Natalia Date 2 Part 2

Alan and Natalia sat together in the kitchen of Atlas.

Or perhaps it was one of several kitchens. It was the only one they had located.

“So, we wasted our last date thanks to Nagasaki.” Alan leaned against the counter. “We could try another horseback-riding lesson after breakfast.”

“Oh, that makes sense.”

Natalia frowned into the refrigerator.

“What is it with the mushrooms and weird cheese?”

“Oh, I thought Joan would’ve told you.” Alan smiled. “It’s the traditional cuisine of our captors, according to whatever Ariadne had on her alien mouth-phone. Human milk, and whatever you can grow with human milk. Mostly mushrooms and plants I’ve never heard of.”

He shrugged.

“It’s not bad.”

“Seriously?” Natalia shook her head. “That’s just fucked.”

“Actually, I kind of think it’s cool. No animals were harmed.”

“Dude, it’s people.”

“Have you ever been to a dairy farm?” Alan asked.

Natalia closed the refrigerator.

“But doesn’t this mean they have people trapped somewhere?”

“Nah. It’s all Skynet.” Alan shrugged. “You’d have to ask her why she does it.”

“That’s a good question.”

Sky appeared in the room.

Alan could not tell whether she had teleported or merely dropped a cloaking spell. She wore one of her Japanese-presenting bodies.

“It’s fun,” Sky said.

Natalia stared at her. “What do you mean?”

“Building things out of myself is fascinating. I’m not a natural at witchcraft, but a little can go a long way if you’re clever.”

Sky gestured around the kitchen.

“I helped build Atlas. My drones produced the biological feedstock. Fungi processed most of it, and Ariadne engineered the resulting materials into almost everything you see.”

“What?”

Natalia looked down at her chair. It appeared to be made from some seamless mixture of wood and plastic.

“We used a few cultivated bivalves and arthropods for specialized structures,” Sky continued. “Symbiotic plant cells and modified human cells handled other applications. We imported several tons of desert sand for minerals, and Ariadne synthesized some trace elements at higher concentrations. The Rescue Patrol uplifts handled the detail work.”

Sky smiled.

“It’s crude compared with most Stargazer construction, but it gave us more control than pure Signal-craft synthesis. We also didn’t have to owe anyone favors.”

“That’s very cool.” Alan ran a hand across the table. “What do other Stargazers do?”

“It depends on the culture. Some groups, particularly the social Darwinist subcultures, produce everything through direct magic as a mark of status. It consumes a great deal of time and attention.”

Sky leaned against the counter.

“Others are parasitic on industrial cultures. Some built automated industries and trade for what they need. Others coerce less powerful societies into providing it. Most settlements use some mixture of those approaches.”

“But Atlas is mostly your body, fed to mycelium?” Natalia asked.

“Almost all of it, yes.”

Sky smiled.

“I get a kick out of it.”

“It feels dehumanizing.”

Natalia examined the countertop as if it might move beneath her hand.

“That’s why I like it,” Sky snapped.

The kitchen went silent.

“I stopped wanting to be human a little before Alan was born. Why do you think I named myself after the villain from *Terminator*?”

“Oh.” Alan laughed uneasily. “That explains a lot.”

Natalia sat down. She looked exhausted now, and a little frightened.

“It turns out even the Producers couldn’t grant that wish,” Sky said thoughtfully. “Not the way I meant it.”

“You asked?” Alan studied her, realizing that he did not understand Sky at all.

“They can change your DNA. They can manufacture an artificial soul, turn you into a robot, or make you forget your life.”

Sky looked around at the kitchen she had grown from herself.

“None of that ends humanity. Not the way I meant it.”

“You asked them?” Alan repeated.

“Twice.”

Sky smiled.

Then she vanished.

Natalia stood immediately.

“Let’s go outside.”

Alan followed her toward the door.

He decided not to mention that he was fairly sure the swamp was also made out of Sky.