“Not yet.”
“You’re right, kiddo, maybe I am bored. Why don’t we discuss your love life?”
Tedra started up, almost taking the bait. But then she lay back down on the adjusticouch that had been widened so Corth could lay next to her on it. She settled back into his arms, but caught him grinning at her, after Martha’s off-the-wall suggestion.
She gave the android a stern look when he started to speak, and said to Martha, “Why don’t we discuss your love life instead, old girl? How are you and the engineering computer getting along together?”
A very definite snort. Martha was getting good at that sound. “Let’s get serious, shall we? There isn’t a machine on this ship up tomystandards. But you’ve got one there up to yours. I brought the kid along so you could make use of him. So why don’t you?”
“I am,” Tedra replied, wrapping Corth’s arms more tightly around her.
That was all she needed occasionally from Corth, to be held. Being raised in the Kystran Child Centers left a big void in some people’s lives, probably why so many young people started going to Stress Clinics as soon as they were old enough, looking for the love they had lacked in their growing years. The Child Centers were for learning only. They gave you approval, motivation, self-esteem, and any number of other good qualities, but they didn’t give you love.
It was a lack Tedra sometimes felt keenly, the reason that she had bought Corth last year. He was an entertainment android, designed to entertain a woman in every way possible. He was free-thinking to a small degree, insomuch as he could follow and participate in a conversation as long as only logical responses were required and the subject was one within his memory banks. He couldn’t make decisions on his own the way Martha could, didn’t have feelings to bruise or stir up, and Stars forbid he should argue with anyone. Aggression was not in his makeup, but spontaneity was. Tedra had only to touch him in a sexual way and he could become the ideal sex-sharer, totally devoted to her pleasure. Getting him to just hold her in a nonsexual way wasn’t as easy, so it had to be verbally requested.
“The Martha is correct, Tedra De Arr.” Corth spoke softly behind her. “You do not make full use of my abilities.”
“I get as much use as I want of them, babe.”
“I would be gentle with your breaching.”
Tedra sat up to look down at him suspiciously. “Since when do you pursue a subject that has been dropped, Corth?” She didn’t wait for an answer, her eyes locking on the communications console in the center of the large Rec lounge she had taken to spending most of her time in. “Have you been tampering with Corth’s programming, Martha?”
“Me?” She had got her innocent-sounding voice down pat. “Why would I do that?”
“Well, you better undo what you didn’t do, metal lady, or-”
Corth pulled her back down to their previous position. “Relax, Tedra De Arr. I am incapable of hurting you.”
Tedra scooted out of his arms and off the couch, more than a little unnerved by the change in him. After all, as a machine, he had the strength of ten men. And Martha really had given him a dose of aggression.
“I’m going to kill you, Martha!”
“Now, kiddo, he’s only a little more lifelike, is all,” was the computer’s response. “All that sickening agreeing with you was getting on my nerves.”
“You don’t have nerves, you motherless piece of scrap iron, you have circuits. And those can be turned off.”
“You can’t shut me down, doll.” Martha went for a reasonable tone now that she’d got a rise out of Tedra. “I run the ship, remember, supply your oxygen, your food, etc. If you turn me off, you go with me. I didn’t think you were into suicide.”
“Oh, shut up!” Tedra snapped. “And you”—she glared at the android, who was sitting up—”don’t move another inch, or I’ll have to kick you into malfunction.”
“Now don’t do that, Tedra,” Martha said in her soothing voice. “If you break him, who’s going to fix him up here in space? The Rover’s meditech unit only works on live bodies, you know.”
“Then you’d better change him back to the way he was. I won’t be raped by a machine.”
“He wouldn’t do that,” Martha insisted. “He’s only alittlemore assertive. Reassure her, Corth.”
The android stood up, but not to reassure her. “My appearance has not been changed, Tedra De Arr. Do I no longer appeal to you since you met the Sha-Ka’ari warrior?”
“So you filled him in about that, old girl?” Tedra asked with even more irritation.
“We’ve talked about them enough,” Martha replied blithely. “I thought he shouldn’t be left in the dark.”
“That’s your problem. You think too much.” And nowCorthneeded reassurance. This was ridiculous.
“I love the way you look, Corth. You’re more handsome than any man could possibly be.”
And he was. His outer frame was crafted to her specifications, black hair at a moderate cut, lovely light green eyes, half a foot taller than she was, and young in appearance. If he were real, she’d likely beg to file for double occupancy. But she’d never lost touch with the fact that he wasn’t real, even when she used him to fulfill her need to fantasize that she was loved and cared for.
