Dyllys

When he woke up his head hurt, he felt as if his heart was pushing too much blood into his head and it would explode at any moment. He had never has such a bad headache. He groaned in protest to the pain, for a moment wishing that he hadn’t woken up. Then he opened his eyes and found he was staring at a sterile grey ceiling. It confused him for a moment until Dyllys’s head blocked his view and he found he was staring into her icy blue eyes. Then he remembered. The ship landing, that horrible man Hector demanding Faran hand over Dyllys, and then Dyllys had come. They must have made him sleep after that because he couldn’t remember anything else.

“Why didn’t you run? Why didn’t you leave?” Faran asked trying to sit up even though his head throbbed violently.

“I cannot leave you Padrone.” Dyllys’s cold hand grabbed his and she lifted him to his feet. When she let go, Faran groaned and then fell against the wall. He slid down it until he was seated again and put his hands on his head.

“I thought we had this discussion already. I thought you understood that I am not your Faran.”

“Like Dyllys is not she, I remember.”

“But didn’t understand.” Faran suddenly looked at Dyllys. “Do you have no self preservation at all? Don’t you understand what they are going to do to you? You were listening when Glory told us about them? Mind you, I didn’t believe her at the time, but she’s been right about everything else.”

“Self preservation is second to preserving you.”

“Well I can’t say you are doing a very good job of that either. Wouldn’t it have been a better idea to not be caught by these people? Couldn’t you have just grabbed me and ran.”

“Padrone, you did not direct me so. You said I should run and I could not leave you.”

“What about after when they started dragging me away. Did you just follow along with no resistance? Did you even try to free me?”

“You did not seem to need freeing. You seemed peaceful. They were not harming you.”

Faran looked at Dyllys and shook his head. “Well next time if someone tries to move me when I am sleeping you make sure they don’t.”

“I apologize if I have upset you.”

Faran sighed. “Forget it. What is done is done. Why don’t we just try to find a way out of here.”

“Of course Padrone.”

“And stop calling me Padrone. What does that mean anyway?” Faran got up off the floor. His head was starting to feel better. Whatever they had done to him was wearing off.

“Padrone? It is 'master'.”

“Well just don’t call me that or master or any other title like that. Just call me Faran. I don’t want to be your master, Dyllys,” Faran said. He whispered the last part and then he saw a smile flicker momentarily on Dyllys face. It was so quick he didn’t think he had actually seen it, merely just imagined it.

“You and Glory have the same commands,” Dyllys said, her expression concealed again. She turned away from Faran and looked at the door to their cell.

Faran was about to speak when there was an explosion and the ship rocked to one side, artificial gravity not working fast enough to keep the ship stable. The result was that Faran was knocked off his feet. He tumbled into Dyllys’s arms. She seemed unperturbed by the sudden violent movement.

“What was that?” Faran asked as he pushed his way back to his feet.

“It sounded like an outside impact. I believe this ship is being attacked,” Dyllys said. At the same time an alarm started to sound in the corridor.

“Escaping now would be a good idea then. I mean while they are all occupied with other things.” Faran wandered over to the door. There was no panel on this side of the door. It would have been too easy if that had been the case, and also not a very good prison cell. He was just peering through the window on the door trying to see how far away the panel was when he heard metal being wrenched apart. He felt a cold hand on his chest and then he was gently pushed out of the way.

“I am sorry Faran. You are in the way.” Faran saw Dyllys’s other hand was on the door. She pulled on it with more force when Faran was out of the way and Faran could hardly believe what he was seeing as the door crumpled like aluminum foil beneath her grasp.

“I didn’t know you could do that.” It sounded dumb the moment he said it. Of course she was strong: she was an android after all.

Dyllys helped Faran through the hole she had made and when they were out in the hallway Faran looked around. There was no one to be seen.

“Do you think you could find a way off this ship?”

“Not at the moment, but I can soon enough.” She wandered up the corridor awhile until she came upon a control panel and she ripped the cover off it. Grabbing a wire she connected it to her wing and closed her piercing eyes. In that moment Faran saw the ghost of the woman in the picture clinging to his great-grand uncle’s arm. When she opened her eyes again she grabbed his hand.

“This way,” Dyllys said and pulled him down the winding corridors, “We have to get to level four.”

“Which level are we on?” They had reached a ladder and Dyllys had opened the hatch.

“Level twenty-eight,” Dyllys replied and then helped Faran reach the ladder below.

“Wouldn’t it be easier to take a lift down?” Faran asked as he began to climb down the ladder.

“The explosion caused electrical shorts. The lifts are working intermittently. I would like to avoid us getting stuck on one.”

“Fair enough,” he said as he continued his descent down the long vertical corridor.

* * * *

“Is it just me or do the sounds of conflict seem to be getting closer?” Faran asked as they passed level five.

“That is correct, Faran. We are headed to the source of the breach,” Dyllys said. Faran was out of breath and sweaty; he disliked looking up at Dyllys and seeing that it took her no effort at all to travel to this level.

“That doesn’t seem wise.” He had reached the landing of level four and had gotten off the ladder. He was leaning his hands on his thighs trying to catch his breath. He suddenly didn’t feel like going through the door before him.

“I have calculated the odds of success for each possible route and this one seemed the most probable for success,” Dyllys said as she landed softly on the platform. Faran was amazed that she could move so lithely; it was deceptive for all the power that she contained.

