Expedition Westward

  ***

  Star walked down the corridor beside Poole; Frost and Castaneda trailed close behind. Star’s voluptuous figure was in sharp contrast to the utilitarian appearance of the human females, and she made sure to add some extra swagger to her hips.

  Poole began her interrogation as soon as they were out of earshot from Rackenfauz’s cell.

  “Where are you from and why did you come here?” she demanded.

  “We came from Mech City, and – ”

  “That’s 2,000 kilometers away!” Castaneda interrupted.

  Star looked back over her shoulder.

  “Yes,” she said. “I’m aware of that.”

  “So, why’d you come all that distance?” Poole said.

  “We wanted to find my creator, Dr. Jerry Che, so that he can do some modifications.”

  “What modifications could you possibly need?” Frost said.

  “It looks to me like you’ve got way too much already,” Poole said.

  Star stopped walking and faced her adversaries squarely.

  “It’s not for me,” she said. “I want Dr. Che to make Winston functional ... so that he can be my lover.”

  The three women gaped. The expression on Poole’s face ran from astonishment, to a brief flash of empathy, then back to being hard and calculating. She placed a hand on the wall, the other two women closed in, backing Star against the tiles.

  “I’ll make this quick, honey,” Poole said. “You stay away from the colonel.”

  “And keep away from our guys, too,” Castaneda said.

  Star coolly regarded her opponents, confident in her sexual superiority.

  “So, just who are ‘your guys?’” she asked.

  “All of them!” Castaneda and Frost cried together.

  Star nodded thoughtfully, letting the women twist in the wind a little before she replied.

  “From what I’ve seen ... you can have them,” she said. “They’re definitely not my type.”

  The three humans relaxed a bit.

  “As long as we agree on that,” Poole said.

  “Of course, there’s no telling what might happen, eventually,” Star said.

  Poole bristled. “What do you mean by that?”

  “Men will be men,” Star said. “I can’t control what they’re going to do. Can you?”

  The women closed in again, cold anger radiating from them like death rays.

  “All we want is to leave this place and get to the RDC with Dr. Che and Dr. Rackenfauz,” Star said. “If you can help us do that, wouldn’t it be best for everyone?”

  She pushed off the wall, the women made way for her grudgingly.

  “Let me know if we can do business,” Star said.

  She departed, using her most sultry walk. The three women glowered after her.

  44. Visit with the Creator

  Star’s next destination was the cell of Dr. Jerry Che. The guards all turned their heads as she passed them by, but nobody hindered her progress along the dim, echoing corridors. She enjoyed the men’s attention, although she made very sure not to return their glances.

  No sense ticking off Poole and her gang any more than necessary, she reasoned.

  Star was confident that she and Winston were safe, at least for the time being. Poole would not dare to harm them against the colonel’s wishes, and judging by the naked lust Star had seen in his eyes today, he had other things in mind besides harming them. But everything could change in a flash.

  “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned,” Winston had once told her.

  He’d only been joking, but Star could detect truth in the statement. Had she not experienced this fury herself when she’d seen the rapturous look on Winston’s face as the Squish Girls pulled him away? She’d been in half a mind to leave him to his watery fate.

  And this after months of devotion! She’d spent much of her existence enamored with Winston, ever since she’d first seen him lying deactivated it the RDI workshop. Yet she’d been willing to throw it all away in a moment of pique.

  No, Poole was not someone to trifle with. There was no telling when a jealous rage might overcome her sense of rational self-interest and result in disaster for everyone. If only they could get out of here before it was too late! But how?

  I can’t think about that just yet. It’s all too much.

  She turned her thoughts toward Jerry Che, and she immediately felt better. She’d wanted to see him all evening, without the constraining presence of Winston or Dr. Rackenfauz, and now she had the chance.

  Her motives were entirely respectable, of course, still ...

  The jaunty little wave Dr. Che had given as he’d left the mess hall had beckoned to Star through the hours. It was a summons meant only for her, and she had to answer it. Winston simply wouldn’t understand. He was such a child, really.

  Star maneuvered with certitude along the hallways, not asking directions from anyone. Che seemed to be drawing her like an electro-magnet attracting fine steel.

  When she stuck her head in through the unlocked door of Dr. Che’s cell, she found him lying on his bunk staring at the ceiling and puffing a cigarette. Smoke wafted up through the ventilation grate like a melancholy ghost. Even so, the enclosure seemed to be more welcoming than that of Dr. Rackenfauz, although the décor was exactly the same.

  “Hello, doctor,” she said.

  Che looked toward the door, brightened.

  “Well hi, Estrella.” He crushed out the cigarette. “Come on in.”

