Before, After, Alone by Emma Newman

Author:Emma Newman
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Planetfall Emma Newman, Planetfall, Emma Newman, Planetfall short stories, Emma Newman Planetfall short stories, Before Mars, After Atlas, Atlas Alone, science-fiction, short story collection, Emma Newman short stories
Publisher: Emma Newman
Published: 2023-03-30T00:00:00+00:00

Marco paused at the entrance to the living room when he saw Leisel sitting on one of the fold out chairs.

“Come and sit down, Marco,” John said. “This is Leisel, an old friend of mine from college.”

“Hey,” Marco said with a nod towards her.

“Hi Marco, nice to meet you.”

Marco sat in the armchair, the only place available so he wouldn’t have to sit next to his dad on the small sofa. He was frowning, tense, and looked like he was ready to bolt out the door any moment.

John took a breath to speak but Leisel beat him to it.

“Marco, I work in the division that created the neural chip APAs. It’s part of my job to continually improve the AI that underpins the system, making it more responsive and intuitive when it’s acting as the interface between you and your chip’s functionality.”

“Okay. Is this some sort of follow-up to my fitting?” It was obvious he didn’t believe that, he was just trying to make sense of the odd atmosphere in the room.

Leisel shook her head. “Your dad got in touch with me because he’s concerned about how you’re adjusting to having a neural chip and I said that I would come over and see how you’re doing and have a chat.”

Marco’s eyes narrowed as he looked from Leisel to John. “Concerned? Why?”

“Don’t get all defensive,” John said.

“He’s concerned,” Leisel jumped in before Marco could reply, “because he’s a control freak who doesn’t know how to communicate properly.”

John blinked at her as Marco nodded. “Got that right.”

“It’s clear he hasn’t been able to talk to you for years. And being a middle manager in a division that’s all about easy to measure metrics and clear, rule-based criteria that leave no room for ambiguity, he isn’t equipped to deal with a teenaged human being in his life. No-one is giving him clear and immediate feedback on his progress, so he’s been spiralling into a panic about his ability to parent because he can’t cope with anything that isn’t like the inside of his brain, or his division’s work evaluation process.”

“Leis! What the hell?” John couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

He glanced at Marco, embarrassed, only to see his son smiling at Leisel in a way he simply hadn’t seen before. It was like a cloud had lifted from him. “Thanks,” he said to her. “It’s nice to know it isn’t me.”

“It is you!” John said. “You won’t talk to me. You do weird things in the middle of the night. You spend hours wandering around the woods like some weirdo!”

The thunderous glare was back on Marco’s face. “There’s no point talking to you about anything. Everything I say or think is wrong and-“

“That’s a bit of a bloody generalisation!”

“And you never let me finish a single bloody sentence.” Marco added, quietly. Then he frowned. “What do you mean weird things in the middle of the night?”

“John-“ Leisel began but he was too worked up to care.

“I know you’ve got hold of a scalpel and you’ve been cutting things.

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