The First of Her Kind part 3

Adam sat on the edge of the bed in the modification room holding out her arm as Jessie carefully extracted a blood sample. Dr. Sheridan seemed lost in thought, his piercing green eyes fixated on her. Jessie rolled across to a small fridge and placed the blood vials inside.

“I have some questions,” Adam started.

“Hold on,” Jessie rolled back across the room.

She unraveled some wires from a machine and attached round stickers to the ends. Adam remained compliantly still while Jessie stuck the wires to each side of her head. Jessie returned to the machine, pressing a few buttons.

“Go ahead,” she nodded.

“How did I die?” Adam asked.

A strange look flashed across Dr. Sheridan’s face before he answered. “That’s a reasonable question. You died during a skateboarding competition. Your board failed at the top of the ramp.”

“Skateboarding?” Adam thought long and hard. “I don’t think I know how to skateboard.”

Jessie looked at the computer monitor in front of her.

“You know what skateboarding is though?” she asked.

“Yes,” Adam answered. “It’s riding a board on four wheels.”

Jessie looked back at Adam. “Do you think you would like that?”

Adam thought long and hard. “I don’t know.”

Jessie glanced at the screen again and looked back to Adam. “I want to try something, Adam. I’m going to list different interests, subjects and topics. I want you to tell me if you know what they are and how you feel about them.”

Adam agreed silently and cooperated as Jessie listed off different sports, academic disciplines, hobbies and more. While she was able to define everything Jessie listed off, Adam found that she felt rather apathetic about each subject, having no great interest or opinions on anything. At one point, she noticed she could see the computer screen reflected in Jessie’s round, wire frame glasses. The images on the screen moved lazily with each answer.

“Ok, Adam,” Dr. Sheridan spoke up suddenly. “I want to try something new.”

Jessie looked over her shoulder at the doctor.

Dr. Sheridan leaned forward in his chair, “family.”

“A group of individuals related by blood or through marital connection,” Adam said. “I supposed I had one at some point, but…” she thought for a moment, “I don’t feel anything about one.”

“Brother,” Dr. Sheridan said, unblinking.

“A male individual sharing the same mother and or father as another person,” Adam said. “I’m indifferent.”

“Father,” Dr. Sheridan said, his gaze sliding to the screen in front of Jessie momentarily.

“The male parent,” Jessie said. “Same feeling.”

Dr. Sheridan seemed to chew on the next word before he spoke, “mother.”

“Female parent,” Adam answered, her thoughts drifted, “a female that births a child. Generally the caretaker. Also, can be an action, to ‘mother’ someone means to look after and care for them.” She thought for a long moment. A strange, subtle stirring rose in her chest but she could not identify it. As she remembered she was being observed, the feeling vanished. “I don’t think I feel anything about it.”

Dr. Sheridan nodded and stood up. “I think that’s enough for today.”

He left without another word, the lab door shutting hard behind him. Adam noticed Jessie’s thin shoulders fall as the door slammed.

“I’m not what he was hoping for,” Adam observed.

Jessie turned around and pasted on a soft smile. “I know you don’t understand it all yet, but Adam, you are a marvel. John has certain hopes for you. It has clouded his objectivity.”

“I can try to do better,” Adam said. “I owe you and him after all.”

“Owe us?” Jessie’s head tilted slightly.

“You brought me back,” Adam said. “I- I think I needed to come back. I wasn’t done yet. I’m grateful to you.”

Jessie looked at the computer screen for a long second before turning back to Adam.

“How did you come to this conclusion?” she asked.

“A dream I had,” Adam said.

Jessie almost lept out of her seat. “You? You dream? You had a dream?”

“The same dream, twice now,” Adam confirmed.

“Oh, oh, gosh,” Jessie spoke breathlessly as a grin spread across her face. “That’s amazing news. You’re the first to ever dream. I can’t wait to tell John. I- I should- can you tell me about the dream? In as much detail as possible.”

Adam nodded as she began to recount her dream of being on the cliff, jumping off and waking up in the lab. She explained that the whole time, she felt completely calm. For reasons she couldn’t discern for herself, however, she decided to leave out that the disembodied voice was Dr. Sheridan’s. Jessie’s eyes danced back and forth between Adam and graph on the computer.

“When you stepped off the cliff, did you feel the sensation of falling?” she asked.

Adam opened her mouth and then paused. “What does falling feel like?”

“You don’t know?”

“I haven’t fallen since I’ve woken up,” Adam said.

“It’s like,” Jessie’s blue eyes looked up, as if the right words might be written on the ceiling. “A rush of adrenaline, your heart rate spikes, it feels like you’re separated from your body for a split second and your chest just gets a buzzing feeling…” she stopped and chuckled, her cheeks flushing slightly. “I, um, I’m a cliff jumper in my time off.”

