Rain gaped at her and Ryla suddenly felt very aware of herself. “You’re trying to figure out what I am.” When no answer came Ryla assured her, “Its alright. I don’t mind, you can say so.”
Rain shook her head. “I’m not sure.” None of this had been an issue until a hug had nearly gotten her killed. Now she thought she understood a bit of what people felt when they’d looked at the bots from the robotics age.
Ryla liked Rain and she wanted to be liked by her so she held her arm out, thin and smooth and as normal looking as any other. Rain looked up at Ryla’s eyes. They were full of worry and the fear that her new friend would be afraid of her, as she was afraid of her new friend.
“Go ahead. The security is off until I restart the system.”
Rain reached out and touched Ryla’s arm, running her hand along it and looked up at her and smiled. “Hmmm,” is all she said. Then she pulled Ryla to her and gave her a long hug, running her fingers through her hair. After a few moments Ryla hugged back. “What is this,” she asked softly and Rain could hear the tremble in her voice.
“Shh, it’s okay,” she assured the girl, the way she’d assured Leone when he’d fallen on the playground or Gren or Voz had teased him in some way.
Ryla gripped her and buried her face against her. “I don’t understand.”
“Don’t try,” Rain told her. After that the girl in her arms settled and Rain began to rock her slightly. “It must have been so hard, growing up here all by yourself. Whatever happened wasn’t your fault.” Ryla’s arms closed so tight Rain found it hard to breathe but she didn’t complain. She shifted in the grip and pet her new friends hair.
“Don’t tell,” Ryla finally said. “I don’t want them to know.”
Rain wasn’t sure what part Ryla was referring to but she decided she’d just keep the whole night to herself, mostly. So instead of probing further she simply agreed and let Ryla settle against.
“You have beautiful hair,” Rain told her after a spell. “I’d like to do something with it.”
“Like what?”
She lifted strands and looked at them, shiny and flawless. “Braid it. Add some bits of jewels or something. I used to make jewelry you know, same principal only you’re using strands of hair instead of silver or gold.”
Ryla sat up and looked at her. “Why do people do it?”
Rain smiled, “Reminds others how pretty you are.” She caressed Ryla’s cheek and added, “And that, I think, is the real reason Quey wants to touch you.”
“I don’t understand,” she said seeming a slight bit meeker.
“He likes you. Likes you in the way where you want to touch,” Rain replied.
“How do you know that?”
She thought for a spell and decided Ryla was the sort who’d take the truth well in this instance so she told her. “We were together once.” Ryla seemed puzzled so she clarified, “We had sex,” and there was understanding. “Anyway. Afterword… he said your name.”
Ryla’s brow furrowed a bit, “Why would he do that?”
Rain smiled and said, “Why indeed,” then kissed her forehead and said, “How about another drink?”
Ryla decided maybe that wasn’t such a bad idea. She’d never had the opportunity to feel some of the things she had tonight and that had taken its toll. After a few more glasses she called in Drunky and showed him to Rain. He drank heavily and stumbled about the top of the bar. Twice they had to catch him to keep him from falling off, and he was funny too. He’d been programmed with a slew of old jokes and even had the ability to improv a few of his own, though those didn’t seem to go as well. Ryla thought briefly about how maybe she should put that sensor in Jacob and give him a bottle of something. Maybe it’d relax him a bit. She smiled at the thought and laughed, knowing full well how ridiculous it was but enjoying it nonetheless.
Rain didn’t sleep. When Ryla finally decided to go upstairs she followed but spent the night on the couch with the holoscreen’s remote in one hand and a glass of what she’d decided to call ‘red devil juice’ in the other. She scanned the signal for broadcast shows she enjoyed and sipped gingerly at her beverage. In school she remembered a kid in her class had done a report on the early days of entertainment. There had been a thing called television and for decades people were at its mercy, forced to schedule their lives around this box. They were its slave, gathering around at a time it set. She couldn’t imagine such restrictions. Here she was, more than three weeks absent from her favorite show and catching up at her leisure. She sipped some of the red devil and let the thought go as her show came back from the advert block.
