I leaned on an elbow and rested my free hand on his arm.
“I need to go talk to John. Stay here.”
“Will you be back?”
His earlier confidence vanished somewhere between the corridor and my bed. Now he sounded forlorn.
“Of course I will. Stay here and I’ll be right back.”
*****
John was on the bridge, perfectly sober, running an internal scan on the ship.
He flashed a smiled when I entered. “What did you do with your entourage?”
“He’s in my room. Or, well, at least that’s where I left him.” I went closer, resting my hand on his shoulder and squinting at the computer readout.
“It doesn’t look like he brought any unwanted presents for us. No tracking devices, no explosives.” He paused. “Do you think it’s him?”
“I do, and I think you do too, or you wouldn’t have brought him on the ship. Certainly not to my room.”
John nodded. “True. But if it is him, there’s something wrong with him. You know that, right?”
Most of the time, the new Adam sounded exactly like my Adam, and then not at all.
“I don’t know what to do. What do I do?”
He sighed but smiled at the same time. “Go talk to him. Figure out if you think it’s really him. I’m going down in a few, I’ll be right next door if you need me.”
“Okay.”
I probably didn’t look all that convinced. He met my eyes and frowned. “Are you okay?”
“Not really.”
“Do you want me to tell him to leave?”
“No. But thank you for offering.”
“I can lock in him there if you want him securely stored, but honestly it won’t do much good if he decides he wants to leave the room.”
Adam could bend hull plating. A mere door wouldn’t be able to hold him. It was a moot point, because it was a horrible idea. More of a joke than anything.
John reached out and wrapped a strong arm around my waist.
“You know I wouldn’t leave you alone with him if I thought it put you in danger. And I’ll be right next door. Do you want a weapon?”
The idea of me with one of his big blasters was preposterous. “No. But thank you.”
“Alex, if he is our boy we have to take care of him. We need to figure this out, and he needs our help.” His voice was gentle and made me feel guilty.
I had been sure Adam was who he claimed to be earlier in the evening, so why did I doubt him now? Was it just an excuse to step off this emotional roller coaster?
“I know. I’m on my way.”
“Wait. Gimme a hug.”
Being held made me feel better.
John murmured, “You can do this. I believe in you.”
*****
When I returned to the room Adam hadn’t moved, and I crawled up next to him. We lay side by side, staring at the ceiling.
I should say something, but I had nothing. Nothing even remotely intelligent came to mind. His return, all these events, and the whirlwind of emotions were too complicated for my poor brain. I didn’t even know what I was supposed to feel. Relief? Joy? Fear?
After hesitating for a few long minutes I inched my hand closer to his until I could touch it. I reached out a finger and brushed it over his thumb. Adam grabbed my hand, holding it tight.
“Would you come here?” His voice was so quiet I barely heard him, but it was enough. I rolled over on the side and rested my head on his shoulder.
This is what home feels like.
“Can I hold you?”
I wanted to say no, because I didn’t want to let go of his hand, but being held appealed even more.
“Sure.”
Strange. His arms around me felt like they always did, as if nothing happened and no time passed.
“This feels so good. I'm happy you're here.”
“Good. I worried you might have let me in for the wrong reasons.”
“Like what?”
I felt him shrug. “Nostalgia maybe, or pity.”
If his story was true, he had been radiation damaged, immobilized, and locked in his own mind. How traumatic must that be? I thought he had been gone forever and I counted time in days, weeks, and months. He counted fractions of seconds. From his point of view, he had probably been alone for a lifetime.
His programming could not be equipped to handle something like this. Was that why he still acted so oddly and didn’t reason like Adam would?
How could I ask and make sense? Formulating a sentence that contained all my thoughts and fears was too complicated. “Are you okay?”
“I will be.”
That sounded like a no.
“Do you still need...”
Need what? Parts? Repairs? Such cold words for a living, conscious person.
“I need fresh memory circuits, but I’m making do. She didn’t have any.”
She?
I leaned on my elbow and caught his gaze.
“Who didn’t have any?”
“Debana.”
What?
“Debana teleported you out of the ship and hid you in a cleaning closet?”
“Yes. Why? You sound jealous.”
Was I jealous? If I were, I had undeniable proof this was my husband and not an imposter.
“Should I be? Why didn’t she tell me?”
“From what I hear, you refused to see anyone. John threw everyone out and neither of you responded to messages.”
Did he know how much time John and I spent together? Probably. He must have followed us for a while.
Not relevant. I needed to stay on topic.
“Why didn’t she tell someone else? And how did she know you were there?”
“Alex, I don’t know. I need to purge my databases and you need to sleep. Can we talk about this later?” He sounded weary.
I leaned my head down on his shoulder again, frowning. Too much new information, and too much to think about.
“Adam… I’m sorry I didn’t believe you at once.”
“It’s okay.”
“I’m happy you’re back.”
