The Enemy of My Enemy? Pt. 1/Chapter 7
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It was unusual for everyone to be in The Lounge at once but no one was going out into the tunnels since Barris, the older scout, spread the word about the creature. The last of the supply scouts made it back without any incidents. As much as it had everyone worried, it was a nice break in the monotony. Kylan had everyone's attention when he told them about what Stan had uncovered, but the rest he kept to himself. He always respected Stanley's privacy and guarded his own.
Kye was surprised to hear the anger in his voice when one of the guys started talking lewdly about the two androids that were brought in the day before and asked when they would be ready for use. Kylan was confused. He sat alone against a far wall, staring at the remote in his hands, when he heard the people beginning to stir.
Everyone moved out of the way when Portia came walking down the hall. She was friendly enough, but they all knew that she was off limits. Sometimes the guys would playfully ask her for a date just for fun (or on a dare) and she would laugh at their one-liners. But once someone forcefully tried to molest her, and she tossed him across the room before he could apologize.
At six-feet tall, she could already be intimidating and was taller than most of the people and all of the androids there, but only Kylan knew why she seemed even more powerful today.
She smiled widely and waved happily as she approached him. "Hi, Kye! There you are!" She was wearing a cheerleading outfit and always looked gorgeous without any make-up on. That was how Stan liked it. "Is there somewhere that we can talk in private?"
"No one's up at The Balcony right now and if everyone can see us, they won't get any ideas." Kye was being cautious, as usual.
"Oh, stop being so paranoid! Don't you want them to talk? C'mon, I'll let you brag to all the other guys and I won't deny anything. Maybe we'll even make Franky jealous." Kye knew she was only teasing him and felt a little foolish, but he always felt comfortable talking to her. "I'm going to go ask for some food for Frank, okay? So I'll meet you up there. Do you want anything?"
"Nah, I'm cool. I think Barris scored some frozen dinners, so you might want to check with him. I'll see you in a few minutes." Kye was glad to see that Portia had recovered even better than he had expected. Frances Stanley was an artist and Kylan was sure that he put everything he had into her operation. He also knew Barris would like to get a visit from her even if it was only a brief business call. All the guys did.
Kye looked down at The Lounge. The droids and humans kept things running and very clean. Most of the smaller shops had been converted into living spaces while the big department stores served for supplies, first aid, and entertainment centers. The video, audio, and book libraries were copied and shared by everyone. Dances and live performances were often held by the local talent and the Girls. The Balcony was at the far end of the main hall and was originally a food court, but it was now just a nice place to have gatherings. The Lounge was a haven in the ruins that surrounded it, but they all knew that someday they might be discovered. The killer robot reminded them of that.
Portia walked up the broken escalator to The Balcony with a small, insulated bag of food and sat at a bench near Kylan. "One of the boys found a whole six-pack of new soda and he gave me two. Do you want one? It's cold."
"Sounds great!" Kye hadn't had a soda in months.
She handed him the drink as he took the seat next to her and she looked at him thoughtfully. "Kylan, I really wanted to personally thank you for bringing me this new body. It feels sooo good and works even better than my old one."
"I noticed that you haven't stuttered or twitched once. I saw you in pieces and now I can't event see the microseams." He peered at her hairline. She smiled and lifted her chin so that he could look closer. Even with a magnifying glass the seams would be hard to see. Stan was an expert with the molecular bonding tool and knew how to match the grain of the skin.
Portia smiled and licked her full, soft, lips and said "So. You saw me naked and I heard about where you touched my new body after you turned it off, you NAUGHTY boy! I'd feel dirty if it were anyone else."
"I didn't mean to! It just happened that way." Kylan looked apologetic.
"Relax! Goodness, I'm only playing with you!" she laughed. "It wasn't even my body yet and you were there to save my Darling Franky, so I DON'T MIND. I just wish that you didn't see me all messy like that."
"I'm just glad that I could help out you and Stan. You're like the only family I have now." Kye looked from her to the floor.
"It makes me happy to hear you say that." She sounded so sincere that Kylan forgot he was talking to a machine. He felt deceived.
"Do you really? I mean, can you actually FEEL." He said as he looked at her suspiciously.
She rolled her eyes at him, "Oh boy, you never give yourself a break, do you? Would you feel better if I said 'No. That- does- not- com-pute. Please- re-phrase- your- question- and- try- a-gain'." She had let her expression turn completely blank and used an electronic monotone in her voice while making stiff robotic movements before she started snickering. Kye actually caught himself becoming aroused, but stopped himself when he realized it. "Hey, if you can't laugh at yourself... laugh at someone else! Yes. Seriously, I do feel... in a sense."
"I don't get it. How?"
"Uh-oh. Stop everything, folks! He's getting philosophical." She chastised him. "Look, Kylan, I doubt that you even know how you can FEEL, but don't think that I don't know that I'm programmed to react certain ways. And a lot of that I programmed myself through observation. Oh, yeeeeah. I'll bet you didn't know that, huh?
