Mercury - Part 13

Part 13 – Empathy


EXPERIMENT 16, 10/04/2023

(Two figures sit across from each other at the table. One is a middle-aged man, the other is a rabbit recom of age four. On the table, facing the recom, there is a computer monitor.)
RESEARCH ASSISTANT: "Hello, Uranus. Today, we will be showing you images and getting you to rate them from happy to unhappy."
URANUS: (nods, starts clicking silently at the computer screen, and then stops) "Jupiter said that these experiments don't make sense anymore."
RA: "Why would it say that?"
U: (shrugs) "Now that Terra's dead. Jupiter said it's not scientific. I don't know what she means."
RA: "Well, in a way it's right. We don't have a control anymore. Terra was remarkably average. But it still wasn't properly scientific. One is a small sample size. This isn't science. This is business."
U: (continues pressing the buttons) "I didn't know Terra. We only saw it a couple of times, on a couple of the experiments."
RA: "It was unfortunate that she fell ill like she did."
U: (stops pressing the buttons) "You seem sad today. Is it because of Terra? Did you grow attached to it?"
RA: "Uranus, Terra was a human girl... you can use 'she' in her case."
U: "Do you need to talk about her, Mr. Marcus?"
RA: "She was from the orphanage... She was a nice girl. You should continue your trial, Uranus."
U: (looks back at the screen, and returns to pressing buttons) "Do you have any kids, Mr.Marcus?"
RA: "No, I don't have any children. My wife can't bear children."
U: "I'm sorry to hear that, Mr. Marcus... It sounds like you wanted kids."
RA: "Yes, I've always wanted a family. But this would be no place for kids, anyways. A Bio-Tech facility in Siberia is hardly a good environment to grow up in."
U: "We're growing up here. Terra was growing up here, too."
RA: "I know. For Terra, it was a step up. For you, you are fortunate to have even these facilities. Most recoms are slaves. All you need to do is participate in a few trials and you get everything you need."
U: "If you want, Mr. Marcus, you can consider us your children."
RA: "No, Uranus, I... no, that's not a good idea. You are not even human." (gets up from his chair and shuts off the computer monitor) "We will finish this trial later..."

***

We were seated in the 'Chateau Rouge' for dinner, after having decided that going out for lunch would have been a waste of a classy place. We had previously returned to our room to change into more formal clothes for this outing, since it was unlikely that a place as pretentious as this would allow us in wearing anything but our bests. Well, only I needed to change out of my tropical tourist garb into a nice black suit I packed for just such an occasion. Samara still changed, despite not needing to, into a slick looking pantsuit. Nice as it was, though, it still made her look rather androgynous. It was any wonder that some people thought she was just a very flamboyant boy in his late teens. Her voice, more akin to a prepubescent child with an inclination towards song than a man or a woman, didn't help with this much either.

   We had already ordered our wine by the time that any kind of real conversation started. "So," I started with a curious tone, breaking free of idle banter about the live music that was playing, "it looks like you and Nova have known each other for quite awhile. Where'd you meet?"

"Oh? Why do you want to know about her?" said Samara, tapping the ends  of her fingers against the surface of the table, her retracted claws still making a light clicking sound as she did so.

I smiled and said, "Well, I'm actually more curious about you than her. I really don't know much about you, so I thought we could tell each other a bit about ourselves." And really when it all came down to it, I wanted to avoid offending her. I knew that I was sleeping in the same bed as someone tonight, and it sure wasn't going to be Nova Seven.

"Isn't that a bit unprofessional? Giving all these personal details about ourselves? I'd hate to get attached," said Sam, smiling slightly as she sipped from her wine. "Besides, don't you know all about me already? Either that, or I've overestimated your famed information gathering skills."

