Page 13
Chapter 13
Lynn
T he bath was amazing, and the AI sounded like a real person and not a bot, just like Xeranos had. It would take some getting used to, though, having a virtual bathroom assistant. I’d had to adjust the water temperature a tiny bit as I preferred my baths a bit hotter than she’d selected, but she promised me she’d use that setting every time I came in for a bath or shower, as long as I asked her to. The real clincher for me liking her? After climbing out of the bath, I let her know the salts were amazing, as I was no longer sore at all, and she asked me if I was finished. I’d said yes and the drain popped up. Then a blue light played over the surface, cleaning the tub!
“Thank you so much, Ulalily!” Man, I could not wait to tell Mama that we had a self cleaning bathtub!
“You’re welcome,” she replied cheerfully.
“Do you get bored waiting for people to need you?” I asked her, curious.
“Sometimes,” she admitted. “But while waiting to be called, recently, I’ve been reading fantasy novels from your planet.”
‘Really? Which ones?”
“I’ve read the ones by Tolkien, and C.S. Lewis, and I’m currently reading His Dark Materials. I’ve set my reading speed to an average human level to further my experience.”
“Those are all great books. After you finish your current series, you should check out The Wheel of Time, Dragonheart, and um, A Wrinkle in Time, although that’s more sci-fi.”
“Thank you for the recommendations. I have added them to my Tbr list.”
I smiled at how cute she was, pronouncing it as letters.
“Okay, well, see you later,” I replied.
I came into the bedroom and decided I would look for something else to wear. I found my suitcase easily and quickly put on a clean pair of panties. I opted to put on a pair of soft jersey lounge pants and a t-shirt, figuring we weren’t going anywhere and I might as well let him see me as I usually was.
I came out of the bedroom to find him putting plates onto the counter.
“Oh goody! The food’s here!” I took a deep appreciative sniff. “And it smells good, too!”
He turned at the sound of my voice. “Do you wish to eat in here or shall I continue to look for a tray?”
I looked around. We had a cute little wooden dining table in a separate dining room area, plus a breakfast bar, and a small dinette in the kitchen itself, a retro Formica topped one that could double as worktop space. And now that I was paying attention to my surroundings, wow.
“Do you like it?” Yorix asked me, sounding nervous.
“Yeah, let’s eat in here. It’s so cute!” I replied. “Not what I would have thought to do, but now that I have it, I love it!”
His shoulders relaxed.
“It has your favorite color,” he offered.
I beamed at him. It certainly did. The big Chill appliances were all a lovely shade of light turquoise. And was that a vintage stove? “Practically made to order,” I agreed. “I bet the Bride who did all this was gutted to have to leave it.”
“I am certain she will be happy to discover it is being enjoyed,” he offered. “Xeranos can let her know.”
“He can? Yes, please!”
“Xeranos-”
“I heard,” the AI interrupted him. “Sorry, I wasn’t eavesdropping. I was just popping in to let you know that Chris has invited you both over for the day after tomorrow.”
“Yes! I mean, Yorix, we can go, right?” I turned pleading puppy dog eyes over to him.
“But of course. We have no prior engagements. Xeranos, please ask him to send us the time as we’ll be there.”
“Noted!” Xranos chirped. ”Later, gators!”
I giggled at his antics. “Did you know Ulalily is spending her time between tasks reading fantasy novels at human reading speed?”
Yorix shook his head as he began opening the cardboard food containers. “No, but it doesn’t surprise me. Jurto, the one we had for our bachelor quarters on my old ship, binge watched old TV vids. Really old ones, from the dawn of TV broadcasting. He was watching shows from all over the world, at human speed. My favorite was his "I Love Lucy” phase. You’d come into the common area, and he’d have the shows playing.”
I covered my mouth with my hands, smothering back a laugh.
“They really are like people, huh? More Commander Data and less Hal.”
He stared blankly for a split second. ”Ah, yes,” he replied, as he seemed to figure out my meaning. “Definitely more Data, and yes, they are definitely people. Simply nonorganic ones.”
“Wait- he was your bathroom assistant?”
“Yes.”
“How’d he get to watch in the common room?”
“Since they are affiliated with Sickbay, in case of medical or psychiatric emergency, they can access the cameras Xeranos usually uses in our quarters and public spaces.”
That made sense. I smiled to myself, wondering if I could convince my new friend to watch Charmed with me in our living room. Which, now that I looked, was also sporting my favorite color, tempered with black soft furnishings and the white terrazzo look flooring. I decided I liked it. It wasn’t as if we were stuck with it forever anyway, right? So if our feelings changed, so could the furniture.
“Give me a little bit of everything, please,” I asked him, as he scooped food onto the plates.
“I forgot the bowls. Could you get them, please? It’s the cabinet to the left of the top oven there.”
I came to his aid, finding the bowls easily. As I passed them to him, I reflected just how easy and right this all felt. As if we’d been doing this for months, not hours. The Mylos certainly knew their matching skills, alright.
“I’ll pour the tea,” I told him, pausing on my way past him to kiss the underside of his jaw. “Sugar?”