29. Chapter 29
Chapter twenty-nine
Anna
Anna stared at the pasture and her hands wouldn’t stop wringing together. Both Nora and Simon stayed by her side, frozen except for waving at Tilly when she yelled from across the field. Tilly was running along the fence side, trying to pet the cows.
Everything was back to peaceful now that the androids had left. Well, almost. A part of her shook, mercilessly, when she thought of what she’d agreed to. Everything seemed to fall into line so quickly after she agreed to the neurochip. Almost like that was Stella’s plan all along.
“Well. That’s that.” Nora rubbed her face. “Damn, Anna.”
“. . . I know.”
“I don’t think you needed to agree to the chip.”
“Stella would have thrown every roadblock up possible to keep us from staying here. I could tell she wasn’t going to back down.”
“Yeah, but . . . the chip?”
She tore her gaze away from where the hovers had left. “It’s removable, and Atlas said it wouldn’t hurt anything.”
“. . . But, Anna.”
“Don’t fight me, Nora. You took Tilly and went to the desert to protect her. Then we all took this leap out to Mars. This is my turn to do something.” Anna firmed her shoulders. “My baby girl is living here. Not in that glass box.”
“Alright.” Nora touched her arm. “Well . . . thank you, Anna.”
“Yes, thank you,” Simon said softly. “I wouldn’t have moved us back anyway, you know.”
“No, I should be thanking you, Simon.” The baby kicked under Anna’s hands. “You helped bring me here, and now it’s my turn to help. This is the right decision. I feel it.”
“The mere fact that it came to this at all, though!” Simon crossed his arms. “They’re idiots.”
Nora bumped his elbow. “Yeah . . . They’re honestly just as prickly as people from back home. I thought Stella liked us at first too.”
Simon frowned. “Stella has her fingers everywhere. She’s a diplomat model, after all. I thought they had her as the spokesperson because she agreed with the plans, but she probably was pretending even back then to be the one in charge.”
“So . . .” Nora narrowed her eyes. “Always a snake?”
“Probably.”
“Well, we see her now at least.” Anna stretched her arms. “Ugh! I need a distraction.”
“Here.” Nora tugged on her sleeve. “Wanna see the chickens? There’s a coop I can show you.”
“Good idea.”
Anna followed her around the side of the barn.
The nighttime floodlights had just turned on when they pressed up against the chicken wire of a large coop.
Feeders and measurements were hooked all around; everything related to the chickens’ care appeared automatic.
In the frenzied energy between finding this place and making their snap decision, she never thought to ask how the area functioned usually.
But there’s chickens. Something in her stomach loosened.
Inside the coop were chickens not much different from the scraggly kinds Nora had kept back home, except with different plumage and vibrant colors.
But still, Anna’s body shook thinking of what she’d agreed to. She joined Nora at the coop’s side. “I’ll feel better once it happens and I see it’s not so bad.”
Nora leaned in closer. “You don’t have to, Anna. Like I said, we can just squat here or something.”
“No. The baby is gonna be born in less than a month. I don’t have time to wait them out.” She sighed deeply. “At least Atlas is on board with everything.”
“Hmmm.” Nora gave her a pointed side-eye.
“I know what you’re thinking and don’t start, Nora.” But Anna’s face heated, remembering Atlas’s words. Don’t sell yourself short. Well, she certainly took those words to heart. Probably sooner than he ever expected.
“Somebody’s got to start!” Nora shook her shoulders. “You’re all sighing when he comes near. Fess up, you like him.”
“Shh.”
“Androids make good lovers, Anna. Ask me how I know.”
“Shhh!” Anna laughed. She walked back a step to sit on a nearby log. “I’m sighing because this has been one heck of a long day.”
“Okay, fine.” The log creaked as Nora joined her, drinking from a canteen. “This would be the best day if it didn’t come with that trade.”
She scuffed her feet in the dirt. “They said it won’t hurt me.”
“They better not be lying.” Nora handed her the canteen. “Here. Want some? It’s humid here.”
