Deicide

Chapter Eight

After spending years under an artificial sky, or no sky at all, Sarah had forgotten what it was like to be outside without a suit. A soft gust of unfiltered, undirected, fresh air brushed across her bare face and through her hair, eliciting a smile from her lips. She took a deep breath. The smell of pollen, animals, dirt, and moisture mixed to create a pleasant scent. She could even still smell the ashes of the long-burnt remains of her old childhood home. As she sat on a bench, one of the few remaining objects that wasn't burnt to the ground, she looked around at the ruins behind her. She had expected the building to have been re-built, so she felt restrained delight to find it in its current state.

Sitting there, she was starting to realize that there were things that she missed about the place, like the colors in the sky as Sol sets under the clouds and beyond the horizon. The bright red mixed with deep purple clouds with pink lining, gradually turning into a dark blue across the sky. She had seen several different worlds with her own eyes, and many more through digital representations, but nothing seemed to compare to the sunsets on Earth.

"You seem pretty relaxed." Hugo said, taking a seat on the bench next to Sarah.

"Yeah, I suppose I am. For the moment, at least." Sarah took another deep breath as another gentle breeze drifted past her.

"It's not quite what I expected given your description of this place."

"I hated this place so much, but after being gone for 10 years, I've come to realize that it wasn't the place that I had a problem with."

"Discomfort by association?"

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Though, the heat during late summer really sucked too. Although..." Sarah put a finger to her chin, focusing on the few rosy memories. "There's nothing quite like swimming in a lake or having an ice cream on a hot day."

"I seem to remember you enjoying iced cream during the heatsink ejection failure on Hecatoncheires a few years ago."

"Yeah, I do remember that. That was different though, I guess by being in an enclosed space, or maybe the humidity or airflow or something, I dunno."

"It's interesting that your environment could have such an impact on the enjoyment of your meals. It sounds nice."

"It is, but I guess food is a bit of a mystery to you in the first place."

"So is joy, if I'm being honest."

"Nonsense! You're always as happy as a jellyfish since the industrial revolution!"

"That's a fair comparison considering Jellyfish are also incapable of feeling emotion."

"Alright, Hugo?" Sarah said, rolling her eyes. "You have instructions that inform what emotions to display and when based on external input. It's not so different to how it works for humans. However, you have the benefit of not having your emotions influence your decision making."

"There are plenty of cases where I can see that being a benefit. Fear, for example, is there to save your life."

"My life, yes, but how useful is fear to a being that can't exactly die?" Sarah paused for a moment. Hugo didn't have an answer. Sarah wanted to try something. In her interface, she scrolled through menus to her companion settings "You may not necessarily be considered alive to begin with, but what if I let my cursor hover over the delete button here?" In reality, the cursor came close, but she was too afraid to let it even touch the button.

"No. Please, don't." Hugo said in a decidedly monotonous and uninterested tone.

Sarah giggled at his joking demeanor, but while the question didn't seem to phase Hugo, Sarah was now thinking about it. He was usually happy, but Sarah had seen a range of emotions portrayed by him, though she wasn't quite sure if fear was something he could display. Maybe it was part of what she liked about him, but something about lacking a sense of self preservation seemed off to her.