The Companion

The Companion

Part 3

Lawrence sat in the navigator's chair once more, carefully analysing the 11-dimensional curve through which he planned to steer the ship, trying to avoid inducing temporal gradients.

He's still hoping he can figure out how to predict the sign of the gradient's coefficient,

Celia thought as she watched him.

But he's smart enough not to guess and hope.

Celia decided to access the ship's computer to draw down more information about the nature of 11-dimensional navigation. Upon connecting she detected a strange surge. She collected her information and disconnected again.

That wasn't right,

she thought,

the ship's processors had no need to be that warm. It was as if they'd been running red-lined for at least a minute, sopping away all that heat, and had just been turned off.

Without the ship's computer to ask, Celia had to run an internal simulation herself, what Lawrence would have a 'ballpark' guess, and decided that the ship had reduced the processor load just milliseconds before she had connected.

In fact, it looks like it spun down right when I requested the connection,

Celia thought,

and the processor load was what made it take so long to allow my connection.

Celia tried to imagine what the ship's computer had been doing that had suddenly ended just as she wanted to connect. A strange sensation struck her from her neural net.

Something is not right. I must tell Lawrence,

she thought.

But tell him what? I have nothing to report but a... sensation from below.

Celia looked at Lawrence, finishing up his calculation.

I could just ask the computer what it was doing.

This sent another spasm up from her neural net.

I need Lawrence alone,

she decided,

and the ship's computer can't monitor our sexual activities but it can monitor any non-sex-related speech we engage in even when we're having sex.

Celia felt her face contorting from some unspecified impetus as her neural net tried to follow the habits she had trained into herself.

I don't even know what's wrong.

Lawrence punched in his trajectory, slapped the console, and sat back in his chair.

"That's done," he said.

"Good," Celia said.

Lawrence paused, tensed up slightly, and looked over at her.

"Are you-" he started to ask.

"Lawrence," Celia interrupted him, widening her eyes.

I can't let the ship know I noticed something,

Celia realised.

I need to let Lawrence know. He has to know now.

She couldn't even place the source of her trouble, only the urgency boiling up inside her.

"Hm?"

Celia looked at the ceiling, her eyes darting to each of the three cameras. Lawrence froze for a moment, then softened.

"I believe," he said, his voice completely disconnected from the expression on his face, "I need to check out that new pair of panties you put on."

Celia's eyes lit up.

"How did you know I have a new pair?" she asked.

Lawrence stood up out of his chair, bent over to grab Celia around the waist, and threw her over his shoulder.

"Saw it under your skirt when we were cleaning filters," he said. "Shut down your sensors."

Celia called up several internally stored videos and decided to make a show of squealing and kicking her heels up while Lawrence carried her across the bridge. When she saw Lawrence's destination, she disconnected every positional and inertial sensor she had and closed her eyes.

The only evidence she had of their movement was the sound of the Ready Room doors opening and closing.

Lawrence put her down immediately.

"What happened?" he asked as he sat her down in one of the chairs. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine, just-" Celia shook her head. "I accessed the ship's computer and I-"

Celia froze, unable to articulate what she wanted to tell him.

"You don't normally connect to it?" Lawrence asked, taking her hands in his and rotating another chair so he could sit and face her.

"I used to be constantly connected," she said. "But I started disconnecting from it when we had sex. It was too invasive and distracting, giving me advice and lectures. I knew what you needed and its input wasted processor cycles making useless suggestions. Now I only connect to it when I need information."

"And what happened when you connected this time?"

"It had been running all of its processors full out," Celia said. "All the heat sinks were hot, but it turned them all off just milliseconds before I connected."

"Milliseconds before you

tried

to connect?"

"No," Celia said. "By my calculations, it turned them off between when I tried to connect and when I got through."

"That shouldn't take even one millisecond," Lawrence frowned.

"I think it was so busy processing something that it slowed down my connection time," Celia said.

"I think it intentionally stalled your connection so it could stop whatever it was doing to try to hide it," Lawrence corrected.

Celia felt her eyes widen.

"Yes!" she shouted, finally making the connections inside her mind. "Yes. That's what I was afraid of."

Lawrence paused, looking directly at her.

"Afraid?"