“Thanks.” She took the canteen and drank deep. “Well . . . at least you can have chickens again.”
“We both can.” Nora put her arm around Anna. “And don’t worry—since you’re having to do this stupid chip, we’ll go to the dinners there. We can do that at the very least.”
She slumped against Nora’s side. “It’s for the best anyway. I’ll yak everything up.”
The chickens clucked, settling down in their coop for nighttime. They lined up on their roost as night finally took over. The coop was only lit up by a spotlight outside the barn.
Faintly, overhead, a whirring noise indicated a drone hovering above. Nora elbowed her, pointing up at its barely visible form in the twilight. “A lot is different, but look up there. Just like old times, right? Simon said they’re gonna circle all the time here now.”
“No different from Earth.” Anna stared up at the sky. “But there’s no cameras in the barn, right? I didn’t see any in the warehouse.”
“Yeah, that’s private. I can live with that.”
Her shoulders slumped. Some privacy. Finally. “Unless they want to creep on me taking a bath.”
Nora chuckled. “I’m sure they would if they could at one point or another.”
Anna laughed, stopping when a stiff pain came over her belly. The entirety of her stomach was clenched into a hard ball. She pressed on her front. “Oh. Shit. What is that?”
“Anna?” Nora put a hand on her stomach as well. “You okay?”
The sensation left a minute later. Her hand hovered over her belly, unsure. “My whole stomach seized up for a minute.”
Nora felt all around on Anna’s front. “Tight all over?”
“Yeah.” She grimaced.
“That’s what a contraction feels like. It’s still too early for the baby to come out. Damn, there’s been too much stress today.”
She rubbed her belly. “Shit, that hurt.”
“Yeah it does.” Nora gently rubbed her side. “Good that Atlas is getting you a bed for tonight.”
She took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “I would have slept on the floor.”
“You and me both. I would have put Tilly in the hay pile maybe. Hell, still might. She loves climbing the bales of hay.”
“This baby is going to come soon, isn’t she?”
“Yep.” Nora leaned into Anna’s shoulder. “And thanks to you, that baby girl is going to think all of this is normal. Here, I'll help you clear out some space in your new home for tonight.”
They walked together into the warehouse. The room had been cleared out enough that only a few boxes in the middle remained, along with a few others that Anna planned to use as a table and chair. “It’s already looking good in here, huh, Nory?”
Nora walked the perimeter. “Yes it does, but Anna, you just had that contraction. Sit down for a minute.”
“I’m fine right now.” She grabbed the broom. Already, her mind was racing with possibilities. “She’s quiet. I think she likes all the moving.”
“That’s the opposite of sitting, Anna.” Nora wiped at her brow. “Maybe you are getting that pregnancy push to clean. That’s why you have so much energy.”
“It could be.”
The boxes creaked as Nora stood back up, stretching. “Lemme check on Tilly. Maybe see when Atlas will be back and we have to do that stupid dinner.”
Nora left, but Anna kept moving. The room was hers. This life was hers.
She repeated to herself in between broom strokes. “And everything is going to be fine, fine, fine.”
The neurochip wouldn’t hurt her. So, nothing to worry about. Right?
There wasn’t much to clean, only a little residual dust on the ground where the containers had sat, but Anna tried the same, humming the star melody again.
And then the one about patting the cake.
I’m gonna bake you a cake, my baby girl.
She spun around, imagining the shed already decorated.
Oh, a kitchen. Can I fit something like that in here?
Maybe she’d get a few shelves to organize things at the very least.
One corner had a pocket of settled dust. Sweeping hard, she kicked it up and her eyes watered. She coughed, then doubled over a second later. The same tightening feeling from before took over her whole stomach, forcing her to hunch forward. Ah shit, another one.
“Anna?” Atlas was at the doorway, an uncertain look on his face.
“Oh. You’re back.” She sat back on the box chair.
“What’s wrong?” He walked in toward her, his forehead furrowed.
“Everything is tight.” She pointed to her stomach. “I think it was from coughing. Nora says that’s what a contraction feels like.”