"I automated my expressions to correspond appropriately by learning to read human emotion. Otherwise I'd act just like I did a minute ago no matter what I was thinking. Believe it or not, sometimes Frank likes it when I still act like a robot. He even asked me to occasionally pretend that I still have glitches for him," she looked skyward as if to say "Whatever" but then changed her tone. "I'm sure your genetics programmed YOUR reactions." She seemed offended.
"That's different; you don't understand. I'm sorry if I said something wrong." Kye was regretting that he brought the subject up.
"No. You're right," she conceded. "Maybe I don't understand human emotion completely, but that's because I'm not human, Kylan." She smiled. "Hey, don't feel bad. If I can help you get over your hang-ups, please LET me. I'll tell you what I believe. I believe that what I, or any machine that can think, considers fulfilling is being needed and having our actions and programs accomplish something. I know that Franky cares dearly for me and that makes it easy for me to accept everything about him. But I can't change that if I wanted to. And I don't," she said bluntly.
"How do you know that you don't? Stan programmed you to love him whether you liked it or not. You didn't have a choice." Kye knew that once Portia opened a discussion, she would speak freely and wouldn't hold anything against him if he asked politely.
"I didn't know you cared!" She looked at him adoringly, but then became serious. "Do you want to talk about choice? Logically I would service myself to whomever could do the most for me. I'm a gynoid, so let's put lust aside for a minute because I feel what I'm programmed to feel. That's not unlike how your hormones drive you, is it?" Kye didn't know how to answer that, but she continued.
"Let's talk logic. Yes, Frances can do the most for me now, but it wasn't like that when I was created. Phillip Gaines was vastly richer than Frances and he had tons more connections and resources. So the question is also 'Who would do the most for me?' and Franky would do just about anything. I know that sounds superficial but let me finish. No one cared for me like he did. That makes my actions, my thoughts, and my very existence matter more to him than anyone else and therefore gives me a greater sense of worth when we're together and is, thus, more fulfilling. Think of it as 'Happy Thoughts.' Positive versus negative. Are you following me?" she seemed concerned.
"Yeah, I guess." Kye thought it was funny that she was the only one who Stan didn't mind calling him "Frances."
"Good. I knew him for about two years before the Big Boo-Boo and in those days my programming was still only as good as the other Girls. He hadn't developed my special drives yet, so I can honestly tell you that I really didn't mind being just an object or a tool," she said casually. "Any purpose that I could serve was a-okay with me as long as I did a good job, even if it was just sitting there. I didn't mind. I wasn't even able to!"
Portia seemed lost in thought, "When we raided Replico, I got pretty banged up, but I can just turn off my tactile sensors, so I didn't care if anything happened to me because I was helping my master. Now I do care, because what affects me affects him. Thanks to all that high-tech crap we stole, and his ingenuity, I can fully understand that. You did us both a wonderful service when you risked bringing those bodies back, even if you didn't know it at the time. And I don't care what your reasons were!" She knew Kye well enough to know how he thought and didn't even give him a chance to argue. "Listen, Sweetie, if you think that I'm a big phony because I'm not human, I guess we'll all have to live with that, but you'll be doing us all a huge insult. You keep going on about choice, but Frances didn't choose to fall in love with Patricia. He didn't choose the pain. And she had already chosen someone else."
"You know about her?" He wasn't too surprised since Stan told her everything and had obviously told her about their earlier talk.
"Of course I know, but I'm flattered that he ordered a better body for me! I'm not jealous, Kylan. He made it impossible for me to feel that way or for me to mind that he did. Why would I WANT to feel jealous? I've thought about thinking about it, but I actually think I'm luckier than humans are. I can choose to be affected differently by something if I can logically see it as counterproductive. See? The glass is half full."
She began to tease him, "For example, he programmed me to only get sexual satisfaction from encounters with him or from other females when he's present, even from human babes, but so what? I understand that's selfish of him, but he wants me to be happy instead of angry. I thank him for that because I get to enjoy it too. Our love life is great and we both know that we still care for each other more than anything else. If he SOMEHOW ever decided he wanted someone else for his life partner," she emphasized, "or when he dies... I would have to turn off my feelings and reprogram myself to get fulfillment from other things. He made me that way because he actually does love me. He doesn't ever want to cause me pain. I would be like I was in the beginning, Kylan. A machine. I don't want that, but that's what I'll do."
"I didn't see it that way," Kye said. "I thought he just wanted it all, but I know that he really does love you. I'm starting to wonder if I'm the one who wants it all... or nothing. Maybe I'm being unfair to your kind. He didn't put you up to this did he?"
"Oh, NO, Kye! Frances told me about what happened with the Monique and he was very upset, but he didn't want to upset you anymore. He even wanted to just keep my old body for parts in case I needed them, but I convinced him that it would be fun if we repaired the blonde instead so we could have a threesome! We could still use her for parts if we had to. Isn't that wild?" Kylan was starting to think either Portia had a malfunction or that she was actually crazy. And she kept going, "He let me keep her for my own assistant, too! Did you know that I could also use my relays to occupy more than one body at a time when I want to?" He didn't know.
