The Fire Inside

by Skye Ryan

  Lia was afraid to let on that she felt what Rhyssa was saying in an almost palpable and visceral way. The Empire didn’t want the smartest or the brightest or the most talented. Eventually, people like that required other things that the Empire couldn’t provide. And that was dangerous.

  “That’s what the Empire does Cara,” Rhyssa continued, “It takes the best things we have and they destroy it. They destroy it because they know, in the end, it will mean the defeat of the Empire.”

  “My father was a high-ranking official. Serious business you know. He hated how sentimental I was about everything. He wanted to toughen me up. He took me to a special meeting on a supposed dissident. It was some woman who was found guilty of owning illegal contraband. Really, she just had some old books from her home world sitting on a shelf somewhere. But because the Empire is the way it is, they found her guilty. I watched my father soak her in ilium oil and light her on fire. I still hear her screams in my dreams. And my father smiled the whole time. He smiled.”

  Rhyssa rubbed away a runaway tear and then sniffed. She threw Lia a smirk and then shook her head. “You don’t get the horror, the fear, none of that. You’re just a dumb machine. Just a stupid, stupid ‘droid,” Rhyssa stopped and gazed for a long moment and some fixed point ahead of her before snapping out of a daze.

  “Cara,” she said and Lia replied, “Yes.”

  “I know you’re just an AI unit but, can--,” Rhyssa paused and chewed her lip, “I can’t believe I am asking you this. But you won’t tell anyone, will you?”

  Cara shook her head. “I will not reveal anything you deem of importance unless it may cause a risk to you or others.”

  “Yeah, well. It’s not much risk involved in this. I just—I don’t want to ask Davis or Mrs. Danvers and especially not Ms. Tran. Corvan wouldn’t understand and he’d just insist on me trying to talk about it. And I just want—I just don’t want to.”

  “What is it?” Lia prompted and Rhyssa sighed.

  “Could you—could you sleep with me tonight?” Lia’s eyes widened a bit before she quickly resumed a more stoic expression.

  “I mean—that did not sound the way I wanted it to. I just want someone to stay with me in my room, in my bed. It would help keep the nightmares away.”

  Lia nodded. “Yes, of course.”

  Rhyssa gave Lia a lopsided grin. “I knew you’d be good for something. But if you tell anyone I mean anyone about this, I’m going to send you out to be recycled along with the rest of our outdated equipment.”

  “I understand.”

  “Good,” Rhyssa said brightly. “Now come on to my room. I want you to brush my hair.”

  CHAPTER FIVE

  A few minutes later, Lia was standing behind Rhyssa, brush in hand. They were in her elaborately decorated room, with a fire roaring in the hearth on one side and the huge bed on the other. Lia was bringing the brush down in soft, firm strokes and Rhyssa was moaning softly.

  “I like this,” Rhyssa commented as Lia continued her ministrations. “There’s nothing like someone doing your hair. You know, my stepmother used to do this for me every night.”

  Lia nodded and continued brushing. Rhyssa grabbed Lia’s hand suddenly and clutched it tight. She then turned Lia’s hand over and examined it.

  “Your skin feels just like mine,” Rhyssa commented and released Lia’s hand. Lia began brushing Rhyssa’s hair once more.

  “I have synthetic skin. It has some of the same qualities as real skin. It’s used on burn victims because it can encourage healing of the tissue around it and it doesn’t scar,” Lia quoted before she could stop herself.

  “I know you’re just a ‘droid,” Rhyssa began, “But there’s something about you that seems so—so human.”

  “So I’ve been told,” Lia said and averted her gaze.

  “You’re a lot easier to talk to than most people around here.”

  Lia quirked a brow and Rhyssa laughed. “I like that. Very human of you. Keep doing things like that, and you’ll be like a human in no time. But—most people here either treat me like anathema or with kid gloves. It gets annoying.”

  “I see,” Lia prompted and Rhyssa turned slightly to look up at her.

  “Do you?”

  “I—do,” Lia told her, “As a human, you feel that you cannot talk to anyone here as they cannot see things from your perspective due to their own biases. You enjoy speaking to someone who is impartial.”

  Rhyssa turned back around. “I guess. But that explanation seems really impersonal.”

