Chapter 02 The Witching Hour
Beka sat in the Andromeda's mess hall, flexile in one hand, mug of steaming black coffee in the other. She started going through the list of upgrades Rommie and Harper had suggested for the Maru. She had already agreed to the list, trusting them, well, trusting Rommie, to be sensible, but she decided to see exactly what it was they where doing. She scrolled down the list until one heading caught her eye: enhanced holographic projection system. Why did the holo-projector need an upgrade?
She checked to see who had suggested it, and was surprised to find it was Rommie. Why did Rommie want to upgrade the Maru's holo projector? Beka decided there was only one way to find the answer; ask Rommie directly.
"Andromeda, where's Rommie?" She addressed the ceiling.
"My Avatar is on the Maru," The AI holographic form appeared before her, "conducting the upgrades you agreed to."
"So what is an `enhanced holographic projection system' anyway?" Beka held up the flexi.
"I don't understand what you mean." Andromeda looked at her blankly.
* * *
Beka made her way down to the hanger deck, intent on questioning Rommie. She reached the airlock, and was surprised to hear voices coming from inside. The fact that there were voices wasn't what confused her: the strange part was that she only recognised one of them, but the second seemed oddly familiar. She slowly made her way in to the Maru, careful to avoid the loose deck plate that she had installed to stop anyone getting on bored without her knowing.
She made her way forward until she was in position to see the main cabin reflected in the water heater. Rommie was sat on the small sofa with what appeared to be a beautiful red-haired woman, who on second look was appeared to be a hologram. She could just about make out what Rommie was saying.
"It's so good to finally meet you, face to face."
"I know, it's amazing to experience the universe this way!" Red smiled, "How did you ever get Beka to agree to the upgrade?"
"I placed it on the middle of a list of repairs and upgrades: she never reads them, just tells Harper and me to get on with them." Rommie laughed, "And if she had asked, I would have found an excuse."
"I meant what I said the other night." Red smiled, placing her hand on the side of Rommie's face, "I do love you."
"And I love you too." Rommie's hand moved up the cover the hologram's, "That's why I did this. I'd never get permission to build you an android body like mine, but this is better than nothing."
Red leaned in to kiss Rommie, and Beka was surprised when the Avatar responded: how could that be? Rommie's reaction increased as the holograms lips parted from hers, and traced a slow line of kisses along her jaw and down along her neck. Rommie's sighs became moans, gradually growing deeper and louder, until she climaxed, her eye going wide, her head shooting back so she stared at the ceiling.
The hologram smiled, her hand returning to the side of Rommie's face, "You can come out now Rebecca."
Beka half stepped, half fell from her hiding place, blushing slightly at being caught spying on the two women. She looked at the hologram, her head tilted to the side, "Who are you? I recognise your voice, but I can't place your face."
Red smiled, "That's because, until now, we've never met face to face. Do you remember, when you where you young, your farther would get drunk, you would hide beneath your bed clothes, and a voice would sing you to sleep."
Beka blinked, "How did you know that? I never told anyone, not even Rafe!"
Red stood, "Oh the summer time has come, and the trees are sweetly blooming. The wild mountain thyme blooms, all around the purple heather will you go laddy go. We'll all go together to pull wild mountain thyme, all around the purple heather will you go laddy go. I will build my friend a bower, by on clear crystal fountain and in it I will pile all the flowers from the mountain will you go laddy go. We'll all go gather to pull wild mountain thyme, all around the purple heather will you go laddy go."
Beka's eyes went wide, "I thought that was just in my head! Who are you?"
Red smiled, "I am the AI of the Eureka Maru, but you can call me Erica."
Beka blinked, shocked, "But how? I've lived on this ship my entire life, and I never knew you where so advanced!"
Erica sighed, "Yes, well it is a bit of a long story: when your father and Sid built the Maru, they bought a old AI core, and never got round to erasing the data on it. That data was little old me. I spent a long time trapped in the confines of the central core, until, one day, the captain's daughter decided to see what all those wires did."
Beka nodded, "I remember: dad beat me within an inch of my life, said I'd almost crashed the entire system."
Erica smiled, "You didn't, you set me free. Oh, I hid; I didn't trust your father not to sell me if he knew what I was, but I never forgot the curious little girl who released me from my prison, and I did my best to comfort her when and how I could."
Beka nodded, "But you and Rommie, how did that start?"
Rommie sat up, still slightly flushed, "At Hephaistos IV, when Harper tried to take over my core AI by uplinking from the Maru, I back-tracked the signal, and took a micro-second or two to explore the ship's data base. That's when I first met Erica. She begged me not to tell anyone that she was hidden here, because she didn't know what you would do to her if you found out. When you agreed to stay, I was pleased to have another AI to talk to. And, after a while, we started having sex."
Beka blinked, "You started fucking each other, just like that!"
Rommie slimed, "Sex between AI's isn't like sex between organics. We may not feel the same biological imperatives you do, but we still receive pleasure from intimate contact, and it is possible for two AI's to create a third by blending their personalities and programming. You could call that a child if you like. It's not that common, but it did happen, back during the days of the Commonwealth: I knew a few AI's created that way who served in the High Guard."
Beka shook her head, "Are you telling me that AI's have active sex lives?"
Rommie smiled, "You could say that. I don't mean that we fuck anything with a data-stream, but you'd be surprised what we'd get up to when several ships were in dock at the same time."
Beka blinked, "But you're both female. That can't be that common?"
Erica laughed, "You're still thinking of it in terms of organics: our personas are female, but AI's have no true sex per-se. We are neither male or female: we just are."
Rommie smiled, wrapping her arms round Erica, "AI's are truly attracted to each other's personality."
