Chapter 4
Danger
Iremain shielded andinvisible as I stand behind a tree next to the road.
The ragtag bunch of humans seem to be survivors, a family passing through.
Tilly would insist on helping them—especially the kids, but I discard that idea. Surviving means staying off the radar of anyone’s sight. Humans and Baltins have one thing in common: greed.
If these people were to see how stocked and prepared we were with our full garden, fresh water source, and boxes of scavenged tools and supplies, greed would set in and they’d start getting ideas.
Sorry, Tilly, I can’t risk it.
A preteen boy and girl—siblings from the quick DNA scan I run—walk in the middle of the group. Everyone speaks quietly. The adults carry shotguns and rifles as they sweep their eyes across the asphalt and wooded areas.
Everyone’s shoes are worn. Most of their clothes are dirty and frayed, but their body fat composition is healthy.
They’re not starving, so that’s good. Maybe it’ll keep me out of the doghouse when I go back home.
This thought eases the tight ball of guilt. Tilly’s going to want to know about them, and if she thinks they’re hungry, she’ll rush out and try to find them so she can feed them.
Which means I’m staying out here for a long while yet to make sure they’re several kilometers away before returning to face her inquiry.
Settling myself just inside the deep shade of the trees, I continue the scans, ensuring no one else approaches the area.
Yesterday, I’d tinkered with the disabled pod Sparky had arrived in months ago, the day Tilly and I had met. I managed to get it working enough to tow it off the road and into the trees, not wanting to attract any future curious survivors who might decide to check out the rest of the area and find our cave.
The plan is to run more diagnostics on the craft and get it fully functional for emergency use.
Yet I hate the idea of connecting with its circuitry. Before I had died, I’d commanded the entire Baltin fleet with constant monitoring and diagnostics. Operating this pod would reopen that connection with the implant in my head, and not only would it bring back bad memories, but it might alert the flagship crew of theStaleththat I’m alive.
I want to stay anonymous. I’m finished with that existence. For once in my life, I’m happy being here, not commanding, conniving, or killing...just existing, living off the land.
Being together with Tilly once more with a second chance at life is my version of paradise.
Though I would enjoy talking to Grandma. I could open a private network to her while she’s directing the terraforming operation on Mars. Of all my family, she’s the only person who’s ever truly loved me for who I am, notwhatI am. She’d been more of a mother than my own. If it weren’t for her creating Sparky by secretly cloning me, I wouldn’t even be alive right now.
Maybe after the baby’s born, I’ll let her know her plan, using Sparky as a backup, actually worked.And who knows? She might secretly drop in to check on Tilly and then I can tell her to her face.
After thirty minutes pass, I pivot from the road, drop my stealth shield, and amble toward home.
Swish.
The soft sound of grass blades rubbing against one another pulls my attention, their frequency discordant with the rest of the forest.
I freeze, running another sweep of the area, analyzing the chemical composition of the air.
Is it Tilly?
No, I’m not picking up her distinctive chemical scent or DNA signature.
Lifeforms detected three meters south.
What?
I scour the information, turning my attention inward, narrowing the sensor targets on a figure approaching not from the cave or the road, but deeper in the woods.
They’re only three meters away.Why am I just now picking up their presence?
