**
Dev sat herself down on the mat that was in her relaxation area and crossed her legs up under her, leaning her elbows on her knees as she regarded the dimly lit space.
Her body was very tired. After the long session in the gym, and the long session in the pool doing all those unfamiliar things she felt pleasantly exhausted and she was looking forward to the big comfortable bed downstairs. But first, she wanted to sit and think for a few minutes.
This was something she’d never been able to do. She’d never really had the choice of where to go and what to do, except for those few minutes between class and meals, and lab and sleep.
Now, here in her quarters she could choose to do downstairs and go to sleep, or sit here and think, or read a page of her book, or even go into the other side of her two level space and run a sim if she wanted to.
The freedom was almost intoxicating.
So though she was tired, she had climbed up into her relaxation area and now she was sitting here on the cushy meditation pad enjoying a bit of peace and quiet just because she could.
She was pretty sure no other bio alts got to do this. The ones in the creche - certainly not. The ones here in Interforce? She’d heard two of the mechs talking when she was working with Clint. They’d discussed eating in the common room, and their sleep bunks in a communal room together and what would happen if they were late getting to work.
They hadn’t sounded really unhappy, more typical griping she remembered from the creche but they weren’t treated as natural born. They didn’t have what she did. Dev looked around her space pensively. Here she had the same as any other person in the ops group, an insanity of riches to one of her kind.
So. She figured she had to do a really, really excellent job here at Interforce because she didn’t want to go back to being treated like the mechs were. Dev felt a little uncomfortable with that, but she also knew it was true.
She’d gotten a taste for what it was like being a natural born, and she liked it. Was that what Doctor Dan was trying to warn her about, that night? Maybe it was. But she knew she didn’t want to go back to the creche, or even to be reassigned to a lesser job here.
She wanted this. She wanted to be not only a tech, but the best one here, to do excellent things for Jess, and have Jess come to trust her to do the right thing at the right time and make them both successful. She felt it as a fire in her gut, and it was new and strange, but good.
With a nod, she stretched herself out, and lay down on her back, looking up at the rock ceiling with its inset speckles of crystal that were evident in the low, blue light.
They were almost like stars. Dev felt her body relax, and she was able to let go that determination and think about her day, especially the lessons she’d learned in the pool.
That had been fun. A lot of fun. Not only had she gotten a pretty good idea of how to swim, she’d spent hours with Jess and they chased up and down the tank so many times she could still hear the splash of the water and Jess’s low laughter.
When they’d left the gym, it had been completely empty and they’d changed together in a comfortably casual silence before leaving the space and making their way through the quiet halls back to their quarters but not without a detour to the mess hall for a snack.
Just a fish roll and a cup of kack but it really hit the spot after all the activity, and especially more so because of the relaxed companionship as they sat in the mess just like any other agent and tech pair. Just like Elaine and Tucker, who gave them a casual wave as they passed through.
Jess. Dev called up a picture in her mind of her next door neighbor. She smiled as she thought about her, aware of a warm, happy emotion that caused. She thought maybe the pool had done Jess’s shoulder some good too, because she seemed in less discomfort when they finished, and her mood had improved as the night went on.
All good.
Dev let her thoughts drift a little. Then she let her eyes open, and sat up, getting to her feet and walking down the steps to the main part of the room. She was already in her sleepware, and she went to her bed and got under the covers, wondering what the next day would have in store for them.
She hoped it wouldn’t start like the previous day had.
**
For the first time in a while, Jess woke normally, at her own time. There was no strident alarm, and no soft bong of her timer, just a slow fade from sleep into awareness that left her blinking into the dim light, her body curled into comfort under the covers.
She glanced at the chrono and relaxed, seeing a respectable time before morning that let her stay where she was, and enjoy the moment instead of bouncing out of bed and bolting for the shower as sometimes she had to when she forgot to set the alarm.
She rolled over and stretched her body out, flexing her hands and sighing as she settled into comfortable position on her back. The room was still mostly dark, the lights embedded in the walls just faintly lit to match what was going on outside.
There was no real beating that circadian rhythm. Jess folded her hands over her stomach. Not that they hadn’t tried, and not that she couldn’t rig her own for a short while, especially when inserted. But she’d been born in this zone and given it’s preference her body stuck to it.
That turned her mind to Dev. What zone did your body think it was in when you were born on station, whirling around the planet all day long? Did they even have the same rhythms she and the rest of them did?
Dev seemed content to wake and sleep when told to, so maybe they’d done something to her that let her adjust without complaint. Or maybe she really did have to adjust, but just didn’t bitch about it.
Jess considered that last thought had it’s merits. Dev wasn’t a complainer. Part of that she knew was built in because she was a bio alt and part she suspected was just how Dev was. At least, she hoped so because it was something she really appreciated in a p..
Jess paused and exhaled. In a pilot? Sure. She’d told Dev point blank that’s all she wanted her to be, just a bus driver, hadn’t she? Well that was good. Dev had turned out to be an unexpectedly good bus driver so far, so they both should be very happy.
She didn’t want a partner. Certainly not a bio alt partner she knew very little about. Jess frowned, the words sounding metallic and false in her own mental ears because she suspected it wasn’t really all that true after the last couple of days.
It just hurt though, thinking of Joshua and that last bitter laughter. She felt embarrassed that she’d been taken like that, even though everyone else had too. She didn’t want to risk that happening again, and suffer the shame and the... grief... of knowing you were so horribly wrong about someone.
It was just too hard. Her stomach felt sick just thinking about it. Wasn’t it safer and easier for both her and Dev if she just kept her at arms length? What if the bio alt funked out at something, and had to be kicked back to serving breadsticks or something. Wouldn’t it be easier on her if she...
Jess pinched the bridge of her nose. Who in the hell did she think she was fooling? Here she was laying her arguing with her conscience when her ears were already cocked to listen for the first sounds of stirring from beyond that inner door.
There was part of her that wanted that friendship, no matter what her ego said about it. She wasn’t really a natural loner and never had been, enjoying the companionship of first her classmates, and then her fellow agents. Even when she disagreed with them, she liked being part of this closed, eclectic brotherhood.
Well. Jess tapped her navel with the edges of her thumbs. Maybe Dev just wasn’t structured for it. She seemed very friendly, but reserved so maybe she really didn’t have a choice after all and she’d have to deal with however it was the bio alt was programmed to relate to her.