The Fantasy Trove

Shelly signed the documents, allowing her to leave the hospital. She could have walked out, but they had a silly policy about wheeling patients out the front door, regardless of their condition. Did they think she was going to trip and sue them?

“You’re agitated,” Sonia stated as she pushed the wheelchair. “I thought you’d be happy to get out of here.”

“I didn’t think your software included reading minds,” Shelly snapped, and immediately felt sorry for it. She knew Sonia could read her body language and temperature. She was a sophisticated piece of machinery. She could probably even sense Shelly’s pheromones, and extrapolate data from that. “I’m sorry. I know I should be happy, but I’m tired of being treated like a child. I can take care of myself. I’m all healed up. I don’t need this chair. I can walk. And as much as I enjoy your company, it’s been a couple weeks since the explosion. I don’t need you protecting me all the time.”

“Of course not. You have your big girl panties on, and don’t need anyone.” Was that hurt in her voice? Shelly knew she could emulate emotions, but what was the point in acting hurt right then? “You’ve been acting surly ever since Jessica abandoned you. Knowing that you gave away your father’s secret, and being trapped in that hospital haven’t made you any nicer.”

“Don’t forget about Becky dying, or Areth giving up her life, either,” Shelly grew defensive. “Everything has gone downhill lately, and I’ve been next to useless. What good am I, huh? All those years of training to protect others and to fight for what’s right…. Where’s it gotten me? I couldn’t save anyone. I don’t even know what’s right anymore! I fell in love with my own sister, and I…. We….”

Shelly stopped moving forward suddenly, and Sonia rounded the chair to confront her. She found herself weightless as Sonia gripped her under her arms and lifted her into the air. Anger blazed behind the android’s green eyes. Shelly hoped it was her imagination, but she thought she saw arcs of electricity behind her pupils. Sonia brought their faces together, until Shelly was certain of the blue-green sparks.

“I have known a lot of soldiers,” Sonia informed her through clenched teeth. Had Shelly really thought that the android’s emotions were synthesized? “I have known men and women who went into certain defeat, only to walk away victorious. I’ve seen brave men run from spiders and snakes, and cowards stand up to overwhelming odds. Do you want to know what always made the difference?”

A male orderly approached, a concerned look on his face as he asked Shelly, “Do you need some help ma’am?”

“Official business,” Sonia stated without looking over. “You know who I am. Everything is in order. Make sure we’re not disturbed further.”

“Yes, Agent Sonia,” the orderly stated. He gave Shelly an uncertain look, but she shook her head and the man turned to do as he was told.

She turned back to Sonia, her heart still pounding, but a little calmer. “What made the difference?”

“Heart,” Sonia informed her as though that was the answer to everything. “I haven’t known your family for long, but the CIA and the FBI, and a number of other agencies that I’m not even allowed to admit exist have a huge dossier on your family. You wouldn’t believe the amount of detail that’s in it. I have access to all of it. Guess what’s not in it?”

“Why ask? You’re going to tell me anyway,” Shelly muttered.

“Damn it!” Sonia swore and let go. Shelly wasn’t expecting to be released and she collapsed into the chair. “I understand you’re hurt because you lost someone, but—”

“Not someone,” she spat and jumped to her feet. Or tried to. Sonia stood her ground and Shelly ended up bouncing off her and sitting back down. “We lost Becky and Areth. In a way, we lost Gloria and Jessica also. And for what? What do we have to show for it?”

Shelly heard the other woman grinding her teeth before she spoke. “I’ll have to update your file that you’re a quitter.” Sonia’s voice sounded final and resolved as she spoke. “I have the most powerful processors known to mankind, but I can’t figure you out. Compared to me, you’re a ghost driving a meat-covered skeleton made from stardust. You can change forms, and do things most humans only dream of. Yes, you live a violent and dangerous life. You have to fight more than most people. Not only does that mean you’ll end up losing more than most, but it also means you’ll end up [i]living[/i] more than most. Do you think either Becky or Areth would want you moping around like this? Stand up and grow a pair!”