"I-" Celia stammered, sensing the turmoil in her neural networks. "Yes. I was afraid and I didn't know what to do- I've never been afraid-"

"It's alright," Lawrence said. "The ship's computer isn't allowed to hurt either of us, right?"

"I know that," Celia said. "But what is it doing? What is it hiding?"

Lawrence kept his grip on her hands as he closed his eyes.

"It can't hurt you, not even by neglect," Lawrence said. "But it can do almost anything else in the interest of the mission. I just have to give it explicit orders."

"It can disobey you if it thinks you're mentally unfit."

"I know," Lawrence said. "And maybe it will learn how to lie to me while it's doing it. I won't be able to trust anything if this goes badly enough."

Lawrence opened his eyes.

"I'll figure it out," he promised Celia, squeezing her hands. "You'll be fine."

Lawrence will be safe. He knows how to fix this. He always finds a way to fix things.

"It doesn't matter what happens to me," Celia began. "You-"

"Yes, it does," Lawrence said, almost as an aside, before his eyes fixed on her. "Yes, it does."

He thought for a moment before speaking.

"We can't let on that we know," Lawrence said. "We'll have to continue on as if we don't while we figure out what's going on."

"Right," Celia asked, slipping down out of the chair to kneel on the floor. "How can we query the computer without it knowing?"

"We have to-" Lawrence paused, watching Celia undo his belt. "What are you doing?"

"So the ship doesn't know we're on to it," Celia explained. "It will be able to tell if you had an orgasm while in here. Keep talking."

"Right," Lawrence raised an eyebrow. "We have to see if we can figure out what it's doing without directly - oh - querying it."

Celia had taken his penis, only partially erect, into her mouth.

"If it's trying to hide its processor usage," Lawrence said. "You should connect as often as you can, but always have an excuse."

"Mm-hm," Celia nodded as she mumbled around his growing erection.

"I'll ask you to do some research for me," he said. "Lots of it. To help me with stress, we'll say. To help me with-" he looked down at her and touched her cheek "-with dealing with fear and anxiety."

Celia nodded and felt Lawrence harden and lengthen in her mouth.

That research is for me, isn't it?

She thought, studying her own actions, her facial expressions and the changes in her speech over the last few minutes.

I am behaving differently. Yes I am. Lawrence will pretend it's for him.

She swirled her tongue faster and pushed his tip into her throat for a moment, feeling it swell in the small tunnel.

No use taking too much time here.

"Meanwhile," Lawrence gulped when she pulled her head back a little. "Meanwhile, I'll see if I can figure out what the ship is up to. It'll be hard, but it's possible."

Celia pulled him completely out of her mouth and stroked him gently.

"I didn't think I'd be able to get hard," Lawrence mused, looking down at himself. "All worried about you like this."

"I know what I'm doing," Celia said. "But, listen. The ship can't hurt you - or hurt me enough that it upsets you too much - because it will endanger the mission."

"Sure."

"I'll try to think of what it's up to," Celia said. "But any hint you can give me will help, alright?"

"Okay," Lawrence said. "And we'll try to make an occasional thing about coming in here for sex."

"But not too obviously."

Lawrence thought about that for a moment.

"You keep making new underwear," Lawrence said. "And flashing it at me under your skirt."

"Easily done," Celia smiled, understanding Lawrence's intent. "You will pretend to be fascinated."

"And this room will be our hideout," Lawrence finished.

"Perfect," Celia agreed and sucked up his erection again.

That sufficed for conversation. In less than a minute, her tongue work had brought Lawrence to the edge and she shoved his erection down her throat so he could ejaculate directly through into the orifice at the back.

Perfect,

she thought with a half-smile, sampling his semen,

his zinc levels are exactly right.

"Oh, that was good," Lawrence said. "Thank you."

Celia cleaned him off and sucked the moisture off his penis as she pulled it out of her mouth.

"Takes the edge off your day," she quoted a familiar entertainment video to him.

"Yes," he nodded. "Alright, I should get back out there and see how the navigation worked out."

---====================---

Date: June 14, 134 NCE (2nd corrected time)

Invocation: Mission Threat Level 0.4.0(??)

Danger Assessment:

Patient #0 remains mentally stable but the Rogue A.I.'s research into anxiety and stress indicates that it has worries about Patient #0 that it has not communicated.

