An Unnatural Life by Erin K. Wagner

Author:Erin K. Wagner [Wagner, Erin K.]
Language: eng
Format: azw3, mobi, epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates
Published: 2020-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

Camp Journal, 8.17.2145@ Crete, geyser

They are afraid I will transmit data to Hazlo Corp. before they can confirm, so they had arguments and conversations in the rover for the whole day until the sun set.

Zeus saw Europa, the daughter of Phoenix, gathering flowers in a meadow with some nymphs and fell in love with her. So he came down and changed himself into a bull and breathed from his mouth a crocus.

HesiodTranslated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White1914 CE

7.25.2145

“I loved her.” 812-3 cups his chin in his hands. He sits cross-legged on his cot. “She told me I did. I believed her.”

Aiya rests her notebook on her knee. She leans her head back and rests it on the wall. She has a headache and her stomach is unsettled. She can hear the guard occasionally shift his stance outside the cell, his boots heavy on the metal floor. He is not there to protect her.

It takes her a moment to register what 812-3 has said. “What did you say?” Her notes are messy, a scrawl of the vague defenses 812-3 had offered for the prison fight. He did not seem to understand how the video might impact the judges’ decision to entertain an appeal. Or, at least, he refused to engage in a discussion about it.

“I loved her.”

The words sound odd in this setting from that mouth. Aiya straightens in her seat.

“Now you’re listening,” he says.

“A trick to get my attention?” She relaxes again. “You could just snap your fingers.”

“No. I was telling the truth. Though it doesn’t answer any of your questions.”

“Is this pertinent to the case?” She retreats into formality. “We’re here to prepare for the appeal—if we’re granted a hearing. We shouldn’t waste time.” She realizes her disinterest is feigned, but she clings to it.

“She was Derrien Cho’s spouse. I thought, when you first visited, that she had sent you.”

Aiya does not say anything. Her brain stutters, then starts again, as she realizes the implications of what he is saying.

“Labor laws and their enforcement.” He looks at her. “Two different things.”

She shakes her head, struggling to follow his chain of thought.

“We each of us have codes, usually oral keys,” he continues, slow and clear, “which bypass our self-control. They activate core directives. Follow. Don’t question. Their use was deemed illegal. But that doesn’t keep a lot of supervisors from using them when convenient.”

Aiya poises her stylus over her notes. “Cho’s spouse?”

He looks at her, and she fears she has pushed him too quickly. His face loses much of its animation. Then he takes her hand. Instinctively she tries to tear it away, but his grip is strong. His palm, though it feels almost like skin, is just a little too solid under her fingers, as if he is more girder than flesh beneath the epidermis. “Her name is Tafee.”

Aiya notes the name with her free hand.

812-3 presses his thumb onto the face of her watch. The gesture activates the artificial lens in Aiya’s right eye, a mandatory implant for Europan settlers.

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