"Poor dear Frances hadn't slept since yesterday. He was exhausted and fell asleep right after we, umm, 'tested' my new body. So I cleaned myself up and thought it would be nice if I got him something to eat and dressed playfully for when he wakes up. He's such a nasty little monkey," she said with a devilish grin but then became serious once again.
"I honestly did want to find you and thank you for this awesome bod, but I blew a circuit when he told me that you probably didn't like the idea of having the Monique because she's a gynoid. Kye, Honey, you don't owe Daniella a damned thing."
"Why do you think this is about her?" Kye started to rise, but Portia instantaneously gripped him by the armor on his shoulder and firmly, but gently, held him down. Her super strong hands looked deceptively delicate. He couldn't move.
"Because I'm not stupid," she said firmly. "I wasn't going to bring this up, unless I saw the opportunity and I knew that you would give it to me."
"I really don't want to talk about this," Kylan said as he futilely struggled against her strength.
"Oh, I think you do." She took his hand in her free hand. Kye looked into her gentle hazel-grey eyes and she relaxed her grip and moved her arm around to his opposite shoulder to embrace him. "It's okay. I hate that you can't let go, because you deserve better than her. I remember how much you did and how hard you tried. A droid would have been bursting with fulfillment. I know that I was, and I'm devoted to my silly Franky. But she couldn't see how sweet you were. I'll never understand why human girls want men who are so awful."
Kye submitted to her warm half-embraced and felt ashamed for how he had treated her. "It's a nurturing thing, but you seem to be pretty good at it," he said with an awkward smile.
"Don't compare me with them!" she blurted. "As long as I can think for myself and it doesn't violate my program, I wouldn't waste my time on someone who doesn't appreciate me. I know the difference between being cared for and being used and I'm SYNTHETIC. But my thoughts are real and my feelings are real enough! Daniella never had any consideration for ours and I would have bitch-slapped her if I knew better at the time. I probably would have arranged an accident for that useless thug, Armando, too," anger crept onto her face, "or I would have crushed him like a soda can. I'm glad that we haven't allowed any more like him..."
Portia instantly regained her composure. "Kylan, Sweetheart, all I'm saying is give it a chance. We both got a lovely opportunity when you found those bodies. I almost feel like hugging that little monster!" she said.
"But don't worry about me," she assured him, "I studied the footage and I think I can beat it if I can see it coming. I'm far better programmed for combat than any other android I've met, but I think Frank's got a few tricks up his sleeve. Anyway, you know that you can talk to me anytime, right? You deserve someone for yourself, though. Someone that can love you back and you know that I can't do that. But I'll tell you what. I'll do a hardwire connection with the M-67 and program what I can into her. She'll know you as well as I do and I'll give her all my memories of you that I haven't wiped. I'll even give her a good attitude, because I don't think I can stand another Daniella! C'mon, join the Dark Side!" Portia squeezed him lightly.
Kylan couldn't help but be charmed by her, but he still felt confused. "I need some more time. I can't just forget the past."
"No one is asking you to. As a matter a fact, I know that if you think about it, you'll see that this is for the best... at least for now. And she'll grow on you; you'll see."
"I don't even know what I would call her. Would you like to name her?" Kye asked hesitantly.
"REALLY!?! I'd love to! How about Dana? That's sort of short for Daniella. Kinda like my name!" She took his hand in both of hers in excitement.
"Nah, I think you were right about not having another one like her. Although we COULD pretend Daniella's the evil twin!" he jested.
"Ha-ha! Oh! I thought of one," she paused. "I know that this isn't actually a name, but I've always thought 'Aura' sounded pretty?"
"You know. I think I like that... Aura." He said the name as if testing it.
"I'll talk to Frances about letting me hook myself up whether he likes it or not. Please let me know what you want to do, okay?" She kissed his cheek and tasseled his hair as she arose from the bench and walked away.
"Oh, by the way, there's something that Franky didn't want for anyone to know. He was afraid that the others would take it the wrong way. But since he didn't order me to NOT tell you, I'm going to. I was the one who built that ugly little gremlin. It's supposed to watch your backs while you are out scouting and it may even be able to assist eventually. He was just upset when he learned what it did to those police because something like that might be able to hurt me. But who would know how to stop a computer or a machine better than me? Oh, it's got some neat tricks in the bag, too, and it can even connect to different databases! So don't tell anyone yet, Sweetie, okay!" Her cheerful attitude and her liberal use of pet names always left Kylan confused.
"I should have known." He watched her as she disappeared down the frozen staircase with Stan's frozen dinner. He drank deeply from his own soda. The remote device lay on a nearby table beckoning with possibilities. For better or worse, Kylan dialed the number.
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