Chapter 21
Chapter twenty-one
Anna
As quickly as her aching body would allow, she threw off the covers and crept outside to the common area.
He is here. Something in her loosened at seeing him sitting still as stone on the couch in the living room.
The room was otherwise empty, and the row of televisions were all turned off and reflecting the early morning light bouncing in from the windows outside.
Nora and Tilly must not be up yet, but Anna always was up earliest. And asleep the latest.
Who needed normal sleeping periods?
As she approached, the film over Atlas’s eyes lifted. He focused on her. “You’re up early, Anna. You need at least a few more hours of rest every night.”
“Yes, Doctor.” She stopped a few paces away. “Well. My stomach was empty again and that got me up.”
“Sterling might have a few ideas to help with the nausea.” He scanned her top to bottom. “Unless you feel too ill to meet with him?”
Anna glanced backward. The hall that stretched to the back of the facility was bathed in shadows. The morning light made everything seem both softer where it fell and more sinister where it didn’t. She shuddered. “What does he want with me again?”
“Mostly to take your vitals here on his equipment. Sometimes there’s a variance between instruments—plus there’s different gravity here. We want a baseline on your physical state.”
Anna paused. “So just a checkup?”
“Right. Yes.”
“Can you do the testing? I feel more comfortable with you.”
Atlas straightened himself. “If you want.”
“I do. I meant it, last night.” She clasped her hands in front. “Please stay my doctor?”
He slowly grinned. “Alright, Anna.”
She flushed. “Good.”
“Are you okay to go now?” Atlas pointed down the long, silent hall. “Or we can wait until after breakfast.”
She pushed down on her stomach, already churning. “Actually, can I have another bagel? And if we do the medical things early, can you show me the kitchen here too? Sterling said there is one? I want to make some things my stomach can tolerate.”
Atlas blinked once before standing. “It hasn’t really been used, but yes.” His eyes glanced at her cheeks. “Your face looks better this morning.”
“Yeah.” She put her hand on the faded sunburn. “Thank you. Nothing stings at all anymore. Where is Sterling?”
He pointed to the end of the hallway. “Near the intensive care area.”
They walked together, back to the end of the human facility and past the room in the hall where the glass windows were.
Anna’s footsteps faltered when that pink crib came into view. Nothing had changed on the inside of that room since the night before, but Pearl was there, sitting by one of the dying human’s bedsides. Her aged eyes followed Anna, judgmental, until they passed out of sight.
Anna swallowed. Still not a fan of us. A part of her felt bad.
I wish she understood that all we want to do is live in peace with them.
But she wasn’t ready to force a talk that Pearl clearly didn’t want.
Feeling uneasy, she hurried up close to Atlas, tugging on his soft sweater, the same light blue one from last night.
That caused Atlas to look down briefly at her hand on his sleeve.
“Sorry.” She quickly let go. “I didn’t want to get lost.”
“No worries,” He whispered. “It’s a single corridor. Sterling works in an office through here. He likes to be connected to the human area. It’s easier to help monitor if there are any issues.”
“Right.” She winced. Didn’t want to get lost? Such a lame excuse, Anna . . .
“Good morning!” Sterling came out of a small room as they approached. “You’re here early.”
She shrank under Sterling’s questioning gaze, instinctively looking away, then winced. Why do I do this? She knew why and hated the reason, forcing herself instead to raise her head. Freaking Paul. “Yeah, Atlas said you wanted to see me again for more medical testing?”
“It’s just another ultrasound and a few vaccines we didn’t have on the ship. We have a more upgraded machine here. It lets us look at the baby in 3D.”
The room Sterling led them into had more personality than any part of the human quarters.
There was a lived-in quality, not in terms of clutter, but in the way items were stored, ready to be used.
Plants were here, not as numerous as in Atlas’s room on the ship, but enough to make the room feel alive.
Paints also stood at the ready by an easel, and a shiny golden instrument sat against the wall.
A trumpet? Anna had seen pictures, and one of the androids at the party last night had played something similar.
“A saxophone.” Sterling caught her looking.
“Do you play it?”
“Yes.” Sterling smiled. “It’s a hobby of mine.”
“Anna, sit here?” Atlas gestured to a beige table in the middle of the room. “Sterling, I can run the ultrasound again. I’ve gotten a lot of practice with Anna so far.”
“Very well.” Sterling turned back to the desk.
“Here, let me just move some of these vines to get the machine close. One of them was producing seed pods, so it has taken over the area. As you can see, even though Atlas is rarely here, we still cannot escape his plants.” He pushed the plant to the wall. “My saxophone takes up less space.”
