Lee sat in a plastic chair on the porch of his new house.

He had no idea how long he could afford to live there but he decided that living there was the first step toward living at all.

“April showers bring May flowers.”

He watched new patterns of rivulets streaming off the house roof, forming pools next to the house foundation, draining off in directions he’d never seen before.

Was he happy?

He wasn’t yet ready to answer the question.

He sipped a cold cup of tea, wondering what he was going to do with his new day, his new life, facing uncertainties, contemplating which boxes he’d unpack inside the house, which he’d leave packed in case this move didn’t pan out.

He kept the larger, more grand plans pinned on the kitchenette walls.

Despite taking literary licence with the details of his life, at the core he was the same person, not just wishing his life away, but taking action at the pace of the universe which was not always understood by the people around him, who sometimes saw repetition or inaction.

Lee was in love, always would be.

In love with himself, in love with friends, in love with lovers.

Love on a galactic scale.

Lee knew that romance described the love he shared with humans.

He also knew the chemical/physical descriptions of love that connected him to the universe.

He cherished both, balanced both moment to moment.

He wanted something to eat with the tea but his budget wouldn’t allow breakfast for a few months.

Lee valued the thoughts that an empty stomach created…

Thoughts that would take him and the new twist on ecosystems to other worlds.

Can one love a bioelectromechanical creation that will never know who you are because it will be created for a life on a planetoid that Lee will never be able to enjoy himself?

He thought about the first artificially created E. coli and smiled.  The answer to that last question was a resounding YES!

He stood up and walked back to the bedroom he’d converted to a laboratory.