Sanctuary Falling (38 page)

Annette fingered through the packets and opened one stamped with an orange. It smelled like fresh squeezed oranges, she emptied it into her water and stirred. When she took a sip it tasted almost like orange juice used to, before her nose and tongue conspired against her.

“Good?” Carl thought to her while chewing another too large mouthful of food. The others from their floor trickled back to the table.

“Yes, thank you.” Annette stirred her gruel and gave it a taste as well. It was so good it reminded her stomach just how hungry it was. Noting the speed at which the other diners ate, Annette began quickly shoveling the food into her mouth. Focused on her breakfast the low rumbling murmur of the crowd almost faded away to the point that she didn’t notice it. She did notice when it stopped.

The cause of the sudden silence appeared to be a prominent microphone floating into place at the front of a raised platform, at which were seated a group of street-clothes-wearing individuals. One of the individuals rose and stepped up to the mike, Annette barely recognized Niri, who had clearly been changed by responsibility. The woman had lost the playful style of dress which had been her customary quasi-uniform. “Good morning everyone,” Niri started in a businesslike tone, “Despite it being a Monday. Thanks to certain griping individuals,” Niri focused a beam-like glare on a table of unruly fourth-year students, “I have made the decision to once again revise the dress code. The fifth year students may still wear what they wish. Previously I included the fourth year students in the colored uniform code, that decision stands. I still consider the idea of giving fourth-year trainees free reign with clothing an arbitrary decision, that can lead to incidents of abuse towards lower level trainees,” with those words, Niri glared at a whole different group of green jumpsuits.

“What has changed is that the top ranked groups in each year may dress as they wish so long as the primary color is in the same color family
 
as their year’s color jumpsuits.
 
The rankings will now be reassessed monthly, so all groups must continue to work to retain their standings.
 
Some offset points will be awarded in addition to the test scores for outstanding individual achievements. Also, points can and will be deducted in cases of disciplinary action. The first, third and fifth Mondays of each month are role reversal days. On these days, the groups, including fifth year which will be issued yellow coveralls, which are currently given freer reign must wear their uniforms and all the other groups may dress as they please as long as their outfits match the color of their uniforms.”

The whole room broke out in cheers, both verbal and telepathic, some actually leapt up. Annette flinched and nearly fainted at the intensity of noise reverberating through her. The only thing that kept her grounded was the sudden placement of Carl’s hand on her shoulder. With his touch, came a sudden silence. Annette sat up straight in her chair and looked him in the eyes. He smiled sympathetically and thought softly to her, “If the air gets stuffy let me know, I’ll let more in to you.”

Annette sniffed at the air and noticed it had lost the motion imparted by the ventilation system. “What do you mean?”

“I learned, when I was where you are at, how to project a bubble of silence by telekinetically stabilizing the air in a sphere around my head, sound vibrations
 
just don’t get through, but sometimes neither does the fresh air.” Carl said out loud his voice was the only thing Annette could hear.

The idea intrigued Annette, “Once Tina says it’s okay, will you teach me how to do it?”

Carl nodded. Suddenly the bubble burst letting in the much muted sound of everyone resettling themselves.

A
I’m glad you are all so pleased with the idea of monthly assessment testing. If I had known you all would take it so well I might have gone with weekly shifts, but then that’s almost more assessment than learning,” Niri smiled and there were a few nervous giggles in the group. Niri blustered on, “Next, today will be a half day schedule. You’ll go to each of your classes for fifteen minutes then you will be dismissed for the rest of the day while we instructors have an organizational meeting. You will be responsible for the material which would have been covered today. So don’t treat it as a free day. Finally, Annette Peterson is to report to Tawny’s room immediately after breakfast.” Niri finally sat back down ending the announcements, and the microphone floated off to its charging receptacle.

Annette wondered at the summons to see Tawny. She hadn’t had any contact with the program since Tawny had effectively evicted her from the room. Annette heartily missed the program despite Prima’s pale attempt at imitation. Annette looked down at her empty bowl and started to rise to carry it off, but Carl snatched her tray away.

“I’ll take it for you, you go see what that summons was about,” Carl said.

“Thanks again Carl, I appreciate your help,” Annette said pushing herself out from the table before Carl could decide to pull her chair out for her. Annette delicately wove her way through the tables avoiding touching anyone and made her way down the hall to Tawny. She found herself standing before Tawny’s door before she was ready to speculate as to what Tawny could possibly want.

This time Annette paid attention to the door knob. It was such a small thing, but the act of opening a door had so many psychological meanings. This door was so much more suited to her compared to most of the doors in Sanctuary. Most doors in Sanctuary opened automatically, letting people reach their destinations easily, without effort. People went through them without so much as a thought. While those doors saved time they had no character. This door required interaction and effort. It took a micro-moment out of your day to go through it. You didn’t accidentally stumble into the room behind it. You had to want it and work for it. Annette smiled. It was a good door, and behind it waited a good friend.

Annette turned her attention from the door to Tawny’s ambiguous hints about her big surprise. What could it be? Another of her culinary experiments? Annette hoped not.
 
For an artificial life form which would never have to eat, Tawny was overly obsessed with food.
 
