by Elin Peer
“Your drone is fine,” I said and looked out the window. We Motlanders didn’t have private drones. It was considered an unnecessary luxury and a waste of resources. Our drones were public ones, and few of them were in better shape than this one.
“Where do you live?” Marco asked.
I’d rented a room with a Motlander and her husband, but I hated staying there and most days I slept on the couch in the office. I was torn about where I wanted to go, so I hesitated.
“Let me know when you’re ready to talk,” Marco said but I still didn’t look at him.
“Shelly, at least tell me where to take you.”
Slowly, I swung my head to meet his eyes. I’d always found them vibrant and expressive in comparison to mine. “How about we drop you off first and then you let the drone take me to my place?”
“Why?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” My shield was up. Out of two evils I’d rather he thought me unpleasant than know the truth about what happened between us.
“You don’t want me to know where you live?”
The incline of my head confirmed that.
Marco leaned forward resting his forearms on his legs. “What the hell did I ever do to you?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“The last time I saw you was ten years ago and you asked me for a hug. I don’t recall us being enemies. What’s with the ice queen attitude?”
I looked away.
“Look at me. We used to have fun together. Don’t you remember?”
“I recall us bantering a lot.”
“Sure, but it was friendly banter. You were my brainy sidekick and I was your…”
My eyes widened. “My what?” Did he know I’d had a huge crush on him?
“Your entertainment. You always commented on the stupid shit I did and we made people laugh.” Marco shook his head. “You used to have a wicked sense of humor, and now you’re cold and treat me like I’m a no one. I wouldn’t have taken you for a snob.”
“A snob?”
“Yeah, you know, too good to hang with a simple guy like me. So what if I’m still a mentor and you’re some big deal in the Motherlands?”
“I still have a wicked sense of humor. It’s just temporarily gone.”
“Why?”
Scratching my collarbone and avoiding his eyes, I searched for a plausible reason. “There’s been a lot of stress at work.”
“You work for Advanced Technologies, right?”
“Yes.”
“What do you do exactly.”
“I design products. One of my latest inventions was a beauty-bot.”
“Why am I not surprised?” Marco pointed to my hands. “I like the colors and the message.”
Holding up my hand, I spread my fingers. Each one had a small letter written in white on top of a marine blue background.
“Live & Learn,” he read.
“It’s a reminder.”
Marco lowered his brow and gave me a serious glance. “Shelly, the sex-bot I saw had something similar but not the same colors or message.” Marco’s attention was fixed on my face as if to read my expression.
I tried looking him in the eye to signal confidence, but the questions emanating from him made me nervous and I looked down and mumbled, “I told you that I don’t want to discuss it.”
“And I told you I want answers. I’m not going to let this go so you might as well tell me,” he pressured in a firm voice. “What do you know about the sex-bot? If they did this against your will, I’ll help you fight it.”
“I don’t need your help. I want you to forget about it.”
“Not happening,” he said and pushed out his jaw with a determined expression. “Why are you here? In the Northlands, I mean. I thought you lived in the Motherlands.”
“I’ve been here for some weeks now. I’m doing some research for Advanced Technologies.”
“What kind of research?”
I was never good at lying, so I sighed and stuck with the truth. “All I can tell you is that at the moment I work at the test and research facility on Mayor Street. Most of the ti…”
I was cut off when Marco interjected, “Mayor Street. That’s the place they test sex-bots.”
“As I was saying,” I continued. “Most of the time I analyze statistics to improve the experience for the end user.”
“On sex-bots?” Marco’s tone was full of disbelief.
I sunk lower in the seat, rubbing the bridge of my nose as if I could hide my face when I muttered, “Yes.”
“You work with sex-bots?”
“Correct.”
For long seconds neither of us spoke.
“Tell me the truth,” Marco said and moved closer to me, his face hard. “Do you know I was in your facility last week?”
I licked my lips, my eyes blinking a few times. “I’m aware.”
“Did you see me test the bot?”
My eyes focused on a spot on the floor.
“Shelly, look at me.” Marco’s voice rose a bit.
When I did, he read the answer on my face.
“Fuck… you did, didn’t you?”
“I’m sorry.” My cheeks felt hot and I fiddled with a ring on my finger, turning it around and around.
“Who invented that bot? Did you?” This time his question sounded accusatory.
“Marco, maybe it’s better if we don’t discuss this. No one ever has to know about it. We could just forget it ever happened.”
His hands covered his face for a moment, and he swore, low. “Tell me the truth, Shelly. Why me?”
“What do you mean?”
“Why did you pick me to test the bot? Or maybe the whole thing was a set-up. Was I even the first one to test it?”
“Yes. No one else ever saw it,” I insisted.
“Then why me?”
“I don’t know. You weren’t even supposed to be there. I made sure you weren’t included in the testing rounds.”
“Why?”
“Because I didn’t want you there.” It was the truth.
