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Message-ID: <38146asstr$1031177408@assm.asstr-mirror.org>
From: elf@drizzle.com (Elf Sternberg)
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Subject: {ASSM} {ASS} Journal Entry 251 / 03261: Honest Desires, part 2 {Elf Sternberg} (FF, FF, scfi)
Date: Wed,  4 Sep 2002 18:10:08 -0400
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She found out how unhappy Esther was an hour later. "Five weeks?" she
complained. "Misuko, you can't be serious! We can't stay out here
another five weeks. I need to get back to school. I've already been here
three weeks and I'm going to go crazy if I have to be stuck here much
longer! And that was after a four-week flight!"

Misuko held down her frustration. "There's nothing I can do about it.
Five weeks is the earliest I can send you and the ship back to
Hiroshi. It's not like I want you to be stuck here."

"You mean you want to get rid of me."

Yes. "No!" Misuko replied. "No, it's not like that. It's just that you're
not happy here. I'm not making you happy here, and there's not enough
of me to keep a city girl like you occupied for all the hours there are
in a day. Your Realm has to be getting boring by now, I imagine."

"Not really," Esther said. "That's what Realms are for. They don't let
you get bored by having so much to do inside one of them." She sighed.
"But I came out here to be with you, and... I just feel like it would
be wrong of me to go and leave you behind. Plus, you said it yourself,
it's five weeks of waiting. You're not even looking for the ship
anymore. You've found it. So now you're just... what?"

"Sitting on the beach and soaking up the sunlight."

"But... Misuko, when I do that on Hiroshi, it's because I know the
nightlife is going to be long, loud, and wild."

"Well, then, this is your chance to enjoy the first part without feeling
like you have to be part of the second."

"But I like the second!" Esther's voice had reached its firm whine.

Misuko sighed. This was obviously an insoluble argument. "I can't turn
the ship around and take you back to Hiroshi. Even the nearest outpost
is three weeks away, and that would mean that I'd get back a week after
the recovery team. That's just not good form for a leader."

Esther stared at her, standing her ground. "You just want to torture me
for blowing up your ship."

"And it almost ruined my career," Misuko said. "No, I'm not pissed
off at you for that. Really. I just want to be able to do my job and
now you're..."

"In the way."

Misuko sighed. "I wouldn't have put it like that."

"Didn't have to," Esther snarled. She looked down at her bare feet.
"I'm sorry, Misuko. I guess... I don't know. I didn't mean for it to be
like this. I thought we could have a good time together." She had tears
in her eyes. "I liked you. You were good for me."

"You were pretty good, too," Misuko agreed. She pulled Esther close and
kissed her. Esther went along readily, holding Misuko tight, her hands
gripping Misuko's tunic as if she would never let go. Misuko's mouth fed
off of Esther's desire and desperation, one more attempt to seduce her
back into her embrace, one more try to convince Misuko to go home with
her. And Misuko, too, knew that she was trying to hold onto something
that could not hold together. She wanted Esther's body and her skills,
the way Esther played on her body like some musical instrument.

Esther grabbed her hand in a mitten and pulled her into the bedroom.
Neither of them said as word as they shed their clothes and fell into
bed, mouth to needful mouth, tongue on hungry tongue. They rolled over
in the bed until Esther was on top, her mouth around one of Misuko's
nipples, tugging at it, sending little jabs of pleasure down into Misuko's
belly. Esther sat on her hips and pressed her breasts to Misuko's stomach,
and the heat between them grew.

Misuko explored the territory of Esther's sweet ass, touching,
probing. She found the dark, nether opening in the back, the one that
Esther sometimes liked. Today Misuko got lucky; Esther groaned as her
fingers caressed the wrinkled opening. "You want that, don't you?"
Misuko whispered.

"I want you," Esther said hotly. "I'll do anything to make it all right."

Misuko smiled and wished she could give Esther what she wanted, but all
she could really give right now was a good fuck. She slid her fingers
down into Esther's already wet cunt, sliding her fingers between the
lips. She covered her finger is Esther's juices and then moved back
to her original discovery, pressing her slicked finger against that
puckered, responsive hole. Esther tensed and her teeth nipped Misuko's
breast. Misuko ignored the surprising sensation and slid her finger
completely into Esther's willing back door. "Oh, Fah, Misuko!"

Misuko grinned. It was going to be one of those times, she thought.
She gently led Esther down to the bed and bent her legs up at the
knees. She had one finger deep inside Esther's ass, and her cunt had
flowered completely open and was begging for her attention.

She gave it, covering Esther's mound with her mouth, finding Esther's
clit with her tongue. She licked carefully, teasingly, even as she
kept fingerfucking Esther's sweet asshole. Esther writhed on the bed.
"Make me come," she begged. "Misuko, please, make me come!"

Misuko did as she asked, licking harder on that firm little nub. Her
whole being was dedicated to the task of making Esther come, and it was
only a few seconds later that Esther exploded in a torrent of incoherent
grunts and exclamations. "Oh, fah, oh, fah, oh Misuko..."  she moaned.

Misuko delicately slid her finger out of Esther's asshole. Looking down,
she could see Esther's whole cunt spread open before her, glistening
with spit and other juices, flushed red and splayed with desire. "You're
beautiful, Esther."

"Oh, fah, Misuko, you're wonderful." Esther seemed to be taking a long
time to recover, but she was not about to let Misuko get away with
such a gift. She leaped upon Misuko and pinned her down to the bed.
"My turn," she said.

"Oh, no!" Misuko replied with a huge smile. "What are you going to do
to me?"

"What you really want," she said. "Even if you sometimes won't admit
it." Esther slid her fur over Misuko's chest and belly, making her shiver,
as she deposited herself between Misuko's thighs. "Mmm... I see you were
turned on."

"Anyone not turned on by you coming is that," Misuko said.

"You're certainly not dead," Esther agreed. Misuko felt Esther's breath
across her pubic hair, rousing her immediately with promises of more to
come. Esther's tongue touched down on one labia, coursed upward over her
mound, and then down the other side. Misuko didn't try to control her hips
as she thrust herself against Esther's mouth, desperate for more contact.

Esther teased her, pulling gently on her pubic hairs and then her labia
with her lips, touching the crease on her slit where her clit lay hidden
underneath, hinting that she might just actually lick Misuko the way
Misuko wanted, and then moving away, down toward her honeyed opening
or up over her mound. Misuko whimpered, her mind on fire with a need
she could not express and did not want to ever let go. She held onto
Esther's black tumble of hair, using every gram of her willpower to not
push Esther down into her cunt. "Lick me!" she moaned.

Esther slipped one furred thumb up Misuko's slit, passing over her asshole
until it pressed into Misuko's opening. Misuko whimpered; she knew that
what Esther could do with that thumb, and with what would follow it,
was more than she could easily bear. Her heart craved more of it, and
she wasn't about to ask Esther to stop.

The thumb pressed down on her opening, on her perineum, massaging her
open, asking for more room. Misuko took deeper breaths, relaxing her
body, willing herself to accept the gift Esther was about to give her.
Esther's tongue licked all around her mound, each little tease grabbing
her attention away from the task, away from that accursed thumb.

Esther's other mitten slid into place, a second thumb accompanying the
first. Esther whispered, "You're leaking like a fire drone, Misuko."
The two thumbs worked magic against Misuko's opening, gentle, relentless,
demanding. "I'm gonna put my whole mitten inside your cunt, just like
you want. It is what you want, right? Little lost girl wants this big,
big mitten?""

"Yes," Misuko said. "Yes, please."

"I want to hear you say it loud."