Shelly felt something turn in her stomach. It lurched up past her heart, making it flop for a moment before working its way into her throat. When it burst free, she finally recognized it for what it was. She laughed, and then laughed harder. Her sides ached, but still she laughed. She couldn’t help it. It struck her as hilarious. “Grow a pair!” she gasped, and then broke down into hysterics again. She clutched at her stomach as she doubled over in the wheelchair. “I… I think… you have… some… wires crossed. Grow a pair?” She continued to chuckle and wheeze,  having to wipe at her eyes. “My brother can change… to grow a different pair… I can’t—” She cut off, her laughter overcoming her again.

“It wasn’t [i]that[/i] funny,” Sonia groused. “You know what I meant.”

Something in her tone sobered Shelly a bit. She looked at the android and realized she may have actually offended her. Scooting the wheelchair back a little, she was able to stand. Sonia looked at her, wary for some reason. Shelly felt like crap, knowing she’d been rude, but Sonia was just a robot. Sure, she was incredibly lifelike, and she’d been at Shelly’s side for the last two weeks as she recovered, [i]appearing[/i] to care, but Shelly knew it was all programming and electricity.

“I’m sorry, Sonia. I know I’ve been an ogre to deal with. I didn’t mean to offend you, I—“ She was cut short as Sonia pulled her into a bear hug. “Are you sure you’re an android?” she gasped as she tried to breathe. Sonia was acting too emotional.

The second she finished asking the question, she was released from the hug. Sonia blinked repeatedly as she looked at Shelly. Her brows knit together for a few seconds before she dropped her gaze down.

“Something is wrong with my programming,” she admitted and shuffled her feet. “Ever since I entered your mind, something has been wrong with me. All my diagnostics come back clean, but my emotions have been stronger than my emotional subroutines can account for. I can’t entirely turn off my emotions, either. I tried. I’m in charge of my body, but not my emotions. I can’t figure out why.”

“Welcome to being a woman,” Shelly muttered, then felt guilty again as Sonia’s shoulders slumped further. “Sorry. Do you think entering my mind messed you up somehow?”

“Not really,” Sonia said and turned away from Shelly. “I’ve had to do that before while on missions, and it never affected me. Why should you be different?”

“Why indeed?” Shelly tried not to feel insulted from the easy comment. She didn’t think Sonia meant to be rude or condescending. In fact, why should Shelly be different? Just because they’d fooled around in her [i]Mens Mundi[/i]? “I was in my [i]Mens Mundi[/i] at the time. Maybe that had something to do with it?”

Sonia was quiet for a long time. Shelly placed her hand on the woman’s shoulder, trying to comfort her, and wondering at the switch in their positions. Just a moment ago, it was Sonia trying to get Shelly out of her funk. After a moment, Sonia placed her hand over Shelly’s and gave it a gentle squeeze.

“There you two are,” Sheldon’s voice boomed to them. “We were starting to worry about you.”

Shelly glared at her twin as she felt Sonia tense up under her hand. Of course he would come in and ruin the moment. Sonia dropped her hand and stepped away.

Shelly followed Sonia from the lobby without saying anything to her brother, and without sitting back in the pointless wheelchair. Sheldon still had that annoying golden glow around him.

Outside she found her parents, Mandy, and Shlee waiting beside the Orange Bubble. There was also a massive crowd being held back by a security force. Cameras flashed and cheers erupted as she stepped into the afternoon sunlight. She hadn’t expected this. What was happening? Why were these people here?

Her mom pulled her into a tight hug, almost matching the strength of Sonia’s embrace a moment ago. She felt her father’s strong arms encircle them both a moment later.

“Glad to have you out and free again,” Lyden said as she felt his love and warmth envelope her. She hugged them back, feeling better than she had in some time.

