Free The Modified (The Biotics Trilogy, #1) by C.A. Kunz

find your living quarters. Your AI is the key to your room. Each door locks automatically once one enters or exits a room,” Ada 26 explains. “Grayson, Kenley. We have reached your quarters. Room number C-15.”
    “Like the android said earlier, I’m in D-10, okay? So I’m just down the hall if you need me,” Joey says with a reassuring smile.
    “I’ll be fine. No worries,” I reply.
    “All right, see you soon,” Joey says into my ear as he gives me a quick hug.
    I watch my group continue down the hall as I stand in front of my door. Looking back at the door, I notice there’s no handle. I look down at the band around my wrist and see that it’s pulsing with that blue light again. Holding it up to the door, I hear the sound of an electronic lock disengaging. The door rolls to the right, into the wall. Huh, interesting , I say to myself.
    The room beyond is white like the rest of the facility. There are basics like a bed, a closet, a dresser, a window with blinds, a vanity mirror, and a bathroom. It actually looks like a futuristic version of a college dorm room I visited once.
    As I enter, Galileo projects from the bangle. “Welcome to your living quarters. Please let me know if I can be of any assistance,” he says in a slightly robotic tone.
    “Thanks,” I reply.
    I sit down on the bed and it’s stiff as a board. I bounce up and down, but the bed doesn’t move an inch.
    “Recalibrating,” Galileo says.
    The bed becomes softer and feels just like the one I have back home.
    “Cool,” I say as I plop down onto the bed.
    “Grayson, Kenley?” Galileo asks.
    “Yes?”
    “I must perform a complete vitals scan. It will take approximately two minutes. Could I please have you remain still for the duration of the scan?”
    “Sure.”
    As I lay there I think about home. About how much I miss my mom and little brother. I haven’t had much downtime to really just think and reflect.
    A tear begins to roll down my cheek as Galileo chimes in. “Scan complete Grayson, Kenley. Implant functioning at optimum level. Vitals are stable.”
    “Well, that’s a relief,” I joke hollowly.
    “Agreed,” Galileo replies seriously. I shake my head and smile.
    Pushing myself off the bed, I make my way to the only window in the room. Strangely, I notice tiny slivers of sunshine creeping through the blinds. How is there sunshine? I ask myself. When I open the blinds my eyes need a few seconds to take in and process what I’m seeing outside. My heart sinks as I scan the vision before me. A perfect garden lies just outside my window. It’s my mom’s garden, though off in the distance it begins to fade away like someone forgot to finish a painting. It’s the same view I have from my second floor bedroom window at home. I see the red poppies my older brother Dylan gave my mom, but don’t see the blue ones I gave her before I left.
    “How?” is all I get out at first, but then I breathe and try again, “how is…that outside my window?”
    Galileo projects from the bangle and replies, “I re-created it for you.”
    “What? How do you know about this?” I ask confused.
    “The image was stored in your database.”
    “My database?”
    “Searching for alternative word for database … memory , the image was stored in your memory,” he answers.
    I don’t respond right away and instead just stare out the window. My eyes become misty as I fight against tears. “Thank you, Galileo,” I say softly.
    “I detect a slight variation in your vitals. Are you feeling okay? Do you need to lie down?” Galileo asks matter-of-factly.
    “No, I just miss home. That’s all.”
    “Portland, Maine, is where you are from. You miss Portland, Maine?”
    “Yeah,” I answer. “I also miss my brother. I lost him two years ago.”
    “Grayson, Dylan. Killed in action…I am sorry for your loss,” he states.
    “You can feel sorry?”
    “I do not understand the concept, to feel sorry, but I know by me saying it, your vitals have