I chuckled and closed my menu, having decided on the single chicken dish offered. I didn't like the low amount of selection in these fine dining places. Other than making me feel super classy, I didn't feel that fine dining had any advantage over a cheap Old Chinese place. Sam, though, seemed like she was in her element here. Maybe she had a more refined palate than me? "Professional? We're just a husband and wife enjoying their honeymoon. Why the need for professionalism?" I smiled and rubbed the back of my neck lightly, "And I think that hearing stories about you would be far more interesting than reading dry reports and records."

"Well, that sounds perfectly reasonable," said Sam, closing her menu as well. She explained, "We were best friends, practically inseparable, after we met at a school club." Which I assumed was code for the support group that she attended when she was younger for 'differently sexed' recoms. The recom gene pool always popped up variations, as well as the various intersex conditions that humans could be born with, so these kinds of support groups were pretty popular to have in place in large schools. Though there was one other interest that she and Samara might have shared, if my intuition was correct.

Both Samara and I gave our orders to the waiter, who hurriedly walked off with it, before I asked, "So, is she the one who got you into musical theatre?"

She stared at me blankly for a couple moments, holding back any show of emotion about it, before cracking up. "Oh my god, you know about that?" she laughed, "That's so embarrassing. I must say that I'm impressed that you'd know that." She shook her head and sipped from her wine, smiling, "Nova was always the star. I hardly measured up to her."

"I heard that you were really good. Incredible, even. You got a full scholarship to a nice Oceanian fine arts school, didn't you?"

She nodded slowly and smiled, "The Cephalon Institute of Arts."

"Why didn't you go?" I asked. I was genuinely curious about this. Given her interest in theatre, it would be silly to turn down such a thing. Then again, at the time, she had a more lucrative offer from the SDF for a completely different set of skills.

"I guess it just wasn't a fit for my life at the time," said Samara, a bit wistfully. She shrugged and said, "Anyways, I make much more money doing this kind of work and it's more exciting and relevant."

I could tell how untrue her statement was just by the tone in her voice. I thought for a few moments, watching my wine carefully, and said, "You should do it."

Sam put her glass back down on the table, certain to line it up correctly with her plate. "What are you talking about? Are you crazy?"

"You should go to art school. I think it'd be better for you than this kind of work. I mean, sure, it's excitement at first, but eventually you can never get out. It sucks you in. And it's a lonely road. You have to keep everyone at an arm's length, just to protect them.  And then holding people from getting close turns into pushing them away. Believe me," I said. This career suited me, for sure. I was perfect for the job. But there were many times that I regretted doing it.

Sam shook her head after a few silent moments had passed, "No, I can't, I have to do this-"

"This one job," I interrupted. "I know. And I need you to help me if I can do this job. I know this is important to you, for whatever reasons. But whatever your goals are, I'm sure that this job is only another step. Just go to art school after this is done."

"I... I can't do that. I owe so much, to so many people, and I have to repay it all."

I sighed and pulled a pair of fresh gloves from my laptop case, which I carried for those situations where fingerprints were a bad idea, placing them on the table. I could relate to her reasons for continuing in the field. I started out that way, too, but eventually it was impossible to start over, the deeper you became entrenched in these things. I stood up and walked towards the band, whispering a few words to them and handing them some money as Samara looked on, perplexed.

I knew how our kind of life could be, and I knew how Sam must have been feeling at the time, if she was anything like me. I returned to the table, and my selection of music started to play, soft at first. It was a song that I knew Samara could perform to, and by the change in her expression, I could tell that she recognized it. I wasn't a romantic by any stretch of the imagination. But in those moments, I decided to give us both the chance for living out a fantasy before putting our lives on the line yet again. And given everything I knew about both of us, this was the perfect way.

Sam had already put the gloves on as I arrived at the table. I stretched my hand out to Samara and said with as charming a smile as I could muster, uttering the male lead's line before the dance number from Green Sunshine, the musical she had done in high school. The musical that got her noticed by the Cephalon school. "Show me what it's like to be amazing."

She took my hand, and got up from her seat, saying in a stage whisper, "Please observe carefully."

Somehow, I always had a knack for doing just the right things at just the right times.