“I took Storm’s place,” Marco explained and there was a long break when we just watched each other before he spoke in a low, incredulous tone. “You watched me have sex with a copy of you.”
I didn’t know how to respond to that, so I didn’t.
“Were you repulsed or excited?” Marco challenged me, his nostrils flaring with a brewing anger.
“You always knew that scientists were watching the test sessions. You’re told about it every time you come in,” I reminded him.
“True, but I had no idea I was being watched by someone I knew.”
“That should teach you not to lie,” I said without thinking and right away my face flashed cherry red from my embarrassment. Who am I to talk?
“If you want to talk about truth, then how about you share a few details with me?” We had reached the city and the drone was flying toward the opposite end of where I wanted to go.
“Can you take me to the test facility?” I asked.
“As long as you start talking.”
“There’s nothing to tell. You were there, you experienced it yourself, and it’s best to just move on.”
Marco instructed the drone to fly north as I’d requested and turned to me. “Do you know how strange it is for me to look at you and know that I had sex with you… or rather with Natura.”
I fiddled with my hands. “It’s strange for me too, but it was just an experiment. There’s no need to think about it ever again.”
Marco scoffed and laughed at the same time. “Yeah, right. That sounds like a solid plan.”
“I mean it; you don’t have to see me again.”
“But don’t you understand that I’ll be wondering?”
“About what?”
He threw up his hands in the air. “Where do you want me to start?”
I said nothing, my eyes taking in the city beneath us and my thoughts spilling over. “The buildings look so di
fferent here. In the Motherlands most have plants and herbs growing from top to bottom.”
“This isn’t the Motherlands, and you’re changing the subject.”
“Did you know that underwater farming is becoming a big thing in the southern part of the Motherlands? We’re using large airtight growth houses anchored about seven to nine meters under the surface.” I began ranting. “It’s an effective way to eradicate threats from vermin, storms, droughts, and frost that could harm the crops on land.”
“Shelly.”
“Most people don’t know this but the pressure under water makes the plants grow faster.”
“Shelly.” Marco was staring at me. “Stop lecturing me about plants. I want to know if you sent in that sex-bot to fuck me.”
I jerked my head back, my eyes wide in shock. “What?”
“Did you?”
“I don’t know.”
He tilted his head, his lips pressed together in a flat line. “It’s a yes-or-no question.”
“It’s complicated.”
“All right, if it’s so fucking complicated, then let’s take it one question at a time so even a non-genius like me can understand. Did you know it was me in that room?”
“Yes,” I admitted. “I saw your alert that Mindy had broken down.”
“Did you send in the bot to have sex with me?”
“You asked for a different model.”
Marco raised an eyebrow. “So you sent in a prototype modeled after you?”
I tucked a lock of my hair behind my ear. “Kind of.”
“Kind of?”
For someone who spoke without filters on any normal day, I was being very careful about not revealing too much.
“Did you authorize having the sex-bot modeled after you?”
I swallowed hard and thought about my answer when the drone began descending. “Oh, look, we’re here.” Never had I been so happy to see the test facility.
“You didn’t answer my question.” Marco looked anything but happy that we had arrived.
I counted the seventeen seconds in my head until the drone was on the ground and the door slid open.
“Thank you for taking me back,” I said and hurried out.
Marco followed and when I entered the facility, he didn’t ask to be invited inside. “I’m not leaving until you tell me everything,” he said and crossed his arms with a stance that told me he wasn’t going anywhere.
If you want him gone, all you have to do is tell him the truth. He’ll be furious and storm out of here.
“Shelly, before Tristan interrupted us at the drone race, you were about to tell me; I could see it in your eyes.”
Turning around, I walked down the hallway to my office, leaving the door open for him. Mindy stood in the corner with her scalp open. I was waiting for a new part for her to arrive from headquarters.
“She broke down again?” Marco asked.
“Yes, second time since you were here.”
“And Natura. Where is she? Can I see her?”
“Why?”
“Just curious.”
“Sorry.” I took a seat on my swivel chair, my elbows resting on the sides and my fingers weaved together.
Marco chose to lean back against the table in front of me. “What aren’t you telling me?”
I laughed a little, the tension getting to me. “We haven’t seen each other for ten years, and after thirty minutes in my company you expect me to tell you everything?”
“No, of course not, I just want to know about Natura. Did you create her?”
I shrugged, trying to come across as relaxed. “What if I did?”
Marco inhaled deeply. “I’m not sure whether to compliment you or be disgusted with you. Natura is incredible, but to make her a copy of yourself is wrong on so many levels, Shelly. Most men here use sex-bots and everyone would recognize you on the streets. Can you imagine?”
I used both hands to rub my face. “I see your point, and I’ll make sure to correct that mistake.”
“So you won’t let anyone else see or test Natura?”
“No, I won’t.”
“You promise?”
“Yes.”
“Good!” Marco gave a satisfied smile. “I’m glad we could sort that out. There’s just one other thing.”
“What?”
“The recording of me and Natura. Could you erase it?”
