An Authorized Excerpt
Diary Entry, Year of the Blue Sun, Seventh Month, Day 13
Tagia was not my place of birth, and I never intended to
stay this long. There is something safe about living in one
place for a while, settling in, putting down roots. I guess
it’s like that for me. My dad was in the Kyleena military, a
fighter pilot. That fact had us moving every two years when
I was growing up. I came to this planet, this very
settlement because, straight out of college, Mercer
Laboratories offered me a job. It was a high-paying
assignment, top-secret and important. For once in my life, I
felt empowered, free to stay where I chose.
Now
I feel trapped. I don’t know why I’m overcome with the
desire to move on. There’s nothing else I need, nothing I
can name or think of. I am content in my solitude.
Cammie Sorenson
Thursday
The
smells of the lunchroom hung in the controlled air, faint,
unappetizing. I looked up and frowned. My friend was about
to lecture me. I could tell. She stood there in her white
labcoat, an outfit she made attractive in her own way.
Melanie grinned at me with a mixture of pity and empathy,
her brown eyes sparkling. “No one? You say there’s no one
you can think of to take to Palmer’s party? It’s a social
event, Cam! You’ve just got to bring someone. It wouldn’t
reflect well on you to come alone. It’s not like there will
be eligible bachelors there to pick from.” She rolled her
eyes and shook her head.
“Melanie, I told you, with all the research, the time in the
labs, I just don’t get out like you do,” I offered. It
wasn’t that I couldn’t get out, I didn’t want to. There were
a lot of scary diseases going around out there in the real
world. I preferred my high-rise apartment, surrounded by the
pristine plasma glass that kept even the fouled air away. I
was safe there with my books, my television, my music,
myself. After a long day at the lab, I didn’t want to go
anywhere but home.
“Oh,
Cammie. Let me help you. I have a friend that used Elser’s
Service before. I can get the web address for you. She said
it was easy, all done on the internet. You type in what you
want and bam, it gets delivered to your door for as little
or as long as you need it.” She pushed back a stray wisp of
her auburn hair. At lunch she always took it down and let it
hang loose about her face. “And after the date, if you want
something else… Well, you know. He’ll do whatever you say.”
“It
gets delivered? We’re talking about a real human right? Not
a machine, not a device?” I tried to ignore her implication
about sex. She had hinted I needed some, and maybe she was
right.
Melanie looked over her shoulder, eyeing Magnus and Jaime as
they passed us to sit at another table in the noisy lab
cafeteria. “Shh, keep it down. You don’t want them to know,
do you?”
I
flushed, feeling stupid, embarrassed and fifteen all over
again.
“Of
course, it’s a real person. And they check them for any
diseases, train them and everything. That’s what they’re
for, you know.”
“I
don’t know, Mel. They’ll be able to tell at Palmer’s. Jeez,
it’ll probably be pretty obvious. I don‘t think I’d feel
comfortable doing that.”
Melanie leaned in closer. “Cam, you’ve got to bring someone
to the party. There’s going to be awards, new appointments.
You know how Palmer feels about being grounded. He likes his
employees paired off.”
“I
don’t know, Mel. Let me think about it.” I dove into my
plate of peas and imitation chicken with a newfound desire
to fill my mouth with food. When I paused to look up at the
mirror behind Melanie, I was surprised at how severe I
appeared. My black hair was tied back in a tidy bun, my
brown eyes cold and stark. I turned to Melanie. She watched
me with pity as she finished off her own food. Finally, she
left me alone to think about it.
I
contemplated the whole thing over a plastic looking dessert
that resembled fruit, but was more than likely made from
tofu and calorie-free sugar substitute. What did I need a
date for? I didn’t want the contact, the closeness of a
counterpart. Besides, there were too many top secret
projects that I was working on. A date would ask questions.
But then, Mel was proposing an
escort, not a partner. A temporary man. A person with whom I
could share a few drinks at a boring work party where I,
more than likely, would be presented new appointments and
more work. More assignments meant more money, which meant I
could retire earlier than I planned to. Okay, so the idea
had its merits.
