The Black Pod Read Free Page A

in the east
when Adams began to stir. He raised his head as if he had been
asleep for only a moment.
    “ Box, any sign of her?”
Adams asked quietly.
    The command chair faced
directly south according to the augmented reality annotations on
the dome. Box was standing on the ledge to Adams’ right, the
sun and the breeze on her face. He stared at her red hair
as it drifted in the breeze. He marveled at the beauty, detail and
complexity of the simulation. He felt empty inside. He was denying
all except this very moment.
    His hand came to rest on the
Glock.
    “ Tony…” Box turned her head toward him and the breeze blew the hair from
her face.
    “ Yes, Box.”
    “ I am so very sorry for
your… loss.” Her voice cracked.
    When Tony looked up, she had her hand over her mouth like she was trying not
to cry. His reaction was explosive .
    He threw the Glock at her, screaming,
“Don’t you do that! Don’t you dare.” He was on his feet storming up
to her even before the gun had stopped clattering on the floor,
“YOU were supposed to keep them SAFE! It was your primary function
and you FAILED!”
    He stopped in front of
her. Her face was in her hands as her shoulders shook. His rant
continued, “I know we are in Survival Mode. I understand the
protocols in Hostile Environments. Do not try to manipulate me. I
feel their deaths, I have to bear them! Don’t mock me, or disgrace
them!”
    His face was red as he screamed, “You
have only one job left. Don’t muck it up.”
    Slowly Box raised her
head. She whispered, “You think this is pretending? An attempt to
manipulate you? I wish. You think I don’t know that I was programmed to have empathy? You think I don’t know that I
was made to feel this? Because I do. Forced to feel the horror of
it by brilliant men and women who thought that if I loved every
man, woman and child on the Ventura, I would do anything to
protect them.” Box was standing straight now, defiant.
“Damn them for making me feel this, and survive… None of them
thought of what it would be like when this happened. After it
happened.”
    Box turned away then, drying her eyes
on a sleeve as she walked ninety degrees around the
dome.
    Tony watched her go as his anger
dissipated. He had just glanced down at the Glock when Box called
to him.
    “ Tony, they’re back!”
There was hope in her voice now. She was looking at him but
pointing to the north. Wynn was there, jogging along at a comfortable pace with Lane beside her. He could see the cloud
of her breath vividly in the sunlight, on the cold autumn
morning.
    She wore fresh clothes and a cloak,
and she was smiling.
    Adams turned from the tiny figures in
the distance as he walked up to the image of Box and looked into
her virtual eyes.
    “ I’m sorry, Box. I am.
Truly. We need to do something. Not just sit here. The weight of it
is… Let’s find out what happened. Let’s secure the pod. Because… if
we have a long haul ahead…”
    “ Thank you, Chief.”
Box whispered .
    “ For what?” Adams
asked.
    “ For not dismissing me as
just a machine.” Box averted her eyes then. She looked at Wynn in
the distance.
    There was a long pause.
    “ Box, I want you to care
for me that much, and now her.” He gestured with his chin
towards Wynn .
    Adams turned and was down
the ladder with practiced ease. The hatch was already open and
the ramp descending. He waited for them in the middle of
the ramp. He could see her smile from a hundred meters
away.
    She surprised him.
    Wynn ran up the ramp and
threw her arms around his neck in a ferocious hug. Thrown
back on his
heels, he almost didn’t catch her. She was so
light and so small, his moment’s surprised delay didn’t
matter.
    “ Keeper Adams. Come,” Wynn
said as she released him. Their noses were inches apart. She wanted
to know if he understood.
    Box spoke in his
mind, Tony, look at her clothes. She has
been somewhere we should investigate.
    “ Yes.” Was all Adams said,
drawing an instant