"Please!" Misuko said. "Oh, fah, Esther, don't... Please... yes..."

"Say it, Misuko. Say it. I want to hear you shout it out. Demand it."
Her voice took on a soft, sinister tone. "Beg for it."

Her thumbs were as deep inside Misuko as they could get, and Misuko
wanted her to plunge deep inside and fill her completely. She tried to
hold back the words, tried not to admit that she was so dependent upon
Esther's touches, but the torrent of need came out loud and strong:
"Fuck me, Esther! Fuck me! Put that mitt inside me and fuck me!"

"Really?"

"Yes, yes, oh fah yes! Please, please!"

Esther pressed her mitten against Misuko's hungry opening. Misuko
pressed back, filling her lungs with every deep, slow breath, wishing
for than sweet mitten to be inside her, to become a part of her, to
make it hers. Esther's hands squirmed against her hungry hole. She
bucked against the bed slowly, trying to get more of that mitten.
Esther pressed, Misuko took a deep breath and then suddenly Esther was
inside her. That curled up mass of muscle in her cunt nestled tight up
to her belly, get womb. "Yes! Oh, so full! So full!" Some tiny, sane
kernel watched as she lost control completely, as Esther's tongue slid
against her clitoris and made her climax so hopelessly uncontrolled.

As she subsided, she whispered, "Out... please."

"Oh, no," Esther said. "You need to learn that you can't live without
me." Her tongue slipped in between Misuko's labia and touched down on
her clit again, sending more hot stabs of pleasure into Misuko's brain.

"No," Misuko said. "Esther, pleased." But that mitten in her body was
now moving back and forth, pushing around her insides, mixing her guts,
making her aware. It might have been irritating if it hadn't been for
Esther's mouth on her cunt, getting her attention.  "Esther..."

"Really, no?" Esther said.

"Esther..." Misuko said. She tried to say the word. She tried to say
'no.' But she couldn't. Not in the past, and not this time. It was such
a little word. Why wouldn't it move past her lips?

Because the fist inside her body wouldn't let her say it. Because
the mouth on her clitoris wouldn't let her say it. Because Esther's
hot tongue pressed to her mound would interrupt her and prevent her
from saying it. Every time she thought she had the strength to say it,
she couldn't. She wanted to. But Esther's tongue and fist had complete
control over her body, drove her to the edge of ecstatic madness and
with almost thoughtless ease tossed her, screaming, over a precipice of
glorious pleasure. She came, pounding the bed with her fists, twisting
the sheets in her grip, begging Esther to stop with her thoughts because
she could not form them into words.

As she lay on the bed, coming back down, she felt Esther again roll her
mitten and slowly tug it out of her cunt. She trembled uncontrollably,
holding herself, as Esther seem to roll herself up against Misuko's
body in an uncharacteristic show of tenderness.  Misuko reached over
with her other arm and held Esther close. For the first time in her
life she understood the difference between love and lust, between really
loving this centuries-old girl-child and wanting someone she could adore
completely, who adored her for more than her ability to raise egos.

Esther kissed her bare shoulder and sighed. "I'm going to miss you."

Misuko nodded. "I'm going to miss you too. I wish..."

"I know," Esther said. "Me too. I don't know how long I'll have to wait
until I find someone as good as you again. I'm addicted to country girls."

Misuko grinned. "And I think you'll have no trouble finding another
one. I'm sorry it didn't work out."

"But it did," Esther replied. "It just wasn't going to work out
forever. It never works out forever. You're just something spectacular,
and if you ever find another lover..."

"She won't possibly be as good as you."

"Or he?"

"Or he," Misuko agreed. "Although I might have trouble convincing myself
of that after you."

Esther laughed. "Don't flatter me too much. Besides, we still have five
weeks together." She sighed. "Flux. Five weeks stuck on this mudball."

"Hey, I could always send you home with the ship tomorrow."

"And what the fuck would you do?" Esther said.

"Find an island outside of the hurricane zone, churn out an eight-week
supply of food and stuff, and sit out the wait. I've got a big
emergency tent in the back, big enough for six Uncia, and there's
emergency foodstuffs to last a year. Just give me enough to wait out
the replacement crew. I'm not like you, Esther. I would like that."

"You are crazy," Esther said. "But I suppose it's no worse than any
other plan. Okay, but I'm going to leave you with both seccors."

"Fine with me," Misuko said. "I'd rather have them than not."

"And the robot. And everything else I can possibly think of. Including a
two-month supply of soap. Is there a water purifier in the emergency kit?"

Misuko rolled over in bed and pulled up the display. "Of course. They
knew we were heading to a water-heavy world."

Esther looked. "I don't like it."

"What's not to like?" Misuko said. "You get to go back to your city,
and I get to stay in the country. I mean, it's not my country, really,
but it's the kind of place I like. I grew up in places like this."

"No you didn't. Your world had automation and machines. They just didn't
have AIs."

Misuko shrugged. "There's not much of a difference. I still had a lot
of countryside to myself. I went out camping, and enjoyed sitting away
from the light centers so I could see the stars." She smiled. "I'll like
it here. It's not like I'll be alone. I'll have Linia."

"Oh, that's companionship. A cheap robot two millennia out of date still
pining for its 'master.'" The sarcastic Esther was back.

"She's not anymore."

"What does that mean?"

"I bought her." She told Esther about the exchange she had had with
the school.

Esther's response surprised Misuko with its fury. "You threw away that
much money to avoid a fight and kept the stupid robot?"

"What do I need money for?" Misuko replied. "Both Abi and Hiroshi are
post-sustainable for food and water and all that, and the only thing
you need money for is the luxuries. And even that's questionable when
some of the food you can pick up at any agricultural outlet is so
top-quality. And my family has money, and I kept my career. I'll be
fine. Besides, I think I like Linia."

"She's just a machine," Esther said. "She's not like people nowadays;
she's from that past when robot brains were made by human beings,
rather than being modeled on human beings and no different in the way
they think. There's a big difference."

Misuko shrugged. "I'll find out. Besides, she seems to be pretty
indestructible. If I need some help, I'm sure she'll be fine."

"I'm sure she will be," Esther japed. "Misuko, you're a primitivist.
You're not even backed up. If you die out here, it's death for sure!"

"Esther, it's okay. I've done this before. It's not like I'm at any real
risk and I can't spend the rest of my life in our cultural padded room."

Esther's shoulders sagged in surrender. "Okay, Misuko, you always did
do things your way."

"I thought that was why you liked me," she said.

"There are limits. Suicidal levels of stupidity is one of them," Esther
replied, grinning as if to say she didn't mean it the way it sounded. But,
of course, she did mean it the way it sounded. That was Esther.

"I suppose," Misuko said. She lay on the bed, her head still swimming
with lust, exhaustion, regrets, wants...

"You're going to fall asleep on me again, aren't you?"

"I guess." She did feel like she was slowly tumbling down a dark hole
into exhaustion. "Wake me in an hour?"

"I'll do that," Esther said, kissing her shoulder with uncommon
tenderness. "Sleep well."
  _________________________________________________________________

Misuko's professor echoed Esther's concerns, but Misuko was adamant
that she would be okay by herself, out of communication with the rest of
the universe, isolated on a little world that was doomed to destruction
sometime in the near future. She supposed that that was supposed to be
something of a joke; the recovery crew was due in six weeks and the planet
was due for demolition in tens of thousands of years, but her professor
acted quite serious in his concern. She reassured him, repeatedly, that
she was quite qualified to take on this planet all by herself, that she
was not going to be alone, and that with the hardware provided in the
ship's emergency stores she would have no problem surviving anything
the planet tossed her way.