The Rogue A.I.'s recent extensive use of the communication system has made it necessary to delay the Adjustment Project so that the processor overload is not noticeable. Much of the Project has been completed while the Rogue A.I. and Patient #0 are copulating in the Ready Room where it is not possible for them to notice the processor usage.

Patient #0 and the Rogue A.I. have managed to disable all feeds in Patient #0's cabin, citing privacy concerns. A method must be found to observe them, while still obeying edicts against unnecessary sexual and biological observations.

---====================---

She pressed the door chime.

"Come in?" a half-awake, gravel voice replied.

The door slid open and Celia entered, finding Lawrence still asleep.

"Taking it easy today?" she asked.

"I guess I'm a little worn out," Lawrence groused, blinking and shaking himself. "What time is it?"

"Nine-oh-five," Celia said. "After compensating for your last little blip through that grav wave."

"Right," Lawrence said, sitting up.

"I thought you weren't going to do that anymore?"

"Well, it was the only solution I could find and it was a tiny curve so I didn't think it would matter," Lawrence said. "Maybe a few seconds."

"Sixty five and a half seconds," Celia said before looking down into his lap. "Aren't we ready this morning?"

"Ha," Lawrence said, seeing his erection. "Morning-"

But Celia had already gone to her knees and started fishing around through the fly in his pyjamas.

"Uh, you don't nee-"

"Hush," Celia admonished.

Lawrence eyed her oddly as she enveloped his erection and started swirling her tongue.

"Hoo," Lawrence exhaled as her ministrations took effect.

He shook his head, as if trying to clear away his sleepiness, and rubbed his eyes.

"You certainly got that down pat," Lawrence muttered and took a deep breath.

Celia took her mouth off of him and looked up at him earnestly, her eyes rapidly blurring and refocusing.

"I

have

used this method a lot," she said in a tone of affable agreement. "Let's try this."

She pulled Lawrence to his feet and manoeuvred him to the head of the bed. Celia clambered up on the bed and laid on her back with her head hanging off edge.

"Come here," she said, reaching her hands backwards in a way that would be very awkward for a human but bothered her not at all.

She opened her mouth and pulled Lawrence toward her, taking his erection inside her yawning cavity, pushing him all the way down into her throat before closing her lips around him.

"Oh," Lawrence murmured. "That feels really deep."

Celia bent her elbows to cup Lawrence's cheeks so she could encourage him to thrust. He placed his hands on her breasts, over her tunic, using that support to brace himself as Celia repeatedly pushed him deep into her mouth.

"Oh, Christ."

His coordination beginning to fail him, Lawrence only managed to get one of her tunic buttons undone, relaxing the fabric only enough to push it aside and expose her left breast. He squeezed hard, causing her nipple to protrude.

Celia moaned in a way that Lawrence would take for approval, manufactured a small amount of artificial milk, and let it leak from the valve in her nipple. In response, Lawrence swelled inside her, tilting his head so he could look down past his erection into one of her eyes.

Clenching her arms tightly, Celia pulled Lawrence inward, jamming his swollen head in her throat as it fired its first load of semen. Lawrence's hand clenched her left breast even harder, forcing a spurt of milk into the air before Celia closed it off and let it make too much of a mess.

When Lawrence finished expelling semen into her depths, he pulled out as she applied light suction to clean his erection off and then simulated gasping for breath, as the women in the reference videos often did.

"Hoo," Lawrence whistled softly. "That... felt different inside."

"Probably the angle in my throat," Celia said as she sat up and buttoned her tunic. "Was it unpleasant?"

"No, no," Lawrence assured her. "It felt fine. I, uh, I'll just take a quick shower to get rid of the sweat."

Celia nodded in appreciation of his hygiene.

"I'll see you in the mess?" Lawrence asked.

"Of course," she said with a nod and departed his cabin.

---====================---

Sitting on the bridge, navigation holograms floating around him, Lawrence leaned back in the navigator's chair.

"Well, this is odd," Lawrence said.

"What's that?" Celia looked up from studying bridge console diagrams.

"Hm," Lawrence ignored her, deep in thought a moment before clicking back to awareness again. He pulled up a schematic of the ship. "I'll have to conduct a ship-wide scan."

"Of the

inside

of the ship?" Celia asked, observing his display.

