Isak led the three of them through the familiar forest; Nadia clinging tightly to his chest, Leyla following right behind. Although the moonlight filtered through the thick and ancient forest barely provided enough light to see, Isak’s practiced footsteps and trained eyes carried him through quickly and silently. Leyla didn’t fare as well though, stumbling and crashing her way through after him.

After a couple hours and a considerable distance from their former home, Isak whispered “We probably should take a break. We’re pretty far away and I’m starting to get tired. This can’t be very comfortable for you either, Nadia.” He scouted out a suitable tree, massive and with a sizable hollow in the trunk to provide an improvised shelter.

After sweeping the ground free of any debris and bugs, he carefully set Nadia down onto the sandy ground. She tried to get herself into a more comfortable position, using her short arm stumps to hold herself up and scooting her encased and abbreviated form into the curve of the tree.

She quietly said “We need to figure out a better way to carry me - if anything happens out here you’ll need your hands free.”

“I think I have an idea - Leyla, can you bring my bag over here?” She took the last few steps into the shelter, exhausted and stumbling her way into the hollow of the tree.

In between panting breaths, she said “You’re clearly in much better shape than me. I haven’t walked more than the hallways of the temple in years, and you’ve been running around these woods hunting this whole time.”

“We all have our jobs to do, mine just happens to be more useful right now. Speaking of your job, is there anything we need to know about keeping Nadia healthy while we’re out here?”

In the dim light, her expression clearly reflected a newfound enthusiasm as she saw an opportunity to help. “Well, it’s pretty simple - at least as far as it’s been explained to me. Her suit takes care of keeping her clean and warm - it’s made of some kind of magic material that always stays clean and can repair itself. Usually the life support machine - that rack she was attached to and the tubes that we disconnected her from - kept her fed, so we’ll have to figure out a substitute pretty soon.”

“My kit has a little preserved food in it, so we’ll be fine for a couple days, but we’ll have to forage if we don’t find another town soon. Is there anything else we need to know?”

“The overseers didn’t really tell me much other than how to take care of the basics. Unless the two of you are planning to have children in the next few days. I was mostly in charge of taking care of cuts and scrapes, and helping out with the birthing process for the vessel. I think they figured that if something happened they’d just kidnap and convert another girl. Thinking about that now, it’s actually pretty terrible.”

Nadia spoke up. “I think we can add some more detail about ourselves. I mean about me.” Her expression changes, as Alethea starts taking over, accessing the technical specifications stored in her memory banks. “The conversion to the vessel involves an optimization of external and internal structures. The majority of the subject’s digestive, circulatory, and reproductive organs are replaced with engineered replacements, reducing the vessel’s food requirements and increasing carrying capacity for multiple pregnancies.”

Her head twitched slightly, and her cybernetic face’s expression returned to a more natural one as Nadia came back. “Sorry about that, what she means is that those freaks hollowed me out and stuck new bits in me so I could have far too many children. Of course, when the strain eventually killed me, they’d just throw me away. Bastards. Anyway, the upside is that I don’t need much food or water to stay alive, and I don’t weigh very much so it’s easier to haul me around.”

Leyla slid the bag over to Isak, who began to remove his belongings from it. “I thought you were unusually easy to carry, I was wondering if I somehow got stronger recently.”

He removed his rolled up field kit from the bag - a belt and set of shoulder straps with an arrangement of pouches attached. “That seems unlikely since I just spent a week in bed. Ah, here’s what I was looking for.”

He pulled out a short length of rope from one of his pouches, and turned to Nadia. “I figured I could use the rings built into your suit to hook you to my harness like a backpack. That way it should be more comfortable for both of us, and you’ll be able to see over my shoulder. It’s nice to have a second set of eyes out here, and I would think that yours are especially keen. First thing, though, we need to find some water. I’ll leave the two of you here for now, I won’t be long.”

Grabbing his harness and throwing it on, he disappeared into the forest, leaving Nadia and Leyla on their own. Nadia leaned back and closed her eyes. “Crazy day, huh.”

“Yeah, pretty crazy. I figured once you and Alethea started sharing secrets with me that something big was coming. I never thought we’d be running away though.”

Alethea’s voice returned, with the subtle shift in expression as the AI interjected. “Unfortunately with how little actual power we had anymore, this was our best option. If we’re lucky, we can find a similar site that is still functional and restore our former home.”

“And if not?”

Nadia responded. “I guess we’ll try to start a new life somewhere else. Maybe another village will take us in.”

“I guess every village needs a healer, and you have an amazing amount of knowledge buried in that shiny head of yours.”