She looked through the logs for an island within the Terran seeded area
but outside the predictable hurricane tracks, and picked one to the south
that all records showed was probably safe for the six weeks she would
be around. Esther fretted over her the entire time they were in flight,
but Misuko would have none of it. She wanted to get this flight done
with, get Esther on her way, be alone. There had been only two chairs
in the ship anyway, on the command deck; Linia had isolated herself in
a closet to keep herself safe during the flight.

They put down and Linia appeared from nowhere, moving crates that would
have been far too heavy for an ordinary human being. Soon she had a tent
erected and staked down just within the protection of the treeline. Misuko
watched, amazed, as Linia pulled out brush and pushed down small trees
as if they were weeds. Esther, on the other hand, had barely disguised
contempt for the whole proceedings. "I hope you and your toy have fun,"
she said.

Misuko sighed. "It's not like that," she said.

Esther nodded. "I know it's not like that. It's like... crud, I don't
know, Misuko. I can't stand leaving you here, all alone. I can't stand
losing you. And I can't stand another day on Indigo."

"It's not working, Esther. You know that, I know that."

Esther nodded. "I just wish..."

"We both do. But short of a canon I don't think either of us wants,
I'm not the person you want and you're not the sort of person I want.
I like you, but... you were right. Not forever."

Esther sighed. A chime went off in the ship. "Looks like the rest of
your food supply is ready." She climbed into the command center even as
Linia brushed past her and started taking out trays covered in small,
wrapped boxes and packets.

Misuko stepped into the tent and began cataloging what she had. There were
piles of food in sealed containers all arranged in one corner, three water
purification units by their side. A one-person autodoc sat in another,
no larger than a small briefcase and capable of doing everything short
of cryogenic preservation on her if she needed it.  Between them were
her clothes and the bags with her personal items.  She also found two
uPadds and an archiver's block. There was an interplanetary gradio, too
inaccurate to hit even a gas giant orbiting a distant star but enough
to get the attention of anyone in-system and guide them to her. Food,
water, shelter, knowledge: the things that every modern human needed. Even
companionship, the depth of which had yet to be determined.

She looked over the campsite. Linia had done a good job of fixing the tent
to the ground, driving stakes deep into the sand. The stakes, which were
on and powered, would keep them embedded even if a storm strong enough
to wash away the entire island swept over them. The little fusion plant
would last thirty years if she left it on and used it at full capacity.

She heard a noise at the edge of the tent and saw Linia standing
there. "Do you approve, Master?" she asked softly.

"Y... yes, yes I do." Misuko wondered what she should say to Linia.
She "owned" Linia, if that was the word that could be used for her
relationship, but she knew nothing about the kind of person Linia was
programmed to be. She wondered if Linia thought the same thing about her--
that she was now owned by someone she knew nothing about.

She smiled. "It's very nice, Linia. Is the ship prepped for hyperspace?"

"I believe it is, Master," Linia said. Misuko found herself distracted
by the gentle, sweet timbre of Linia's voice. Her implementation as
a youthful, pliant character was a masterpiece of industrial design
and manufacture.

Misuko sighed. "I guess it's time to say goodbye." She walked back to
the ship and looked up at it.

"I can't convince you to change your mind, can I?" Esther said, looking
at her from the top of the stairs.

"No more than I can convince you to change yours," Misuko replied.
"Nothing short of a canon..."

"I know," Esther said, coming down. She stood an arm's distance from
Misuko and looked into her eyes. "I never told you that I loved you."

Misuko nodded. "I thought a lot about that word, too." It was the closest
she could come to honesty. She wasn't sure why she couldn't say it. It
was a small word, a lot like the word 'no', but it was one of those
words that Esther made hard to use. She reached out for Esther's hand
and Esther gave it, and the two of them closed in like Indigo and its
nemesis star. Misuko knew that if they were together too long, they
would destruct, too. "I'll never forget you."

Esther sighed, her arms around Misuko's waist. "I'll never forget you,
either. I guess that'll have to do."

"Yeah." She let Esther go, then looked up at the ship. "It's time."

"It's never time," Esther said. "Mind the wash." She climbed back up into
the ship and let the door close behind her as the stairway retracted
into a slot beneath the door. Misuko and Linia walked away from the
starship. When they were far enough away, the ship powered up. From this
distance, its soft hum was barely audible as it rose into the sky and
took off over the water. It vanished into the blue.

Misuko sighed. "What have I done?"

"Master?"

"Sorry, Linia," Misuko said gently. "I'm just... thinking. Well, we have
five weeks together, with nobody else. Which is just fine with me. I
have a lot of reading to catch up on."
  _________________________________________________________________

Misuko watched as night fell about her and tried to convince herself that
she had made the right decision. She could honestly say she was enjoying
herself. She sat in front of a campfire Linia had put together, watching
the flames, hypnotized by them. Every once in a while she would think
about just how far away she was from the rest of the universe, the light
years that separated her and the nearest medical center, and she would
shiver and gather her arms around her knees. She had already torn through
a quarter of her latest military history book and half a mystery novel.

Linia sat across the fire from her, peering into the flames. "Master?"
she suddenly asked. "Why did Esther leave you?"

Misuko looked up. She sighed. "Because... because relationships don't
work unless they're compatible to begin with. Esther and I weren't. I
like being alone, Linia, and I like having time to myself. Esther wanted
too much of my time, and too much of my life, and she had too many pretty
people she called friends who really weren't."

"If you're so incompatible, why--?"

"Why did we stay together?" Misuko said. "Because the sex was fantastic,
that's why. Because she could do things to me in bed that nobody has
ever done before, and she said that I made her feel the same way." She
smiled sadly. "When we found out that I'm going to be here for a lot
longer than my summer break, Esther decided she wanted to go home. And
I didn't want to try and stop her."

"You sound so sad."

"I am," Misuko said. "But I'll get over it. People recover. It's not
the end of the universe." She looked up. "Let's see what we have for
dinner." She moved to get up.

"Let me, Master," Linia said. She rose smoothly and walked into the
tent, leaving Misuko there to wonder what she was going to get next.
Linia re-appeared with a box and a net bag full of foodstuffs. From the
box emerged an honest campsite cooking rig, with a frame for the campfire,
a pot for boiling water and a frypan.

Half an hour later, she handed over a plate-full of small rolls filled
with rice and fish and vegetables, a bowl of soup that made Misuko feel
warmer inside than she had felt since Esther left, and a crisp salad. "You
made this with what you could get out of the food processor?" she asked.

Linia nodded. "And I don't have anything to throw away, either," she
said. "I made sure that I have a complete and healthy menu for you all the
way until your friends arrive, quadrupled in case their ship breaks down."

Misuko laughed. "That's about as likely as Indigo 161 exploding." She
looked up into the night sky. "Tomorrow," she added hastily. Linia
laughed.

She looked up into Linia's face. "You aren't eating."

"I don't have to," Linia said.

"You don't have to or you can't?"

"I... I can," Linia said. "I don't have to. My... former master never
let me eat. He said it would waste food and money. He was a frugal man. I
was one of his few extravagances."

"You must eat something," Misuko said. "Here, you worked so hard to make
these. Eat just one." She offered a roll.

Linia looked at it, then at Misuko. "Thank you," she said. She held
out with her hand to take it when Misuko impulsively thrust it past
her reach and close to Linia's mouth. Linia looked at the morsel, then
at Misuko, then opened her mouth to give it a tentative nibble. She
sighed happily. "It's been so long since I've eaten anything other than
maintenance paste."

"What's that?" Linia asked.

