“Whatis that there?” asked Frank, pointing to a section of the map north of ourposition.
Everyonelooked at the little white square, which was slowly blinking from white to a shadeof gray.
“Itlooks like… it’s the location of our village, isn’t it?” said Simon, tipping hishead to one side.
“Yes,you’re right.”
“Thismap was created before the Evacuation. It cannot possibly show our tree village—itwouldn’t know where it is, right?” Frank said, still looking at the screen.“Right?”
“Sowhat is it, then?” asked Peter to my left.
“Perhapsit’s your underground installation,” I said and looked at them.
Theyall looked at me, obvious surprise on their faces, and then back to the screen.
“Hmm,I think you’re right. This must be it,” Peter said.
“Andwhat is that?” asked Patrick, pointing to a small yellow icon between the undergroundinstallation and the ruined city.
Theyall shook their heads. I came closer. “This looks like a classic symbol forenergy or power.”
“Really?”said Simon. “It’s different from any of our symbols.”
“Welabel power plants like this,” I said, pointing with my finger to the yellowicon.
“Well,if that’s the case, this is getting really interesting. Dora, can you tell whatkind of power plant it is, by any chance?” asked Peter.
“Ican’t.” I shook my head slightly and looked back at the screen. “And I’m notfamiliar enough with the system to find out. You will probably need to go thereand check.”
Everybodywas quiet again.
Patrick,looking at the map, leaned his head first one way and then the other.
“Youknow, J, I can’t seem to escape the feeling that the path we took two days ago isthe path to this place.” Patrick looked at J and arched his eyebrow.
“Youactually might be right,” said J.
“Thatmeans we need to go back there again. And this time, with some tools,” saidSimon.
“Thisis good,” said Peter. “At least we know where to look now. The problem is thatwe’ll need to wait a few months.”
“Why?”
“It’stoo late to make another expedition, Rick. By the time we’re back to the treevillage and get ready again, the river will be overflowing. We wouldn’t manageto cross it. We’ll need to wait.”
“Ihave an idea,” I said as I checked the power level of my E-band.
“Whatis it?” asked J.
“I’mnot sure if it will work.”
“Ifwhat will work?”
“Letme try something. I’m not completely sure yet if it is possible,” I said,paging through the information on my E-Band, “but my E-band should be able to projectthe power of the microgenerator to other computer systems within a certaindistance.”
“Idon’t understand. What does that mean?” asked Peter.
Beforeanswering, I confirmed with a few more swipes of my E-band that rerouting powerwas indeed possible. I set the radius to the maximum: all computer-linkedelectronic equipment within this range would be charged.
Iturned to Peter. “It means that my E-band can initiate a power surge to your undergroundinstallation and its computers.”
“Really?You can do that?” asked Rick.
Ilooked at Rick. “It’s not me doing it. It’s just standard Descendant technology.”
ThenI looked back at my E-band and tapped for execution.
Withinmoments, we heard a low beeping sound coming from the computer wall screen. Welooked to the map again. The underground installation icon now shone a brighterwhite, and very close to it another white blinking square had appeared.
Momentarily,the sides of my vision blurred, the sounds dimmed, and I could tell anotherVision was coming.
Cheering. Loudvoices. Happiness.
Butalso – sadness. Deep, deepsadness.
Iclosed my eyes tight and pushed it away.
I am not a Senthien.
I am not.
I am not a Senthien anymore.
Ishouted it in my head and kept pressing my eyelids shut till it hurt.
Not anymore.
I am—Human.
I am Human now.
“Dora,are you okay?” I heard J right next to me.
Iopened my eyes slowly. I saw clearly again.
Iexhaled. “Yes, yes, I’m fine. Thank you.”
Hekissed my forehead and whispered, “Let me know if you need anything, okay?”
“Whatdo you think, Dora? It looks like it worked, aye?” said Peter.
“Yes,Peter. I do think so,” I said.
“Goodwork!” He patted me on the shoulder, but then pulled his hand back. “Oh, sorry,Dora, I wasn’t thinking!”
“Itis all right, Peter.” I turned to J and smiled. “I am getting used to it.”
“Uh,guys?” said Rick. “Why is there another blinking square next to our village?”
“Perhapsit’s just a different part of our underground installation? Who knows…” Peter shrugged his shoulders.
Ifelt a Vision building again, slowly, to the edges of my field of view. Iclosed my eyes and pushed it away.
I am Human now.
Human.
Human.
Let me be. Human.
Myheartbeat increased for a moment, but the Vision subsided and disappeared. Iopened my eyes again.
“Damn,I’m so curious if it worked!” said Frank.
“Whydo you have doubts?” I asked.
“Ifyou lived in our time, Dora, you’d learn never to trust a computer system. Italways turns its back on you when you least expect it.”
“Youmake it sound as if it were alive,” said Patrick, half laughing.
“Well,you know, sometimes I had a feeling it was and it did stuff just to piss meoff.”
Theyall laughed.
“I’mnot joking, you guys. I swear, one of my computer’s mostimportant tasks was to quit a program unexpectedly right when I was in themiddle of it. And, of course, before I thought to save my work.”
Patricksmiled and said, “That’s because you were using the wrong system, buddy.”
“No,it’s because computers don’t like me.” Frank crossed his arms over his chest.
Petershook his head and then turned to me. “Dora, do you want to look through theother folders in the system? See what else can we find out before we leave?”
“Ofcourse, Peter, the Senthien in me is always eager to browse through new data,”I said and turned back to the screen.
Chapter 23
Wewere making good time going back to the village, though our backpacks were nowa lot heavier from many items we scavenged in the ruins. Most of the first day,J and I walked behind everyone. He kept holding my hand, and I kept smiling forno particular reason.
Onthe afternoon of the second day, J suggested to camp after lunch and continue forward on the third day. Some of the group wenthunting, but J declined and said he had something else in mind.
“Come,Dora. There is something I want to show you,” he said, hiding his excitement
