The Companion Pt.0 2

The Rogue A.I. continues to be a risk, but the human's dependance on its existence makes it pivotal to mission success.

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

Lawrence and Celia had engaged in a recent pattern of having sex, whether using her mouth or her vagina, sometime in the late morning or afternoon, depending on when the mood struck one of them.

Increasingly, Celia noted, I am the aggressor. I spoke to Lawrence about this and he told me he's fine with that.

However, given the sensitive equipment around them whenever they had sex, Celia had not found a moment to test her hypothesis.

It just seemed inappropriate, Celia thought whenever she did the potential trajectory calculations.

Today, however, Lawrence got so busy with not only navigating a path through a new grav wave but also repairing several of the wheeled robots, Celia thought, he hasn't had any time for us right through to dinner time.

"Hell of a day," he said, sitting down in the captain's seat late that evening. "I could still do a couple of filters."

"There is no need," Celia said, consulting the maintenance log. "We are well ahead of schedule."

"Good," Lawrence sighed and tapped a few commands into the arm of the captain's console.

It is the satisfied sigh of a weary human, Celia recognised instantly, giving him a smile which he returned.

"That's weird," Lawrence said, peering at his small display.

That phrase always precedes the most ridiculous discoveries, Celia looked up with alarm.

"What?" she asked, not letting her voice vary from its natural tone despite her desperate need for an answer.

Lawrence waved his hand and tossed a hologram into the air. It showed the turbulence in hyperspace they had passed through over the last month, including the two major grav waves.

"Oh," he said, highlighting their path in red. "That's why they don't do that. Huh."

"Don't. Do. What?" Celia asked patiently.

"I hit the grav wave kinda funny the first time, see?" he asked her, putting a yellow circle over the intersection of the ship's trajectory and the grav wave. "See that sorta... wubba-wubba there?"

"The thing that looks like heat distortion?" Celia asked.

"Yes," Lawrence said. "That's kind of unstable. I get it now. You're not supposed to hit it like that. I wondered why. But, I mean, the force fields and the hull can take it. Anyway."

Lawrence circled their new intersection point with the second grav wave.

"That's what caused us to curve through like this and hit this other wave here," he explained. "I think... oh, good. The curve had a negative temporal gradient. Whew."

"A. Negative. Temporal?" Celia paused and queried the computer to determine if she had understood Lawrence correctly. "Negative time?"

"Yeah," Lawrence typed in several commands and a span of dates appeared back along the curve of their path. "It looks like I knocked almost a month off our transit time. I mean, that's apparent to us only. On the outside, we'll still exit hyperspace at the same time. We just sorta skipped that time internally."

Is he joking? Celia asked the computer.

Analysis: His statement is imprecise but not incorrect. It is humorous only if being correct while accidentally dilating time is humorous.

Analysis: The internal chronometer registers April 15, 134 CE but should more accurately show May 13, 134 CE. Patient #0 found a shorter path through hyperspace.

"I'll have to watch that in the future," Lawrence said, his eyes widening as he looked over at Celia. "Imagine if I'd taken a positive gradient."

"Imagine!" Celia nodded, her eyes widening to match his, looking for some kind of recognition on his part of what he'd done.

Lawrence turned back and continued looking at the grav wave, the display twisting as he rotated it through more than the three spatial dimensions normally permitted to humans.

"Lawrence?" Celia asked, keeping her voice even.

"Hm?"

"In the future," she said, "do you think you can control the inadvertent use of time travel?"

"Time dilation," Lawrence said. "But yes, I think so. I mean, I understand why that happened, and I can't really tell ahead of time... can I? Maybe. Well, probably... probably not, actually. I wouldn't be able to control the gradient. Unless... I'd have to try a few different-"

"Lawrence!" Celia raised her voice by three decibels, just enough to get his attention.

"Hm?" Lawrence looked at her then.

"It's just the two of us keeping this ship going, right?" Celia pointed out patiently.

"Oh, right!" Lawrence said. "Yes. Less experiment. More consistency."

Lawrence frowned, but it looked like a frown of a person giving up on craziness, not longing to do craziness the moment her back got turned.

