That night, in the main room, Sandra presided over the dinner, a bit more excited than usual. When she spotted Bretdon and Ophelia entering the room, she called to them.
“Bretdon, Ophelia, I want you to meet Sabrina. She’s like a daughter to me,” she introduced them to a beautiful redhead, standing right next to her. “I’ve known her since she was a little girl and when her parents died, we became even closer. Sabrina, they are Bretdon and Ophelia, the couple I was telling you about.”
“It’s a pleasure finally meeting you. Sandra has been talking about you ever since I arrived this afternoon,” the woman said, with a warm smile.
Unlike most people, she didn’t show any curiosity about Bretdon, and that puzzled him.
“It must have bored you to death,” he replied, with a half-smile.
“Not at all. It makes me happy to know cyborgs are finally escaping their enslavement,” she said, with a tense smile.
“Yes, it’s great, and we owe it all to Jarcor, the first cyborg that managed to escape,” he explained.
The blunt expression on the woman’s eyes flickered for a split second, and if Bretdon hadn't been attentive, he would have missed it.
She knew Jarcor, and that was the reason she wasn’t curious about cyborgs. She already knew a lot about them.
“Oh, he must have been quite a man,” she said, with a cold tone.
“He is, indeed,” he assured her, emphasizing the present tense of the verb.
“He’s alive?” this time, the bitterness in her tone was quite evident and even Sandra looked at her with an intrigued expression.
“Yes, he is. He’s what we could call our leader, though he’s not very fond of titles, according to what I’ve heard.”
“I see, well, it was a pleasure knowing you, but I had a very long day, so if you’ll excuse me, I believe I’ll say goodnight to you all,” Sabrina said, and before anyone could say anything, she was walking out of the room.
“Was it something I said?” Bretdon asked, with a hard frown.
Sandra looked at him, after watching Sabrina leave the room, clearly as surprised as he was. “No, I don't think so. She's probably tired like she said. She lives in one of our settlements very far from here,” she explained, though she didn’t sound very convinced.
“Any idea where she might have met Jarcor?” he asked Sandra, too curious not to ask.
Sandra looked at him as if he had lost his mind. “She doesn’t know him,” she assured him.
But Bretdon knew better. Nonetheless, he didn’t insist and dropped the subject. “What’s for dinner? I must say, tonight I’m starving.”
Sandra gave him a faint smile and invited them to the table. Soon, they were enjoying their meal.
“What was all that about?” Ophelia asked him, in a low tone.
“I’ll explain it later,” he promised.
She nodded though he could tell she was curious. Kirkcal, on the other side of the table, had the same curiosity written all over his face.
“What happened?” he asked, using their private communication channel.
“The woman knows Jarcor,” Bretdon explained.
“How can you be so sure?”
“It was obvious she had seen cyborgs before, and when I mentioned Jarcor, something in her changed. What I don’t understand is why she assumed he was dead?”
“Perhaps she knew him before he was turned into a cyborg,” Kirkcal ventured to say.
“No. I don’t think so, she would have been too young then,” he dismissed his friend’s suggestion.
“Anyway, I doubt you’ll get answers from her.”
“Yes, I was able to feel her distress as well.”
When dinner was over, they headed back to their room, with Kirkcal following them.
“What happened back there?” Ophelia asked in a low tone when they reached their room.
Both men explained their theory to her, and she agreed with them. “Yes, I noticed that too. And she didn’t seem very happy with the presence of you two here.”
“I know. I just hope she won’t turn Sandra against us. It’s obvious that whatever happened between Jarcor and her didn’t end well,” Bretdon said, with a scowl.
“I didn’t feel her as a resentful person, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see,” Ophelia said, a bit worried.
The following morning, right after breakfast, Ophelia bumped in with Sabrina. She was on her way to the engineers’ offices when she saw the woman coming out of one of the caves with a girl of about six years old. It was the first child Ophelia had seen around the place.
“Oh, you’re Ophelia, right?” she asked, sounding tense.
“Yes, how are you? I hope you’re feeling better this morning,” she greeted her.
“Yes, thank you. Sandra told me you came here with one of the cyborgs,” she commented, in a stern tone.
“Yes, that’s right. I bumped into him on the road, and we’ve been together ever since,” she explained, with a smile.
