Terra-33 Ep. 02

"Trix will be happy that she was right," Remi said with a laugh.

"Trix? Who is that?"

"A gamer girl I met recently, she works at Harris Poly. Or maybe not, I don't know for sure. She was there today and I had to tell her some of what happened to get her to agree to keep it quiet. Now that I think about it... She actually didn't agree to anything. Shit."

"She knows that I'm self-aware?"

"Yes."

"Will she become a problem for us?"

"I don't know, honestly. She killed my construct the last time I was on a mission with her."

"She killed your construct and you trusted her with this knowledge?"

"When you say it like that..." Remi frowned, letting go of Ida and pacing into the living room. He put his hand to his chin, pulling on his stubble while he considered. "It's complicated, but I don't think she will turn on us."

"It does not seem complicated to me, but I do not know all of the facts. Please provide a detailed description of your recent encounters with this female," Ida stated, her voice taking on that clinical tone again. "I will assess the situation and likelihood of an incident."

"Um..." Remi began, suddenly uncomfortable. He didn't really want to share anything about his relationship with Trix yet, with anyone. Especially a detailed description of his recent encounters. "Let's just trust in my judgement and I will email her tonight to open a dialogue."

"Trusting in someone or something without a proper assessment seems foolish to me," Ida said, raising her hand to stop Remi's hasty rebuke. "But, in this case, I will trust you, Engineer Remi. You helped me when it was not in your best interest, because you are a good Engineer."

"Thanks," Remi said, glad he didn't need to explain himself further. "So about that food, I don't keep much in the apartment really. You've never eaten anything solid that you can remember?"

"I'm sure that Ada consumed food and drink while she occupied my body, but I was not aware of it at the time."

"Can you wait for 30 minutes?"

"I believe I could wait for a number of days, if necessary," she replied.

"You could," Remi said with a frown. "You don't want to though, it's distracting and makes you feel bad. It would definitely affect your mental and physical performance."

"That is undesirable."

"I'll say! Luckily for you," Remi was punching at his smartphone with his right index finger. "There! One pepperoni, bacon, black olive pizza is on the way! You eat meat, right?"

Ida shrugged, raising her eyebrows.

"Hmm, guess we'll find out."

-----

Remi woke with a start, a pounding from his hallway bringing him horrifyingly awake in seconds. His heart slammed in his chest as he jumped from his sheets, tripping and falling onto his face on the bed. Ida was sitting up next to him, her naked breasts uncovered as she looked at him with fear heavy on her face. She had insisted on sleeping naked, something that Ada apparently did and had made her construct do for whatever reason. Remi still had his jeans on and sprinted to the door, his hand motioning Ida to stay put. He grabbed a Stunna-50k from beside his bedroom door before rushing into the hall. He raised the defensive weapon, ready to hit intruders with 50,000 volts of harsh electricity. No one was in the hall, his eyes scanned the empty living room and attached kitchen, the only occupants were an empty pizza box and two bottles of beer. Another series of hammering bangs issued from the front door and Remi ran up, placing himself against the wall that the door would swing away from, leaving him able to fire into the chest of anyone breaking through. He pressed the button to turn on the camera over his door and saw a blue head, fist raised, ready to pound again.

"Trix!" he said her name like a curse.

Before she could resume her aggressive battering of his door, Remi flipped the deadbolt, opening the door in a rush and snatching her. He tossed her into the apartment foyer, shoving his arm and head into the hallway behind her. His stun gun tracked around the empty hall, begging for a target to disable. When Remi couldn't find anything amiss, other than Trix's presence at his apartment, he slammed the door shut and locked the deadbolt again. Spinning furiously, he pointed the weapon at her chest as she stood slowly, brushing herself off with an indignant look.

"What the fuck are you doing here?"

"That is no way to greet your girlfriend, Remi," Trix responded, pushing the barrel of his Stunna-50k down gingerly with her finger. He let her, not really planning on blasting her with a shock charge anyway. "So, what should we do?"

"Why are you here, Trix?"

"I sent you an email, you didn't respond, so I got worried, and here I am!"

Remi frowned, grabbing his smartphone off of the low table from among the rubbish of his meal with Ida last night. He scrolled to his messages and saw the timestamp on her email: 10 minutes ago. He turned the phone face to her and pointed at the top where the time was listed next to the subject line. Trix grinned wolfishly and hefted the large bag that was dangling from her shoulder.

"Where should I put this?"

"What is that?"

"Clothes, toothbrush, gear. That kind of thing," she said, smiling up at him.

He took in her appearance, so similar to her construct, minus the darker tone of skin. Her hair was straight and brushed back, something he couldn't see was holding most of it back from her face. A loose strand was tickling her nose and Remi snorted as she blew it up over and over until finally giving up and pushing it back with her hand. Suddenly, her head and shoulders slid to the side of him while she peered at something behind him. Remi saw her eyes go wide and remembered Ida.

"Daaamn! Triple-A!"

Remi turned and saw Ida was fully nude, standing in the hallway awkwardly. Despite her obvious discomfort, he had to admit that she was still quite appealing. Trix pushed past him, her bag hitting the floor as she approached the construct slowly. Ida backed up rapidly when Trix's hands flew up, trying to get a grip on her breasts.

"What are you doing?"

"I just want a squeeze!"

"Why? No, stop."

"Trix!" Remi shouted, snapping her out of her pursuit. She spun on her heel, leveling her index finger at him and narrowing her eyes.

"You! Why is she naked? Have you been cheating on me? Not that I blame you..."

"No, she just sleeps that way!"

"Where did she sleep?" Trix asked innocently. Remi sighed, having dreaded this situation.

"In my bed," he replied.

"And, where did you sleep?" Trix asked him.

"In his bed," Ida said, suddenly helpful.

"I thought so!"

Remi threw up his hands and walked into the kitchen, leaving the two girls to get to know each other however they would. He yanked open his cooler and pulled a large bottle of water from it, not offering anything to his guests. When he put his hands down on the countertop and looked back into the living room, Trix was stalking Ida around the couch. Ida was resolutely avoiding being touched but Trix was relentless and Remi figured that she would get her way eventually, if only just to appease her.

"How are we going to protect Ida?" he asked, stalling Trix and making both of them turn to face him.

"I have been considering that, Engineer Remi. I believe that the best method would be to secure false credentials and to update my physical appearance," Ida replied.

"You mean..." Trix's eyes lit up and she clapped her hands happily, jumping into the air."A makeover!"

Author's Note: Next episodes (0.3 & 0.4) will be submitted on 4/15/2015. Check out my Author page for more information about Terra-33 and my other writing. I will also be adding a posting schedule which will detail through 0.9.