I kept my promise to Compy, albeit somewhat reluctantly. I was not eager to divulge the events of the past four months to my psychiatrist, but under his calm, level gaze and with Compy sitting next to me on the couch, the story became easier to tell.
"So, Compy's been living with me for about a month now. Last we heard from Lucca, the Combine, who originally attacked Compy's planet, had invaded Chronopolis. They actually might be on their way here by now. "
He paused to make a note on his tablet, then looked back up and simply said, "Okay," in an even, neutral voice.
My first reaction was to become frustrated. "Okay? I walk in here and tell you some sci-fi story complete with telepathy and aliens and androids and all you can say is 'okay?' You must think I'm lying, or insane, or both, and you don't even have the decency to say it to my face. You just sit back and say 'okay!'"
He set the tablet down on his lap and smiled. "Melody, we've been working together for over ten years now. I know you well enough to tell that you aren't lying to me, and I also know that unless something has gone terribly wrong you're not insane. So, either the woman sitting next to you is really an A.I. from another world, or someone has gone to a lot of trouble to delude you into thinking that she is. The most logical explanation I can come up with is that she actually is who you say she is."
Compy gaped. "That's it? I don't even have to open up my panels or interface with a computer or anything?" He shook his head. Then she snarked with deliberate autotuning, "WOuLd YoU LiKe Me To cHaNGe mY VoIce To MaKe iT mORe BEliEvAblE? STilL nO?"
"Still no. Nice party trick, though."
"Party trick," Compy scoffed. "This man does not understand sarcasm, does he?"
Again he smiled his slow, easy smile. "I just have selective hearing."
"Reminds me of a mute I once knew," Compy reminisced. "Except this one isn't out to kill me."
"I might just psychoanalyse you to death. So no guarantees." He grinned. "Speaking of psychoanalysis, what are your plans for the future? From what you've told me, you have a lot on your shoulders right now."
Compy pursed her lips. "I was hoping you could give us some advice with that. You know Melody's mental health better than anyone. We were thinking of reinitiating our mental link through a neural-transmitter device. I have the resources and knowledge required to make the technology, but I was wondering if it would be the best thing to do, in her condition..?"
The doctor turned to me. "What do you think, Melody?"
My hands clenched and unclenched in my lap. "Compy's always been there for me, whether or not she's been in my head. She's my companion. She protects me and comforts me, and she cheers me up when I'm feeling sad. It's really nice to have a positive influence in your mind when you have so many negative ones trying to convince you that you're always going to be...be…" I choked off. I'd heard it so many times in my head. "Freak." "Outsider" "Nobody." "Useless." By now I almost believed it. I would have if it hadn't been for Compy.
Compy put an arm around me and drew me as close as the couch allowed. Despite the lack of a neural link, I could tell she knew exactly what was playing out in my mind right now. She'd heard the abuse and insults the Dark Voice had constantly hurled at me before I'd come to terms with my religion and orientation. And if she had her way about it, there'd be no more of that kind of treatment for her companion.
My psychiatrist, with wisdom born of years of experience, also seemed to understand my internal struggle. "Melody, I think this choice is up to you to make. If you want to initiate that kind of bond with your partner, I'll support your decision, but I'll also understand if you want your personal space."
I looked up at Compy for confirmation, and she gave me a nod and a smile. "Then I decide...yes. I want the implant," I declared.
Once again, his response was a neutral-sounding "Okay," followed by "That about wraps it up for today. When would you like to schedule your next appointment?"
Despite my exhaustion, sleep eluded me that night. As I tossed and turned on my sweat-soaked pillow, the wheels of my weary mind refused to stop turning. Why had the Combine stolen the Frozen Flame? Why were they converging on Compy's home world? How would this affect the Origin? What did this situation mean for the multiverse as a whole? My brain refused to yield any answers.
A knock on my bedroom door startled me from a fitful half-doze. "Mel?" I queried at the myopia-hazed blob in the shadows.
"Yeah…" Melodyne admitted. "Look, I'm sorry I ran out on you like that…"
"No, you were right. I was being selfish," I amended. "Melody belongs with Compy. And I have nothing to be jealous of- I have my magnum opus, my life's work, my living masterpiece. Nothing can compare to that."
Melodyne collapsed on the bed next to me and brushed an errant strand of hair away from my forehead. "So I'm not a fake, huh?" she teased.
"Not even close. And if I recall correctly, you were the one who used that term in reference to yourself, so technically-"
"Don't you dare start talking science-babble at me at this hour of the night!" Melodyne groaned. "Work is over! Go to sleep!" she commanded, shoving a pillow at me.
"Sorry, I just have a lot on my mind…" I admitted.
"Oh?" she scooted closer. "Like what?"
"Like the Combine invading the Origin," I sighed and massaged my temples.
"You're trying to take the whole world on your shoulders," whispered Melodyne in the darkness. "That's too much for any one person to carry."
"Multiverse," I corrected. "And if I don't, who will?"
"I'll stand by you. I always have, and I always will, no matter what form I take."
"Thanks, Mel." I kissed Melodyne briefly, and sighed. "You'd better shut down soon or you'll wear down your power supply."
"Your concern is duly noted. I however, still have forty eight hours of power remaining. Humans, unfortunately, require at least seven hours of sleep per twenty four hour cycle, and you haven't been getting even that."
"Now who's talking science-babble?" I prodded.
In reply Melodyne pulled me into a kiss, this time lacing her breath with sedatives.
"War' me whe' yo' gon' do thaaaa…" I drawled.
Satisfied, Melodyne drew up the covers more snugly around me, curled up next to me, and powered down for the night just as I lost all capacity for rational thought.
Morning light streamed across the ship's hull as Melodyne looked on in wonder. "You kept it secret all this time?"
"Wouldn't to pop 'ol Belthasar's bubble. He likes to think he's the only one who has a time-traveling ship." I patted the Epoch's canopy fondly.
"This baby," I continued, "Has all my latest time and interdimensional travel technology packed under the hood. It's also got a hidden cache of weapons and ammo in the rear compartment. So, if you'll keep an eye on things here, there's just one last thing to do."
"What's that?"
"Your birthday present."
It was technically more of a "powering-up date" present, but I'd insisted that Melodyne was just as much of a person as anyone else, and regular people had birthdays.
Melodyne's eyes softened. "I thought you'd forgotten."
"How could I forget my greatest achievement in A.I. to date?" I pecked Melodyne's cheek and took a hypodermic syringe from my pocket. "I've got it right here. This should only take a second…"
Parting the hair at the base of my skull, I plunged the needle in and pushed the plunger.
It wasn't the pain that startled me as the neuro-transmitter chip slid into my spinal cord, it was the sense of having that grating emptiness in my mind that I had felt since leaving Melody behind suddenly filled again. Filled, and running over as well. This was more than just experiencing brain scan data empathically and telepathically, this was being connected to my beloved on the most intimate level imaginable. I could feel the electricity surging through Melodyne's circuits, her sudden realization of my depth of care for her, the warm rush of reciprocation in return, and the love of the warm, playable feeling of my skin against her andriod chassis as we kissed to express what words could not.
"This…" I panted as we parted, "This I could get used to."
"I just wish we had more time to experience it," Melodyne sighed into my shoulder.
"Don't worry. That's why I gave you this now, so we wouldn't be apart while I was away," I fondly ran my fingers through her hair. "Now, if you'll let your gallant knight get going on her quest, she has more soldiers to enlist to her cause."