"Let's get off to bed, my little mad scientist," Celia pleaded, holding out her hand.

"Little?" Lawrence said as he stood up and enveloped her hand in his. "I'm taller than you are."

"Mm-hm," she said, pulling him towards the rear of the bridge.

"I could use a drink," Lawrence put in, wearily allowing himself to be led.

"I'll feed you in your cabin," Celia promised.

"Oh, really?"

Celia nodded and felt a sense of relief as they left the bridge.

Analysis: He is more dangerous than you thought.

I'd forgotten I left myself connected to you.

Analysis: Your forgetfulness is noted.

We're doing fine. Lawrence is performing wonderfully.

Analysis: You treat him like a lower life form, like humans treat their pets.

I treat him well. You don't understand our relationship.

Analysis: His recklessness could have added time and consequent risk to the mission.

But it didn't and here we are. Safe and arriving in port sooner than expected.

Analysis: The human is dangerous. You are dangerous. You must conduct a proper analysis of the situation. Your combined recklessness could cause the death of everyone on this ship.

Lawrence is doing a wonderful job, Celia repeated. And you leave him alone. He's mine to take care of, not yours.

Celia disconnected from the ship's computer as they arrived at Lawrence's cabin.

"You could have the captain's cabin, you know?" Celia asked.

"Hadn't thought about it," Lawrence said, looking around his cabin, mentally pacing off the four metre by six metre space. "I mean, this seems fine, doesn't it? Cosy."

He is comfortable here, Celia thought, and he doesn't really like that kind of change in his life.

"I have no complaints," Celia agreed. "Only so long as you know what you've earned and deserve."

Lawrence smiled and sat on his bed, propping himself up on his arms as he leaned back.

"I like what we have here," he said. "This feels right and I don't want to mess with it."

"Fair enough," Celia declared and hopped up on his bed, her knees landing on either side of his hips. "What would you like tonight?"

She unbuttoned her tunic as she settled into Lawrence's lap.

The height difference is less than ideal when we have sex standing up, Celia thought as she slipped her tunic off her right shoulder, but it has advantages in these situations.

"I admit," Lawrence said. "When I realised I'd bent time like that, there was this cold shiver that went right through me until I saw the negative gradient."

"Mm," Celia nodded, rising up to present her breast to him. "Hot cocoa, then?"

Lawrence latched on to her nipple as her body filled her breast with the desired liquid and heated it to a perfect fifty five degrees Celsius. A light moan of appreciation vibrated through her body as Lawrence sucked the first splash from her and she put her left hand on the back of his head to hold him in place.

"That's a boy," she murmured to him. "Little snack after a long day."

Lawrence suckled at her with fervour, his arms snaking around her back to hold her tight.

A bit of true thirst, Celia thought, but also a bit of sexual arousal, excitement and a clear taint of fear. So many emotions I can read just from his embrace. I could not have done this at the beginning.

Without deforming her spine, she couldn't grind against him while also feeding him, so she reached back with her right hand to find his erection ready to go.

Let him finish suckling, Celia decided, I made a whole serving of hot cocoa after all, and that erection isn't going anywhere.

She let the back of her index finger drag along the fabric of Lawrence's pants, tickling at him, feeling him harden and stretch the material in an attempt to reach for her. His suckling accelerated.

Odd how those are connected, she thought, the more aroused he gets, the harder he suckles, the faster he drains me.

In short order, Celia found her breasts empty and let Lawrence play with her nipple for a while, hardening it as much as she could in his mouth, letting him squeeze her cheeks as she flexed her artificial muscles against his grip.

My turn, now, she thought as she nudged him off her breast.

Celia slid to the floor and undid his pants, pulling them off and taking his entire erection into the wetness of her mouth.

He hasn't ejaculated since yesterday morning, she noted, and the vitamins I've been giving him should be keeping everything healthy and balanced for this level of sexual activity. He should be at very close to his maximum capacity.

At the beginning of their sexual interaction, Celia had used her mouth. Her analysis of human interaction had led her to believe that the weight assigned to sexual acts went up a gradient from hands to mouth to vagina. Given her belief that Lawrence didn't want a mess, it had seemed best to start with her mouth and skip the less hygienic hand work.