His breathing was just an imitation of the human need for air, but the steady movement still soothed me.
Debana was awesome, and a good friend. Right? She helped me destroy the remains of Eve after the malfunctioning android took over the ship, set Adam on fire, and attempted to kill me.
If the story was true, Debana had saved Adam from certain death. Keeping him hidden was an excellent example of bad judgment, but she might have her reasons. Maybe the danger wasn’t over and she knew something about it?
She had stowed him away well enough to allow for safe repairs, and it was hard to see any malicious intent.
Adam might know something he wasn’t supposed to. He might have seen something that put him in danger. She might not have known whom else to trust.
“Alex, go to sleep.”
How did he know I was fretting?
I stretched up to kiss his cheek, making him smile and hold me tighter.
Chapter Nine
When I woke up the next morning, Adam didn’t move. He didn't even stir as I slipped out of his arms and left the bed.
Odd.
Maybe he was still purging his databases, whatever that meant. We had been together for many years, but I only had a dim understanding of how he worked. It had never seemed like a problem; I didn’t know how a human worked either.
I went about my morning, took a shower, and found fresh clothes. Adam still didn’t wake up.
“Adam.”
I ran a hand over his shoulder.
Nothing.
I shook him.
Still nothing.
Swallowing hard did little to keep brewing panic in check.
He had told me he wasn’t fully functional. He told me he needed to sleep, or power down, or whatever his data cleaning stage should be called. Maybe it hadn’t been enough.
Had I re-found him just to lose him after one night?
I would have to ask John for help.
Fantastic. This might not exactly be my fault, but I felt like I broke him. I was supposed to take care of him, it was the one thing John ever asked me to do, and I broke him.
I rested my hand on his shoulder and said, “I’ll be right back” just in case he could hear me.
John’s door slid open when I came close to it. I hadn’t even considered what time it might be and that he might still be sleeping, but he sat in a chair with his feet up, reading a book.
He had probably stayed up like that all night, making sure to be awake in case I needed help. So many did so much for me and I had so little to give back.
“What’s wrong?”
“I think he’s dead.”
“Again?” He came over to me, put a hand on my back, and pushed towards my room. Once there, he looked at Adam and frowned. “What did you do to him? He was fine yesterday.”
“I didn’t do anything. He said he was going to purge his databases and that he needed new memory circuits because they were radiation damaged.”
When John didn’t answer, I added, “Can you fix him?”
“I don’t have circuits for him stored in the pantry, Hon.”
I gave him a blank look. Adam was his son. At some point in time, he built androids. Was it that farfetched to think he might have spare parts?
“You’ve fixed him before.”
He looked at me and sighed. “Yes. On the Bell, with Jia’Lyn. You know I like to tinker. Cheryl and I, it was a team effort.”
“Oh.”
“Don’t look so disheartened. We’ll take him back to the Bell. Jia’Lyn and I will get him going again.”
“I hope so.”
Way to go, sounding mousy.
Going back to the Bell meant meeting Anya. It would be more awkward for him than for me, but still awkward. She would know everything that happened and everything that almost happened. She’d know before we were even on the ship.
John shook me out of my thoughts. “You said radiation damage. That might have ruined his power cells.”
Power was good. Necessary.
“Can we check that?”
“Not in here.”
At least Adam looked peaceful.
Maybe he used up his last ounces of energy in getting to us.
John put a hand on my shoulder. “Go to sickbay and get a gurney. We might as well run some tests.”
When I stepped into the corridor I couldn’t remember where sickbay was. Then, my feet took over and led me in the right direction.
I met John when I headed back; he must have tired of waiting for me. He carried Adam hauled over his shoulder.
I knew he was strong, but I didn’t know he was that strong.
John dropped Adam on the gurney and chatted as we walked. It was his way to keep me calm and distracted, and I was grateful.
“Did you learn anything more from him?”
“He mentioned Debana. I think she teleported him out, but I don’t know how. Or why. Then she hid him in a cleaning closet, and I think he was there for a long time. Months.”
“Debana? Orange hair and color-changing eyes? She brews some foul booze.”
That’s not what I expected him to say.
John opened a hatch in Adam’s head to attach a data transfer cable, but paused before plugging it in. “Oh,”
I had done my best not to look. Seeing cables stick out of my husband’s head made me queasy at the best of times. Now I went over to take a little peek, more because I felt obliged to than because I wanted to see.
“I don’t remember it looking like that.”
The circuits were charred, as if he’d had a blaze in his head. Some appeared to have melted.
He said he had reached the limit of self-repairs and needed replacement circuits. It must have been the understatement of the century.
“That’s because it has never looked like this.”
John grimaced and attached the cord. Then, he pulled Adam’s shirt up, opened a hatch on his hip I didn’t know existed, and attached a multimeter.
“Only one power cell still works and it’s down to three percent. I can replace these, but we’re not equipped to handle the other damage. It will require a lot of work and a lot of parts.”
