Chapter 6 #2
His hips gyrated, and he stepped from side to side in a perfect rhythm, his arms shaping the air in a complicated choreography. I shook my head, my lips parted from confusion. He was good at this, his movements sinuous and attractive. But why was he…
“Soko made da. Kabe ni te o tsukete,” a command came from the far end of the corridor, where two large security bots now stood, aiming at us from very real-looking, very large guns.
Don’t move. Hands on the wall.
It seemed I was going to get shot at again, only this time, it was my stupid cyborg’s fault. Why couldn’t I get a break?
“D-do as they say,” I asked Clanker, my voice breaking.
He executed a graceful leap, then rolled to a halt by the wall, standing up smoothly and placing both hands on the surface as he rocked his hips in a suggestive manner, basically humping the wall.
He did it all to the rhythm of the music that still played loudly in the corridor.
As soon as he stopped moving, it stopped, too.
Deadly silence filled the space. My ears rang from stress.
I stood next to him, facing the wall and praying to the angels for mercy. I didn’t believe in God, but right now, I could do with a kindly spiritual guardian.
“Stay as you are!” a female human voice barked in Japanese. “What do we have here?”
I risked a glance over my shoulder. Two security guards joined the bots, one human, the other some sort of furry anthropomorphic creature that faintly resembled a racoon. I had no idea what this race was called, but their muzzle seemed kind. I gave them a pleading look.
Please, let me go.
A small crowd of onlookers gathered nearby, held back by another security bot, the third one on the scene. If I wasn’t the cause of it, I would be impressed by the quick security reaction.
“Let me handle this,” the furry guard said, and the human woman shrugged and nodded.
“Turn around, madam,” they said, sounding much gentler than she did. “Did you attempt to break your robot’s controlling device?”
The human guard tapped my shoulder and I turned slowly, frantically thinking how to get out of this.
“I promise I didn’t,” I said, my Japanese only slightly accented. “I don’t know what…”
I broke off, catching a miniscule shake of Clanker’s head.
He was right. I couldn’t say I didn’t know what happened, because that would prove he was outside my control.
I stared at the guard helplessly, trying to focus.
There was something Clanker said, only, it didn’t fit the context at all, and I was too distracted to remember, and…
“Take your time.”
I released a shaky breath, taking heart in the furry guard’s patient demeanor. Behind them, the two matte bots held their guns in steady grips, faceless and terrifying. The onlookers whispered, watching me with expressions ranging from irritated to amused.
What was it? Clanker played music. And danced. And… Aha.
“I am so sorry,” I said, taking a deep bow. “This is entirely my fault. I was sad and I asked my cyborg to make me laugh. I had no idea he would hijack the speaker system to play music. Usually he uses his built-in speakers when he dances. I deeply apologize.”
I bowed again, and when I glanced at the guard’s expression, their muzzle seemed amused.
“Why were you sad?” they asked, a question that was completely irrelevant but very kind. I would have wept from gratitude if I wasn’t so stressed out.
“My mother died,” I said the first thing that popped in my head, a bitter taste coating the back of my throat.
I hated using her death like that, but it was the truth. I never stopped feeling sad about it.
A few of the onlookers gasped, and the guard glanced at their partner, nodding. I cast my eyes down and prayed for their compassion to be enough.
“I am sorry,” they said, looking between Clanker and me. “We were alerted that the security device was disconnected. We’ll have to check it. Tell your robot to stand still.”
I did, and one of the bots scanned Clanker’s collar. The results of the scan appeared in a string of blue signs on the bot’s torso, and I hid a sigh of relief when it said the collar was connected and functional.
The guard reviewed the report and told us to go, and did I imagine it, or did they wink?
Their black eyes buried in reddish fur seemed to glitter with amusement.
I thanked them, bowing again and again, and finally, the guards left.
The small crowd moved, some people passing us hastily, others giving me kind smiles.
I turned to Clanker, staring at him expectantly.
I was wiped out and needed him to tell me what to do next.
“Help. Please.”
He stepped close, lowering his face to mine, and extinguished the purple glow of his eyes for a second. I sighed, my shoulders dropping, and blinked back. Clanker straightened and took my hand, leading me down the corridor, then turned toward a row of elevators.
“No,” I protested, weakly, still walking. “We need to take the train, get into the city…”
“You need to rest. Finding the nearest accommodation.”
“Airport hotels are expensive,” I said in a last ditch effort. “I can’t afford…”
“I’ll find a cheap one. Rest, beautiful. I’ll take care of you.”
Wait… Beautiful?
I shook my head, but at that point, I was too overwhelmed to remember I wasn’t supposed to trust him. Clanker led the way, and I followed him, holding on to his hand like it was my anchor in the turbulent world.