Shaken.
14 Dec 2020Teafox
Kid's sleeping, hopefully he'll be able to stay that way for a bit longer this time. Zach's smarter than I am, he spotted early that there was plenty here that the kid didn't need to know and there were better and worse ways to deliver this kind of news. I appreciate the way he went about it.When I caught up with them, the Kid was excited, holding the end of a thick, leather leash in both hands attached to the other end was a creature that was... Well, if it wasn't on the end of a leash, it would clearly be mythical. Lion at the head, snake at the tail and goat in the middle. A chimera; he mentioned a name, but for the life of me, I don't remember it. Fierce and impressive looking, and as he was careful to explain, a creature that was made up from the imagination of mankind and brought to life with science. We trekked around the walkways of the complex, ostensibly giving the beast some exercise, but in reality, it was an opportunity to talk the kid around to the thought that not being a naturally born human didn't make him any less alive. We met up with some of the other residents here, members of some kind of cult or something, Zach made a point of stopping one of his followers who had a prosthetic arm, so he could show it off to the kid.
He managed to put quite a spin on it, playing down the extent of cybernetic replacement they were apparently thinking of and taking guesses that were easy to shoot down as to why they would do it in the first place. The kid's not dumb though, and what he was reading between the lines was starting to rattle him. Zach tried to convince him to stay here at the party base with him. I was pretty sure he was mostly trying to help the kid feel empowered, but he really was trying to sell it. I felt the kid grab my hand, retreating behind me again, like he did when we first arrived. Zachariah nodded approvingly as I passed his pet's leash back to him and informed him that maybe we'd visit.
The kid was glad to get back in the ship, I had him run a full pre-flight check whilst I unloaded the beer we had brought with us. Zach tried to insist he pay, but we both knew I owed him this much at least. There was something I wanted to get his opinion on.
"I had the kid imprinted a while back... If it comes to the worst, think he'd survive the process?"
Zach considered. "Well, first thing they're gonna do, if you're lucky, is pull both of your imprints out of the system and put you back together on a prison ship or somesuch." He rubbed the back of his neck as he thought. "I mean in theory though? I don't see why not. The body he's got is the same basic technology as you have. Biomorphs might not age, might not be able to breed, but the tech is just the same as an imprint clone. If his suit is transmitting his brainwaves and they can pick 'em up if he dies, I guess he's got at least a chance at..." he laughed and then sighed. "Heh, that'd be wild, an actual artificial, lab grown, technical human. Assuming they don't pull the plug on you both."
The moment died on that note. We unloaded the last of the crates in silence as the engines started to spool up, and the fuel lines started to twitch and pulse as the tank started to fill.
"You're a belter, right?"
I nodded.
"Have you guys got any stations out there that the empire and feds don't know about? Asteroid base maybe? Some place fortified with medical you don't let 'em... You know, to keep a backup imprint?"
I had to admit, no... Life in the belt is pretty basic, any installations are generally traded for and run via one of the superpowers.
"Might want to look into fixing that." He shrugged. "Independent station you can trust maybe, hidden settlement you could buy and convert? Hell, Colonia, perhaps?"
We said our goodbyes.
The kid's shaken, normally he'll jump at a chance to take the controls. This time I actually had to offer.
We jumped to a binary system with some gas giants around the secondary star. Took a while even at superoptic speeds, but it'd be out of the way, and it helped to tire him out a little more. I know the belt helps me have a sense of safety, I hope the kid gets the same feeling. We matched orbit between the rocks and shut down, leaving only the air and cabin heating on and a gentle spin to provide a little gravity.
I tried to recall some of the stories I remembered my Dad telling me when I was young. I don't know if it helped much, sometimes the silence of space is comforting, sometimes it's an emptiness that needs to be filled.