Companion 3000 - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,23

a week too?”

Leita shook her head. “Oh no, not Eddie. He stayed around for a good six months. Got me to trust him, got me to tell him everything I wanted. Everything I needed.” She stared down into the dark brown liquid in her mug. “He…he acted like it was no big deal—what I wanted him to do.”

“What did you want him to do?” Pierce asked softly. He’d felt from the first that there was more to Leita than met the eye. There was something deeper, something darker inside her that craved understanding and exposure, whether she knew it or not. But Leita only shook her head.

“Never mind. The point is, when he left, he took most of the keepsakes my parents left me—the ones that had monetary value anyway—and about six months’ profit. Oh, and he left me a note, telling me what he really thought of me.” She grimaced. “Nice parting gift, huh?”

Pierce clutched the mug of caffeine brew so tightly he was surprised it didn’t break. “That son of a bitch,” he said thickly. “He had no right to do that to you, Leita.” But isn’t that what you’re doing, Pierce? asked a little voice in the back of his head. Taking her for a ride before you leave her high and dry? Pierce pushed it away—he had no intention of hurting Leita if he could help it.

She took another sip of her brew and shrugged philosophically. “That’s when I realized I was never going to be able to keep a man around here—not a real one anyway.” She put a hand to her mouth. “Oh, no offense, Pierce.”

“None taken,” he said dryly, wishing again that he could tell her who and what he really was instead of playing this silly charade. “I know what you mean.”

“That’s when I started thinking about buying a Companion,” Leita went on, smiling at him. “It took me over a year to save the credit but I’m beginning to think it’s the best investment I ever made.”

Pierce felt his stomach turn over again as guilt stabbed him. He hadn’t thought too much about the fact that Leita had spent an enormous amount of credit on a piece of merchandise that she hadn’t really gotten. When he left she’d be out the money and feeling betrayed all over again.

“Hey.” She put a hand on his arm. “You okay, Pierce? You look kind of, I don’t know—upset.” She laughed nervously. “I guess it’s silly to think that though, huh? Are you even programmed for negative emotions?”

Yeah, honey—I got negative emotions. All kinds of ‘em. Pierce tried to smile at her. “I was just thinking that, uh, you seem to have a hard, lonely life out here. It made me…well, sad, I guess.”

“Not so lonely anymore.” She squeezed his arm. “Of course, Schneider and I keep each other company, but I’m really glad you’re here, Pierce. I mean that.”

“I’m glad I am too,” he said sincerely. And I’ll stay as long as I can, he vowed to himself. And while I’m here, I’m gonna do everything in my power to make you happy. Leita had a cold and lonely life out here mining for ore with nobody but the sarcastic Schneider for company—she deserved a little happiness. Yet another job for the Companion 3000, he thought to himself with a little smile.

Chapter 5

Leita found that her days with Pierce fell into a kind of pattern. They got up in the morning and worked in the mech bay if any of the ships needed service or repair. With Pierce’s help, she was able to get disabled ships up and back into rotation in half the time it usually took which increased production immensely. But even if all the ships were running smoothly, Pierce still insisted on finding something to work on. With his help, Leita was able to get to a lot of maintenance projects she’d been meaning to do around the life pod completed as well as some long overdue spring cleaning. Soon everything sparkled and shone and worked right for the first time in years, much to her delight.

In the evenings they watched vids or read and just generally relaxed in each other’s company. It seemed strange to Leita that she could feel so completely comfortable relaxing with a machine, but after a while she dismissed it and just let herself go. Pierce was good company, even if he was just a preprogrammed dildo, as Schneider insisted on calling him.

They took turns with