Chapter 17
Chapter seventeen
Anna
Anna heard the dining room before she saw it. There was a hum, a low-level vibration of talking that indicated a large crowd was present. She held her head high and kept her walk steady. The dining room entrance was already open when they approached, bright and cheery.
Barely one footstep in, a loud clash sounded. It was followed by a blast of sound. Instead of just the gentle hums she’d heard as they approached, loud noises came from every corner.
“What is happening?” Anna’s arms raised involuntarily in an attempt to shield her face. Lights started to flash, coinciding with the sound.
“Oh.” Her hands lowered a second later as the sound kept playing, now recognizable as a tune. She laughed slightly. “It’s music?”
“Yes, music.” Atlas’s voice was close to her ear. “They wanted to welcome you by having an orchestra playing.”
“What is that loud banging?”
“Cymbals!” Atlas shouted. “And drums!”
“Cymbals?” Anna gave a sheepish smile. Whatever the hell cymbals were, they were too loud. “That’s really sweet of them, isn’t it?”
“I forgot you probably never heard live music. Look, everyone is playing different instruments.”
Anna still wanted to press her hands to her ears, but instead forced herself to stand still. Soon the melody shifted to a gentler section and the lights dimmed. The music was truly beautiful, now that it was softer. “Oh. This is softer now. Simon played some recordings. But this is something else.”
“It is.”
Nora clutched to Simon’s side, looking equally overwhelmed. Tilly, on the other hand, had her hands clasped in front of her, and was already swaying to the melody.
The song ended soon after. The androids that were playing stood, taking a bow.
Simon clapped and Anna took the cue from him, clapping her hands together.
“Thank you!” Simon yelled. “It’s beautiful.”
Anna nodded, echoing him, as the androids playing left their instruments to stand with others lining the dining room hall. Her ears still rang, but she forced her hands down, resisting covering them again.
The dining room was packed, with androids doubled up around the entire dining hall. Anna scanned the lines. Were there more than two hundred here like Atlas said? There definitely were more than there were outside. She twirled a strand of her hair nervously.
Now that the music stopped, she took in the room. It was easily the biggest room she’d ever seen. There was space for many tables to be set inside, but only three were there. Place settings were on one end, and an assortment of the android models sat on the other, waiting.
They had been waiting, through the music, just watching them file in.
Stella rushed forward, wearing a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. “Ah good. We have been expecting you.”
“Thank you for setting all this up!” Anna said. “That music was incredible.”
“It sure was,” Nora echoed. “We are so happy to be here.”
“Yes, well. It was the least we could do.” Stella pulled on Anna’s arm with fingers painted with ruby-red nail polish. “Let’s get you seated, shall we?”
“Sure.” Did she even have a choice? Apparently not as Stella had an iron grip on her wrist.
Stella led her to the table and waved around. “Sterling you already met, and that’s his nursing counterpart, Alice.”
Sterling lifted his glass to Anna with a smile.
Alice did as well, but her smile was small and polite.
“And here are the others!” Stella pointed around the table to ten other models sitting there, an artful plate of food in front of each. “Leo in particular I wish you to meet. He’s in charge of research here, naturally, as he is part of the model-R series.”
Research. The chip. Anna remembered the talk from the room earlier. Right.
“It’s nice to finally meet you in person.” Leo had dark hair and brooding eyes. He was lanky, tall, and thin compared to one of the model-Ms, Forty-Five, right next to him.
Anna steeled her shoulders, facing them all head-on. “Thank you for putting this together.” She stepped closer to the table. Around them, the androids toasted and drank.
She joined them, raising a glass of water once she was seated. So many androids. So many different personalities. And after the talk with the humans earlier, Anna had no idea who to trust.
She eyed Leo in particular. The head of research.
And there was Stella, cozying up to him as well, sitting directly on his right side, closer than the others.
The only thing Anna could do was watch and observe.
Like the glass room in the human quarters, everything was starting to feel more and more like a cage.
And where was Atlas? Anna looked around, only noticing a second later that he hadn’t followed them. Nervously, she touched her belly, feeling her baby girl kick inside.
“So. What do you think?” Stella leaned forward, speaking loudly across the table.
“It’s incredible.” Nora pointed across the hall. “I never thought we would be here. Do you eat dinner here every night?”
“No.” Sterling chuckled. “Only for occasions. We actually use this room more practically now.”
He waved across the hall, where boxes were lined up. Peeking out of the tops were familiar fabrics, stacks of ration bars, medicine supply kits. Everything that was sent to Earth in bulk, given away and looked forward to every few months. Things that had kept Anna alive all these years.
“Is that . . .” Nora narrowed her eyes. “The drop items?”
“Correct!” Stella crowed. “We do a lot of staging here. Our charity work.”
“This is incredible,” Anna said, overwhelmed at seeing all the items laid out. “I don’t know if you do know, but all of this—back on Earth, what you gave us really saved my life. Thank you.”
“Ours too,” Nora added. “Me and Tilly wouldn’t be here without them. I mean it.”
Silence fell down the table at their words. And then fell across the hall.
“Well.” Stella cleared her throat and said brightly, “We really try to do our best to help the poor humans, don’t we?”
“Yes,” Nora agreed before sipping her water.
Anna nodded, doing the same. But her head was buzzing.
Help the poor humans. The words kept circling, even as the conversation moved on.
She blinked back tears. Why did they help them in the first place anyways if it seemed like they didn’t trust them at all?
She started to push food around on her plate.
A gourmet meal. As if she was an honored guest?
Not much on Mars made sense, and her head still hurt from the music playing to figure anything out.