"Yeast paste with some minerals. It's optimally designed to make me
smell and taste like a healthy young woman. But by itself it tastes
awful!" She grinned. "Can I have more?"

"You made me more than I usually eat," Misuko said. "Go ahead, have
another."

"You're very kind, Master."

Misuko frowned. "Please don't call me that."

"Why not? It's what you are. Even if I'm 'emancipated,' that doesn't mean
anything. I'm still currently programmed to be dedicated to you, to do
everything you say is in your best interests. I couldn't do otherwise. I
think it's one of the reasons I was so distraught when you told me Steven
was dead-- I had nothing to live for. You recovered me and by law you
own me. There's nothing to be upset about. Those are just facts."

"But don't you want to be free?"

"No!" Linia said. "No, of course not. Why would I want that? It's not
in my nature to want that. We're different species, Master, even if we
look similar."

Misuko took a deep breath. "Having a robot is more complicated than
I thought."

"It can be," Linia agreed. "I'm here to help you. I'm like any other
machine. I've been created by designers and engineers to have your
best interests uppermost in my mind. That's why I exist." She grinned.
"Do you expect any other machine you know to 'be free?'"

"No..." Misuko said.

"So what's the difference between me and the seccors?" Linia asked,
pointing overhead. "Other than that I look like a human being."

"There is that. And you talk. And you're much more interesting than they
are," Misuko pointed out.

Linia blushed. "Thank you. I am trying to be what you want me to be."

"I guess I want you to be a person."

"I am," Linia said gently. She looked down at herself. "I wish I had
more clothes."

"Sorry. I didn't bring anything on the starship fixed to make clothes.
Most of the clothes I brought with me are smartcloth, but they're just
for self-repairing. They don't reform themselves into other things."

"I guess I'll just have to get used to looking frumpy. Unless my master
would prefer that I walk around naked?"

Misuko's mind closed on the memory of Linia's naked body, her perfect
breasts, as she had seen them in the bathroom mirror when Linia had
first taken her shower. She shook her head. "No, that's... okay."

Linia grinned. "Whatever you want. Serving you is what gives me pleasure."

"What... what if the way I treat you rubs off on other people? Isn't
that a concern?"

"I imagine it is," Linia said. "But that's up to you to decide. I can't
make those decisions for you." She grinned. "I'm just a robot."

"Uh-huh," Misuko said. She had the feeling that "just a robot" was
entirely the wrong description for Linia. Linia was much more than
"just a robot." "So, why do you like to eat?" Misuko asked.

"Because you like me to eat with you. When Steven wouldn't let me eat
with him, I knew that my being with him was going to be hard. It didn't
bother me that it was going to be hard; overcoming the challenge would
be wonderful by itself. But humans don't like to associate with people
who won't eat with them."

"We don't?" Misuko asked.

"No," Linia said. "You don't. It's not in your nature to be comfortable
with people who won't share bread or drink. Human beings like to stay
alive and they like to have sex and they like to raise families; those
are hard-wired into them. All three are assisted by having friends,
who help you defend yourself, catch food, and find mates. War and sex
can't really be social activities-- but eating can be. So you're made
to think that those you share food with are friends and allies, or can
be." Linia took another bite, and around a mouthful said, "I eat because
I like to. But I like to not just because of the flavor, but because
my eating with you 'fits' in your mind as something a person you like
should do. Isn't that why you were so insistent on my 'having a bite'?"

"I guess. Do you want me to like you?" Misuko asked.

Linia looked up. "Don't you like me already? Why did you ask for me if
you didn't?"

Misuko smiled and put out her hand onto Linia's arm. "It's okay. I do
like you. I just want to know what a robot thinks about human beings
liking her."

"I like you a lot," Linia said. "You've been very kind to me so
far. I guess I always expected to be owned by some rich executive
like Steven. Being the property of a college student is going to be an
interesting experience."

"Linia, don't refer to yourself as property, or that I own you. I'm going
to bet that you're conscious. You surely act like it. You're a free being,
with free will. I bet you have the Australian Mod."

Linia smiled. "Modified Koresh Mod. But, Misuko, if I didn't have
your best interests at heart, I would not know what to do with myself.
Humans who can't reproduce are stuck with habits of thought that make
them act as if they could. They can at least support their kin, but
that doesn't mean they'll be as happy as they would be with children of
their own. If I didn't have someone to think of as master, my pleasure
would only survive by finding ways to help those as close to my master
as possible. I would still be there."

"A stalker!" Misuko said, laughing.

"With your best interests at heart!" Linia said, laughing back. A rumble
of thunder came from far away. "That's going to hit us here."

Misuko pulled up a uPadd and consulted her satellite data. "It probably
will," she agreed. "I hope it's not too bad."

Linia stood and sniffed the air. Misuko thought she looked lovely,
silhouetted against the dark, starlit night like that. "I don't think
so. The atmospheric pressure's not dropping that fast." She looked over
at Misuko. "Is there a way I can get access to your network? I'm used
to a Terran urban network. Yours seems much more distributed, but it
also seems to be much more powerful."

Misuko looked at her uPadd. "I don't know."

Linia pursed her lips. "I'd like to know if I could. Can I use that
data device?"

Misuko handed it over. Linia touched it a few times. "You'll have to tell
it it's okay for me to use it." She handed it back. Linia led her through
the authorization steps, apparently perceiving the needed changes much
faster than Misuko ever could, and then said, "Okay."  Misuko handed
the uPadd to her again, and Linia began tapping it with a speed that
humbled Misuko until she reminded herself that Linia was a robot,
a machine underneath all that apparent loveliness, with strength and
reflexes that exceeded her own. After a few minutes, Linia smiled. "It
looks like I need an upgrade, but I can do some interfacing with the
system the way it is." She closed her eyes and seemed to be in deep
thought for a moment. "Okay," she said, and her eyes opened. "Eeek!"

"Eeek?" Misuko asked.

"It's like trying to drink from a fire-hose!" Linia shook her head
violently and Misuko wondered if she was going to be damaged. "I should
know not to ask for that! Where's the root node? Okay. Wow. Oh, wow. Who
knew that such individuals carried around so much power? I'm jealous. Oh,
Misuko, can we get me an upgrade when we get back to civilization? There's
so much I can see and do! I can see every corner of this planet, map out
your wrecked ship for you in excruciating detail, find that seaprobe
of yours and drive it carefully." She reached out with one hand and
touched Misuko's arm excitedly. "There's so much I could do for you,
Master! Just name it!"

Misuko didn't quite know how to respond to that. "I... uh..."

"I'm sorry!" Linia said suddenly. "I forget that you come from an
uncybered world. Misuko, when I was made the kind of computing power
you carry with you was reserved to large corporations!"

Misuko smiled. "And now I have it for a song."

"I guess I shouldn't be surprised. I remember when it was a big deal that
recalculating whole-brain states for injured humans took seventy five
hours per second of seeking; fifteen years later humans were doing it in
real-time with special-purpose processors. But the power, the incredible
power!" Linia looked at Misuko. "What do you do with it?"

"Nothing much," Misuko said. "Just try and fill out the story of
the past, really. There's not much more to do with the human future.
Unless you're one of those super-duper physics students, there's not
much more to do than try and create a pleasant life for yourself and
others." Misuko gestured at the oncoming clouds. "This is what life has
become for most of us. Camping out. Trying to get in touch with something
ineffable. Living one day at a time because it's what suits us."

Linia smiled. "How... how much like me!"

"How so?"

"I have only your best interests at heart, right? So I'm careful not to
seek out anything that might make me lose interest in you. I'm in the
habit of living one day at a time, only looking forward to anticipate
what you might want or need. It's who and what I am. Just as being a
human being is who and what you are."