“Oh, sure!” Sheldon complained to Shelly. “They get hugs, but I get a cold shoulder.”

“Sheldon?” a female voice called out from the crowd. She had long red hair, and a tight-fitting black miniskirt. “Sheldon Snow? Was that you at the club? I’ve been trying to talk to you! Sheldon! Please look at me!”

“A new girlfriend?” Shelly couldn’t help but tease her brother. “She doesn’t even know your correct last name.”

“No, I don’t think I know her,” Sheldon looked confused.

“She seems to know you,” Shlee teased him. “Or maybe she just wants to [i]know[/i] you?”

“Another broken heart left behind?” Mandy asked with a smirk right afterwards.

“I honestly don’t know who she is!” Sheldon glanced from them to the woman waving frantically at them. She was attractive, if dressed a little slutty, and seemed desperate to get past the police holding the crowd back.

Shelly enjoyed watching her brother grow flustered by the other two women. At the same time, she was glad that he was no longer keeping them at arm’s length. It seemed the three had acquired a balance between them.

For a moment she felt empty inside. Eldon had two beautiful women to replace Gloria, while she had no one to fill the hole Jessica left behind. Jealousy wormed its insidious way into her. It wasn’t fair! She’d never felt the need to have someone else in her life, but now that Jessica had abandoned her, she had no one. Her brother’s girlfriends may have been forced on him, and she knew he still pined after Gloria, but at least he had girls that cared about him, and loved him. Even Bridgette ended up with a new boyfriend in the form of Oberon, King of the Fairies.

And now here was another attractive woman chasing after her brother. Why should he get all the love, and she get nothing?

“Her name is Megan Raquel Myers,” Sonia informed them. “She is currently unemployed. She has no children. She is twenty-six years old. According to her last driver’s license, she is five foot seven, and weighs a hundred and five pounds. In truth, she weighs closer to one-twenty. She has red hair and brown eyes. She broke up with her boyfriend after kissing a stranger in a nightclub a couple months ago, according to social media. She—”

“Thanks, National Registry,” Sheldon complained, “but that tells me nothing. I still don’t know who she is. Sounds like she’s human, and I don’t know many of them.”

“We should get out of here before this crowd grows any more unruly,” Sonia turned back to face them. She glared at Sheldon for a moment before taking Shelly’s arm and heading for the car. The crowd roared again, but she tried to ignore them.

“I can walk on my own,” Shelly tried to pull her arm away, but Sonia’s grip was too strong. It didn’t hurt, but Shelly didn’t appreciate being treated like an invalid either. “Let go of me.”

“As soon as you’re safely inside,” Sonia told her.

Shelly ground her teeth as she was forced into the Orange Bubble. As soon as she crossed the threshold, she shook Sonia from her and stomped to the back. Everyone else clambered in, but Shelly turned her back on them. She was glad to be out of the hospital, but she couldn’t stand seeing how Shlee and Mandy hung on her brother. Even seeing her mother waiting hand and foot on her father sickened her. Between the crowd outside and Sonia treating her like a porcelain doll, the laughter earlier was gone from her heart.

“Your heart rate is elevated,” Sonia stated behind Shelly. “Is there anything I can get for you?”

“Why do you even care?” Shelly snapped, though she kept her voice low enough to not be heard by anyone with normal hearing. “Don’t you have some terrorists to kill, or the president to save?”

She didn’t receive an answer right away, and for a moment she thought Sonia had left her alone. So alone. When Sonia did answer, there was no doubting the anger behind the voice. “I care, because I [i]care[/i]. My current assignment is to make sure your family stays safe. That crowd out there idolizes your family right now, but that doesn’t mean someone with ill intent might not be hiding among them. I demanded this assignment. I refused to let anyone else take it. I thought that maybe you… you were happy for a moment in the lobby. I don’t like seeing you like this. Do I need to tell you to grow a pair again?”