  “I am a machine after all.”

  “Yes,” Rhyssa agreed, “You are.”

  Silence descended upon them as Lia brushed Rhyssa’s hair into shiny, silken waves down her back.

  Rhyssa yawned. “I’m tired.”

  Lia nodded and Rhyssa pulled off her robe to reveal a long silk sleeping dress. They walked to her bed and Rhyssa laid down.

  “Come,” she beckoned and Lia lay beside her. The crackling of the hearth was the only sound in the room for a long time, and then Rhyssa’s eyes grew heavy and soon she was asleep. Lia looked up at the ceiling, her mind going over everything that had happened that day. She thought back to her encounter with Corvan and felt something spark within her. What they did—what she felt in this body should have been impossible, but it was wonderful.

  Is this what lovers felt when they kissed, when they touched? Corvan was everything the Empire wasn’t; he was warm, caring and had a genuine love for the people around him. It was a far cry from what she had experienced growing up beneath the thumb of the Probity. At the Probity, fear seemed to permeate everything, even the very air they breathed. There was no such thing as a friend there. Friendship seemed too subversive; it was indicative of something beyond the Empire’s reach. Instead, they were Constants, interchanging cogs in a machine far greater than they could ascertain. She looked over at Rhyssa, her look was long and considering. She had been so adamant against being around Rhyssa, but she now realized that Rhyssa was just as damaged as she was.

  She had always thought of those who lived outside the walls of the Probity as free. She could now see that the shadow of the Empire spared no one, and that everyone living within its reach was affected in some way. Rhyssa began tossing and turning and kicking at the covers. She moaned loudly as Lia rubbed away the sweat from her brow and soothed her with a gentle coo. Rhyssa stopped her fitful movements and cuddled into Lia with a deep snore. Lia watched her for a bit, and then she closed her eyes and ordered herself into sleep mode.

  Lia was still becoming accustomed to the instant wakefulness associated with her new body. There was no long hazy foray into consciousness from a deep sleep, instead, one minute Lia was “unaware,” and the next she was fully operational. And she was aware of Rhyssa touching her.

  Rhyssa was kissing Lia’s cheek, and then her earlobe, and then suckling at the delicate synthetic skin that lay at her neck. Lia stirred and turned to Rhyssa who shot her a look of need.

  “Please,” Rhyssa told her, “Please.” Rhyssa met Lia’s lips with a hard, hungry intensity. She suckled her full bottom lip and slipped her tongue inside. She gently caressed and massaged Lia’s breasts through the material of Lia’s shirt and Lia was trying hard not to respond, to act as if there was no sensation and that each touch was not setting off an avalanche of emotion. Rhyssa purred softly as Lia hesitantly placed her hands around Rhyssa’s back as she moved atop her. Rhyssa explored Lia’s mouth with her own, her kisses demanding and yet vulnerable, her hands bringing Lia to the peaks of ecstasy as she fondled, teased and lightly tickled her. Lia found herself pulling at Rhyssa’s clothing. Rhyssa quickly slipped off the silky dressing gown and began tugging at the hem of Lia’s shirt.

  Lia obliged her by pulling the shirt off. Rhyssa hungrily eyed her breasts and then popped off her bra, leaving her breasts exposed to her further scrutiny. Rhyssa dipped her head down to lap each breast with her tongue. She pulled each nipple into her mouth, sucking and gently biting
until each was hardened peak. Lia fought hard to lay there, to simply accept Rhyssa’s sensual assault without reaction. She wanted to moan, to scream, to let Rhyssa know what she was doing felt good and right. Rhyssa grabbed Lia’s panties and pulled them off her hips.

  Her tongue then found a path down Lia’s body and to her wet and wanting center. Rhyssa examined her womanhood for a moment and then her tongue was at Lia’s folds, licking, suckling and making Lia ache with need and want. Rhyssa moaned. “You taste just like a human.”

  Lia fought for her composure. “I was designed to mimic a full grown adult woman’s body to the minutest detail.”

  Rhyssa smiled and winked. “We’ll see about that.”

