by G. E. Stills
Naa’dia gazed down lovingly at the tiny bundle at her feet. She recalled that long day of giving birth two months ago. At the time it was painful and exhausting. “You have no idea how much pain you gave. Natural childbirth is unknown among the Men-gar race. To my knowledge, it hasn’t happened in eons. But you are so worth it, Rho’naa.”
Flame red hair was just starting to grow on Rho’naa’s head. When Rho’naa looked at her with those sky-blue eyes, it brought pleasant memories to her of Rhody.
“You remind me of your dad more each day.”
She picked up the infant and placed it to her breast to feed. Stepping out of their cave, she gazed out on the woods and continued to talk. “Of course, you have many of my features too. Your pale white skin for one. When I look at your face, I see myself in addition to your father. Thank goodness, you only have two nipples instead of four. I think it will help you be better accepted by your father. It won’t remind him that you are part Men-gar.”
The baby girl cooed and then suckled again.
“Our time together grows short, my beautiful daughter. Just a few more months and I will call your dad.”
***
“She wants to come live with me,” Rhody said to Kat and Tantara
“Do you think it is wise?” Kat asked. “It’s only been three months since she became aware that she even existed.”
“I think getting her away from this lab will promote further improvements in her. I can take her for walks outside among the crowds. It will provide her with a chance to interact with other people. We can go for walks in the woods. She has expressed an interest in that. In many ways Lina is like a child, but in others, she is a woman.”
“And what do you want, Rhody?” Tantara asked.
“I want what’s best for Lina. In answer to your real question though, Tantara, Lina has become very important to me. She is the focus on my attention now and not my loss of Naa’dia. She is good therapy for me too.” Rhody was surprised at himself, it was the first time he said Naa’dia’s name rather than referring to her as the bitch. “I have two bedrooms in my new apartment so having room will not be a problem.”
“Then I’ll approve your request. I still want her to come here for at least part of each day though,” Kat said.
Tantara opened the exam room door. “Lina, Lina, hon, will you join us we have something to propose.”
“Certainly, Tantara,” Lina said stepping into the room.
“We have a proposal for you, Lina, but the decision to accept or not is ultimately yours.”
“And that proposal would be?” asked Lina.
“Rhody has suggested you go live with him. He thinks it would be best for you in promoting your healing.”
The smile that stretched over Lina’s lips was no longer the half smile from months ago. She peered at Rhody. “You’re asking me to come live with you?”
Rhody nodded.
“Then I accept.”
“You haven’t even heard my conditions, Lina,” Kat said.
“Whatever they are, I accept, as long as I get to live with Rhody.”
“I think maybe Lina has a crush on you, Rhody,” Tantara said and chuckled.
“I think maybe you’re right,” Lina giggled.
Kat cleared her throat. “Well I guess we should start packing so you can move to your new home tonight. That is if you want to move in tonight and it is okay with Rhody?”
Lina didn’t hear the last, she was gone at a run for her room.
***
Lina took two steps across the threshold and stopped. Rhody had followed her with her single suitcase of clothes and toiletries. “This is where you live? This is my new home?”
“Yes,” Rhody said from behind her.
Faintly she heard the door slide closed. Lina flitted from one item to another, like a curious child examining couches, chairs, tables, the entertainment center. She grazed a hand over each piece almost reverently. This is my new home. It’s beautiful. And I’m living here with him. What more could I ask for?”
She tripped lightly into the kitchen taking in the refrigerator, dining table and the food dispensers. Next, she went into Rhody’s bedroom touching each piece of furniture, gliding her hands over the bright blue bed cover and committing every item to memory. She looked around the attached bathroom. Rhody followed her in her explorations not saying a word.
She stood outside the last room gazing in when he broke the silence.
“And this is your room,” he said. “Of course if you want a new color scheme we can have it done.”
For the moment, Rhody’s words did not register. She was too busy drinking in the beauty of the room to comprehend him. The bed was huge compared to the cot she slept on at the lab and the coverlet was rose-red velveteen. Although she was certain it was artificial, the room had light maple colored furniture.
“You have your own bath of course, right through that door. It has a sit in shower with multiple jets.”
Lina found her voice. “I don’t know what to say, Rhody, other than everything is beautiful. So much more than I need or even expected. I can’t even begin to thank you.”
“You might enjoy this.” He flipped a switch. The lights dimmed and nature scenes taken on Earth began to parade across the blank wall in front of her bed. Animals, trees and grassy meadows filled with all manner of colorful wild flowers. “We live underground and so have no windows, but hopefully this will suffice.”
Her single suitcase was setting on the bed. “I need to unpack. It won’t take long I don’t have a lot.”
“Take your time. I’ll be in the kitchen or living room when you want to join me. Until then I’ll give you some privacy.”
Behind her, she heard Rhody walk away and the door slide shut. Lina crossed the room and sat lightly on the edge of her bed.
