Page 92 of Monsters in Love: Lost in the Stars
Ana
After a short apology for Harv-E’s sudden departure, Cy had explained that he’d only just booted up after a long restoration cycle, and needed to secure a few environmental systems for my safety. I’d been essentially assigned to Thresher, who seemed oddly enthusiastic about being my erstwhile guide around the farm. Turning from the building that Cy vanished into–a house , I was told–Thresher led me to a considerably larger building, called a barn . Nothing could have prepared me for the inside.
Racks on racks towered overhead, metal scaffolding stretching to the very top–the loft –of the barn, illuminated by soft white under-lighting. Each shelf was packed with orderly rows of scientific specimen jars, barcoded and labeled with an insignia I only faintly recalled from a school program. I could only stare in wonder, following the view all the way up as I struggled to estimate just how many there were, and what they could possibly contain.
“We have kept them carefully sheltered, just as User Lawrence instructed us to.” Thresher’s vocal output managed to sound proud of the accomplishment. “As keeper of the labor, I have kept them free of dust and powered on. I have not lost a single one.”
I ghosted my fingertips along the curved, glassy front of a nearby canister filled with a softly-glowing blue liquid, a label reading Gallus gallus wrapping the bottom. The quiet mechanical whirring I’d begun to associate with the droids’ movement drew closer behind me.
Thresher’s voice softened into a sort of awe, jointed fingers fanning out to reverently stroke the canister I touched. “These are…animals. User Lawrence hoped to one day work with Harv-E to develop them for the farm. My unit is deeply saddened that he did not live to see the farm thrive, that we could not bring this dream to life.”
Animals . The Genship was meticulously balanced to provide the most resources for the most humans , so animals were only a distant historical concept. While school programs and old image databases had taught us all what animals were , I’d never actually seen one in person. As I understood it, there were once kinds kept for companionship, and even some for food, but the holo-programs and matter replicators had taken over those tasks, respectively, long before I’d ever lived. Now the closest thing we had to all of this were the hydroponics bays where the nutritional algae grew, a green mass processed into easily-distributed cubes.The idea of bringing animals to life, living among them here, was both dizzying and exciting.
“So why don’t you do it now?” I asked quietly, blunt curiosity pulling the question from my lips before I could think better of it.
To my surprise, Thresher’s soft silicone fingertips came to rest on the side of my wrist, tentatively at first, then in a deliberate embrace. “Our abilities and freedoms as droids are limited without an Operator, User Ana. A human Operator is required to release the genetic sequences. It was intended as an error prevention method to keep these safe until the farm could support them. User Lawrence never considered the farm could one day be isolated with only droids to care for it.”
I swept my thumb over the label again, imagining the contents as one of the strange creatures I’d seen in textbooks once or twice, complete with tails or hooves or paws. “Could - could I release the sequences, Thresher? I mean, I’m human.”
Thresher gave a gentle, approving squeeze to my wrist before letting his grip fall away. “I think so, but you will need to discuss that with Harv-E. He is the keeper of the fruit, and knows for certain if it’s possible, if the farm is ready.”
I took a step back from the towering shelves of canisters, now petrified of toppling their cargo of priceless contents. “I don’t know every inch of the Genship, but I’m pretty confident we have nothing like this, even our science labs. I know for certain there are no animals back home. The only thing we make more of up there is humans, and even that is pretty rigidly controlled.”
Thresher tilted his head, a curiously human-like movement that caught me off guard. Who had taught these droids to mimic us? Lawrence? “Do you use genetic sequencing canisters for humans, User Ana?”
I huffed a laugh, crossing the cavernous barn to brush away cobwebs and plunk down on an old metal stool, needing a moment to process what I’d seen. “Just call me Ana, please, Thresher. And no, we do not have genetic sequencing , though our people are tested before they’re allowed to make a baby. And we don’t use…canisters.” I blushed, scrubbing my cheek with a palm as unbidden memories of fucking a school crush against an isolated bulkhead a few years ago flooded in. Jansen and I hadn’t applied for fertility, of course, so it had been for the illicit pleasure of the act alone.
“What do you use, then, Ana, to make other humans?” Again, that ridiculous head tilt that was all-too-believable as a gesture of interest.
I laughed softly, shaking my head at the strange, inquisitive droid in front of me as my eyes traced our footprints in the dirt floor and back. “I can’t believe a droid is asking me for the fertility conversation . I haven’t - stars, the last time I even talked about this was when my little cousin was pestering my aunt for a sibling. Do you really want to know, Thresher?”
“I do. Very much, Ana.” Glancing up, I nearly fell off my stool at his proximity, my distraction at our topic obscuring how close Thresher had gotten. He was very much in my personal space, close enough to make my heart thud before I reminded myself this was a working robot, one incapable of hurting a human Operator. The sheer size of him still rang tiny alarm bells in my mind, the same ones that rang around the brutish idiots that worked the deepest Genship engines, the ones that had a hard time understanding what no meant.
