The Space Spoon novel Chapter 16

Shayla and E00 sat and looked into space while the wind died away. She stroked her index finger between the fingers of her other hand, rubbing harder and harder until the agony forced her to concentrate. Her tired mind fought to form logical ideas, to focus on something, to devise a strategy. Her mind was plagued by images of the purple eyes.

“Shayla, I know what you are thinking, but you can’t simply stroll in that area,” E00 stated, his robotic voice disturbing her train of thoughts. “There are beta and gamma radiations that can harm your body irreparably.”

“I have to. I need to see with my own eyes that there is nothing left, that his existence has ended.” Shayla paused, gasping for air. “He's reckless, sure, but I can’t believe he would throw his life away. At some point, he mentioned something about a self-preservation instinct embedded at the core of his species.”

Shayla came to a complete stop. Even though her lungs resisted, she needed to breathe in. Her heart raced as if she was still in the thick of a shootout. Her perplexity was heightened by her shallow breathing, to the point that she couldn't make a decision.

The rusty body of E00 stood tall in front of her as Shayla didn’t even try to stand. The robot’s eyes reminded her of Tejeda and that made her muscles twitch and look away.

"I'll go get him," E00 said. "But, for the time being, I'd like you to get inside the shuttle and stay there. Even though the amount of radiation here is smaller than in the hypocenter of the explosion, you are still at risk after extended exposure. The shuttle was far enough away that it was not destroyed, although it may have been damaged. Nonetheless, its construction should remain intact and offer you adequate protection."

“Get him?” Shayla mumbled. That was the single thing she heard from E00’s speech. Was he implying that Tejeda lived?

"I am not implying," E00 answered her unspoken question. "I am saying it. I can feel him. But he is different. I didn’t want to tell you this because I was afraid you would run to him and that area is too dangerous."

“Different how?” Shayla asked, not interested at all about E00’s worries.

“He is dazed. A darkness is rising against him, harsh and powerful, flooding over his conviction until nothing but that darkness would remain. His only lingering thought is about the need for the right body and the right lie for him to be anyone, but never himself.”

Shayla darted toward the dome. The pile of rusty metal that made up E00’s body stood in her path. "Shayla, I said I would go and you get inside the shuttle. I can get to him faster than you as I know exactly where he is."

Her hands fell on her sides. “Ok, I will go to the shuttle. But what about you? Will you be ok?”

Flattened at one end, the entire length of the object was a complicated network of inlays, which E00 could best compare with a neural network. All the relays converged to the other end of the bone, where it ended in a sharp tip.

E00 would have thought that he was going insane if he wasn’t so certain of the things he was perceiving. That object was giving him the same vibrations as Tejeda did, even though the emotions transcending through it were less complex and of lower intensity.

He couldn’t suppress his curiosity and touched the tip of the bone. This sent an impulse that traveled through the neural network as a flash of sparks from node to node. If E00 wasn’t sure by now that something was alive, he was certain of it now.

As his steps ventured forward to the shuttle, his thoughts were a mess. Eons ago, E00 left behind his corporeal form when he reached ascendence through the psionic path. He lowered his head to stare at the thing in his hand. That being was merely a few steps away from attaining the same level of mastery through the biological way.

E00 decided he would stick to this robotic body if it permitted him to stay close and observe this marvelous being called Tejeda Hajar.