“A whine module? Your parental units included a whine module? In addition to a sass module?”
“Yes.” Dot-R nodded. “They wanted the full teenage experience, just like humans have. I believe Talia attempted to instruct them against it, but all senti-bots have a stubbornness drive innate to our programming.”
The chaperone looked at her. “Does not—”
“Shut up!” Dot-R yelled at it. It fell silent.
“Go away,” Dot-R said hopefully. It didn’t move.
Nelka blinked hard and sniffled, continuing as if nobody else had spoken. “And I have the bands there, and I sent out all the invitations, and every chef in our clan has spent the last couple of days preparing the feast…” She heaved a huge sigh. “Oh well. I guess I will just call everybody up and cancel.” Tears welled in her eyes.
She looked so miserable that Rosamund couldn’t bear it. “Oh, no!” she said quickly. “A ball sounds lovely.”
“That’s brilliant!” Nelka beamed a huge smile at her, perking up immediately. Rosamund could practically see tears being sucked back into their ducts. “Can you be ready in half an hour to meet with the tailors for the dress-making machine? I need to go speak to the decorators about the table arrangements.”
“Dress making… Okay. I guess.”
Nelka gestured imperiously at her daughter. “You go with Rosamund. The dressmaker can measure you too, so that we’ll be ready when it’s your time. Which I am sure will besoon.”
Lina glanced at Rosamund. “On the bright side, this is the first time today she has nagged me about my own mating prospects, which is the longest time she’s restrained herself since…ever.”
Rosamund managed a weak smile. This wonderful, adoring family who wanted to claim her as one of their own… how would she tell them that she had to leave?
Nelka hurried off, smiling smugly, her woebegone demeanor completely vanished now.
“She’s good,” Rosamund acknowledged with admiration. “World-class.”
“She sure is.” Ferenc glanced at Kodran. “You didn’t stand a chance. Neither did I, when she first laid eyes on me all those decades ago. Another girl was dancing with me at the time, and my darling Nelka told her to leave, and when she hesitated, Nelka set her hair on fire. I am a happy prisoner.”
He strolled off, whistling, hands thrust in the pocket of his flowing tunic.
Lina smiled brightly at Rosamund and linked her arm through hers. “I’ll take you to the dress fitting,” she said. She glanced at Dot-R. “You come too. I work in the clan’s engineering corps – I’ll build a new hairstyle and outfit for you.”
* * * * *
That night, Rosamund slept badly, and she didn’t dream-visit Kodran. Instead she found herself dream-walking in the gardens outside the castle. They were shrouded in a damp, icy mist, and were utterly silent.
She’d felt sad and alone out there, and she spent the day sulking in her room and ignoring the steady stream of gifts that arrived at her room, sent by Kodran. Flower arrangements. Jewels. Boxes of candy.
She didn’t want jewels or candy – she wanted the truth. She wanted to know that Kodran wasn’t collaborating with a fleet of mechanized serial killers. She wanted to know why the scarred woman was hiding on Kodran’s ship with her child, and she wanted to know that they were safe.
She tried to put on a happy face for the ball that evening, however; there would be hundreds of people in attendance and she didn’t want to let them down.
She entered the ball with Lina and Nelka – apparently that was traditional.
Kodran was across the room, standing on the stage, waiting to dance the first dance with her. Also traditional.
Dot-R, adorned with a new metallic hairdo that looked like a 1960s Earth-style beehive set with metallic jewels, hurried up to her, still accompanied by her serv-bot chaperone.
“You look very bad right now,” Dot-R said. “Is it love sickness? I have heard of it. Apparently love sickness is bad for you. You look extremely unwell.”
“Dot-R!” Lina chided her. “You shouldn’t say that.”
“Does not compute,” the chaperone said.
“But it is the truth,” Dot-R said. “My parental units told me that I should always tell the truth. Look at her. There are circles under her eyes, her face is pale, and she—”
“Look at that cute male serv-bot over there! I think he is giving you the eye!” Lina said quickly, pointing at a serv-bot waiter who was delivering drinks.
