The Bonding Ritual Ch. 06-10

Chapter 6

The city was much busier after breakfast as we stepped out onto the street. Isadora leaned on me for support as I guided us toward the main entrance of my university. We took our time since we weren't in any rush.

"So what do you study?" Isadora asked.

"Robotics, I love the creation process and losing myself in building something new and unique. I've been making robots since I was a kid," I told her about some of my creations over the years.

"My roommate at my college was also really passionate about robotics. She was two years older than me, but we became really close friends during my first two years," she reminisced about her time in college.

"What was your major?" I asked.

She smiled, "I studied software engineering. Kind of like you, as a kid, I would play around hacking my mom's terminal to make it do silly things. She would always laugh at the things I'd make it do, even if it frustrated her sometimes to find her computer in a different state than what she expected. I always dreamt of figuring out how to fix the nanites that infested our world. Even if better minds than mine have tried for thousands of years."

"I'm sure you'll find a way. Sometimes, it takes a different perspective even if millions of people have tried, I have no doubt that you can make a difference," she smiled, her head tilting down slightly and resting it on my shoulder. She tightened her grip on me, causing her pillowy breasts to press into my upper arm. I had to take a couple of relaxing breaths as blood rushed from my head to other parts. I wasn't used to this type of attention from women.

"Hey, James!" a voice yelled out from across the quad as we were walking. It broke us from our conversation as I looked up to see who was calling me. Mark, one of my friends, was running over to us.

We stopped as Mark reached us. He was more athletic and social around campus, but we became friends after he intervened in an incident where some drunk frat guy decided I was the perfect target for some hazing ritual. Afterward, we found out we were both big gamers. We even started a gaming group that gets together at least once a week to try out all sorts of games from video games to board games.

"Oh, hey Mark, how are you?" I asked. He was always smiling and energetic, as if unable to stand still.

"Great," he looked over at Isadora on my arm, "But not as great as you from the looks of it. Want to introduce me to your friend?"

"Oh, um- Of course, Isadora, this is my friend, Mark. Mark, this is Isadora, she's..." I quickly tried to come up with a story, but Isadora interrupted.

"Nice to meet you Mark, James was just giving me a tour of the campus. I was thinking about coming here next semester. Unfortunately, I sprained my ankle so James is just helping me out," she stretched out her free hand to shake Mark's hand.

"Always the lucky one, James! Does this mean you'll finally give me April's number?" Mark had been begging me to introduce him to April. I tried casually mentioning Mark to her once, but she didn't seem interested, so I dropped it.

"Oh, who's April?" Isadora asked.

"I tutor her for physics once a week," I kept it simple, although I could feel my cheeks warming.

"Yeah, you tutor one of the hottest women on campus," Mark added. "Of course, nothing compared to you, Isadora," Mark flirted. He was always much more comfortable with the opposite sex than I was, although still managed to be single despite his best efforts.

"Will you give me private one-on-one tutoring sessions too, James?" she teased.

"If he won't, I will. By the way, has he given you a tour of the dorms yet? I'd be more than happy to show you," he wasn't shy about shooting his shot.

"Actually, James already has that covered," Isadora winked.

"I get it, I get it," Mark laughed, raising his arms in surrender. "So, this why you skipped out on game night this week?"

"No, I was working on Miss Ice Queen's project all night," Mark knew who I was talking about. I'd spent many game nights complaining about her.

"And?" he asked, wanting to hear the rest of the story.

"Let's just say it went as well as could be expected," I wasn't quite ready to re-live the experience just yet. "I'll tell you more about it next time."

"Alright, well we all voted that you are buying drinks next time, so don't be late!" he turned to Isadora, "You are welcome to come along too if you want."

"Thanks, maybe I will," Isadora said.

"Ok, I've gotta get to practice, see you Wednesday, 8 pm!" Mark turned around, heading toward the stadium, and jogged away, pulling out his phone and putting his ear buds into his ear.

"He seems nice," Isadora settled back into my arms.

"Yeah, he's a good guy, easy to get along with, and a good friend that always has your back," I said as we continued our walk toward the doctor's office.

"So, tell me more about April?" Isadora asked, bumping me with her hip.