“Well Akito, I don’t think we’re in Kansas anymore.”
“No it doesn’t look like it,” Akito her artificial intelligence implant answered.
“To think that just a few short months ago I wasn’t even self aware. I owe a lot of thanks to you for restoring my memories. At least some of them.” She scowled. “You prevent me from accessing some of them don’t you, Akito? Why?”
Akito had restored her shattered mind by combining bits and pieces. Growing neural receptors, he connected a memory here, a control over a motor function there. He restored an emotion located somewhere else among the scattered bits located in her brain. He still worked on this task daily, reassembling her fragmented mind. He was slowly making her whole again. She knew that now, but she didn’t know, and he would not let her access, why her mind was shattered in the first place.
“Unless I was born that way.”
“You weren’t.” His rumbling answer in her head was affectionate.
Akito loved her like a parent loves a child, she could feel it. The feelings were by no means one way. She loved Akito. He was her teacher, her mental caretaker, her constant companion. A confidant that shared every part of her, physical and mental. Her mental state of awareness grew daily mainly because of him.
“Then why do you prevent me access to certain parts of my memories. They are my memories after all.”
“I will let you access them, when the time is right. Until then, we will work together to make your mind stronger each day. Rhody will help.”
“Ah Rhody.” Warm sensations flowed through her. “I’m so glad you helped me struggle through those first words. I didn’t even pronounce his name right those first few times.
“I could feel your pulse quicken. I knew right away you liked him. I just helped you speak and shake hands so he would know you liked him.”
“I love you, Akito. I like Kat and Tantara. Trevor is wonderful. He is the reason I’m here on Teelan. I know that now. But Rhody is special, although I can’t figure out why.�
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Akito didn’t reply.
“Perhaps we have not developed that part of my thought process yet. I just know that whenever he and I are together, and especially when we touch it causes strange things to happen inside me.”
Akito answered with a mental chuckle. “Perhaps not.”
“And I think you are hiding something from me again aren’t you, Akito?”
Her AI’s answer was evasive. “Maybe.”
“Why?”
“I must learn more about Rhody. I need to find out how he feels toward you before I let you learn what the things you’re feeling are.”
“That makes no sense.”
“No, not right now it doesn’t. Trust me, Lina.”
“Always.”
Lina smoothed her hand over the soft material covering the bed, shifting her thoughts to her surroundings instead of the confusing things taking place in her mind. She gazed around. “I’m still trying to realize that this wonderful place is my…our new room. I’m trying to convince myself this is not a dream. That I’m actually living here in this fantastic apartment with Rhody.”
Lina opened her bag and started distributing her few positions to the closet and drawers. She gathered her toiletries and placed them in the bath.
“Lina.” Rhody’s voice came from the other side of the closed door.
Lina stepped back into her room from the bathroom. “Come in.” The door slid to the side.
“I ordered pizza and wine for us. Would you like to come out to the table and eat?”
“Yes, I would like. Thank you.”
She took a seat across from him at the kitchen table.
“Getting unpacked?” he asked.
“Finished,” she answered. “It didn’t take long. I don’t have many things to put away.”
“Yes, well, we’ll take care of your lack of things tomorrow. I think shopping for you is a way to spend the first day of your new living arrangement. That is if that is what you want to do?”
Akito rapidly supplied her with the definition of shopping and what he assumed from Rhody’s words, it would entail.
“I would like to go shopping, Rhody. If it isn’t too much bother for you.”
Something occurred to her. A thought that Akito didn’t not provoke. “I do however have a small problem. I don’t have any money.”
Rhody burst out laughing. “I wouldn’t worry about that. You have a very powerful benefactor.” He handed her a card with Kat’s signature on it. “Just show this to any of the merchants we visit. I guarantee you will be able to get anything you wish.”
Rhody and Akito spent the evening teaching her new things. More and more her once empty mind became a jumble of thoughts. Not that I’m complaining. I enjoy very moment.
“Well, I think we better retire for the night. I will be very surprised if tomorrow isn’t a big day for both of us.”
Rhody walked beside her to her room. “See you in the morning.”
“I’ll be here.” She smiled. “I can hardly wait.”
Lina had trouble getting to sleep. There were so many new thoughts tumbling around in her once empty mind. They marched in endless procession across her closed eyelids. She spread her limbs wide, enjoying the feel of the soft satin-like sheets of her comfortable bed and at last, she drifted off into slumber.
***
“Okay that’s all of them,” Rhody said as he hung the last of her clothes up in the closet. “At least we can see the bed again.” He laughed. Empty shopping bags littered the floor near the bedroom door.
“What about those bags,” she teased. “Pointing to the two remaining on the bed.
“Those you can put away yourself.” Again, his cheeks turned bright red and her memories returned to the store where they had purchased them. Lina smothered a giggle.
