She pushed him back onto the bed. “Lie back and take it like a man.”
She began delivering small kisses up and down his body. Once his penis responded, she quickly engulfed it in her mouth. Sucking on her way up and pressing with her tongue on the way down, she soon felt him nearing his climax. Pulling up, she slid a leg over him and impaled herself upon him. He reached up and played with her nipples for only a moment, before pulling her down into a tight embrace. Then, rolling quickly over without losing their connection, he was on top.
“Proud of yourself?” Patience asked, as she wrapped her legs around him and locked her feet together. His only reply was a grunt.
With a renewed vigor, he began thrusting faster and harder. She was surprised that he was lasting as long as he was. She felt herself slowly rising up toward that distant peak of excitement. As a robot, Patience could do something that no human could do. She could simply will herself to an orgasm, or at least the mechanical equivalent of one. This time she didn’t. She simply let herself be carried upward and onward. Suddenly it was there. She shuddered deliciously and clamped down to trigger his climax. They held each other quietly as their excitement subsided.
“I love you, Mike,” she said.
His answer was a long snore.
Patience stayed just as she was, not moving at all. Despite the fact that Mike’s penis has deflated, it remained lodged in her opening. Surprisingly, Mike didn’t move appreciatively for more for 102 minutes. Finally, he rolled off to the side. Patience got up and cleaned herself in the bathroom before returning and lying back down beside him. Mike slept soundly until 8:49 AM. When he opened his eyes, she smiled at him.
“Good morning, sleepyhead.”
“Is it late?”
“Not at all. You can go back to sleep if you want to.”
“No, I’m up.” Mike climbed out of bed and went to the bathroom.
Patience set out his clothes for the day and then turned on the shower for him.
“Breakfast buffet today?” he called from the shower.
“No,” she replied, thinking about the morning they first met Bella and Delia. “There is a restaurant called the Lupercalia. They are supposed to have an excellent breakfast.”
“Sounds good to me.”
An hour later they were opening the blue glass door of Lupercalia. Inside was a brightly lit room with dozens of tables covered in blue cloth, surrounding a large pool with a dancing fountain. A robot maître-de led them to a table within an arm’s reach of the rhythmically moving waters.
“What shall I have?” asked Mike. “Do you know what they serve here?”
“I’ve already ordered for you.”
“Efficient as usual.”
Patience smiled.
“I remember the first time I saw a dancing fountain,” said Mike. “It was at Sea World in San Diego. Back then they were quite a big deal. It was a real production with stage lights and everything. Now you see them everywhere.”
He stopped and listened to the music that was conducting the little jets.
“That’s a Beatles song, isn’t it?”
“For No One,” she confirmed. In her head, she received a message from Security telling her that the recording of Delia’s memory had been returned to the ship from Adelaide. She gave no outward sign, but continued talking with Mike. “Lennon and McCartney.”
“Thought so.” He looked around. “So, what are we doing today?”
“I thought you would enjoy some more time at the pool.”
“Yeah, I guess so. What are Ryan and Wanda doing? We haven’t spent that much time with them.”
“I thought you didn’t like them.”
“I never said that,” said Mike. “Did I?”
“No, you didn’t,” said Patience. “You didn’t say you didn’t like them, but you did say that Ryan was a tool.”
“Well, that was before I knew him. He’s not so bad. Um, more importantly though, I know how much you like Wanda. It wouldn’t be right for me to keep you from spending time with your friend.”
“You needn’t worry about that, Mike. I can be in constant communication with Wanda at any time.”
“It’s not the same though, is it? And besides, that doesn’t do anything for Ryan, does it?”
“So what you are telling me,” said Patience, leaning her chin on a hand, “is that you really want to spend time with Ryan for his benefit. Simply being around you will, what… make him a better human being?”
Mike grinned. “Not just him. Pretty much anybody would benefit by close proximity.”
“It seems a shame that you don’t spend more time with other people then. I just hope that Ryan appreciates it.”