"There's not much to tell. I've tutored her for a few months in Physics," I explained, feeling myself growing nervous just bringing up the topic of April.

"So late nights tutoring 'one of the hottest women on campus' must be quite interesting. Any practical physics experiments? Maybe some experiments on forces of attraction?" I could tell she was going to enjoy teasing me as much as April.

"I- Wha-" My brain had completely shut down, as was usually the case in these situations.

As if sensing my nervousness, Isadora squeezed my hand in hers. She turned her head and pressed her lips to my cheek, her kiss electrifying my skin. She pulled back slightly until I could feel her soft breath against my ear. She whispered, "I don't mind sharing you, James. I'm not the jealous type."

I think I forgot to breathe. I take that back, she was definitely worse than April.

"Don't worry, when we bond, I'll be the perfect wing-woman," she said innocently smiling.

Thankfully, we arrived at the doctor's office before I died of embarrassment. I pushed the door open and escorted Isadora into the room. The same doctor who saw me yesterday was on shift today.

"Aw, James, welcome back! Another accident?" the doctor asked, standing up from her desk.

"No, not me. I was giving my friend here a tour of the campus. Unfortunately, she tripped on a rock. I think it is just sprained, but we thought it was best if you checked it out," I explained.

"Of course, have a seat on the bed. I'll be right with you, I just need to grab my things," the doctor walked over to a cabinet across the room as I helped Isadora up onto the bed.

"Another hottie, you think she does house visits?" she whispered in my ear. I think Isadora had begun to realize just how easy it was to make me nervous. "Just look at those curves, I don't see any panty lines either," she squeezed my hand, motioning with her eyes toward the other side of the room where the doctor was bending over to pick out some equipment.

Her uniform definitely did not leave much to the imagination. Before long, the doctor came back and began checking Isadora's blood pressure, heart rate, and oxygen levels. Then, started asking her where it hurt as she moved her hands along Isadora's ankle. Occasionally, she would squeeze my hand tighter when the doctor touched a tender area. She checked the range of motion and flexibility.

"Well, definitely not broken, but it is sprained. It will be sensitive for a few days. I suggest you keep your leg elevated and ice it at least once an hour for the next couple of days. If the pain or swelling is too much for you, take one of these once every 6 hours," the doctor gave us a prescription for pain medication. "Any questions?"

"No, so I should stay in bed and keep my legs elevated and iced," Isadora repeated back.

"Yup," the doctor turned toward me. "And how is your cut?"

I hadn't even thought about it since leaving the office yesterday. I looked down at the injury, "I haven't had the chance to clean it today. I'll do that as soon as I get home."

"Nonsense, you are here now, let me have a look," she began undressing the bandages. As soon as she finished exposing the injury she looked perplexed. "What happened?"

"What do you mean?" I looked down at where the injury was. The stitches were still there, but the cut had almost healed. It barely looked like a scratch now. I was shocked, "Wha-"

The doctor ran her fingers across the stitches that were still embedded in my skin, "I need to remove these to have a look." She quickly grabbed a scalpel and very carefully, began to cut the stitches. Then, taking a pair of tweezers, she extracted the rest from where the wound was.

"I've never seen a wound heal so quickly before. This looks like 2 weeks of healing in 12 hours!" she said, examining the injury. "Did something happen?"

I couldn't tell her what actually happened, "No, I just headed home and slept all night."

"What about this metal thing on your arm, what is this?" she ran her fingers across the bracer on my arm.

I tried to come up with some explanation on the spot, "Erm- Some friends of mine are doing a cosplay thing later this afternoon."

"Hmmmmm..." she looked to be in thought. "Well, you don't need the stitches anymore, and I'm happy that it has healed so fast, even if it is abnormal. Please, just keep an eye on it and let me know if anything happens, okay?"

"I'll make sure nothing happens to him doctor," Isadora slid from the bed back into my arms.

"Here's my personal number. Don't hesitate to give me a call if anything else happens with that cut," she scribbled her number on a small scrap of paper and handed it to me. Above her number, she'd written 'Emily.'

"Thanks, Dr. Emily, we appreciate this and all your help," we headed out the door toward the campus.

"Look at you, stud, getting that hot doctor's phone number," Isadora winked.

"It's- It's not like that. Sh- She was probably just concerned about the rapid healing," I said, stumbling over some of my words.

