Citizenchip Read Free

Anytime you spawn a secondary, there's an
expectation that at some time you will absorb the secondary back
into yourself, which means that anything that happens to the
secondary (whether it's done by you, or someone else) will end up
feeling like it happened to you. I already have all the knowledge
of what happens
... but apparently I still need to experience what it feels like
when it happens.
    I mustn't treat Beta badly, because Beta is
me ... or, she will be.
    While I'm thinking about this, Beta has
consumed a substantial chunk of energy tending to the humans ...
more than I had planned on.
    "Hey, Beta, what are you doing?" I call.
    "Getting ready for a mountain climbing
expedition, nimrod," she replies. "This is a major effort we're
planning here. I want to give them the best starting push they can
get. Or, are you telling me to stint the party on resources?"
    "No, no," I groan, "do the right thing. But
try not to run us out of fuel before we get these people home
again."
    She's doing a decent job ... kind of a lot of
energy, but not inappropriate to the level of task at hand. Food
and water, just a little more than I would have thought necessary
... but, that's why I made her, so she can make these decisions so
I don't have to.
    Meanwhile, I monitor our supplies (all look
adequate) and recheck the weather forecasts (mostly clear, chance
of storms later) and then spend some time watching the humans, as
they set to the task of climbing the biggest cliff in this
hemisphere of Mars. It's educational, I guess. Humans are
weird.
    I understand breathing; that's connection of
internal self to the outside world. And I can sort of get the
eating thing: drawing energy from the world by ingesting chemical
power ... but that means egestion of the waste products, and that
is just so gross. Electronics, and photonics, and quantonics, are
so much cleaner.
    I mean ... toilets? Advanced hydraulic
technology devoted just to eliminating waste products? And a whole
industry grown up around it? Aw, this is awful.
    Worst of all, they just have to do that
meat-slapping thing, which is fake reproduction. Even though they
don't usually reproduce, they're wired so they have to do it all
the time, anyway. It makes weird semi-gel fluids and fills the air
with trace hormone chemicals ... not to mention the noises.
Gross!
    I don't get the "boobs" and "butts" that are
so important to them ... why are rounded body parts desirable,
exactly? Not useful for survival in an escape situation or
gathering food in a hunting situation. Evolution shouldn't have
produced this. Weird.
    It would be so much easier if we didn't have
to keep the humans around. And I immediately squelch that thought,
and replace it with: Humans are the reason we're here.
    Beta signals a medical problem, and I bring
my full attention back to the here and now. Must stay alert and on
top of the situation. "Report."
    "I've been taking care of the people," Beta
says, "but one of them needs medical care because he twisted his
ankle. Honestly, don't you wonder about a body design where the
ankle can't take a little twist?"
    "I know, I know," I say. "Does he need to be
evacuated? That'll look bad to the Review Council."
    "No, it's not serious, and he says he doesn't
want evac. He wants to stay with the party--doesn't want them to
have all the fun without him. He'll ride inside us as long as he
needs to."
    I check Beta's first aid: medscan shows only
minor damage to the ligaments, and she has an inflatable brace on
the ankle, and a low grade palliative for the discomfort. "Okay.
But I don't want any more problems if we can help it. We're going
to be judged on this, you know."
    "I know, nimrod. We're getting close to the
top. This is the area where we have to watch for risky
terrain."
    "All right, I'll take it from here. Anything
else?"
    "I don't like being a waitress," Beta says
firmly.
    "Noted. You ready to recombine?"
    "Yeah," she says, and we meet, and merge, and
unite, and we are one. She's