“Oh my God,” she whispered and squeezed Malik’s hand even tighter.
“Are you all right?” He looked down at her and Nikki could hear the concern in his deep voice, though her eyes were still glued to the Knower. It really did look like a Malibu Ken doll with those generically handsome features and the weird flattened place between its legs.
“I…I’m fine.” Nikki straightened up and tried to get hold of herself. “We’re coming,” she told the Knower. “You can, uh, turn your head back around now.”
“Of course.” The head swiveled smoothly to face front again and it continued its descent down the broad metal stairs. Feeling like her heart was beating in her throat, Nikki followed, still clutching tightly to the big Kindred’s hand. She was so glad she wasn’t alone here in this freaky, empty place. Well, empty except for the glowing blue ghost of the Knower.
Except it wasn’t empty after all—as they found out after descending what felt like about a thousand stairs.
We’re going to have fun getting back to the ship—I’ll definitely be getting my steps in, Nikki was thinking when the stairs abruptly ended in a large, arching entryway.
“This way,” the Knower said, doing the creepy swivel-trick with its head again as it floated through the archway.
Nikki and Malik followed it but as they came into the lighted area under the arch, a new person was suddenly there, standing in front of them.
“Greetings.” It was a pleasant looking young woman, probably about twenty-five, with long blonde hair and blue eyes that looked strangely empty.
Doll’s eyes, Nikki thought and indeed, the woman looked a little like the Barbie doll she’d had as a kid. Except, Nikki saw, that she was anatomically correct. This was easy to see because—like the Knower—this person was completely naked. But at least she wasn’t a ghostly hologram—she looked solid enough—maybe too solid, Nikki thought. When she moved, her breasts didn’t sway a bit but remained fixed in place.
“This is Chandra, one of my Simulated Organic Replicants,” the Knower said, introducing them. “She and several of her kind will be serving you tonight.”
As it spoke, another naked Replicant appeared, this one a male. He, too, was naked with the same generic good looks as the Knower and the girl called Chandra. But unlike the Knower, he didn’t just have a flat space between his legs.
Wow, Nicole couldn’t help thinking as she eyed the extremely impressive package this new Replicant was packing. If she hadn’t seen Malik’s equipment, she would have been in awe. As it was, the male Replicant was a close second in the size department. Both he and the female Replicant were completely lacking any kind of body hair, which meant his package looked even bigger.
“Greetings,” he said pleasantly, just as Chandra had. “I am Chad. I will be one of your servers for tonight.”
“Oh, uh—okay.” Nikki nodded, thinking that it would be like being waited on by life-sized Barbie and Ken dolls.
“Please enjoy your stay at the facilities and let me know how you found the accommodations in the morning,” the Knower said, smiling at her. “These Replicants are programmed to meet your every need. And if there is a need they do not understand, simply show them. They are able to learn through mimicry and pass the information on to others of their kind. In this way, you can teach them anything you need.”
“That sounds…nice,” Nikki said, trying to sound like she meant it, when in fact the idea of being waited on by giant living, learning dolls was extremely creepy.
“I hope you will find your stay here enjoyable,” the Knower said and then it simply blinked out of existence and was gone.
Chapter Twenty-two
“Come this way,” Chandra gestured stiffly to them and then she and Chad turned to go into the lighted area. At least her head didn’t turn around backwards like the Knower’s had, Nikki thought as she and Malik followed the male and female Replicants.
The lighted archway led into an open plan living area furnished with a couch and chairs as well as a large, lighted screen which looked a little like a flat-screen TV to Nikki. However, it was playing nothing but colorful static.
“Welcome to your accommodations, Organics,” Chad said, giving them a pleasant, empty smile. “Please, make yourselves at home and let Chandra and I know if there is anything you require.” Then he and the female Replicant went to stand on either end of the large couch, like sentries on duty.
Naked sentries, Nikki couldn’t help thinking. It was weird. But then, this whole situation was bizarre.
“Um, thanks,” she murmured.
Malik was silently, simply staring at the Replicants. Nikki wondered if he was thinking about these strange artificial creatures the Knower had used to replace his people. He hadn’t said anything about them yet but she could see the anger in his silver eyes. Why would the Knower kill every living person on the planet and then make such poor substitutes to take their places?
With a sigh, she looked around the room some more. There was a bookshelf in the corner but the books in it had an odd look to them—they were all the exact same size and shape—though their colors varied.
Curious, Nikki walked over to check them out. She had always been an avid reader, though with three kids to raise and a full-time job and house to take care of, she never really had as much time as she wanted to read. But when she pulled one of the books out of the shelf and opened it, she saw nothing but strange black scribbles on the white pages.
“Hmm…that’s weird.” Frowning, she tried to decipher the scribbles. Were these written in Malik’s native language? But if so, why couldn’t she read them? The E’lo stone, which she still wore in a small pouch around her neck, had allowed her to read and understand other alien languages. Why not this one?
“What is it?” Malik had come over to see what she was looking at.
“This book—I can’t read it.” Nikki showed it to him. “Is this your native language here?”
