by Robin Roseau
Audra edged us closer, and closer still, but we didn't crowd them. We watched as the penguins did penguin things for a few minutes.
And then we were moving forward, slowly at first, and we began to climb into the sky. No one said a word for a long time.
Audra plopped down into the seat beside me. “How are you doing?” I turned to her, staring for several long heartbeats. She laughed. “I refer to my life as a fairy tale.”
“I can understand that,” I said. “Or I might call you Alice?”
“Down through the rabbit hole,” she said, catching the reference. “Yeah, sometimes.”
“We’re going to Africa, aren’t we?”
“Yeah, but there aren’t any of the large animals right around Beginnings. I don’t know how, but there aren’t even any mosquitoes. No sharks or jellyfish in the water, either. There are smaller animals, and a variety of insects.”
“So, no giraffes, but no mosquitoes either. Fair trade.”
She laughed. “Yeah. Everyone asks about giraffes, elephants, lions, or hippos. We have to take a bit of a safari to see them.”
“Not going to take us there today?”
“No. It would be outside our territory. We arrange tours, but we work with the governments in question. They get a little annoyed if we slip in without warning. I don’t exactly blame them.”
“I suppose not.” I offered a smile. “I’m fine. This wasn’t the most direct route, was it?”
“Not even close,” she said. “No one minds. Do you know about Muriel?”
“That’s the woman with ALS?”
“It’s not ALS, but it may as well be,” Audra said. “Yes. Hunt Robotics has helped us give her a better life. Yeah, some cash changed hands, but in the scheme of things, not that much.”
“Finley said we get some tech back.”
“Some of Muriel’s programming. And once in a while, Amanda gets a flight like this. It doesn’t cost anything but a little time, and I don’t mind showing my wife some of the wonders of our home.”
“I can see that,” I replied. “Fuel and maintenance?”
“Maintenance is automated. Fuel is sunlight. A little time and coordination of the aircraft.” She grinned. “And the penguins are damned cute.”
“They are. Cuter than a loris?”
“Nothing is cuter than a loris,” she said. “Okay, maybe, and I say this cautiously, Golden Retriever puppies.”
“They’re so fluffy!” I exclaimed. “Seriously?”
“The puppies might be cuter, but I wouldn't argue over it. So. Why you?”
“Yeah.”
“A few things. Some of this we could keep you guessing, but some you should know.”
“Okay.”
“Low xenophobia.”
“You said that part. You said I have high xenocuriosity.”
“Yes. Not off the charts, but yes. It’s somewhat high even for people working in the tech fields.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Okay, this might apply to people older than us. People in the tech fields are notorious for reading lots of science fiction.”
“And then they came, and it wasn’t fiction anymore. You know that was before I was born. I was nothing more than a baby bump.”
“Ah. I was young, very young. Anyway. High xenocuriosity. Intelligent, but it’s likely everyone at Hunt Robotics is intelligent.”
“You don’t know?”
“Not everyone has been Tested, and I haven’t looked at everyone’s scores.”
“You have access to that.”
“Yeah. That’s a different story. Third. Female.”
“Do the aliens have plans for me?”
“If they do, I don’t typically find out until after you do. No. This is specific to what you’re going to be doing for the next few days.”
“That sounds sexist.”
“I know. It is, but it isn’t. Muriel is struggling. Perhaps you can imagine.”
“Yeah.”
“No one knows what is about to happen. Felicia may figure out the problem ten minutes after you arrive, and you’ll spend the rest of your visit having a little vacation. But if Muriel and Bay can’t figure it out, and you guys couldn’t figure it out remotely, no one believes that’s what will happen.”
“I get that.”
“Which means you’ll be spending time with Muriel, and while she won’t actually say it, she responds better to women.”
“Oh,” I said.
“It might not matter. But it might. So, yeah. We didn’t have many choices.”
“Me and Felicia.”
“Yep. All that being said, we would have accepted the guys if the two of you weren’t entirely qualified to help us out.”
