2100- Faith of the Machine by Christopher Cortis

Author:Christopher Cortis [Cortis, Christopher]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-11-01T00:00:00+00:00

14

Jack’s eyes flew open and Julia’s feet popped into view from underneath the table as she moved herself out of her seat. Jack tried to lift himself from the floor, but his vision swam and he collapsed again.

“Jack!” Julia exclaimed. She kneeled next to him and brushed pieces of another broken plate away from his head. The strange, brief dream still echoed through his mind, and Jack looked around, afraid that the man with the evil smile was in the house. Clearly, someone other than AI had access to his mind, but who? And why did people keep talking to him whenever he went unconscious? Julia put a hand under his head and helped him sit up.

“Sorry,” Jack said, as Julia cradled him, “I never thought…”

“Come on,” Julia said as she gently pulled him to a sitting position.

“I never thought food could be something so… alive.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Julia said, holding a hand to his neck, then looking deeply into each of his eyes individually, “I shouldn’t have sprung something like that on you. I figured that since you were okay with the ham, you’d be okay with meat in general.”

“It’s not the meat. Just—look at it. It has a little body. Helpless, and alone.” Though his eyes were locked on Julia’s, he couldn’t stop picturing the turkey. “There’s no way you could have known that would affect me––I didn’t either. I just needed to get over the initial… shock of it, that’s all. Don’t let me keep you from eating.”

Charlie, who had risen during the commotion, looked to the other drumstick, which had made its way onto his own plate. Julia gave Jack one last assessing glance.

“Oh, go on then,” she said to Charlie, “I know there’s no stopping you when it comes to food, anyway.” Charlie sat, more like fell, into his seat and took a big bite from the leg on his plate. Jack turned away, his vision swimming as he tried to focus on Julia’s face. Concern lined her features.

“Why don’t you go and rest on the couch while I make something a little easier to deal with,” Julia said after another inspection of his eyes. She then put the silver dome back on the platter, and briefly uttered Charlie’s name while pointing to it. He stopped chewing long enough to roll his eyes in an exasperated and drawn-out motion.

“I’ll get the carving knife,” Charlie said morosely, standing and picking up the platter.

“Throw away all the bones,” Julia said after him, then turned back to Jack. “Go lay down on the couch.” While Jack liked the idea of rest at first, when the animal was gone, so was the nausea, and he felt stronger. The impression Julia must have of him so far could not be anything great, and Jack felt the urge to stay and talk to her. He needed to show her… show her what? Something positive. Jack wanted Julia to be in a better mood when she was around him, not constantly tending to him as if he were a wounded puppy.

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