When Places Call Page 7
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His repairs continued in the morning; he stayed inside the cabin and tuned-up his ship’s controls, refusing to think of this as hiding. The rations were not as satisfying as the food his employer had offered him, but they were safer and were filling. Even as his hunger was sated, his curiosity was growing. He knew little about this part of the Orion Arm, even less about this system, and next to nothing about his enigmatic employer.
This planet was too far out of the way to connect to any wireless hotspots, so he perused the databases he had downloaded and stolen to see what he could find. All his searches yielded no exact matches, barely any relevant results at all. Whoever Kira was (if that was even his real name), he laid low and kept his trail well hidden. How he discovered Ananke’s existence and managed to contact Iguru remained a mystery; Kira’s past and the history of this nameless planet was even more shrouded.
It irked Iguru that Kira had been able to locate Ananke when he had not. The job details had included possible flight paths Ananke would take, and how Kira had managed to get those, Iguru would love to know. Iguru had been trying to get back to Ananke for nine years and he had never gotten anywhere close.
Iguru possibly would have stayed in the cabin the entire day, drowning in repairs and frustration, had not a noise drawn his curiosity. There was a hiss, as if another ship was hooking up to the facilities. He looked through his viewfinder and the gleaming hull of Ananke was right outside. With a quick tug, he opened the hatch and leaned out, wondering what Kira was trying to accomplish by essentially rooming their ships together.
“Mr. Halk!” Kira called, hanging out of Ananke’s hatch, “I’m glad you are awake.”
“New accommodations for your ship?”
“There’s a lot more room in this hangar.”
“I didn’t realize you were going to take her apart.”
“I’m not going to take her apart, I think she comes apart.”
Iguru raised one eyebrow. Kira smiled and thwacked Ananke soundly on her hull.
“She transforms.”
Iguru stifled his excitement and jumped down, striding over to Ananke.
“Well, let’s see what you’ve discovered.”
Kira smiled, blinding and bright, and ducked back inside, leaving room for Iguru to come aboard. Ananke was much the same, with a sparkling interior and glowing mechanisms. Kira tapped a screen, bringing up parts of the passcode they had started to decipher.
“I think these are the instructions. All the data corrections form a new manual. I think she transforms into a new kind of machine.”
Iguru sidled close so he could take a look at the passcode.
“And this new machine is…?”
“Something grand, I’m sure.”
“A weapon?”
“I have no use for those,” Kira waved him away and turned eagerly back to the data.
Iguru smoothed a hand over his chin and studied Kira’s back. Kira had admitted that he had ‘inside sources’ that revealed to him what the ship was, but he apparently didn’t want Iguru to know the truth, at least not yet.
Suspicious, Iguru began to place his own plan into action. He leaned over Kira’s chair and rested one hand on the console and one hand on Kira’s shoulder. It was the first time he had initiated touch on his own and Kira didn’t miss this fact, jumping with surprise. Eventually he leaned into Iguru’s hand, relaxing. Iguru continued to browse through data, correcting mistakes where he saw fit. Kira brought his database on a larger version of the utiphone, and compared Ananke’s data against the facts in his database.
Hours passed by, registered only by the blinking of his utiphone. Eventually they got more comfortable, Kira had the butler bring in cushions and they sprawled in the chairs, kicking their feet up on consoles or laying out on the floor. Silence dominated their deciphering, but Iguru made sure to speak through touch. He’d let his leg brush against Kira’s or ‘accidentally’ bump his hand when they were examining the same data screen. He ignored the quick, surprised looks Kira would give him, and simply concentrated on the data while gradually digging in his hooks.
Eventually, Kira pushed away from the console, “It’s time for lunch, I believe. Shall I have the butler bring us something?”
Iguru grunted.
“Don’t you ever eat?” Kira asked, laughing.
Iguru pretended to be very engrossed in the code. Kira briefly touched his shoulder.
“Well, some of us need more than rations. Dine with me?”
