Chapter 41
Chapter forty-one
Anna
Anna wrinkled her nose. The sharp smell of cows never really went away. Not here in the milking station, at least. The facility at the end of the large pasture was bigger than both the barn or warehouse that they claimed as their home.
Two helper androids, identical with pulled-back brown hair and light copper skin, showed them the milking schedule. Everything was rubber tubing and mechanical, a clinical contrast to the cows mooing outside.
Everything inside was cleaned to a mirrored perfection, with a long alleyway that allowed the cows to come in and out through another door when milking was done.
Large tubs stood nearby, pasteurizing the milk and dehydrating it in turn.
All the milk was dehydrated soon after production, the androids not having any need for fresh supplies.
Anna stood to the side with Tilly while Atlas directly engaged with the large animals along with Nora and Simon. She watched, absorbing every detail. Once she was no longer pregnant, she wanted to help every way she could.
Tilly held up a halter. “Hold it like this?”
“Yeah.” Anna handed her another. “Can you do all the buckles back up now?”
“Sure!” She crouched on the floor playing with the buckles.
The milking barn had a rhythm to the operations.
Anna could feel it in her bones—from the way the machinery operated in cycles to the mechanical way the androids handled the large animals.
It was almost lifeless. Like the cows were part of an assembly line instead of being creatures that were alive.
The milking process was automated as much as possible, but that also meant that with living things—cows in particular—it didn’t work well.
Anna kept glancing back and forth at the two different worlds—the cows outside in a grass pasture, and the technology in here. She tapped her fingers on the fridge the milk was stored in. I bet they would neurochip all of them too if they could. Make them all androids. Robot cows.
She gently touched the back of her neck, rubbing her fingers lightly over the silicone patch. That’s not completely fair though.
The two androids showing them the systems were not cruel. One of the cows they’d brought in this morning had a cut above their hoof. They treated the wound clinically, but still checked on her after.
No. Anna amended, watching them explain how to pasteurize the milk.
They are trying. They don’t know what to do.
Especially with all the different personalities the cows displayed.
They had a few cows labeled as difficult that they didn’t even try to milk, instead monitoring their health from a distance.
Once the androids left after their demonstration, Simon slipped a halter from Tilly over one of the cow's head. “Alright. Ready to try?”
Both Nora and Tilly rushed to his side. A brush was in Tilly’s hand. She pumped her little fist in the air. “Yeah!”
Atlas joined Anna by the fencing. “What do you think?”
“Well . . .” Anna leaned on him. “Now I know why we were allowed to keep cattle back on Earth. There was no way you had enough milk for all the care drops.”
“We’re not that bad at it.” Atlas’s eyes were amused, watching Nora try to operate the machinery. “Milk is also too heavy to transport unless it’s dehydrated. The best we could do is supplement.”
“Okay, but . . .” Anna smiled. “Some things here are a bit too . . . mechanical.”
Atlas leaned in. “Are you saying cows need a better bedside manner?”
“Yes.” She said. “All of you do. Everything that’s living.”
Atlas chuckled, but then his gaze grew serious. “Please be careful working with them. Wash your hands twice. Our animals are cleaner being isolated, but . . .”
Anna kissed him on the lips. “Shh . . . they’re cows, Atlas.”
“Right, yes. Still . . .”
She leaned on his shoulder. Having someone care so much, even about something as small as dirt, was a feeling she never wanted to go away.
“Quit laughing, dumbass, I got it.” Nora said to Simon. She was struggling with the milking hoses while he grinned behind his hand. She turned around after finally getting it right, then patted the cow’s side. “Where was the on switch? I’m going to try.”
“It’s right behind you.” Simon scratched behind the cow’s ears. “You’ll be a regular dairy farmer before noon. I’ll go leash up another.”
“Wait.” Tilly ran out. “I want to turn it on!”
Atlas pulled away from the fence. “I’m going to go back to check on the construction. Zero is there right now and wants to add things that we do not need.”
“Like what?”
“He wanted to install lighting that changes color throughout the day.”
“Oh!” Anna grinned. “But that would be fun.”
“Okay, fine.” Atlas said. “But I’d rather he focus on the kitchen more.”
“Here. I’ll walk you out.” Anna stepped with him to the milking area’s large front door. “Make sure Zero knows I appreciate it. I left some cookies on the counter in the barn for him.”
“Of course you did.” His eyes crinkled, a bit bemused as he looked back at the cows in the stands, waiting patiently while Nora fiddled with the equipment settings.
“I will admit, the cows seem to like you more. Still, be careful. Call me if you need me.” He tapped her front, where the communicator hung between her breasts.
"Will do."
Anna went back inside. With some trial and error, Nora and she worked together the entire morning.
