Zaneth made her way to her designated cabin, punching in the code and immediately dropping her jacket on the floor in the entranceway. It was really much too hot in the ship. It might have made her worry about her software malfunctioning if she didn't know how implausible that was. Still, it made something in her churn. It made the idea of bathing in a tub of ice seem nice, somehow.

It would probably be another few days until they made it to the station and she could breathe in proper air. The air in the ship was too wet and wreaked of sweat and unwashed bodies. Dust, in the lesser traveled corners. 

She wanted to sleep— shut down for the night and pray she felt better by the time she awoke. That would be easier said than done, though. Her adrenaline was still running so high, and in the limited space around her, there was nothing she could do about that now.

"Are you kidding me? The ship isn't even at full capacity!"

Someone was yelling a little ways away from her room. Zaneth didn't care to know what it was about. 

"Time had run out—"

"Oh, yeah! You're right— and what was that about? You told the people thirty minutes!"

"And did you see the panic and chaos that caused? What do you think would have happened if we'd told the truth?"

"I don't know and I don't care! You figure it out; you don't let people die on what ifs." There was a slam that held the weight of a body. The walls trembled. "And you saved one person at the expense of an entire group. What made one life worth more than dozens?"

"She's a one-of-a-kind model. The closest we've gotten to a fully functioning android—"

"That doesn't answer my question. What made her life worth more than anyone else's?"

Zaneth's interest had been sufficiently piqued. She cracked her cabin's door open the tiniest bit to see the source of the commotion. 

It was just a girl. She looked human, but so did Zaneth. She was more than likely a cyborg given the nature of the conversation. Her hair was styled in microbraids, long enough to barely caress her shoulders besides the short, parted bangs hanging over her forehead. Colorful beads clicked against one another with each and every one of her animated movements. They were nearly as loud as the girl's personality.

When the girl turned her attention to her, Zaneth was able to get a better look at her features. They were soft, but they also weren't. There was an edge to her appearance— an edge to the arch of her eyebrows and the tilt of her mouth. The sharp sweep of eyeliner beneath her eyes rather than above.

Contrarian. That was the impression her appearance gave Zaneth. 

"Oh," the girl said, turning her nose up at her. She slowly pulled her hand away from the man's chest, barely sparing him a glance as he quickly slipped away. "It's you. Are you having a good time being alive?"

Zaneth didn't have an answer for that and her silence reflected that.

"Must be nice to know how much people will throw away for you," the girl continued, crossing her arms over her chest. "Must be nice to know how valuable you are. Value declines, though. You're important until you're not."

"I'm aware," Zaneth said. 

The girl stared. Scoffed a second later. 

"You really don't care, do you? How far removed from your humanity are you?"

"Very."

"Do you have any feelings in there?" she gestured toward her chest. Toward the place where a heart had once been. "Or has your value taken its place?"

"I don't know," Zaneth said because she didn't. She didn't feel in the way she used to, that much was undebatable, but surely she felt something. She just didn't know what it was, yet. She would figure it out.

"Right." With a shake of her head, the girl turned to walk away. "That's life for you. Sleep well, won't you? Billions of people are about to experience the longest sleep of their lives and they didn't even ask for it."

One of her feet pattered against the floors. She kicked the other foot out, the slipper smacking against the wall so her feet were equally bare.

Zaneth ducked her head a little and shut the door once more.

That wasn't too hard of a request.

As it was, there was really nothing better for her to do.