“O-oh. Well. Humans…lie together a certain way. In a way that feels good to both of them. Well, I guess sometimes they stand, they don’t always lie down. See, the male partner-” I awkwardly made a circle with my fingers, threading two fingers from the opposite hand through to demonstrate.
“Ah! Copulation.” Thresher nodded. “Yes. I know copulation. I did not know this is how human babies were created as well. This process feels…good? It is enjoyable? Hm. My databases tell me now that the retrieval of the new human is not usually enjoyable.”
I laughed loudly at the understatement, the stool squeaking as I spun to face Thresher fully. “No, that’s not a word I would apply to that part of the process, not from what I’ve heard. But new humans are only created when a pair gets fertility approval. Without the fertility approval and implant reversal, the, uh, copulation part is only for…for fun, I guess. At least with the right partner.”
“And do you find this copulation fun? Do you have a right partner ?” Thresher’s faceplate was angled towards me with interest, and a blush crept into my cheeks again. This was insane, talking so frankly about human sex and pleasure with a clearly misprogrammed labor droid. Still, it was harmless, right? I was simply trading information to learn more about the farm and the planet, and that was the mission, after all. It wasn’t as if the artificial life form in front of me knew how long it’d been since I’d had a right partner of my own.
“I do think it’s fun, yes.” I found Thresher surprisingly easy to talk to, his curiosity and openness coaxing the same from me, particularly in the quiet, dim privacy of the barn. “But I have not, uhm, copulated , in quite some time.”
“Why do you not have a partner, Ana? Frequent copulation is good for overall health and well-being, reduction of stress, and focus.” He listed off the benefits of getting screwed on the regular like a teaching video. They’d never promoted sex like that in school, of course.
I smirked, folding my hands in my lap. “The Genship leaders more or less consider copulation– sex –for fertility-approved baby making only. Not everyone agrees, of course, but finding a partner is also difficult when one doesn’t want to get married. I’m considered a bit too strong-willed and…well, let’s say indiscreet among my fellow Genshippers.” I bit back a grin at the memory of Jansen clapping a hand over my mouth as my very unquiet orgasm echoed off the bulkheads.
“Indiscreet. Defined as displaying an eagerness to reveal secret or private endeavors . This is considered an unfavorable trait in humans?”
I sighed, idly trailing my eyes along the roof far above us. “I suppose it is, though again, I don’t necessarily agree. If everyone’s grown and enjoying themselves, there’s no reason to avoid something that feels good just because some stuffy leader tells us to.” Speaking the blasphemy out loud felt thrilling, dangerous. I’d have never been this careless about it back on the Genship, where eyes and ears were everywhere.
“I understand. May I ask another question?” Thresher’s hands mimicked the position of my own, digits interlaced in front of him like a Genship-steward awaiting a leader’s order. It was odd, but I found it endearing for some reason, the way he mirrored my own movements. I smirked, nodding with a ‘go ahead’ palm-up gesture.
“When I asked about copulation, your skin flushed and your pupils dilated more than 20 percent. My database tells me these reactions are often tied to anger in humans. Have I angered you?”
I laughed loudly, an involuntary grin stretching my cheeks. “Oh stars, Thresher. No, I’m not angry. You just made me think of the last time I’d…copulated, that’s all. It was very nice, but too long ago. You’re not wrong to suggest I should indulge more often, but privacy is at a premium on the ship and it’s only getting worse. That’s half the reason the Terraformers came here in the first place, all those years ago, to make more room.”
Thresher was quiet for so long I thought he’d powered down. As I moved to slide off the stool to check, his face plate angled up, the lights that composed his features fixing me with bright eyes and a smile. “Ana, would you allow me to assist you?”
“Assist me? With what, the farm? You and the others have already been very helpful, and I appreciate it. The data alone that Cy’s giving me will-”
“With copulation.” He said it so matter-of-factly I burst out laughing. He was just so damned polite, a proposition that had to be an elaborate, albeit dangerous, joke.
It had to be, because the only thing the Genship leaders frowned on more reliably than non-fertile sex was the notion of any sort of “tools,” robots in particular. They’d made an example out of the last rogue engineer, explaining that “assisted self satisfaction” would have a detrimental effect on our population growth. Then, just to drive the point home, they’d unceremoniously launched the poor soul out an airlock.
Our leaders had essentially outlawed sex robots because they were worried they’d be too good at their jobs. We all knew it, but kept our mouths resolutely closed, lest we find ourselves taking an unscheduled, shipless tour of the void.
After I caught my breath and composed myself, I reached up, patting his shoulder like I was consoling a friend. “That’s kind of you to offer, but there’s no way you can assist me with that, Thresher. That’s been a law of droid operation longer than I’ve been alive, and you don’t even have the right programming or components.” I coughed on another laugh, unsure what those would even be .
Thresher’s lighted eyes flickered, giving the impression he was looking at my hand on the smooth slope of his broad shoulder, his lighted smile returning. “You are incorrect, Ana. User Lawrence, our Operator and creator, disagreed with several of your Genship laws. He created my unit with what they would consider non-standard, prohibited features and databases. We have also improved upon his designs in his absence.”
