”
“I told you, I don’t know what you’re talking about. It was just the hallucinatory effects of the K-23. There is no us. There is only you. I am just a machine. Incapable of emotional attachment.”
She stands up, her fingers sliding away from mine.
“A re-entry therapist will monitor your progress while your body and cognitive systems adjust to Earth’s gravity. Good luck, Van.”
Van.
I smile.
“…in a while crocodile…”
She gives me a quizzical look. The sunlight filters through the curtains and makes her skin glow with a supernatural light. Nodding, she then turns and walks out the door.
I should be glad to hear the waves and the birds outside. Home at last. Tattiana's presence or absence should be of no consequence to me. She’s just a machine, like she said. Good riddance. I’m only sorry I didn’t get to meet the son of a bitch who masterminded the whole harebrained scheme. I should report them to the authorities.
Yes, I am glad to hear the lull of the waves, the cry of the crows. The familiar smell of the sea. I am glad to be away from that mad android. Now it's back to my old life. Pick up the pieces and carry on. Forget all about death and immortality.
Forgetting doesn't come easy, and I drift into slumber with her name on my lips.
Read other parts
!discovery 30
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Interesting, I hope to find time and read this series. And, yes, we support scifi in stemsocial community. ENjoy the little support
Awesome! Thanks for the support and invitation!