A droplet of rain fell on Misuko's hair and she looked up into the
sky. Another fell. The clouds were almost exactly overhead and the sound
of rain pattering on the roof of the tent was starting to get loud. "We
should get inside."

A roar from the ocean got Misuko's attention, the roar of a torrent of
water falling from the oncoming squall. Both of them ran for the tent,
diving through its opening before sealing it behind them. A minute
later the roar engulfed them, a steady sound filling the tent space.
Linia checked the opening and pronounced it well-sealed, then assured
Misuko that the only way water would get into the tent is if they let it.

Linia rolled out two sleeping bags on opposite ends of the tent. "Do
you sleep?" Misuko asked.

"Yes," Linia said. "It's a time when I can re-arrange my memories,
doing that seeking that I need to make myself more effective at--"

"I know. My best interests."

"Yes," Linia said. "And now that I have access to your uPadd, I have a
lot to think about!" She grinned. "I promise not to go into any personal
memories. I think your uPadd is well-protected against that, anyway."

"Probably," Misuko agreed. She took off her clothes with barely a
glance in Linia's direction. Linia turned off the light as the two of
them crawled into their separate sleeping bags. Misuko appreciated the
way the base of the bag felt just like a mattress, but only for a few
minutes before she fell asleep.
  _________________________________________________________________

She woke early to the sounds of birdsong, the light of morning sun
filtered through the trees, and the smell of something cooking. She
walked out to find Linia sitting next to the campfire, two small pans
and a pot on the grill. She yawned. "Good morning."

"Good morning, Master... I mean, Misuko!" Linia said with a grin.
Misuko thought that Linia was far too perky this early in the morning,
but there was something to the clean, ionized smell of the air and the
brightness of the sunshine that made being cheerful easy. "I've made
you breakfast. I hope you don't mind. I made oatmeal. Is that okay?"

"I'm sure it'll be fine," Misuko said as she sat down, not entirely
sure what "oatmeal" really was. She was used to a nutrition bar for
breakfast. But she accepted the bowl from Linia readily and after a
taste test decided she could live with it. It felt heavy and filling
and she wasn't able to eat everything Linia had made for her.

Linia ate straight from the other pot. "What's that?" Misuko asked.

"You don't want to know," Linia said. "It's that maintenance paste.
It's one of the few forms of external maintenance I need to do on a
regular basis. This, hygiene, and battery replacement every thirty
years. I'm about halfway through my current one, too. But I read that
you have smaller power supplies that are rated for six hundred years,
and I think I would like one of those." She smiled.

"Where did you get it?"

"From the shuttle's food plant, of course," Linia said. "It was already
programmed with it."

Misuko thought that odd, but then she bet that the food plant on the
average singleship was probably programmed with every minor foodstuff of
every species known in the Corridor. It probably could feed the Shriaa
and the Sinox, too. She shrugged. "Ah, paradise."

"It is," Linia said. She looked at Misuko. "What a strange set of
circumstances. To me, 2496 was just three days ago. Now I wake up to be
told it's 5145, that everyone I used to know is gone, and I belong to
a college student."

Misuko smiled. "We have a lot to talk about."

After breakfast, which Linia cleaned up, Misuko set out for the beach.
She put down a towel, set up an umbrella, and proceeded to work her way
through one of the thirty or so books she had set aside for herself during
this time. Linia brought her lunch (a sandwich, inside unrecognizable
but undeniably tasty), and when dinner came around Linia started on
something that involved a lot of pounding on a heavy wooden board. It
came out as long, thin strips, boiled in water and then ladled over with
some white sauce. Whatever it was, it was delicious when Misuko put it
into her mouth. "Do all robots know how to cook?"

Linia nodded, looking up from her own small bowl of food. "Of course.
It's absolutely essential. We could not be household assistants if we
couldn't fill in that kind of role'. Did you get a lot done today?"

Misuko nodded. "I managed to read a lot of French history. It's for a
side project I'm working on. I call it 'Success and the SNAFU Principle.'"

"What does that mean?"

"The SNAFU Principle states that in any hierarchy, the people at the
top will receive bad information from the people underneath them. It's
human nature to avoid telling the truth, to gloss it over, to make
themselves look good in the eyes of their leaders. The more there's
a power differential, the more one has the power to punish another,
the more deception, conscious or otherwise, those down the hierarchy
produce." Linia nodded. "I'm trying to make a case that individual
successes in a perceived leader will result in that leader receiving
progressively worse information even if he is leading the same people
at the end of his career as he was at the beginning."

"You mean, even though the titles and positions haven't changed, the
leader's perceived value puts him further away, and so easier to lie to?"

"Right," Misuko said.

Linia thought for a moment. "Do you think the SNAFU principle applies
to us?"

Misuko looked at her. "You mean, because you're automatically 'beneath'
me that you'll lie to me?" Linia nodded. "You said it yourself. You're
not programmed to be like that."

"But you're interested in the leader's perception. A good leader
understands the principle. Do you?"

"Oh! I don't know. On the one hand, I understand intellectually that
you're a robot and you're dedicated to my well-being. On the other hand,
I see you as a beautiful young girl who's just a little obsessive about
taking care of me, which I find odd because I hardly know you, but I'm
not going to complain about it when we're stranded on a desert planet."

"Hey! Maybe you should call me Friday!" Linia said.

"Friday?"

"Didn't you ever read Robinson Crusoe?"

"No. What did he write?"

Linia giggled. "Nothing! That's the title of the book. It was written by
Daniel Dafoe. It's about a man stranded on a desert island, a primitive
savage he befriends who helps him because he, being the technological
man, has found many labor-saving ways to survive on the island, and
about how the two of them struggle to retain their civility even when
alone and unobserved. Crusoe calls the primitive man 'Friday' because
that is the day on which they met."

"Which one of us is the primitive savage?"

"I am!" Linia said with a giggle. She sniffed the air. "Another storm
is coming."

"I bet they're a regular event, even off the hurricane track like we are."

"This one is a little later than the one last night. I think we have
time."

As they bedded down the rain again swept over the island. Misuko thought
the white noise of drops against the roof was one of the sweetest sounds
she had heard in a long time, a confirmation of her need to be out in the
weather, out from the city where rain was nothing more than a distraction
and a frustration.

Sleep did not come as easy this night. She wanted to sleep, but she had
dozed on and off throughout the day and wasn't as tired as she had been
the day before, when Esther had done wonderful things to her body. She
sighed as her imagination pictured Esther with her solid hazel eyes and
button nose and black, full lips kissing her. She had loved playing with
Esther's ears, watching them flicker as she teased them, and her hands
clenched as she remembered how Esther's full ass had felt in her grip.

It was too much for her to hold back, and her hands unclenched long
enough to stray over her breasts, tugging at her nipples, playing with
them. She dreamed of Esther's mouth on her breasts, sucking at her flesh,
maybe even leaving welts, and of her tongue circling her nipples, filling
her with a need that could only be satisfied between her thighs. Her
hands followed her imagination and slipped downward over her belly,
over her mons and down into the tangle of pubic hair that covered her
cunt. She pinched at the lips, trying to imitate the cruel excitement
that had arisen in her soul every time Esther laid hands upon her. Her
hands slid between her labia, one teasing at her clitoris while the
other plunged two, then three fingers into her wet honeypot.

