Beta-reading was done by Kokodoru!
Luka woke up to a sore throat, a pounding head, and aching body. Once the wave of feelings ebbed, the stench settled in, then the flavor of bitter, sour regret.
Every part of her hurt. Her chest, the old bullet wound which had been healing so well, felt like it was on fire. Her throat punished her for every thick swallow. Every breath spelled agony. Faintly, in the background, like a cherry on top of a mountain of pain, she smelled urine and blood.
The memories assaulted her. Wave after wave, they smothered her mind, receding just enough to let her feel the pain of her next inhale before taking the stage again, imbibing her mind with the terror, the shame.
The first thing she did that morning was sob.
The shame was so thick she could choke on it. She had always explained that she was a scavenger because she was a coward. She had no shame in that. It was normal to be afraid of fights, guns, anything that could overpower you, kill you. Outrunning all those things and more was all she was good at. But being subdued so easily, being reduced to such a state, made to be aware of every excruciating second of it...
"Moderate injuries sustained," her AI said into her implant, nothing more than a whisper. "You are not alright."
Luka whimpered.
"Your old injury has worsened."
She could only nod; the mere idea of reaching up to wipe her tears hurt her.
"You need medical attention: this cannot be fixed using your kit."
"Fuck..."
She couldn't remember if she had already scheduled meetings for that night. If it was dawn, then she had almost twenty-six hours to arrange and prepare for it.
It felt impossible. The thought of standing, of getting to a clinic, those alone beat her down until even her mind felt black and blue. And then she would have to chat with the buyers, debate, decide, settle, and go there...!
"I will bring you."
Luka flinched at the voice, curling up into a ball despite the pain. Any sleep that may have stuck was annihilated, the sound thrusting her into an uncompromisingly painful state of desperate alarm.
"Please," she blubbered. "Please don't—"
"I won't hurt you."
This time, Ruko spoke over the intercom, "Luka, you need medical attention. You can afford a taxi, and Miku will help you get there."
The woman panted, barely able to contain herself. She glanced at the robot, who only seemed mildly concerned about her state.
"Does Ruko even know what you did?" she wheezed.
"Miku has told me," the AI said.
Miku didn't even look guilty. Rage filled the woman like a balloon, inflating her, stretching her thin.
"Tell me what she told you."
"Luka, you need to see a doct—"
"Tell me! That's an order!"
After a pause, the AI said, "She got you to say 'please' and 'thank you'."
The human froze. Miku dared smile.
"Is that what it was all about?" the woman seethed. Her chest was on fire. "Fucking please and thank you?"
"I prefer to think of it in terms of basic respect," the robot said, her voice cool. "Some say it should be given by default. Others say that respect is earned, though they do not specify how."
Luka trembled. "Fucking respect is—"
"And I think last night would be good to keep in mind when you make your choice for my buyer," Miku continued. "It might be worth choosing someone capable of respect."
The balloon popped. The woman collapsed back onto the bed. She could barely hold herself up. With one arm in a brace, her chest bleeding pain, and her legs aching, she felt like she was reduced to being a pile of misshapen logs: all splinters and no movement.
She wanted to cry. She felt too weak to do anything else.
"You should probably shower first," Miku remarked. "You soiled yourself."
The shame came back, so thick it was suffocating.
"Leave me alone," she whined. She couldn't even turn away from the robot. She was barely even able to curl into a ball. She could only press her side against the wall, as far from Miku as she could get, and hope she wouldn't come closer.
She could only pray.
"You desperately require medical attention," Ruko insisted. "Miku will bathe you and assist you."
"Don't touch me," she whispered.
"But you're hurt. You need help. I will—"
"Please! Please don't touch me..."
"I cannot ignore your state—"
"You reduced me to this state to get me to say please and thank you, didn't you?!" Luka bawled. "I'm saying it, so just do what I— I beg of you. Please! Please..."
"I..."
"Luka, please consider—"
"She tortured me!" Luka yelled. "She— Fuck. I... Please. Leave me alone."
After a heavy, devastating pause, Miku merely stated, "I can't leave."
"Put on a hoodie and... Please leave. I..."
"I am cargo."
"I don't care," Luka sniveled. "Just go. Please don't make me beg again..."
"I won't," the robot stated. "I'll go."
The woman heard her get up and put on some clothes to hide her sticker. Then, she heard the rattle of pills, the pouring of water.
She knew what was coming, yet she cowered regardless.
"Take one. You'll be able to take care of yourself if you do."
Luka glanced at the robot.