“So, I shouldn't feel as if the only reason I’m here is because I’m a girl.”
“No. I’m sorry if you were expecting something juicier.”
“I got to meet my first alien,” I said. “She gave me an amazing hug. Then I’m traveling through space. I saw penguins up close. And the day has barely started.”
“That’s the spirit,” Audra replied.
I sat there, not sure what else I wanted to say. It remained overwhelming. Finally, I turned to her again. She was watching me with a small smile. “Go ahead and ask.”
“Will I meet more?”
“You’ll certainly meet Bay. You will probably meet Jasmine; she is also Catseye. I find it likely you’ll meet a few more, perhaps Posey’s sister and her mothers. I could make guesses about some of the others, but I don’t want to make promises.”
“All right.” I felt a little disappointed, which was really ridiculous.
“I’d offer to ensure you met quite a few more,” Audra said gently, “but…”
“But?”
“But frankly, no one is going to say ‘yes’ to how I’d do it until we fix Muriel’s new avatar.”
“Avatar?”
“Yeah. She uses the robots like the avatar in a computer game.”
“Oh. Oh, that makes sense. While there’s nothing wrong with fitting in some pleasure during a business trip, Felicia and I need to see to business first.”
“Right. That being said, if you do fix it, you’re in a position to ask for a favor or two.” I grinned at that. “A small favor,” Audra amended. “A trip to the space station is not a small favor.”
“I don’t think that would have occurred to me.”
“Sure, it would,” she replied. “Unless you wouldn’t go if invited.”
“I’d totally go!”
“That’s what I thought. We’re going to ask you to keep the visor on. You won’t be able to remove it when you’re at our ultra-top-secret facility. It’s up to you if you take it off at Beginnings, but frankly, I’d just wear it. It’s waterproof. You can swim with it. You might see a few others. There’s a tutorial if you don’t remember how to use it. I can trigger it for you.”
“I remember.”
“You’ll find this one is quite capable. If you ask it, it can sync with your email accounts and replace your cell phone.”
“You mean pair with the phone?”
“No. I mean you can tell it to tell the telephone companies it is your cell phone, and then turn your phone off.”
“Oh. Cool!”
“You might want to play with the features a bit. We’ll be landing in a bit over an hour. The view out your window might be a little boring. Sorry. We can’t let you switch sides.”
“You and Posey seem to traipse back and forth.”
“Yeah. Life isn’t fair.”
I laughed. “I’ll see what the visor can do.”
Arrival
“Dimming visors,” came Audra’s voice. We were somewhere over the African savannah, but the view grew darker. I tried, and I found I could access command mode on the visor, but I didn’t know how to turn the camera back on, and I thought if I tried, I would find I was locked out.
I felt us maneuver a little, and then we clearly set down on the groun
d. A moment later the visor began to brighten again. A moment after that, the chair released me.
I stood and stretched. Amanda and Felicia were doing the same thing. Posey and Audra were already at the back of the aircraft, and the ramp began to descend. “It’s going to be warm,” Audra said.
I glanced at the clock the visor offered in the upper left corner. 6:15 PM local time. I didn’t check time zones, but my body felt like it was lunchtime. We’d left California by seven AM, had flown to Antarctica to look at penguins, then flown to somewhere in Africa, all over the course of five or six hours.
It was difficult to believe.
“We’ll let a couple of technicians deal with the crates,” Posey said. “Do you need any of your bags, or should we deliver them to your hotel rooms.”
“If it’s cold inside, I could use one of my wraps.”
“You’ll find it comfortable,” Audra said. “We keep the temperature suitable for women who are thinly dressed.”
We stepped out into the sun, descending the ramp and looking around. In front of us was an indistinct building, possibly built of concrete, but I didn’t think so. There were three more of the alien craft parked, all of them smaller than the one we had taken.
There was a door to the building, and standing outside it: another Catseye.
And a robot.
“Is that Muriel?” I asked.
