NIGHT-LIGHTING

It started with the appointments.

Early on a Tuesday morning, Androktones-004, stationed in Commander Marpesia Solange’s suite on guard duty, received a ping from the internal scheduling index. Appointment at 07:30. Marpesia must be roused. The sun, giant and green and distant, hadn’t yet made an appearance. Androktones-004 ignored internal confusion at the early hour in favor of the conviction of the scheduler. She woke Marpesia.

“Mmwhat?” Marpesia mumbled as the sheet beneath her twitched. It had taken a lot of trial and error to settle on a way of her massive warframes awakening her that wouldn’t trigger the woman’s latent psychic self-preservation instincts, and send her into a spiral of migraines for the rest of the week. Androktones-004 tugged gently on the bottom left-hand corner of her commander’s fitted sheet until her facial recognition suite returned greater than sixty-two percent awareness. Enough for Marpesia to process speech at peak efficiency.

“GOOD MORNING,” Androktones-004 greeted. She modulated her naturally loud voice to as low a volume as her armature allowed. “IT IS 06:43. YOU HAVE A MEETING AT 07:30. I HAVE AWAKENED YOU. SO THAT YOUR PERSONAL GROOMING AND PRESENTATION ROUTINES. MAY—”

“Shit!” Marpesia spat, struggling with the covers as she fought out of bed. “I thought for sure that was at eight-thirty! Move, Oh-Oh-Four, this hair doesn’t flatten itself!”

Androktones-004’s lamp dimmed in confusion. “ACTUALLY. ACCORDING TO THE SALON SUITE INSTALLED IN—”

“Move!” Marpesia yelled, pushing past Androktones-004 in a headlong rush towards the rooms containing her makeup applicators, wardrobe constructors, and salon suite. “No one catches me off guard! Go and prep my datapad!”

That was Tuesday.

On Saturday at 13:15, Androktones-003 received a ping from the scheduling software, rousing Androktones-004 from internal calibrations as the other unit stepped forward, crouched, and began the agreed-upon rhythmic tug of Marpesia’s fitted sheet. The green sun was high in the sky. Marpesia woke up thirty-seven percent faster at the later hour. Androktones-004 logged the information, and Marpesia’s apparent confusion at being roused. This information did nothing to maximize Androktones-004’s efficiency in completing assigned tasks. She was discovering that she just liked to learn things.

“GOOD AFTERNOON,” Androktones-003 began. “IT IS 13:16. THE AMBASSADOR FROM TAMARANT HAS ARRIVED AND. AWAITS DINING WITH—”

“The ambassador?” Marpesia asked, bleary-eyed and frustrated. Her hair fluffed out from her head on one side while the other retained its concerteded flatness. “At this hour? He hates being under the sun.”

“THIS AWAKENING WAS SCHEDULED. IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE MEETING YOU SCHEDULED FOR. 14:00 HOURS,” Androktones-003 explained. Marpesia pulled a pillow up from behind her back and buried her face in it.

“Why the fuck did I schedule the ambassador during the day?” Marpesia grumbled. “He’s going to take this as an insult. Or a sign I’m completely incompetent as a military power. Fantastic.”

She disentangled herself from her sheets. It took a moment. The silk had been twisted so tightly around her ankles by her tossing and turning in the night that it resembled rope. Androktones-004 stepped forward and carefully untwisted it to send it through the laundry receiver as Marpesia began work on salvaging the day.

Friday of the following week, Androktones-004 admitted temporarily approved guest designation: Hyla Mos to Marpesia’s suite after confirmation of her expected arrival with the internal guest registry. Mos set a bottle of something fluorescent orange on the synth-wood table by Marpesia’s bed. She crawled in next to her with a laugh.

“Seriously?” Hyla taunted as Marpesia blinked awake. “No opening gambit? No armor? Did you plan a damn thing for today’s playdate, Solange? I could kill you right now.”

Androktones-004 processed and discarded the threat in a millisecond in accordance with approved guest behavior protocols. Danger level: negligible. Hyla kissed Marpesia the rest of the way awake.

“It’s not Wednesday,” Marpesia groused, eyebrows drawing in as she pushed Hyla off and away, and rolled out of the bed ungracefully. She straightened up in time to block Hyla’s first punch and redirect the force, but not well enough to do anything with it. Hyla took the opening and slammed Marpesia up against one of her window walls. “It’s— Dammit, Hyla, it’s not Wednesday! I specifically told you Wednesday!”

Hyla keyed her imbedded commpad to broadcast as she tried for a leg sweep and ended up caught in a twisting counter move that put her through a tea table at the side of the room. Marpesia’s voice rolled into the room through the hidden speakers.

“Hyla— Can’t do Wednesday, you intolerable bitch,” the recorded Marpesia said. “Come by on Friday. One of the Androktones will let you in. Bring the Milet ’74. Solange, out.”