“Cliff jumping,” Adam repeated. “Jumping from a rock precipice into a body of water.”

“Yeah,” Jessie adjusted her glasses awkwardly. “I know, it’s a dangerous hobby.”

“Apparently, so is skateboarding,” Adam said with a shrug.

Jessie’s mouth dropped open for a second before a small laugh escaped her. “You made a joke. A morbid one albeit, but, still.”

“I guess I did,” Adam agreed.

Jessie checked her readings again, “it’s just too bad you can’t seem to feel the humor in it. Maybe that will develop with time though.”

“Can I learn how to feel again,” Adam asked.

“Uh,” Jessie sighed, “feeling can’t really be learned. How you should feel and how to show feelings can be taught. But, actually experiencing it… I don’t think so.”

Adam’s mind again drifted. She couldn’t shake the nagging thought that something wasn’t quite right. That she wasn’t quite right.

“Adam,” Jessie spoke up again, “what are you thinking about?”

Adam looked back at Jessie. “I suppose I’m just trying to connect what exactly all of this means.” She lied. “Maybe I’m just like a computer that’s slow to reboot.”

Jesie’s eyes slid back to the computer screen and back to Adam again. She opened her mouth and then stopped. She cleared her throat and stood up, gently removing the wires from Adam’s temples.

“Dr. Sheridan and I both think that you may be ready to join the others in the house if you would like,” Jessie said. “Today, we’d like you to go check out the house and meet the guys and the staff.”

“That sounds good,” Adam agreed.

She followed Jessie out of the sterile room and down a white hallway lined by more sterile rooms and small office spaces. In one office, Dr. Sheridan sat in a high backed, black office chair, a phone pressed to his ear while he rubbed his temple on the other side. It was then that Adam noticed his slide-show screen saver. She barely caught a good look at picture of him and; was that Adam herself, before all of this?… the screen faded to a picture of a dog. Longer hair, younger, but, Adam could have sworn she saw her own face, smiling over an icecream cone.

At the end of the hall was a wooden panel door, contrasting so abruptly against the sterile, white and stainless steal environment that it seemed almost surreal.

Jessie slid the name tag on her jacket through the card reader on by the door. With some mechanical whirring and a click, the door swung open. The world beyond was like a different dimension. They walked into a kitchen where a pot of coffee sat warm and half empty on the counter, fruit filled a green ceramic bowl and a breakfast nook occupied a corner across from the island next to a bay window that overlooked a manicured yard.

A man with dark hair buzzed short came around the corner with a cup in hand. He stopped short upon seeing the two women.

“Oh, hi,” he said politely.

“Lucian,” Jessie said, “this is Adam. She may be joining the house soon. Adam, this is Lucian, one of our success stories.”

“It’s nice to meat you,” Lucian extended a hand.

Adam reached out and shook it, nodded politely.

“Where’s Evander?” Jessie asked.

“Rec room,” Lucian said. “Lifting weights, again.”

“Why don’t you two stay here,” Jessie suggested. “I’ll go get him.”

She walked off. Lucian went over to the counter.

“Have you had coffee yet?” he asked. “I was the first one in the house. I didn’t know what coffee was or what it tasted like. I really recomend you try it with creamer and sugar first and if that's too sweet, try it without one or the other.”

He pulled a second cup from the cupboard and grabbed a bottle of cream from the fridge.

“I…” Adam found a warm cup being thrust in her hand. “uh, thank you.”

She took a sip from the ceramic mug. The warm, smooth sensation and sweetness was entirely different from the protein bars and raw fruit she had been eating for the past week while Jessie and the doctor ran their tests.

“Good, huh?” Lucian smiled. “Here, try one of these, it’s a donut.”

He turned around and picked up a white cardboard box, lifting the lid.

Adam recognised that the pastries before her were donuts. But, she couldn’t determine if she liked them or not. So, cautiously, she choose a round pastry with brown frosting and raised it to her lips. She took a generous bite and chewed slowly at first.

“That’s amazing,” Adam exclaimed.

“Maple bar,” Lucian put the box down, “good choice. I really like the bavarian creams myself.” He selected a donut with a black frosting and took a big bite out of it, turning it around to show the white filling inside. He swallowed before he began to speak again. “I figure this is the big benefit to this whole thing. We get to discover all the wonderful things about life like we’ve never even experienced them before. Food, drinks, being outside…”

“You can feel,” Adam observed.

Lucian looked around for a second before he nodded. “Yeah, not quite to the degree of real humans. But, I can. And, you can too. It’s a little muted and very inhibited by being constantly observed, but, you know it, don’t you? You can feel something.”