“Why?”
“Because I don’t want anyone seeing it.”
“Don’t worry, only a few authorized people have access to the recordings.”
Marco tapped his fingers on the desk. “If you won’t delete it, then at least give me a copy of it.”
“Noooo,” I exclaimed. “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“I’m not allowed to.”
“So you can watch it, but I can’t?”
“Technically, I could watch it, but I don’t intend to.” I didn’t tell him that I was the only person with access to that recording and that I’d already watched snippets from it three times.
Marco stretched his legs. “Look, you made the decision to send in Natura and you watched it. I think it’s only fair if I get to watch it too.”
My face had to be crimson red by now. “It’s against company protocol to give it out. Natura is a secret project; we can’t have recordings of her unaccounted for.”
“Shelly, doesn’t it bother you that someone could mistake Natura for you and think that you and I had sex together?”
Straightening up in my chair, I gave him a sharp look. “You sound like you’d be ashamed of having sex with me. Who’s the snob now?” My eyes widened when I realized what his real issue was. “It’s because of your wife, isn’t it? You’re afraid Gennie would see it.”
“Gennie?” Marco scrunched up his face. “Who told you about Gennie?”
“I heard you got married years ago. But don’t worry, you don’t have to be afraid of Gennie finding out that you’ve been with me. I can assure you that any recordings are classified. She’ll never see them.”
“That I’ve been with you?” Marco’s eyes narrowed and his nostrils expanded like a wolf picking up a scent of blood.
“Natura. I meant Natura.”
“Yet that’s not what you said. You were referring to yourself.”
“Just wishful thinking,” I joked and laughed. “I’m kidding, of course.”
Marco looked skeptical. “Did someone tell you my wife’s name was Gennie?”
“No, you did, when you tested Natura, remember?”
“Right.” Marco stood up and, towering over me, he leaned down to be almost face to face. “Only, I’m not married and it’s Storm who has an ex-wife named Gennie.”
I tried to pull back, but I was stuck in the chair with Marco in front of me.
“But you were married, right?”
“No. I was never married. That day, I only went along with the Gennie thing because I was pretending to be Storm. Natura would be linked up to the system and in the system I was Storm.”
My eyes widened as I realized my mistake.
“You, however, knew it was me in there.”
I didn’t breathe because the question was right there in his eyes and there was no way I could stop him from asking this.
“I should’ve known something wasn’t right. A sex-bot would never ask me about my wife. Either you instructed Natura to ask that question or…” He narrowed his eyes. “Tell me the truth, Shelly. Was I with a sex-bot named Natura, or was I with you?”
CHAPTER 8
Reaction
Marco
When Shelly just stared at me, I repeated my question. “Was it you in that room with me?”
She licked her lips. Her breathing was shallow and her face flaming red.
“Was it?” I repeated for the third time, already knowing the answer in my soul.
“Of course not.” Shelly was looking at my shoulder now. “That would just be crazy.”
“Shelly, loo
k at me.” I waited until she did. “It’s very simple. Show me Natura so I can see for myself that I tested a robot or tell me the truth right now.”
Her shoulders sunk lower and she couldn’t meet my eyes.
“You… we… but that can’t…” I tried to make a coherent sentence, but I couldn’t think straight. Pulling back to create distance between us, I stared at Shelly. “Why?” I finally managed to ask.
She offered no explanation but kept her face hidden from me by looking away.
“Why, Shelly?” Anger rose inside me. “Was this some kind of prank?”
“No.” She shook her head and finally met my eyes.
“You lied to me.”
“To an extent.”
“To an extent? What the fuck is that suppose to mean. Are you the next-generation sex-bot?” The question was rhetorical at this point.
“No, but I do plan on building one. And in my defense, it was you who assumed I was a robot. I just went with it. And my skin is grown from human tissue.”
“Christ, Shelly, you were always different, but I never took you for a liar.”
“I’m not a liar,” she protested. “Not usually anyway.”
“We had sex.” The realization hit me hard and I scrunched up my face. “You fucking tricked me.”
She wrung her hands, still sitting in her chair with her eyebrows drawn close enough to resemble the unibrow she’d once had.
“Why did you sleep with me?”
Her gaze was glued to her thighs now.
“Look at me,” I demanded, and when she did, her eyes were moist.
“You used me, Shelly. You should have told me who you were.”
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s not good enough. You owe me a fucking explanation.”
She wrung her hands and spoke in a low voice that made me have to lean in to hear her. “I was curious.”
“Curious?”
“I’m sorry.”
I moved around her desk and back again. “This is why I never wanted to marry a Motlander. Everyone thinks you’re kind and gentle people, but it doesn’t run very deep, does it? How would you feel if I’d tricked you into having sex with me?”
Shelly looked devastated. “You’re right, I wouldn’t like that. I didn’t like it when I tricked you either.”
Something in that sentence bothered me. “Are you saying you didn’t like tricking me or that you didn’t like the sex?”