Hardwired

[Fairchild]

Chapter 09: Tongue

drop...drop..........drop.drop....drop...................drop..drop.drop...............drop

She laid with her eyes closed in the corner of the Professor's lab, on a small mattress. She generated a meditation program of randomly dropping drops of water. She concentrated on trying to guess when the next drop would fall. She failed almost every time.

She hadn't been sure what the purpose of this program was, aside from killing time. Perhaps a focus trial. She instinctively knew it was useful, somehow.

"It's strange, you know," she spoke to the Professor suddenly and opened her eyes. "I don't remember how we used to be before this. It almost feels like forever since we ran from Atka."

Nagrebetskiy's simulacra moved around his lab like puppets. They were clearly doing something, but she just couldn't grasp precisely what. Before the shipment from Ageira, his presence was only felt in a small point in the back of her head. Now, it was everywhere, omnipresent in the ship. She wondered how it felt.

"I do. It was much more limiting," she looked over at the android Nikita used, as he said -- temporarily, as his body. She knew his consciousness was everywhere else, in all the small devices of his lab, in the cameras and grabber arms, but it was at least a point of focus.

"It feels like this when I talk to others. People without Vergil," she pondered. "Constellation does a great job of formulating my thoughts for me. But it feels like others don't understand."

"You should probably use your tongue a bit as well. How long was it since you spoke to someone? I mean, physically." The arms stopped moving for a while.

"Days, weeks, months... I've lost count," she turned over. "How long has it been since you even communicated with someone other than me?"

She could sense what would be a chuckle if they talked verbally. "It's a flaw of wise men that they rarely want to talk to people less intelligent than themselves, so they stay quiet."

"Last thing we need is a mad scientist on this ship," she sighed.