Chapter 48
Chapter forty-eight
Atlas
Atlas gazed down into the deep blue eyes of the baby girl, eyes that would change to brown with time and sunlight. “She really is perfect, Anna.”
The infant cried in her arms, making his neural mind ache. He touched her little hand, gently.
Anna instinctively transferred the baby to her other breast, asking Nora, uncertain, “Is that right?”
Nora helped adjust the position. “Yeah, it is. The first time being hungry made her cranky. Your milk isn’t in yet.”
Anna cooed. “So angry.”
Atlas assisted Sterling with clearing the room and cleaning up from the birth. Everything in him felt jittery, almost overcharged. He focused on Anna, committing the scene of her holding the squirming infant to his memory banks.
Sterling pulled off his scrubs. “Atlas, do you want me to do the newborn screenings?”
“Oh, right.” The idea of another doing them felt wrong, even if it was Sterling. “No, I will.”
Nora stood, stretching her arms. “Long night. I’ll go get Tilly and Simon, let them see? That will give you a moment together in the meantime?”
Zero cleared his throat. He was standing back by the doorway, eyes riveted to the baby. “I’ll take you, Nora. Let’s go.”
Sterling exited with them, and Atlas was alone again with Anna. But it was not just the two of them anymore.
“Look at her, Atlas,” She whispered. “Is she getting enough to eat?”
He gently touched the little girl’s cheeks.
“Yes. You’ll make more milk in a day or so, but this is fine.
” His mind assessed the baby as he ran the newborn scans.
No jaundice I can see. They would need a small blood sample to be sure.
The newborn testing protocols loaded in his vision, showing best practices from a century ago.
Humans were thankfully the same, so everything still applied.
“Okay. It is just a little poke.” He took the baby’s foot in his hand, pricking the heel for the basic blood test. Focusing was difficult as the baby cried, but he collected the sample with steady hands. “I’m so sorry, baby girl.”
“Shh,” Anna whispered. “It’s all done.”
Sterling came back for the data and went to process it, while Atlas stayed by Anna’s side.
He worried over the little red mark, putting a tiny Band-Aid on the infant’s foot. There. Then his sensors cooled when the baby settled, momentary pain forgotten. Calm again. Everything steady. The room was peaceful now, bright lights turned lower and the hum of machinery turned down.
Neither he nor Anna said much, both glued to every small movement.
Atlas felt like he was rewriting every memory in his core with how many moments he recorded.
He felt no regret when clearing his hard drives for more.
He reached out and touched Anna’s arm, above where the baby was cradled. “You did it.”
Her shoulders dropped, and she whispered, “Yeah. Can’t believe it. You want to hold her? Before everyone gets here?”
“Yes.” Atlas took the baby in his arms. He felt like he should shift a little, if only to make sure he wasn’t holding the baby in an uncomfortable position. But the baby would cry if I was. Right?
He held the swaddled bundle while Anna watched, a sleepy smile on her face.
Life. Organic life. It is incredible. He put his finger in the palm of the little girl’s hand and watched as the tiny, perfectly formed digits curled around it.
He knew, logically, it was a reflex. But it didn’t matter. The baby was holding his finger.
She was, if he had one, holding his heart.
He held her while Anna dozed, until an hour later when Tilly arrived, running in the room with a windstorm of energy. In her arms she carried her doll and another picture that she shoved on Sterling’s desk before coming up close to the baby.
“Oh!” Tilly bounced in place. “Can I hold her?”
Atlas made sure Tilly properly sat before gently placing the baby in her lap, supporting the neck. Inside all his sensors anxiously fretted, adjusting the hold. “Carefully, okay?”
Tilly held the swaddled, sleeping bundle in her arms, keeping as still as possible.
She grinned like she did when playing with her sack dolls from back home.
“Look at her tiny nose! She’s like my dolls.
” Then softer, with a slight lisp and a sloppy kiss on the sleeping baby’s head, “Hi baby, I love you.”
Simon was by Tilly’s side, gently covering up the baby’s little fist with the blanket. “I forgot how tiny babies are. How fragile.”
Atlas watched on, his sensors focused on the baby’s every movement. “Where’s Zero?”
Simon helped brace the baby with a pillow. “Working. On the ride back he received a call about an electrical issue. We can take the hover back ourselves.”
Nora watched from Anna’s side. “She’s so cute. Look at them together. Tilly, you’re being a good sister.”
Simon glanced over to Nora, his eyes soft. “You want another?”
“Uh . . .” Nora’s face turned red. “Not right now. Really, I could though? How?”
