–Rune-Balot is awake.
–Balot?
There was a rattling commotion from inside, and by and by the door slid open sideways.
“I thought I told you to come and call me the moment Balot regained consciousness!” The Doctor appeared in the doorway, unimpressed.
–I thought it would be quicker to bring her here directly to you. Tweedledee still spoke through the intercom.
“She’s a civilian, you know. Officially we need special dispensation to get her permission to even walk down the corridors…” The Doctor sighed as he pushed his spectacles back up onto the bridge of his nose. The graphs and numbers that had been showing on his Tech Glasses—on the monitor in his spectacles—disappeared, and his blue eyes were now fixed on Balot.
“I’ll explain why we’re all here later. Right now, I need you to rest your body.”
Balot stared back at the Doctor and asked,
–Where’s Oeufcoque?
“He’s under treatment. From me. You don’t need to worry about him.” The Doctor seemed to be blocking Balot’s way, both physically and with his words. “Remember how you didn’t want him to see you naked? Well, consider that he doesn’t want you to see him in his present state for very much the same reason. Also, he’s in some sort of shock. I don’t know exactly why…but I think it’s best if you let him alone for now, just for the time being.”
When Balot heard this she was filled with such sadness that her eyes went dark. And yet, wasn’t it none other than Oeufcoque who had taught her not to just ignore her sadness, but to try and do something about it?
–Oeufcoque said that we were partners…
“Well, I’m not—”
–I want to apologize. I just want to say I’m sorry.
The Doctor averted his eyes, troubled, and Balot took advantage of this.
–Please.
Balot slipped by him. She had read the Doctor’s movements completely.
“Hey, Balot!” Taken aback, the Doctor reached out to try and stop her, but he couldn’t even make contact—she dodged nimbly out of his grasp.
–Even though it was such a struggle for her to walk this far…
Tweedledee was full of admiration, as if he had watched an impressive display of showmanship, and pulled the Doctor’s arm back.
–What harm can she do? She just wants to say hello.
The Doctor opened his mouth to speak but remained silent.
Balot went on into the room.
Instruments were scattered all around, and in the middle there was a cylindrical water tank. It was about as wide as Balot, and it was full of liquid, with something unrecognizable floating on the surface.
She couldn’t tell at first glance whether this was Oeufcoque or not, but her intuition told her that it was.
Flesh and steel spiraled out from something that looked like a vivid red human embryo.
She realized in an instant that this was Oeufcoque’s body, turned inside out.
It had a gentle pulse, and it was living inside the nearly clear liquid, basking in the warmth of the red blood swirling around the body.
Balot touched the water tank with her hand. Then she rested her forehead on it, closing her eyes as if to pray a silent prayer.
The clumps of flesh and steel stirred. They seemed to have noticed Balot’s presence. Here and there they started turning squishily, contracting.
Forehead still on the water tank, Balot shook her head.
The Doctor, who was watching this, turned back to Tweedledee. “Are they having a conversation?”
Tweedledee shrugged his shoulders.
–“I’m sorry I was so useless, and that I put you in danger as a result. Forgive me,” that’s what he’s saying.
The Doctor nodded. And then?
–“I love you.”
“Oeufcoque said that?”
–No, the girl.
Tweedledee seemed amazed.
Then Balot planted a kiss on the outside of the water tank. Softly, carefully. Then she came away from the tank and walked back toward the Doctor.
–He says he’s going to sleep for a while.
Balot raised her eyebrows, scowling.
–Will he be okay?
She knew that if she stopped scowling she’d start crying.
“It’s my job to make sure he will be.” The Doctor spoke with a serious face, pushing his glasses up again, when Tweedledee tapped his arm.
–Hey, can I take her down to the pool? She’s scheduled to go there soon, isn’t she?
The Doctor’s face hardened somewhat. “She’s not using that until I’ve gone over a few things with her. She’s owed an explanation. She’s going to be leaving the facility soon. Along with us.”
–I get it. You don’t want Eve to accidentally taste the forbidden fruit, right? I get it. As long as she doesn’t have temptation placed right before her eyes, she’ll be able to resist.
03
–I don’t have to breathe, ever.
Tweedledee spoke as a school student might boast about what a fine home he came from.
–According to the doctors, I’m a Complete Individual. That’s my thing.
–A Complete Individual?
–Means I’m not dependent on my environment. That my core is even tougher than my shell—I’m completely hard-boiled.
Clopping along in her slippers, Balot considered the meaning of these words.
Everywhere in the building seemed to be divided by glass panes. It was like being in a giant box—all the slopes were covered in iron and concrete and glass.
Grinning, Tweedledee told Balot all about the facility and himself. Balot felt a bit like a transfer student. As if she were supposed to be here, and indeed, were destined to stay here from now on.
–I don’t have to breathe. And I barely eat. Even when I do eat, all I have is a bit of light. And I don’t even really need that.
–You don’t eat?
Balot seemed surprised again, much to Tweedledee’s obvious delight.
–My body needs to change its fluids every once in a while. The challenge is to make that exchange as simple as possible, apparently.
–Can you taste things?
–Sure, I can taste. I can even feel hungry if I want to. By snarcing my insides, of course. But most of the time I don’t feel anything. Back then, I thought I might taste coffee again, as it’s been a while, and I tried to remember what it was like to feel thirsty, but then you said you didn’t want any.
–Sorry.
She didn’t actually feel particularly apologetic—she just didn’t know what else to say.
–No worries. It’s not as if I actually needed to drink anything. I have thousands of little hard drives embedded inside my head, so I can bring up lots of senses or tastes anytime I want.
–So it’s like you have a library inside your head?
Tweedledee made a funny face.
Then, he seemed to understand. Balot realized in that instant that Tweedledee had looked something up in the dictionary inside his mind. What a library was.
–That’s right. There are lots of books and dictionaries in here. And I can replay audio and visuals too. More or less any stimulus that can be processed by the five senses, in fact. But I try not to cram too much in. My snarc abilities seem to suit me better. It’s different with other people, of course—some people find that the more information they’re weighed down with, the more they want to acquire additional information… What about you? Do you want to store something inside yourself?