Chapter 14: Unexpected Company — Part 5

“I saw most of Nikkei while getting her free of the muck she had been left to die in. I know body and mind are not always in agreement about gender. I know she has the capability. I know she loves you, you can see it in every move she makes.” Orchid could not tell if Yap registered the hint of envy that snuck momentarily into her voice.

“You really think she loves me?” Yap let her head drop, thinking. “I am ashamed to admit that I took this child from Nikkei. But she was so beautiful, and so much like Elec when she kissed me, when she touched me. She seemed to know my body even better than I did. I couldn’t let it stop there, even when Nikkei resisted me as I removed her clothes, even when I discovered what lay underneath, even when Nikkei said no, and I forced her hands back and lay on top of her, taking her pleasure and her pain within me. I promised her after our orgasms that I would share her secret with nobody. I kept the secret so she would keep me by her side, and protected that secret whenever I could. I could not betray Nikkei’s trust, even to you.”

“You haven’t, love.” Orchid paused. “I’ve seen Nikkei making out with men and women over the years, less so recently. I can only assume she has been sexual with some of them. How does that make you feel?”

“Nikkei and I trust each other, and part of that trust is in understanding the other’s needs. I cannot possibly fulfill all of Nikkei’s needs, especially now that I am merely an android again, and sex has lost some of its biochemical overtones. Nikkei needs biological associations, just as I need android associations. Just as I might someday need other hume associations, Nikkei may also choose other androids.”

“You’re perfect for her.” Orchid nudged Yap’s toes with her own.

“Not so perfect.” Yap said. “I can’t give her more children, even if she wanted them. I can’t heal her wounds either, especially now that they are mostly emotional.”

“We’ll sort all of this out, one way or another.” Orchid said.

Yap would never say so aloud, and even though she knew Orchid to be probably the smartest living sentience on the entire planet, she had her doubts, given the nature of the enemy, that even a mind like Orchid’s could fathom a viable solution.

The visitations of the concerned began shortly after the attack. Chen arrived several days after the conflict, the first visitor of many. The manor was nearly completely repaired by the time of his arrival, the injured healing, and the hunt for the stolen children and troops well underway. A holographic list of missing people and known dead projected above Orchid’s workstation, glowing eerily in a dim corner where Orchid worked on close to a hundred orbs, arranging them in rows thatm to the properly initiated, betrayed their level of completion. Spunky and Glyph worked with her, helping with final assembly and quality control operations. Chen looked over Orchid’s shoulder, curious. Orchid looked sidewise at him, her head not moving, then went back to work. Nearby, Yap tweaked internal cables and screws for an android arm, complete with shoulder blade, arguing about size, strength, and weight concerns with Bamboo. Jun saw Chen from an entry room, and hurried down the Commons Hallway to intercept him should he prove in some way a threat to Orchid.

“I was summoned by Pearl.” Chen said, causing Orchid to pause. “I felt her pain, I had to come.”

Orchid turned, her face magnified grotesquely by a holographic lens, each eye further magnified by a set of glasses. She could barely make out anything, but the distortion to the left of Chen had to be Jun, hand on her sword hilt, ready for action. Orchid turned off the holographic field, then put down her glasses, her eyes bleary and red. She recognized Chen, though she hardly knew him, and remained quiet as she considered his reason for coming. Glyph and Spunky took up her work, while Yap turned from her station. Nikkei, always the hostess, brought Chen a chair, and then sat down nearby, waiting for somebody to talk. Jun walked in with a folding chair and sat down near Chen, her visage livid.