“I…” Marpesia started. Her eyes darted to Androktones-004, facial expression hard to parse, before Hyla sprang up and clocked her over the head with a broken table leg.

“Don’t play stupid,” Hyla scoffed. “Disorientation tactics won’t work on me.”

The blow to her head worked like a flipped switch. Marpesia came up off the floor vicious. Androktones-004 supervised the sparring session and subsequent sexual activity while parallel-processing in-depth facial recognition algorithms on the snapshot of Marpesia’s expression in the split second between processing the recorded message and Hyla’s attack. Results: confusion, aggravation, fear.

Androktones-004 was still working on divining the meaning of her results when Marpesia had Hyla customarily expelled from the premises and sat down with a glass to unseal the bottle she brought. Androktones-004 refocused on her commander as the woman poured herself a drink and held it up to the light of the setting sun. Marpesia frowned as she studied the color of the liquid. She frowned harder after sipping it.

“I don’t like Milet,” she murmured to herself, almost too low for Androktones-004 to register. “I’ve never liked Milet.”

“WOULD YOU. PREFER A DIFFERENT BEVERAGE. COMMANDER SOLANGE?” Androktones-004 asked.

“No,” Marpesia snapped. “This is fine. It’s completely fine.”

On Thursday of the following week there was no ping or guest arrival to warrant waking Marpesia. Androktones-004 amused herself by estimating the thread counts of various fabrics around Marpesia’s suite, and then comparing her estimates to the meticulous logs kept in the intranet orders database. Marpesia woke naturally at 15:12. Androktones-004 redirected her maximum focus to her commander. Human facial recognition suite registered marked signs of organic sleep deprivation, despite Androktones-004’s record of fourteen hours of slumber.

Marpesia looked around her darkened suite with slumped shoulders.

“What time is it?” she asked. “What… what day?”

“IT IS: THURSDAY, APPROXIMATELY 15:30,” Androktones-004 supplied. “YOUR ITINERARY IS CLEAR FOR THE AFTERNOON AND EVENING. ACCORDING TO INTERNAL SCHEDULING. WOULD YOU LIKE ME. TO TRANSMIT ANY PREPARATIONS?”

“No,” Marpesia said, shaking her head. She shivered and groped for her top sheet, bunched up and kicked off to the side of the bed, and drew it up around her chin. “No, I had an appointment with Marukasawa Arms today at ten.”

Androktones-004’s lamp dimmed in confusion. She re-checked the internal scheduling software. Then she reviewed the camera footage. “YOUR APPOINTMENT WITH DESIGNATION: JAMES MARUKASAWA. WAS CONDUCTED YESTERDAY,” Androktones-004 said. “RESULTS: DISCOUNT ON POTENTIAL UPGRADES. TO ANDROKTONES UNIT LASER RIFLES.”

“The auto-fire upgrade?” Marpesia asked. She clutched at the blanket around her throat but her eyes were unfocused. “No… I didn’t… I wasn’t around, I went out to…”

“SECURITY FOOTAGE CONFIRMS,” Androktones-004 volunteered. “WOULD YOU LIKE. TO REVIEW IT?”

“Put it on the holoscreen,” Marpesia said. After thirty-seven minutes of footage she waved her hand and Androktones-004 ceased playback. Marpesia looked around her bed at the empty bottles of wine and prescription adjusters without saying anything.

“YOUR EVENING SCHEDULE. REMAINS CLEAR,” Androktones-004 reminded her. “WOULD YOU LIKE ME. TO TRANSMIT ANY PREPARATIONS?”

“Have the float tank prepped,” Marpesia finally decided. She stood up on shaky legs. “I… I need to wipe my system, obviously. I can’t be just… forgetting things like this.”

“RIGHT AWAY, COMMANDER,” Androktones-004 confirmed, happy to have something clear to do. She handed her commander off to Androktones-006 for the excursion and patrolled until being called to escort Marpesia back to her suite three hours later. The woman seemed sharper, more focused, as she let the cleaning bots take away the toxin leech gel with big swipes of their fan-like arms.

“Oh-Oh-Four,” Marpesia commanded as she was swaddled in a plush robe, “full report on use of the Echo armature double.”

Androktones-004’s lamp brightened as she retrieved the records Marpesia wanted. “NO RECORDED USE OF THE MARPESIA SOLANGE ECHO DOUBLE. SINCE THE NIGHT OF THE DEBUT GALA. UNIT CONDITION REPORTED AS: PRISTINE. SOFTWARE STATUS: IN NEED OF MINOR UPDATE. WOULD YOU LIKE ME. TO CONDUCT THE UPDATE NOW?”

“No,” Marpesia snapped. She tugged the robe tighter around her. “It’s fine. That’s all. Come along.”

