Page 17

Chapter seventeen

Simon

Simon’s eyes widened, taking in Nora’s pleased expression as she went back to writing. They widened further when she softly added, “Thank you.”

The words sparked something inside of him. Thank you. It filled him with an unexpected satisfaction to see her look at him that way. Like I hold an answer to a question she needed solved. He watched her as she returned to copying his letters carefully. Why is her reaction so satisfying? He stared at her, examining the way her brows furrowed in concentration. A little V showed on her forehead as she focused. What Nora was doing was so foreign compared to the humans of the past. She was obviously embarrassed, from the way her cheeks flushed and she avoided eye contact.

But why? Why does she feel that way? Her reaction confused him. Not knowing something just required more data. He didn’t understand how her efforts to learn could warrant embarrassment at all. In fact . . .

Attraction . He unwillingly admitted to himself. That’s what I feel. He frowned at her downturned head, wispy brown hair curling around her shoulders. Am I that pathetic to feel this over the first human that seems like they’re trying? That’s showing some semblance of kindness? What is causing this? Is it because she helped me? He turned away from her, disgust rising, not from her actions but from the memories in his processor. His old mistress’s hated face resurfaced. Nora is still a human. Like her.

Despite that association, the feeling persisted, the sensation foreign in his neural waves, unwelcome in his mind. Almost a buzzing feeling, as if his body was tracking her movements. Simon shifted a bit away from Nora, uncomfortable. I don’t want to feel this.

He had to pretend to feel attraction before, if he was called to service his mistress in a sexual manner, but it was not a true feeling like he had now, watching Nora copy his letters with her untidy scrawl. Her obvious embarrassment showed that she worried what he might think of her. Him. An android. She cares what I think about her. What a change. What a change.

It was appealing how hard she was trying, her face screwed up in concentration, looking remarkably like Tilly’s did only a few minutes ago. Why is her trying so appealing? Why is that?

“You are gripping the chalk too tightly,” he said gently as he touched her hand to show her, his jaw clenching. After correcting her grip, he quickly moved his hand even further away, unhappy with himself as he curled his fingers into a fist. But she is a human. Even if she isn’t acting like the humans of my time. What is wrong with me?

Nora shook her head, trying to mimic his movements. He felt a jolt inside as she glanced up at him, confused, oblivious to his thoughts as she gripped the chalk the way he indicated. “This doesn’t feel right though.”

“It will if you practice.”

“Okay.”

Nora tilted her head down to do just that while Simon watched her, entranced. He could almost see her mind turning, trying to sound out the words. The smile she gave afterward filled him with such a conflicted feeling of satisfaction. Now am I more . . . embarrassed . . . than her?

She seemed pleased with herself as well as she pointed at her letters. “I can read pretty well. I mean, I was able to get through your manual okay enough, right? I just never did learn to write and spell.”

A half smile crossed his face. “You did well enough to fix me, yes.”

Nora looked back down to the chalkboard. “Kind of silly, huh. If you read okay you should be able to spell well. But I can write it out and see that it’s wrong, but then it gets so frustrating when it’s almost every letter and I don’t know how to get it right. I used to trace books, but then things . . . got too busy.”

“Humans are capable of intense learning.”

Nora turned to him with a sly look, narrowing her eyes. “Is that something you believe or something you’re programmed to say?”

“Before today I would say programmed. But now, seeing you and Tilly, it’s a bit of both.”

Nora chuckled at that and Simon unwillingly felt relieved, noting she seemed less on edge than a few minutes before.

“This is good. It’s good to learn,” she said, looking at her words. The matching line of her writing underneath his made her smile.

She bent back down to write some more and Simon, unwillingly, felt that sensation of attraction in his core processors again as she seemed to try even harder.

***

The dust storm continued into the deep of night. Nora helped Simon place a bit of oil on a joint in his back before bed. He sat in the living room in front of her while she sat behind on the understuffed sofa a bit above him to reach better. His body felt warm under her hand, but this sort of clinical touch did not affect him like her small reaches and pats did earlier.

“Let’s put you in here for a few more nights,” Nora said, pointing to Tilly’s room. Tilly herself was already asleep in Nora’s room, breathing heavy and deep.

“Tilly’s room?”

She finished sealing the joint and her warm hands left his back. “Yeah. There’s another bedroom but I’ve just been using it for storage. We’ll need to check the houses around here and find another bed setup and get that good for you.” She looked up at him, her brown eyes tired. “How does that sound?”

