Earth, After Cataclysm 99680

Two days later after Marie Anne Tetch’s surgery the family was enjoying a day together at home. It was a small home, a humble home, designed more for function rather than form. Its small size meant that the solar panels on the roof could more easily power it, and its cooling systems didn’t need to work as hard as they otherwise would in the equatorial region. It was also partially buried, with half of the house underground and the upper floor acting as the ground floor. It was an important distinction from a basement in the fact that the house’s upper floor was on a hill, allowing it to avoid being flooded in the event of one of Medellin’s frequent storms.

The Tetch household was typical of homes in Medellin, which were either half-buried or entirely underground. The bunkerites that made up the majority of the population, shorter and with less tolerance for sunlight, still had a tendency to want to live underground. The weather, heat only made such decisions easier. Elena and Leonard had opted for a hybrid solution, as had many others.

Their child, Marie, had been much more well-behaved since her surgery. She mostly slept through the night, and happily napped on her mother or father’s chest in the day. The demon of the Wise One parasite that had failed to consume her in Elena’s womb no longer plagued her. Leonard was surprised to see her former discomfort around him had also abated, something that Elena had trouble picking up on considering Marie had been so fussy in general.

Kuzzgat and his wife Tazzah were anticipating the hatching of their own child, stockpiling a great deal of chicken in their fridge in preparation for the ravenous hunger it would likely have. If not for the fact that Kuzzgat had been warned that Elena intended to return to contracting for the Council of Thirteen, it would have almost been a perfect time. He enjoyed his work, of course, but he hated to leave so much responsibility alone to Tazzah while he organized all of Elena’s contacts and gathered information for her.

All was not well however. Ascending the hill to the Tetch household was a tall man. To describe his mode of dress in a word, he was tactical. His eyes were prosthetics, and seemed intentionally mechanical in an inhuman fashion. His right arm was a replacement as well, with a similar disregard for a more aesthetic look. His face was strong, chiseled, and severe. He had grey hair, cut short in a military fashion, and his uniform indicated he was a member of the People’s Guard, typically shortened to Guard in parlance.

His medals, ribbons, and decorations, however, indicated he wasn’t just a Guard. Vasille Tzen, Commander of the People’s Guard was one of the most powerful people outside of the Council of Thirteen. They operated as both Police and Military, responsible for the security of the UPE, and they prided themselves on having accomplished their role for almost one hundred millennia. The Old One had been hard at work protecting his people almost his entire life, even sweeping his long-lived children into his profession, and he had many.

Vasille Tzen knocked at the door, enjoying the way his tactical arm thunked against the Ciderwood. He flexed mechanical tendons, flipping out a 10cm blade that extended from the middle of his fist, only to retract it with a similar motion. It was one of his favorite features of the limb. He straightened himself up as his enhanced hearing picked up footsteps heading towards the door, adjusting his vision to spy upon faint thermal readings through the door to see if he could identify who was coming. They were tall as well.

Realizing it was probably Elena Price-Tetch, he raised his mechanical arm in a perfectly angled salute. His left hand moved to form a fist over his heart while his face became a wide grin. The door opened and he was pleased to see his old superior. It wasn’t good news he brought today, but he couldn’t contain his joy at seeing the angel who had saved his life and the rest in their old bunker.

“Vasille!” Elena was smiling wide when she saw him, carrying Marie in her arms. She wore a simple nursing dress in light blue. Marie reached out towards the partially-mechanical man and cooed happily. “I didn’t hear you were in town! It’s so good to see you, come in, come in. To what do I owe the pleasure? I thought you were helping transport the Myconoids North?”

He shook his head, stepping forward and leaning in to kiss Elena on the cheek, then drop down to kiss Marie on the forehead. “I’m here on business, I’m afraid. My children can handle the Myconoids.” He nodded as she gestured him inside and the two ancients stepped within the building.

“Leonard! Vasille’s here! Come say hello!” She kept near her old friend, letting him reach out with his left hand to play with Marie. Her grubby little hands grabbed aggressively at his fingers, and he laughed heartily. “Isn’t she precious? It’s so much easier to love her now that she’s letting me sleep.”

Vasille laughed again at that. “Some of them never let you sleep in peace. Count yourself lucky. What won’t you do someday, little lady?” He tickled her cheek, grinning. “You really should have had more, Elena. They’re a blessing.”

Leonard came out from the back room. He was moving a little slow, having trouble manipulating a door handle with his left arm in a cast and his right hand in a brace. “Vasille, it’s good to see you. My apologies about my sorry state. I was so rattled by performing surgery on my daughter that I forgot about man’s greatest enemy, gravity.”