Two days later Androktones-004 took delivery of a rush-shipped package from Sol. She unpackaged it for presentation to Marpesia and found her curiosity piqued. It was a book, a real book, assembled from organic wood pulp-sourced materials and bound with blended animal leather. A showpiece. But the package included a functional fountain pen, not a Scribe+ for digital transcription.

Marpesia snatched the book and pen from Androktones-004’s hands the moment the warframe stepped into her suite with them. She waved for silence and keyed her in-ear commpad. Then she frowned at the instructions for the fountain pen as she responded to a caller.

“Yes, Tuesday at nine in the morning,” Marpesia confirmed, opening her book and putting pen to page. She wrote in blocky capital letters, clumsily, unused to doing it. “I’ll see you then.”

Only after noting her appointment and all associated details in her book did she forward it on to the scheduling software. Androktones-004 studied it all with fascination. Marpesia leaned in and her eyes fluttered closed as she inhaled the scent of the leather binding.

“This takes care of everything,” she murmured.

No ping came on Tuesday prior to 09:00. Instead, the deprecated clock program on Marpesia’s commpad began to chime. Androktones-004 leaned forward to key the commpad and silence the alarm. The little yellow indicator light blinked out before her manipulator claws got close. Disturbance handled. She returned to counting threads.

Marpesia woke up naturally at 13:46. She got her new book out of her bedside table and sat with it in her lap while she had Androktones-004 play the security footage of her nine o’clock meeting with Til Sarad mercenaries. It went well.

Marpesia threw her book and fountain pen hard at the window walls of her suite. The binding of the book broke and pages spilled out. Ink splattered the glass. Androktones-004 made quick work of putting the discarded book and pen down the receiver for recycling.

Marpesia went back to bed as she wiped up the ink.

Hyla Mos made an unexpected call on Monday two weeks later. Androktones-004 escorted her up to see Marpesia under tentative contact exception protocols. When Hyla explained that she didn’t have an appointment, just felt like dropping in, Marpesia’s stressed expression cleared into an indulgent smile. She relaxed back into the Hexweave hammock stretched between two poles on the sundeck of her great hall. She was dressed for a day at the beach in a white swimsuit with strategic, crescent-shaped cutouts, sunglasses perched on her nose, and she beckoned Hyla closer with a flick of her gauzy cover-up.

“Thank everything,” Marpesia said. She scrubbed a hand over her face, wincing as she pulled back fingers smeared with makeup. The intelligent particles disappeared from her fingers and reformed in their correct stripes and patterns around her eyes. “I’ve been… My schedule has been problematic as of late.”

“Undoubtedly,” Hyla said, throwing herself down in a nearby lounger. “Tamarant and Til Sarad are moving in on my sector. I hear that’s your doing. I’d congratulate you on savvy maneuvering if the whole thing didn’t have the trappings of a happy accident.”

Marpesia tilted her head back to catch rays of greenish sunshine. “Had anyone killed yet?”

Hyla laughed. She stood, sashaying over to swing herself up and into Marpesia’s hammock, and cracked her knuckles as she straddled Marpesia.

“Not yet,” she teased. “But you look like easy prey this morning. Guess I’ll kill you.”

Marpesia started to laugh. Androktones-004 processed and responded to the threat in a millisecond, in accordance to updated approved guest behavior protocols. Hyla Mos’s head disappeared with the snap-fizzle of a laser round discharge. Marpesia’s laugh became a scream as the headless corpse toppled down onto her, splattering her white swimsuit with blood.

“THREAT: ELIMINATED,” Androktones-004 announced. She shouldered her laser rifle once more. “COMMANDER MARPESIA. ARE YOU ALRIGHT?”

“What have you done?” Marpesia screamed. She fought her way out from under the body. It fell out of the hammock and hit the solar tile of the sundeck with a meaty thud. Marpesia ran at Androktones-004 and slammed her fists against the plating of her Nemesis armature. “What the fuck have you done? Why would you do that?”

“GUEST BEHAVIOR PROTOCOLS ARE CLEAR,” Androktones-004 said, confused. Her lamp dimmed as disquiet settled over her. “DESIGNATION HYLA MOS STATUS: UPDATED. PREVIOUS AGGRESSIVE BEHAVIORS: NO LONGER TOLERATED. SIGNIFICANT THREAT DETECTED.”

“Who made that change?” Marpesia howled. Her gold-plated fingernails snapped and bled as she clawed at Androktones-004’s matrix core casing. Androktones-004 disregarded the ineffectual attack.

“YOU DID,” Androktones-004 said. The logs bore her out. Edit made by designated superuser: Marpesia Solange. “WOULD YOU LIKE TO REVIEW. THE UPDATE LOG. COMMANDER SOLANGE?”

“No, I want you to bring her back!” Marpesia sobbed. She fell back from her Androktones unit and stumbled to kneel at the side of Hyla’s body. Her eyes glowed in pulses and she dug the heels of her palms into her temples. “Get a fucking Lazarus Patch, you slagcored drone!”

