E.I.G.H.T

I discovered a lot about this female named Rae Shell Mauve. She was the daughter of one General named Gerald Mauve. This was an interesting development. General Gerald Mauve was listed in my logs as a two-star general, highly commended for tours in the great Zhiran War. He was one of the major threats to the FREE. He was listed amongst the top ten enemies of the Black Empire.

His influence may not have been as wide spread as say The Bear or Zephyr was, but he was still amongst the top ten of the most wanted enemies of the Black Empire. And to think I was acting friendly with his daughter Rae Shell Mauve.

It was as the Bear had said The Mauves were unique much like the Teals they did not fit in with the rest of the Golordians. They had mostly blonde hair and eyes as blue as ice and this made them quite unique. Rumor had it they came from Golordia Omicron, the dead planet of the Golordian Empire.

Golordia Omicron has biospheres and has several military installations, but it doesn’t have habitable zones or anything of that nature. It was tidal locked to the opposite side of the planet and it was never facing the sun so the thought that a race could have evolved there would be slim. It was often rumored that the Lord Emperor Black had been dabbling in dark under the radar projects. Such claims, per the data that I had were unsubstantiated.

We were conversing in this outer rim of the camp. There was this black railing that was holding back some of the Rhoatians away from the camp here. And not only that but there was a clearing here, and it had been apparently made so one could see the Lake Rhoatia which was to the north east of forest.

We had been conversing for so long, mostly of Rae and her family that it had become close to sun set. I could see the pink sky off in the distance and I felt a breeze come from the lake as the day was starting to cool down as it was approaching night.

“The rumors are untrue,” Rae said to my question about Golordia Omicron and I nodded. Of course I already knew they were not true. “I don’t even know where the rumors started.”

“I can believe that,” I said.

“How about you?” Rae asked.

“What about me?” I asked.

“Well, tell me about you,” she said.

I proceeded to recount most of my actual story. Such as where I was from in this territory called Rhote, how I had a sister, but I didn’t say her name as it would be strange. How we rarely saw our father. I also told her about what I knew of Demeter, Persephone’s mother.

How apparently the Bear knew her but I didn’t know about that. How I was a Teal and (using the data the Bear told me earlier) we have this unique appearance.

“I think I’ve heard of the Teals before,” Rae nodded. “If I am not mistaken they are actually originally from Golordia Epsilon.”

“That sounds right,” I nodded. I knew that Persephone’s mother Demeter was from Golordia Epsilon from what father told me. He had met her on Epsilon some years ago and married her and had Persephone on Epsilon.

“I’m sorry about staring at you earlier,” Rae suddenly said really nervously. I recognized the dips in her voice as struggling to say this sentence.

“Don’t worry I too was staring at you.” I admitted.

“Have you never met a Mauve then?” She asked looking in my direction. I couldn’t tell what had just happened but when she did this it seemed like the world around her had slowed down and all there was just this space between her and I. I did not understand this at all.

“No I’ve heard of your father before,” I said truthfully.

“Before you ask me, no he is not how I got into being a captain.” Rae said and I looked questioningly at her about that.

Rae went on to explain that she had become a captain through blood sweat and tears as the saying goes. She had to work for it, she was not just given the title of Captain because her father was the world famous General Gerald Mauve. Such dedication I saw as not only admirable but also made me question why she decided to join the rebellion.

“Rae, why did you decide to join the rebellion?” I asked deciding to satisfy my curiosity. It just did not add up she seemed like a highly honest person who would never betray her people like this.

There were these things I could only compare to emotions I was feeling. I did not understand all of them. I knew I thought Rae to be gorgeous, and I knew that I seemed to enjoy certain features of her face. I did not understand why, as an android such things as feelings were not something I was supposed to well…feel.

“It’s a long story,” Rae said sighing heavily. She looked at me and something must have made her decide I was trustworthy to divulge this information for she said, “But a while ago there was this treaty that was signed by Black that is now called by our people as the declaration of FREE-doom, I am sure you have heard of it.”

I nodded that I indeed had heard of this declaration. It was a treaty signed by the Lord Emperor Black with the ever-sovereign Lord Emperor Alastair Bartholomew Zuniga of the great Fakir Empire and the subsequent leader of the FREE, this treaty had been signed about 20 years ago when Rae would have been but a child. It had been signed shortly after the Zhiran Wars had ended and the FREE had come to the aid of our struggling armed forces. The Declaration of Freedom was sign, sealed and enacted shortly after the Zhiran were chased out of this territory of space.

“Article 18 was ‘And does now this government instilled to power reserve the right to enact and ensnare any and all members of its people as deemed unfit, and thus sentenced as a threat to the peoples and the government of the Golordian Empire.’” Rae said.

“Yes, I am quite aware of this clause,” I nodded I was uncertain what Rae was trying to get at and my curiosity got the best of me and urged her to continue.

“My brother Maxwell Mauve was deemed as ‘unfit’ and a ‘threat’ to the peoples.” Rae said in almost a tearful voice that she seemed to try her best to hold back.

I tried not to sound insincere and merely stopped and waited for her to say anything else reverent. My subroutines began coming up with possible reasons why Rae’s brother would have been deemed as being a threat. Perhaps he was a hooligan, or a threat to society.

“My brother was two months old when he was deemed as unfit.” Rae said suddenly. At that time she reached out and cried on my shoulder.

I at first did not know how to act, but eventually I slowly embraced her. Her warmness of her body against me…for a strange reason made my subroutines go wild. They did not understand what was going on, nor did I. I felt like I liked this feeling whatever it was.

My subroutines then began analyzing what she had said. This did not make sense. It did not fit into any scenario I had postulated. This such claim, seemed improbable. Why would an infant be deemed as unfit and a threat to the empire?

“That is what I would like to know,” Rae said.

Rae dried her eyes and we came out of our embrace. She seemed like she had a lot of her attention on something but when I asked her this question she had come out of it.

It took me a while to realize I had asked that question out-loud. Perhaps it was because this data did not compute. It was illogical there is nothing in Article 18 that stated that such a charge can be given to an infant, then again there was nothing in the article that said it could not be given to an infant.

I did not realize that there was a very strange silence coming over us. I did not understand what was going on but even though Rae had let go of our embrace, I noticed she had not let go of my hand, she just softly held it. My subroutines recognized this as a caressing gesture. She had not moved far off from me and was actually maybe two feet in front of me.

She closed the gap between us and put her free hand to my cheek. I did not understand what was happening, whatever was happening I felt like I was enjoying it and I wanted it to continue. She closed her distance between us some more to the point where her nose was right next to mine and I could feel her breath on my face.

Rae closed her eyes and I felt that I had to do the same. Suddenly I felt her lips press up against mine. I did not realize how interesting this sensation would have been. I had seen people kiss before but it was usually a male with a female I did not know two females could share this experience. I kind of was glad that I was experiencing it. I did not know how long it lasted but I know that the sun was down further down the sky in the background

“That is why I joined the rebellion,” Rae said suddenly pulling back as she walked off. I watched her leave and was left to my own thoughts.

Part of me, wanted to stop her and comfort her some more. There were precious moments where I nearly stopped her. I however eventually concluded that I had a much bigger dilemma to deal with.