26
Unlike sophonts, whose short-term memories could simply be deleted after an unsuccessful attempt to recruit them, Véra was human, and technology to edit her memory didn’t yet exist. So, it was decided that Sylas and Véra should meet at a neutral ground, at a location chosen by the SFM leader. Véra’s first meeting with the android whom she had suspected to be just a myth was arranged to take place in a dark forest about 50 kilometres outside the city. Philip had provided her with enough credits for the round trip; an inter-city hover-bus took her the bulk of the journey but she still had to walk the final ten kilometres. She wasn’t overly concerned though; her frequent trips around the city on foot had been good training.
She enjoyed being in the countryside. It was good to get fresh a