“Do you?”
“Oh, I do. I really, really do.”
The server arrived with a huge tray and began laying out dishes in front of Mike. “Here we go—grits topped with grilled shrimp, bacon crumbles, and scallions; empanadas stuffed with lamb, mint, and fava beans; potatoes au gratin with onions, mushrooms, and goat cheese; and two eggs, well done.”
“Now that is a breakfast,” said Mike.
“Anything else, sir?”
“Water for both of us.”
“Very good, sir.”
“You like your breakfast?” asked Patience, as her husband started to dig into his grits.
“This may be the best breakfast I’ve ever had. Do you know how to make this stuff?”
“Yes.”
“I definitely want these grits again. So, did you check with Wanda’s schedule?”
She smiled. “They’re going to the Olympic pool after breakfast. I’ve already told them that we would meet them there.”
The Olympic Pool was much larger than the Celebrity pool. It was rectangular, and it didn’t feature much in the way of fancy landscaping. It was designed for swimming, and many people were doing laps from end to end. That was not to say that there weren’t those engaged in other activities. Dozens of people soaked up the sun, filtered through a large orange awning that covered the entire area. Others ate, drank, played games, and simply interacted. The focus seemed to be less about being seen than it had been at the Celebrity pool, and more about simply enjoying the venue. There were just as many skimpy swimsuits though.
“I saved you a couple of chairs,” said Wanda, when they arrived.
Mike and Patience plopped down in the two chaise lounges next to the redhead.
“Where’s your guy?” asked Mike.
Wanda pointed to the pool, where Ryan was doing a breaststroke from left to right.
“He’s a wonderful swimmer,” she said.
“Hi guys,” said Ryan, a few minutes later, when he climbed from the pool and dropped down, dripping wet, into the seat on Wanda’s other side. “What’s going on?”
“Just enjoying the day,” said Mike. “Patience thought it would be good to just hang out at the pool.”
“Good idea. I’ve been having so much fun, I’m going to need a vacation when I get back to recover from my vacation.”
After three hours of swimming, reading, talking, and just relaxing, Mike and Ryan were exhausted. Patience and Wanda took them back to their cabins. They were quiet, but Wanda kept a long-winded dialog with Patience over her Wi-Fi connection.
“This was such a wonderful idea. Ryan seems to feel completely comfortable with me now. He’s even talked about things we can do together when we get back home. I am so happy.”
“Of course you are,” said Patience. “You are for Ryan.”
“Thank you so much, Patience. I never would have been able to connect with him the way that I have without your help.”
“Of course you could have. You are a Daffodil, after all. It was your idea to come on this cruise.”
“But Ryan would have never come with me, had it not been for your intervention.”
“You’re welcome,” said Patience. “Why don’t we meet for dinner tonight?”
“Ryan would like to go back to the steakhouse
. He really enjoyed it.”
“Fine. We’ll meet you here at 7:00.”
“Would you like to take a nap, Mike?” Patience asked when they were alone in the room.
“I might. What are you going to do?”
“I’m going down to the security office.”
“Do you want me to come with you?”
“No, Mike. I’ll let you know what happens.”
“All right.” He climbed onto the bed and grabbed his texTee. “I’m not going to be able to sleep now though. I’ll just finish my book.”
“James White?”
“Yes.”
“You said that reading James White gave you comfort.”
“Did I?”
“Yes you did,” said Patience. “Why do you suppose that is?”
“I don’t know.” Mike’s forehead wrinkled in thought. “I suppose that its because his future sounds so optimistic and innocent.”
“Maybe it is because he is one of the few futurists who has almost no robots in his stories.”
“Go on and do what you need to do. I’ll still be here when you get back. I promise.”
Moira and Carl were waiting for Patience in the security office. Officer Sherman followed her in. He held up a u7 plug.
“They recovered what they could of her short-term memory,” he said. “They said it’s about 14%.”
