“Yes, please.”
“I’m sure she will be very happy to accompany you.”
“Thank you. Tell her I’ll be ready at six-thirty.” Kathleen ended the call and set her phone down on the lab bench. The tickets were a gift from a family friend and she would never have dreamed about going a month ago.
For a moment, she stood there breathing. Then she picked up her clipboard and turned back to the tanks, quashing back her anxiety. This was a move to change her life, even if it felt the wrong one. She tried to ignore that she was doing it to forget Veronica.
Kathleen adjusted her lab coat, tugging the sleeve higher as she leaned over the edge of the main nutrient tank. Beneath the surface, the bioluminescent fronds of the cultivated plant swayed like dancers, delicate and glowing faintly in the enriched solution. Their light shimmered against the reinforced glass, casting pale green ripples across her face. She smiled, not quite believing it—they had finally stabilized.
“Ted,” she called out excitedly. “Look at the plants.”
Ted dropped what he was doing and came over immediately. He let out a slow breath, blinking at them with awe. “They’re holding,” he said. “Even the central nodes.”
“They’ve adapted faster than we modelled,” Kathleen murmured, tapping the corner of the digital monitor. “The rootmemory is stronger. The sequences have reorganized almost autonomously.”
They stood there in shared silence, watching the creations drift and pulse like they were alive and aware.
Kathleen straightened, flicking her gaze to him. “We won’t have to monitor so much now.”
His eyebrows lifted. “It’s been nonstop since the second trial. I figured we were still on nightly rotations.”
She crossed to the side terminal and keyed in a few commands. “We can take a night off from staring at graphs. Besides, I’m... going out tonight.”
Ted blinked. “Out?”
She hesitated. “Dinner on a boat.”
He made a face. “I’m only watchingThe Blob. An hour and a half of space opera and bad science.”
Kathleen chuckled. “You love it.” She leaned over the tank. “They’ll still be glowing when we get back tomorrow.”
“Yeah,” he said, glancing at the tank again. “But you have to admit, they’re kind of hypnotic.”
Kathleen nodded slowly, staring into the swirling green. “I used to imagine what it would be like, seeing them like this. Reallyseeingthem, not in the models or projections.”
“You did it,” Ted said. “You brought them to life.”
Kathleen smiled, but her mind was already drifting—not to the plants, but to the evening. Inevitably, to the face she couldn’t quite let go of.
Not Ava’s.
Veronica’s.
Kathleen dressed in a simple floral wrap dress with a soft shawl wrapped around her shoulders for the evening. Not flashy, not too formal. After fussing over her hair, she slipped on shoes that looked dressy but she could walk in comfortably.
When Ava arrived, she felt like she’d miscalculated the whole evening. Blonde hair tumbling in perfectly styled curls, Ava was poured into a glittering backless cocktail dress that sparkled like crushed diamonds. Her heels were impossibly high, her lips a vibrant red. She looked like she belonged in a magazine shoot.
“Hi, Kathleen,” Ava said brightly as she entered the lobby of the apartment building, then hugged her as if they were old friends.
Kathleen blinked. “Hello, Ava.”
“You look adorable,” Ava said.
“Thanks,” she stuttered out, thinking she looked more like a poor relation.
“The cab is waiting,” Ava said. “Shall we go.”
Kathleen followed her into the car, then sat back mutely while Ava chatted about the weather, how the city looked amazing at night, and that she’d never been on a boat in heels but was ready for the adventure. Kathleen occasionally nodded glumly.