When day broke over the horizon and the first bits of light drifted in through the windows she went into the kitchen and began making breakfast. Rain wasn’t the world’s greatest cook by any stretch but she was pretty good at a few things and one of them was breakfast. She always loved it, probably because she so rarely got a good one in her house growing up. She remembered a time, when Leone was with her in that run down two bedroom on the wrong side of town, when they’d eaten breakfast for dinner for nearly a month. The goal was to find the perfect waffle and they believed they had. The first thing she did in the kitchen was use the interface in the fridge to order some things brought up from the food Depot.
She’d learned this trick last night when she said she wanted some nacho’s around drink number six and Ryla had used the console at the bar to order up some chips and cheese. There was no salsa but Ryla showed her if she ordered the ingredients and set the instructions to ‘chop and mix’ she would get what she was looking for. She’d opted to melt the cheese in a pot with the salsa and dip the chips instead.
Now she ordered what she needed for her breakfast endeavor and within a half hour the ingredients arrived, carried by two robots that asked, “Everything to your liking?” before they left with her assurances.
It was the smell, brewing coffee and browning sausage, wafting through the third floor that roused Quey from slumber and sent him stumbling sleepily down the hall. He ran a hand over his scruffy morning face and through his matted hair.
He smiled when he saw her in the kitchen in her pajamas, stirring batter in a bowl and then turning bacon and sausage in a grease coated pan. “Oh, you made me breakfast,” he said with a sleepy grin. “Must have done something right for a change.”
“Actually no,” she said, pouring waffle batter onto the iron and closing it. “But rather than yell at you I’ve decided to try a bit of bribing.”
It took a moment for Quey to realize she was serious. “Fuck me,” he said, “What shitty thing have I done now?”
Rain pulled the sausage and bacon from the pan before dumping in a bowl full of eggs in need of a scramble. She looked over her shoulder to make sure Ryla wasn’t coming as she whisked them briskly. “It’s not you so much, but everyone.” He stepped closer to her, sensing she didn’t want to be heard. “I want you to help me make sure everyone is nice to Ryla.”
Quey chuckled.
“I’m serious,” she insisted and her eyes pierced into him. There was such intensity behind them he suddenly felt intimidated. “She’s scared Quey. Scared. Understand? Imagine her life for a minute, no contact with people and then a whole pack of ‘em show up at your door. Strangers.”
“No one was mean to her, if they had been I would have put them on their heels.”
Rain cranked the knob killing the flame under the eggs and turned to him, letting the heat in the pan finish them off. “She’s not stupid Quey.” The thing about Rain was that her elaborate movements, which kept you off your guard and let you know exactly where she stood, always exemplified her feelings. At present they demonstrated her frustration. “She thinks you all think she’s a killer robot who’ll murder you while you sleep or some shit. She doesn’t know what to do and she’s scared of all of you.”
Quey crossed his arms, embarrassed. “She talk to you about this?”
“Last night,” Rain said as she turned back to her br
eakfast.
“No one said anything to her, nothing to rough at least.”
She glanced at him from the corner of her eye. “Remember, as much as we might not understand her, she doesn’t understand us more.”
He’d never considered it that way. Nodding slightly he assured her, “I’ll apologize.”
“No,” she snapped, raising her spatula at him. “She doesn’t need that.” She looked up at him with raised brows and fire in her eyes. “You want to make it right you make sure the others act right.” When he nodded she went back to her waffles. They were ready to come out. She set them in the oven she’d set to warm and started the next batch. “Get the others,” she told him. “Breakfast is almost ready.”
Quey did as she asked, something Rachel noted from where she stood in the hall entrance.
“Breakfast,” he said to her as he passed and started for the other hall.