The two men gently clasped right hands, Vasille careful not to hurt the much, much younger man. “At least you decided to break yourself after the surgery and not before. What happened? Is Marie okay?”

Elena moved to the side of the two men, smiling. “She had a growth of some kind that was putting pressure on her inner ear. Leonard said the tests came back benign, but I’m sure she’d disagree.” She bounced her daughter against her chest, making the little lady giggle and flail a bit.

Vasille nodded, then looked back and forth between the Tetches with a more sober look. “Like I said, I’m here on business. Thirty-three hours ago Walter Thade’s apprentices declared he was missing. Records say he came to Medellin before he vanished. I suspect he came to visit in light of Marie’s surgery, but we can’t find any trace of him.”

Elena gasped in shock at that, eyes wide. “Oh no! I’ll make some calls, see if I can get anyone to help look for him. What do you need Vasille?”

Leonard nodded, frowning to himself. “Yes, we’ll help with anything we can. Just let us know.”

The militaristic Old One looked carefully at the two Tetches, nodding a few moments later. “I’d like to interview the both of you as possible suspects in the disappearance of Walter Thade. I’ll take each of your statements privately, so if you could set aside a room that would make things much easier.”

Elena blinked for a moment, but nodded and started moving towards the room Leonard had come from. “Right, procedure. Follow me.”

Leonard nodded as well, ushering the Commander along. “Yes, please, whatever you need.”

Vasille hesitated a moment while he observed them, then followed along with Elena. “Leonard, I’d like to speak with you first.” His mechanical eyes twisted and turned, visible through a shell of glass as he observed the family patriarch.

Without hesitating, Leonard led the way, leaving his wife and Marie behind as Leonard shut the door behind them. The faint sound of Elena making calls could be heard through the door, but the sturdy, well-insulated walls kept her from being audible to Leonard.

They both moved to a table, Vasille helping arrange the chairs and indicating that Leonard needed to sit down. Vasille sat opposite him, withdrawing a glass cube with visible cameras and microphones inside and set it down on the table between them. It watched and listened to both of them. “Please state your identity for the record.”

Leonard nodded, leaning forwards slightly. “I am Leonard Tetch, thirty-two years old, born and raised in Medellin, mentored by Doctor Emily Thade. I’m married to Elena Marie Price-Tetch. Identification number one, eight, three, seven, seven, two, six.”

“Leonard, please state for the record where you were three days ago, and the activities of that day.” Vasille watched him carefully, his eyes continued to move in seemingly unnecessary ways. One of his favorite features of his eyes was to activate a mode that would make it appear as though he was checking many different spectrums of light, but it was really just to intimidate people.

Leonard visibly sweat under the scrutiny, but spoke clearly. “In the morning I was sleeping in preparation to remove what turned out to be a benign growth from Marie Anne Tetch. Myself, Elena, and my daughter were all present at the Jessica Crenshaw Memorial Hospital, preparing for said surgery. At eight-o'clock I entered the operating theatre, my apprentices having prepared Marie and the room for the procedure. Elena was observing from the glass outside.”

Vasille interrupted him before he could continue. “Did you see anything odd? Any strange people you didn’t recognize, or perhaps patients from out of town? Would the staff at the hospital be able to provide detailed records, perhaps surveillance footage?”

The Wise One blinked and shook his head. “No, I knew everyone there, and we had few patients in for the night and morning. I probably wouldn’t have had time to sleep otherwise, the other doctors would surely have called me for help. The hospital can indeed provide records, though only the patient rooms, pharmacy, and operating rooms have any surveillance. The only crimes we’ve had in the past were occasional assaults in patient rooms or thefts. Surgeries are monitored for legal reasons.”

“Continue.” Vasille gestured with his left hand, still staring hard into Leonard. The man didn’t have to blink. He hadn’t blinked in centuries.

“Right. My wife observed me performing the surgery with mechanical assistance. I removed the growth successfully and stitched Marie up. I was feeling unwell, rattled from the procedure, and called for assistance to transfer Marie to recovery. I took the cart with the growth out to bring to a lab for testing. After putting it where it belonged, I returned downstairs from the second floor. My grip slipped on the hand rail, I fell, and broke my fall mostly with my left hand. I reported to other doctors and received care for my injuries before rejoining my wife.” Leonard did his best to maintain eye contact as he spoke, but Vasille’s eyes were quite unsettling.