Taking care of the cows wasn’t too hard, especially since Simon pulled up every manual on animal husbandry he could find.
By the late afternoon, they seemed to have gotten it.
The androids had only been milking the cows once a day, and hadn’t kept track of their lactation patterns, as the irregularity seemed to confuse them.
Not only that, but the ones that were harder to catch or difficult they gave up on altogether.
She scratched under a cow’s chin. “Looks like we found something we can do better than them.”
“Damn straight. I feel good.” Nora was sweaty, having done most of the heavy lifting all day.
She tapped on the tracker where it counted the milk output.
“Stella said we couldn’t do it right. This is the highest amount this pasture has ever produced.
I bet we can get them back to the twice a day schedule even. ”
The sun was low over the horizon before Nora took a break, hanging out by Anna on the side.
The milk room was cleared out, cows back in the pasture for the day.
But on the wall, the storage containers held more milk than this pasture had seen in months.
And that proof of progress had to count for something, right?
Simon had long since joined Atlas back by the barn, digging trenches. And Tilly was busy giving all the cows in their pasture names, the little girl in her element. She’d been covered in dirt head to toe within an hour, and now in late afternoon, she was a mud ball.
Nora sighed, hooking her legs over the fence. “Tilly is a mess. I’m a mess.”
Anna sighed with her. “I was thinking how nice this was. Like old times, when we got together and hung out.”
“Yeah. It feels good.” Nora pulled the standard suit shirt away from her front and rubbed at a big stain on the front. “We should probably go get washed up. It’s almost time to go to that dinner again.”
Immediately, Anna’s mood fell. “That bad huh?”
“Yeah . . .”
Anna elbowed her. “Tell them we can milk cows better than they can.”
“I doubt they’ll be impressed. And that Ria and Pearl joined us last night.” Nora’s voice lowered. “Last night I heard them refer to us as ‘the dirty humans’ to each other.”
“. . . What?”
Nora angled her head toward Tilly, who was spinning with her arms outstretched. “I mean, look at Tilly now; they aren’t wrong. Maybe we should go covered in mud. Show them how dirty we can be.”
Dirty humans? Anna frowned. What the hell?
The thought was immediately followed by anger, sharp and hot.
It was the first time she’d felt any irritation all day.
The feeling jolted through her body like a whipcrack, making her hands clench.
Then it dissipated just as quickly, as if she was dunked in a pool of icy water.
She slumped against the railing, losing not only the fire within, but also her train of thought.
“Earth to Anna.” Nora pushed on her shoulder. “Mars to Anna.”
The ground swam as she blinked up at Nora. “Oh. Hey Nory.”
“Hey Nory?” Nora leaned in close, scanning her face. “Are you okay?”
“Shit, did it happen again?” Anna held her head in her hands, the start of a headache forming.
“Did what happen?”
“When I get mad, I think I space out. I don’t even remember what you said. It seems like it’s been getting worse in the last day or so.”
“What the hell?” Nora’s voice raised. “Does Atlas know about this?”
She rubbed her arm, focusing on the milking area and the pasture beyond. “I didn’t want to concern him. I’m so close to giving birth now. And everything is so new. I really want us to settle . . .”
“Bullshit, Anna.” Nora came up to her and put her hands on her, getting directly into her face. “Look at me.”
Anna had no choice but to stare in her friend’s piercing brown eyes.
“Listen. Close.” Nora’s voice was clear and heated.
“The other humans called us dirty humans. At dinner they laugh when we don’t know what fork is right to use.
Or all the fancy terms they throw out about machinery we have never seen before.
And that Stella bitch giggles behind her hand with all her friends before telling them to stop. ”
“No. . .” Again, the anger flared. Hot. Heavy. Nora’s eyes went in and out of focus before they returned to normal. Anna blinked, feeling cold water flowing down her body. “What did you say?”
“This is some shit.” Nora’s voice shook. “I thought that chip would make you calm or something, not make you not remember or act like a zombie.”
Anna swallowed. “That’s what it’s doing, isn’t it? I don’t think it was meant to make me forget.” And then a second later, she started to shake. “Oh no, I can’t even get angry about this without it happening again.” Instead of anger, hot tears formed, making clean tracks down her dirty face.
Nora clenched her jaw. “I need to go to that stupid dinner. I’m going to ask Stella right there. Let everyone know what’s happening.” She stomped in place, hard. “These fucking androids.”
“They won’t care.”
“I’ll feel them out. But at least tell Atlas. He will. Maybe he can figure it out better.”
“I don’t . . .”
But Nora growled back. “I get it, Anna. But this isn’t something you tolerate alone. Atlas isn’t like Paul.”
Atlas isn’t like Paul. Actually, Anna hadn’t even thought of Paul much these last few days.
She swallowed. “You’re right.”