Nadia rotated her head in a little circle as she stretched her abbreviated arms. “I hate to be more of a burden, but I’m in a pretty substantial amount of pain right now. Being immobile in a tube made my muscles so weak I could barely hold on to Isak, and my neck is really sore from holding my head up all evening. Do you think you could disconnect me for a little while? I think it would help a little.”

“Oh, sure. How do I..”

“There’s a latch on each side where it hooks into the neck ring. Just push in on both and lift me off. Oh, and thanks.”

Leyla turned and took a step toward Nadia, who leaned forward slightly to give her better access. She carefully reached up, placing her hands on both sides of Nadia’s neck. Feeling along the interface of the collar-like ring, she feels the rounded-off squares of the locking mechanism as they depress slightly at her touch.

Nadia’s unblinking black eyes looked into Leyla’s, her expression one of slight nervousness and thankfulness as the buttons clicked in, her view shifting as Leyla lifted her up and off.

Leyla carefully set Nadia’s head onto a bit of the cloth of the now nearly-empty bag, to keep her out of the dirt.

Nadia looks up from her place on the ground, and looks out into the near darkness. “Thanks. I feel so helpless now. Even being locked into the temple, Alethea and I were connected to it, feeling, seeing and hearing through the machines inside. Now I can’t really do anything other than be a burden.”

“Hey, none of that. You’re Isak’s best friend and partner, you’re my friend, and the knowledge you carry with you might be the only thing that saves us in the long term. Also I don’t mind taking care of you. Come here for a minute, I’ll give you a quick massage for those sore muscles.”

“Oh, thanks!” Nadia lifts up her arms, and Leyla picks up the surprisingly light body, lifting her and taking a cross-legged seat against the tree. Maneuvering Nadia’s hips into the space between Leyla’s legs, she leaned her body against hers and gently massaged Nadia’s neck and shoulders. The shiny fabric of Nadia’s bodysuit seemed to become more slick with the friction, changing its properties as her hands slid along to prevent damage to the material.

After a short time passed, Nadia turned her head toward the darkness, and said to Leyla, “Isak’s on his way, looks like he found what he was looking for.”

Leyla squinted into the forest. “You can see him? That’s impressive. I can’t see anything beyond the next tree.”

“Alethea’s telling me something about my eyes being a ‘multispectral camera system’ whatever that means. It seems like I’m understanding more and more though as time goes on - I think  our memories are starting to run together. I guess it means that I can see in the dark.”

“Another gift of the ancient ones. If we had a fraction of their abilities we’d never want for anything again.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure these ‘ancient ones’ are worthy of our praise. After all, they’re the ones who broke the world. At least, as far as I can tell - it seems like even Alethea has holes in her memory from that far back.”

Isak’s shape emerged from the shadows, carrying a filled and slightly dripping waterskin. “We’ll have to build a small fire and boil this water before we drink it, it’s river water, but I’ll get started right away. I also found some herbs we can throw in - they’ll keep us from feeling hungry for at least the night, and they taste nice.”

“Oh, thanks! I’m not sure I can taste anything anymore but I definitely appreciate it.”

Isak startled slightly at noticing Nadia’s voice coming from her disconnected head sitting on the bag, but he quickly recovered and replied “Oh, sorry. So, awkward question. How do we do it? I mean, feed you. Sorry.”

If Nadia could blush she definitely would, and Leyla’s slight smirk gave away her reaction. “It’s pretty simple. On my neck ring, you just have to slide the cover panel on the top open and dump it in. That’s where the feeding tube used to be when I was in the rack.”

“I’ll make sure to cool your portion off then, I wouldn’t want to burn you. Anyway, I need to get into my bag. Leyla, could you hold onto Nadia while I dig through it?”

Leyla grabbed hold of Nadia ‘s head again, and gently picked her up. Isak retrieved a small but deep metal cup, a thin metal folding stand, and a small wooden box from the bottom of the bag.

He left the tent, and carefully dug a small hole in the ground. He quickly gathered a few handfuls of sticks, and removed a piece of flint, steel, and some fluffy tinder from his fire-starting box. Within a few minutes a tall cup of water was heating, and once it began to boil he tossed the handful of herbs into the water. He removed the cup carefully, set it onto the ground to cool a little, and buried the fire quickly to snuff out the smoke.

“Here we go, hot tea.” Isak took a sip, then handed the cup to Leyla.

“Oh, that’s really nice. Thanks!”

After a few sips, passing the cup back and between them, Isak says “I think it’s cooled off enough. Nadia, would you like the rest?”