Shelly had the feeling Sonia had wanted to say something else when she hesitated, but couldn’t think what it might have been. Part of her appreciated Sonia taking time to talk to her, but part of her felt it was an intrusion. That latter part won out when something else she’d said struck her.

“So you only care about my safety because this is your mission? Well, I’m fine, okay? In here, I’m safe. There are very few creatures that could hurt us in this car. You can relax and leave me alone.” Her voice rose as she spoke, but she didn’t care. What did any of it matter?

“Are you even listening to me?” Sonia gripped her shoulder and turned her torso around to face the android. Shelly saw that everyone was watching them, but she didn’t care anymore. She was used to not having any privacy. “I told you I care. I demanded to be on this duty. I wanted to be… I wanted… I thought that you… Damn it! How do you humans deal with these out-of-control emotions?”

“What are you talking about?” Shelly asked, seeing some inner struggle cross the android’s face. “What’s wrong with you?”

“According to my diagnostics?” Sonia scoffed. “Nothing! Every system is functioning optimally in normal parameters. When I shut off my emotional functions, they report as off, but I still feel. I [i]feel[/i]! I find my mind wandering at times. Considering the speed at which I think, do you know how annoying that is? Your mind might wander every few minutes, but mine wanders every other femtosecond. That’s every one quadrillionth of a second. Thank goodness it doesn’t hamper any of my non-automated systems. But do you want to know where my mind wanders?”

Shelly opened her mouth to answer, but nothing came out. She remembered Sonia being a cold robot, not this emotional wreck. She stared at the android, trying to come to terms with her behavior.

“I think back to that time with you,” Sonia informed her. “I think back to when I entered your mind, and we got intimate. I can give you the number of men and women I’ve been with. I can even give you the amount of time I’ve spent having sex since I was first booted up, but that time with you was different. It changed me, somehow. Before, sex and intimacy were just a tool in my arsenal, to be used when needed. That was it. Now, I think about the way your lips felt as you kissed me. I remember how your soft voice sounded as you moaned. I remember the scent of the air as you played with my breasts. The feel of your hair as it trailed along my body. I remember [i]wanting[/i] to make you feel as good as you made me feel.”

“So, what then?” Shelly asked, feeling uncomfortable with everyone listening into such intimate details being spoken now. Her cheeks were burning, but there was no hope of getting any privacy. “You lust after me? Sorry I was so good at it.”

“No, that’s…” She trailed off as she shook her head in denial. “It’s more than that. I think about the way you smile, and how fierce you get when standing up for what you believe in. I think about the way your eyes sparkle, or how your nose crinkles that certain way when you concentrate. Seeing you hurt in that hospital, hurt me.”

Shelly felt her cheeks burning hotter at Sonia’s confession. What was she thinking, saying all that? “Sheesh! You sound like you’re in love.” Sonia stared at her as all emotion drained from her face. She didn’t speak, just stared. “I mean, you can’t be, right? Considering your job, falling in love would be a bad thing. Why would anyone program you for that? Sonia? Why are you staring at me like that? Say something!”

“Yes, that’s what I meant about your nose crinkling,” Sonia’s voice actually shook a bit as she spoke. Shelly straightened out her face, or tried to. She’d never noticed her nose crinkle before. “Love was not part of my programing. I don’t know what love is. I’m programmed to learn and adapt, but how do you learn a new emotion?”

“You can’t be in love with me,” Shelly almost shouted. Her heart pounded in her chest as she tried to understand what was happening. “You don’t know me. You don’t know anything about me. You can’t be in love with me, because you’re a robot. You’re not real.”

“Ouch,” Sonia flinched away from her. She looked back a moment later though, and met Shelly’s gaze. She was shocked to see tears forming in the android’s eyes. “I already told you, I know you. I probably know you better than you know yourself. I have your file downloaded, and I know every detail in it. I’ve watched you as you recovered in the hospital. One night as you slept, I even composed a song to the beat of your snoring. I’m not saying I love you. As you so bluntly pointed out, I’m just a robot. I’m not programmed for it. Would you like to hear the song?”

