street, until he crashed into a parked water sprite and slid to the ground like a crumpled dragon.
This town is a nut house
! I thought and looked around. Nuts would be good, though. I realized again that I hadn't eaten in over a day and I walked back to the hotel's restaurant.
I was enjoying a fresh meal of mock steak, genetically modified native veggies grown in Earth-Type artificial sunlight, vat-grown sweet potatoes, and beans made from desalinated sea-foam polyps. Dessert was a helping of yapple pudding, and coffee with mother's milk-crème of Tarhanth. What the hell was a Tarhanth? I wondered as I drank it. Well, it tasted good.
Huff came into the restaurant and smiled as he walked to my table. “May I sit here?” he asked and pointed to a chair.
“Sure.”
“You look well, Jules.”
“I feel human again.”
“Is that a good thing?” He sat down.
“It is if you're a human.” I sipped the last of the coffee. Do you know what a Tarhanth is?”
“Oh, yes. A native species of Fartherland. Somewhat like your Earth's Tarantulas, except larger and hairier.”
“Spiders?” I stared at my empty cup. “But…spiders don't give milk.”
“Oh.” He chuckled. “Mother's milk-crème of Tarhanth. They extrude a white liquid from their anal glands for their young to lick. Did you drank it with your coffee?”
“I don't want to talk about it.” I spread a hand across my stomach. “Huff, do you know if there's a star positioning system in town that I can use?”
“An SPS?”
“Yes, Huff, an SPS.”
“No.”
“No, you don't know, or no, there isn't one?”
“No, I don't know if there isn't one.”
“Fine!”
“I'm sorry, Jules. If I knew, I would be smiles to tell you.”
“I know. It's OK.” I got up and patted his shoulder. I went to the counter, paid for my meal, asked the waiter about the SPS, and was told that only the government had those systems. The government. That would be General Ki Rowdinth and his rat pack.
“Huff,” I said on my way out, “if you want a meal, go for it. It's on me. No, wait! It's not actually on me. And I mean
ask
for it, OK?” Who knows where the hell he'd go looking for it. I nodded to the waiter and gestured toward him.
He glanced at Huff and nodded back. Considering that he was a Cleocean, that couldn't have been easy to do.
I walked down the street feeling lost among the revelers and paused before a closed office with iron gates protecting its plate-glass window, and the androids behind it.
COMPANION DROIDS Inc.
Replace A Loved One
Your Specifications
Grown Right Here on Fartherland
Short Waiting Period
Financing available with good credcount
With a lack of females of all races, except for native Vermakts, and gold miners making creds they never dreamed of, the plant behind the office, the largest building in town, probably did a thriving business.
I leaned against a lamppost with my hands in my pockets and gazed at the finished models and the new blank ones behind the dark glass. I won't go into the ethics of A.I. androids who could respond like humans, but as I studied a blank-faced female model, I thought of Willa and mentally sculpted her features onto it.
The Government on planet Alpha kept a bank of DNA samples from members of all willing races, taken at birth. I could buy an exact replica of Willa, capable of learning and programmed to respond to my instructions, sexually functional and responsive, but not flesh and blood. That was against the law. Whatever materials they used looked so close to real, I'd heard people say that they forget it's a replica. I had the creds for it. But did I have the desire for a replicant?
“How come a great-looking tag like you looks so lonely?” a woman said as she stopped between me and the plate-glass window. She broadened her wide, cherry-red lips into a crooked smile. “How about the real thing?” Her black eyes held the allure of night, set in an olive skin tone with sculptured cheekbones
This town is a nut house
! I thought and looked around. Nuts would be good, though. I realized again that I hadn't eaten in over a day and I walked back to the hotel's restaurant.
I was enjoying a fresh meal of mock steak, genetically modified native veggies grown in Earth-Type artificial sunlight, vat-grown sweet potatoes, and beans made from desalinated sea-foam polyps. Dessert was a helping of yapple pudding, and coffee with mother's milk-crème of Tarhanth. What the hell was a Tarhanth? I wondered as I drank it. Well, it tasted good.
Huff came into the restaurant and smiled as he walked to my table. “May I sit here?” he asked and pointed to a chair.
“Sure.”
“You look well, Jules.”
“I feel human again.”
“Is that a good thing?” He sat down.
“It is if you're a human.” I sipped the last of the coffee. Do you know what a Tarhanth is?”
“Oh, yes. A native species of Fartherland. Somewhat like your Earth's Tarantulas, except larger and hairier.”
“Spiders?” I stared at my empty cup. “But…spiders don't give milk.”
“Oh.” He chuckled. “Mother's milk-crème of Tarhanth. They extrude a white liquid from their anal glands for their young to lick. Did you drank it with your coffee?”
“I don't want to talk about it.” I spread a hand across my stomach. “Huff, do you know if there's a star positioning system in town that I can use?”
“An SPS?”
“Yes, Huff, an SPS.”
“No.”
“No, you don't know, or no, there isn't one?”
“No, I don't know if there isn't one.”
“Fine!”
“I'm sorry, Jules. If I knew, I would be smiles to tell you.”
“I know. It's OK.” I got up and patted his shoulder. I went to the counter, paid for my meal, asked the waiter about the SPS, and was told that only the government had those systems. The government. That would be General Ki Rowdinth and his rat pack.
“Huff,” I said on my way out, “if you want a meal, go for it. It's on me. No, wait! It's not actually on me. And I mean
ask
for it, OK?” Who knows where the hell he'd go looking for it. I nodded to the waiter and gestured toward him.
He glanced at Huff and nodded back. Considering that he was a Cleocean, that couldn't have been easy to do.
I walked down the street feeling lost among the revelers and paused before a closed office with iron gates protecting its plate-glass window, and the androids behind it.
COMPANION DROIDS Inc.
Replace A Loved One
Your Specifications
Grown Right Here on Fartherland
Short Waiting Period
Financing available with good credcount
With a lack of females of all races, except for native Vermakts, and gold miners making creds they never dreamed of, the plant behind the office, the largest building in town, probably did a thriving business.
I leaned against a lamppost with my hands in my pockets and gazed at the finished models and the new blank ones behind the dark glass. I won't go into the ethics of A.I. androids who could respond like humans, but as I studied a blank-faced female model, I thought of Willa and mentally sculpted her features onto it.
The Government on planet Alpha kept a bank of DNA samples from members of all willing races, taken at birth. I could buy an exact replica of Willa, capable of learning and programmed to respond to my instructions, sexually functional and responsive, but not flesh and blood. That was against the law. Whatever materials they used looked so close to real, I'd heard people say that they forget it's a replica. I had the creds for it. But did I have the desire for a replicant?
“How come a great-looking tag like you looks so lonely?” a woman said as she stopped between me and the plate-glass window. She broadened her wide, cherry-red lips into a crooked smile. “How about the real thing?” Her black eyes held the allure of night, set in an olive skin tone with sculptured cheekbones
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