Ava and Aphrodite: The First Human in 8000 Years (Featured)

Chapter 41: The Last Supper

Aphrodite's garden, an oasis in a desert made of scrap metal. It was a huge conservatory with greenery, small animals, artificial sunlight; its own little world, its own little ecosystem. At least a whole square mile of biomass that existed solely to keep Aphrodite alive.

The entire place had been made by Locke two years in advance, he'd transported all the foliage, all the smaller animals, all the creatures needed to sustain Aphrodite.

A different Locke. The Locke that was on that utopian planet Aphrodite had come from. Ava heard about Aphrodite talk about him a lot, and from the looks of it, he cared for her dearly. He'd created an entire garden of Eden for her, after all.

Apparently this, in addition to other supplies that were dropped from the Utopia, were enough to last Aphrodite several lifetimes (however long a human was meant to live anyway).

The group sat on a table on the edge of the garden, and overlooked the beauty. Ava, Aphrodite, Sylvie, and Locke, all having "dinner". Three steaming plates of stew made by Aphrodite herself. Apparently it had rabbits and carrots and onions and all sorts of mysterious ingredients in it.

Neither Ava nor Sylvie wanted to try it much. It looked disgusting.

"Come on, try human food for once." said Aphrodite, "you might like it!"

"We don't even get much energy from ingesting food this way Aphrodite," Ava whined,

"It's not for the energy! It's the taste. I want to know what you think." Aphrodite slurped up a spoonful loudly, "Mmmm!"

Both Ava and Sylvie looked at their bowls, they were impressed by Aphrodite's enthusiasm, but they weren't used to eating food that had been prepared by hand. Servs ate food recreationally, it was something that existed as a form of enjoyment, rather than sustenance, hence all the food they ate was processed and made specifically to stimulate certain areas of the brain.

They were essentially drugs.

This was a drug that was randomly thrown together by a completely different creature. Wno knew what it'd do to them?

Either way, Ava wanted to get back to work, it had been two months since he arrived, and the group still hadn't left for Jupiter. It was proving to be a pain to find a ship that would be able to accommodate for Servs and Humans. A ship that could recharge Servs, could cryogenically freeze a human (or provide her food for the journey) and could travel a decent distance without breaking down.

The way it was, their only option was to modify a large ship they'd found as scrap, it was largely undamaged and simply needed parts to be swapped out.

It was taking time though.

And Ava didn't want to waste any time. Two months, it had been two months. If he didn't complete his mission soon... His body, it'd deteriorate. At least that's what Ava-11 had told him.

"You going to eat it or not?" asked Aphrodite.

"Fine whatever!" Ava shoved the spoon into the bowl and quickly lifted out a healthy serving of rabbit. He gobbled it down with a frown on his face, but the frown quickly turned into shock, surprise, delight. The warmth, the texture, the savoury brilliance.... "Wow. T-this is incredible!" he exclaimed, his eye widened, he'd never tasted anything to incredible.

"Oh wow! You really like it!?" asked Aphrodite,

"Yeah, this is amazing!"

"Fascinating!" Aphrodite smiled, "so it seems Servs and humans somehow share similar biological traits after all."

"What?"

"I was curious. How similar Servs and humans were. I wondered to what degree of detail humans went to when it came to creating your race."

"What do you mean?"

"Well... would Servs have the ability to taste something in the first place?"

"Recreation. Of course."

"Ok, then why is your tongue somehow able to find the taste of a dish that hasn't existed in thousands of years, delicious?"

"Because."

"Because...?"

"Oh, I see. You're saying that Serv brains work from the same blueprint as a human brain. Which is why we find the same foods tasty."

"Yes, it seems like it anyway. Don't you think that's weird? Considering Servs were made to be, well, servants?"

"I guess." What was the point of all this? What was Aphrodite getting at? Ava glanced at Sylvie, who was simply staring at her bowl, ignoring everyone.

Sylvie, the friend of his that he'd lost a long time ago.

With her memory gone she'd become far more reserved, she didn't talk very much, and her bubbly nature was all but a distant memory. The old Sylvie would have said something at this point. Maybe she'd jump in and ask for more detail, because she'd have lost the plot by now, or maybe she'd try and change the subject because things were getting too heavy, she's definitely have said something either way.

But this Sylvie, she was silent.

"Sylvie? What do you think?" asked Ava, "Is it weird that we have similar brain patterns to humans?"

"...To our creators you mean?" Sylvie said darkly,

"Huh?"

"God must have a sense of humour, thinking that making us in his image, and then delivering to us a prophet to sit and eat with us will somehow make us equal." a melancholy murmur,

"God? What are you talking about?" Aphrodite frowned, "humans aren't gods, they may have created you but-"

"No, I get where she's coming from." said Ava. He sighed, "This is weird. Sitting here with a human, eating like we're equals."

"What? What are you talking about? We are equals!" said Aphrodite.

Aphrodite, if there was one thing Ava had noticed about her it was that peace and harmony was the one thing she valued over everything else, despite her sometimes cold and bratty nature, her intentions were warmer than anyone he'd met.

Now that wasn't something a Serv could claim..

A slurping noise,

"Oh wow." Sylvie's voice, "This actually tastes lovely!"

***

In the distance, ships descended from the sky. Serv ships looking for a target that needed to be destroyed, a target they could never forgive.