All day long, they had gone to store after store. Each time she picked out an article of clothing she watched carefully for his approving nod. That was all she needed to get the item. When it came time to pick underwear she picked up a scanty pair of panties. His cheeks turned bright red. I learn fast. She chose the panties and bras that caused the deepest blush on his cheeks.
“You know that when he blushes you’re causing him discomfort,” Akito said.
“I know, but I enjoy it very much. It is harmless.”
“That is called humor. You enjoy teasing him?”
“Oh yes.”
“I didn’t teach you that.”
“That is good. It means I’m now capable of forming my own thoughts.”
Rhody cleared his throat. “I’m thirsty. I’ll get us something to drink while you finish up. I’ll wait until you join me to order a meal.”
“Sounds fine.”
“What would you like?”
“Wine I think. Red.”
“Are you certain you should have that?”
“I’m growing to enjoy its taste. Why?”
‘You know what they say about alcohol destroying brain cells.”
She laughed. “I have plenty of brain cells, most of them empty. I think I can stand to lose a few.”
“I don’t think many of them are empty. Certainly not anymore. I’m just judging from what I’m hearing and from your actions.”
“Thanks, Rhody. And I’m hearing that you think I’m not so stupid anymore.”
“You are definitely not stupid.”
“Get me a glass of wine. Please. You know that Akito won’t let anything bad happen to my delicate brain. He fends away anything he considers a threat to it.”
“You win. Red did you say?”
“Yes. Please.”
She watched him stride from the room and move down the hall. “Door close,” she ordered the house computer. She undressed, then put on some of her new underwear and a new outfit before joining him in the kitchen.
***
“Would you like to go for a walk in the forest today?” he asked over morning coffee.
“I’d love too.”
They strolled to the woods after breakfast following one of the many paths. To her pleasure, he held her hand. The hours flew by as they conversed, always aimed at increasing her knowledge. She knew that to Rhody, it was a conversation between the two of them, but it was a three way for her because Akito often joined.
Lina came to a halt not releasing his hand. “We’ve been living together for almost two months although it seems like I moved in only yesterday,” she started. “I need to ask you something.”
“Sure. Anything.”
“Do you like me?”
“Of course I like you. What a silly question.”
“As a project, or as a person?”
“I like teaching you of course, but more than that, I like you. Where’s this conversation headed, Lina?”
“Do you like me as a person, a friend…a woman?”
“All three. Why?”
“Then why have you never tried to kiss me? Unless I’m wrong, I’ve seen the desire to do so in your eyes.”
“I…um—”
“Maybe you don’t like me that way. Maybe you think I’m unattractive.”
“You’re not unattractive, Lina. Quite the opposite. I’ve never allowed myself to think of you as more than a friend. I never let myself move in the direction you’re hinting at.”
“Well, maybe you should. Then again, maybe you don’t think I know how to kiss. Maybe I don’t, but I sure would like to learn…with you.”
“Lina, the thoughts you’re having are disturbing,” Akito said.
“And in this case, Akito, you can butt out.”
Rhody smiled. “Would you like me to kiss you?”
“I’m not going to force you, but yes I’d like it a lot.”
Rhody released her hand and cupped her cheeks. Their lips brush
ed together lightly.
“More. Deeper,” she breathed.
His arms went around her pulling her close. It was as if instinct took over. She didn’t even think about it. Her arms went around his neck pulling him closer still. Her mouth opened at his urging and she welcomed his tongue in. A tremor of pleasure traveled the length of her spine. She dared not let go of him because her knees had suddenly become like jelly. She was certain if he released her, she would fall in a heap to the ground.
More like a melted puddle of goo, she thought.
When they at last parted for air, she smiled up at him. “I liked that. Liked it a lot. I hope you did, because I plan on kissing a lot in the future.”
“You certainly won’t have to force me to do that. I’ll be a more than willing participant. You’re a fantastic kisser, Lina.”
Hand in hand, they strolled back to the apartment.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Lina rolled over in her soft bed. “Good morning, Akito.”
“Good morning.”
Lina licked her lips and remembered Rhody’s kisses from the previous night. Fondly, she remembered the tingling feeling each kiss brought to her.
“Akito.”
“Yes?”
“Teach me everything you know about sex.”
“Um… do you think what you’re thinking is wise, Lina?”
“Did I ask for your approval?”
“No.”
“That’s right. Now teach me, or I will access Rhody’s computer and learn myself.”
“Very well.”
Information provided by Akito began to flood into her mind. Stretching out in bed, she silently absorbed the knowledge pouring into her. When Akito started to provide information concerning reproduction, she stopped him.
“I wouldn’t mind having Rhody’s baby, but now is not the time. How can I prevent it from happening and still enjoy the physical and emotional parts of sex?”
“I can be adjusted to control your reproductive ability, but it will entail telling Kat or Tantara of your plans. I don’t think Kat will approve given your situation.”
“It’s not her decision, just as it’s not yours. I’m not a virgin, Akito, I know that much, so that means I’ve done what I plan before. I just don’t remember.”
