Page 30 of Invasive Species
And oh shit, I get a high just as good as one from the cold lake.
“Thanks.” I lean back against the counter. There's a new scent in here tickling my nose, a woody tone, like sandalwood.
His color strobes briefly into nuclear reactor green. Is that his happy color?
I like it a lot.
TEN
GARA
Arra-bellah askedher friend Nic-coal to inspect the chicken the next day. She declared her fit and “Potentially turning back into a velociraptor.”
Arra-bellah sees me frown as my nanites struggle to interpret the word. “Birds descended from dinosaurs, fearsome lizards that were alive billions of years ago on this planet.”
“They went extinct sixty-five million years ago,” Nic-coal corrects gently. The tall brunette moves slowly, putting her primitive health tools back in her van with little expression on her face. In contrast, Arra-bellah is a swirl of motion and emotions. Seeing them together, I’m grateful Arra-bellah’s inner workings are clearly displayed in how she moves and talks, each mood plain to see.
I watch them as they talk, Arra-bellah’s wild gestures familiar to me as she explains something she’s passionate about, no doubt her designs for the barn. Her friend leaves with a small smile on her face, and my scales settle at the obvious show of trust she places in us.
Now to navigate this new dynamic with Arra-bellah whileinvestigating my evolving feelings. I have to stay aloof in order to analyze them appropriately.
“That was a great visit,” Arra-bellah says, bounding up to me inside the barn.
“Yes?”
“Yeah. She gave me a whole load of notes for looking after the sheep, including the pregnant ones.” Her green eyes sparkle at me, hope shining in them.
“Would you like me to help you prioritize the tasks?”
“Absolutely. You're a fabulous project manager.” With a grateful smile, she holds out her phone. Using the program from earlier, I translate the list into something I can read, transfer it to my pad and sort them from critical to what seem like more maintenance tasks.
“The animals will need hay… do we have that in stock?” I ask.
“Yeah, it’s in one of the storage sheds, but it’s kind of heavy.”
“Then we will help.” I add relocating this hay, whatever it is, to our priorities.
“Yeah, you guys are crazy strong. You have super toned pecs and shoulders.”
I look down at my chest. “Good observation.”
She giggles, and my scales shimmer. Her laughter is pure sunlight, warming and bright. “You should be on the cover of a magazine or something…” She trails off, eyes widening a little in a way I recognize all too well. “Actually, can I take some pictures? I won’t get in your way; I'll take candid shots from a distance.”
“You want to take images?” Dom would insist that is her right, but she's asking me for my permission. Her consideration makes my chest loosen with some un-nameable feeling. What is this thing she makes me feel?
She purses her lips. “I’ll be careful with them.”
“You and careful don’t particularly co-exist as a concept,” I say before I can stop myself.
That makes her laugh again; if anything, louder and brighter than before. “Yes. Sweet burn, good one. I’m writing that down.”
Once her list is finalized, I project it between us and run the program backwards to translate it into her writing. “Here are the tasks. Do they seem manageable?”
She blows out her cheeks. “No, but also yes. I just need to do them one at a time… oh. We’ll need food, super priority. In fact, let me order that now.”
“Very well.” I watch over Arra-bellah’s shoulder as she flicks through the glowing images on her small device, tapping at things with her index finger. The screen fills with vibrant pictures—crisp green leaves curled in delicate spirals, fat red spheres labeledtomatoes, golden wedges of something she callscheese. The protein options are even more mouthwatering, rich, marbled cuts of deep red meat, pink commas curled in delicate spirals, kidney-shaped beans.
Everything looks alive. Colorful. Varied. Not like the bland, beige nutrient paste I’ve known in the clone barracks, reformed into different shapes but never different flavors. This food looks real. It looks exciting.