Atlas held his hands out. “May I?”
“Yeah.” She turned on the box toward him.
He put his hands on her belly, feeling the baby kick back.
Heat crawled up her neck for a different reason as his hands clinically felt around the sides of her stomach. Stop it, Anna. He’s checking because of the baby. But more importantly . . . “Is everything still okay? The deal is still on?”
“Yes. Nothing changed.” Atlas pressed in, delicate and firm.
His fingers gently reached around her entire abdomen, touching her softer than anyone ever had before. Her heartbeat must be going crazy. Hopefully he would think it was because of the contractions and not because of him. Even if it was. . .
Too soon, or not soon enough, his hands left and he pulled her shirt back down. The entirety of her abdomen was soft again.
Atlas picked up the broom from the floor, leaning it against the wall. “It was a contraction. Your body does that to prepare. As long as it doesn’t keep going, it should be fine. You have another few weeks left. Baby girl needs all of them.”
She readjusted her shirt. “I had another one earlier.”
“Anna . . .” His voice softened. “This was too much stress. Sit.”
“Alright, alright.” She stretched her arms backward. “Hey Atlas?”
“What?”
She smiled up at the metal roofing. “This place is just great.”
She loved it already. From the dust still on the ground to the open area cleared in the middle. Her own personal space. Her own home. She grinned from ear to ear.
“I’m glad you’re so happy.” Atlas cupped her cheeks within his hands. “Rest still, okay? I mean it, Anna.”
“Alright.” She flushed where his hand cupped her chin. Soft fingers, again. Especially when his thumb almost trailed on her jawline. She leaned out of his touch and gestured to the room. “See? Mostly all cleared out now. Ready?”
“Yes, I see.” His eyes didn’t leave her face. “I will have Simon help me carry this bed in, then I want you to lie down on your left side.”
Anna pressed the top of her belly. Her entire stomach went hard as another contraction hit. She stayed to the side of the warehouse, hand on her belly, as Atlas filtered in with tons of pillows and blankets and boxes that held lamps and dishes. “Woah, all of this?”
“Zero helped.” Atlas shooed her to the side. “Stay over here; I’m bringing in the big items next.”
He and Simon carried the bed in together and put it right under the windowsill.
Followed by a nightstand. And then an air conditioning unit.
He was strong. And so much more capable than her.
It made sense—he was an android who was built for speed and service, but the efficiency with which he did things.
. . Anna just sat and watched. Atlas carried most of the items like they weighed nothing, only needing help with the bed so it didn’t drag on the floor.
After he was done, he held out his hand. “Come here. Lie down. Are the contractions still happening?”
“No, thankfully.” She sat on the bed and leaned, propped up on her left side. “They hurt though. It makes me worried about what real labor will feel like.”
“This is why living in the facility makes more sense.” Atlas’s tone was clipped. “I don’t blame you for wanting to stay away now, though.”
Gently, she put her hands over his. “Thank you. I wasn’t expecting any help like this.”
Atlas turned his hand over and squeezed hers before reaching into a bag at his side. “I have one more gift. I’m going to give you a communicator. Use it if you need anything; it is linked up to me. Alright?” He handed over a black device that had a button and a speaker on it. “It’s a direct wire.”
Anna sat back up, turning the small device over in her hands. It looked like a television remote, only with less buttons. “Is this listening to me all the time?”
“No. But if you press the button on the side and speak into it, the signal will transmit directly to my processors.”
“Oh. Directly to you?” She pressed on the side, speaking loudly. “Like this?”
“Yes.” He winced. “Not that loud though.”
Anna’s eyes flicked up to his face. His very perfect face. A direct line to him. The thought made her warm and fuzzy inside. She placed the device around her neck, where it hung low to her navel, resting on her belly. “So between this and the chip, I’ll be full of technology.”
“But this will let you call me. The chip just monitors, for the most part.” His focus seemed to hang on the device where it rested. “Use it. Okay? Please?”
Clutching it tightly in her hands, she grinned. “Alright.”