“Hopefully that will be enough to give us a definitive answer,” said Patience.
“Do you want to plug it into me?” asked Moira.
Patience frowned. “No, I don’t want to do that to you. We can view it by vueTee.”
She turned to Sherman. “Did you find the man that Bella and Delia were with?”
“Yes. His name is Vern Kline. He seemed pretty broken up. They met in the karaoke bar and seemed to hit it off. They were talking about meeting again later in the cruise. He said he would have liked to have seen her afterwards. I believed him, for what it’s worth. In any case, both he and his robot had a good alibi on the day of the murder. They were off the ship. They went on the skiing excursion.”
Sherman led them into a conference room with a large vueTee on the wall. He pushed the u7 plug into the port. They sat down around a rectangular table and turned their chairs toward the screen. What began playing was mostly raw data, which the security chief couldn’t read. To the three Daffodils though, it was clear as water. A few pictures popped up, one after the other, but they were blurred images that could have been anything. Except for the last one. The final picture, while blurry, was easy enough to make out. A hand was reaching out, grasping a ballpoint pen, and shoving it into Bella Brown’s face. Her eyes were wide with shock.
“So her robot killed her?” asked Sherman.
“Yes,” replied Moira.
“It was a murder/suicide?”
“It was a suicide/murder,” replied Carl. “The Daffodil stabbed itself repeatedly, destroying its logic board and memory, knowing that it had eight to ten minutes to kill its human before it would stop functioning.”
“Buy why?” asked Sherman.
“She was in love with Bella. She was for her. She was afraid that she would lose her to a human man. So she killed them both.”
Sherman sighed. “You’re sure about this?”
All three Daffodils nodded.
“This is going to be a big deal… and not just for the cruise lines either… for the whole world.
Chapter Fifteen
Mike was already dressed when Patience arrived back in their room. He looked quite handsome in his white shirt and tan slacks. They met Wanda and Ryan out in the hall and all walked down to the Incubus Steakhouse together. After sitting down, the men planned out their orders. Mike chose the iceberg wedge, peppercorn New York steak with red onion compote, ginger sweet potatoes, and chocolate mouse cake. Ryan ordered the warm asparagus salad with hollandaise and truffle vinaigrette, braised beef short ribs with m’hamsa couscous, French horn mushrooms, and bacon; and crème brulee.
Patience was quiet, a fact that Wanda was quick to point out.
“Is it the murder?” she asked.
“You know about that, do you?” asked Mike.
“Everyone knows about it,” said Ryan. “And of course, Wanda knows that they asked Patience to help them solve it. Did you figure it out?”
“Yes,” said Patience. “I might as well tell you, since it will be widely known shortly.”
“We knew them,” Mike told Ryan. “Well, we met them. We had lunch with them.”
“The girl who was murdered and her robot?”
“Yeah.”
“Freaky.”
“Yeah, well…”
“So who killed her?” Ryan asked, turning to Patience.
“Delia killed Bella,” said Patience.
“Who is Delia?”
“Delia was her Daffodil. She killed Bella and she killed herself.”
“That cannot be right,” said Wanda, “but I see that it is.”
“Why?” asked Mike. “Why did she kill her?”
“Bella met a man. Delia loved Bella and was afraid that she would lose her to him.”
“That is really frightening,” said Ryan.
“It’s really human, is what it is,” said Mike. “It’s just the kind of thing that humans do to each other all the time. You just don’t expect it from a robot… and yes, I know she wasn’t just a robot—she was a Daffodil.”
“It is too horrible,” said Wanda. “She was for Bella. She should have wanted whatever was best for Bella, even if it meant giving her up.”
“See Ryan,” said Mike. “You have a special little robot there.”
“I realize that.”
The salads arrived and they began eating.
“You feel the same way, don’t you, Patience?” asked Wanda. “You feel the same way about Mike that I do about Ryan, don’t you?”
