"Every single day I was there. I was so angry at them for leaving me, but I was lying to myself. Now that they are gone, I only wish I had more time."
Proteus watched the machine move the new arm to where her missing one was. With rather impressive precision, it started attaching the prosthetic to her body. But it didn't even look like a prosthetic. The machine was pulling out long tendrils from her body, something Pilot informed him were nerves. It connected them to the new limb so that it would work entirely like she had never lost anything at all.
Throughout the entire procedure, she never once moved or shifted. Instead, she just lay there, looking rather comfortable for all that was being done. It was shocking to know that Tau hadcreated these clones, understanding that they would likely need to be put back into their compartments after they were hurt.
"Do you think this is the first time she's had such extensive surgery?" he asked quietly, already knowing the answer.
"No," Pilot said. "I think most of the clones have experienced surgery like this before. From what I researched, they were often harvested for limbs and organs. These pods are to keep the bodies alive for as long as possible, so more pieces can be harvested. As far as the machine is concerned, her arm was needed for another procedure."
That was disgusting. Beyond horrendous. It was barbaric to consider they were doing that to people while allowing others to live freely and comfortably.
He leaned back a bit as the pod made a hissing sound. He leapt back, trying not to get in the way any more than he already was. But then he realized that it was opening.
Pilot hopped off the top, clattering onto the floor and trying to get out of the way before the lid fell on top of him. And as they both watched, the pod opened up and allowed fresh air in.
Ellie took a deep breath, her lungs filling with air all on their own. How long had the surgery even taken? A few hours? He'd been staring at her and watching the surgery happen with Pilot for such a long time, he wasn't certain how long those breaks between talking had been. But it didn't feel like long enough for the machine to wake her.
Another metal arm lifted from inside the machine, and it sprayed some kind of white fog into her face. She breathed it in, and then those strange eyes fluttered back open. So pale they were almost entirely white, she turned her head to look at him.
"You didn't put me back in the simulation," she said. "Why didn't you?"
That ache in his chest had to be his hearts, but he didn't know why they were hurting. "I told you that I wouldn't. If you wish to go back into that simulation, it must be by your own choice."
She blinked a few times, then lifted her new arm and wrapped her hand around the side of the pod. "All right, well. I don't really wish to go back in yet."
"Shouldn't you rest?"
She gave him an odd look. "Why would I do that?"
Proteus stared at her arm and then back up into her eyes. "Because I... I..."
"Oh." She rolled her eyes and then pushed herself out of the pod. "It's not the worst thing I've seen done to a clone."
He hated that he believed her.
Twelve
Ellie
They were treating her like glass, and she didn't like it. Ellie had always been useful. Useful made her feel important. She liked working with her hands and mind, and yet for the past three days, all Proteus and Pilot wanted her to do was rest.
They said she needed to heal after her surgery. Humans took a long time to feel better after trauma like that. Proteus was barely even coming back to the facility at all, citing that he needed to address the damaged facilities and she couldn’t be helpful in those circumstances. Not with an injured arm.
She liked it when he was here and able to answer her questions, though. Without being able to ask them, she couldn't be certain that she was doing what needed to be done. Ellie was starting to feel a little untethered, and she didn't like the sensation in the slightest.
All her life, she'd been told what to do. Not having someone doing that was making her head spin.
"It's been three days," she scolded Pilot as he tried, yet again, to move her away from the console. "The least I can do is reviewthe drone footage. I can figure out where we can head into the main facility and how to enter the building in the safest way. If you let me take control over one, then I could really look around."
"You need to rest that arm, and it's not fair for you to use it. You didn't tell me he bit off your dominant hand," he scolded, yet again.
She'd been trying to hide that for a few days now. Apparently, that was the worst thing she could have done to poor Pilot. Now he was certain everything he'd given her as an easy task had hurt her arm worse.
It seemed that neither of these men in her new life understood that it didn't matter if she'd been injured. Her pod was designed to put her back together again. She was a doll that could be played with as roughly as anyone wanted. If they wanted to rip all her limbs off, the pod would just build her new ones.
Maybe that's what she needed to make very clear to the two of them. Nothing could really hurt her, not like they were thinking. And if they would just give her a chance to prove that, then maybe they wouldn't feel so guilty about what had occurred.
She still wasn't all that certain why Proteus had entered the facility with such anger. It didn't matter why he was angry, she supposed. If he wanted her to know, he would tell her.