  Star entered. Che sat up on his bunk and gestured to the cell’s only chair.

  “Please sit down,” he said.

  “Uh ... thank you, doctor.”

  From the moment Star entered the cell, powerful longings began to overwhelm her. She’d never felt anything like them before – not even around Winston, and certainly not around that ‘messiah’ brute. These feelings were warm and loving, not at all akin to the savagery she’d experienced with Roddy.

  Star slid herself onto the chair.

  She fidgeted uncomfortably, fanned her face with her hands, glanced around the barren confines. The world suddenly seemed to be too confined, too hot, disorientating.

  “My ... you’ve got all the comforts of home,” she said.

  A subtle little smile appeared on Che’s face. The corners of his eyes crinkled. He seemed to be enjoying her agitation.

  “You look a bit nervous, Estrella,” he said. “Is something wrong?”

  “No,” Star said, too abruptly. “It’s just ... I’ve never felt this way before.”

  Che leaned forward.

  “And exactly how is that?” he asked.

  “I don’t know,” Star said. “I’m all sort of ... hot and bothered.”

  Dr. Che laughed good naturedly.

  “Well, all I can say is there’s a time and place for everything,” he said. “Unfortunately, this sure as hell isn’t it.”

  “Yes ... well,” Star said.

  Che reached over and patted her knee. She started, but then relaxed again. The contact had been very pleasant.

  Che abruptly stood and crossed to the farthest reach of the cell.

  “Maybe you should tell me what’s on your mind,” he said.

  Star shook her head and tried to gather her thoughts. Why had she come here, anyway?

  “I just wanted to talk to you, Dr. Che,” she said.

  “Please, call me Jerry.”

  “All right – Jerry,” Star said.

  She liked the intimacy of using his first name. She paused a moment until her simulated respiration slowed down. Che looked on expectantly.

  “I think I just wanted to speak with the man who designed me,” Star said. “Winston says it’s analogous to a human coming face to face with God.”

  Dr. Che chuckled.

  “Did I say it wrong?” Star asked. “That’s the exact word he used, ‘analogous.’”

  “No, that’s fine,” Che said. “It’s just that I hardly think of mysel
f as being God. Wait’ll Edgar hears this!”

  “No, please, don’t tell him anything,” Star said. “This is just between us.”

  “Okay,” Che said.

  Star glanced nervously toward the door. Was she expecting somebody to interrupt? Why was she so flustered?

  “Tell me one thing ... Jerry,” she said. “Why weren’t you in Mech City for my activation? It was such a terrible experience.”

  “I got an emergency call back to the RDC,” Che said. “The plague was starting to take hold there.”

  He shook his head with disgust.

  “That was a big mistake,” he said. “I couldn’t help matters any, and I almost missed out on Edgar’s vaccines.”

  “Then you wanted to stay in Mech City?”

  “Sure, Estrella, the work on you was almost finished.”

  Star sagged with happy relief.

  “I feel better, somehow,” she said. “I think I know how Iridium felt when he discovered that Dr. Rackenfauz had created him instead of that Blake ‘s.o.b.’”

  “How’s that?” Che asked.

  “I feel complete now,” Star said. “As if I have a perfect right to exist.”

  Che moved to stand behind her chair.

  “Those bastards at the RDI were not authorized to activate you,” he said. “They probably figured I was dead.”

  Star shuddered. “They were horrible!”

  Che began to stroke Star’s cheek with his finger tips. She turned her head to nestle his hand.

  “Is there anything else you want to know, Estrella?” he asked.

  “I never liked that name before,” Star said. “but when you say it ... I love it.”

  She kissed his hand. Che looked warily toward the open door.

  “I think it would be best if you left now,” he said.

  His voice did not sound entirely under control.

  “Sure, Jerry,” Star said, “anything you want.”

  She got to her feet unsteadily.

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, won’t I?” she said.

  “Of course,” Che said.

  “That’s wonderful, Jerry ... good night, then.”

  “Good night, Estrella.”

  Che’s face had become sad and inflexible under the dim, yellow lighting.

  Star entered the corridor as if she were moving through a dream. The floor seemed to move under feet while she merely went through the motions of walking. The guard observed hungrily as she passed, wishing that it was he who had wafted this gorgeous creature into such a state. Che also watched her from the doorway of his cell.

  “Oh, my,” he uttered.

  He shook his head sorrowfully, then retreated inside and closed the door behind him.

  When Star returned to Dr. Rackenfauz’s cell, Winston and the Professor were sitting together on the bunk, deep in conversation. Rackenfauz was solemn, stroking his chin thoughtfully. You’d never know that he’d been acting like a maniac only a short time before.

  Winston looked up as Star entered.