He frowned and took the book from her. Flipping through the pages which featured identical scribbles, he shook his head.
“No—this is nothing. It’s not even letters or words. It just looks like someone scribbled across the page with a black marks-all.”
Nikki tried another book and another and another. All of them were the same—white pages with identical black scribbles.
“This is weird,” she said, re-shelving them. “It’s like something from a doll house—a toy bookshelf with fake books or something.”
“It is very strange,” Malik agreed. “I don’t understand what the Knower is trying to achieve here. It’s almost like it is trying to recreate an organic, humanoid society but it doesn’t have enough knowledge of real people to do a very good job of it.”
“Just don’t let it hear you say that,” Nikki murmured, getting closer so that she could use their privacy bubble. “Do you think it’s listening in and watching us?”
“I would not be at all surprised,” Malik said in a low voice. “Come on—let’s look at the rest of this domicile.”
They left the large living area and went into the adjoining kitchen. As they did, Nikki couldn’t help noticing that the lights went out automatically behind them. This left the two naked Replicants standing alone in the darkness, lit only by the colored static on the TV screen. This didn’t seem to bother them at all, however—they just stood there with their arms by their sides and blank looks on their faces.
It creeped her out, staring at them, so she turned hurriedly away to study the kitchen. It looked large and luxurious but when Nikki tried to open one of the cabinets over the marble countertop, she found it wouldn’t budge.
“Hey,” she said, tugging again with no effect. “It won’t open.”
“That’s because it’s not real. See—no hinges or cracks around the exterior,” Malik said, demonstrating on another one of the cabinets. “It’s a solid piece, only molded to look like a cabinet.”
Once again, Nikki was reminded of a doll house. She remembered how
the Barbie dream house she’d had as a kid had similar features—the various fixtures were molded out of the same sheet of plastic and were only for show since they didn’t really work.
She wasn’t surprised when the large rectangular box Malik said was a “cold unit” didn’t open either. Nor did the dish cleansing unit or the pantry door they found in the corner of the kitchen.
“So this is all pretty much just for show, I guess,” Nikki remarked, running her hand over the “cooking unit” or stove, which had knobs that didn’t turn and burners that didn’t heat.
“I suppose so,” Malik said dryly. “I hope you’re not very hungry, Mistress—I don’t think we’ll be getting much in the way of Last Meal tonight.”
“We ate before we went to the banquet,” Nikki reminded him—though that seemed about a million years ago now. So much had happened in such a short amount of time!
“I do have some protein bars with me if you get hungry later,” Malik said. “I packed them just in case we got stuck here for a while.”
“Good thinking.” Nikki flashed him a grateful smile. “If I really was your Mistress, I’d have to think of a way to reward you for that.”
“I can think of several ways,” he growled softly, his silver eyes glowing. “But for now, perhaps we should continue exploring. I don’t want any surprises if we’re going to be spending the night here.”
“I agree.” Nikki remembered the weird way the Knower’s head had swiveled around and shivered. “No surprises is definitely good.”
The kitchen led to a dining area and, as before, the lights in the room they had left went out just as the lights in the room they entered were coming on.
“The way the lights keep going on and off is weird,” she remarked, uneasily.
“They’re probably on some kind of automatic energy-saving system,” Malik remarked.
He was probably right but Nikki still didn’t like the idea that they were in the one lighted room in this weird basement dwelling while all around them was darkness. There weren’t even any windows to give natural light—not that there would be much of it now, since the sun had probably already set. But still, even a sliver of moonlight or starlight would have been better than nothing.
Trying to take her mind off the lighting situation, she looked around the dining room with its large oval table and carved chairs. The table was set for four people, she noticed, with plates and napkins and some strange utensils which must be this culture’s form of silverware. She wondered if they had play, plastic food somewhere that went on the plates and if the Replicants sat here, pretending to eat. The thought of them sitting here, blank-eyed and doll-like, acting like living beings was somehow very unpleasant.
“Come on—there’s nothing more to see here,” Malik said and led the way out of the dining room, which immediately went dark, and into a long hallway with several doors down the length of it.
They tried all the doors but most of them seemed to be like the cabinets in the kitchen—non-functional moldings that were part of the wall and only looked like doors. Finally, however, at the end of the hall, they came to a door that actually opened.
Stepping inside, Nikki saw it was a bedroom. There was a large, four-poster bed in the center of the room and a dresser with drawers that didn’t pull out when she tried them. There was also a closet door that didn’t open and a bathroom door that did, with functioning fixtures, thank goodness.
The bathroom held a shower stall, a bathtub, and a strange looking toilet, which you needed a step-stool to climb but it flushed when Nikki pressed the handle which was all she cared about. Although it was probably going to be awkward trying to get onto it if she woke up and had to pee in the middle of the night.
Still, it was better than finding a fake toilet that didn’t work and knowing she would have to cross her legs and avoid drinking anything. Nikki didn’t think she could hold it all night and she didn’t want to have to try.