“Her old avatar,” Posey said. “Please treat her as if she were here in the flesh.”
“Of course,” I said. Then, with a tentacle gesture, we strode forward.
It was hot, hotter than the Bay Area would be today, but not stifling. Then we came to a stop. Jasmine and Muriel both knew Felicia. “Is this a new look for you, Felicia?” Jasmine asked.
“I’ve gotten one hug so far.” And then they went through the ritual. Felicia disappeared behind a mass of tentacles. The rest of us waited. Once Jasmine released her, she turned to Muriel’s robot. “Hug?”
“Sure,” said a voice. “How are you, Felicia?”
“I’m good, Muriel.” Felicia and the robot hugged, which was rather odd. But then Felicia introduced me.
I took my own hugs. “Thank you for coming,” Jasmine whispered to me as she held me.
“Thank you for the opportunity,” I replied. “We’ll do whatever we can.”
I turned to Muriel. “That is very impressive,” I said.
“Bay is a genius,” Muriel said. “I like your dress, Taisha.”
“Thank you, Muriel.” We clasped hands. She didn’t ask for a hug, but we were only meeting for the first time.
“Let’s head in and discuss the problem,” Jasmine said. “We can discuss your plan of attack.”
“I would like to meet Taisha in person,” Muriel said. “Can we do that?”
“Of course,” Jasmine said. “How are you doing, darling?”
“I’m fine for a while. If you bring them to the conference room, I’ll fetch my chair.”
“All right.”
* * * *
The door opened, and then I saw Muriel’s robot pushing one of the alien chairs into the room. It was sealed up, but I knew her human body was waiting inside of it. I stared, imagining her life. One of Posey’s tentacles drifted over and wrapped around my arm. I turned to her and offered a feeble smile. She gave me a nod. But she didn’t release my wrist.
Of course, I wasn’t half as wrapped as her wife was, draped in tentacles from both Catseye, and I think some of Jasmine’s were also touching Felicia, but I wasn’t sure.
“Ready, Darling?” Jasmine asked.
“Yes,” said the robot. It moved to the corner and then entered a sort of resting state. A moment later, the bed began to withdraw from the reclined form.
We all climbed to our feet. Jasmine wrapped more tentacles around Felicia, guiding her to the other side of the bed. Chair. Whichever it was. Posey guided me, and I leaned against her a little, already growing quite accustomed.
Jasmine collected a blanket and spread it over Muriel’s tiny body, tucking her in carefully. She opened her eyes and looked up at us. She offered her own smile. “Hello,” she said, the word harder to understand than when she’d been speaking through the avatar.
Felicia reached in and took Muriel’s hand. She kissed the fingers. “Hello, Muriel,” she said.
“Thank come, Fel,” Muriel replied. “Nice dress. Turn please.”
Felicia laughed. Jasmine took control of Muriel’s hand, and Felicia did a slow turn, looking over her shoulder at the woman in the bed.
“Nice,” Muriel said. “Catseye like. Me, too. Ta, too?”
“Ta, what?”
“Muriel isn’t shy,” Audra said. “Show her some skin.”
I laughed and turned slowly for her. When I turned back, she was smiling. “Let touch?”
“Sure,” I said.
“Up,” Muriel said. Apparently, the others were accustomed, as the bed began to sit her up. I saw it reforming how she was held, supporting her.
And then Posey used her tentacles to control Muriel’s arm. But then I took it from her and held it. “You can feel this?”
“Yes. Feel. Not move. Not break, either.”
I supported the arm carefully but held her hand, closing the fingers around my own. And then I nodded to Posey before turning around, giving Muriel my back. I looked over my shoulder to see Posey guide Muriel’s hand to press against my back.
“Nice,” Muriel said. “Lower.” I said nothing as Posey lowered the hand down my back. “Lower. Lower.”
“Muriel,” Posey said.
I laughed and reached back. I found Muriel’s hand and then pushed downward, pressing her fingers against my ass, then pressed it there before helping her give me a little squeeze.
