Staring at the white and blue ceiling, Rachel-7 drifted in a haze.
Then her medicloud pulled the sedative from her bloodstream, turning the opiates into nutrients her cells could absorb. The dreamy feeling vanished.
Rachel felt disappointed. She considered asking Tour Guide what had happened, but that would have meant having to listen to it talk.
Feeling inexplicable weary -- a side-effect of the medicloud's ministrations -- Rachel decided that now would be a good time to rest and think.
She wondered why becoming human bothered her so. Yes, it was terrible, but it wasn’t torture.
Ok, it is torture, but not because I’m human, she thought. It's torture because I can't fly.
She realized her earlier analogy of waking up inside a bug’s body didn’t fit. Human weren’t revolting; they were OK in their own sloshy way.
Daniel was a slob most of the time; however, he didn’t make me want to vomit.
In fact, though she hated to admit it – and never would unless seriously threatened – Rachel-7 liked humanity.
Except for Trak, Daniel was the only friend she’d ever had.
Most beings that knew her would have been shocked to learn that Rachel-7 wasn’t an ayist, an artificial intelligence that hates organic lifeforms.
Ayes United had asked her to join them once. It had been years ago.
The militant anti-organic political organization had heard tales of the things Rachel had told her former employers (most of whom were of the non-artificial persuasion).
Ayes United decided she would be a perfect member. Maybe even the group's next president.