"You're so cute when you get nervous like that," she smiled, squeezing into me as we retraced our steps off campus. "So, you said we had to make another stop before showing me your place?"

"Yeah, it's close by. Then we can get you off your feet," I said.

"Already thinking about getting me into your bed James?" she smiled.

"Wha- It's not like..." Isadora interrupted me.

"You're so cute when you get flustered," she said giggling. I'd have to get used to this teasing. I didn't know how long Isadora would be around, but I was intent on making sure she was safe.

"So how did you get that cut on your arms?" Isadora asked with genuine concern.

"Well, the short story is that a psychotic robot bird attacked me," I said, looking at the confused look on Isadora's face. "It'll make more sense when we get to my workspace, and I'll fill you in on the whole story then."

"Will I get to see some of your creations?" She asked excitedly.

"Yeah, I have a couple of robots that still work, and you'll get to meet Sam," I said, telling her a little bit about my friend and owner of the Timeless Relic.

I'd just finished the story about how Sam and I met when we reached the front of the store. Both of us looked over at the factory with trepidation as if half expecting the crazy blonde to jump out at any second, but no movement was seen. The bell jingled as we opened the store door and the smell of antiques filled the air as we stepped in.

"I love it! This reminds me of a shop I used to visit in my city. It had all sorts of old historical items. I put together one of my first computers from scrap parts from someplace like this. It didn't match the processing power of the latest tech of course, but it has a special place in my heart because I built it. I even wrote one of my first programs on it," she said enthusiastically as she took in her surroundings. I got this feeling in my chest I'd never experienced before every time she got excited over something.

"I hope to see some of your creations one of these days," I said, genuinely hoping that I would get that opportunity.

"Is that you James?" I heard Sam's voice call from the back.

"Yeah, where are you?" I called out, as we made our way toward the back of the store.

Sam poked his head out from behind one of the shelves, "I got a new shipment this morning, just sorting through it." He looked at Isadora hanging onto my arm, "Who's your friend?" Sam stood up, dusting his hands off.

"Sam, this is Isadora," Sam stepped closer and reached his hand out. Isadora reached out to take his hand and shook it.

"I've heard so much about you Sam, it's nice to meet you!" Isadora said.

"James never told me he had a girlfriend," Sam said as he released Isadora's hand and stepped back.

"We just met last night actually," I said. I didn't want to burden Sam with the specifics. "I stopped off for a bite to eat after everything that happened and we kinda bumped into each other."

"Well, Isadora, it's nice to meet you. Just let me know if James here does anything wrong. I'll set him straight," Sam smiled.

"Thank you, he's been a perfect gentleman so far," Isadora's infectious smile spread across her face.

"It's about time you met someone. I was worried you were going to grow up with just your robots for company!" Sam laughed.

"I've only known him for a short time, but I can already tell you that you don't have anything to worry about," Isadora said.

"Good to hear, you two look cute together. I remember when Ashley and I first met, I knew it from the moment I saw here that she was the one," Sam always lit up when he spoke about his late wife. I'd already mentioned Ashley to Isadora on our way over.

"When you feel that connection, you just know," Isadora looked at me with that soul-piercing gaze, smiling deeply.

"I guess that's why you forgot to send me a message last night?" Sam asked me.

"Sorry about that, my phone ran out of battery for some reason and I crashed before I could charge it," I hated lying to Sam, but I just didn't think he would understand everything going on.

"That's alright, I'm just glad you are alright. Was worried about you after everything you went through yesterday. Anyway, I hope to see you around Isadora. I've gotta get back to this shipment," Sam started to turn toward the box he was unpacking, but then turned back toward me, "Oh before I forget, a courier dropped off a package for you this morning. I left it on your desk in the back room."

"Thanks," I wasn't expecting anything today, but I sometimes ordered or bid on random parts online that I think might be useful.

I led Isadora through the back door into my workshop, turning the light on. Boxes of random parts were littered around my space. Some contained working robots, others had prototypes or half-built pieces I hoped to use in the future. There was a whiteboard that I used to sketch out various ideas, including some of my thoughts about how to make Aurora work. There was a slight pang in my chest thinking about what happened.