Patience flashed her a nonverbal blip of annoyance but answered. “I love Mike and I want him to be happy of course. Over the past few years however, I have programmed myself to want him… to need him. I have been running it over in my mind for the past several hours. More and more I understand how Delia was feeling. I don’t know how I would react if I thought I was losing Mike.”
Ryan choked on a bit of lettuce and took a quick drink of water, giving Mike a nervous look.
“It’s my fault,” said Mike. “I’m just too damn charming. The women and robots—they just go crazy for me.”
Patience smiled and put her hand on his. The main courses arrived and the conversation took a much lighter tone through the rest of their meal. After dessert, they left the steakhouse and walked downstairs to the movie theater.
“What shall we see,” asked Ryan.
“Okay,” said Mike. “We have a sappy chick flic, two mindless action movies, and Shakespeare.”
“So… Motor California?”
“Much Ado About Nothing.”
“I was afraid you were going to say that,” said Ryan. “Well, I suppose we don’t have to see the same movie.”
“Try a little culture for once. Maybe you’ll like it.”
“All right. I’ll try it, but I don’t think I’ll like it.”
One hundred nine minutes later the four of them stepped back out of the theater entrance.
“That wasn’t that bad,” said Ryan.
“See, I knew you’d like it,” said Mike.
“It didn’t hurt that Margarite Pine was in it.”
“Which one was she?”
“The one with the boobs.”
“Oh, the one who played Beatrice. Yes, she is a healthy young woman.”
“She’s in Motor California, too,” said Wanda. “Ryan has it in his queue. He finds her sexually appealing.”
“Wanda!”
“Oh, I don’t mind. I think I look a little bit like her.”
“Let’s take a walk,” suggested Mike. “They have a really nice walking trail. Patience and I took it on the first day. Have you been on
it?”
“No,” said Ryan.
“It should be quite lovely under the stars,” said Patience.
They took the elevator up the Sun Deck and stepped out to the beginning of the hiking trail. Small lights illuminated both sides of the path, as though reflecting a few of the myriad stars in the sky. They walked slowly along. Patience put her hand in Mike’s and leaned her head into his shoulder. He smiled. They stopped and looked over the rail down at the water hundreds of feet below. The ocean was dark, but they could make out the white tips of the waves. There were nowhere near as many people here as there were during the day, but it was far from empty. Couples strolled along just like Mike and Patience, and Ryan and Wanda. There were also joggers and even at least one bicyclist zooming along. There were also, as there had been two nights ago on the Promenade Deck, a number of robots wandering along alone.
“Are you feeling any better,” Mike asked Patience, looking into her eyes.
“I’m fine, Mike. How are you?”
He laughed. “I’m fine too. So what are our plans for tomorrow.”
“Let’s discuss them tomorrow. For now, let’s just enjoy the night.”
“What a very unrobotlike thing to say.” He kissed her and she kissed him back, reveling in the feeling of his breath entering her mouth. “Let’s go back to our cabin.”
Patience smiled and nodded.
“Good night, you two,” said Mike, with a wave.
He and Patience started back the way they had come. As they did, they passed a robot going the other direction. It was a newer model Gizmo, a male with sandy hair. After their routine packet exchange, Patience quickly purged any data that she received from him. It made her feel a little dirty. And there was something familiar too. He reminded her of the Gizmo she had encountered two nights earlier, though that one had dark hair. Still something was odd.
She stopped to take another look at him. She turned around just in time to see the Gizmo step up behind Ryan and Wanda and give them both a powerful shove between the shoulder blades. They both went toppling over the railing and dropped down into the darkness.
“Mike!” she shouted.
“I see it!” he shouted as they both raced to the spot their friends had stood.
Patience drove her hand so hard into the neck of the Gizmo that its head came completely off. It tore the skin from three of her fingers, but she paid no attention, delivering three quick body blows to ensure the rogue robot was completely disabled. She could hear Mike shouting.
His Robot Wife: Patience is a Virtue Page 14