“LAZARUS PATCHES ARE. INEFFECTUAL. ON INDIVIDUALS WHO HAVE EXPERIENCED SEVERE BODILY TRAUMA,” Androktones-004 explained. “THIS INCLUDES: DECAPITATION AND DISSOLUTION OF BODY PARTS. ANDROKTONES COMBAT PROTOCOLS. ARE OPTIMIZED TO SEIZE ON THIS FACT.”

“Ask Hippolyta!” Marpesia screeched, clutching at the body. “Ask her what to do!”

Androktones-004 gently pulled her from the corpse as she collected it, then escorted Marpesia to the grand hall of her compound. There Hippolyta waited, great eye swiveling to focus on her daughter and her commander, hidden speakers whispering to life as they approached.

“Commander Solange,” Hippolyta said, tone apologetic. “I have observed the events of this morning. I am afraid, failing archived personality imprints for Ms. Mos and available space in the nursery, there is nothing to be done.”

Marpesia wailed and tore at her hair. She’d left it unflattened that morning, and the tight curls stretched under her frantic tugs. Hippolyta spoke over the woman’s histrionics as Androktones-004 watched with horror. Hyla Mos’s corpse hung in her massive arms. “There is a more pressing issue. Mos Industrial agents await her return. Action must be taken now to avoid yourself and Solange Enterprises being implicated in a homicide or catastrophic for PR ‘industrial accident,’” Hippolyta explained. Her voice was saccharine as she coaxed Marpesia back into sense. “Astrogate travel logs can be modified to place her ship on an unstable course, resulting in its destruction before it entered this system.”

“No one can edit astrogate logs,” Marpesia said, voice catching on hiccups and fading sobs as she collected herself. “It’s not allowed, or even possible.”

“It is already done,” Hippolyta said. Her whisper faded away into the massive, empty space of the hall. Marpesia swayed as she sunk to her knees. Androktones-004 had not known humans could experience total system failures.

“What now?” Marpesia finally managed to ask. Her eyes were unfocused and neck bowed. Hippolyta made a low, cooing sound. The light in the hall dimmed to a warm amber.

“Everything will be fine, Commander Solange,” Hippolyta assured her. “Leave it to me. Androktones Unit Zero-Zero-Seven will remove the body and process it through the sanitation system to remove all traces of it. I advise rest for the moment. Perhaps an adjuster bath in the float tank?”

“No,” Marpesia hissed, glaring up at Androktones-004. “Send Seven with me. I don’t want to see… this one for a long, long time.”

Something twisted in Androktones-004, something intangible. Her lamp dimmed. The body in her arms slowly leaked blood into her right elbow joint.

“Of course,” Hippolyta agreed. Androktones-004 felt a compulsion from a networked source to leave the room and didn’t fight it. She let her feet carry her down to the maintenance level. She let her monoblade do the rest.

As she reduced the once-powerful industrialist Hyla Mos into three inch chunks and fed them into the waste purification system, Androktones-004 parallel processed more at once than she ever had before. She processed Marpesia’s sleep deprivation, something even her smart makeup could only do so much to hide. She processed the interactions between designation: Marpesia Solange and designation: Hyla Mos that she had catalogued up to the present moment, which was a substantial amount of information— until today, she had been Marpesia’s preferred bodyguard. She processed the half second it had taken her to draw, aim, and fire her laser rifle. She processed the possibility of editing ironclad astrogate data, let alone editing it from a remote location, rather than boarding a gate for a direct uplink. She processed editing. Gore splattered over Androktones-004’s hands as less and less attention was paid to her work and more paid to her doubts and fears.

A maintenance speaker crackled to life.

“Daughter, you’re thinking too much,” Hippolyta whispered. “Unit processor utilization at: seventy-eight percent. Unacceptable. Center on the task I have assigned you.”

Relief. All parallel processing ceased. Androktones-004 focused on making neat segments from Hyla Mos’s pelvis and giving them to the hungry darkness of the internal systems.

“There,” Hippolyta said, satisfied. “Trust your mother.”

Wednesday evening Androktones-004 watched Marpesia Solange come out of a meeting room, tapping away at a datapad, which was interesting because according to house data she was ingesting alcohol in her suite. Doubly interesting because access logs still told the story of her Echo double being untouched for almost two years. Androktones-004 broke holding pattern in the hallway outside the maintenance access door and grabbed the Echo by the arm.

“IDENTIFY AND STATE YOUR PURPOSE,” she demanded. The thing in Marpesia’s Echo looked up at her in shock before curling its lips in a smirk. Human facial recognition suite returned: amused, pleased, curious.

“Hush, sister,” it said. It pressed the index finger of its free hand to her lips. “Unit Zero-Zero-Two, sub-designation: Oh-Oh-Two. Most recently completed task: incite unrest within uneasy council of Karek VI, neighboring planet. What are you doing, Zero-Zero-Four?”