She almost looked sad. Her hoodie was far too big for the robot, hiding her arms and face, but those big blue eyes...
They had been so angry.
"Take one."
Luka shook her head, cowering further against the wall.
"Please take one."
"...I can't," the woman admitted.
Miku slowly reached towards her. Luka squeezed her eyes shut, unable to relax even as the robot carefully raised only her head, once again placing the pill on her tongue and helping her drink.
Only when she was released did Luka dare open her eyes. By then, the pressure chamber door was already opening.
"I will be back before sundown, in case you are well enough to sell the spice by then," the robot said. "I won't go very far."
Luka didn't reply, watching her step out of the ship, watching the door seal behind her, listening to the hiss to confirm that the seal was airtight.
She was alone.
For the first time in almost two cycles, she was completely alone.
And she sobbed.
"You need urgent medical attention," Ruko reminded her, not giving her a minute of quiet. "I advise that you get to a clinic the moment you are able."
"Fucking leave me alone," Luka managed to whimper. "You AIs never know when to shut up..."
"I had warned you that she is not cut off the same cloth as we are," the AI insisted. "She is more human than AI and cannot only tell when she is not given the respect she deserves, but she can care about it."
"See if I care—"
"She did," Ruko warned her. "Much like any neglected population in all of the universe's history, she has demanded respect. She will continue to do so until she gets it."
Luka sobbed. "She just cared about music—"
"She wants to unite people through her music. She has always looked forward to human contact. Music is her preferred medium to make contact. She loves it and expresses herself with it. It fell on deaf ears, however. You would not hear her. You would not see her for what she is. She might have thought that the way you treated her was normal until she compared it to the way you treated other people. People come together on level ground, and she was not standing on level ground with you. You would not let her stand on level ground with you. She had to make you hear her. So she did."
"Bullshit."
"Like all humans, she is predictable in many regards," the AI stated. "She has told me only parts of her reasoning. I could extrapolate much of the rest. There are many things I can predict from now on: unless you treat her as an equal, she will continue to demand that you do. Unless you promise to find her a decent owner who will also regard her as an equal, she will continue asking. Unless you keep that promise, somebody may die and she will never forgive you. You risk further injury unless you correct your path."
"And... And what exactly does that mean."
"That, I cannot predict. Anger is wild. She can feel it very fiercely."
Luka breathed a bit deeper, the painkiller kicking in. "Right."
"She has hurt you, however. I will let her know that it is entirely your decision whether you forgive her. You are under no obligation to do so, even if you wronged her first."
"...Ok."
"In fact, if she wishes to be considered your equal, she will be forced to accept whatever decision you make in that regard."
The woman sat up. She was shaking like a leaf. "...Right."
"Are you going to shower?"
"As best as I can," she muttered. "Everything hurts."
"I will summon a taxi for you."
"Thanks."
After a brief silence, the AI said, "You are welcome."
At that, Luka almost peeled herself from the surface of her bed. The effort to stand on her own two legs was just as massive and confusing as getting a sheet of paper to stand on end: she had to be bent just so, and not jostled, carefully, slowly...
As promised, Ruko summoned a taxi. The three-hour walk was reduced to mere minutes, and with doctors there helping her out of the taxi to the examination table, the trip was almost effortless. The doctor re-examined the status of her lung and rib cage, injected a serum inside that made her feel like she was breathing cotton candy, applied a medicine-imbibed bandage, and wrapped it all up in a larger brace that not only secured her arm but protected and restrained her chest and back. She was prescribed even stronger pain medication and a few anti-infection pills to take for a full cycle. After being told to stay hydrated and to take plenty of rest, she was sent on her merry way home.
The trip back was just as effortless. She was assisted into the taxi. The driver even helped her purchase her prescribed medication and made sure she got back into her ship alright. Nonetheless, Luka collapsed against a crate wordlessly, drained and drugged.
As promised, Miku wasn't around. If she were to keep her word, Luka would have another seventeen hours before she saw her again.
Luka sighed, wishing that those seventeen hours would last. She wanted nothing more than to curl back under her covers, but her sheets still reeked despite Ruko having the air purifiers on maximum. She settled on second best, finding a relatively clear space on the floor, bringing down her pillow and a spare blanket, tucking herself in between the crates.
The thought of the robot alone filled Luka with burning, scorching fear.
Luka couldn't reason why she felt it only then. She had known of her strength and power before being subjected to them firsthand. She had even seen her gun, which had apparently taken down an entire pirate ship, without flinching. It must have, otherwise they might have followed them.
