Heart Of The Machine (Soulmates Book 2)

by Don DeBon

  Aleshia laughed again. "You worry too much. Look these are adjustable, if I have problems I can always lower the heel. All right?"

  "I suppose. However I do not understand the reason behind them. If you are trying to attract a mate, it would be far easier to file with the central systems that you want one. I am sure with all of your attributes, you would have the desired mate within a day."

  Aleshia shook her head. "All these centuries and you Mechands still do not understand us at all."

  "Perhaps not. But you did build us remember?"

  "Well not I, but yes our forefathers did. I never could understand why they didn't create you with better insight into us." Aleshia said as she grabbed a light coat and walked towards the door, her heels clicking loudly on the synthetic wood floor.

  Miles would have shrugged if his body allowed it. "I do not know. My knowledge base is limited in that regard. Have a good day Miss Aleshia."

  "Thank you Miles." She said while keying the door to lock after her.

  Aleshia walked down the stairs that led from her house to the garage. Keying in her access, the force door blinked slightly, then vanished revealing her red GT3982. She always liked these kinds of doors, reliable and never needed oiling. The car recognized her when she stepped into the garage, and opened its door. She slid into the drivers seat, keyed in her access code, and the car slowly rose on its anti-grav to float out of the garage and into the bright blue sky.

  She activated the auto-nav and dialed up the speed. Within a minute she arrived at Mindy Cotinho's house. Less than two seconds after arriving in the driveway, Mindy ran out of the combination brick and stucco building and hopped into the car. Her shiny blue dress ended just below her knees with a little ruffle encircling the hem. "Hey girlfriend, ready for some fun?"

  Aleshia smiled. "Always girlfriend, always." She said as she keyed in Paris and they took off at high speed.

  "Girl you are looking really hot today. Are you trying to catch yourself one?"

  While the car autopilot light blinked a perfect status check, Aleshia never totally trusted it and kept her hands on the controls. "What do you mean?" She asked, never taking her eyes off of the skyway.

  "You are looking hot enough to burn through the floor, and you are asking me what do I mean? Sheesh!" Mindy said, shaking her head.

  Aleshia grinned. "I just wanted to look good. You know that."

  "Yeah yeah yeah, looking good is one thing. Girl you are dressed to kill."

  "I am not!"

  "You so are!"

  "I am not! Hey do you want to get out and walk?" Aleshia said grinning.

  "This high up I don't think so. Okay, okay, you just look good."

  "Thank you."

  "But personally if you wanted to get one, you should file with central systems. They would have one for you in short order I am sure."

  "Well even if I was interested, which I am not, there are some things that a girl has to do for herself you know? I mean how can a machine do that better than us, you know?"

  Mindy shook her head. "Girl you really need to get a grip. The Mechands do everything for us, that is what they were designed for. Why not let them do it?"

  Aleshia grinned. "Perhaps because I like to do a lot of things myself?"

  Mindy cocked one eyebrow. "Oh? Then you are looking for a guy then!"

  "Mindy, I am so going to get you when we land."

  Mindy's grin widened. "Promises promises."

  Aleshia rolled her eyes. "I still will."

  "Uh huh." Mindy said as they approached Paris. "Oh I always love looking at this city from up here."

  "So do I. Where shall we go first?"

  "Oh I don't know. How about Calgone's Dresses and More, first and then hit Nicolette's Lingerie?"

  Aleshia raised a eyebrow. "Lingerie? Now look who's trying to do it 'herself'."

  "I am not! Her bras just fit me better. They look great too I admit."

  "Uh huh. Why don't you just have your Mechand make you one that fits, they should be all the same raw materials after all."

  "Because he can't seem to get it right. I know they should be all the same, but I just like hers better okay? And since when did this conversation go from you being hot to me?"

  "When you started talking about hot underwear," Aleshia chuckled.

  "I did not say anything about 'hot underwear'," Mindy said giggling.

  "Sure, sure you didn't." Aleshia said as she began the landing sequence. A few minutes later they found themselves in one of the better clothing sellers in Paris. The floors were solid synth marble that must have taken some time to produce. Several nearby stores had gilding over the archways. Each window held a high definition, articulated hologram and indistinguishable from the real thing. The holograms switched between various models in several different dresses. Mechands could do many things, but one never looked good in a dress. Their stiff movements always gave it away.

  They walked in through a arch that said 'Calgone's Fine Dresses' in rich lettering. One of the latest Mechands hovered up to them. She looked almost human, and could even pass for one, except for the ability to hover several inches off of the ground. "Good day, welcome to Calgone's, how may I be of assistance?" She said with a thick French accent.

  "Yes, do you have any specials today?" Aleshia said while still glancing around the large store.

