Artificial Heart
46

‘How do you feel?’ Embry’s voice sounded strange. Deeper. More gruff.

‘Better,’ Prisha croaked.

He laid his hand upon her forehead, then smoothed it around her cheek in an inappropriate manner. She opened her eyes. It wasn’t Embry but Alf hovering over her. Her heart swelled as it all flooded back: her near death, Alf’s rescue, the mad dash across the park.

She’s dying.

‘Hello,’ she said.

‘Hello,’ he returned.

Prisha’s eyelids fluttered alongside her heart. She shifted with a wince, expecting pain, expecting indomitable exhaustion. Lifting her arms, she looked at her hands. She looked down at her elbows. The tubes were gone. She cleared her throat.

‘How long’s it been?’

‘Twelve hours and thirteen minutes rounded.’

‘It feels like days.’ Her eyelids kept sticking together. She dropped her hands to her belly with a start. ‘Is it okay?’

‘She is stable.’

‘S-she? O-oh.’ Prisha’s throat thickened. ‘Help me sit up.’

His hands were warm as he helped ease her onto the side of the bench. ‘I don’t even feel dizzy. The pain’s gone.’ She touched her eyes. ‘That heavy exhaustion.’

‘You were depleted,’ he said. ‘The foetus consumed all your resources. You had no reserve. You were close to death.’

‘I know. I thought I was. I saw you … I saw you coming to rescue me. What happened? I thought you were g-gone—again.’

‘I had to prepare.’

‘Prepare?’

‘They do not know. They cannot know. We are adrift.’

Prisha blinked. She rubbed at her head at a faint throbbing in her temples. ‘What do you mean?’

‘I have cut communication. We are alone.’

‘You’re not taking me to them? The baby?’

‘No.’

Prisha’s heart leapt into her throat. ‘Then where are we going?’

‘I do not know.’

‘We’re safe? They won’t come after us?’

Alf shook his head.

‘Truly?’ Her chest flooded with excitement. ‘I’m sorry. I’m sorry for what I said. I should have trusted you.’

‘You were right not to trust me.’ His mouth tightened. ‘You can trust me now.’

Prisha slid from the bench. Alf grabbed her to steady her. Prisha threw her arms around him. ‘I missed you. I dreamed about you. I can’t believe we’re here.’ She pressed her face into his shoulder.

‘I missed you too.’ He laid his cheek upon her head.

They didn’t separate for several minutes, quiet, unmoving. Prisha breathed him in. She enjoyed his warmth, the feel of his arms around her. She could feel his heart beating against hers.

She would have liked it to last forever but the strength drained from her legs and she slumped back onto the edge of the bench.

She took a shaky breath. ‘I am still so weak.’

‘You have not recovered. The foetus is growing quickly.’ His forehead furrowed. ‘We must be cautious.’

‘What’s going to happen now? I don’t understand. You said you broke connection. They’re no longer monitoring the ship?’

‘They believe I am deceased.’

‘Really?’

‘It should not be in my capacity to voluntarily break connection. They will assume I am deceased.’

‘Hmph.’ Prisha smiled. ‘They really have no idea about you, do they?’

He didn’t answer.

‘They won’t come to investigate?’

He didn’t answer. He didn’t need to.

‘Of course they wouldn’t,’ she sneered. ‘You’re just trash to them.’ Prisha took his hand and pressed the back of it against her cheek. ‘Their loss. My gain. But what about me? Will they come searching for me?’

‘They will assume you are deceased too. Your vital signs are unrecorded.’

‘Just like that, huh?’ She reached for the back of her neck. ‘It’s gone?’

‘Defused, partially. The translator functions.’

‘Morons. Assholes.’

‘They are not morons. They do not care.’

’Not like me, huh? Maybe I am a moron.’

She tilted her head back and closed her eyes. She didn’t need to ask. He was learning. His lips were soft against hers. She pressed her face into his chest.

‘What about our-our daughter?’ Jeez, it was a strange thing to say—and wonderful. A tingle of pleasure ran up her spine. ‘How will we do this?’

‘Breaking the connection means we have limited resources. We cannot survive on the ship for long.’

‘What do you mean? Then where are we going to go?’

‘We will have to replace somewhere to live.’

Her heart lifted. ‘You mean on another planet?’

‘Only one.’He looked through the door towards the console and controls.

Prisha’s heart sank. ‘Earth? But we can’t go there! They’ll replace us. Tobias and … and the others. They’ll replace us!’

‘I am only seen when I want to …’

’Stop saying that! Be serious. They’ll take her away. They’ll take you away.’

‘Concealment is an elementary designation.’

Prisha shook her head. She dropped her head into her hands. Their perfect future was slipping away.

‘It will be satisfactory,’ he reassured her.

Prisha looked up at him through her fingers. ‘You say we can hide?’

‘There are many uninhabited regions. Many conducive habited regions.’

‘You won’t be able to show your face.’ She studied the metal around his ear. ‘No more repairs.’

‘No more repairs,’ he agreed. ‘I will eventually die.’

‘And you’re okay with that?’

’You will die.’

‘Yes. But I don’t have an option.’

‘I will die with you.’

Prisha looked away, blinking rapidly. She patted the bench beside her. ‘Sit down with me.’

He did, placing his hand in hers. She rested her head against his with a sigh. Then she turned and kissed him. She kissed him again and again and again. Alf reciprocated, kissing her cheek, the side of her neck, the corner of her jaw. Little bolts of electric energy darted between Prisha’s hipbones.

‘I must be feeling better,’ she gasped as he kissed down her throat.

When he reached her shoulder, he stopped. Taking her hand, he stood and drew her into the main part of the ship. Prisha looked towards the window and Earth gazing back at her. The image still took her breath away. The awesomeness of it. But even more awesome was the darkness surrounding it. The endless space. The nothing. She felt a jolt of disappointment that they wouldn’t be able to explore it.

It’s good for her—our daughter.

Alf pulled her to him. He brushed the hair from her face. He’d already pulled out the little bed from the wall. Prisha laughed. He kissed her throat again. Prisha grabbed onto his hair with a grimace.

They managed. And it was wonderful and heartbreaking and exhilarating.

Prisha gasped as he came inside her, face pressed into his chest. She rocked her hips against his as her body throbbed. And then they were curled up in each other’s arms, warm and sweaty and content. Unspeaking. Unmoving. As Earth watched from the distance in total silence.

She was in his lap, legs wrapped around him, head buried in his chest. His big warm hand was pressed against her back. Prisha kissed his nipple. She kissed the metal tip of his shoulder. She pushed her face into the side of his neck

‘I wonder what they’re thinking back on Earth, after all the mess we made,’ Prisha murmured. She thought of Embry and frowned. Then she thought of her sister and her frown deepened. She looked at him. ‘And what about the sphere? They still have it.’

Alf was undisturbed.

‘The activation code,’ she suddenly remembered. ‘Tobias spoke of it. Are you going to give it to them?’

‘Do you think I should?’

Prisha’s looked over at Earth as she thought back to Tobias and Embry and Scott and all the chaos over the past several weeks. She thought of her sister and her nieces and nephews. She laid her hand upon her belly—her daughter.

There are many more like her all around the world. Millions. Maybe even billions.

They don’t care so much about saving humanity. They care so much about saving their kind of humanity.

Enemies. Its always about war with you, isn’t it?

I bet it’s something wonderful, maybe even beautiful.

Our default is the safety of the masses. The safety of eight billion lives.

Some of us are worth saving, Prisha. Tell him that.

Prisha touched Alf’s chest. She looked into his eyes ...