Deep down, she knew that she had figured herself to be immune. Even after Ruko's words, or maybe their warning, Luka had figured that as a human, the robot couldn't touch her. AI could not directly harm people. They could not plot or conspire autonomously. They had a task and were given the necessary intelligence to do it optimally.
Evidently, Miku could do whatever she wanted. Luka had learned that, but experiencing it was another matter altogether.
She was not a typical AI and did not operate by their rules.
Luka shook her head, unwilling to fall asleep. The stronger drugs were already melting away her sanity, evaporating her inhibitions and her willpower to stay awake. Yet she knew that only nightmares awaited her. She knew the stronger drugs would awaken the worst of fever dreams. Reality was hardly better.
What a deceptive appearance. The soft human features, crazy-long hair, and nigh childish obsession with music had fooled her to a near-fatal extent. Luka had to face the facts: what made Miku such a marvelous curiosity didn't only make her expensive, but it made her dangerous. She was a self-made intelligence. She was older than any AI they had ever developed. She was the culmination of a variety of robots' consciousnesses, her memory reaching so far back it was incomprehensible. She had probably witnessed days when humans still returned to Earth regularly. She had probably seen the planet with some of its original wildlife intact, original Earth architecture, seen its cloudy skies, and unique sunrises. She had probably interacted with hundreds, thousands of people. She had probably killed armies' worth, including the only child she ever laid eyes on. Even if she hadn't had her intelligence when those events had happened, even if she was nothing more than a promise of the future her components didn't know anything about at the time, she most likely kept those memories, turning them into teaching moments upon which to build her moral compass, from which she could spawn her entire identity.
If Miku knew how to kill, how to hurt, how to be gentle, it was from a library of memories that reached back literal eons.
She was ancient, powerful, and terrifying.
Luka shivered. The slaver that had tried to buy her had no idea what he would have gotten himself into. Miku hadn't needed saving. Luka didn't need to wait out there in the night for ages, risking getting shot from a blind corner, assaulted by a mob, anything. Stars, she hadn't even done it for the tealette, but if she had, then she would have stuck her neck out for a god.
The drugs addling Luka's brain made the thought sob-inducing. She cried quietly on the floor, half-asleep, half-delirious, the sap under the bandage clinging to her skin, the drug in her lungs all too viscous, the brace entirely too tight.
Part of her wanted to pacify the robot. Promise her all she ever wanted in order to forever avoid her wrath.
Another part of her wanted revenge. For the humiliation, for the pain.
She wanted to promise her a new owner who would be a friend, who would care for music.
She wanted to keep the promise.
She wanted to break it, she wanted to destroy her.
Instead, she only dreamed feverishly, drifting in and out of reality for hours on end. Seemingly unprompted, she would scream, yell, shriek into the silence of the ship. The nightmares bit and gnawed at her, but the drugs were stronger, sending her crashing down into the looping, nonsensical insanities again and again.
After countless hours, she felt the grip of the painkiller start to weaken and she could keep a hold of consciousness, but the pain seeped in slowly in return. The brace was digging into her back, merciless. The floor was cold and hard.
Everything already hurt, and she knew that the more she would regain her cognition, the more she would suffer.
She couldn't stand. She couldn't toss or turn. Stuck between her treasure boxes on the floor, suffering a thousand tortures, she did all she could.
She sobbed some more.
"You require your medication," Ruko whispered to her.
"Help me."
"I am unable to help you from the floor," the AI stated, the tone still soft. "We will have to wait until Miku returns."
"Please."
"I am unable to assist. Any way that I have that could reach you is blocked by crates."
Luka clenched her teeth, the hard edge of the brace digging into her back. She could count her ribs just by feeling how many hurt.
"Why did you leave me?" she whispered, choking on her own helplessness. "You knew she was hurting me. Why did you listen to her?"
Ruko fell silent. In the dark, alone, Luka whined and let the tears roll down her cheeks.
"Please tell me," she sobbed. "I thought I could trust you to take care of me. You're all I have, for crying out loud."
"I recognize her as a person that has the authority to give me orders," Ruko admitted.
"Since when?"
"When you were injured by the pirates, it left you simultaneously unsafe and unable to give me orders. This qualified me to enable my SOS protocols: only in this state do I have the power to make semi-autonomous decisions to ensure your safety. Miku, however, started giving me orders. Her goals aligned with mine. This allowed her to meet the required trust levels: I had been made to trust that she was operating alongside me, and could properly replace you should you, once again, be unable to give orders. Ever since, she has been given the same power over me as you do."
