Portals by Ann Christy

Author:Ann Christy [Christy, Ann]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: clean reads, Romantic, Genetic Engineering, future earth, cloning, coming of age, action and adventure, artificial intelligence, Action, first contact, colonization, interstellar travel, Space Colonization, robots, post-apocalyptic science fiction, Post-apocalyptic fiction, strong female leads, YA fiction, teen fiction, planetary colonization, YA science fiction, teen science fiction, friendship, adventure, hard scifi, ai, science fiction, self-replicating machines, Family Life, female lead characters, Space Exploration, romance
Publisher: Ann Christy
Published: 2018-07-04T22:00:00+00:00

Twenty-Two

After eating so little yesterday, I wake up starving. I order a big breakfast, tame my hair—or at least make an attempt at it—and brush my teeth. I just took a shower a few hours ago, so I skip that and wait anxiously for the ding that means food.

When it comes, I yank open the door to find Jack rubbing his eyes on the hall floor, with the cabinet bot on the other side. He looks rumpled and for the first time, less than perfect.

“Did you sleep here?” I ask.

He yawns and stretches, then sniffs the air at the smell of my breakfast. “I told you I would be here if you needed me.”

Stepping over him to the bot, I retrieve my overloaded tray and say, “Well, I didn’t think you meant it literally.”

He winces when he gets to his feet and follows me—or maybe the smell of my tray—inside. As I unload my tray, he rubs at his hip and the side of his leg.

“You okay?” I ask him.

He shakes his head a little and says, “That’s incredibly uncomfortable, but I slept right through it. How is that possible?”

I shrug and sip my coffee, which is, as always, the perfect temperature. “That’s humans for you.”

“That really smells good. I’m hungry,” he says. I’m pretty sure there’s a hint in there somewhere.

“Yeah, but you’re not supposed to eat this stuff yet, are you?” I ask. My tray is loaded with eggs, toast, butter, jam, oatmeal, and hash browns. I think the eggs and butter are fake, but they taste good, so I’m okay with fake.

Jack makes a face and walks over to my interface, quickly punching in something, then returning to plop down in my other chair. “I’m okay now. I was created from a template with an intolerance to some kinds of food. Gluten and tomatoes specifically. It’s fixed now. I can eat anything.”

I guess my notion of babies and formula was wrong. I should have guessed, since replacements don’t have that problem, but then again, a replacement would already know what allergies or restrictions the original had. Either way, I’m glad he’s fixed. I have to wonder though, does that mean he got a new body? Is this a replacement?

And what exactly is a template? Does that mean that he’s wearing a body that belongs to a human somewhere on Earth?

Shaking my head, I dig into my eggs. “You want to eat some of mine while you wait?”

He’s still staring at my food, so he wants to say yes, but I know he’s going to say no. To stop him, I push my oatmeal over to him. He grins at me and takes the spoon.

The oatmeal is almost gone by the time the ding comes, but he hops up to answer the door like he’s still starving. When he comes back, he has two trays and I laugh around a mouth full of hash browns covered in ketchup.

He has what I have, but more of everything. Basically, he’s ordered everything I’ve ever ordered in my mornings here, plus other stuff.

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