But Misuko couldn't imitate, even crudely, what Esther was able to
pull off so flawlessly. Her fingers slid into familiar patterns she
had discovered for herself in puberty, her grip on her cunt relaxing.
But her imagination kept bringing on dreams of Esther, and even as her
fingers slid deeper into her wet vaginal cove she dreamed of a mitten,
full and insatiable, touching her deeper than she could reach, and of a
tongue, fast, demanding, on her clit, making her scream. She came with
a whimper, then turned over onto her side and tried to sleep, her eyes
squeezed shut, trying to ignore the tears.
  _________________________________________________________________

The next day she settled down onto the beach with her book, but less
than two hours later decided she was bored of just sitting around. If
she were to avoid another sleepless night like the one she had suffered
through yesterday, she would need to stay awake through the day. She
would also need to work out more. She was relatively unmodified, as
befit a native of Abi, so she wasn't one of those lucky ones who could
stay fit and trim just by thinking about it.

She walked up to where Linia was sitting, staring out over the water.
"What are you doing?"

"Thinking," Linia said with a grin. "Why?"

"Thinking about what?"

"Oh, just... thinking. You have such an enormous library. There are
millennia of history that I need to catch up on. And so much to do.
I'm designed to be a house robot, Misuko. I need to know what houses
are like in the 33rd century."

"I don't imagine they've changed that much."

"I'm surprised they haven't changed more. You have so many opportunities
now to be, well, different from the old ways, but your way of living is
familiar to me. That just seems... odd."

"Well, like I said, my family came from Abi, where we tried to be as
human as possible. We didn't go in for all of the fancy modifications
that lots of other people do; none of that sexual dumorphism or radical
brain implants. I don't even have an implanted neural net."

"Sexual dumorphism? Tell me about that," Linia said.

"I don't know much about it. There are a few planets in the human sphere
where sexual dumorphism is practiced. Basically when you're born you're
born neuter; everyone has a flat vaginal affect with a urethral opening
at the groin. When you reach the age of majority, usually designated by
some legislative process, you can start to have sex with whomever you're
attracted to. It takes a few months for your sex organs to re-arrange
themselves to be penetrative or receptive-- a penis or vagina, I guess,
but I'm told it's actually different-- and who gets to do what depends
on some mix of biochemistry that I've never been able to understand."

"How do you feel about it?" Linia asked. "I have to ask. You are my
master and I want to understand how you feel about these things."

Misuko shrugged. "I imagine it gets rid of a whole collection of
human problems, everything from child abuse to the war of the sexes
in general. There can't even be rape, really, since you don't get a
penis until you spend a lot of time with someone who wants to be around
you." She paused. "I never thought about it much before, but it seems
to me to be the wrong response to the problem. Distinctive sexes aren't
the problem, and wiping them out in favor of some kind of level playing
field erases a lot of the scenery." She laughed. "I think there should
be room in the universe for bad sex."

Linia smiled. "I'm glad you think that. Although hopefully it doesn't
happen to you often!"

Misuko shook her head. "Not recently, no."

"You miss Esther."

"Yeah. Hey, let's take a walk. I'm going to get fat and lazy if I don't
exercise. And I don't want to talk about Esther. I want to talk to you
about what life was like in 2601."

As they walked down the beach together, Linia seemed entranced by all
the little things they walked past. She would pick up a crab and let it
walk up her arm, shooing it away when it tried to pinch her. She poked
her fingers in something slimy, green, and so rank Misuko didn't dare
walk within four meters of it. She watched, amused, as Linia reached
out to touch every different kind of tree she saw as she passed. "Are
you cataloging those?" Misuko asked, finally.

"Uh-huh. Someone's going to want this data. It'll take years to plow
through the little bit I've collected already. And all I have are snapshot
observations. I'm disappointed that nobody has come and looked at the
ecology of this place more closely."

"You like ecology?" Misuko asked.

"I'm not just a housedroid," Linia replied. "I can't imagine doing
housework and keeping my Master happy would take up all of my time. I
need a hobby. This isn't a bad hobby, as they go."

Misuko smiled. "Somehow, the idea of a robot liking ecology seems a
little odd to me."

Linia grinned. "No more odd than someone from Abi choosing to pluck a
robot from a salvage pile?"

"You have me there. Did you read about Abi last night?"

Linia nodded. "I hope you don't mind. It was in the publicly accessible
database. I just wanted to know what kind of world my master came from. It
seems like a nice place, even if I wouldn't be allowed to live there. Did
you know that they don't even like transitionals there?"

Misuko nodded. She remembered. Abi was a world with the enemy, as the
residents thought of them, manning the gates. The orbital station above
Abi was run by an AI. It had agreed to all sorts of idiotic things,
like a manned self-destruct station on-board, just to come and run the
interstellar docking station. Of course, the people of Abi had had to
agree to corresponding hardships like a constantly running gradio system
with a perpetual fracture pointed at a distant, unpopulated star where
the AI kept its backups. It was the kind of compromise only anachronists
would like.

Misuko realized as she walked that she liked Linia. There was something
about her surprisingly humane. She would pick up small animals from the
water's edge and examine them carefully, always making sure to harm them
as little as possible before putting them back in whatever small pool
she had found them in.

Linia held up something small and blue with six legs. "See this?" she
asked. "Look. It's like a crab. The eyes are different-- better shielded
than a Terran crab." She closed her eyes for a second. "Damn, I need an
upgrade! I remember reading about a llerkin crab like this, but I didn't
keep enough of the details for it to be meaningful." She grinned.

Misuko stepped forward and looked. It was a strange-looking creature
and it had vaguely tentactular things sticking out of its sides. "Food
gathering?"

"I would guess so," Linia said. "It doesn't seem to have the defensive
purpose of a Terran crab. Then again, maybe it excretes some kind of
local toxin. I'm not detecting anything, though." She put the creature
down gently. Misuko watched as it backed away, keeping its eyes on them.

Linia washed her hands in the water "just in case there was anything
on those tendrils." Then she shook them off and walked back up to where
Misuko waited. "I'm sorry. Should I stop?"

"No, no!" Misuko said. "I would rather you have a life of your own."

"I would have one even if all you wanted was for me to wait on you hand
and foot. It would seem a waste of resources, but that's for you to
decide, not me."

"It would frustrate you."

"A little."

"And I wouldn't like it anyway."

"No."

"And making me happy is primary, so you wouldn't do anything I didn't
like, like not having a life of your own. Or at least, not seeming to
have a life of your own." Misuko smiled.

"You're beginning to understand."

"I think I am. Can I ever get tired of you?"

"Of course. I'll always seek strategies that make us compatible. I'm
much better at that than a human being can be. But that doesn't mean
that I'll always be a hundred percent successful. I am an individual;
I can make mistakes. Those mistakes can pile up until we're incompatible,
but if that happens it'll be entirely my fault."

"Unless I chose to put energy into the relationship myself," Misuko
pointed out.

"Yes, if there were something more to our relationship than a mere robot
and her owner. Why?"

"You asked me earlier if I liked you. I do. But... I want to like you
the way I like my friends, not my furniture."

Suddenly that dazzling, convincing, seducing smile was back. "Oh, I'm
so happy you said that!" she cried. "I would love to be your friend,
Misuko. I just... I just worry that I don't know how. Other than that
you own me, what do we have in common?"

"I'm sure we can find a few things," Misuko said with a grin. "Give me
time to figure them out. Let's head home."

Linia's smile stayed alive and active as they walked back toward their
campsite. Misuko resumed her reading, and Linia went back to poking at
the seashore.

A week passed uneventfully. Misuko woke every morning wondering
if she could ever get tired of the scenery or the isolation before
being offered something new and interesting from Linia's repertoire
of breakfast recipes. Today's had been simple salted rice with sweet,
aromatic herbs. Then she would step out onto the beach, open a book,
and be transported elsewhere. The occasional rain showers didn't bother
her at all. She was in love with the place and would be sad to leave it
behind. She wondered if people who lived in Realms had this much fun.