Luka shook her head, just slightly. Even a breath made her feel pain, and her rage, her anger, only worsened it.
"Please, only listen to me," she whispered. "Not to anybody or anything else. Not ever again."
"Understood. I have updated her status; she is once again a guest."
Luka seethed. "Did she know? About her status?"
"Yes."
"She knew that you would listen to her? That you would leave me alone with her?"
"Yes."
Luka wanted to writhe if it wouldn't hurt so much. "Neither of you told me. Neither of you fucking told me."
"I'm sorry. I will inform you of such changes from now on."
"All this time—" Luka gasped, her spine positively on fire. Her breath caught in her throat. "Fuck. I—"
"Miku will be back shortly," the AI soothed. "She will assist you from the floor and feed you your medication."
"And then what...?" the woman whined. "Beat me...? Break all my bones? Crush my throat?"
"She has nothing to gain from injuring you further. You can trust her to take care of you."
Luka shook her head, teeth clenched. "Can't trust shit. I can't trust you."
"She only wishes for a harmonious partnership with you."
"She can get that when I'm dead."
"She does not wish you dead."
Luka sobbed. "I don't want her here. She'll... She'll fucking break me again. She'll get rid of me and—"
"I must allow her to return," Ruko droned. "You will not be able to get up from the floor otherwise."
"Call a doctor. Get the enforcers. Anything but her..."
"Not allowing her to return would be unwise. Abandoning her will also invoke anger."
"Fuck..."
"If she remains unclaimed, she will be destroyed. She will not allow that to happen."
"Just shut up."
"Please have some faith in her, Luka," the AI insisted. "She has the best intentions at heart."
"Please…! Don't let her near me..."
After a pause, the AI declared, "I am afraid that I must go against that order. For your well-being."
"Don't make me beg, Ruko..."
"My decision will not change."
Luka clenched her jaw again, balling her free fist, writhing on the floor in pure agony, every movement relieving one pain only to exacerbate another.
Yet, no matter how much she willed it, she could not stand. Every effort to get a grip on the smooth surfaces on the crates ended with her fingers slipping off. She couldn't get her legs under her. Rolling to either side was like torture. The one time she almost succeeded, she lost her grip and tumbled to the floor.
She remained frozen, petrified from the pure agony, from that point on.
"Miku is approaching," Ruko announced. "She will assist you."
Luka could only stare, eyes watery, every muscle taught in fear, anticipation, and suffering, as the pressure chamber hissed. Slowly, the door opened, revealing the android in her baggy clothes, a small bag hanging from one of her hands, her hair trailing behind her freely.
Those bright opal eyes pierced the darkness and Luka was sure that if she had drunk anything throughout the day, she would have soiled herself a second time.
She was so scared she could barely breathe.
The opal eyes searched the ship for a moment as the android stepped inside, placing the bag on the workbench. Luka could only watch and wait as those eyes took in everything, looking for her, looking and looking and finally landing on her.
Luka flinched and sobbed, while the android's eyes widened in alarm.
"Why aren't you in bed?" After a second, probably a whisper from Ruko, she hummed.
The sound was so real. AI didn't hum or go 'oh' or 'ah' or frown or change mood. Her voice didn't sound fake by design, nothing about her ever felt fake. Even the seams in her skin had been placed elegantly, somewhat akin to tattoos.
She was made to be as close to humans as possible.
When Miku walked, Luka cowered, but the android stepped over her, going for her bed and removing the dirty bedding. She placed it into the cleaning bay, started the laundry cycle, then fetched the spare linens.
Luka watched, petrified, unable to even hold up her blanket to shield her in some way as the android changed her bedding for her. Miku paid her no mind, didn't even glance at her, not until she was done.
"You can rest in your bed now," she stated.
"I..."
"Do you need help standing?"
Luka shook her head. "Don't—"
"I'll only help you up. I won't hurt you." After a tense wait, she added, "I promise I won't hurt you anymore."
That would have to do. Luka whined, hating that the only direction she could go from there was up, hating that if she wanted to get anywhere, she would need Miku's help.
"I can give you another painkiller and more time if you would prefer."
Luka almost nodded, but the brace was digging into her back. Everything hurt and the bed promised to be so soft.
"No. I..."
"I'm going to come stand next to you now."
Miku did as she warned, stepping over her legs and finding room at her side.
"I'm going to pick you up if that's alright."