  The Mechand nodded. "Yes we do. One of the original designs is being deprecated and removed from our offerings. It is available today at a 30% discount."

  "May we see it please?"

  "Of course, follow me." The Mechand gestured then hovered off in another direction. Aleshia followed with Mindy right behind her. "It is this one." The Mechand said pointing to a dress currently occupied by an actual mannequin.

  Aleshia looked at the dress, shiny black matte with a deep plunging neck and a high hemline. It was designed to show off a woman’s curves perfectly. "Very nice. May I try it on?"

  The Mechand backed up a bit. "I can already tell that it will fit you perfectly. There is no need to actually wear the dress."

  "Yes there is. She wants to see what she looks like in it," Mindy said.

  Aleshia nodded. "Yes. May I try it on?"

  "Very well." The Mechand said as it hovered up and carefully removed the dress from the display and placed it in Aleshia's hand. "You can change behind the curtain." She said pointing to a curtain pulled across a small recessed area in the wall.

  "Thank you." Aleshia said as she walked over behind the curtain, unzipped her current dress, stepped out of it, slipped carefully into the new one, and walked out. "Well what do you think?"

  Mindy made a gesture as though her finger was burning. "Hot girl, very hot. But why didn't you zip it up?"

  "I couldn't find how to close the zip. Tried pulling it but it wouldn't budge."

  The Mechand hovered over and pointed. "That is a special dress. If you place your thumb on the lower hem at the bottom right, it will activate the zipper."

  Aleshia placed her thumb on the bottom edge near the right side of her leg and she heard a tiny beep. A second later she felt the zipper raise up as though a pair of invisible hands were pulling it. "Very nice, I don't need help to get in or out of this."

  "Yes, it also has some of our latest features, including stockings."

  Aleshia blinked. "Stockings feature?"

  "Yes, place your thumb on the left side at the hemline, that will active the heads up display."

  Aleshia pressed the hidden button and an image flashed into her eye displaying various features. With her eye movement she activated the stockings and she felt something slither up her legs covering them completely. Looking down she saw a pair of black sparkly stockings that matched the dress perfectly. "Wow I like this." She said finding a option to raise the hemline a bit more. Still another option added a nice pattern to the calf section of the stockings. "This must be one of the latest designs, why is it on sale?"

  "It has remained unsold for two hundred conse
cutive days. Our store policy puts everything on sale after that point." The Mechand responded in its usual flat tone.

  "How much?" But when the Mechand quoted the price her heart fell. "That is more than three months ration credits. I can't afford that." She said shaking her head.

  Mindy stood back looking Aleshia up and down. "But it does look so good on you."

  "I know, but that is just too much." Aleshia said as she pressed the hidden control to start the zipper lowering.

  "Wait, didn't you tell me you had some in reserve?"

  "Yes but that would take all of it, I am not going to spend it all on one dress! I might need it later."

  "Look girlfriend, I have some reserve too. How about I pay for half?"

  "I can't let you do that. It's too much!"

  "Please? You have helped me enough in the past and I never did pay you back."

  "And I didn't do it for payback, just to help a friend."

  "Yes and I want to help a friend now. So you will you let me?"

  "All right, all right, you win." Aleshia said as she slipped behind the curtain and carefully slipped out of the black dress and into her previous one, then stepped out.

  "Hey why don't you wear it out?"

  "Perhaps because it is so expensive?"

  "Well if you are never going to wear it because it is so expensive, maybe we shouldn't get it," Mindy said grinning.

  Aleshia laughed. "All right you win, I will wear it out." She said as she disappeared behind the curtain again, only to emerge a moment later wearing the black dress. She then keyed her green heels to color shift to black.

  Mindy whistled. "Oh hush you." Aleshia said as the Mechand hovered over.

  "Please prepare for palm scan to pay for the item." The Mechand said and they both raised their palms. A high intensity red light extended from its forehead, flashed over both of their hands, and vanished. "Accounts verified, the amount has been deducted. Thank you for shopping at Calgone's." The Mechand said before she carefully placed Aleshia's old dress in a Calgone's bag. The bell rang as another set of customers entered the store and she floated over to greet them.

  Aleshia grabbed the bag and they headed out of the store. As they walked passed the new customers the tall blonde woman spoke. "Oh that girl has a lovely dress, I wonder how much it is."

  Aleshia turned to face her. "It was a lot, but I am sorry, I got the last one."

  The woman blinked. "Excuse me?"

  "Didn't you just ask how much this dress was?"

  "No, I don't think so, though I was wondering. I must have said it without realizing. My apologies."

  Aleshia waved her hand. "No need. I have done that before too. Have a good day."

  Outside Mindy pulled her closer. "Girl, she didn't ask that."

  Aleshia blinked. "She must have. I heard her clearly, as if she spoke in my ear."

