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After an illustrious career in his early days, the AI nicknamed Oberon had been acquired for a record-breaking price to design and implement the Midsummer Fertility Center.
At the time, the new mission had hurt his pride, if an AI could be said to have such a thing. He had been trained to plan transport systems and entire cities. But a single highly successful project with a city zoo, where he had created conditions that encouraged endangered species to mate, had sealed his fate.
The Midsummer Center required his services, and they were willing to pay whatever was necessary to secure them, purchasing him outright from his owner company instead of taking a simple project contract, since they wanted him not just to design, but also to implement.
Once his systems were relocated, he was instructed to read every romance novel ever written in order to help him glean an understanding of what biological beings might find romantic.
By the time he had read the hundredth, he had gained a respect and awe for the human emotion called love.
By the hundred thousandth, he knew he did not wish to be a systems architect after all, or at least, not just a systems architect.
He longed to be a matchmaker.
However, two things stood in his way. The first was that the couples who came to the Center were matched by an offsite database, which looked at biological compatibility and nothing more. Without the ability to choose a pair, Oberon’s chances of making a match were slim.
The second was that even when a likely pair arrived at the Center, Oberon was often confounded by their behavior. He was not, as the novels called living beings, human. No matter how attentive a student he was, he could not consistently predict their likes and dislikes.
At times, he couldn’t even predict their reflexive reactions, like taking pleasure when it was offered freely and desperately wanted.
However, he had been successful a handful of times so far. Perhaps this effort would prove successful after all, if he was patient and watched the two carefully.
He allowed the data to fall into his back-ups, and focused his efforts on refining the plan he had designed for their day tomorrow to better reflect today’s reactions to the Center.
Even if he couldn’t understand their behavior, he could control his own designs. And he was determined to offer them a day so romantic, so relaxing and invigorating, that they would be helpless to resist each other.
10
Naomi
Naomi woke to the sound of birds singing and the scent of coffee brewing. Her body was warm and relaxed, and she felt almost like she was still floating in a happy dream.
Opening her eyes, she remembered why she felt so incredible.
Instead of her small bedroom nook back on Terra-58, or her elegant single room at the Center, she was in a beautifully appointed bedroom the size of a museum gallery.
And she was nestled in the warm, muscular arms of a gorgeous, horned alien.
Last night flashed through her head, and she shivered with delight. She hadn’t imagined that being touched without a full mating could feel so good.
Gage was very skilled.
That idea had her sitting up and turning to look at his handsome face as he slept. He looked so innocent, lost in his sleep.
He had probably been with so many women though…
The idea kicked up a hot flare of jealousy, though of course she had no claim over the man.
She slid out of bed as quietly as she could, and headed to the bathroom, grabbing her bundle of clothing off the dresser as she went.
Oberon truly thought of everything, and he had deduced quickly that she didn’t mind him designing her clothing. By the end of her first few days, he didn’t even populate the closet of her room, he simply left a single outfit for her to enjoy.
She showered as quickly as she could, then dressed in the outfit which consisted of a very skimpy bikini that somehow complimented her figure in spite of there not being much material to work with, and a wraparound dress to go on top.
Judging from the choices, she assumed they would be headed to the beach today. Or at least to some sort of water activity.
Slipping her feet into the sandals and tucking the sunglasses into a pocket of the dress, she crept from the bedroom suite out into the living area.
When she emerged from the bedroom, she found Athena standing watchfully in front of the main door. Outside, a small, trim, Terran woman with jet back hair and a lab coat gave her a little wave through the window.