“You sound more like a stalker, now,” Shelly complained. “And no, I don’t want to hear it.” What was happening? Sonia was acting like a love-sick teenager. What happened to the cold, calculating woman that helped save her from the Paladonic Knights?

Then something else struck her, and she wanted to laugh, and cry, and curl up into a ball. Hadn’t she just been complaining about having no one? She felt all alone a bit ago, and now a woman was professing to care deeply about her, and she was rejecting her. But Sonia was a mechanical being. She wasn’t a living person.

“I’m sorry to intrude,” Lyden broke in with hesitation, “but I may have an idea.” He held Areth’s statue in his hands as he looked between the two women.

Shelly looked around the car, remembering again that she wasn’t alone with Sonia. Sheldon appeared to be arguing with his girlfriends, though they were hushed enough that she couldn’t hear what was wrong. His golden glow shined, and it irritated her.

Sheila was looking at her daughter with a worried glance that Shelly couldn’t read.

“What are you thinking, Dad?” Shelly asked after the silence dragged on.

“I think Sonia may have gained a soul,” Lyden stated as though his statement made sense. But it couldn’t. Rocks didn’t have souls, though trees might. Sonia was a large moving metal rock, not a living thing.

“I wasn’t programmed for one,” Sonia informed him. “That’s something for flesh and blood people to believe in. There has never been scientific evidence that a soul exists.”

“Yes there is,” Shelly surprised herself by speaking up. Everyone looked at her, including her brother and his girlfriends. She met her father’s eyes, and after a moment he nodded for her to continue. Her lips turned down in a grimace, but she knew she was right. As she spoke, everything started to make sense. “Sonia, as you know, my father is a generator.” She was still upset with herself for giving that secret away, but what was done, was done. “When he is in his [i]Mens Mundi[/i], or… um… is [i]with[/i] someone, he shares a portion of his soul with them, and takes part of theirs into himself. It makes him dangerous to some people, because when he does that, they become loyal to him. If he chose, he could create an army of fanatic followers, and overthrow any government. With time, he could even turn any enemy into a staunch ally.”

“Are you telling me that he has a form of mind control and manipulation?” Sonia asked, her eyes growing large with worry. “And we let him near POTUS?”

“He doesn’t do it through mind control, or removing their will,” she tried to explain to assuage the android’s sudden fears. “A person remains who they are, and wouldn’t do anything they really didn’t want to, but they find that they start to care about him.”

She looked at her mom, remembering stories about how she met Lyden Snow. Sheila Lance used to be a hardnosed, and very strict boss. One day her dad snapped and all but raped her. The story wasn’t told that way from Lyden’s view, but Sheila had told her a few more details than she ever wanted to know. It changed her mom. Sheila Lance found that she preferred to be subservient. She demanded to be Lyden’s slave after that, and had served him faithfully ever since. There was love between them that no one who knew them could deny. Shelly wondered on more than one occasion if it would have been the same if Lyden hadn’t been a generator. Lyden didn’t change who a person was, but he did affect them.

“That’s only magic. That doesn’t prove a soul,” Sonia claimed.

“No humans believed in magic, until after the Chaos War,” Lyden replied. “[i]I[/i] didn’t believe in magic, until Angela found me. It still took me awhile to accept it. It wasn’t until after I wrecked my car, and was nursed back to health, then taken to the Shadow World that I started to accept that magic might be real.”

“Magic doesn’t equal a soul, though,” Sonia continued to argue. “If a fireball were cast at me, it’d still cause my systems damage.”

“But what about magic that’s more subtle?” Sheila cut in. “I’ve seen what changes my master’s magic can create. It’s not flashy like a fireball, but still powerful.”

