Read The Humans for Free Online

known as a ‘bob’. She sat tall in her chair with a straight back, and her neck was long, as if her head had fallen out with her body and wanted
nothing more to do with it. I would later discover that she was forty-one and had an appearance which passed for beautiful, or at least
plainly
beautiful, on this planet. But right then she
had just another human face. And human faces were the last of the human codes that I would learn.
    She inhaled. ‘How are you feeling?’
    ‘I don’t know. I don’t remember a lot of things. My mind is a little bit scrambled, especially about this morning. Listen, has anyone been to my office? Since
yesterday?’
    This confused her. ‘I don’t know. How would I know that? I doubt very much they’ll be in at the weekend. And anyway you’re the only one who has the keys. Please, Andrew,
what happened? Have you suffered an accident? Have they tested you for amnesia? Why were you out of the house at that time? Tell me what you were doing. I woke up and you weren’t
there.’
    ‘I just needed to get out. That is all. I needed to be outside.’
    She was agitated now. ‘I was thinking all sorts of things. I checked the whole house, but there was no sign of you. And the car was still there, and your bike, and you weren’t
picking up your phone, and it was three in the morning, Andrew. Three in the morning.’
    I nodded. She wanted answers, but I only had questions, ‘Where is our son? Gulliver? Why is he not with you?’
    This answer confused her even more. ‘He’s at my mother’s,’ she said. ‘I could hardly bring him here. He’s very upset. After everything else this is, you know,
hard for him.’
    Nothing she was telling me was information I needed. So I decided to be more direct. ‘Do you know what I did yesterday? Do you know what I achieved while I was at work?’
    I knew that however she answered this, the truth remained the same. I would have to kill her. Not then. Not there. But somewhere, and soon. Still I had to know what she knew. Or what she might
have said to others.
    The nurse wrote something down at this point.
    Isobel ignored my question and leant in closer towards me, lowering her voice. ‘They think you have suffered a mental breakdown. They don’t call it that, of course. But that is what
they think. I’ve been asked lots of questions. It was like facing the Grand Inquisitor.’
    ‘That’s all there is around here, isn’t it? Questions.’
    I braved another glance at her face and gave her more questions. ‘Why did we get married? What is the point of it? What are the rules involved?’
    Certain enquiries, even on a planet designed for questions, go unheard.
    ‘Andrew, I’ve been telling you for weeks –
months
– that you need to slow down. You’ve been overdoing it. Your hours have been ridiculous. You’ve been
truly burning the candle. Something had to give. But even so, this was so sudden. There were no warning signs. I just want to know what triggered it all. Was it me? What was it? I’m worried
about you.’
    I tried to come up with a valid explanation. ‘I suppose I just must have forgotten the importance of wearing clothes. That is, the importance of acting the way I was supposed to act. I
don’t know. I must have just forgotten how to be a human. It can happen, can’t it? Things can be forgotten sometimes?’
    Isobel held my hand. The glabrous under-portion of her thumb stroked my skin. This unnerved me even more. I wondered why she was touching me. A policeman grips an arm to take you somewhere, but
why does a wife stroke your hand? What was the purpose? Did it have something to do with love? I stared at the small glistening diamond on her ring.
    ‘It’s going to be all right, Andrew. This is just a blip. I promise you. You’ll be right as rain soon.’
    ‘As rain?’ I asked, the worry adding a quiver to my voice.
    I tried to read her facial expressions, but it was difficult. She wasn’t terrified any more, but what