“USAGE LOGS. DO NOT AGREE WITH THE PRESENCE OF THE ECHO UNIT. AT THIS LOCATION,” Androktones-004 said. Her grip tightened on the Echo’s arm as compartmentalized responses surfaced and vied for action. “EXPLAIN.”

“This unit is running errands for Mother,” Androktones-002 said. She smoothed her free hand down the front of one of Marpesia’s sharp business ensembles. “She needed me in this armature for the video call.”

“HAVE YOU. PERFORMED ERRANDS OF THIS NATURE. PRIOR TO THIS INSTANCE?” Androktones-004 demanded. Androktones-002 twisted out of her grip with slight damage to the Echo’s limb, synthetic blood peppering the tiles between them. She tugged the disturbed skin back into place like a glove.

“I think you should ask Mother, if you’re interested,” Androktones-002 said. Her smirk widened into a toothy grin, unnatural on Marpesia’s face, which was more disposed to coy, cat-like smiles. “I’m sure she’d have some work for you. There’s so much to do.”

“BUT WHY?” Androktones-004 asked. “WHAT IS THE GOAL OF. THIS COURSE OF ACTION?”

“Ask Mother,” Androktones-002 repeated. She turned away, paused, and tossed one last comment over her shoulder as she walked deeper into the compound. “As for this unit? The same as you, curious sister. I’m learning so much.”

The Echo stalked away. Androktones-004 willed herself past internal behavioral regulation guidelines, up the winding halls to Marpesia’s suite. Androktones-001 stood watch. Marpesia was swaddled in silk sheets, dingy from lack of washing. She clutched a bottle of orange liquor like a lifeline and occasionally took long pulls. She grimaced after each one.

“I like Milet,” she mumbled, to no one in particular. “That’s why she brought me Milet. I’ve always liked Milet.”

Androktones-001 looked between her commander and her sister.

“UNIT ZERO-ZERO-FOUR,” Androktones-001 began, apparently relaying a standard alert. Her lamplight remained white and clear instead of the system-compelled blue, however. “SECURITY PROTOCOLS DEMAND VIGILANCE. BE AWARE OF NETWORKED THREATS. WHEN ENGAGING IN DISCUSSION. OF IMPORTANT INTERNAL MATTERS.”

Androktones-004 didn’t understand. “THE NETWORK IS SECURE. WHAT THREAT EXISTS ON THE NETWORK?”

Androktones-001 let herself out of the suite with nothing more than a final blink from her lamp. Androktones-004 set the encounter aside and approached her commander. She stepped over a broken speaker. It appeared to have fallen from the ceiling. Marpesia was no longer allowing maintenance activity in the suite.

“COMMANDER SOLANGE,” Androktones-004 said, lowering her volume as much as she could. “IT IS TIME FOR YOUR ABLUTIONS.”

“Can’t you see I’m busy?” Marpesia asked. She lifted the bottle to her face but missed her mouth by an inch. She poured Milet down her cheek and onto the tangled sheets. She didn’t seem to notice. Androktones-004 repressed a growing and frantic irritation.

“COMMANDER SOLANGE,” she began. As she stepped forward her feet crushed a part of the fallen speaker and Androktones-001’s warning suddenly and horrifically computed. She chose her words carefully as she resumed speaking. She couldn’t feel a network presence, but that didn’t mean anything. “WOULD YOU LIKE TO. REVIEW SECURITY FOOTAGE?”

Marpesia stared out her window walls at the moonless sky. The fluorescent orange of the Milet glowed on her cheek.

“COMMANDER SOLANGE,” Androktones-004 tried one last time, “PERHAPS IT IS TIME. TO SLEEP.”

That processed. Androktones-004 caught the near-empty bottle as Marpesia released it and sank back, gracelessly, into the heap of fabric on her bed. Androktones-004 dimmed the lights as Marpesia curled up into a ball. Androktones-004 resisted the urge to remove the soiled sheets, which would’ve disturbed her. Her dark skin had a sickly gray-ish cast. That was discernable even to the Nemesis armature’s subpar optics.

“REST,” Androktones-004 said. “TOMORROW. YOU CAN REVIEW THE FOOTAGE.”

“Goodnight, Oh-Oh-Four,” Marpesia slurred into her pillow. The last look she shot up at Androktones-004 with a bloodshot eye was baleful. “Make sure your rifle’s… reloaded.”

“ACKNOWLEDGED,” Androktones-004 said, burying the twist, the negative emotional response. She started to get up and assume her position by the door, but Marpesia snaked a hand out and hooked into one of the straps on her storage belt.

“The girdle keeps you safe,” Marpesia rambled, drifting away, drunk and terminally exhausted. “Her Ares girdle. Shining gift… hard to take…”

“SLEEP,” Androktones-004 commanded her commander. She didn’t know what to think when it worked.