The butler brought them trays laden with snacks and drinks and Iguru felt a bit foolish, as this was beginning to resemble some sort of sleepover. Only the food was fancier than at any sleepover Iguru had in his youth. Kira popped a vol-au-vent into his mouth, the cream greasing his lips. Iguru mulishly munched on a variety of tapas, working his way through the line-up of savory flavors. Kira was going to keep him alive until they at least solved Ananke’s mystery, so he found no harm in eating.
“I see you have found your appetite,” Kira said, pleased.
“Send my regards to the cook,” Iguru wiped his fingers on his pants.
“Of course.”
“I did not see any fields or food processing facilities when I circled the planet. However you create food must be a very efficient process.”
Kira blinked rapidly then turned away, bringing a data screen closer to his face.
“As you have noticed, I live in a very advanced house. Creating food is almost easy.”
“I see.”
Iguru studied him, the way he chewed and swallowed. Androids didn’t usually need to eat and the thought reassured him.
“You also have no citizens. You have cities, but no people. I scanned them as I passed overhead and there were no humanoid life signs. At first I thought it was simply a malfunction, but I have watched the sunrise and sunset and have detected nothing that denotes the presence of a thriving human community.”
Kira hesitated.
“My father left me alone, if you would recall,” Kira said, then shuddered theatrically, “imagine living in close quarters to other human beings.”
Iguru almost smiled, but clamped down on the reaction.
“It’s odd, to surround yourself with empty cities and robotic inhabitants.”
“Is it? Humanity has been creating soulless servants for hundreds of years. I’d say there are more of them than there are of us.”
Iguru harrumphed, “Unfortunately, you may be right.”
Kira shot him a quick look, gaze unusually sharp, “For a man who lives so dependently on technology, you seem to find some of it rather distasteful.”
“Of course not,” Iguru said.
He leaned back against a cushion and began to scroll through data. He felt Kira’s gaze on him.
“You’re not affected at all by the uncanny valley, then?” Kira asked.
“There is nothing wrong with things pretending to be humans.”
Kira grabbed his wrist and Iguru reflexively pulled away.
“Somehow that’s not very convincing.”
“I didn’t realize I had to convince you,” Iguru kept his eyes on the data, the numbers blurring and burning into his mind.
“And yet, you cannot look me in the eyes.”
“Eye, you mean,” Iguru shot back and then clamped his mouth shut.
He had a plan and here he was ruining it. Kira, with surprising gentleness, touched his chin and turned Iguru’s face to look at his. Iguru let him, breathing deeply.
“You suspect me of being less than human,” Kira said.
He steadily assessed Kira as that inhuman red eye scanned him.
&nbs
p; “You think I am an android, but why would an android display his inhumanity in plain view? If I was trying to pass as human, wouldn’t I try to hide the obvious parts of me that are not?”
“No, because that would be what was expected. By not covering your eye, no one would suspect you of being anything different than a human.”
“But you do?”
Iguru didn’t need to answer that question.
Kira gently shrugged one shoulder, “Does robotic technology bother you?”
“Hardly.”
“Then you shouldn’t care whether I am android or human, should you?”
But he did. It bothered him to imagine that this man, all slow smiles and vanilla scented breath could be manufactured, that this vixen that shadowed his every thought could be nothing more than a scientist’s dream, fooling him and making him feel things that robots shouldn’t be able to elicit. He had been down that path once before. He would not be dragged down it again.
“I admit I am intrigued. It is not often I get the chance to study an android up close.”
He leaned in, nearer than he thought Kira would let him, close enough to grip his arm and test its strength.
Kira remained calm, almost as though he was being caressed by a wind. For that, Iguru clamped down until Kira’s façade broke for a split second, so that Iguru could feel the small breath of pain that escaped his mouth. Sinew twisted beneath his grip; he felt the bone under all five of his fingers.
“Satisfied?” Kira asked
He wasn’t.
“There are good imitations. I have yet to see if you’re one of them.”
Kira yanked his arm away, “You, Iguru Halk, are surrounded by imitation. The space colonies and ports you frequent are mere