“I gathered,” Rachel said, stepping to where Quey had been a moment before to sneak a peek at what was cooking. “It was awkward,” Rachel said. Rain listened, glancing over at her. “I don’t know what I was expecting but…” she thought and decided. “I’ll try harder.” Rain smiled at her and touched her head to Rachel’s shoulder in a limbless hug.
“I just feel bad for her, you know?” Rain said. “I mean she’s never known anyone. Never had a friend. The people she has met have tried to hurt her in one way or another.”
Rachel nodded, mulling that. “I didn’t know all that.”
“I know,” Rain told her. “And its nobodies fault.”
Rachel nodded. After a set of ticks she said, “You know one day you’ll have to teach me that trick with Quey,” she said.
“What trick?” Rain asked, smiling with uncertainty.
“The one where he listens to you.”
Rain tried to laugh it off but she felt the weight of that brought upon by what it might imply.
Rachel saw her discomfort and changed the subject. “Breakfast smells good,” she said before going to find orange juice.
That brought Rain’s mind back to her waffles and she opened the iron just in time.
Rain knocked on Ryla’s door. “It’s me,” she finally said and Ryla answered almost immediately, “Come in.”
She entered and found the girl sitting naked at a desk across the room. Rain closed the door and said, “Come have breakfast with us.”
“I should begin analyzing the data.”
“It can wait an hour for breakfast.”
Ryla looked over at her.
“It’ll be fun.”
“I don’t know.”
Rain crossed to her and took her hands, “I do.” She pulled her from her chair and went to her closet. “Here, I’ll help you pick out some clothes.”
“I’ll just wear this,” she said, pulling another slip of cotton from a drawer.
“No,” Rain said. “You need to wear clothes, not just enough to cover your private bits.”
Ryla peered at her, “Why?”
“Trust me,” Rain told her then began looking through the closet, tossing some items out onto the bed, leaving others hanging. “And why would you not,” she said enthusiastically as she leafed through the girls wardrobe. “You have some really cool stuff in here,” she added, looking back over her shoulder. For a moment she thought Ryla might blush. Of course she didn’t.
Ryla smiled and said, “Sometimes I do like to wear them but I’m never sure why.”
Rain held up a black silk top with a V neckline and said, “Because they’re pretty.” Suddenly it came to her. All Ryla knew was computers so she explained it to her in a different way. “Girls are programmed to be pretty, so they naturally like pretty things. It’s part of their functions,” she said as she tossed a top on the bed beside Ryla.
“Girls function is to be pretty?” Ryla asked.
Rain looked at her and realized that was the wrong message to send. “One of them,” she clarified.
Ryla lifted a top from the bed and looked at it. “And clothes function to help with that?”
“Of course,” Rain told her as she held a skirt up to a shirt and looked at her. “Clothes, jewelry, hair,” she finished as she ran a hand through her’s.
As Rain went back to sorting the clothes Ryla asked, “And what is a man’s function.”
Rain paused with a smile, “To find a way to get us.”
After a moment Ryla nodded and allowed Rain to help her select an outfit. It wasn’t fancy, just a white top with long sleeves that fit snug against her skin and a loose dark blue skirt that hung to her ankles and floated around her legs when she walked.
Rain took a moment to do a simple braid in her hair, her fingers working swift and Ryla watched in awe. When she was done Ryla looked at the patterned knot running like a piece of twine from her temple to her breast and said, “I like this.” Before they left the room she threw her arms around Rain and said, “Thank you.” She found that she rather liked hugs, now that she’d had one.
Rain hugged her back and they joined the others.
They were gathered around the table wearing pretty much what they’d worn to sleep the night before, each of their faces plain and their hair matted with sleep. Around the table there was the low rumble of chatter and the occasional rise of a laugh but when Rain and Ryla entered everyone was quiet. They went to the table where Rain sat beside Arnie and Ryla beside her. Reggie was to her other side and he passed her a plate of waffles. Everyone wanted to know if she would eat, Quey especially since he’d spent the most time with her and had yet to see it. They watched, quietly and tried not to make their curiosity too obvious. None of them were doing a spectacular job but at least they were trying.