She liked providing the best possible, in the largest possible quantities. Not a flaw worth of dread, except she didn’t seem to comprehend why certain ingredients made some of her guests a little squeamish. Tawny also had little understanding of how much or how little food her guests were prepared to ingest.
 
Annette’s face scrunched up remembering Tawny’s escargot soufflé.

She was so busy thinking about the horrific possibilities, that she almost missed the door knob turning. Several possibilities flashed into her mind. The first of which, the idea that Tawny would accept another resident, she dismissed immediately, partially out of her own sense of pride. Maybe the surprise was that she’d been fitted with an automatic door opener. Annette disliked the idea, mainly because it invalidated her recent internal metaphor. The door swung open revealing a tall, athletic, crimson-haired woman with bright robin’s-egg-blue eyes, who was dressed in a white jumpsuit.

“Do come in Annette,” The woman’s voice caught Annette by surprise because though it lacked the stereo quality imparted by the room’s speakers, it was un-mistakably Tawny’s voice.

Annette stood frozen to the spot by the confusion that caused. Then a passing thought took Annette down an interesting direction, Angela had briefly mistaken Tawny’s voice for Corrine Dayton’s. Perhaps the cherry-red-haired woman was Corrine.

“Aren’t you going to come in?” The woman responded.

“Yes, Tawny?” Annette answered carefully enunciating the question of name as she stepped inside.
 
Annette quickly seated herself on the bed.

“Of course it’s me!” Tawny responded, flipping her hair around playfully.

“How?” Annette couldn’t stop herself from asking.

“It’s a prototype android form. The power source is biochemical. I can eat! It fuels me just as it does you! Would you like breakfast? I have nutrient solutions!” Tawny said opening a cupboard. It was definitely Tawny, her obsession with food was unmistakable.

“No, I just finished breakfast,” Annette quickly answered.

Crestfallen, for the first time visibly so, Tawny closed the cupboard, “Well I suppose I should get to the reason, other than surprising you, that I asked Niri to send you in. Every instructor has a student assistant who helps run errands, carry and set up materials, and various other minor things. That chosen assistant also brings achievement points to her or his group. I would like you to be my assistant.”

Annette’s mind spun, Tawny was an instructor? Tawny wanted Annette to be her assistant? Niri had already started the day talking about role reversals. “What are you teaching?”

“I’m the new pre-training instructor, as well as being the diversity instructor, I’m supposed to teach students about interacting with alien intelligences. Me being an
 
artificial intelligence and all, Niri thought I would be perfect!” Tawny answered taking a seat on the other end of the bed.

Annette’s mind absorbed the new information, “Pre-training and Alien interactions?” Annette scrunched her eyebrows unconsciously, “When did you decide to download into an android? I thought you were worried about someone else taking Corrine’s room.”

Tawny laughed, not her old tinny mechanical laugh, a real one. “Once Sinclair was out I was less worried about it, plus I wanted more mobility, plus Niri and I got to talking. She promised me a job if I went through the transition and that these would be my quarters in perpetuity. She went to Angela and had them permanently recorded as being mine. That said I contacted research and development.
 
Ralph told me about this prototype and. . .” Tawny shrugged.

“I get it, it was eating that decided you.
 
Can you taste stuff?” Annette asked.

“Yes, it’s a wonderful thing! This prototype can sample the exact chemical structure of anything that passes my lips. I can then compare it to an entire library of chemical structures. I can detect poisons of all types, bacteria, viruses, and the nutritional value of anything.
 
I even have small specimen containers built in, to bring things back for further analysis. Ralph calls this his best prototype in ages,” Tawny answered.

“Not one bit prideful are you?” Annette mumbled.

“My hearing is if anything enhanced, as is my sense of sarcasm. It came with the body, along with some physical coordination programming which is a little uncomfortable so far. Thankfully almost of my other physical requirements are nearly independent of my consciousness, though the elimination subroutine is somewhat bafflingly conscious.”

“Elimination subroutine?” Annette was almost afraid to ask.

“Yes, the subroutine which covers the removal of spent fuel from my system. I have to . . .” Tawny began to elaborate.

“I get it!” Annette interrupted quickly.

“You mobiles are so easily embarrassed by such simple biological necessities,” Tawny responded with a wide grin.

“That’s me, easily embarrassed,” Annette smiled back, talking to Tawny this way was wonderful, being able to see her as well as hear her, not to mention eye contact. Some of Tawny’s body language was still somewhat awkward but for the most part it was accurate.

“How did you get me talking about evacuation? I need an answer from you, will you assist me or must I take the time to break in a fresh mobile unit?”
 
Tawny said returning to seriousness.

Annette looked inward, did she really have it in her to take on more duties? Her roommates would probably appreciate the extra points, but could she handle it? It would mean extra responsibilities, but it would mean time she could spend with a friend.
 
“Could we make it a trial thing, I don’t know how bogged down I’ll be with studying. It sounds like a lot of responsibility.”

“Miss, I could help you keep organized,” Prima interrupted excitedly.

“And who is this? Should I be jealous?” Tawny asked playfully.

“Jealous? The Great Tawny jealous of me? Please my humor subroutines must be malfunctioning!” Prima squealed.

“It seems you are quite famous in electronic circles,” Annette told Tawny conspiratorially.

“Really?” Tawny asked with raised a eyebrow, like Angela’s.