Ari couldn’t believe he’d been arguing with the stubborn AI for the last twenty minutes. Chloe had warned him she was stubborn, but Elemi’s attitude went beyond stubborn. He fought the urge to shove her consciousness back into the ship where she belonged.
“Listen—“ Ari tried for the umpteenth time. ”—if I don’t put you back into the ship, it won’t heal.” He crossed his arms and glared right back at her. “And if the ship doesn’t heal, then we can’t get off this bucket of smelly bolts and head back to the Federation Consortium. And if we can’t do that, we won’t be there to help my family stop the invasion from an extra-dimensional threat. And if that happens, your stupid metal body will cease to exist just as much as any organic being’s.” He turned to the purple crystal giant who enteredElemiwith the rest of them. “Isn’t that right, As’ni?”
The simpleminded beast fingered a ragged section of the ship and didn’t answer. His grip on the springy coil in his other hand tightened.
“As’ni?”
The creature jumped like a child caught doing something he shouldn’t. “Wha?”
“If Lord Baelon and his troops come through, everything will die, including someone like her.” Ari thumbed to the pink sexbot. “Right?”
As’ni‘s lavender eyes widened as he vigorously nodded. “Bad. Lord Bay-lon bad. All die. Even shiny bug.” He jiggled a finger in JR12’s direction.
“Hey, now!” JR12 sprang from Ari’s shoulder to hover over it. “Let’s all take a deep breath—and I’m talkin’ to you who breathe—so we can reset this stupid conversation.” He flew to face Elemi, who stared at the small bot as it came closer.
For the first time, Ari noticed the android didn’t blink.
“You, sexbot-ship on steroids.” JR12 addressed Elemi. “What if he put you back into the robot body once things got settled? Maybe even find something better looking. Cause I gotta tell you, I’ve seen vending machines with more class.”
Ari chuckled when Elemi’s metallic jaw dropped.
“Well, I never…”
“And you ain’t never gonna until you let the blond superman here put you back!” Chloe stomped her foot.
Ari raised an eyebrow. Superman? Well, didn’t that just put a damper on everything? The sheer weight of that expectation was a burden far heavier than anything he’d ever experienced before. Talking himself into pulling off this gargantuan task was challenging enough. Not that he’d admit that to anyone. Especially to this stubborn, pain-in-the ass excuse for an android…
“And we’s don’t have time to get another ship here to take ya’ll to the other side of the galaxy!” Chloe continued with a huff. “Elemi, you always claimed how much better you were than us emotional creatures. Looks like you’re worse than any of us.” The woman crossed her arms and turned her back on the android. “I’m ashamed of you.”
“Myaruu—“ Aylzrunth said to Chloe in a soft tone. ”—that was a bit harsh.”
“I don’t care.” Chloe nodded over her shoulder to the pink droid. “She’s being selfish, and she knows it.”
“Chloe, dearest!” Elemi wailed.
“Do you think you can put her into another android body when this is over?” Morgan placed her soft hand on Ari’s arm.
He scratched the side of his head. Honesty or guesswork? He glanced at her bright golden-green eyes, studying him. Did he really have a choice? No, no, he didn’t. Okay, honesty it was.
“I’m pretty sure I can. Yeah, I think so,” Ari hedged his confession. “But, understand when I did it the first time, I was desperate to save her because things went sideways real fast with our friend here.” He patted the bulk of As’ni‘s shoulder.
As’ni beamed at Ari’s show of affection.
Ari turned to Elemi. “But I can promise I’ll do my best.”
Elemi’s fuchsia eyes widened as she swung her intense, pleading gaze to Chloe, silently begging for understanding. Her lips parted as her metallic hands clenched tightly together. At Chloe’s mulish frown, Elemi threw her metallic shoulders back and lifted her chin. “Fine. For you, I’ll agree, Chloe dearest.” Her metallic lips pursed. “I just hope this blundering fool knows what he’s doing.”
Chloe turned back to Elemi, then swung her attention in Ari’s direction. “You know, she brings up somethin’ I’ve been meaning to ask you.” Her dark gaze narrowed. “How did you do all this mumbo-jumbo stuff in the first place? Not only taking Elemi from the ship and putting her into a sleaze-bot, but creating that couch and stuff back there.” She thumbed over her shoulder. “You never explained how you did that. What? You a magician or somethin’.”
Ari tilted his head with his hands behind his back.
Morgan frowned at his mischievous grin.
“Yeah, something.”
Didn’t look like his innocent act fooled Chloe one bit.
“Now, what does that mean?” Chloe fisted her hands on her hips. Lowering her head, she stared at Ari through hooded lids.
