She nodded and watched him leave the kitchen. She was still amazed at his words. Every system engineer’s dream was to work with nanocybots, but so far, they had been told it was impossible. And from what she heard from him, the government had been working with that kind of technology for decades now.
It was infuriating, to say the least.
But it was not the moment to think about that. They needed food, and she better start preparing some.
She took some of the cans and quickly prepared a simple meal for them. By the time Bret came out of the bathroom, she was done. He was still wearing the same rags he had on when she met him and she frowned at it.
“Couldn’t you find anything to put on?” she asked, scowling.
“No. It seems no man lived in this house. The only clothes I found were for women, and even if I wanted, I wouldn’t be able to fit in those,” he replied, ironic.
“What about a robe or something? You could put that on while I wash that for you. It’s covered in blood stains and all sorts of grime.”
He looked at the jumpsuit he was wearing and shrugged. “It’s most probably Taucets’ blood.”
She grunted her displeasure. “Please, let me wash it. Put on a towel if you can’t find anything else,” she suggested.
He nodded and disappeared into the bathroom again, returning with
a very small towel wrapped around his waist.
She gulped and felt the heat coloring her cheeks. Perhaps, this had been a bad idea. How the hell was she supposed to concentrate on anything else other than his body?
Not even the blueish color of his skin made him less attractive. He was simply perfect, and she could feel her hormones responding to him like they had never responded to anyone else.
Clearing her throat, she stretched her hand to grab the dirty clothes and put them in hot water while they ate the meal she had prepared.
“So, why is your skin blueish?” she asked, curiously.
“I don’t know. I guess with all the changes to our DNA something got caught in the way that messed up our melanin. Or they did it on purpose to makes us more different from humans, that’s another possibility,” he replied, as he devoured the food she put in front of him.
“Yes, I guess it’s possible,” she agreed.
“Why would you want to see the nanocybots under a microscope?” he asked after a few moments of silence.
“I’m a systems engineer. Working with nanocybots is a dream for any of us. But we were told no one had been able to create one,” she explained.
“You were lied to.”
“Yes, I know that, now, I wonder why they have kept it a secret. Can you imagine the advances in medicine this would mean?” she asked, looking enthralled.
He shook his head. “They haven’t been able to control nanocybots. They have artificial intelligence and the potential to upgrade themselves, so it’s impossible to predict how they will act in unknown circumstances,” he explained. “Their primary programming is to keep their host safe and sound, no matter what. And, as humans quickly learned, that doesn’t always mean what you would want it to mean. Nanocybots consider the egg a strange element and simply destroy it, and that’s why cyborgs can’t be naturally conceived.”
“Human females wouldn’t have nanocybots,” she suggested.
“You forget they are in all our fluids, so they are in our semen too. They have tried to alter the nanocybots programming to make them accept it, but so far there has been no luck,” he replied, with a dry tone. “Besides, nanocybots would transform all humans into super humans and that would be very hard to control crowds.”
She nodded. “Yes, I guess you’re right,” she stayed in silence for a few moments as she cleared the table and started to wash his jumpsuit. “Don’t you transmit it to humans when… you know…?” she asked, too curious to hold it back.
He chuckled. “We do, but they die immediately, once out of their original host.”
“Ahhh, what a shame, that would be interesting,” she said, grinning.
He shook his head amused. “We’ll spend the night here, but I believe it would be better to leave before the sun comes up. We’ll take all the food we can carry.”
“Is there more food?” she asked, surprised.
“Not here, but there are several empty houses in this town. While you sleep, I’ll go check them and gather all we can take,” he informed her.
“Don’t you think that’s too dangerous? What if someone sees you and calls the police?” she asked, unsure of his plan. “Besides, your clothes are still wet,” she added, showing him the jumpsuit she had just finished washing.
“I’ll see them before they see me, believe me. We need the food, especially you, and this is the best way to get it,” he retorted. “The clothes will dry on my body faster than anywhere else,” he assured her, taking them off her hands.
“Don’t you need to get some rest too?” she asked, puzzled.
“Not really. My nanocybots work on my body all the time, and with just a few minutes of sleep a week, I’m good.” He shrugged before he continued. “You, on the other hand, need sleep and rest, so take the opportunity now, because we don’t know when it will be the next time we’ll have a roof over our heads.”
She wasn’t pleased with his resolution, but it made sense, so she nodded and went looking for a bed or something similar she could sleep on.
There was a bed, and after checking it for unwelcomed bugs, she lay down and closed her eyes.
Images of the last hours scrolled through her mind and she chuckled, with disbelief. Was this really happening to her? Old boring Ophelia whose life had nothing extraordinary to tell was now involved in the adventure of a lifetime. An experience that might get her in jail for life, but she didn’t care.
She had never felt so alive before, and most of that feeling had to do with Bret. She didn’t quite understand what it was, but she wanted to find out.
She finally fell asleep, only waking up when he called her name, in a gentle whisper.
“You’re back. Did you get what you were looking for?” she asked, as she rubbed her face and jumped out of bed.
“Yes, I did. I even found some clothes for me. This way I won’t look so out of place.”
She thought that was impossible. He would stick out no matter where he was, or whatever he was wearing.
“Well, at least they are dry,” she said, with a smile. “Are you ready to leave?”
“Yes, the sun will come up in half an hour. That gives us enough time to leave the town behind.”
“Perfect. I’ll just use the bathroom, and we can leave.”
Like he said, they were long gone from the small town when the sun came up in the sky, but they didn’t stop. They wanted to get as far as possible before the night arrived.
“How long do you think it will take us to get to mom’s place?” she asked, at some point.
“It’s hard to predict. We might have to make several detours, depending on the militaries we find deployed on our way,” he replied, in a stern tone.
“Imagine we find none. How long, then?”
“Walking? At least, three weeks. We’re very far from it,” he explained. “Unfortunately, I was unable to find any vehicle in the abandoned houses, but I’ll check each town on our way. We might get lucky.”
“Yes, that would be great.” She couldn’t imagine walking for three weeks. It was insane. She would die long before she got there.
He grabbed her hand and motioned her to continue. Unconsciously, she had slowed her step.
“You can do it, I’m sure of it,” he encouraged her.
She gave him a look of disbelief, snorting.
The following couple of days went by with no incident. They walked during the day making some stops to grab a bite and rest a little, and they spent the nights in a cave or under a few branches he would cut off from the trees.
One morning, he stopped all unexpectedly and scanned the area.
“What is it?” she asked, looking around a bit scared.
“I’m sensing something strange. Like if there were people around us, though I can’t see them with the naked eye, nor with the infrared vision.”
Startled, she looked around once more. “Could they be cyborgs like you? Able to disguise their presence?”
“No, if they were cyborgs I would be able to talk to them. We have our own private communication channel, thanks to Jarcor, the first cyborg to escape. These people are humans.” There was worry in his tone.
“How close are they?”
“Closer than I would like them to be. I had been suspecting their presence, but only now was I able to confirm it. I was able to smell them.”
“Smell?”
“Each person has their own unique scent and it’s impossible to hide it or even disguise it, no matter how much perfume you put on,” he explained.
“Do you think they will attack us?” she asked, stepping closer to him.
“I have no idea, but we shouldn’t stay here to find out.” He grabbed her by her arm and dragged her a few yards away.