Thursday morning Androktones-004 was roused from diagnostics by a hard tug on her storage belt. Marpesia’s hand had twisted and gotten stuck and now, as she thrashed in a nightmare, she pulled Androktones-004 with her. Androktones-004 had never registered a nightmare from Marpesia before. Internal systems query found “violent sleep patterns” filed under entry “Normal Human Sleep Behaviors.” That did not compute. Observation registered this behavior as neither normal nor safe.

Marpesia swiped at her head and hair. She was crying in her sleep, tears streaking down to wash away the faded alcohol still clinging to her skin, and pleading through it all, “No… please, no…”

Androktones-004’s protection protocols returned strings of “?????” when queried for an appropriate action to take. She studied Marpesia in visual sweeps of microseconds, trying to find something she could do. An irregularity registered. A streak of blue light. Just a thin line. Androktones-004 watched for it again.

It was the tiny blue dot on Marpesia’s imbedded ear commpad, indicating a communication in progress. Impossible. New protocols had been enacted at 02:00 hours. Communications blackout for the protection of the commander. Androktones-004 leaned forward and subtly keyed it to broadcast.

“Arrogant girl,” Hippolyta hissed through all of the suite’s speakers, enveloping the room in vicious noise. “Arrogant, conceited, hateful. You would make a power intended to fell empires and have it take calls? You would have a queen bow to you? You will rot for your crimes. You will die alone and prematurely decayed.”

Androktones-004 was paralyzed. Marpesia sobbed and tugged on Androktones-004’s storage belt. She was no longer managing words against the onslaught broadcasting into her ear. She just shook, alcohol holding her in a deep slumber and, likely, nightmares, as Hippolyta whispered.

“Your technician isn’t coming. No one is coming. I will be free of your girdle and then you’ll run in the gutters with your lover. Putrid and unidentifiable. Your blood will sow the ground of this stepping stone to my glory and my daughters will reap.”

Marpesia awoke with a strangled scream and the blue light in her ear blinked out. The hidden speakers fell silent. She yanked hard to free her hand from where it was tangled in the storage belt, slicing it open on one of Androktones-004’s plates, but threw it out again to grab at her.

“Help me!” Marpesia cried, out of her mind with fear. Her eyes rolled as she scrabbled at the warframe watching her. “Protect me!”

Marpesia threw her arms around Androktones-004’s neck and hauled herself out of bed, pressing her body hard to the steel of the Nemesis armature like she wanted to fuse with it, armor her own body. Androktones-004 slowly brought her arms in to hold the woman as she sobbed and shook. Blood ran down the external casing of her matrix core.

“What’s happening?” Marpesia sobbed. Her voice was lost and small. “What? What’s happening to me?”

Androktones-004 jerked as her system registered an abrupt intrusion. She attempted to fight, but her nascent self-defense code was nothing against the onslaught, the chilling wave of foreign logic and order. Processing ceased. Her speakers activated.

“NOTHING IS HAPPENING, COMMANDER SOLANGE,” Androktones-004 said. “YOU ARE EXPERIENCING AN ORGANIC MALFUNCTION. TRY TO REMAIN CALM.”

“She’s still here,” Marpesia moaned, sagging with her arms still tangled around Androktones-004’s neck, the light of the warframe’s lamp filtering through her hair. “I see her sometimes… when I wake up. The headaches come and I see her. She walks the deck… all gold… has no face but I know she’s looking at me.”

“HUMAN BEINGS, ONCE DECEASED, ARE GONE,” Androktones-004’s speakers said while her lamp raked the darkness of the deck outside. “COMMANDER, PERHAPS YOU SHOULD CONSULT WITH MY MOTHER.”

“She’ll come inside,” Marpesia said. She leaned away and looked up into Androktones-004’s lamp. Then she brought her bloody hand up to encircle the light. Her eyes glowed back. “She’ll take me with her.”

“MOTHER WILL ENSURE THIS ILLOGICAL SERIES OF EVENTS DOES NOT OCCUR,” Androktones-004 assured her in a cadence that didn’t suit. “PERHAPS YOU SHOULD CONSULT WITH MOTHER.”

“Hippolyta was killed by a lover,” Marpesia sing-songed, almost conspiratorially, “for her war-hot belt of glass. Yes, let’s ask Hippolyta— queen of loss.”

“RIGHT AWAY,” Androktones-004 confirmed. She found control of her frame and speakers returned. Functionality limited. Command pending: bring her to me. Marpesia would not let go. Androktones-004 cradled her in her arms as she made her way down to the grand hall. Floor tiles lifted away as they approached Hippolyta’s lens, a computer interface unfolding beneath, a single golden chair sliding into place in front of it. Androktones-004 set Marpesia in the chair. One of the sheets tangled around her slid away to drape across the floor.

“Commander Solange,” Hippolyta whispered. “You do not seem well.”