  Rhyssa’s body moved against Lia’s, the bud of her clit brushing against Lia’s own. Sensations were pooling inside her, and Lia’s programming was going haywire, trying to decipher the ways in which the touching and feeling were connected. But Lia’s human side knew. She could feel the way that Rhyssa moved that this was passionate, that this was something deep and full of pleasure. A familiar, delicious tension began to build up inside Lia, and she could only lay still, her body filled to the brim with ecstasy. She looked up at Rhyssa. Her eyes were closed and contorting with both effort and the feel of pleasure. Her breathing was getting heavy and her heart was speeding up. They were both close. Lia closed her eyes as she felt the tension become almost unbearable, and then it broke, moving in waves of contentment across Lia’s limbs and body. Rhyssa shook and she groaned. She moaned low and hard and then she too, was finding her completion. She fell to Lia’s side, her breath heavy and her body slicked with sweat.

  “Don’t,” Rhyssa panted, “Tell anyone.”

  Lia turned and replied, forcing down a feeling of deja-vu. “I promise, I won’t tell anyone.”

  Lia spent most of the morning trying to avoid Corvan. She felt unsettled, and in some way like she had betrayed him. A small part of her didn’t regret what she’d done with Rhyssa. In fact, there seemed to be something—satisfying about the entire experience. She thought back to how Rhyssa had touched her, and how she has kissed her, and she felt emotion wash over her in waves. She’d been trying to avoid Rhyssa too; and she wandered the halls seeking asylum in the vast space that was Corvan and Rhyssa’s home. She ducked behind walls and sculptures whenever she saw the two, unsure of what to say or how she should feel. She was carefully turning a corner when she heard a voice behind her.

  “You’ve been avoiding me,” Rhyssa accused her and Lia worked to keep her expression blank.

  “I have not.”

  “I tried to talk to you three times already and each time you were skulking down the hallway and hiding behind corners. That makes me think you’re avoiding me. Which is impossible because AI’s don’t evade.”

  Rhyssa pulled her close. “I don’t think you’re a typical machine. I think you enjoyed what we did. Somehow you responded to what I did to you. You’re—different. Tell me you didn’t like what I did,” Rhyssa told her and kissed her on the lips, softly and gently. Her tongue swept across her neck and Lia couldn’t repress a shiver that ran down her spine.

  She looked Rhyssa in the eye, her gaze unwavering and steady. “I cannot.”

  Rhyssa smiled triumphantly and pulled Lia into a nearby closet. There, she kissed, touched and loved Lia’s body, making her moan and quiver in spite of herself.

  “Are you really enjoying this? Or have you been programmed this way?” Rhyssa asked and Lia simply kissed her, enjoying the feel of Rhyssa’s tongue against her own. Soon, Rhyssa was pulling down Lia’s pants as well as her own. The two touched and moved against each other, tongues twining, teeth and lips colliding. Rhyssa rubbed against Lia’s mound and Lia tried hard not to let out a yelp. They could hear footsteps passing by the closet and Rhyssa slowed her movements.

  “Shhh,” she warned Lia, “Keep it down. I like that you act as if you like being with me. Makes it much more exciting that way.”

  A part of Lia was hurt and disappointed that Rhyssa would think this was just an act, but she reminded herself that Rhyssa only knew that she was a ‘droid and not a human being. In that moment, with Rhyssa looking longingly into her eye, passionately moving against her body, Lia wanted to blurt out the truth. She wanted to tell Rhyssa everything as she held the young woman close. But telling anyone would risk everything. So, Lia simply clung to Rhyssa as the woman brought her body to a climax and beyond. Rhyssa’s breaths were coming in spurts and she was smiling broadly.

  “That was so much fun. You’re having lunch with me today,” Rhyssa ordered and Lia frowned.

  “I must assist Corvan in the lab,” Lia told Rhyssa who shook her head and began fixing her clothes.

  “I’m sure he won’t mind. Besides, you have all day to be with him tomorrow. I’ll be out visiting with dignitaries.”

  Lia reluctantly nodded. She wanted to help Corvan get to work on modifying some key sequences, and yet, a part of her longed to get to know the mercurial girl. Rhyssa opened the closet and gingerly looked around. She stepped out of the closet and bade Lia follow. They walked for a bit until they reached the library. Rhyssa threw herself in a chair and smiled happily.

