Panterra: The Machinist

3: Grandmother

Arlington retreats to the far side of the village to stand in the shade of the live oak near our sleeping hut. I have a hard time sympathizing with him. I have no doubt that my personality is skewed to the masculine, but this is the first human in our life in a long time. I want to study her. Already I can see the changes from the Barcy we knew on ship. She's more confident and seems much older than the time would justify.

I doubt Arlington feels this way, but I'm like Owen. Of all the women on the Selkirk, if there was one I'd want to be stuck with for the rest of my life, it would be Barcelona Cortes. Perhaps it was me who planted that thought in Owen's head. I would do anything to be with her. I would surrender everything, including Arlington.

From her perspective, her implant is totally broken. She can't communicate with it and it can't share any data with her. For generations humans have been dependent on electronic devices for assistance in getting through daily life, from medical monitors to communication devices and reference material for specialized functions.

I wonder what separation from one's SI does to a human's psyche. Is she more aware of her surroundings and more cautious? Without the constant hive-like connectivity to all other humans through the SI-net, how does she deal with the solitude? Always a good conversationalist, person to person, which is a rare skill in our impersonal net-linked world, is she more open now or more reserved?

I need to fix her SI. Arlington has his family. I only have him. Can an artificial intelligence get lonely? I never thought so. But then Barcelona is back in my life, making me realize how much I have missed being around humans.

My life—that's an interesting concept.

The village returns slowly to the festival preparations, and Dallas takes all of the kits and Serena into the school for their afternoon catnap. We watch from a distance as Christi, Barcy, and Nili talk with a group of Teegan females. Everyone is excited to meet another human, particularly of the other gender.

> What are they talking about? Arlington asks me.

He watches carefully so I can focus on their mouths and filter through the village noise to extract the sound of their voices. It's not easy. If Barcy's SI were working, I could listen through her ears.

>> Birth, pregnancy, sex, children, fashion, jewelry, and you, in that order of importance.

> What does Barcy say?

>> She explains that she's a medical doctor and has assisted in the delivery of many litters over the past few years, particularly among the poor rural Oogans in the hills and valleys near the Imperial City. 'Yes,' she says, 'humans typically only have one child at a time.' The Teegans find that disturbing.

> Why?

>> No room for error, they say, only one gender at a time, a tendency to be overprotective and to spoil the child. Barcy responds that human children are intensely curious and can get into a great deal of trouble. She's glad to only have one to look after.

"Arlington," Owen says from the shadow of the tree, "I've been waiting for a chance to speak with you, in private."

No one else is around, so we move closer to the massive trunk and talk over a low branch that sweeps the ground and extends out over the bay.

"When I left here, I went back to your capsule, as you requested, and traveled west," he says.

"Did you find anything?"

"Yes, another capsule, but I'm afraid the occupant was dead." He sets a cloth-wrapped object on the branch. "He had set up a camp, like you had when I found you, and appeared to have died in his sleep. I cut these from his uniform and pried the metal object you wanted from his skull."