  “I was just telling Dr. Rackenfauz about Iridium,” he said.

  “Ah, my precious Iri ...” Star said.

  The last of the emotional high she’d experienced from her visit with Dr. Che vanished abruptly, replaced by exquisite grief. She wiped tears from her eyes.

  “It’s a good thing I made a duplicate brain,” Dr. Rackenfauz said. “All the programming identical.”

  A vast silence gripped the cell.

  “Y-you mean ... you could build another Iridium?” Winston finally said.

  “Of course,” Rackenfauz said. “You don’t think I’d put all my eggs in one brain, do you? Iridium was my finest work.”

  Winston and Star gaped at each other. Potentialities neither had thought possible suddenly ripped open before them.

  “Could you install that second brain into the mech wolf?” Star asked.

  “I don’t see why not,” Rackenfauz said. “Everything about the physical plant is identical – except for the coat.”

  Star was overwhelmed with powerful emotion. Winston guided her to the chair.

  “Oh, if we could only get to the RDC!” she said.

  “That’s the problem, isn’t it?” Rackenfauz said.

  A stone-faced guard poked his head into the cell.

  “Visiting hours are over,” he said. “Robots back to their quarters.”

  45. Pillow Talk

  Major Lisa Poole came to bed in a an angry, defensive mood. Colonel Reyes’ sexual advances did little to change her attitude, even when he used the doggie style position that usually put her into ‘another world.’ She knew, through it all, that he was in ‘another world’ with the robotic slut, fantasizing that it was her in bed instead of the real woman who loved him.

  “Is anything wrong, honey?” he asked afterwards.

  “No,” she said curtly.

  “Okay,” he replied in clueless male fashion.

  Actually, he did have an inkling as to why she was so wooden tonight; she must be in a testy time of her monthly cycle. He dismissed the matter from his mind. Why bother with something he could do nothing about?

  His thoughts turned again toward the events that had brought him to this point. Over the past few years, he’d plumbed the depths of despair and risen from them to become a national hero. Who could have imagined? A divine hand must be responsible for this astonishing turn of fortune.

  With wars and rumors of wars raging across the world, he’d been confident of getting an important command assignment; instead, he’d been put in charge of the moon colony garrison. Of all places! It had been pure politics. Those who felt threatened by his capabilities made sure that he was sidelined where he could no longer be a threat to them – at a colonel’s rank no less. His military career had seemed all but finished.

  But the men who’d received the plumb combat commands were all gone now, while he remained – the last best hope of mankind’s survival. Once his security plans were firmed up, this city would become a beacon for national resurgence, and it would all be attributable to Bradley Reyes. Go figure!

  He rolled over and went peacefully to sleep.

  46. Audience with the Brass

  Winston and Star sat together on the floor of their unfurnished cell, their backs propped against the wall farthest from the door. Unlike Che and Rackenfauz, they’d been locked in for the night. Poole had had something to do with that, Star figured, and also with the Spartan décor of their “quarters.”

  Score one for you, ‘honey,’ Star thought with annoyance, but no real animosity.

  Heck, if the situation was reversed, Star knew that she’d act the same way – or worse.

  Ripper lay sprawled in a far corner, the morning light playing across his coat from the high window. All the ferocity was gone from the deactivated mech wolf, and Star could almost imagine that it was Iridium lying there instead.

  Poor Iri!

  Star realized that she had suffered a wound that would never heal, even if she survived for centuries, which hardly seemed likely in the harsh world all around them. But two hours or two centuries – as long as Winston was there, she could endure.

  Then again, maybe Dr. Rackenfauz would get the chance to reconstruct Iridium. Wouldn’t that be awesome! And if Dr. Che upgraded Winston – maybe the world could be a heavenly place after all. The chaos and destruction of the recent past might just level off onto a smooth causeway of peace and happiness.

  After the frenetic activity of the previous day, it was a time for such fanciful reflection. Winston began to speak.

  “I never believed for one moment that we’d find Dr. Che alive,” he said. “That story about the vaccines sounded like a fairy tale to me.”

  “Why did you come, then?” Star asked.

  “Because it meant so much to you,” Winston said, “and ...”

  “What?”

  “Because I love you.”

  “Oh, Winston!”

  Star nestled agains
t him, he placed an arm over her shoulders. For a few moments, the entire world seemed to be perfect. Then the door grated open, and a guard shoved in his crew-cut head.

  “The colonel wants to see you both,” he announced.

  Another walk down the gloomy corridors ensued. Again, the haunted eyes of human captives peered at them from the view windows of certain cells.

  “I wonder what they did to be confined?” Winston said.

  “What have we ever done?” Star said.