“What? You can have some fun too, it is not like anyone cares.” Ever since the little ‘incident’ with Niki and the baby, Cat was getting clingy. She had finished most of the houses and couldn’t think of any ideas for the rest. So she wanted to help with the cooking, usually it was just me and Nate. Apparently she hadn’t really been looking through our memories as much as everyone else. Just finding out that me and Nate had been messing around.
“That is not the point, he is my brother and I don’t need you messing with him.”
“I am not ‘messing with him’. We are two adults and we are just having casual fun. We both don’t really want anything more than that right now, we are friends and everyone else has someone so why not.”
John and Niki were together, Liz and Rein were as well, the other new ones were still getting used to the connection. But other than that it was just Nate, Cat, and me, so Nate and I decided that it was good to relieve stress. And I must say it was pretty great, the bond wasn’t that strong when just being near someone. You could feel their emotions but unless everyone was feeling the same thing it was pretty mute.
But with sex, it was like cranking it up to an 11. It was easy to tell what the other person liked and was feeling, no need for explanation or awkward talks. It was just pure connection and bliss and although it was pretty great alone, with Myc helping it cranked it up to a 12.
“That is fucking gross that's my brother come on.”
“Then go grab someone and get over your little tantrum. Have you really not looked through John and Niki’s memories or Liz and Rein’s, even if not on purpose. We are grown adults, sex is healthy and enjoyable, nobody is asking you to fuck your brother just to let the connection flow.”
“I have been bonded longer than anyone here other than John, I don’t need you telling me how to use it.”
“Apparently you do. Just because we aren’t willing to dive in full force like Niki, doesn’t mean that the rest of us have been messing around like you have. We are letting the changes take over slowly, everyone other than the new guys have a stronger connection than you. Even Liz and she has only been here for a few months.”
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“Well I don’t need the connection to live my life, I don’t need shit from all of you about who I am.”
“This is why, this is why Niki has such a problem with you recently. You have some weird idea that if you let the bond get any stronger than you will fade away. What happened to John was terrible, and it was not your fault. But this is not the same thing, John didn’t get to choose to strengthen the connection. But you do, it will be slow and deliberate and you would be that much happier for it. Until then though, you are just going to keep feeling like an outsider, you are going to lose your friends and your brother.”
“Nate wouldn’t leave me, we are family.”
“Me and Nate are closer than you two have ever been, and I don’t mean physically. You don’t seem to understand that we are making something new and inhuman. We are going to become something so much greater than just simple humans living short lives and trying to get through them. We can truly bond with others, familial bonds will be nothing more than biological similarities.”
“I, I…I don’t know.”
“It is fine to be cautious, that is something that you and Myc have in common. But being so scared that you are unwilling to move forward is just holding you back.”
Cat sat down on the stool behind her, Myc was worried that pushing Cat to make a decision might lead her to reject him even more. He was already having a hard time keeping the connection stable, some of the less permanent physical connections were difficult to upkeep. So as a group we had decided to force Cat to make a decision, it was selfish and rude to force Myc into a position with a danger looming over us.
Since Cat was barely watching any new memories we kept it hidden until the final decision was made. We were going to ask Nate, but it was cruel to make his sister decide, so since me and Nate were close we decided that was better. After the little spat with Niki and Myc over the baby, well that was the final straw. If she didn’t want to continue to be a part of this then she had to make a decision and soon.
“You should sit down and talk to Nate, he doesn’t want to lose you. None of us do, but still you cannot keep rejecting the sole reason we are here. Myc is the literal glue keeping us together, if you do not wish to be bonded to him then you do not wish to be a part of us.”
“I know, I just, I don’t know.”
“You are scared, you are happy the way things were and you wish they could stay that way. But they can’t. We are all moving on including Nate, it was a nice and peaceful time for a while but as more people join and Myc continues to extend. We will have to evolve with Myc or we will be left behind, falling into the same habits that the humans did. With this threat of robots looming over us, it is now or never”
“Alright, I will try.”
She says she will try but I am not sure she will. There may come a time when our connection is broken, I hope that it will not be as bad as I believe it will be.
“Yeah, I know.” The thought was scary, we were so connected even now. To break that connection and see someone as an outsider was like watching the life drain from someone’s eyes. But nothing was sure, hopefully Cat would see the new baby and understand that it was a living and breathing being. It would be stronger, faster, and more intelligent than all of us. It would be the true change that this world would need, we were just a buffer and a nurturer until that moment came.