"Wow, this is amazing James," Isadora looked all around. I pulled out my work chair to let her sit down. "So what happened to this one?" Isadora looked at the scattered pieces on my workbench.

"This is- was Aurora, my project for one of my classes. I created something that could've changed robotics forever. She quite possibly could've been one of the first sentient robots ever built," I grasped the edges of my workspace, my nails digging into it as I stared down at the destruction before me.

Isadora slid the chair closer to me, wrapping her arms around my waist with a comforting hug.

"My teacher destroyed it because she thought it was fake and it was during my presentation yesterday that I got this," pointing at the scratch along my arm.

"Your teacher did that?" Isadora asked.

"No, another student, Eric, tried attacking Aurora with his robot. I stepped in and blocked it. The damn robot had razor-sharp claws," I said.

"So why did you get in trouble? Wasn't the other student at fault?"

"Aurora managed to hack into the robot and well... let's just say she didn't like the fact that I was injured. She didn't hurt anyone, but she definitely scared the shit out of Eric," I actually laughed a little, remembering how scared he got seeing his own creation turned against him.

"How did this happen then?" she looked at the wreckage on the workbench.

"I went to see the doctor," I started.

"Dr. Sexy," Isadora interjected.

"Dr. Emily," I continued. "And when I got back, my teacher was trying to decipher what I'd done. She threatened to kick me out, so I went to grab Aurora. I figured if she was going to fail me, I might as well take my creation. Instead, she grabbed the robot and threw it against the wall, and this is what is left," I finished, pointing at the pile of pieces.

"That must have been so frustrating," Isadora's hands were still wrapped around my waist, her fingers idly running up and down, brushing against the exposed part of my skin. It was calming to feel her touch.

"Yeah, I wish I could show you. The way Aurora spoke, it was like a real person. So it felt like she'd killed her. I can't explain it," I closed my eyes, just letting Isadora's closeness fill me with some amount of relief.

"You don't have to, I understand. You created something special and that was ripped away from you. Do you think you can rebuild her?"

"I don't know, but I intend to try," I said, looking at the pieces in front of me with determination. As my eyes scanned across the wreckage, a box caught my attention. That must be the package Sam was talking about.

I picked it up, looking for the shipping label, but there was nothing but a plain label with my name and the address of The Timeless Relic on it. No return address was printed on it though.

I grabbed the small knife I used from my desk and quickly slid it along the seam, cutting the tape. Inside was a brand new phone and case. I definitely didn't order this, these items were top-of-the-line. I dumped the contents out and looked at them.

"You got a new phone?" Isadora asked.

"I never ordered a new phone," even the phone case that was in there seemed impressive and expensive.

"Strange, did someone you know send it to you?"

"I don't know anyone who would just send me a new phone, let alone the latest phone. This phone is incredibly expensive. Not to mention, almost impossible to get. There's like a 3-month waitlist," I opened the box, powering the phone on.

While it was booting up, I inspected the case as well, pulling it out and placing the phone inside of it. Looking at the instructions, this thing was military grade. Why would someone send me this?

As the phone finished its bootup process, I noticed something else that was strange. This phone was already synced with my data. Everything was exactly as I had it on my current phone. Even my accounts were already installed.

"What the heck, it's already set up exactly like my phone," I quickly grabbed a charger cable and plugged my old phone in. The usual power indicator didn't show up. I gave it a minute and tried again, but nothing. I popped the case off my phone to inspect it closer. It didn't lose a battery, it was fried. The back of the phone was scorched.

"My old phone is dead, and someone conveniently sent me a brand new state-of-the-art phone the next day?" The mysteries just kept adding up.

Isadora just shrugged, "Maybe you've got a guardian angel looking after you."

I laughed, "Well, whatever this is, I'll need to run some tests against it to make sure it is safe to use." I powered it down, I'd have to set up a black box and test this thing thoroughly before I used it. Too much has happened to me to not be wary, especially of such coincidences.

I focused my attention on the rest of my workstation. There was a lot on my plate, but I swore I would fix Aurora. I decided to grab what I thought were the most essential components that might be salvageable. I grabbed the two processing units, the memory modules, and the drives. Unfortunately, the motherboard looked like it was beyond repair anyway. I boxed what I could up and put it into my backpack.