CHAPTER 10

Desire

PRIMERIS HAD BEEN resting for almost two hours when she felt Chantelle move. Fifteen minutes earlier, Jain had quietly entered the room to check on them and then ordered the dog out.

"Dinner will be ready in thirty minutes," she whispered and left, shutting the door softly.

An arm snaked across Primeris' ribcage and came to rest on her stomach. When the hand curled against her side, Primeris waited to see what would happen next. It wasn't the first time a woman had embraced her in such a manner. Chantelle' hand began to move slowly back and forth. The message was clear.

Rolling over, she pushed Chantelle onto her back, startling her awake.

"You want me to make love to you," Primeris said calmly.

"What?" Chantelle asked groggily, dazed from the strange awakening.

"You want me to make love to you," Primeris repeated. "I know how to pleasure women."

"What are you talking about? And what are you doing?" Get off of me," Chantelle demanded and pressed her hands against the woman's chest.

Primeris' lips twitched. She knew many women liked playing hard to get. It was a foolish human game. Grasping both of Chantelle's wrists, she maneuvered them into her left hand and then arched slightly backward to put distance between her body and the soft one pressed beneath her. Gently but firmly, she cupped Chantelle's chin in her right hand.

"Obviously, I misspoke. You simply want sex. Most women prefer to hear the word 'love' when I'm pleasing them."

"I don't know what most women prefer, but I know what I don't want." Chantelle struggled to pull her hands free from the iron grip.

This time, Primeris smiled, although her eyes remained emotionless. Releasing Chantelle's chin, she trailed her fingers down the young woman's neck and paused over the pulsing vein near her collarbone.

"Why are you pretending you don't want me? I feel your heart pounding and I can smell the hormones raging through your body." Her fingertips continued to stroke the area above Chantelle's breasts. Slowly the fingers moved in circular motions. The skin on Chantelle's arms pebbled up with goose-bumps. "Your body betrays you."

"There's more to making love than sex. I have no doubt you perform well. You'd probably make me orgasm, but it still wouldn't be satisfying — it would lack emotion."

The insult didn't escape Primeris, nor did the tear trickling down Chantelle's left cheek. Surprisingly, both bothered her. She released her grip. Pushing up and away, she shifted to the edge of the bed and then stood.

"I've never forced myself on any woman."

"I don't imagine you need to. You obviously aren't used to rejection either." Chantelle sat up, quickly wiped her cheek and then rubbed her wrists to get the circulation back into her hands. "You're very strong."

"I didn't mean to hurt you. I forgot how delicate hu... women are."

Primeris didn't like the verbal slip. Her damaged processor was creating more problems than she anticipated. Distracted, she didn't see the fleeting shock on Chantelle's face.

"You were going to say 'humans,' weren't you?" Primeris hesitated. "I know who you are, Primeris."

"You mean 'what.' Solaria told you. She's too trusting of humans."

"If I had meant 'what,' I'd have said 'what.' You're no more a what than I am. And if it weren't for Solaria telling me about you, you'd be dead by now."

"Hubots don't die... Not in the sense you mean."

Chantelle shook her head.

"Dead is dead. And yes, there's a lot I don't understand right now. You look and sound human. Maybe you don't have a brain like us. So what? Your processors seem to work just fine, as does the rest of you. Solaria said that both of you are Hubots. It's hard to believe science has come so far, but here you are."

Primeris tilted her head slightly as if contemplating some great mystery. "Your calm acceptance isn't logical."

"And I'd say your reactions aren't either. Maybe your quest to be human is winning over your determination to stay a machine."

"You're mistaken," Primeris said.

"I don't think so. When you saved Jain and I, you crossed that threshold."

"My decision was logical."

"How so? We didn't know anything about you."

"Exactly," Primeris said. "Major Simpson's action was unnecessary. He forced me into making a decision to correct the situation."

"By saving Jain and me? Even I know it would have made more sense to just kill us once we were captured. Your decision wasn't that of a machine — it was a human one."

It was true. The moment Chantelle and Jain were seized, they were dead. Jain's death wouldn't have mattered. Limited collateral damage was acceptable. Chantelle's death, however, would have been different. No amount of logic could erase the sense of wrongness. Waves of exhaustion overwhelmed Primeris, sapping her energies. She didn't want to think about this now.

"My energy is low," Primeris said.

"I'm not surprised. You must be exhausted," Chantelle said. "Your injuries —"

"— are healed," Primeris finished, wanting to end the conversation.

"No, they aren't! Frankly, I'm too tired to argue. Let's just rest and we can deal with everything else later. I hope I don't have to worry about you assaulting me while I sleep," Chantelle teased.

"You're safe," Primeris replied, seriously.

"I was teas... Never mind." Chantelle closed her eyes and relaxed.

Unsure how to respond and badly in need of rest, Primeris lay next to her. Powering down one of her processors, she felt a part of her slipping into darkness.