“What about an escape pod? We could have just gone back down to the surface of Tossu in one of those, and we wouldn’t have had to travel so far to get to them,” Faran objected.

“We are too far away from the surface of the planet. We would have drifted in space until our air supply ran out and that would have killed you. If we did not run out of air, we would have been picked up by either the ship that we are already aboard or our distress signal would have reached a ship sent out from the Ordalis. Glory always told me to keep far away from the Ordalis and as you do not want to remain on this ship that seemed like an illogical choice.”

“How long have I been asleep?”

“Approximately seventy six hours.”

“Over three days?”

“Our best option for escape, Faran, is to board the ship that has attacked this vessel. As they are not friendly with our captors we have a better chance that they will harbor us until we can again reach Tossu.”

“I don’t want to go out there, even if they are our best chance of getting out of here. It sounds like there is some serious fighting happening just beyond that door.” Dyllys cocked her head and listened to the sound issuing from the other side of the door. It did sound like there was a lot of gun fire.

“Do not worry, Faran, I will let no harm come to you.” She grabbed his hand before he could protest and opened the door. Faran could barely feel his feet touching the floor as they ran down the passageway. He could hear fighting happening all around him but could see none of it as it passed in such a blur. Then suddenly Dyllys stopped. They were in a passageway that wasn’t included in the ensuing violence. He could see a doorway at the end of the hallway. It was closed.

“We have reached the airlock,” Dyllys announced and pulled Faran closer to the door. She closed her eyes and connected once again with the ships computer. She had established a wireless link with it when she had been connected through the hardline. Not having to connect to the ship to talk made things a lot easier. When she opened her eyes the airlock opened as well.

“Machines seem to respond well to you,” Faran said as the door hissed closed behind them and the other opened to reveal an earthy smelling corridor. The contrast between the ship they had come from and the ship they were now on was like water and fire. This ship felt like it was someone’s home, rich in detail and care. The walls were not naked metal but covered in richly colored fabrics.

“It looks like the painted tree,” Dyllys murmured. Faran looked at her and realized her eyes were lit with wonder even if her face and voice did not convey that same sentiment; she had said it more like a statement than amazement. Faran looked at the corridor. It did look as if someone had captured the essence of autumn and placed it here. Rich browns and deep reds, with accents of golden yellows and burnt orange. It didn’t seem like the sort of ship a pirate would live on.

“We should hide,” Faran exclaimed, making Dyllys forget her thoughts, “until we are far enough away from Hector’s ship that they can’t send us back.”

“Who is Hector?” Dyllys asked as she pulled Faran deeper into the ship.

“Hector Davenport, the man I was arguing with on the planet. He’s commander of the ship we were on and son of Victor Davenport, President of Davenport Enterprises.”

“Then yes, hiding would be a preferable option.” They had rounded a corner at this time and Dyllys ran into someone coming from the other direction. The impact knocked all three of them off their feet.

“Excuse me,” said a female voice. Faran looked up at the source and realized he was looking into the eyes of another android. This one didn’t have eyes with the same allure that Dyllys’s had. Her eyes were the standard grey. But her hair was a wild red and her face had intricate tribal tattoos covering it. She must have been a custom model. She didn’t look like any other AS android Faran had ever seen, and when he looked at her, despite the array of red hair and tattoos, he thought he saw Dyllys staring back at him. She matched the rest of the ship from the end of her hair to the outfit she wore; a tight fitting pants suit that made her look like she would be home on Radden cavorting with upperclassmen.

“I am very sorry,” Dyllys said as she helped Faran to her feet.

“Does Parris know that you are here?” the android asked.

“Is Parris your master?” Faran asked. The android looked at Faran then at Dyllys and then pulled a gun from her belt and trained it on Faran.

“I am going to have to detain you,” the android said.

Dyllys stepped between Faran and the android. “Please, we were hostages on the vessel you attacked and we came here to request safe passage back to Tossu.”

“What is your designation?” the android asked.

“I am Dyllys.” The android still had her gun trained on Dyllys and was looking past her to Faran.

“I am AS-24-318, but you can call me Esper,” the android, Esper, replied. “I have never heard of the Dyllys series android. When were you created?”

“I am not a product of Davenport Enterprises. My creator was Emanuel Salazar. I was established as Dyllys two hundred and four years ago.”

“Emanuel Salazar you say?” Faran turned startled by the sudden male voice that spoke at his ear. The voice was refined and spoke in Old English. Faran surmised he must have come from the Capital of the Ordalis Empire, Ordalis Central, as the dialect was only used there with any frequency. He turned to look at the source only to realize that he had a gun trained on his side.

Dyllys turned and looked at the man. She saw the gun at Faran’s side and moved towards him.

“I wouldn’t move, Bellezza, for there are two guns and as I know you have no regard for yourself at this moment, either one could be used to pierce his flesh.” Dyllys stopped moving and merely stared at Parris.

Parris eased the gun away from Faran’s side. “Now enough with this standoff, as much as I am interested in hearing the story of your woes, I in fact have a schedule to keep. As long as keeping you away from Davenport Enterprise will vex them, then I will gladly give you passage on my boat.” Parris eased his stance, set the gun in his holster, and walked smoothly past Dyllys, waving for Esper to follow him. She, too, holstered her gun and the two of them disappeared around the corner leaving Faran and Dyllys to stand agape.