“I wonder why Debana didn’t do something about it.”
“She’s a great chemist. I doubt she knows much about cybernetics.”
Fair enough.
Staring at Adam’s open head made the components blur together.
John’s hands squeezed my shoulders. “You’re pale. Sit down.”
“It makes sense.”
“I know, or I wouldn’t tell you to do it. Sit.”
Stop messing with me.
“No… I mean, when we met, Adam made me a part of his base programming.”
John pushed me down on the chair. “His prime directive would have been to reach you. That explains why he didn’t bother with anyone on the Bell.”
When everything else fell apart, getting to me would have been the only thing important to him. He would have searched for me until he succeeded or died trying. I decided to believe him just in time.
John grabbed a handful of fresh power cells and pressed them into slots in Adam’s side.
“They look so small. Are you sure they’re sufficient?”
“For him, normal use, these could last a thousand years. They’re made to be backup power for starships.”
Please, please, please let him wake up and be okay.
It would be too horrible if he made it this far and died on the finish line.
Adam’s eyes popped open seconds after attaching the new power source. He blinked and looked around. “My processes were unexpectedly terminated due to a malfunction in my power grid.”
John stifled laughter into a cough. “We know, son. I’ll be right back. Don’t touch that cord. Both of you.”
As soon as the door closed behind John, Adam said, “I’m sorry if I scared you. I thought I would have time to recharge. I miscalculated.”
Miscalculated.
He had never miscalculated anything in his life.
On the other hand, his head had never been a charred mess before either. Was this equivalent to a human with brain damage?
“Scared me? I thought you died. Again.”
He didn’t answer.
“Is that why you missed the dinner too?”
“Yes. My remaining power cell glitched. You were gone when I woke up.”
It was a miracle he woke up at all. He could have died right there and I would never have known.
He must have had opportunities to replace the cells along the way, but as long as he thought he could keep going it wouldn’t have been a priority.
John returned with an apologetic look on his face. “I thought I had some parts, but we must have used them for something.”
His ship had been through a lot just during the few years I’d known him.
Adam looked at his fingers and waited in silence as John unplugged him from the computer. He fulfilled his mission and reached me, and now he probably didn’t know what he was supposed to do.
“I am currently operating on twenty-eight percent of optimal capability.”
Better than zero percent, but definitely not good.
John sighed. “I’m starving. Let’s go have breakfast.”
“I like making breakfast. Can I make breakfast for you?”
I hadn’t expected him to have an opinion on food, particularly not one that was adorable. I reached out my hand to him.
“I think we would both like that very much. Let’s do it together.”
*****
Breakfast was always one of my favorite times a day.
Breakfast with John was great, because he was funny and had a huge appetite for both food and life. Breakfast with Adam was also great, but in another way. He was introspective and could spend extended periods of time examining food, dismantling a croissant and
tasting some of the flakes.
Breakfast with both of them was a rare treat even when life was easy. At a time like this it was fantastic.
John had brought fresh fruit, coffee, and milk from the station. It tasted wonderful and my family was back together. Only Anya was missing. Hopefully, she’d forgive us.
That was too much and too complicated to linger on. Life right here was complicated enough, thank you very much. Returning to our friends and old way of life might not even be possible.
Adam’s voice returned me to the present. “You two have been traveling alone for a long time.”
“That we have.” John sounded calm as ever.
“Mind telling me why?”
My all too handsome father in law shrugged. “We’re family. Should I bring your shuttle aboard?”
Were we still docked with the station?
Adam said, “You can. I disabled the tracking chips.”
“Someone might still spot it, but I’ll stow it away well.”
John left and I looked down on my plate. Adam watched his fingers again.
I said, “If you ever die again I will kill you.”
He glanced up with a smile. “Sounds fair.”
Chapter Ten
Adam definitely wasn’t himself.
By now neither John nor I doubted it was him, but he had unnerving gaps in his memory and struggled with concepts that normally wouldn’t pose a problem. One minute he seemed perfectly normal and the next he reminded me of a lost puppy.
Any sign of affection made him look both happy and relieved, and I made sure to be extra gentle.
John said, “He follows you because you’re a part of his base programming.”
I had never bothered finding out what that really meant. What a model wife.
John sipped his beer and smirked at my blank stare. “It means he put information about you in his hardcoded routines. He knows how long his legs are and how to walk. He knows English and how to talk. He knows how hard he can hold something without breaking it. All the basic instructions that make him work.”
I still didn’t get it.
My father in law’s voice was almost as patient as Adam’s used to be when I didn’t understand something that was self-evident to him.
“See it like this. You breathe without thinking about it. You can move without having to think about how you do it. You think without thinking about how you do it. It’s the same for him. He stored his information about you in the same way, amongst all the other basic stuff he needs to function. That means you’re the last thing he’ll forget, and the first he’ll remember.”
Deadly Betrayal Page 6