Adam thought about when Dr. Sheridan brought up ‘mother’ and her dream, and when she chose not to tell Jessie what she was thinking back in the modification room.

“That was feelings,” she said, more telling herself than speaking to Lucian.

“Yeah,” Lucian nodded. “You’re more like me. Evander, he’ll be here soon. He’s more like a robot. I biological machine. But, his body doesn’t keep falling apart.”

Lucian lifted his pant leg to show a prosthetic leg.

“They didn’t fit you with a biomechanical prosthetic?” Adam asked, recalling a large portion of her own arm was simply a skin covered piece of steel.

“They have, several times,” Lucian said. “I have one in my hand, in my arm, and a piece in my head too. For some reason, my body keeps rejecting my leg.”

“We’re working on it, Lucian,” A male voice spoke up. “You’ll be a whole man yet. The doc has a grand theory about it he’s not sharing with any of us.” The young, dark skinned man extended a hand to Adam. “I’m Benjamin, I’ll be one of the three staff members that will actually live here with you.”

“Like caregivers?” Adam asked.

“Exactly,” Benjamin said. “If any of your biomechanical bits fail, we can trouble shoot them. We are also here to interact with and observe you. We are hoping the better we understand how you guys tick, the more advancements we can make in the future.”

Jessie appeared back in the door way to kitching with a young, tall, blonde man standing just behind her.

“Adamm,” she said. “This is Evander. He’s our other resident.”

Evander stepped forward stiffly and extended a hand. Adam took note of his large muscles and blank expression as she extended her own hand.

“It’s nice to meet you,” she said politely.

Evanders hand completely encompassed hers.

“Yes, you as well,” Evander said in a dry tone.

Adam couldn’t help but notice that his grasp on her hand lingered for a second. His blue eyes seemed to be searching her face for some kind of answer.

Evander turned around, “permission to go back to the rec room?”

“You don’t need permission,” Jessie sighed. “Go ahead.”

Evander left and Jessie shrugged at Benjamin who gave a nod and quietly dismissed himself, going back through the door to the lab.

“Evander is a bit of a cold fish,” Jessie explained. “While Lucian here has struggled with the physical side of the biomechanical enhancements, Evander seems to struggle with some of the social and cognitive sides. Why don’t I give you the grand tour?”

Adam followed Jessie out of the kitchen and into a cozy living room furnished with suede couches and a big tv. Down the hall there were several doors.

“The first two rooms are staff rooms,” Jessie explained. “The guys are on this side, right across from our rec room.”

Adam peered in. Several game tables, and open work tables filled one end of the room, with shelves of games, puzzles, crafting supplies and tools. The other end was a make shift gym with weights and cardio equipment. Evander was there, doing deadlifts, his gaze fixed hard on the back wall.

“We encourage you guys to try anything you would like,” Jessie explained. “We have a contractor coming in next month to put in a shop for things like welding, wood working, pottery and mechanics. Became a necessity after Lucian dismantled a whole lawn mower engine in here.”

Adam reviewed the items on the shelves. A variety of painting materials caught her eye and she made note of them. As she was turning around. She caught Evander’s gaze on her as he stood with the deadlift bar across his shoulders like it weighed nothing.

Jessie was carrying on about the various activities available and didn’t seem to notice. Evandor, maintaining his intense gaze dropped the weights causing a ruckus that drew her attention.

“Will, Adam be staying in this wing with us?” He asked.

“No,” Jessie stated. “We thought for the sake of propriety, we would put her next to Emily.” She turned to Adam. “Why don’t we go take a look at your room?”

Adam nodded in agreement and followed Jessie out of the rec room, glancing back at Evander again. Lucian was certainly right, she knew it now. She was feeling. She couldn’t even begin to identify what the stirring in her stomach was, but it only grew as he pointedly nodded his head for her to keep going.

“Here we are,” Jessie said as she led the way down another hall and opened a door.

The room inside, while plain, was nice. A desk, chair, queen sized bed and oak bedroom set furnished the room. A bathroom was visible through the open door on the other side of the room.

“We can improve upon the space,” Jessie assured.

“I’m not even sure what I’d like,” Adam admitted.

“We’ll figure that out with time,” Jessie smiled that soft smile of assurance. “Come on. We want to run some more tests first thing in the morning and, if you want, we’ll move you in tomorrow.”

“I think that would be good,” Adam agreed.

Back in her cell, Adam lay awake in her cot, her thoughts consumed by the events of the day. Why did Dr. Sheridan have a picture of her and him on his desk top? And why was Evander staring at her like that. Maybe he knew about her history with Dr. Sheridan. What was this strange feeling in her stomach? Lucian seemed to know more than he was letting on in front of the staff as well. Adam sighed and rolled over pulling the thick cotton blanket over her head.