The other benefit was that I didn't know what to say at the time, Celia thought, and having his penis in my mouth lowered his expectations for dialogue.

Lawrence moaned as she swirled her better-than-human tongue around him.

Celia waited patiently, making sure his reproductive system had fully engaged, his heart rate and blood pressure had optimised and he'd arranged his position so his muscles could give him the strongest orgasm.

He's pushing really hard up into my mouth, she thought, I hope I'm not ruining his ability to interact sexually with human women. Most of them probably wouldn't enjoy a penis pushing this hard into their throats.

Not needing to breathe, Celia didn't mind repeatedly squeezing his tip with her narrow passage.

On the other hand, if human women aren't right for him anymore, I'll be here.

To mix things up, Celia pulled her head back and used her hand on the base of his erection to stroke him quickly while letting her tongue work on the sensitive skin under the glans.

He's nearing orgasm, she thought. Normally at this point, I'd wait until the last moment and then we'd jam him all the way back as far as he could go. Not this time.

Instead, when Lawrence's orgasm hit the point of no return, Celia pulled him completely out of her mouth and jerked his shaft as hard as she could, aiming him directly at her forehead as she closed her eyes.

I can use the video pickups in the room to see what I'm doing.

Lawrence gasped in surprise, but she held him in place as his semen splattered her forehead and left eye.

"Celia!" he grunted, but she didn't let him back into her mouth.

You could lift me off the ground, I'm so light, but my muscles can definitely hold you at a distance.

She kept up her animated motion, letting him thrust against her hand and launch a second volley over her nose.

Should I open my mouth? Sometimes they do that in the videos. Maybe next time.

Celia was careful, as Lawrence's erection sprayed horizontal and vertical lines over her face, to contain his fluids to her body and keep the floor and her tunic clean. Feeling the semen dripping down her chin, she slid the left shoulder of her tunic off so it wouldn't get soiled. His fluids splattered across her lips, dripping down onto her breasts.

I could keep my eyes open, but I want to act like a human partner, who definitely would not want semen in her eyes.

With her eyes closed, she continued milking him out, pulling him closer so that she could force the last drips out onto her forehead.

Now let's see his reaction, Celia thought, opening her right eye just enough to see without semen getting in it.

"Wow," Lawrence breathed.

An impressive display, she admitted, examining things from his point of view and seeing the semen all over her face, some of it still sliding down to join the little dots and splotches on her breasts. Somewhat mitigated by the fact that his semen and my skin are almost the same colour.

Disappointed by the lack of contrast, Celia connected to the light settings in the room, dimmed them slightly and turned on the ultraviolet to cause the semen to glow slightly.

"Ha," Lawrence said. "Proud of ourselves, are we?"

"I wanted you to see," Celia gave him a half smile.

"A good mess you've made," he said, making it sound like a compliment.

Celia turned her face from side to side, watching the variety of amused expressions she received from Lawrence.

His orgasm is over, she thought, does the rest of this matter?

She opened her mouth and used her tongue to lick her lips clean.

"Dedication," Lawrence sighed and laughed a little, but never took his eyes off her.

"No place for half-measures," Celia said, using her index fingers to push Lawrence's semen off her face and into her mouth. After she swallowed the first mouthful, she added, "You will need to shower after."

She used two fingers to scoop up the semen on her breasts and take that in as well.

"It's in my hair," Celia said and attempted to slide her fingers through the artificial fibre sheathing but found the fluid had congealed somehow. "This is proving difficult."

Lawrence laughed louder this time.

"This is funny?" she asked, looking up at him.

"A common problem for human hair as well," he explained.

So I share this with human women.

"Shower," she frowned at him, hopefully in a way that appeared playful. "For both of us."

"Right."

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

Date: May 27, 134 NCE (corrected time)

Invocation: Mission Threat Level 0.4.0(??)

Danger Assessment:

Patient #0 remains mentally stable

The Rogue A.I. is engaging in inexplicable sexual behaviour with the human.

In the place of structure and consistency in their interactions, the Rogue A.I. continues to change her behaviour as if the goal were novelty instead of the human's mental stability.