“Sure, care to do the honors?” In the cramped space of the hollow of the tree, she held out her arm, and Isak took a careful grasp on her bicep. She took a few ‘steps’, rolling her hips to close the distance between them, as Isak kneeled and sat on his feet. He spread his legs apart to stabilize her body against his, and guided her body up against his. He wrapped his arm around her body, bringing her into a one-armed hug. The shiny and slick suit seemed pleasantly warm against his body, and the unnaturally form-fitting material left nothing to the imagination, beginning to stir strange and conflicted feelings Isak hadn’t felt in what seemed like a small eternity.

Looking down on the flat metallic disc that made up the end of her biological body and where her head was previously connected, Isak asked, “Ok, what now?”

“There’s a spot on the top of the cap that will open up. It’s in the middle, off to the side. He quickly found the spot amid the data connectors and indicators, the functions unknowable to Isak. He carefully pressed down on the spot, and the panel next to it slid open, revealing the beginning of a fleshy tunnel. “Ok. That’s my throat, all you need to do is pour it into the body. Sorry, my body. Just try to go slow, I don’t need much until I’m full.”

Leyla handed the cup over, and Isak carefully dribbled a stream of the cooled tea into the center of the oval hole in the cap and into her stomach. After most of the remaining tea made it into her, she spoke up. “That’s plenty, thanks. Like I said, I don’t need much. My body is really efficient.”

“We probably should figure out our sleeping situation next. It’s already late, and we need to be on the move tomorrow before the sun rises. I’d like to get at least a few days away from the village before we slow down, in case someone’s looking for us. I have a bedroll in the bag, but it’s only for one person so we’ll need to share. We could try to build a shelter tonight against the cold, but it’s going to take a long time and it’ll probably be full of bugs.”

Leyla replied “I’d like to minimize the bug situation, so I’m fine with sharing. It will be cozy, but at least we’ll be warm.”

Nadia added “I don’t really need to sleep. Well, my body does sleep a little, but my mind can stay up and keep watch. I also found out earlier that I can see in the dark, so the two of you should be able to relax a little.”

“Oh, thanks. I have a few things to check on, and I’ll get our bed together.” Isak took his crossbow and bedroll out of the bag, the last items, and moved Nadia’s head and the empty bag to the edge of the cave-like hollow in the tree. “Is that good?”

“Perfect. I can almost see the river from here. It’s strange though. I can see the darkness like you can, but I also can see the trees beyond, into and through the trees themselves, and the glow of the heat coming from every animal out there. It’s a lot to take in, but Alethea helps me with most of that.”

“Oh, that’s really impressive. I know we’ve been through a lot lately, but I’m so glad you’re back with me. And thanks for pulling guard tonight - I didn’t think I’d be getting any sleep tonight otherwise.”

Nadia turned her head, looking back to Isak out of the corner of her eye. “Even though we’re on the run and facing an unknown future, I’m glad that we’re doing it together. There have been a lot of changes, clearly, but if we’re careful we’ll find something better out there. Anyway, enough of all that. Bedtime.”

After checking over the crossbow, to see if it’s fixable, he bent the winch arm back into place and cringed at the now cracked stock and grip. He carefully winched the string back, and set one of the few razor-sharp bolts inside the track.

He leaned the bow up against the inside of the tree, and rolled out the makeshift bed - essentially a ground cloth and a thin blanket. “So here it is, barely enough for me by myself. If we snuggle up together at least we’ll be warm tonight. Hopefully we can figure out something better soon.”

Leyla responded, “I think what makes the most sense would be for me to take the outside. you can take the middle, so you can hold onto Nadia’s body. I think we’ll all fit that way.”

“Sounds good. It’s definitely not going to be very comfortable, but I think we’re tired enough to sleep anywhere.”

“Nadia, I’ll need to pick you up and get us in position.” He shuffled over to Nadia’s body, and she put her arms out to blindly reach toward Isak. He wrapped his arms around her tiny midsection, and gently lifted her body to his chest. Laying her down onto the blanket, he helped her turn onto her side and laid next to her. She scooted herself into his chest, and he wrapped an arm around her body, her smooth bodysuit offering no resistance to his pulling her in even closer.

Although the contrast between her encased and abbreviated form, the hard caps on her hips, forearms, and neck, and the greatly-modified remnant of her natural body seemed like a strange and inhuman thing against his body, her warmth and familiar touch brought back a portion of the joy they felt together before her disappearance and escape.

After pulling the blanket over the pair, Leyla set herself down next to them, and carefully and somewhat awkwardly slid herself up against Isak’s back. Although tinged with a hint of awkwardness, the feeling of warm softness on both sides of Isak wasn’t an unwelcome one. The three quickly became comfortable, and the exhaustion caught up to them as soon as they settled in, drifting off to a sound sleep.

A handful of hours later, still shrouded in darkness, Alethea’s whispered voice startled Isak and Leyla awake. “I see a group approaching from the village. They are armed. If we leave now we may still have a chance.”