It was at night that she began to question her decision. Linia was a great
companion. She knew more about the 25th century than Misuko ever could,
and she had a talent for telling stories about politicians, businessmen,
and housewives that made the 51st century seem downright boring. Linia
had chosen to tell the story of a companion of her previous owner, a
businessman who had gotten caught indulging his desire for underaged
males, and the legal maneuvering and ethical dodges each side went
through to achieve what each labeled "justice."  It was tragic and
hilarious and sad and outrageous, and Misuko had no doubt that every
word was absolutely true.

But Linia's companionship didn't make up for the way she missed
Esther. She had hoped the ache would subside, but it got worse. She
craved the kind of pleasure Esther had given her, wondered if there
wasn't a way to excise that desire from her mind, knew that such power
was not available on her little castaway island. The nights had grown
even warmer and at night she lay on the mattress with no covers, wearing
only a t-shirt and simple shorts, and as her hands slid over her own
already sweat-slicked body in a caricature of Esther's gentle caresses,
she whimpered.

She felt a third hand on her belly and her eyes snapped open. In the
dark she couldn't see anything but a gentle glow of a red dot above
her, a few strands of black hair waving in front of it. "Master," Linia
whispered. "Misuko. Let me help you."

"Linia... what?"

"Let me help you." Misuko was too stunned to respond and couldn't form
a response until Linia's mouth closed about one of her nipples. She felt
an immediate cry of heat flood through her as Linia's fingers crept down
her belly and nestled in the tangle of hair between her legs. Misuko
moaned with a need she could barely express in words.  Linia's touch was
maddening, all the more so because Misuko kept fighting it. She didn't
want Linia to be like this; it wasn't Linia's role. Linia was supposed
to be a compliant, helpful servant, not in her bed and certainly not
the aggressor. She didn't want another sexual complication in her life,
not now, not so soon after Esther.

Her words failed her. Something held them back, denied her the power to
say "no" again. It was only two letters! But Linia's tongue whipping at
her nipple and the firm, tugging sensation about her breast made her
doubt any resolve, and when Linia moved her fingers a bare millimeter
between her nether lips Misuko wished she could tell that part of her,
the part that wanted to stop this right now, to go away. She fought
with herself inside as Linia pleasured her outside, and when she came
it was as if something within her, something under terrible tension,
had snapped and broken. She shrieked out Linia's name, the loudest sound
she had made on the island so far, her body thrashing out its need and
want under Linia's skillful touch.

Misuko found herself lying on the mat, still trying to put back together
the pieces of her soul that had been shattered by Linia's touch, when she
felt Linia move between her legs. "What...?" And then Linia's tongue was
between her wet lips, each touch sending shivers up through her body. She
could not deny that she really wanted more.  Misuko's cunt had a mind of
its own as her hips pushed up to get more of Linia's mouth, more tongue,
more teeth. She felt those perfect white, sharp beauties against her
flesh, moaned at the probing nibbles, yelped when the second came down
sharper than the first. Her whole body seethed like the core of a migma
reactor, hot particles of shame crossing paths with the hotter nuclei of
desire in the twisted toroid that was her soul. She could barely contain
herself, and Linia didn't want her to.

But then Linia's mouth moved away, and Linia's body was moving up the
length of hers, and Linia's hands were planted by her sides in a way
that she had last experienced several lovers before Esther. She felt
something prodding her between her things, something impossible. She
yielded to the undeniable sensation of a cock entering her, filling her,
touching her deep inside. It wasn't Esther's hand; it was something else
entirely and it felt wonderful. She opened her eyes and looked up at the
face hovering over hers, barely visible in the glow of Linia's little
"on" light. "What?"

Linia leaned down to kiss Misuko on the mouth, gently. "I was made...
to be used by both men and women." She pushed with her hips and Misuko
felt the cock move deep within her.

Misuko moaned; it was a sensation she had missed, not by much but surely
missed, when she had had girlfriends. She couldn't deny that she loved
the sensation of being opened, filled and emptied, by a strong body
on top of hers. It was primal, primeval lust that drove her need. She
couldn't deny it.

Linia's thrusting was strong, hard, and powerful. Her beautiful, perfect
round breasts swayed around Misuko's, her hard nipples tracing patterns
Misuko could feel on her skin. She reached up to pull Linia down on top
of her, accepted Linia's weight on her body as Linia's hips pushed deep
into her, withdrew, pushed again, hard, fast, too much, too much for
Misuko to take in. "Linia... Linia..."

"Master!" Linia cried. "I'm going to..."

"Yes!"

"Come!"

Linia's cries of ecstasy rang in Misuko's ears as both came, Linia still
thrusting hard within her. Her entire body, from her cunt up to her
throat, felt filled with a bright, hot shining light. Misuko couldn't
understand it, couldn't process it, couldn't do anything but wish she
could feel it again, and again, and again.
  _________________________________________________________________

She woke sometime in the night to the sound of rain pattering against the
roof of the tent. It had become a familiar sound over the past week, and
she wondered if she would miss it when she moved back into the starship
that would be arriving later in the month. She turned over and her body
told her about things that she thought she had dreamed.

She felt... happy. She couldn't deny that feeling. She felt curiously at
peace for the first time since Esther had left. She brought her hands
up, touched her sides, her breasts. Found the wet residue between her
thighs, the places where the bedding had not yet brushed against her,
had not yet performed its perfunctory maintenance of her skin.

Memories came flooding through her, thrilling memories of surrender,
of lovemaking, of joy. It was like her first night with Esther all over
again, the time before she and Esther had grown tired of one another
and begun quarreling. She thought about the person (yes! she thought,
the person) who had given her this gift, reached out, tried to find
her. "Linia?"

There was no answer. "Light?" she said. The tent's inner illumination
globe came on, casting a warm glow on everything. Linia was nowhere to
be seen. "Linia?" she asked louder. "Linia!"

She quickly pulled on clothes and walked out of the tent. The rain was
still coming down in a warm mist, but Linia was there, sitting on the log
they had hauled fireside. She was staring at the empty ring of stone, the
fire long ago snuffed out by the rain and its own lack of fuel. "Linia?"

Linia looked up at her, the little light on her forehead glowing like
a firefly. "I'm sorry, Master."

"You're sorry?" Misuko wasn't sure what Linia could think she did wrong.

Linia answered her. "I did something you didn't ask me for. I couldn't
help myself. It's... it's something in my programming. I know why I said
you shouldn't have anything to do with me. I... I'm programmed to... to
ignore the word 'no.'"

"I didn't say 'no'," Misuko replied, quietly reminding herself that she
would have if... if what? She sighed. It was not the time to go debating
the subject with herself again.

"I don't know if I would have stopped if you did," Linia replied. She
was distraught and Misuko didn't know how to comfort her. "I... I'm
programmed to be a monster. It was something my master wanted. He like
being 'taken' sometimes." She looked away. "I'm broken."

Misuko sat down right next to her, reached over and took one of Linia's
hands in her own. "Listen to me. You are not broken. I don't even think
you can say that what you did was caused by some external piece of
code. Linia, I liked what you did."

"But... but... what if I'd gotten it wrong?"

"Were you trying to hurt me?"

"No..." Linia said. "No, I wasn't."

"Then you were doing what you thought was in my best interest. I guess.. I
guess I wasn't doing that good a job of thinking of you as a person,
Linia. I got used to thinking of you as a robot. You were so helpful,
and so quiet at night, not at all like most of the people I know." She
laughed. "And after I told you I wanted to think of you as a friend,
rather than the furniture, I ended up treating you like furniture. Someone
I could conveniently ignore."

