Elements of Earth: The Element Trials

Chapter 6b, 2020, Estrellita: Independent operation conclusion

Meanwhile still in Estrellita's body, I, the trusted emissary, am enjoying a pleasant lunch with Vivian. Estrellita hadn't come to check on me yet, so she must be busy with... whatever she was busy with. But why should I bother caring about that? The ribs are perfection and grilled vegetables are the best way to eat vegetables. Maybe Vivian recognized my mood because, rather than sitting there, watching me eat, or disappearing to somewhere in the mountain, she was eating too. Her food, a holographic duplicate of mine, but she looks like she is enjoying it as much as I am.

"We don't do this often enough." Vivian's smile held old memories. "You're usually off in your room or hidden away in your library. Considering how often you don't come to the kitchen, I'm surprised you aren't half starved." It took a moment to stop stuffing my face with the delicious food for me to nod in reply. I couldn't help it, I have tasted nothing so good. I set down my fork, realizing that before this moment I have tasted nothing. "Or maybe you are half starved from the way you're eating." Vivian chuckled. "I don't think we've eaten together like this since... Well, it's been a long time. Here." One of the kitchen's robotic arms brought over a glass of ice tea. "Wash it down. I'd like to talk with you about something."

As always, when I have something important to contemplate, I sit in my big green chair. The Intel trade was new. It happened over fifty years ago, but I feel like I should have known. The cold sleep the other night only revealed a flicker, but I distinctly remember a canyon before a piece of me went missing. But other parts, like the molecule trials, that was new.

The goal of the final trial, the Intel Kira already had on hydrogen. What the winner of the final trial would get was interesting, but unimportant when the primary judge is after Silicon's ten. I'm certain he has plans to stack the deck against them.

Honestly, this is too much to think about all at once. I could put together a three-dimensional string diagram, the types CSIs in movies used to solve a crime scene and I might still not be able to think it all the way through. Maybe I need to get some real rest. It wouldn't make a difference, anyway. Even if I was at a hundred percent, anything I figured out wouldn't affect the outcome. "One hundred percent..." I mulled over the phrase until I remembered why I wasn't operating at my full capacity. Of course, five percent was still missing. But forty percent... Is still in my body!

What has she been doing? Even with the difference in the flow of time, she should have been back and reported in by now. Has my doppelgänger gone rogue? I pull at the mental connection between us, only to feel her pulling back. "If you want a tug of war, it is on!"

I take a deep pull off the ice tea and choke. I feel something yank on the control I have over this body. Someone. I take the napkin from the table and cough into it. I pull back on the connection. At least wait until I'm back in our room! Still coughing, I tell Vivian, "Thank you for the food." As I sprint towards the room's open door.

"Get... over... here!" I yank on the connection and pull my copy straight into the library. She crashed onto the floor from thin air, cracking the black and white ceramic tiles.

"What are you doing?" She screamed at me.

"What am I doing? What are you doing?! You went rogue and when I called you back you didn't return! Why didn't you come back after your task was complete?" My shout caused the fireplace to roar.

She rose from the floor, looking pained but not from her fall. "You didn't call me! You yanked on my leash like a dog! I'm sorry I wasn't on time for my execution!" Her scream dropped books from their shelves.

"Don't be so dramatic."

"I'm not being dramatic! You're being tragically cruel! Aren't I owed a last meal? Which was also my first by the way! You didn't even give me memories of food or love! Only what I needed to know to accomplish my task." She was crying now. I'm taken aback. Not only that I could have been so cruel, but how much sense of self she possessed. "I get that you're always hiding in your library, but you should know that there's a life out there too! Vivian loves you! I haven't existed more than a few hours and even I know that! And when I got a taste of that love I didn't want to return to get callously deleted. So I delayed. I made excuses. I knew you'd eventually call me back. But I hoped... I hoped you'd get stuck in Kira's world. You want to be her so much that I wished it would happen. Then I could live in the world you regret. But your back. And as much as I want to fight you for it, for my life even, it's your world. So go ahead and take it. I must be less than human to you for all the dignity you show me. Just a means to an end."