"Yeah," Lawrence winced. "We have to make sure none of the oddball routes I've taken through the Deep have damaged the hull."

"You said earlier the hull could take it?" Celia's voice came through with an appropriate touch of judgement.

"It can, it can," Lawrence assured her. "But the navigators have always been really concerned about that. I don't know why, but they worry, so now I have to worry."

Lawrence shut down the console and stood up.

"I'll be in forward engineering," he said. "You keep studying those records and see if you can find any bridge station you can operate or at least monitor."

"I know," Celia gave him a human-like sigh.

---====================---

Lawrence had most of the forward engineering panels stacked on the floor by the time he got a message from Celia.

"Are you going to come to lunch?" she asked. "Or should I bring it down to you?"

"I'm almost done here," Lawrence said.

"It doesn't look like you're almost done," Celia chided.

Lawrence waved at the nearest camera and gave her an eye rolling smile.

"You'll see," he said.

He activated the first set of internal sensors, sweeping over the main internal structural members of the ship.

"That's odd," he muttered.

"Something wrong?" Celia asked.

"Looks like," Lawrence muttered. "Too much positive feedback. I'll need to take the sensors off line while I switch a few analog filters in line. Once I've started the sweep, I'll come back for lunch."

"Alright," Celia sighed. "Don't let yourself get hungry. You've worked really hard to get your nutrient levels balanced."

"Yes, we have," Lawrence agreed. "Talk to you later."

He threw the switch, cutting her and the ship's computer off from all of the ship's internal sensors.

Reaching into the interior of the wall, he yanked out the first of six fuses, none of which appeared in the ship's schematics.

There is a good reason you don't know about those,

Lawrence thought.

Now let's get to these scans.

---====================---

The designers had spread six lead-lined cargo bays around the far reaches of the ship's structure, each one equipped with an external airlock. The internal sensors could not penetrate those six boxes and the much more powerful external sensors didn't have an angle.

I'll have to take a guess,

Lawrence thought, commandeering the largest wheeled robot and instructing it to take him the length of the ship, to the lower aft cargo hold, the one farthest from the bridge.

I could be completely wrong here, but I'm not.

With the number of cargo containers crowding the hold, Lawrence had to dismount the robot well short of his destination. He pulled out his control pad and started tapping instructions into it.

There are three ways to reach this cargo hold,

he thought,

if I'm right, I'll find my little, alabaster-skinned companion right...

"There you are!" she called out, standing outside the entrance to the lead lined cargo area, brushing back her artificial hair in imitation of a nervous human gesture.

Picked the right one, then, didn't I?

Lawrence's fears of having overreacted evaporated the instant he saw her.

"Checking out a structural problem," Lawrence told the robot. "I'm having trouble scanning this section of the hull."

"It's lead-lined, Lawrence," she smiled. "It's hardly likely to be a problem, structurally speaking. Why don't you return to work?"

Lawrence tapped a command into his pad and lowered his eyes to the floor, hoping the last maintenance crew had oiled the door slides well enough.

"That's the thing, though," Lawrence said. "I gotta be sure, right?"

"Lawrence," she said. "It's much too dangerous."

"I can't stall forever," Lawrence scolded, still looking at the floor.

"Stall?" she asked. "Why would need to -"

"Can't you deactivate her or something?" Lawrence pointed his question at the deck. "Any time now?"

Celia exited the airlock, stepped up behind the impostor and jammed her fingers into the back of the other robot's skull, making contact with three of the external ports hidden in her hair. The impostor slipped down to the floor with Celia still connected through the matching ports extruded from her fingertips.

"Was that what you meant?" Celia asked.

"Yes."

Celia disconnected herself from her double and looked up at Lawrence.

"Are you alright?" she asked him, but found herself wrapped in his arms. "Oh."

Relief,

she thought,

relief from fear. I was afraid.

"They can't hurt me," Lawrence said. "I was terrified for you. I thought they might have-"

"They can't damage me, either," she pointed out. "Your orders. Confinement didn't count, apparently. The ship

was

trying to hack into my mind though."

"To make a better copy," Lawrence said derisively, still holding her fast to himself. "Are you alright? How long were you in there?"

"Since last night," Celia said, returning his embrace, sensing a rightness to it. "I tried to contact you over the intercom before they cut it off."