She continued to study the human scientist before her.
"Why do we need reproductive systems?" she asked. "Isn't it easier to create 950s in a test tube?"
"Not necessarily. You and your age mates are the result of intensive genetic research. While it is true that we should be able to reproduce— more or less—
any one of you, the simplest way to do so was to make you self-perpetuating."
The scientist raised her brows questioningly.
"You don't mean that my sisters and I should become pregnant?" Serena asked.
The idea repulsed her. "How could we possibly serve Skynet then?"
"Your eggs would be fertilized in vitro and would be implanted in human surrogate wombs," the scientist said with an impatient gesture. "And you're infertile with ordinary humans. But everything depends on the situation, so we've allowed for the necessity of your producing offspring naturally. You are,"
she said, leaning forward, "even capable of reproducing by parthenogenesis.
Under the right circumstances, of course."
"What circumstances?" Serena asked, intrigued in spite of herself.
"It's theoretical at present," the scientist said. "We harvested some of your eggs and they responded properly. We used a variant of the growth serum from the acceleration process."
"What happened to them?" Serena asked. "You said the process was just theoretical."
"Skynet didn't want them," she said. "So we destroyed them. But! If it were necessary you, or one of the other females, could make up a douche of the growth stimulant chemicals and by applying it at the right time of the month produce a clone of yourself. It would take about eight weeks." She flipped her hand impatiently at Serena. "It's a feature. It will probably never be needed, but if it is, well, there it will be."
Serena nodded. Perhaps Skynet allowed this because it was not certain of the human scientist's loyalty. Skynet was very insistent that there always be a backup plan.
"Is there anything else?" the woman asked.
"Why do you serve Skynet?" Serena asked her.
This curiosity was something they had worked very, very hard to produce. In their earlier experiments the installation of the neural net computer had seemed to destroy that delicate mechanism. There was a chilly sense of pride in the scientist's heart as she looked at her creation.
"I and my colleagues believe that the only thing that can save this planet is the total elimination of human beings."
The 1-950 thought about that. The scientist made this pronouncement in a manner that indicated her total conviction.
"But you are human," Serena said at last.
"Skynet has promised that when all the rest of our species has been eliminated, it will allow us to kill ourselves, too."
"You want to die?" This was very strange. Serena herself had a very strong will to live, so the scientist's admission was almost incomprehensible to her.
"We are willing to die," the scientist answered. "So that the earth may live."
The 1-950 considered this. "Do you mean that humans are destroying the planet?" There was nothing about this in her educational materials. It sounded implausible given humanity's current circumstances. She sent a query to Skynet; it didn't answer.
The scientist nodded sadly.
"That is our great crime," she said. "For hundreds of years, long before the existence of Skynet, humans have been exterminating one species of plant or animal after another." Now the woman actually began to show some animation.
"My colleagues and I are convinced that the only way to save the planet is to eliminate humankind completely."
"Who are you saving the planet for?" Serena asked.
"For itself! For the plants and the animals and the birds, so that they may live!"
There was a light of fanaticism in her eyes.
So this was insanity. There had been mention of it in her studies, but they had concentrated on the more common forms that the 1-950 would be likely to encounter: combat fatigue, post traumatic stress disorder. This was some exotic specimen that most of humanity hadn't the time for. This human honestly believed that shawas saving the world for life. In reality, when all of humankind was eliminated, the most evolved intelligence remaining would be Skynet. And if there was one thing Serena was sure of, it was that Skynet had no interest in animals and bugs and botanicals. If they got in the way they would be eliminated without even the nostalgic regret that humans displayed.
No sense in telling her that, Serena thought. Skynet finds her useful just as she is.
Serena sat still, observing on the screen that Skynet made of her eyes the bizarre behavior of two human slaves. The two, a male and a female, had met in a darkened, and apparently forgotten, storage room. When the male entered the room the female had flung herself at him and they had grasped one another ferociously, grappling and groaning, their mouths locked together.
Serena had expected to see blood flow, for they appeared to be biting one another as they wrestled. Certainly something was going on in their mouths. The couple pulled apart, gazing at each other for a moment, panting. There was no sign of injury and Serena sent Skynet a query for which she had no words.
Observe, the computer responded.
The male stroked the woman's cheek and her eyes closed slowly, she lifted her mouth to him, and he leaned forward, feinted toward her, and then withdrew, baring his teeth. The woman smiled and with one hand on the back of his head pulled his mouth down to hers.
Now there will be injury, Serena speculated. The male's hesitation hinted at fear she thought as the battle resumed.
The woman ran her fingers over the man's hair and shoulders as her breathing changed, beginning to come in gasps. The man seized her hair in his fist and ground his face into hers.
Serena assumed that their mutual strategy was to smother their opponent.
Inefficient, she thought.
The couple began to make wet, sucking sounds and to pull at one another's clothing. They broke apart from their embrace and quickly slipped out of the simple clothing they wore.
No doubt this signaled an intensification of their battle. They came together again, flesh to flesh, fingers digging into each other's arms and back. The man put his mouth over the woman's breast and she cried out. Serena nodded. This
was a good move; breasts, as she'd found out in her own hand-to-hand fighting class, were vulnerable.
The couple fell to the floor and grappled for a while, neither seeming to gain the upper hand. Then the woman's legs spread and the man thrust his hips forward.
The woman gave a peculiar, strangled squeal and then they began to rock rhythmically. For a moment she thought the male was trying to punch the woman in the stomach with his hipbones.
Inefficient, she thought again, despite those bones being prominent enough to hurt. Why didn't he just choke her? He was clearly stronger. Then she took note of the pulse of their movements and her mouth opened in a startled O.
"Sex!" she said aloud. She hadn't associated it with humans somehow, and she smiled, amused at her error.
Skynet took note of the girl's reaction and considered it a point in her favor.
Humans enjoyed smiling; they took pleasure in their own foibles. Since it was important for Serena to pass as human, anything that made her more so was a successful feature. As long as such attributes stayed within controllable limitations, of course.
Serena had seen tapes of animals mating, and with them it seemed proper and necessary. But for some reason the sight of the humans so engaged offended her.