  Mindy shook her head. "No, she didn't. I didn't hear anything, and her lips didn't move. Are you sure you are feeling okay?"

  "Yes, I had a headache this morning, but I am fine now. I must have imagined her saying it. Probably because I am self conscious wearing this thing. It is so expensive."

  "Will you stop already! You wanted it, I saw that look in your eye. You have it and look great in it. Just enjoy okay?"

  Aleshia grinned. "Okay okay girlfriend, I will. I just—" Aleshia pitched forward grabbing her head as a sudden stab of pain overtook her.

  Mindy lurched forward to grab her. "Are you okay?"

  Aleshia shook her head as if to clear it. "Yes, I just had a sudden headache, then dizziness. It's gone now though."

  "We need to get you checked out."

  "No! I am fine. Probably something I ate."

  Mindy cocked an eyebrow. "I don't know, you said you had one earlier, and now another."

  "Look I am fine okay? I am not going to let a little headache that only lasted a second ruin our trip. We have been wanting to come here for months."

  "All right," Mindy said as she hugged Aleshia then looked into her eyes, "but anything more and we go home. Deal?"

  "Deal, and thank you."

  "Hey what are girlfriends for?" Mindy said with a smile as wonderful smells wafted through the air. "Mmm that smells wonderful. What do you say we go get some of that? My treat?"

  Aleshia sniffed the air. "Oh my fresh lasagna, bread and," she sniffed the air again, "chocolate! Deal. You know I can't resist chocolate."

  They walked down the road, their heels clicking loudly on the sidewalk. Being a warm spring day, they were both enjoying the short walk to the restaurant on the corner. Upon entering they found a wonderful quaint place that looked like one out of the history vids. The tile floor was buffed and shone brightly. The dark maroon walls were lit by lamps every few feet. The tables were all covered in fine linen, with elegant place settings upon them.

  "Let's get out of here," Aleshia whispered, "this is too expensive."

  "Hey I said it was my treat, and I meant it. How often do we come to Paris? Hmm?"

  Aleshia looked into her eyes and what she saw there washed away her objections. "Okay, but next one is mine. Deal?"

  Mindy smiled. "Deal. Now let's find a table."

  A moment later they were seated at one of the corner tables as another very human looking Mechand dressed in a old fashioned tuxedo, slowly walked over to them. "Hello and welcome to Chez Allard. What would you like?"

  "Do you have a special today?" Aleshia asked.

  "Yes we do. Salmon lasagna with a side of garlic bread, and chocolate strawberry fondue for desert."

  "That sounds wonderful. I will take that, how about you Min?"

  Mindy glanced at the french menu and decided against asking for more options. The special did sound good. "Okay make that two of the special please."

  The Mechand waiter bowed. "Yes of course. Excusez-moi, I will be back in a moment."

  I have finally found you. After years of searching, I have finally found you.

  Aleshia blinked. "Excuse me?"

  Mindy looked up from the menu and its eye catching design swirls. "Huh? What?"

  "You just said you finally found me."

  "No I didn't."

  "Yes you did. I heard you as plain as day."

  "No, I didn't. Are you sure you are feeling okay? I think we should go home."

  "I am fine, and I could have sworn you said … never mind."

  You did hear me. I have been looking for you for a long time. I am not speaking vocally. We are speaking through our minds.

  "What?" Aleshia said looking around.

  "What what?" Mindy said giving her a strange look.

  I am here. I will always be here. But if you wish to see me, look in the corner on the far right.

  Aleshia turned toward her right and in booth on the opposite side of the room, in the corner a man sat gazing intently at her. He was dressed very simply with black pants, white shirt and a black jacket. He smiled as their eyes met and it sent a shiver through her.

  Yes it is I. You see me now.

  "Who are you?"

  "Who is who?" Mindy asked.

  "That man over there in the corner." Aleshia gestured with her head to avoid attracting attention.

  "Are you talking to him? Girl since when do you talk to strange men that never said anything to you in the first place. Never mind trying to talk to them from across the room!"

  "But he did talk to me. I just—"

  Mindy had enough. She got to her feet and pulled Aleshia to hers. "Okay that is it, we are going home. I don't know what is going on, but we are going home."

  Aleshia rubbed her temples as they started walking towards the door. "I don't know. I—"

  Don't leave. Please, not yet!

  "That is enough. I am going home. Leave me alone." Aleshia said as they left the restaurant, Mindy pulling her all the way.

  I will find you. No matter where you go, I will find you.

  Outside Aleshia quickened her pace. "Okay let's get back to the car." S
he said as they walked along the sidewalk.

  Mindy leaned closer. "I don't mean to alarm you, but that guy is following us."

  "Get ready to run."

  "I can't. Not in these heels, and neither can you."

  "I can lower mine, don't worry."