Each of them had heard Rain’s request through Quey’s lips and guilt herded them toward making an effort. She was right, of course, whatever Ryla was they were in her home and she deserved their courtesy.
Finally Ryla extended a slender hand and accepted the plate. After looking over the waffles she chose one, stabbed it with a fork and brought it to her plate.
And that was that, it seemed. Ryla took a waffle and the table went back to normal, slowly filling with the ambient buzz of ‘pass this’ or ‘can I get that.’
“I like your outfit,” Amber was the first to say and a murmur of agreement passed around the table.
“Very lovely,” Quey said last with a smile.
Natalie, who had her reservations about Ryla mostly because of the buildings defensive system parameters, decided to set it aside. “You know,” she began then took a sip of orange juice to clear her throat. “This room, at night is… beautiful. I mean it really almost looks like a night sky.”
“It really is,” Leone added and Rain smiled at him. “Amber and I just sat here looking up at it for hours.” He realized too late what he’d admitted and blushed at the looks he was getting from the adults around the table. Teasing looks with sly smiles that said childish things like, ‘Leone and Amber sitting in a tree K-I-S-S-I-N-G.’
“It is gorgeous,” Natalie added. “How did you do it?”
“It’s not really the sky,” she said plainly. “I intend to alter gravity in this sector and I needed this map to find the asteroid I mean to summon to kill you all.”
Reggie was the first to laugh, heartily, with cackles so great he had to bring a napkin to his mouth to keep from spewing food across the table. After that the others followed and Ryla smiled. Under the table Rain gave her hand a squeeze, above the table she chuckled.
“Funny,” Quey said. “Told you she was funny.”
Reggie agreed, “I’ll never doubt you again.” Then he turned to Ryla and said, “Though next time warn a man, I don’t want it known I was brought down by a mouthful of bacon and waffles,” he added and almost clapped her on the back. He stopped himself just in time and Ryla found she was a little sad about that. Sure the big man’s hand scared her, hell it was half the size of her back, and if he had struck her it probably would have stung but i
t was affection and since last night she found she rather enjoyed it.
They continued to talk and she explained that she hadn’t even painted a real sky in the room, just a jumble of pictures she’d seen telescopes photograph from deep space. If she saw something she liked she added it.
The effort to treat Ryla like a person eased with the passing of each moment. Rain looked over at Quey and thanked him with her eyes. He nodded a, ‘your welcome,’ back to her and they exchanged a smile.
Curious Critters and The Secrets of Elevators
At the end of breakfast Botler began to clear the plates and clean the kitchen. Ryla had eaten, though not very much. She’d caught Quey watching from across the table. When he saw her looking at him he smiled but it was in a way that seemed to make her very aware of herself, as if he were judging how much she had eaten. It was a sensation she didn’t enjoy.
Afterward she slipped away unnoticed and went down to the second floor to check on the computers and begin looking through the data. She sat down at the bank in the center of the massive room and saw the blank holoscreen to her right. It was the one that controlled her personal security protocol. It was still disengaged and she sat staring at it thoughtfully for a long time. It was the way Quey watched her eat, the way they all watched her do things from time to time. As if they were waiting for something. It unnerved her and part of her thought maybe she should turn her security back on. But then there was Rain, who she enjoyed having around. Perhaps she could make an exception in the programming. After a long time she sighed and turned her chair, shifting her attention to another screen without engaging the security protocols.
Maybe later. Maybe never.
There was a window open in the center of the screen where white letters ran across a black background and read, Data Compilation Complete. Ryla used the menus to export the data to another program that would make it easier to analyze. In this one the equations were simplified and the results displayed with a brief description of what everything meant. She used the remote at her side, a small rectangle of plastic with a touch screen, to select some music and swayed to the jazz piano that began to play a moment later while she reviewed the results.
The Saffron Malformation Page 51
