Second Contact [Alien Nation #2] (#Wattys2019)

23

When Avery woke up, it wasn't the gradual awakening she normally gave herself, with her senses coming back one by one, each having time to calibrate to her surroundings. Like before, she snapped awake in an instant. She wasn't even sure if she'd been truly asleep. She hadn't dreamed, didn't feel rested at all. It was as if she'd simply been off. She really hoped this wasn't something she'd have to get used to.

She was in the passenger seat of the shuttle, looking out into an expanse of stars. A couple of them were brighter and larger than the others, and she could see the glare from a much closer star somewhere off to starboard.

He'd taken her to another star system.

She tried to move, but her cybernetic limbs felt like they were encased in stone. Even her organic hand was stiff. She suddenly felt ill as she remembered how Anderson had simply shut her down without a second thought. As if she was just a machine he could switch off when she was no longer useful.

With gritted teeth, she dragged herself upright with her organic hand. "Where are we," she panted.

Anderson didn't turn to look at her, his eyes focussed only on the void ahead, the stars shining in his eyes. "You're awake at last."

"Yeah, because you turned be back on." She bared her teeth at him. "Take me back, Lukas. I want to go home."

"And face what's waiting for you?" His gaze slid to her at last. "Avery, you killed a Councillor. If you ever step foot on the Hub again, it will be in chains."

She shook her head. "I didn't want to do it, I don't know why—I don't even remember. I'm not a murderer, Lukas."

"I know," he said, eyes returning to the stars.

"Why did I do it," she said, her voice flat. She tipped her head back against the headrest, letting her eyes flutter closed. The bright lights of the console glared insistently through her lashes. She wished she could just go to sleep. "I know you know, so fucking tell me. What am I going to do about it all the way out here?"

"Out here..." Lukas murmured. "Here is the Sol system, Avery."

She huffed a sigh through gritted teeth. "Just once in your life, I want you to give me a straight answer. Why did I kill Councillor Oormu?"

He shot her a wry glance. "Oh, no. You know I've never liked to make things to easy for you, Avery. Think about it."

She did think about it. She thought about the last time she was here, with everyone she cared about on a little ship facing down an entire invasion force. Before Maia had crawled into her head, before Julia had the weight of death on her conscience, before Erri's duties had wrenched him away from her, linked only by a shitty extranet connection through –

"The Starbridges," she breathed. "How the hell are we here? You only cloaked yourself, not me or the shuttle. Why didn't they stop us?"

And there it was. A self-satisfied smirk tugged at the corner of Anderson's mouth. Avery had never wanted to slap someone so badly. Her life had just been ripped from under her and he had the balls to smile?

"The thing with the type of programming I do, Avery," he said with the air of someone who had practised this speech in his bathroom mirror at least three times, "is that the human brain – or rather an artificial brain inside a human – is far more fragile than even the most delicate piece of technology. The programs I wrote to allow you to function had to be light. They couldn't clash with anything vital, or you would die. They had to be fast – you were supposed to be better than the rest of us humans. I couldn't install something that would make your brain buffer every time it activated. But most of all, they had to be subtle. I knew what you were like – I couldn't let you start tinkering and accidentally disable your breathing reflex or something. So there's a lot of stuff in your head that you don't know is there. Most of it is harmless. And the rest..." He turned to look at her properly this time. Waiting for her to get it, for the shock to set in.