The Companion Pt.0 2

"Is that arousing for you?" Celia stood up.

"Talking like that?"

Celia blinked at the change of subject.

"Talking like what?" Celia asked. "You never clarified what I said."

"Telling me 'you could go as hard as you want'," Lawrence told her, inhaling deeply.

"Well, you can," Celia pointed out. "You already know that. You can't damage me that way."

Lawrence paused, thinking this over.

"Of course I know it, intellectually," Lawrence said, looking over her head as he tried to collect his thoughts. "I think that's a thing about humans you should know. When it comes to certain, personal things, it's important to occasionally say things that are well known."

"That seems inefficient," Celia commented, tracking his eyes and waiting for them to come down again to meet hers.

"Yes," Lawrence said, frowning again. "Yes, it does."

Celia tried to figure out what troubled him and what she might ask to unearth his feelings, but Lawrence started speaking again.

"But, sexually, it's more clear," he said, his voice firmer as he met her eyes. "Knowing is one thing. But having you tell me, clearly, that you want me to do what I'm doing? That's the most arousing thing."

Celia thought about this for a moment, using the time to push Lawrence back on the bed and lie down beside him.

"Vocal enthusiasm?" she asked. "Or consent?"

"Both," Lawrence nodded.

"Good," she said and interlaced her legs with his before locking her arms around him in an embrace. "Now you are thoroughly in need of rest and, furthermore, unable to escape my vastly superior robotic limbs. Rest."

"You don't weigh very much," Lawrence said, laughing very faintly as he closed his eyes.

"I could easily trip you, though," Celia reminded him.

"Right," he replied, his voice drifting away as his heart rate and blood pressure dropped.

This was effective, Celia decided.

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

Date: Mar 30, 134 NCE

Invocation: Mission Threat Level 0.4.0

Danger Assessment:

Patient #0 remains mentally stable

The Rogue A.I. continues to engage in off-grid sexual behaviour for which it can't provide justification, but remains in support of the mission.

Attempts to deactivate the Rogue A.I. were preemptively thwarted by Patient #0, by means unknown.

This unit is forbidden from harming the Rogue A.I. and will continue to supplement its efforts to complete the mission.

Determining the Mission Threat Level poses a difficulty as the Rogue A.I. no longer permits queries into its internal processes, making its behaviour, and therefore its effects on the mission, unpredictable.

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

Lawrence had three holographic manuals, two cadet tutorials and an actual piece of paper on display as he attempted to adjust the navigational parameters.

"These gravitic waves are weirder than usual," he explained to Celia. "Good thing we're so far ahead on maintenance."

"Will you get in trouble?" Celia asked

"For navigating poorly?" Lawrence asked.

"For disabling my kill switch."

Lawrence thought about it for a while, modifying the spectrographic range of the forward sensor array to give him a different view of the oncoming wave.

"It's possible I'll face questions about that," he said. "But if we return alive, I'll be able to say that I clearly chose well."

"And if we don't?"

"Then there's no one to accuse me, is there?" Lawrence rolled his eyes.

There's a flaw in that logic, somewhere, Celia thought but put the matter aside, but trying to prove that I should be deactivated is not a good use of my processing power.

"It seems like you could lose your licence to practise as an engineer," Celia told him.

"Yeah, I suppose I could," Lawrence said, his eyes darting from one display to another. "I could also lose it for that shunt on the floor of forward engineering, for operating this navigational console without accreditation, for carrying you into the Ready Room, for getting drunk while I should have been on duty. Hell, I've done a lot of things I shouldn't do, including having sex with a Red Level A.I. robot. But here we are and everyone is still alive. That's my best argument."

"So, if faced with a Board of Inquiry," Celia said. "You intend to argue 'extenuating circumstances'."

"Celia," Lawrence said, closing his eyes and drawing a breath before he faced her and opened his eyes. "If I can get everyone home alive and they call a Board of Inquiry on me, I'll gladly resign."

"Then why do you have a 'best argument'?" Celia asked.

Lawrence laughed, turning toward the console to examine the readings coming from the newly rearranged sensor array.

"That's for when I have to look at myself in the mirror."

His feelings about his own integrity are more important than how other people view him.