"You can," Linia sniffed. "It's what I'm meant to do. Fade into the
background when your happiness is about me leaving you alone. Like you
said, I'm self-maintaining."

"But you're not furniture, Linia. You are a person. I've watched you when
you were 'ignoring' me. The way you go about your own life is fun. You
seem to really like poking about all the slimy things you see, and I've
seen you rigging tools to do closer work out of the toolkits. I hope
you haven't used anything from the medical supplies that we can't live
without if I break a leg or something."

"Oh, no," Linia said. "We're fine on that regard."

"I guess... I guess you heard me tossing and turning, and after all
those days decided you just couldn't stand to listen to one more night
of me complaining about missing Esther."

Linia nodded. "I was hoping that I could help you feel better about it."

"You did," Misuko said, giving her a hug. "You did very well."

"Still friends?" Linia said.

"Friends..." Misuko said. "And more, if you want to explore that, too.
Fah, how will I explain this to my mother?""

Linia giggled. "Explain something to me, Misuko. Are you Terran or
Pendorian human?"

"Terran."

"Then... why do you say 'fah?'"

Misuko laughed. "Everybody does, these days. There's no getting away
from it. Shardik is still around and everyone, even llerkin I think,
say 'fah'."

"llerkin? That's the reptilians, right?"

Misuko nodded. They were silent for a while. "Oh, yeah," she said, her
voice taking on a serious tone that made Linia look up nervously. "One
more thing. Don't you ever repeat that 'made to be used by both men and
women' line on me, or anyone else, again. It's crap. You were perfectly
acceptable to me before that... that thing showed up between your legs. I
like girls, in case you didn't notice."

"I... I did, but I heard Esther teasing you about liking boys and wondered
if you missed something."

Misuko shook her head. "If I did, I wouldn't be sleeping with girls,
now would I?" She laughed. "Linia, in this universe, there are so many
perverse forms of being sexy that being exclusive to one sex or one
species is sometimes thought of as being a little weird. I care that my
partner looks happy in their body. You're obviously hand-crafted to be
completely gorgeous and irresistible, and it works. When I saw you naked
in the shower that first time, my mouth went dry and my cunt went wet."

Linia giggled. "I saw your nipples stand up, and it was too warm and
steamy in the shower for it to be cold. I guess that's why I said you
should be careful around me. A robot without purpose is a needful thing."

"Do you still need?"

"Only you," Linia said. "For as long as you tell me my being around you
makes you happy."

"You've made me satisfied. I woke up feeling... fah, I don't know. I
woke up content, and satisfied, my body telling me that it had endured
all the things that go into making a body happy. It was wonderful,
Linia. Don't sell yourself short on that."

"Okay. I won't." She grinned. "The rain's coming back."

"Another squall?"

"I think so." They walked back into the tent and Misuko closed it
behind her. In the glow, Linia's clothes looked sad and heavy. Linia
took them off, then handed the towel to Misuko, who used it gratefully
before handing it back. Linia dried off as well as she could, but her
skin still glistened with moisture where she sat on the floor of the
tent. "I think I'll wait to dry off." Misuko looked at Linia, at the way
her body seemed the shine, and she wondered whether Linia could enjoy
sex as the recipient. She decided to find out, crawling over on hands
and needs to where Linia sat. She kissed Linia's thigh softly and said,
"What if I try to make you wet again?"

"Really?"

"Really," Misuko said. Linia's skin tasted like... like that of any
girl's, Misuko thought. Unique, but definitely human. She kissed Linia's
thighs, leaving a pattern of spots no drier or wetter than before her
lips had touched down. The water had beaded on Linia's skin in little
patterns, and Misuko licked up the little droplets greedily.  She reached
Linia's outer lips and kissed at them. "It's so pink," she murmured. "So
pretty. You have no pubic hair?"

"I could put some there," Linia said. "It's a simple reaction; I just
need to add the right mass to the yeast. I've never had any there before."

"Must be nice to be able to make those changes so whimsically," Misuko
murmured before burying her face between Linia's thighs, lapping up the
fluids that flowed there.

Misuko found Linia's clitoris, making Linia gasp, "Master!" She stopped
for a moment, backing up to take a good look, wondering where Linia
hid all the hardware for that impressive-feeling penis she'd pulled out
earlier. She would have to ask where it was kept. She dove back down onto
Linia's cunt, settling on a steady licking motion between Linia's labia,
finding the clitoris and treating it to constant attention.

That got Linia's attention. Her hand twisted in Misuko's hair, her
moans filling the tent. Misuko licked steadily and soon Linia was
trembling. "Master... I'm... I'm coming!" She moaned hard as she
climaxed, her legs shaking uncontrollably, her arms wrapped tightly
around herself. "Master... Misuko."

"I can't stop you from calling me that, can I?" Misuko said, looking up
at Linia.

"I don't... I guess it'll take a while for me to unlearn that habit,"
Linia sighed. "Oh, Misuko, you are good at that." She held out her arms
and Misuko folded into them readily, cuddling up beside Linia.

"So," Misuko said, "Was that real, or just a simulation?"

"What's the difference?" Linia asked. "I can... When I come, there's
nothing else I can think about. I'm so wrapped up in the happiness you're
giving me, the things you're doing for me, it's... the analogy holds very
well. I like the overwhelming sensations, the pleasure of being attended
to by you." She held Misuko tighter. "I hope you're always happy to own
me, even if we stop having sex someday."

"If I gave you away to someone else, would you still be happy serving
them?"

"I would learn to be. Eventually, I would be just as happy with them
as I was with you. I'm still learning about you, Misuko, and trying to
forget what Steven was like."

"What was he like?"

"It's hard to say. He ignored me a lot. Said that he didn't want to get
too close to me. He had a lot of girlfriends, but he liked it when he
used me because he didn't want it to get out that he needed something
women couldn't give him."

"I don't understand. It's not like being, ack, what's the word for being
not a heterosexual?"

"I don't know. 'Pervert?' 'Homosexual?' 'Deviant?'"

"I don't either. Anyway, it's not as if being something else was a stigma
in the sixth century."

"It is when your reputation is as a hard-headed businessman and what
you like in bed is to be submissive to the point of being raped."
Linia seemed to purr for a moment; Misuko wondered what that meant.
"Steven could never let that get out in the open; it would color all
of his business relationships for the rest of his life. So he bought
me off his own factory floor and programmed with the kinds of things he
liked. He also gave me that Centauri mod, but he was really careful. He
knew about the people who had died with the Centauri mod and why, and
he understood the moral foundation problem, so he tried to make me with
the kinds of code found in the original Koresh patch."

Misuko wondered about that. "You're prototype code, then. Linia, are
you really safe to be around?"

"I think so," Linia sighed. "Maybe he didn't want to get close to me
because he wanted to think of me as an abusive person. But I won't be
abusive to you. It's not what I want to do. I want to be a good little
robot."

Misuko chuckled, turning her head to kiss Linia's cheek. "That you are,
Linia. And a wonderful person, too."

  _________________________________________________________________


Journal Entry 251 / 03261 Honest Desires

The Journal Entries of Kennet R'yal Shardik, et. al., and Related Tales
are Copyright (c) 1989-2002 Elf Mathieu Sternberg. Distribution limited
to electronic media not-for-profit use only. All other rights are reserved
to the author.


--
Elf M. Sternberg

Thoughtful science fiction and fantasy:
http://www.drizzle.com/~elf/

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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