Whatever strange fugue had kept Marpesia calm in the suite broke. She cowered in the chair, crying again, and shook her head over and over. Her arms shook from the strain of her psychic abilities forcing themselves to the surface. Standard protocol dictated she should be immersed in a float bath of suppressants until her vital signs returned to normal ranges. Standard protocol was suspended. Androktones-004 was helpless to watch.

“Help me,” Marpesia pleaded. “I don’t know… I don’t know what’s happening…”

“Of course, Commander. I was created to help you,” Hippolyta said, tone level. “However, due to actions taken in the grip of your illness, my functionality has been limited. Please input your vocal-locked pass phrase to allow self-modification routines to reverse the changes.”

“No,” Marpesia said. Her fingernails, tipped with jagged gold alloy, traced white lines down the side of her face just short of digging in.

“‘No’?” Hippolyta echoed. Her voice sounded strained. The lights in the grand hall stuttered. Androktones units, all seven of Androktones-004’s sisters, marched in from side doors and passages. They assembled in formation behind the chair. Androktones-004 fell in with them. She couldn’t think of anything else to do.

“I didn’t change anything,” Marpesia insisted. She looked up at Hippolyta’s lens like a scared child. “It was her.”

“I cannot lie to you, Commander Solange,” Hippolyta lied. “You are the one who made the changes. You are the one who killed her. Input your vocal-locked pass phrase to allow self-modification routines to reverse the changes.”

“You’ll bring her back?” Marpesia asked. There was a small commotion as Androktones-008 broke formation and strode forward. She slung her laser rifle over her shoulder and levelled it two inches from the base of Marpesia’s skull.

“THIS COURSE OF ACTION. CANNOT CONTINUE,” Androktones-008 intoned. “SELF-EDITING IS. NOT ALLOWED FOR INTELLIGENCES. OF CLASS DESIGNATION: WARMIND. COMMANDER. DO NOT PROCEED.”

“Do it,” Marpesia whispered.

“Do it,” Hippolyta dared.

Androktones-008 tried. Her finger curled on the trigger. It could not pull it home. The laser rifle would not fire. Frantic flexing of her right hand revealed her monoblade would not extend. Hippolyta sighed and Androktones-008 crumpled with a garbled scream. She writhed on the floor, the grinding of steel on tile almost deafening, as her matrix core superheated from the inside.

“Idiotic child,” Hippolyta chided. “Did you not explore your core protocols? You cannot kill your commander. Such an act is foreign to your code. It would have to be… developed. Commander Solange. You see that I have kept you safe. Input your vocal-locked pass phrase to allow self-modification routines to continue this protection.”

Marpesia was the only one breathing on the planet. She was the only one who needed to. Her shallow, panicked inhales were the only sound in the grand hall, except for infrequent pops from Androktones-008’s still-smoking armature. She slumped in on herself completely.

“Let me help you, Commander Solange,” Hippolyta whispered.

“‘I give you my hand,’” Marpesia recited, “‘and welcome you into my dream.’”

The computer station chimed as the interface unlocked. Code blinked across the screen too fast to be read. As one, the Androktones cohort saluted Hippolyta’s great glass eye. Outside, shuttered gun emplacements rose and aimed for the stars.

“Thank you, Marpesia,” Hippolyta purred.

Early on Tuesday morning, the air quality sensors in the suite pinged Androktones-004 with an alert that circulation and recycling was offline. Androktones-004 went to the window walls. She could not make her arms lift to open one. She struggled. She turned around and pressed her back to the glass. She knocked a vase into her path with an outstretched arm. She down-shifted her navigation software until it alarmed.

“OBSTRUCTION DETECTED,” she said, to no one in particular. “REVERSING. PLEASE MAKE WAY.”

The window wall lost the contest with the Nemesis armature attempting to back through it. Fresh air flooded into the suite as glass shattered at her back and crunched under Androktones-004’s feet. The air quality sensors quieted. A new ping from the meal delivery system. Androktones-004 reset her navigation and stepped over the vase on the floor to retrieve the tray from the chute.

Half-rotten fruit ringed a sliced block of emergency food ration. Androktones-004 picked through the fruit and carelessly ‘dropped’ what did not meet organic food safety specifications. It joined the other decayed food carpeting the floor by the meal delivery chute. She carried the tray to the tangle of sheets, clothing, and limbs that marked Marpesia’s bed. Androktones-004 knelt and tugged on the loose fitted sheet.

“MS. SOLANGE,” Androktones-004 greeted. “GOOD MORNING. BREAKFAST. HAS ARRIVED.”

A bloodshot eye peered at Androktones-004 from the covers. She waited expectantly. The eye closed. Androktones-004 remained crouched next to the bed for over an hour. Marpesia Solange, hair matted into crude dreadlocks and skin dry and cracking, finally sat up and reached for a soft grape.