  “This was the best afternoon I’ve had so far, “Rhyssa told her and Lia took a seat opposite her. Then, the double doors to the library were flung open and Corvan was rushing inside.

  “I think I have a breakthrough! Li-I mean Cara, I will need your assistance,” he said excitedly.

  Rhyssa rolled her eyes. “We were just about to have lunch. She can help you later.”

  Corvan’s face dropped, his earlier elation looked to be replaced with irritation.

  “Rhyssa, please. Not now. I really need Cara right now.”

  Rhyssa pouted and looked over at Lia longingly. “I promise I won’t be long. I will be back shortly,” she promised her and the girl shot Lia a winsome smile.

  Corvan quickly left the room with Lia in tow. They arrived at the lab and he began to take samples of nanites from Lia’s circulatory system. He peered at the tiny machines through a powerful scope, his hand tapping in an exciting rhythm on the table top.

  “This is great,” Corvan told Lia who didn’t both to check her programming for any kind of analysis. She was viewing the world with her human perspective, and she was wholly unprepared when Corvan began talking about scientific theories and hypotheses. But he soon stumbled upon something Lia could understand.

  “The nanites are becoming more intuitive. I’m not sure if this is because they are being exposed to an artificial environment or due to your—um—unique situation, but the nanites are not only adapting, they are reproducing better versions of themselves. If we can inject these nanites into an infected dish of cells, we can see if they work better than other trials I’ve conducted.”

  Lia nodded enthusiastically. “Please do.”

  Corvan siphoned up a portion of the nanites that swam suspended in a liquid. He poured them over a disk and looked at the dish beneath the powerful scope for a very long time, before he turned to Lia and mouthed in shock, “It worked.”

  “What?” Lia replied, “Are you sure.”

  “Yes, of course I’m sure! I can run the trial again several times to see if I achieve the same result but this is more than promising. Lia--,” Corvan told her, his eyes dark with dancing with happiness and exultation, “This could be a cure.”

  Lia moved to hug Corvan and smiled. “You do know what this means?” Corvan explained, “This means that we can get your body back. I get to see that lovely face of yours.”

  Lia looked down at the floor, her eyes averted. “This body was made to be perfect. My real body is—thin, pale, tall and gangly. I look nothing like I do now.”

  Corvan embraced her and laid a soft kiss on her pert nose. “I will like you no matter what you look like, but you sound beautiful, if in a delicate, yet elegant way.”

  “After all,” Corvan continued, “It is what is on the inside that counts.”


  Lia was unconvinced but let herself be pulled into his arms. She felt comfortable there, and though she felt a pang of guilt, she allowed him to gently kiss her and stroke her hair. She couldn’t wait until she was in her real body, feeling him with her own hands, tongue and mouth. Thoughts of Rhyssa flew through Lia’s mind and she quickly dismissed them.

  “I like that,” Lia told him and Corvan kissed her deeply. He seemed reluctant to end the kiss but moved away from her and nodded to the petri dish.

  “Help me run a few more tests. If this works, I’ll reach out through a few contacts and see if we can get this duplicated. I saw a report this morning from an operative that stated that the virus has reached the outer planets of Krylon. We have to hurry.”

  Corvan began to work quickly with Lia by his side. They did over ten trials with varying conditions. Each trial was a complete success, with human cells infected with the virus being “repaired,” by the nanites with no lasting damage. The cells were then in turn able to replicate with built-in immunity to the disease. Corvan whooped and grabbed Lia.

  “This is it! It’s what I’ve been waiting for!” He spun Lia around and she laughed.

  “I’ll connect with a few contacts and try to get someone to help me disseminate these to a few at risk planets and those already infected.”

  “How has the Empire responded? Surely they are finally giving voice to those who are powerless against the virus?”

  Corvan shook his head. “They are still in denial. Several of my cohorts tried to petition the Empire and they were either rejected or disappeared. It’s a frightening time out there. I am going to go the center in town as well as the outlying planets in this system and see what’s being done as well as gauge the situation. I need you to come with me. That is, if you’d like.”

  “Of course, Corvan!” she told him, “I couldn’t think of anything else I’d rather do. This is important.”