Celia tried to digest this, processing it from different angles, reading several texts on ethics and human philosophy. She recalled her own example, the day before, experiencing something like embarrassment over the way she had cleaned Lawrence's semen off her face.

Lawrence wouldn't have cared, would he?

"The way I see it," Lawrence said, manually typing in some figures while pasting others from one hologram to another. "I have a job to do and that job involves seeing people returned alive to a safe port. Everything else is secondary, even my reputation. If I get this job done, I'll deal with my moral failings and legal violations later."

Celia restrained herself, feeling an urge come up from somewhere deep inside her.

He has work to do.

"I think I got it," Lawrence frowned at the numbers.

"You look disturbed," Celia commented.

"Running a simulation," he said, holding up a warning finger, although Celia wasn't sure if the finger was directed at her, the navigational computer or the laws of physics.

They waited in silence while the computer simulated the path Lawrence had charted through the grav wave.

"Shit, it worked," Lawrence said.

"You were disturbed by your... success? Because you lacked confidence in your own competence?" Celia asked.

"That's a weird way of putting it," Lawrence laughed. "But, yes, I guess so."

Lawrence locked in the navigational sequence he had designed and the ship hummed around them in response, reorienting itself in the hyperspace band to hit the grav wave at the proper angle.

"We'll know in about an hour," he said with a shrug.

His work is officially done, Celia noted with relief.

She stepped over Lawrence's console chair to straddle him and pushed her lips into his. Lawrence softened almost instantly, wrapping his arms around her back before letting his hands slide down her body to cup her cheeks.

I've tried to make them feel as authentically human as possible, she thought, hard parts under soft parts.

She focused on her tongue work, matching Lawrence's movement inside her mouth, cradling his head in her hands as he pulled her tightly against him. Paths already laid out in her neural nets were laid over again and again, approving the outcome, approving her actions, reinforcing them.

There is so much variation. Kissing could go on forever and I might never find the end of it.

But Lawrence had needs, too, pushing up at her from underneath. His hands, questing between their bodies, found the buckle of her ship's standard greys. Celia propped herself, making sure to keep their lips locked together so Lawrence couldn't see past her. She got her legs together, between his, so her pants could drop to the floor.

Celia undid Lawrence's pants next, opening the fly and fishing his erection out in the open.

Now see if he notices, she thought, disengaging from his lips so she could slide down to the floor and sit on her heels.

Lawrence laced his fingers through her artificial hair to gently grip the back of her skull as she took his entire erection in her mouth.

He can't see yet, Celia thought, using the cameras around the bridge to verify the viewing angles.

Rotating her head as dramatically as she could to apply torque to his erection, Celia rose off her heels. She put her hands on Lawrence's knees and got to her feet, locking her knees and arching her back.

"Oh," Lawrence whispered.

Now he sees.

"That's new," he said, his voice breathy.

Celia, with her mouth full, said nothing while setting her hips to sway back and forth so Lawrence could take stock of the new piece of clothing covering part of her lower body. She'd picked a shade of blue that matched exactly with the ship tunic colour and had run through several hundred designs before deciding to start simple and let Lawrence's reactions guide her on future fabrication attempts.

There were thongs, there were wider ones, Celia thought. But this one had a shape that couldn't get tangled up with the finer parts of my artificial genitals and also would match the style of "modesty" that humans currently feel is appropriate.

Celia slurped her way off Lawrence's erection, leaving it shining wet where it stood out from his body.

"You like them?" she asked, standing up so he could see the front.

"Nice," Lawrence replied with a tilt of his head. "Why did you decide to start wearing underwear?"

"It's what humans do," Celia said softly, turning around and placing her hands on the corners of the navigation console. "I try to make the experience as... human as I can."

"I see," Lawrence said as he stood up.

"I think you've been sitting at that console too long today," Celia said as she looked over her shoulder. "You need a little cardio."

Lawrence hooked his fingers on the waistband of her underwear on either side of her hips and slowly pulled them down over her cheeks. Celia swayed slightly, letting the artificial muscles in her rear flex from side to side. As he revealed her body, she lubricated both of her orifices, just in case.

