Even though he knew Iris was his biologic mate, they still needed to bond. At that point, Jolt wasn’t even thinking about breeding with her. He just wanted to be with her, to know everything about her. He wanted her to get used to his presence in her life.
Every time he thought of what those gangers had done to her, his rage bubbled to the surface. Then he let himself remember what he had done to them, and it eased his anger. He had to put that behind him if he expected to help Iris do the same.
He went to the storage room in the main building to a stack of plastic boxes and took down the one that contained spare com tablets. Heading back to Med-bay, he wondered what they were going to do with the people they displaced as they demolished the ruins. …If the Enclave didn’t take them.
Until the council decided, he had them camped out in the south wing of the complex. Vyken was scheduled for a meeting with the Enclave council to see if they would absorb any of those displaced. The rebuilding in old Chicago was ongoing, and they were no longer actively bringing people into the Enclave.
Vyken thought he would have an answer for him later that day. Jolt’s superior believed the Enclave had the resources to help Farringay’s displaced. But they weren’t under Vyken’s command, so he could only ask them to assist the Farringay women.
Meanwhile, one of the men had discovered his female among the women they’d brought back from the ruins. Jolt was hopeful that more of them might find mates. There were still many offices that could be converted to private quarters for the cyborgs that did find mates.
Iris smiled at Jolt when he returned to her in the med-bay, and he felt pleased that she seemed glad for his presence. Her clothes fit a little loosely, but with regular meals, she would probably fill out some.
“I put on the shoes, but it’s been so long they felt funny,” she explained. “I just put them in the box with the clothing, and I’ll try them a little at a time.”
Jolt picked up the box to carry under one arm and offered her his free hand. She looked at him searchingly for a moment then took it and walked with him to leave off the box at his quarters on their way to the mess area. It was just an area sectioned off in the massive building that was mostly opened.
There were eight long tables and chairs, but the area was mostly empty as the teams had left for Farringay after first meal early that morning. Since Iris had never eaten from their food processor, Jolt when ahead and chose for her. He got them each protein patties with a side of barley, and reconstituted fruit served with lightly sweetened tea.
“It smells good,” Iris said when he set the plate in front of her at the table. Unused to eating with tableware, she waited for Jolt to pick up his plastic fork and knife to cut the protein patty and spear a piece with his fork. She then held the fork and knife and imitated him.
Jolt realized her unease immediately. “Here,” he said, demonstrating. “Hold your fork like this to get the food from your plate, like this. Then when you want to cut your food, hold the fork like this, and cut with the knife like this.”
“Does it matter which hand?”
“No, you may use either hand---whatever is comfortable.”
“You must think I am dumb that I don’t even know how to eat with tools from a plate,” she said looking embarrassed.
“I do not. I think you did not learn because you did not have such things in the ruins,” he assured her. “Knox has determined you have higher than average intelligence. That means you are smart enough to learn whatever you need.”
Jolt reached into a pocket and pulled out the folded tablet he found for her to use. “This can help you learn most anything you need to know.” He showed it to her and laid it on the table. “When we finish eating, I will show you how to use it and set it to respond to your voice commands.”
“Why are you doing this? Is it because you want to fuck me?” Her cheeks pinkened as she looked at him.
“It’s more complicated than that. Your genes can mesh with mine, and we can make offspring together. I want to make a life with you and raise our offspring with you,” he told her sincerely enough to make her believe it.
“I-I don’t know what to say. I’ve been on my own for a long time. What you’re saying hardly seems possible.”
“That’s the way people lived before the war. They mated had, offspring, and lived in family units.”
“I know I have lots to learn. What should I learn first do you think?”
“Probably reading and arithmetic,” he said. “It seems that everything starts with that. But the tablet will also read or narrate for you until you can read for yourself.”
“Somebody told me they had schools where they taught children this stuff before the long war.”
“They did. The Enclave is starting that again, and they have classes for both adults and children,” he said.
“What is the Enclave?” Iris asked.
“It’s a community where people live in buildings with individual flats and individual houses. They had started raising crops and educating people in the old ways, the way people lived before the aliens almost extinguished civilization on Earth.”
“Is that what you are going to do here?” she asked.
“Not exactly. The Federation is only financing the starport and residential city for starport staff and support businesses. The Enclave council tried to convince them to provide more services for the people we’re displacing, but they insisted there isn’t funding. They said the war had depleted our defense force to dangerous levels.”
“Is that why all the cyborgs are here?” Iris wondered.