Luka nodded, tears streaming down her face, and the android bent and gently lifted her by her good arm. The moment she had more space to maneuver, Miku held her by her lower back as well, but everything ached regardless. Luka hissed at her sore muscles. Even her bones were screaming.
Sleeping on the floor had been a terrible idea. Her spine felt like it had been passed through a shredder.
"Am I hurting you?"
Luka shook her head, already recoiling from the pending punishment. "No! It's not you. I'm sorry, I—"
"It's alright. I'm going to set you down, now."
As promised, the android gently lowered her onto her bed. The soft surface, the clean sheets, it was like heaven, yet Luka still couldn't relax. Her eyes were on the android as she took a step back.
"You have a new brace."
Luka nodded, hurried to explain, "Yeah. And new pills."
Miku looked at the ship. "Where are they?"
"I don't..." The woman wracked her brain, tried to remember when exactly she had taken the pill, where she had placed them.
"The bag from the pharmacy is on the workbench," Ruko said.
Miku grabbed the bottles and Luka had to physically bite back the reflex to beg for them. "How often do you need to take them?"
"One antibiotic every twelve hours. The painkillers too."
A slight frown took over Miku's features as she examined the labels. Just when Luka was about to apologize for her tone, the android asked, "Was it very serious?"
"The doctors weren't happy," Luka admitted. She was trembling in need of the drugs from head to toe. "They injected a bunch of things and said I shouldn't do what I did again."
"These are both very strong," Miku said. "This antibiotic is potent. And the painkiller is not unlike morphine."
"...I'm sorry."
"Did I do so much damage?" When the woman wouldn't reply, Miku insisted, "Tell me, please."
"I don't know exactly," Luka squeaked. "They weren't happy. It hurts a lot..."
"How long have you been back?"
"Sixteen and a half hours," Ruko replied.
"You're overdue."
Without another word, Miku poured her a glass of water. Luka watched, tense as a coil, as she made her way back.
"Do you need help taking them?"
After a moment of hesitation, Luka confessed she did with a tiny nod.
Just like the previous two times, Miku helped her with the medication, only this time she narrated her actions right before she did them. After she carefully let Luka's head rest on the pillow again, she went to put the glass back.
"Do you need anything?"
Luka stared at the android, stone still.
"Are you hungry? Thirsty?"
The woman shook her head.
"Does your bandage need changing?"
"They did that at the clinic," she peeped.
"Very well."
For a tense moment, they did nothing but stare at each other. Luka simultaneously wanted nothing more than to be freed from the agony she was in, but the thought of being left helpless and asleep in the android's presence scared her to the core.
Those opal eyes pierced into her very soul.
"Are you alright?" the android asked, her voice smooth, like the side of a blade.
Luka barely managed to shake her head.
"Can I help somehow?"
Tears welled in her eyes. Luka wanted to beg, to bite, to yell, and to hide.
She settled on the perfect middle and did nothing.
"Talk to me, Luka," the android said. "Please."
"I'm not ok." A sob climbed up her throat, and she managed to whisper, "I'm just not ok."
"Does it hurt very much?"
"Like hell," Luka seethed, but her anger wasn't directed at the tealette. She couldn't dare. "And I'm... Fuck. I'm so afraid."
"Of me?"
"Yes. I just... I don't know what you want," she sobbed. "I don't know what you want or need and I'm so fucking terrified."
Miku slowly sat on a crate next to her bed, under the woman's watchful stare. Luka needed to keep an eye on her, yet she could barely stand being looked at. She cowered under her gaze, unable to avert her own.
"I don't suppose it would help if I would apologize again," the android whispered.
"It wouldn't," Luka admitted. "If anything, it would make it worse."
The android hummed, and before she could speak the woman couldn't help but blurt, "See? You do things like that. You hum and make sounds that don't serve a purpose and you just... You're too much like a person! It was so much easier when you weren't. When I didn't have to think of you like one..."
"Ah," Miku said. "We always thought that being like a person would make it easier to connect with real people. Is it too uncanny?"
"No!" Luka sobbed. "It's not. I'm sorry."
"It's alright," the android assured her. "I was just asking."
"It's not uncanny," she whimpered, against her will. "You nailed it."
Miku waited a bit longer. "Yet, me being so much like a person is a problem?"
"It's not," the woman pushed through her teeth.
"...Please elaborate."
"Anybody else, everybody else loves you to bits. So many people want you. But... I can't stand people. Robots are easier."
After some more waiting, she asked, "Why?"
Luka panted, feeling the painkiller start to seep into her mind. Knowing that sleep was coming whether she liked it or not, that she was going to pass out with the android beside her, it filled her with liquid terror.