Simon gave a sideways smile. “Science.”
Atlas’s mind spun. Technically, Anna could have another as well. But right now . . . ?
Nora reached out to take the baby in her arms. “Science fiction shit, huh. This baby is enough to love on right now.”
“Yes, she’s more than enough,” Atlas said.
The baby started to stir and cry, little cheeks turning red. Anna reached out her own arms, and Nora handed her over.
Nora covered the baby back up with the blanket, then stood back by Simon. “We’ll come back tomorrow, okay? Maybe we can all go back home together then?”
“Can we?” Anna breathed in fast. “I am sore, but feel fine.”
“I don’t see why not.” Atlas took his place by her side. “The less time we spend here, the better.”
“Good.” Nora bent down and gave both the baby and Anna a kiss on the forehead. “We’ll see you soon.”
After they left, Atlas turned the lights low again.
It was bright outside, only midday, but they needed to rest. He picked the baby back up in his arms, and Anna reached out with a hand, eyes glazed over.
He squeezed her fingers. “Do I need to tell you about the atmosphere? To get you to sleep?” He grinned. “Put you both asleep?”
She gave a smile. “Maybe, yes.”
Atlas took the request seriously, boring both of them with soil modifications until he was the only one still awake in the room.
The rest of the day slipped away, both waking frequently for the baby to nurse and be changed until it was deep night again. Anna curled on her side, baby swaddled in the bassinet beside her. The little baby’s anger had all been cried out throughout the day, and now she was in her first deep sleep.
Atlas could not take his eyes off either of them. He refused to go into stasis to charge, instead eating the sugary treats that were brought into the room.
Sterling came back in, quietly. “How’s it going? Glad Nora and Simon got their chance to visit earlier.”
“Everything seems fine.” Then softer he added, “They are so fragile.”
Sterling peeked in at the baby, who had fallen asleep in Atlas’s arms. “It’s been many years since I delivered a baby. But I guess things like this don’t change.”
“Yes, thank you for all your help.”
Sterling smiled. “I’m still running the newborn testing. Call me when Anna wakes up. I’ll check her stitches then, but you probably have it from here.” He patted his shoulder. “Congratulations, Atlas.”
“. . . Thank you.” And Atlas stayed awake, holding their baby long after he left. Every inch of him had rewritten himself around to include the baby now, in addition to Anna. A family. Something he never had before. Just like his old movies.
Eventually, he put the baby down, but that was only to check the vitals on Anna. He hovered over them both, checking measurements and feeling restless. Anna slept, the baby within arm’s reach in a clear-walled bassinet.
Night had almost halfway passed when the lights flickered overhead. He frowned. Simon mentioned electricity issues. Zero must still be working on them. He thought nothing more of it until another hour had passed and the intercom on the wall crackled.
Atlas walked to the speaker. “Come again?”
“Atlas? There’s been an issue with the wireless connections. Can you come to your office?” It was Sterling, sounding staticky and garbled. The voice was faint under the hum of monitors in the room.
An issue? Atlas reached for the communal mind, finding it offline. This had happened before, a lot actually, in the early days of Mars. But never in recent years. He leaned in close over the speaker to reply, “What happened?”
“There are connection problems.” It was definitely Sterling’s voice, only tinny and faint.
“. . . Sterling?”
The speaker crackled. “They’re fixing the connections. Some electricity short. But in the meantime, can you come to your office really fast? There’s some data on the baby I would like to discuss with you.”
“From the newborn screenings?”
“Yes, and other scans on Anna.”
Atlas glanced back at Anna. He leaned back in and pinged the intercom again. “Can you bring the data here?”
Static, then, “You really need to see this for yourself.”
Atlas’s mind flooded. “Did something happen to the baby after Anna wore that chip?”
“Just come really fast. I have told my nurse, Alice, to keep watch over Anna.”
“. . . Alright.”
Atlas glanced over the two sleeping humans in his life. His entire world was in this room. The need to protect them was overwhelming, but that included knowing what was so important that Sterling felt the need to call him away for privacy. Maybe the neurochip did affect something?
Alice, Sterling’s nurse, was outside, down the hall by the glass intensive care area. She was one of the models that had worked with Sterling for years. Atlas flagged her down. “Alice? Sterling has asked me to come to my office really fast. He said you would keep an eye out? I’ll be right back.”
“Alright.” Alice nodded, her thick black braids accentuating the movement.
Atlas hurried down the hall. I’ll find out what he has to say. His hands clenched at his sides. I’ll never forgive Stella if that experiment did something to the baby.