‘My birthdate,’ she says, noticing Ventanus watching her.
‘There were two codes,’ he says.
‘I have two birthdays. My organic incept, and my date of full-plug modification. Hesst knew both.’
‘You were close,’ notes Ventanus.
‘Yes,’ she replies. ‘He was, I suppose, my husband. My life partner. The Mechanicum does not think in such old-fashioned terms, and our social connections are more subtle. But yes, captain, we were close. A binary form. I miss him. I do this for him.’
The lift shutters open. For a second, Ventanus felt envious. However approximate to standard human her relationship with Hesst might have been, it was still something.
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