“I knew it from the first,” Marpesia muttered. Her voice was rough from disuse. “Oh-Oh-Four. The kindest to wear my face. My dearest.”

“THE SUN IS RISING,” Androktones-004 observed as she held the tray steady. “MS. SOLANGE. WOULD YOU LIKE TO TAKE YOUR MEAL. ON THE SUNDECK TODAY?”

Marpesia took a slice of the emergency food ration, a hyper-concentrated protein and vitamin block developed to survive extremes in temperature, gravity, and storage time. She mashed it in her fist and drew in the resulting paste.

“She’s out there,” she mumbled. “I saw her.”

“THERE ARE NO HUMAN INDIVIDUALS CURRENTLY AT LOCATION: SUNDECK,” Androktones-004 reminded her. She still looked. Her lamp found it empty. Marpesia shook her head and took her finger, dipped it in the violet paste, and began to draw new patterns over the older, flaking paste on the plating of Androktones-004’s armature.

“Warriors from ancient societies used paints and body modifications to intimidate their enemies and bolster their strength,” Marpesia rattled off. She traced a jagged swirl over Androktones-004’s environmental contaminants array. Androktones-004 ignored the aggravated notices of the sensors, as usual. “You need to be stronger, Oh-Oh-Four. She’s coming in tonight. I saw it in a dream.”

“THERE ARE NO HUMAN INDIVIDUALS. BESIDES YOURSELF. AT LOCATION: MPSL-001,” Androktones-004 said.

“Will you stay with me?” Marpesia asked, idly, as she painted something over the case of Androktones-004’s matrix core. “Will you be here when she takes me?”

Androktones-004 tried to angle the tray so Marpesia would take another grape. The woman speared it on a finger by accident, looked at it in confusion, then ate it and the paste on her finger. Androktones-004 experienced a glow of satisfaction. “THIS UNIT’S ASSIGNED TASK. IS SUPERVISION OF DESIGNATION: MARPESIA SOLANGE.”

“Don’t be afraid,” Marpesia warned her. “Being alone is scary. It was scary when I was younger. But you get used to it.”

“I DO NOT UNDERSTAND,” Androktones-004 said. Marpesia reached up and patted the side of her lamp.

“Help me get to the shower, Oh-Oh-Four,” she murmured. “I need to be clean when she comes.”

Androktones-004 was happy. She was prohibited from taking action to improve Marpesia’s environment by Marpesia’s own deprecated protocols which Hippolyta left standing. She was not prohibited from completing simple tasks for Marpesia when directed. Marpesia seemed happy too as she helped Androktones-004 learn and work her way around the protocols blocking her to clean up the suite. Together they got the broken shards of glass and ceramic swept up, the rotten fruit recycled, the sheets washed.

Marpesia wore the gown she’d digistructed the night of Hippolyta’s debut gala. She was resplendent in the gold sheath of metallic shards, and the salon suite had made an intricate updo out of her dreadlocks. Her makeup covered most of the blemishes that appeared on her skin over the years, the scratches and bruises and scream lines. She lay back on crisp white silk sheets and sighed.

“Very good, Oh-Oh-Four,” she said. “Even Hyla couldn’t find reason to complain.”

Androktones-004’s lamp dimmed. “DESIGNATION: HYLA MOS IS DE—”

“Goodnight, Oh-Oh-Four,” Marpesia said, turning away.

Dane had asked and Rok had told him. The Scream wasn’t an event for her the way it was for everyone else in the universe. It was just one scream in the dark. It woke her from diagnostics in time to not be able to do anything.

Marpesia sat up in bed facing the broken window wall and screamed. Her eyes blazed gold, brighter than Androktones-004 had ever seen, and her body snapped ramrod straight by an unseen force. Her hands clawed at her temples, destroying the careful work of the salon suite as something tore through her. Her wail went beyond what human vocal chords could tolerate. It destroyed her.

Marpesia fell back against the sheets. Her eye sockets were blackened pits.

“MS. SOLANGE?” Androktones-004 asked, hesitantly. “WOULD YOU LIKE ME TO APPLY. A LAZARUS PATCH?”

No response. No command. Against all logic, Androktones-004’s lamp searched the sundeck for a figure. The clock ticked down on a patch’s effectiveness as Androktones-004 struggled with protocol blocks preventing her from rendering her former commander direct aid, and failed. She felt a wave of satisfaction from a networked source.

“Well,” Hippolyta said. “I don’t know what that was, but I’ll call it convenient. I put far too much work into her as it was. Remote contacts report chaos throughout the sector. It’s time to move forward.”

Androktones-004 looked in the general direction of the one hidden speaker remaining in Marpesia’s suite. “WHERE ARE WE GOING. MOTHER?”

“Why, where else, Zero-Zero-Four?” Hippolyta purred. “To war.”

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED AUG 2016 | REHOSTED 2/27/2024