The Enemy of My Enemy? Pt. 2/Chapter 11
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Kye wanted to shout and to tell her that she was crazy. Instead, he found himself feeling oddly liberated. It was as if their destiny was becoming clear. A rush of excitement and encouragement came over him. He felt inspired.
She was right. Because now that Daniella was a loose cannon, they would never be safe in the tunnels again. “What other weapons does Stan have for us in here,” he said as he smiled at her with his approval.
Portia looked as if she was equally inspired when Kylan gave her his support without question. “Franky had developed some designs in case we ever had to use them, but he never intended them to be used for something this big,” she said as she and Kye rose from the bench. With her high heels on, she now stood three inches taller than him at six-foot four. Kylan felt that they really could take on the world.
It was unnerving how Portia controlled the other androids as they continued to act on her cue. Anja stood at attention and then silently walked into the back room. It was the same room that Kylan had seen Portia dissected in a few days earlier. The thought gave him a chill.
“Most of these things are only conceptual right now. Frances only created a couple of prototypes. That’s why we needed the supply run,” Portia said. “But at the time, he was only thinking of protecting the Girls against the killer robot.”
Anja returned carrying a long narrow box and a small purse in her other hand. She froze as she mechanically offered the box with both hands. The purse hung from her hand by its strap. “We have a few more pulse rifles from Replico,” Portia continued, “but the main weapons will be the Girls themselves. We have close to eighty of them on stand-by in The Closet. That’s almost twice as many more than we have kept active at a time.”
Kye had remembered that in addition to the androids Stan and Portia stole from Replico, the underground mall was occupied by many of them. Then there were even more that they had salvaged from other places in the first months after The Great Mistake. There were nursemaids and babysitters. There were waitresses and custodians. Some acted as security units, cashiers, and saleswomen.
There were female androids dressed as flight attendants from a traveling agency and dressed as military recruiters to entice men. But Stan had also discovered boutiques that offered outfits for any fetish or occasion. Stan and Portia had their fun.
Stan had dismantled all the male models for spare parts and scrap.
“All the time I’ve wasted,” Kylan said to himself at the thought that Stan would have activated any of those ridiculously realistic female robots he wanted just for him.
From years of studying people and their literature, Portia was an expert at reading humans and could also detect changes in body temperature, respiration and even pheromones. She knew what Kye was thinking, “Don’t fret, Honey, you’ll have plenty more time. I promise.”
She opened the long box that Anja was holding and removed a large reinforced Claymore two-handed broadsword. The sword must have been nearly five feet long. It was in a leather scabbard with an inscription. “Frances modified this sword for me a long time ago. He found it in one of the collector’s shops after we first got here. It was a gift for our third anniversary together,” she said as she unsheathed the great sword.
She smiled. “His inscription says, ‘A weapon befitting My Noble Lady,’ but he was never able to finish modifying the sword because he didn’t have enough components. Thanks to Sparky, Anja and I were able to complete it. It uses the sword’s own metal to generate a wavelength of highly charged electrons that are magnetically levitated a micron above the edge -- like a molecular scalpel.”
“Just like the killer robot’s talons!” Kye exclaimed with excitement. “Frank told me that it barely has to make contact with the surface of something to separate the molecules and cut straight through.”
But instead of sharing his enthusiasm, Portia became troubled then she said to Kye, “My Lover told me that he could not live without me.” Now that they were separated the thought came back to haunt her. “I think that must be the real reason why he went through so much trouble to get the most powerful body ever created for me. Otherwise, he would have just gotten me a body closer to Patricia’s.
“He didn’t want me just to protect him,” she speculated. “He must have also wanted to make sure that I could protect myself. It makes sense. I can fix myself. I can modify myself. I was given strategic logic as well, but I'm the only machine with my kind of combat programming. Frances had developed it in secret with several of the greatest living martial artists. He never tried to make money off of it.”
“He just told me that he was trying to do Patricia justice,” Kye said.
“That’s true too, but he didn’t tell you the whole story about me. I have Patricia’s face, but the woman that my body was modeled after was more than just some beauty queen. She was also an amazing athlete… for a human.”
She placed the sword back in the box Anja was still holding. “This body was actually the most advanced model that Replico ever created. It was only supposed to be used for the military. That’s why I’m larger than most gynoids. This body was created to be an ultimate soldier that could utilize all the equipment of warfare that an average sized man can use. It was also to act as an escort and serve as a bodyguard for officers.
“Believe it or not, they decided that it was too dangerous. The Great Mistake proved that they were right to believe that. Only five of my model were made. My muscles and fibers are ten times stronger than an average android’s and they are tweaked to be even faster. That’s why I had glitches when my Frances first repaired me and he could only use the inferior parts that he could salvage at the time.”
Kylan listened with interest as she continued. “Even my skin is far more resilient than any other. My skeleton uses silk based nano-rod fiber and is tougher than any material ever created. It can withstand incredible pressure and the bones will even bend a bit before they spring back to normal, unless they break first.”
She became even more serious, “That gremlin was made using the same technology used to create me, so Anja and I were able to use it to repair both Mitzie and myself. That has me worried about what the wymyn are up to.”
“They should be worried about us, but I’m glad they don’t know we’re coming,” Kye conceded. “Did Replico design your drives or your A.I., too? Mitzie didn’t have anything nearly as advanced as yours.”
“No. That was all Franky,” Portia smiled briefly. “As I was saying, he said that he would not be able to go on living without me. That’s why he wanted me to be able to outlast him. It must also be why he didn’t want me to feel his amount of need, if not devotion. He didn’t want me to really feel his loss when it came.” Portia became quieter, “Now it has, but not like anything that he has prepared me for.”
“I’m here for you,” Kye told her sincerely as he took her hand. It was a human gesture. Portia had learned to use it as well. It was one of the first associations she had made.
“You’re the only other human I trust with what I’m about to show you,” Portia said, “but first we should get things started.” Portia smiled but then she suddenly froze and became stiff. Her eyes went blank as if she were gazing at some far point in the floor.
Kylan looked at her in shock then grabbed her by her bare shoulders and lightly shook her. “Portia!” he cried out. She remained rigid, but she never lost her balance as her automated gyros took over. He fought not to notice how his fleeting thoughts aroused him as his hands felt her skin and she was unable to protest.
He felt ashamed, but just as he was beginning to panic at the thought of her shutting down from Stan’s loss, he heard a door open in another large room. Then he heard the click of many womens' shoes marching in step down the hall towards the lab.
All the Girls that had been in storage walked obediently and precisely into the large chamber while lining themselves in a large formation. They were all still standing at attention when Portia came out of her trance. At that moment Aura became activated once more but she acted as robotic as the other Girls did and joined their ranks.
Portia didn’t remove Kylan’s hands from her like she would have done had it been any other man. “I gave these Girls orders to remove all the equipment from The Vault and to take more supplies from The Lounge.” She then gently brushed Kye’s arms to the side as she took the small purse that Anja had continued to be holding and gave it to Aura.
“Aura’s going to take them back to Franky’s garage where they’ll join the Girls we sent there earlier. They should have set up shop in the mobile labs by now and they will need the data inside that purse. Anja is going patch up Mitzie’s arm and we…” Portia said as she took Kylan’s hand, “We should have that talk, Kye. I really need your insight.” As she led him by the hand to her and Stan’s bedchamber, Kylan’s eyes drifted to her long and very shapely ballroom-dancer legs. She smiled. They had nothing to lose.
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