I snatched my hand back, looking at the broad-chested labor-bot in front of me through new, widened eyes. “Are you seriously telling me you know how to…how to fuck , Thresher?”
“Your pupils have dilated an additional ten percent, Ana, and you have begun to produce pheromones. Your bio-signs indicate both excitement and interest in this course of action, but I will need your verbal confirmation to proceed.”
I stood up so fast the stool tipped over with a discordant clang as I started frantically checking the rafters for cameras. My stomach did antigrav flips of guilt, worried that the leaders would somehow know I considered it for even a millisecond. “What? No! No, Thresher! They’d literally remove me from the population for even talking about this!”
“I understand and register your refusal, Ana. However, if you are concerned about punitive measures, the original Terraformer charter states that Genship laws do not apply to the farms, nor are they allowed to surveil them. You cannot be punished for certain actions, including copulation with droids, so long as it occurs here. I will query once more, to ensure I have interpreted your wishes correctly. May I assist you with copulation?”
“Wait…really?” I stared at Thresher’s glossy faceplate, blank except for a small, dim light that ran left to right and back again, ignoring his ridiculous question…for now. “You mean to tell me the Terraformers had…different laws? The Genship leaders allowed that?”
“Of course.” There was another long pause, one I’d begun to suspect passed for deep thought when it came to the androids. “The charter doctrines. Are you not aware of these? User Lawrence informed us that they were shared with the Genship at the beginning of the founding. Is this not true?”
I shook my head slowly, raising a brow. Different laws ? I certainly would have heard of that in school, or at the very least on Nan’s knee when I was a baby. It was inconceivable, the very notion of humans unburdened from Genship rule.
Thresher tilted his head, luminescent blue lines of wording scrolling across his faceplate rapidly, halting at a paragraph that auto-highlighted.
Terraforming individuals, offspring, and guest(s) are hereby irrevocably granted the requested provisions to, without limitation, build and utilize droids for non-standard applications to include husbandry, copulation, and stimulation of any and all biotic components contained within aforementioned dome(s) .
I blindly reached behind me for the stool, righting it and sinking heavily onto the seat. The implications of this information were staggering: just by being here, I apparently had freedoms that Genshippers could only dream of. The leaders likely had no idea that there were a trio of altered droids that had not self-terminated after their User links had been severed. Droids that carried vital information and a living history that might contradict their Terraformer-phobic cautionary tales.
“Thresher, I could kiss you right now.” A grin stretched my cheeks, elated at the very idea a misfit like me could make things very uncomfortable for the puritanical Genship leaders.
“I’m glad you have changed your mind. I enthusiastically consent, Ana.” Thresher tapped the side of his faceplate, which slid halfway up his face. The motion revealed a shockingly lifelike mouth rendered in flesh-toned silicone, one that descended on mine before I could correct him.
Thresher kissed a bit stiffly at first, but softened and wrapped his arms around me when I swooned into the contact, unexpectedly aroused. Jensen had been hesitant and fearful throughout our encounter at the bulkhead–my only sexual exploration with someone else thus far–leaving me feeling like I wheedled him into it. Thresher, despite technically being a machine, put off a sense of hunger that was palpable. I liked it.
I groaned into the kiss, eager for more. I couldn’t imagine how fine the servo-motors in his tongue must be to make it so indistinguishable from a human’s. The doomed Genship engineer, prior to his unsuited one-way trip into the black, had tried to sell us on these very possibilities: nimble-tongued androids programmed to produce sterile sweat, saliva, and…other fluids…for satisfying intimate experiences. I may have been listening rather intently that day until the guards stormed in and dragged him away from the assembled crowd. I may have kept that particular flame of interest stoked until I dragged Jensen to the deserted bulkhead a few hours later, too.
I pulled back to gasp for air, greedy to continue as I crowded against Thresher’s delightfully unyielding body, grinning like a child caught stealing rations.
“Ana, do you find me pleasurable?” Was I imagining it, or had Thresher’s bright tone shifted to something deeper and more seductive? His silicone fingertips, softer than anything I expected to find on a labor bot’s hands, stroked down the outside of my arm, leaving prickled flesh in their wake.
I laced my fingers behind his broad neck, warm metal soothing against my skin as I tugged his face down to mine for another slow, deep kiss. “Oh yes , Thresher. I do, but please don’t stop convincing me on my account.”
In a moment of clarity, it occurred to me that, much like Jensen, the android in front of me likely had little to no experience with women. Remembering an image from Nan’s illegal romance novel program stash, I skimmed a palm down Thresher’s arm, taking his hand and guiding it firmly to the back of my thigh. Thankfully, he was a very quick study, cupping it as I hiked it up on what passed for his hip to get us even closer. It had looked a lot more sensual in the picture, but this pose also pressed the thin material of my pants against Thresher’s metal curve, which pressed back in turn as he shifted to hold me securely. Oh, that was nice .