“That’s different,” Sonia refused to give up. “They’re not the same. The fact that magic exists, doesn’t prove the existence of a soul.”

Lyden held up the statue of Areth. “Yes it does. When a fairy loses its virginity, their entire soul is transferred to whoever takes their maidenhead. This ties them together. A fairy can’t be far from their soul, or she will die. The demon Marchosias once tried to force me and Areth to be tied together in this way. He put us both in an imaginary world, and made me fight to free her, or die. We couldn’t leave that world until I took Areth’s virginity. Except that he didn’t know that we had already swapped out portions of our souls via other means. When I took her maidenhead, I was able to give her a portion of her soul back, even as I took everything she had at that moment. It meant that Areth could survive being away from me. It also proved to me that souls exist. The Orange Bubble would be another example, sharing a portion of Angela’s soul. Even if it didn’t prove their existence, remember that the Pillars of Light and Dark are the proverbial God and Devil. They collect the souls of those that die and believe in them.”

Sonia’s eyes looked from Lyden, to the statue, back up, and then opened wide as she turned to Shelly. Without words, Shelly knew what was going through her electronic brain. “You gained a soul, Sonia. Your diagnostics can’t check for it, so they come back clean. It would explain why you can’t turn off your emotions. You may be mechanical, but you’re also alive. Now [i]you’re[/i] a ghost driving a meat-covered skeleton made of stardust. Um… except for the meat part.”

“But… how did I get one?” Sonia shook her head. “Your father exchanges them, but I didn’t enter [i]his Mens Mundi[/i], and I didn’t have anything to exchange with you.”

“That just means I gave you a portion of mine, and it grew to be your own over the last two weeks,” Shelly replied, starting to feel sick. “That might also explain why you’re focused on me. It was my soul, so you gravitated to me. You don’t really love me. Your soul just feels the connection to mine.”

“No,” Sonia stated almost immediately. “I’ve run everything you’ve said against every argument I have. With all the information you’ve given me, I have to admit the possibility I have a soul now, but your assessment of why I feel for you is invalid. When we copulated in your [i]Mens Mundi[/i], it felt better than anything my circuits have ever felt before. At the time, I associated it to me being linked directly to your brain. I assumed it was some form of feedback. I have run simulations, both physical and in my software. Nothing has felt as good as that time with you.”

“Simulations? Do you mean you masturbated?” Sheldon asked with too much honesty. Mandy and Shlee both smacked his chest. “What? It’s a valid question. Masturbating never feels as good as the real thing.”

“I compensated for that in my calculations,” she informed him with a touch of acid.

“May I speak again, Master?” Sheila asked, though she was staring at Mandy.

“Always,” Lyden smiled at her.

“There is an easy test to see if she has a soul, besides her emotional state,” Sheila informed them. Some of her older self showed as she faced them with confidence.

“There is?” Shelly asked.

“All Sonia has to do is try to lie.” Sheila nodded to Mandy, and Shelly understood. By the look on her brother’s face, he was lost. “When we first met Sonia, Mandy’s effect of forcing those around her to speak the truth didn’t influence her. I surmise that it was because Sonia didn’t have a soul at that time. If she does now, then she won’t be able to tell a lie while Mandy is around.”

Before anyone else could speak, Sonia intoned, “I’m a hot sex-bot that is also an undercover agent for the United States government.” She paused for a moment before a frown marred her face. “That wasn’t what I’d meant to say.”

Sheldon chuckled, and Shlee covered her mouth, but everyone else kept a straight face.

Shelly didn’t know how to feel. On the one hand, she was no longer alone, as she’d fretted about, but on the other, she didn’t know how to feel about the android. She wasn’t ready to jump into another relationship. Her brother might be able to do it, but not her.

“What does this mean for you?” Shelly asked.

Sonia remained silent for a long time. Considering how fast her brain functioned, it must have been an eternity to her. After a large pause, she blinked and shook her head. “I need to turn myself in and be dismantled.”