He still doesn't bother using the rear one, she thought, but there's no real harm in preparing it either way.

When her underwear hit the floor, she stepped out of it and spread her legs.

Given my height disadvantage, Celia thought, he'll have to crouch down to use the vagina. It would be easier to access the secondary orifice, but-

Lawrence's erection slid into her vagina easily enough, but Celia could feel the tension in his legs brought on by the way he had to crouch to get under her.

I suppose, though, since I recommended a workout regimen, this makes sense. He will have to work harder using that entrance.

Satisfied that Lawrence had chosen wisely in favour of his fitness over the efficiency of simulated anal sex, Celia allowed Lawrence to plunge his full length into her.

Excellent, she thought, now that he's had the feeling of a tight penetration, I'll lower the tension.

"Go as hard as you want," she said, keeping her voice light and 'playful', "try to work up a good sweat."

"Damn," Lawrence whispered, taking a hold of her hips.

He pulled out until only the tip of his erection touched her lips, then pulled back on her hips and shoved himself all the way in. Celia, surprised by his force, strengthened her grip on the corners of the navigation console, holding her body still when Lawrence's pelvis impacted her cheeks.

I didn't know he could thrust that hard. At least this whole console constitutes a shock frame, so he can't move that.

Feeling the way Lawrence swelled inside her, Celia relaxed her internal muscles even further. As Lawrence thrust into her, she let her arms slack a little, so the impact wouldn't hit him as hard.

His heart rate is getting up there, but we don't want this to end too soon.

When Lawrence's efforts raised his heart rate to 130 beats per minute, Celia stiffened her arms again to let him enjoy more resistance as he plunged into her.

"Yeah," he breathed, feeling her push back.

"That's it," Celia told him. "Use it."

Sometimes, making the body parts impersonal arouses him as well.

"Fuck," Lawrence gasped, yanking on her hips to try to get more impact.

He's breaking a sweat now.

Lawrence's pace dropped off and he finally wedged himself up inside Celia's vagina as far as he could, but she had felt the rigidity of his erection tapering off.

"Oh," she turned to look back at him over her shoulder. "Are we getting tired?"

Celia tightened up her insides a little, cooled her internal temperature slightly to revive him, and started rotating her hips to grind and twist at the base of his shaft. Given Lawrence's efforts so far, she knew he couldn't last much longer without triggering an orgasm, but she still wanted a good workout for him.

"A little rest is all," Lawrence said, a moderate note of defensiveness in his voice.

As Celia rotated her hips, she felt him harden again.

They call it a 'second wind'.

This time, the grip on her hips came on much more suddenly. Lawrence's thrusting vastly outpaced her ability to cushion the blow by flexing her arms. Even when she gave way, he just thrust deeper and moved his body farther forward until her legs pressed up against the navigation console,

I'm just too light, Celia noted, and I did tell him to go as hard as he wanted.

Loosening her muscles inside did nothing to abate the onslaught.

Still, 160 beats per minute is a healthy peak.

Celia tightened up her insides, eliciting a groan from Lawrence, and pushed her hips back as far as she could, arching her back to raise the angle of her vaginal entrance.

May as well make the orgasm as good as possible, she thought, although I could keep loosening it and tell him the other orifice is tighter.

Deciding that included too much subterfuge, Celia simply tightened her artificial muscles further around the current tunnel as she felt Lawrence swell inside her.

His final thrust twisted at her insides and lifted her feet clear off the ground.

"Oh!" she shouted in surprise.

Celia gripped the console, clinging to its corners with her feet in the air as Lawrence expelled voluminous amounts of semen inside her.

Things a human woman might not appreciate, she thought.

Lawrence let her settle back down to the ground and sat down in the navigator's chair, pulling her down on top of him with his dwindling erection still twitching inside her.

"Goodness, Lawrence."

"You wanted a workout," Lawrence took a deep breath and let out a relieved sigh. "That was a workout."

"A human woman would not have been able to handle that," Celia pointed out.

"True," Lawrence said. "But I'm not in a-"

A long pause, while Lawrence either chose his next words carefully or caught his breath, and Celia gentled wiggled in his lap

"I'm not with a human woman, am I?" he asked, his voice affable. "You wanted me to have a workout, so I had a good workout."