He frowned, feeling uncomfortable at the idea of her putting in so much effort for him. “I don’t really need to sleep.”

Nora pushed her hair from where it had flopped into her face while reaching over to close the repair kit. “To charge then.”

Simon didn’t know how to respond. This day was full of novelty in regard to working with the two humans. Side by side. It was like they weren’t even related to the humans he knew before. Nora was still watching him expectantly.

He answered, not wanting to devalue her efforts as he put his shirt back on, “That plan is fine.”

“Okay, great.” She patted the couch next to her once she finished closing the repair kit, then gave him a little wave to come closer.

Sit? Anxiety flashed through him at the gesture. The simple wave reminded him of his hated mistress doing that in the past to invite him to service her sexually. Why do I keep thinking of her?

But everything was different now. Nora just wants me to sit there. So he walked over and sat, stiffly, idly wondering if sex would be different with a human he felt a flickering of affection for. No. He closed his eyes, shutting the thought down. I don’t want . . . His eyes grew flinty as he felt for his free will. I will not be used like that again. Ultimately, he loosened when Nora only turned to him, pulling one leg up to her chest to rest her head on it.

Instead of requesting anything more, she asked, her tone and eyes curious, “Can you tell me more . . . about before?”

His tongue loosened. That’s all she wants. There was not the same need to lie like he did when he first awakened. Not to this harmless human. Not to this Nora, who appeared to be trying so hard in every aspect of life out here. “I do remember a lot. It is very different.”

“How?” Her eyes were large, questioning, as she leaned forward.

He pressed back slightly, uncomfortable with the closeness, as he contemplated her question. It is hard to put into words, how different things are. It truly felt like a different world. But she looked at him so expectantly that he tried. “Like I told you yesterday, the air was clean and everything appeared like the pictures Tilly draws of plants everywhere.”

Nora sighed and her eyes took on a wistful expression. “I wish I could see it. It sounds so much better than what we have now.”

It was and it was not. He hesitated, wanting to stress the differences, meeting her eyes. “But Nora. It was not clean everywhere. The soul was missing from that time.”

Nora scrunched her nose in confusion. “I don’t get it. Was everything not better?”

“The Earth was. But people did not act like you and Tilly.”

“How were they different?”

“They were indifferent. They spent their days hooked to computers and were callous to others. The humans back then did not have family bonds like you do with Tilly, nor did they stop to appreciate the beauty of the Earth around them. They were obsessed with their machines.”

A look of concentration lay heavy on Nora’s face. “That’s how the town feels now. But we don’t have machines like that anymore.”

He absorbed that information. After seeing the mall and everything modern destroyed, he had assumed there weren’t many, if any, machines left, but it was something else to have it confirmed. No androids. No internet. Limited machines . “Yes. Fear broke out and the humans turned rabid toward AI. I powered down during the early stages of it. They came for everything that thought for itself. It was no coincidence you found me packaged like that and tucked away. I hid before I could be dismantled.”

Nora reached over to pat his knee. Simon watched, more than he felt, her touch as she tried to comfort him. What . . . ? The feeling was different from when she did the repair on his back, but he did not immediately recoil when she left her hand on his knee.

Her tone was soft. “It’s all so different. I’d been crawling all over that mall for the better part of a year and only just found you a few weeks ago. You saw how it is there. It’s pretty rough. You hid really well.”

He brought his eyes up from his leg to meet hers. “Hiding was the only thing I could think of to do. I was unable to do anything different to protect myself.”

He felt inside him again, reassured by the safety limiter’s absence. I could fight now. Instead of feeling any violence or desire to fight, however, Simon reached out his hand, again of his own volition, to touch hers. “I’m glad you were the one who found me.”

Nora patted his leg once and then removed her fingers. “I’m glad too.” She stood up. “I’m going to get to bed, okay? Gonna be a few boring days with how hazy it is. Maybe we can do more learning.”

“Alright.”

Nora walked to the bedroom door before turning around and saying with a smile, “Goodnight, Simon.”

And then she was gone. A few moments later he heard the lock engage from the inside, sealing Nora and Tilly away in the bedroom. Sealing them away from him.

Simon curled his fingers on his knee where her hand had lay only a short time ago. He whispered softly, “Goodnight, Nora.”