“Hmm.” Vasille straightened. “So, I can expect to find footage of the operation and your injuries being tended to? What about audio?”

“Ah. Audio isn’t typically recorded anywhere but in the operating rooms, and that’s primarily due to the robotic assistance having a microphone. Patients prefer more privacy, and the pharmacies don’t have much need for a microphone.” Leonard’s hands moved very little on the table, though his body shifted a bit under him. Vasille was a predator that had hunted his kind in the past. It was nerve-wracking talking to him.

“And what was the extent of your injuries? Your left hand looks especially bad.” His eyes did allow him to peer through the cast somewhat. The thermal look of his broken hand and finger bones was quite messy, with hardening blood clots starting change into new bone.

Leonard laughed softly, shaking his head. “Not as bad as they could have been. I could have hit my head easily. I have three broken fingers and a broken thumb on my left hand. They broke in multiple places as well, requiring total immobilization. There was also a fracture in my middle metacarpal. I injured tendons primarily in my right wrist, including some chipped bones. I slightly sprained my right ankle as well, but that didn’t require any aid. I just need to keep walking on it.”

“Well, it sounds like you’ll be okay then.” Vasille thought quietly for a moment. “Did you and your family go home soon after? I imagine Elena can corroborate your location once you rejoined her.”

Nodding back, Leonard smiled at that. “She’s such a good woman, understanding and caring. She’s done a lot to prevent me from getting depressed about the whole thing. I’m just happy I was able to save my daughter. The rest I suppose I’ll just have to live with.”

Vasille was uneasy. Leonard was clearly hiding something, but very little of what he said seemed to be lies, as far as he could detect. The lack of available evidence to corroborate his claims was also problematic. At the very least he knew Leonard had lied about his injuries. He wished the rest of the UPE was as paranoid about security as he was, but he’d failed on numerous occasions to increase security and surveillance. The people were soft. He had to protect them. “Thank you Leonard. Could you bring Elena in for me. I don’t imagine we’ll be long.”

Leonard stood up and moved to open the door, struggling with it for a moment before slipping outside. “Elena, he’s ready to talk to you now. I’ll take Marie for you.”

As a father himself. Vasille found it concerning that Leonard seemed to prefer to address his daughter as Marie instead of his daughter most of the time. He said her name more than he said Elena’s. He was certain he was telling the truth about being happy about saving ‘his daughter’ though. It nettled at him.”

05:40 Thursday, March 7, CE 0

Doctor Hawthorne Crenshaw, freshly awake, showered, and dressed, wandered out of his and Evelyn’s bedroom. She didn’t expressly sleep there for the most part, though her android body had a charger in the room and she would often stay with Hawthorne until he slept. She had spent the majority of the night responding to messages on the network and monitoring conversations between the other citizens. People were being very proactive in providing suggestions and ideas to the threads dedicated to the government documents currently under construction.

Hathorne stretched as he walked up to Evelyn, whom had been laying out items for Hawthorne’s breakfast. “You were out late. More conspiring with Mother?” He wrapped his arms around her android’s shoulders, teasing her. He’d opted for the full-body AR suit under his clothes today. He kissed his wife’s cheek and squeezed her a bit.

She reached up to hug at Hawthornes arms, leaning into the cheek kiss. “Ah, sorry, yeah. I was speaking with Mother, but I also paid Mister Smith a visit. He doesn’t seem much like Jessica, now that I’ve met him. Still, he was very interesting, and I provided him with information on what his family was up to after he left.”

He nodded at that, letting her go and looking over what he’d set out for breakfast. He noticed a distinct lack of tofu. He did notice two kinds of potatoes, spices, onion, and garlic. It looked like some sort of breakfast hash recipe? “Anything interesting come up in conversation? Insights into your favorite person?” He poked her side teasingly, reaching out to help with the potatoes.

The two started dividing up prep work, peeling and cleaning. “Hey now, you’re my favorite person, not Jessica. Still, I got the impression that Barnard’s son Marcus was not the main idea-person for the Smith Bunker. I think he made the ideas happen, engineered everything and whatnot. It sounded like his wife Emily was the brains of the outfit. She was a harsh girl, it seemed, not afraid to make hard decisions. I think her faith had something to do with her ability to forsake the many for the few.”

Hawthorne busied himself with peeling a potato, carefully trying not to cut off too much potato meat in the process. “So, the idea that only the chosen get into heaven, that kind of thing? It wouldn’t be too hard to consider much of the world ‘sinners’ and focus her attention on those who would cooperate. I’m honestly surprised she didn’t force her faith on anyone as a prerequisite, but I imagine she might have found that hypocritical considering how the rest of the world worked at the time. Lots of new little faiths based on things people had no control over.”