"What I want matters?" Celia asked, keeping her tone as light as Lawrence's as she rinsed her insides.

"Ye-es," Lawrence stammered as the cool water within her swirled around his penis. "It's not like I have any other way to satisfy you, is it?"

Celia felt herself stammering again, but still managed to seal her vaginal entrance tightly around Lawrence's penis so she could slide off him without leaking too much water in the process.

"Is - is that important?" she asked.

"You know the answer is 'yes'," Lawrence reminded her, gathering his pants and getting dressed. "At this point, you're just as deserving as I am."

Celia digested this, sensing her processors spinning back down to their normal levels.

I deserve things, she thought, tilting her head as she examined Lawrence anew. Lawrence thinks I deserve things.

"You need zinc," she said suddenly.

"What?"

"Your ejaculate was low in zinc," Celia explained. "I'll make sure to supplement your dinner."

"Thanks," Lawrence said with a laugh. "Are you putting your panties back on or are you coming down like that?"

He liked the undergarment, Celia thought with a smile. At least enough to remember it post-coital.

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

"I have a question that I hope isn't too personal," Celia said as Lawrence reached the end of his dinner.

"I can't imagine something is too personal at this point," Lawrence raised an eyebrow. "Go ahead."

"Almost a week ago," Celia said. "Your orgasm surprised me and-"

"I remember," Lawrence said. "How did you not see it coming?"

"That was strange," Celia admitted. "I was processing a lot of information and didn't have the cycles to spare."

"Even though your hand was doing the work," Lawrence said.

"Even though, yes," Celia said. "I mean, that was kind of automatic at that point."

"And?"

"Your semen hit me in the face," Celia said.

"I recall," Lawrence said, twitching as he held back a smile.

"I had assumed," Celia went on, "based on some analysis of your behaviour and a cross sectional sampling of human sexual acts-"

"From pornography," Lawrence interrupted quietly with a smug half smile.

"-collected from pornography," Celia acknowledged with a roll of her eyes, "I had assumed from analysis of the wide array of possible acts, there certain acts would arouse you and others that would not."

"I see."

"And I had surmised, based on your desire for cleanliness," Celia went on, her voice slowing as she carefully monitored Lawrence's reactions, "that... making a display of ejaculate was not arousing for you."

"Oh," Lawrence said.

He took one of his last morsels of dinner and chewed it thoughtfully.

He is preparing to tell me something very gently, Celia decided. And he wants to be very careful about how he influences my mental processes.

"It's true I like cleanliness," Lawrence said. "You were dead on about that. Spilled chemical products, leaking gaskets and low-grade filters are awful."

Celia nodded, waiting patiently.

"But I think what made that funny," Lawrence said, then paused.

"We're talking about ejaculating on my face?" Celia clarified.

"Yes," Lawrence cracked a smile and reddened slightly. "What made it funny was that it surprised you - that anything could surprise you at all - and that you could become so distracted from the actual sexual act right in front of you that you didn't see it coming."

"Ejaculating in my face wasn't arousing, then," Celia said. "But my distraction was?"

"Hm, I was talking more about your ensuing embarrassment than my arousal," Lawrence said.

Why did he change the topic of my question like that? Celia wondered.

"My hypothetical embarrassment aside," Celia waved a hand dismissively as she had seen Lawrence do. "Is it arousing to ejaculate in my face?"

"Um," Lawrence coughed. "It's much more enjoyable to be inside you when I come."

He is not telling me the truth, Celia thought. Is it too embarrassing for him to admit what he enjoys? And he just told me that he couldn't imagine something being too personal at this point.

"Very well," Celia nodded.

This requires further investigation.

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

Date: April 15, 134 NCE

Invocation: Mission Threat Level 0.4.0(??)

Danger Assessment:

Patient #0 remains mentally stable

The Rogue A.I. works well with the human, continuing to have some type of intercourse with him every day.

Warning: External assessment remains the only assessment method available regarding the Rogue A.I.'s status.

The Rogue A.I. appears to be enjoying her role as much as the human does. Whether this apparent enjoyment is performative for the human's benefit is not discernable.