“It’s noisier though.” Atlas briefly touched the leaves. “You kept this one alive. I’m impressed, Sterling.”
“Atlas!” Sterling pulled back, hand on his chest. “What kind of doctor would I be if I couldn’t take care of a plant?”
Anna was too fixated on the ultrasound machine to joke. She positioned herself on the table and pressed down on her stomach, where the baby indeed was kicking up a storm. “It’s safe to keep doing this test, right?”
“Yes.” Atlas began to unwind the cords. “The ultrasound is just sound waves.”
She settled back, flinching as Atlas put his cool hands on her stomach, fingers gently probing.
“Does it hurt?”
“No.” She shook her head. No. The issue was the touch was clinical, but also hard to ignore. Everything about Atlas was becoming hard to ignore.
That faded though when gray pictures flashed on the screen. Anna sighed. “There you are.”
“Beautiful.” Sterling tapped on the screen. “Hold it there.”
Her baby kicked on the screen, nameless but active. She rubbed her front. I’ll name you once you get here.
As if Atlas could read her thoughts, he asked, “Still no name?”
“. . . No.”
“Why not?”
Anna bit her lip and looked away.
Atlas, in a moment that didn’t seem entirely professional, wrapped his hand around hers. He pulled quickly back. “It might help if you had something to call her. Even if it isn’t her name later.”
“Well . . .” Her mouth went dry at his touch. “I call her my baby girl. Because that’s what she is.”
Atlas put the wand back on her stomach. “Well, yes. She is a baby girl.”
The little heartbeat pounded over the monitor, and Anna’s eyes were riveted by the tiny moving image. It was strange, seeing her kick in real time while feeling it.
“This baby girl is healthy.” Atlas slowly removed the wand and then pushed on a different angle. He smiled. “Very healthy. She’ll be the first baby born on Mars in a long, long time.”
“Atlas.” Sterling worked the monitor. “Can you get an angle of the placenta?”
The pictures zoomed in and out of focus, almost faster than Anna could process. The first baby born in a long time. “Can you tell me more about the humans at the colony? I saw all the baby pictures.”
“They were all born here.” Atlas said.
“Yes, but . . .” Anna shifted on the chair. “Are we really that different from them?”
“Not in genetics, but you’ve met them now.” Atlas gave a low chuckle. “I would say you’re very different, even in the way you talk.”
“Very different. But also very much the same.” Sterling tapped on the screen. “I wish I could help you to trust us. We will take care of you here. Both you and this little baby. I promise you will not have to struggle here like you did on Earth.”
Anna slowly nodded.
Both Sterling and Atlas talked quietly, taking measurements for the next few minutes.
She listened to them talk, and the unease that had been building the entire trip here slowly started to make sense.
That’s what has really been bothering me.
The thought had begun forming earlier, when Stella talked about the humans that lived on Mars already, then it crystallized when she met the humans in their quarters.
And it became more clear upon seeing that little crib in the glass room.
They were treating humanity like one of the animals they helped.
Like the ducks. Like pets.
Anna’s eyes narrowed. I know what it feels like to be kept. I didn’t come here after Paul to just be kept again. Nora won’t take it, and I won’t either.
A vague sense of determination came over her as she watched her baby kick. Her fingers clenched in her lap, eyes glued to the moving screen. She’s in there. My baby girl. Anna clenched her fist. I’ll figure it out. I’m not helpless.
She would not be a pet to these androids. She would not let them decide everything for her future. And that included whether neurochips went into her body all the way to what she ate.
She glanced at Atlas, who stared at the ultrasound. Atlas isn’t dangerous. Last night he even told me he didn’t agree with any monitoring plans.
Anna preferred this look in his eyes as he read her scans, interested and gentle. He told her the truth last night, after all. She breathed faster, studying him. He’s so kind. That was its own kind of problem, but it was something she needed to think about later.
At any rate, she preferred the way he looked at her more than the expression Sterling had.
That almost pitying expression made her cringe.
She balled her hands into fists. That same sad expression was on most of the faces at dinner last night.
She gritted her teeth. I don’t want their pity help. I don’t want to be kept.
Anna's heart rate spiked on the monitor and she took a steadying breath. Calm down. It’s okay. It’s gonna be hard work, but that is nothing scary. I’m smart. I can figure it out. She focused in again on the baby kicking on the monitor. I ran that whole damn bakery pretty much by myself.
Paul didn’t. She did.
Anna teared up, watching the monitor. The gray pictures showed a perfect, upturned nose. And the kicks matched what she felt as the baby stretched inside. I’ll take care of you. It’s gonna be okay.
She whispered. “That’s my baby girl.”
Something in Atlas seemed to soften. “That she is.”