Free Man or Machine: 2 (Body Electric) by Electra Shepherd

highest bidder.”
    “So you’re going to keep him in a guest room until he’s too old and gray to care about money? Is that the plan?”
    Ilsa had not slept at all last night. She’d lain in her bed, in the bed where she’d watched Hal and Dallas having sex, and despite the fact that Red had changed the sheets and bedspread, she swore that she could smell Hal. That she could feel his warmth still on the mattress. At about four in the morning she’d turned on the light and searched the entire bed, head to foot and under the pillows and everything, in case he had left a single hair behind.
    He hadn’t.
    She could feel him in the house too, like a disturbance in the air. A storm coming, ready to break. She kept on hearing him say how he wasn’t important to her. She kept on hearing the way he’d laughed through the closed door.
    She’d loved him. And she’d realized last night, soon after searching her bed for the faintest trace of him, that her feelings hadn’t changed at all.
    Even though she’d done her best to forget him. Even if he’d betrayed her by trying to steal her family’s secrets. It didn’t matter.
    She still loved him.
    “I don’t know what I’m going to do with him,” she said miserably.
    “If you’re not playing with him, it might not be a bad idea just to let him go.” Cally spread jam thick on her toast. “I think people should learn about the robots. It’s the first step toward getting them accepted into mainstream society.”
    “But it’s also the first step to having them exploited.”
    “I know. But the thing is, Ilsa, we can’t keep what amounts to an entire new race of people a secret. And it is a race, now that there are two of them.” She looked at Ilsa speculatively. “Is the new electric guy good in bed?”
    I’m not entirely sure because I’ve only had sex with twenty-six percent of him, but he looked good when I saw him with my ex-boyfriend.
    “Um…”
    “Blue and I worked out a great way of sharing sensations if you need—”
    “Don’t worry. I’ve figured it out.”
    Cally nodded. “Can I give you a word of warning though, little sis?”
    “Call the police about Hal. I know.”
    “No, it’s about the new guy. I can see why you’d choose to have a robot lover. You’ve always been more comfortable with technology than people. My total opposite, until I got it together with Blue.” Cally’s expression went a little dreamy, as if she were remembering something particularly good. “But it’s not all binary, sis. The whole point of a robot with a personality is that they’re unpredictable. You told me that yourself.”
    “I don’t want Dallas to be predictable.”
    “But do you want him to be safe?”
    Ilsa didn’t answer. Cally glanced at her watch and got up. “I’m going to be late for work again.” By the door, though, she paused. “You named him Dallas ?”
    “He named himself Dallas.”
    Cally laughed. “Okay. Let me know if you need any help with him, Ilsa? Or the spy dude?”
    For a moment, Ilsa was tempted to confide in her sister. To tell her about her true relationship with Hal, about how she felt as if her heart had been wrung apart since he’d appeared. About how her body felt as if it were in heat. About how nothing was safe anymore.
    “Okay,” she said instead. “And I’ll introduce you to Dallas.”
    “Blue will be happy to have a new buddy. And there’s something else that’s good about this.”
    “What’s that?”
    “It’ll really piss off our dear brother when he gets back.”
    * * * * *
     
    She and Blue walked around the perimeter of the property and the house to see if they could spot how Hal got in. There was no physical trace and he hadn’t left an electronic trace either. He could have been hiding for minutes or hours before they found him.
    She went to the workshop and spent most of the day updating their network security systems, knowing all the time it was probably futile. It wasn’t her strongest