“Mom, I’m hungry can we go to the main room now?” the little girl asked, turning both women’s attention to her.
“Yes, sweetie, right away,” she answered.
“I didn’t know there were children here. It’s the first time I see one,” Ophelia said, smiling, unwilling to let them go so quickly.
The little girl was like a small copy of her mother, except for the eyes. The girl’s eyes were of a deep blue instead of her mother’s emerald green. She was also very pale, almost translucent and she didn’t remember ever having seen someone like her.
“There aren’t any children here. These caves aren’t the best place to raise a child, so mostly, people living here are couples with no children and those we’ve recently rescued,” Sabrina explained.
At her side, the little girl looked at Ophelia smiling, with a naughty grin on her heart-shaped face. It was like seeing an exquisite Victorian china doll, precious and delicate.
“I guess that makes sense. So, this little princess is your daughter?” she asked again, though she could tell the woman wanted to escape her questions.
“Yes, she is. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have to take her to the main room.”
“Of course. It was nice seeing you again,” she said, with a smile.
The other woman nodded and almost ran out of there, dragging her daughter. It was as if she didn’t want her asking any more questions about the child.
Sighing, she headed to the offices and soon she was submerged in the aliens’ technology.
That night, when she met Bretdon, she remembered the encounter. “Have you noticed there are no children here?” she asked, while she was getting dressed for dinner.
“Now that you mention it, I don’t think I’ve seen any.”
“There aren’t any. They don’t think these caves are a good place to raise kids, and I guess they are right,” she told him. “But like you, I hadn't realized there weren’t kids here until I saw one. It was Sabrina’s daughter.”
“She has a daughter?” he seemed surprised.
“Yes, she does. The little girl looks as if she’s six years old, but unlike most proud moms, Sabrina didn’t seem to want to brag about her child. She didn’t even introduce the girl to me,” she explained, furrowing her eyebrows.
“Perhaps the girl is too shy.”
“No, I don’t think so. She was smiling at me, anyway, she’s a precious little girl.”
“If she’s anything like her mother, I’m sure she is,” Bretdon agreed.
For a moment, Ophelia felt the sting of jealousy, but she quickly realized Bretdon’s tone was almost clinical as if he was commenting the beauty of a flower. There was no passion in it.
“Yes, she’s a small version of Sabrina, with the most amazing blue eyes I’ve ever seen,” she replied, smiling.
“She must be lovely.”
But Sabrina wasn’t anywhere around. Too curious, Ophelia asked Sandra her whereabouts.
“She already went home. She never stays long when she comes here,” the woman explained, with a sad tone. “She can’t stand being here more than a couple of days. She only came because my birthday was two days ago and she wanted to surprise me.”
“Oh, happy birthday, Sandra,” Ophelia greeted the older woman. “You must have been thrilled to have her and her child here to celebrate it with you.”
“Yes, I was. Luciana is a blessing, and I’m always happy to see her and Sabrina. I usually visit them, since this is no place for a child.”
“Of course. It’s a pity she left so soon, I was looking forward to talking to her a bit more,” Ophelia said, with a sad smile.
“Yes. I was hoping she would stay a bit longer this time, but she doesn’t like to be away from her group for long periods.”
“Where does she live?”
“She’s living in Montana, on a huge farm, up in the mountains. It’s not as secluded as this one, but they’ve found the way to hide it in plain sight, and so far it has worked,” the woman replied, smiling.
“I’m happy to hear that,” Ophelia said, smiling back.
Back in their room, Ophelia relayed the conversation to Bretdon.
“I have to admit it’s odd behavior. Perhaps she didn’t feel comfortable around cyborgs. I’m sure she met some of us before,” he said when she finished.
“I guess it’s possible. Anyway, it’s a shame she didn’t stay longer. She seemed a nice girl.”
Bretdon cupped her face and pulled her closer, claiming a passionate kiss on her lips. “I wouldn’t know. I only have eyes for you,” he murmured, against her lips, when he finally allowed her to breathe.
“You’re such a flatterer,” she teased him, with an appreciative smile.
“I’m just speaking the truth,” he assured her, pulling her down onto the bed.
In a split second, they were entangled in each other’s arms, letting their passion reignite the fire inside them.
The following days saw them fall into a comfortable routine. They worked along with the rest of the community on their projects and spent the nights in each other’s arms, relishing their undying desire.