Yes, I want help. And no, I don’t knowhow to set up my own tent, thank you.
Butthree hundred and ninety two years of persistent and relentless conditioningcreated behavior patterns that could not so easily be erased.
Ipulled out the tent from the bag and looked at the numerous folds and layers ofthick beige fabric. I opened it and folded it and opened it again, then sighed.
Ilifted my head and looked around. The others had already set up a skeleton structureinside and had their tents upright.
Isighed again and bowed my head low.
“Hey!”
Ilooked up.
Jwas back.
Ismiled within.
“You’llneed to use these.” He knelt down next to me and took out several straightwooden poles that were wrapped inside the folded tent.
“Thereare small nodes on top of these poles, see…” He pointed to the end of thewooden pole and stretched the material over it until the node found a littlehole. “Like this.”
Hepulled harder on the fabric and continued, “It holds well, and you can stretchyour tent upward.”
Thenhe looked at me, his dark eyes fixed on my green, and for a moment, I didn’tsee anyone around us anymore. We looked at each other for what could have beenan eternity. Then his gaze fell to my lips, and my heartbeat inevitably quickened.
Heswallowed and then quickly stood up. “Ahem… I’ll set up the other side, allright?” he said, then walked to the other end lookingat the ground.
Mythoughts were a mess; I couldn’t make any sense of them at all. Looking back inhis direction, I only managed to say, “Thank you, J.”
Helooked back at me and smiled.
Itwas the smile. The one I saw in mydream. It was warm and gentle, and—as in my dream—it made me happy.
“You’revery welcome, Dora.”
Peterand Rick collected the firewood, and by the time it started getting darker, wewere all sitting in a circle around a pile of coals and a few remaining flames.The potatoes and meat, covered in large-grained salt, were cooking under theburning coals.
Iwas starving. Food made in a food processor was highly nutritious and gave me allthe necessary ingredients for healthy survival, but the taste the Old Earth Humanshad in their cuisine was simply out of this world—which, when I really thoughtabout it, it really was. It was out of myworld.
Ineeded to continuously swallow as I looked at the mesmerizing patterns of redveins glowing on the coals, thinking of the food underneath. How embarrassing,I thought, to succumb to such a basic instinct. And yet how could I not, whenit was so delicious?
Oncethe meat was done, Frank cut it into slices and handed it over to the others. Jgave me a fork and a knife, and I copied the others as they peeled off the saltfrom the meat.
Iinhaled the aroma.
Fabulous!
Itook the first hot bite.
“Good?”Peter called out over the fire.
“Mmm,yes, wery,” I responded with the food in my mouth. Everybody laughed. This, Irealized, was my first spontaneous answer that did not sound so typicallySenthien.
Ismiled.
“J,how long to the city?” Frank asked as he stabbed another potato.
“Ireckon we need a day and a half, so not much longer. However, I would like tocheck one of the side paths I saw last time we were here. I’m not sure what’s upthere, but it looked like an old road. Could have been a large paved roadbefore, but most of it is gone now. Perhaps it’s only an animal path, who knows. But I’d like two or three of us to go, see ifthere is anything of interest to us.”
Hestopped for a moment as he bit into a cooked potato crust.
“Ididn’t get to check it last time,” he continued. “And I think we are makinggood time and have enough food with us to do the detour. So, to your question,Frank, we should get to the city in two, two and half days.”
“Mmm.Good,” Frank acknowledged as he munched on his meat.
“I’mreally curious about the computer system! Must be awesome!” said Rick.
“We’llfind out…” said Frank.
“If we manage to enter the building inthe first place,” said Simon.
“Aye,”said Peter. “And, if that awesomecomputer has an equally awesome power source.”
“Ido wonder what type of power source that would be,” Patrick continued. “Itmight be something very different from what we used to know.”
“Dora,”Peter said, turning to me. “How do you produce energy in Uni?”
Stillfinishing my last bites of meat, I now resumed my Senthien front. I wascommunicating knowledge: finally something I was good at.
“Thereare several ways of producing power in Uni. It depends on the planet. Forexample, on Senthia, we mainly use solar power. The solar cells are embedded asvery small chips on the branches and leaves of engineered trees. There is avery specific pattern of chips, so these trees are highly symmetrical andidentical to one another.”
Iput the meat skewer on the floor, deciding that I’d had enough.
“Thiskind of solar cell was developed by the Descendants, though. I do not think youwill find anything like this on Old Earth.”
Alleyes were fixed on me. They were all silent, their faces a mixture of surpriseand wonder. This was probably the longest talk they ever heard from me. As soonas I realized that, I looked down, deciding to eat some more.
“Wow,something different.” Simon was the first to snap out of his silent awe. “Whatabout other Descendant worlds, then?”
“Geothermalpower is used on almost all worlds. Some worlds also use the bulk movement ofgasses on a large scale.”
“Movementof gasses?” asked Peter.
“Bah!Can you imagine the smell?” said Frank and all of them burst out laughing.
Ilooked at the group in confusion. I did not understand their reaction at all.
Oncethey calmed down, J asked, “What gasses are you talking about?”
“Thatdepends on the home planet. Usually it is the breathing air with hydrogen,nitrogen, and oxygen.”
“Ah,you mean the wind!” exclaimed Rick.
Ilooked at him. “Yes, wind, but also gusts, squalls, or gales. All of these arebulk movements of gasses, and they are all used for power production.”
“Sorry,Dora. Our Old Earth terminology is coming back,” said J. “So, what other energysources are there in Uni worlds?”
“Thethermal energy of organisms is used as well. My skinsuit, as well as myE-band,” I said, raising my left arm up