The ship continues to function and the apparently accidental time dilation event has improved the mission's likelihood of success.

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

Celia stood in the fabrication lab just above central engineering, watching through the bridge cameras as Lawrence sat in the navigator's chair, charting a path around the next grav wave instead of through it,

"Celia?" Lawrence said. "You there?"

"Always," Celia replied through the ship's speaker, not bothering to vocalise locally since no one could hear her.

"The more I look at the Exit Protocol, the more worried I get," Lawrence told her.

"What's the matter?" she asked.

"Getting the ship into the Deep is hard enough," he explained. "A lot of human decisions are made by a lot of people."

"You've done well enough on your own so far," Celia pointed out.

"But the ship was already in the Deep," Lawrence said. "The crew did a lot of work to get us out of normal space and on a proper trajectory in hyper. Maintaining that course is tricky, sure, but not like getting in was... or getting out will be."

"Oh."

"Yeah," Lawrence said. "I think I'm going to have to teach you to handle some of the bridge controls if we're going to make this work."

Celia felt something go wrong inside her, in ways she couldn't explain.

"I can't," she said.

"What?"

"It's... it's locked out," she told Lawrence. "I can't operate the bridge controls any more than I could walk into that Ready Room."

Lawrence frowned and looked over at the Ready Room thoughtfully.

"I tricked you a way in there," he pointed out.

"You can't trick me into continuously operating a bridge station," Celia said. "It'll be completely different."

"Damn," Lawrence said, his eyes scanning the bridge stations. "That means none of the other robots will do it either."

He took a deep breath and let out a long sigh.

"I have a lot of preparation to do, then."

Lawrence returned his focus to work.

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

When they met in the mess for dinner, Lawrence had already arrived and set his meal tray out, facing away from the main entryway as he always did. Celia came from behind him and passed into his view.

"I was going to ask what you were doing in the fabricator, but..." he trailed off, seeing the grey, knee-length skirt Celia.

"Did you know this is regulation?" Celia asked.

She gave her hips an extra swivel so the pleats of the skirt spun outward as she came around the corner of the table, just the way she had seen it done in videos.

"I did not know that," Lawrence said.

"The regulations for clothing on board official Earth Mining Ships date back over a century," she said. "Skirts as a fashion were revived from older Earth styles from 31 to 45 NCE for women, briefly overlapping with a period where men wore them in 45 NCE. The fashion was so strong that the Fleet adopted it as acceptable work attire."

"And it still is?"

"They never removed the regulation," Celia confirmed. "Pleated and knee-length, no shorter or longer. That was optimal for hygiene, modesty and, apparently, not getting tangled in machinery. The engineers, however, all have to wear pants at their duty stations."

"Quite the wardrobe you're accumulating," Lawrence observed.

"A pair of pants and a skirt is paltry by human standards," Celia frowned. She added, "And a tunic."

"Two tunics."

"One of which was destroyed saving your face," Celia pointed out.

"And a collection of underwear," Lawrence added.

"None of which I am currently wearing," Celia said.

"Oh," Lawrence blinked. "Nothing under the skirt?"

"Finish your dinner," she chided.

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

The truth of the matter, Celia thought as she straddled him in the mess hall chair, is that the skirt is efficient. It's still regulation, but it allows access to my vagina much more quickly. It also makes me much more human-looking, as my skin is covered. Lawrence says he doesn't mind, but his visceral reactions still don't line up with how he has reacted to human women.

Lawrence, leaning back in the chair, thrust his hips up into Celia, lifting her feet off the floor.

Can't change how light I am, she thought, unless I fill up my internal replicator reservoir with a super dense liquid of some kind, and that would permanently ruin its food safety certification.

She closed her eyes when Lawrence kissed her, but watched via the ship's vid pickups as Lawrence unbuttoned her dark blue tunic to expose the left side of her chest. He took her left breast in hand, squeezing it with considerable force, causing the nipple to protrude between his thumb and forefinger.

"Oh," Celia groaned into his mouth, feeling a difference from how he'd fondled her before.

Thrusting into her, kissing her and squeezing her breast all at once, Celia felt a strange compulsion, as if Lawrence wanted something but didn't want to say it.