There was a mirror mounted over the sink and an array of combs and brushes laid out, which she supposed was nice, if a little weird. Yet again she was strangely reminded of her childhood Barbie dream house—running the miniature brushes and combs through Barbie’s long hair and putting her into the tub where she always sat so stiffly with her arms and legs straight out in front of her. She wondered if the Replicants sat that way in the tub, pretending to bathe, pretending to do everything that living people did…
Nikki tried to push the unsettling image away and continued looking around the bathroom. There were several things that looked like miniature bottle brushes which Malik identified as “mouth scrubbers” as well as a box of purple powder to sprinkle over them, which was supposed to clean your teeth and tongue. So basically the alien version of toothbrushes and toothpaste, Nikki decided.
“I guess I might take a bath in a while,” she said, eyeing the large tub. It wasn’t as lavish a set up as Mistress Hellenix had at her mansion but it was still nice. Plus, there didn’t seem to be much of anything else to do, unless the TV played more than fuzzy colored static.
“I’d be happy to bathe you, Mistress.” Malik gave her a significant look that sent a shiver of desire down her spine. But should she really be letting him bathe her when they were going to be parted forever tomorrow?
What can it hurt? whispered a little voice in her head. You’re going to forget everything, right? You might as well have one last good night with Malik before you have to leave him forever.
The thought made her sad and she turned and left the bathroom to have a seat on the bed. But the moment she settled on it, she winced.
“Ouch—hope you like a really, really firm mattress,” she remarked to Malik who had followed her.
“Why?” He sat down beside her and frowned. “That’s certainly not very comfortable.”
“I bet the Replicants don’t mind though,” Nikki pointed out. “They probably lay here flat on their backs with their eyes open in the darkness like a couple of oversized dolls. Ugh!” She shivered all over. “I shouldn’t have said that—I gave myself the creeps!”
“There is something deeply unsettling about them,” Malik admitted, leaning in to use their privacy bubble. “They are almost like living beings but not quite.”
“We call that ‘the uncanny valley’ on my planet,” Nikki said. “It’s the idea that anything that looks human or humanoid but isn’t can cause a feeling of unease or revulsion in someone viewing it. In other words, it gives you the creeps.”
“That definitely fits the Replicants,” Malik said thoughtfully. “I wonder why the Knower made them? I thought they were just assassin droids but maybe it wants them to do domestic service as well?”
“Assassin droids?” Nikki made an unhappy face. “You mean these are the same things that Mistress Hellenix sent after the Kindred commander she tried to have killed?”
“Maybe not.” Malik seemed to be trying to make her feel better. “As I said, these may have a different function altogether.”
“I certainly hope so!” Nikki exclaimed. “If one of them starts coming after me with a butcher knife—”
“Your pardon, guests, but your meal is ready.”
They had been leaning close to each other, heads almost touching but now Nikki and Malik jerked apart and looked up to see that the naked female Replicant was framed in the open doorway.
How had she opened the door so silently? Nikki wondered. And how long had she been listening to them talk? Could she hear anything past the privacy bubble? Nikki certainly hoped not! But who knew how sensitive the android’s ears were?
Also, she appeared to be just standing there in the darkened hallway. Did the lights not come on for her and the other Replicant like they came on for Malik and herself? The thought of the two of them walking around in the dark down here was awful.
“We’ll be there in a moment,” Malik said, speaking firmly to the Replicant. “Please leave now so that we can get ready.”
“As you wish.” The Replicant nodded stif
fly and walked off down the hallway, which remained dark.
“What do you think they’re going to serve us?” Nikki asked, thinking of her earlier idea of plastic food.
Malik shrugged. “Who knows? Don’t worry though—I have a portable sniffer here.” He motioned to a black wire bracelet with a green stone he wore around his wrist. “It should let us know if anything is poisoned.”
“You think the Knower would try to poison us?” Nikki asked, feeling sick.
“Who knows? It seems to want to make a deal with Mistress Hellenix and so far we have been treated well. But it didn’t scruple to cause the genocide of billions of people not ten cycles ago. So I don’t think it’s to be trusted.”
“I guess we’d better be on our guard just in case,” Nikki said.
“Just in case,” he agreed. “Come on—let’s see what’s for Last Meal.”
Chapter Twenty-three
Last Meal, as Malik called it, appeared to consist of some kind of savory stew made of fresh veggies in a pale green broth and a loaf of brown, crusty bread.
That was what it appeared to be, anyway—it didn’t taste like those items at all. In fact, it didn’t really taste like much of anything, as far as Nikki could tell.
After Malik unobtrusively waved his bracelet sniffer over the full pot of stew and the loaf of bread and nodded at Nikki, letting her know it was safe to eat, they had sat down together on one side of the table. To Nikki’s consternation, the two naked Replicants sat down on the other side. The male Replicant sat opposite Malik and the female Replicant (Barbie doll, whispered a little voice in her brain) sat opposite Nikki.
She waited to see what the Replicants would do, but they just sat there, staring straight ahead—which meant they were staring at Nikki and Malik with blank looks on their generically attractive features. Ugh—it was so uncomfortable!
Since nobody offered to serve out the food, Nikki rose from her chair and picked up the long-handled ladle beside the stewpot.
Twisted: Brides of the Kindred 23 Page 29