Muriel gave a little bark. “Like this one,” she said. “Thank.”
I turned around, brushing Muriel’s hand across my bottom as I turned, letting it come to a rest on my hip. Then I collected it from Posey and lifted it to my lips. I kissed the fingers before setting it back along her side.
She didn’t take her eyes from me the entire time.
“Well, Muriel,” Jasmine said. “Should we button you back up?”
We watched as the chair covered her back up, Jasmine pulling the blanket out as it did so. A moment later the robot came alive again. Jasmine gestured us to the table, but I said, “Could we have a minute to freshen up?”
“Oh, of course,” Jasmine said.
“I’ll show you,” Audra added.
I didn’t start crying until I was alone.
* * * *
Audra looked me in the eye. She didn’t say anything right away, but she hugged me tightly. But then she explained, “I saved her life. Some days I wonder whether I should have, but she thanks me now and then.”
“CPR or something?”
“No. It’s part of my job. I find people like her. Most of the time, we can cure them, and then they come work for us. The aliens cured me when I was a kid, and my mom has worked here since.”
“Oh, shit. Some sort of slave.”
She released me. “No. It’s a good job. We had much better lives here than we were having in Cleveland.”
“What did you have?”
“Something called brittle bone disease. It’s just what it sounds like. I probably would have died as a child; it was only a matter of time.”
“I bet that puts a lot of things in perspective for you.”
“And my big sister, and Mom, too. And now we’re living a fairy tale. Mom not as much. She’s never really found love. But Skye and I couldn’t possibly be happier.”
“Posey seems pretty amazing.”
“Skye got the big sister. I got the little one.”
I laughed. “That’s pretty cool.”
“Yeah. For what it’s worth, I think all of us have cried over Muriel. I sobbed when I didn’t think I could save her. Finley didn’t want to let us have your tech. Amanda made him let us have it about five seconds after she saw Mu
riel in her chair.”
“Is that why you showed her to us?”
“No. Muriel needs as much real human connection as she can get. Before, you probably saw her as a robot. It was a little distant. Now you’ve held her lifeless hand against your butt.”
“Was that as stupid as I think it was?”
“No,” she replied. She gave a little laugh. “She gets away with being entirely outrageous.”
“I bet it’s hard to say ‘no’ to her.”
“Oh, yeah. Ready?”
“Yeah. Thanks, Audra.”
* * * *
No one acted like our absence was overlong. I wondered if Audra told them I had a little melt down, or if it was obvious in my eyes. But waiting with all of them was a new alien. I came to a stop. “That’s Bay, isn’t it?”
“Don’t pet him,” Audra whispered quickly.
“I remember. I’m sorry, but golden retriever puppies have a run for their money.”
She laughed. “Totally.”
We moved forward, and Jasmine introduced me to the Loris. He shook hands with me, and then I said, “You created Muriel’s avatar.”
“Yes,” he said. “Do you like it?”
“It’s absolutely gorgeous, Bay,” I said. “I love the symbolism. Powerful and very feminine at the same time.”
“Bay is a magician,” Muriel said, extending her robotic arm to the little loris. He took her hand, and then they held hands for a while as we moved to the table. Muriel saw my gaze, and maybe Felicia’s as well, and said, “You’ve heard Bay doesn’t like being touched.”
“I prefer to control the touch,” Bay said. “I like touching some humans, but some of you treat me like a pet.”
“I’m sorry when that happens,” Felicia said.
“I’m going to say something,” Jasmine said. “In this room are three very, very different species. You’ll hear us say this over and over. People are people. We can hide from uncomfortable topics, or we can address them. We prefer to address them. Why would we let ignorance continue when it is so easy to repair it?”
“That’s a good policy,” Felicia replied. “I bet it’s hard at times.”
“It can certainly be socially awkward. It’s actually not my policy but one that Posey’s mother drummed into me, and she was right.”
“Bluebell Beamer is a wise Catseye,” Bay declared.