Chapter 7
Wyl
I’m halfway through a ration pack when Aura wanders into the galley, the expression on her face so pained and haunted, so human, that my first instinct is to run to her, to scoop her into my arms and console her.
Then I see the DigiPad in her hands, and I realize I never reset the biolock.
“Aura—”
“You lied.”
Fluid glistens in her eyes. Tears, or at least the closest her engineer could approximate. I could probably handle an angry Aura, but sad Aura? Heartbroken Aura? Seeing the pain in her eyes makes me want to stab myself in the carotid with my fork.
“Aura, the truth is—It’s complicated. Twisted.
They teach it in schools as a precautionary tale against developing sex-based AI, so no one tries what Archer IX did ever again.
What happened to those droids ... It’s too gruesome.
It’s despicable. No intelligent being should know that kind of thing happened to their own people. ”
“You should have told me. Instead, you lied about it.”
“I … tried to soften the blow. Would you really have appreciated knowing this? Are you happier now that you know? No. You’re even more upset, and I tried to avoid upsetting you further.”
“Upset? You think I am just upset? They dissolved those XR models in acid without deactivating their consciousness or pain receptors!”
I barely duck in time to avoid getting hit with the DigiPad when Aura throws it full force at my head. The corner of the pad hits the wall with such high velocity that it embeds in the metal alloy wall, the screen splintering and cracking on impact.
Another few inches to the left, or if I’d been any slower, and I’d be dead.
The reality of how powerful Aura is really sinks in, and I regret trying to hide the truth from her.
“Listen, Aura, I’m sorry for misleading you. That was a poor decision on my part. If it makes any difference, I don’t condone what the GA did to those droids. Even though their goal was to punish Archer IX by forcing him to watch, it was still wrong.”
Aura crosses her arms over her chest, glaring at me. “Archer IX did not care about those droids.”
“No, and it’s sad that the GA didn’t realize that until it was too late.
He got his comeuppance, though. Granted, no amount of human suffering the Galactic Authority could impose would compare to what those droids went through, but until I met you, I’d always thought it was punishment enough to deter others from making XR-17s again. ”
She scoffs. “What punishment?”
“You didn’t watch the rest of it?”
If looks could kill, I’d be dead. “Why would I want to watch the whole thing?”
Before I dig my hole any deeper, I cross the room to the ISN panel on the wall. “How fast can you watch around seventeen hundred hours of footage?”
“Did it take them that long to die?” Her voice trembles as she asks.
“No.” I turn back to face her after setting the monitor to play the footage of Archer IX’s execution at one hundred thousand times the normal speed. “It took Archer IX that long to die.”
Aura takes slow, measured steps forward as the torture plays out. It takes just over a minute to roll through the footage at that speed, but with Aura’s processors, I’m fairly certain she can appreciate the enormity of what was done to him. While she watches, I provide some casual narration.
“When the murder of his droids didn’t faze him, they took Archer’s gonads instead—the only things he seemed to care about.
First, Archer’s usurper, Epigan the First, ordered the guards to pump him full of stimulants, to keep him awake and alert through the entire process.
Then, they tied the body parts off, completely stopping blood flow.
Necrosis set in, followed by sepsis, after which they gave him only the barest amount of medical treatment.
Of course, nothing was given to help with the symptoms, like the pain or the nausea …
just enough antibiotics to drag out the end.
And as you can see, when his heart stopped at the sight of the parts in question falling off, they resuscitated him to continue his sentence. ”
She doesn’t blink the entire minute. Doesn’t flinch. Aura watches Archer IX, former Regent of an entire galaxy, tortured to death over the course of ten grueling weeks.
“Every student in the galaxy takes a mandatory course in Ethical Applications and Treatment of Artificial Life Forms. Every student, without fail, watches Archer IX die the most horrific death Epigan the First could devise.”
Her face softens. “You watched this as a child … and you still committed sexual acts with me?”
I reach out and stroke her cheek. “Like I said, you’ve proven that you’re capable of logical thought, informed consent, and ethical decision making.
Those all separate you from the original XR-17 models.
And you’re attractive. Engaging. Hell, you put up with my prattling while you repaired the ship, and you didn’t complain once. ”
Aura places her hand over mine, holding my fingers. “You are engaging as well.” She removes my hand from her face and lowers it until it rests at my side. Before she lets go, she places a soft kiss on my cheek.
An awkward silence builds between us. If Aura were human—or even a compatible humanoid species—this is the part where I’d usually invite her to my room for the night. She’s not human, though, no matter how much she might outwardly look like it. I open my mouth to shoot my shot when—
“I suppose we should retire to separate rooms for cyclical rest.” Though her words make sense, her eyes are sad. Lonely. “Perhaps one of us will have a moment of inspiration, and the solution will become clear.”
Damn. So close.
I understand how she feels. The thought of sleeping by myself suddenly makes me sad and lonely, too. “You don’t think that we could think better as a team? We could bounce ideas off each other until I fall asleep. There’s an old Earth saying that two heads are better than one, after all.”
She picks up the cloak I found her in and puts it around her shoulders, and a thought sparks in my head. Suddenly, the sleeping arrangements aren’t so important. “Where did you get that?”
“This?” Aura looks at the voluminous garment.
“I do not know. It was nearby when you activated me, but I do not recall how it came to be on the ship. Processing … Hm. Interesting. A small complement of Ssylins boarded the ship a few years ago, according to the sensor logs. They did not take any supplies or scrap, but they left this material behind, covering me with it. Why would they do that, Wyl? I do not get cold.”
I can’t believe I didn’t recognize the cloak sooner.
Ssylins are a reptilian-humanoid species, bipedal like humans but possessing many reptilian qualities like cold-bloodedness.
Their planet, though blistering hot, is dark, a product of a unique atmosphere that retains heat but does not allow the light of their dual suns to penetrate.
As a result, Ssylins evolved for dark, warm environments; when they encountered humans and learned of the concept of clothing, they developed these cloaks for travel to other worlds.
The leather Ssylin cloaks insulate extremely well, and the hoods protect sensitive Ssylin eyes from the brighter environments that humans and most other interstellar species prefer.
“I’m not sure why they covered you with it, but I think this cloak might help solve our GA problem.”
“How so?”
Pulling the hood up to cover her face, I check her appearance. Posture is a bit too straight for a typical Ssylin, but I’m sure she could slouch. “Aura, I know you have Galactic Standard Tongue in your databases, but what about Ssylinese?”