“Yeah. She sounded a lot more like Jessica.” She carefully chopped at the onion, taking her time. She was still getting accustomed to doing this with real hands, despite having practiced plenty in simulations. The very minor communication delay between her android body and her mind was still disorienting. “They were a lot like you, though, honestly. They identified a problem and found a solution for escaping it.”

He laughed softly at that, shaking his head. “Yes, but they probably had the better idea. No dangerous space travel, no colonizing a new system, no loss of tens of thousands of years of time. The main gamble, I suppose, was how safe they would be on Earth over that time span. The ice age, object impacts, volcano eruptions… anything could have cracked those bunkers. Still, considering the circumstances, I guess it was their best option.”

She put the knife down. “Hawthorne?” They looked at each other. “Do I love you?”

He blinked back at her, his brain failing to register the question for a moment. “What?”

She bit her lip for a moment before explaining. “Barnard explained how he thought his youthful hormones were what caused his infatuation with his wife, like his body forced him to love her. Once the biological imperative passed, once he’d sired a child, the two realized that did not love each other. He broached the possibility that my love for you might be a result of a similar imperative. Perhaps I needed to love you to survive the loneliness of the journey? Maybe I needed you after I lost contact with the bunker an-”

Hawthorne interrupted her with a kiss, pulling her in close and kissing her firmly. His arms grasped tightly at her back. Even for a mechanical body he could feel her tense, and then start to relax in his arms. She also became a fair bit more heavy as her mechanical muscles slackened, so he leaned her against the counter.

As he pulled back she gasped softly up at him, amusing him with her need to pretend to breathe. “Evelyn.” He reached up to stroke at her cheek with a hand. “My Tia.” He watched her react with surprise to his use of her old name. “Love is not something we control. Love is not something we decide. There are reasons for it, yes, but those reasons don’t have to cheapen what love is. You showed me how to love when I didn’t know how. I don’t for a moment think it was false, or part of a survival mechanism, or anything like that. We could have made the journey as friends and we’d still be here and fine.”

She stared up at him, taking some of her weight back as she steadied her legs. She was breathing rather heavily, her simulated heart hammering in her chest. “So it just… happens? You didn’t program me to have a tendency to love you by accident, or anything like that? What if Jessica’s encouragement predisposed me to pursue you?”

Hawthorne shrugged, his other hand rubbing at her hip. “So what? If you really want to break things down and reduce love to a flood of reward chemicals for biologically productive actions, then you’re just going to ruin the fun of it. We don’t have any way to have any children yet, right? That doesn’t bother me or my ability to love you. You’ve loved me for tens of thousands of years. This is good though, this kind of existential threat to your identity. This is a big part of interacting with other people.”

She squirmed against him, her hands moving to his chest. “So… you’re suggesting that questioning my feelings and identity will help reinforce it?”

He nodded back, smiling. “As long as your questions find answers, yes. It’s better to know than worry, I think. Just let me know anything I can do to help you decide, and know that I love you regardless. I have every faith that you’ll be fine.”

Evelyn let out a sigh of relief, leaning up to kiss him back, her arms slipping around his back as her avatar partially disconnected from her android to also reach up to play with his hair through his suit-cap. It felt good. It felt right. Her primary concern was as to why. What about her caused her or allowed her to love? Was it the memories from Megan Clark, the former identity of Mother? That seemed the most likely possibility, though she was certain she’d loved Hawthorne before then.

He pulled back. “Hey. Let’s finish breakfast. We’ve got errands to run in town. Projects to get in motion.”

She mentally checked their schedule and gasped aloud as she started smiling up at him. “The animals project! We’re already starting it?”

He laughed, nodding. “We’ll at least lay the groundwork and get people involved. I don’t think I’ll live another thirty-two years off of vegan food. I need steaks, eggs, and bacon.”

Evelyn rolled her eyes, smirking up at him. “All that work to resurrect animals, just to eat them.”

He pointed at her, laughing as she play-bit his fingertip. “Hey, you said you loved the taste of chicken. One of these days you’ll get to try it for real.”

“Promises, promises. And then you’ll want to put a baby in me too, won’t you?” She reached up to punch his left arm lightly.

He smirked back at her. “More complicated, I think, but yes. I think Jessica wouldn’t let me rest if I failed at that.”

They laughed together and got back to making his breakfast.