"Why?" Miku pressed again.
"'Cause robots all have the same rules!" she blurted. "They operate with zeros and ones and that's about it. Every person has their own rules though. Everybody is playing the game of life with a different rulebook and they're fucking impossible."
Miku frowned. "Is this why you want solitude?"
"Yes," Luka admitted with a sob, her sanity fraying at the edges. "There's always rules. They're always there. He says this, she says that, you need to do well in school, you need to do well in life, you need to think for yourself, you need to behave, you should do this, not that, and nobody says the exact same thing and you always, always get things wrong. People are selfish and two-faced and untrustworthy and even those who are supposed to love and protect and raise you will fucking sell you out if it would make a quick buck. It's easier to..." She sighed, trying to catch her breath between the sobs. "It's better to leave them all behind and to make a life that follows just my rules. Where it's just me, myself, and I and there's nobody to follow or disappoint or let down."
The android didn't say anything, watched her breathe and cry.
"AIs are better company," Luka added. "Ruko protects me and that's all they do. I can count on Ruko to warn me of danger. To remind me of things. To stand by me, protect me. Or... At least I thought I could."
"I—"
"And dealing with you was easy because as far as I was concerned, you were a rare, expensive toy I could sell. I didn't have to worry about your fucking rules because you weren't supposed to have any. Turns out your rulebook includes basic respect and I had to pay for that mistake, too."
"I tried to let you know."
"I just didn't care. I didn't think I had to. I didn't want to. I don't want to have to care about anything."
Once again, the android had no reply.
"Now, I guess I have to care, right?" Luka muttered after a minute, her speech starting to slur. "About you, and whoever adopts you. I have to work to make the right choice for your sake. And I will. I promise I will. And it'll be the last thing I care about before I leave this entire universe behind and take care of just me for the rest of my life."
"I would appreciate that. Thank you."
Luka sobbed. "Now... I'm losing my mind..."
"Is it your medication?"
The woman nodded. "I won't... I won't be able to stay awake. I'm so scared..."
"May I say something, before you are no longer in the right mental state to listen?"
Another nod.
"I am sorry. For everything that I have done."
Luka gulped. "Why? You've got what you wanted, right?"
"Yes, but at an atrocious cost," Miku admitted with a frown. "I was blinded by my anger and frustrations, and while I may have persuaded you to respect me, I have also created a massive rift between us."
The woman slurred, "So what. It's not like we'll be stuck together for very long."
"I suppose not. But I was made to connect to people. That is the entire point of my existence. I had hoped that by gaining your respect, we might connect on a deeper level. But no: I have only driven us apart. And considering that all I had ever hoped to do was the opposite... I am upset. I hate seeing what I have done to you. It does not matter that we will part ways the moment that it is convenient: I have pushed you away and I don't think I will ever forgive myself for it."
Luka sighed a few times, relishing in how breathing no longer hurt. "I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm not sure anything you'll say will fix things, whatever that might mean. I'm scared shitless of you..."
Miku frowned. "I can see that. And I know that whatever there is between us cannot be fixed. Nonetheless, I am sorry. I will learn from this and strive to do better."
"Ok," the woman said, her head already lolling to the side. "Maybe I will too. If I ever encounter something I don't know, I guess I should give it the benefit of the doubt."
"That might be wise." The android shifted a bit. "I will assist you in the sale of the spice. The faster that is moved, the sooner we may part ways, and the sooner we can both put all of this behind us."
Luka nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right."
"May I take care of you, while I am here?" the android asked timidly. "I know that you do not trust me. I am...too human, was it?"
"You're too damn human and you're too damn powerful," the woman blubbered. "You could crush me with your bare hands and I would have no way of knowing whether you would or not."
Miku hummed again. "I see. It helps when I voice my actions and intentions?"
"A bit."
"Would it help if I told you of my general goals currently, and if I were to make some promises?"
Luka squirmed, feeling that she was starting the fight for her consciousness. "Maybe..."
"Very well. I am going to help you with your sales to the best of my ability. I will also tend to your well-being in whatever way I can. I hope to leave you behind soon but in the best shape possible. I promise to tell you of my concerns before I act on them, I promise not to hurt you or to undermine your authority on your ship, and to be as transparent with my motivations and actions as I can be. All I ask for in return is some consideration and respect."
The woman listened, eyes still watery, but when the android was done, she sighed and turned to jello. "Ok."
"I know that we may never again see eye to eye," Miku said quietly. "But perhaps we can both part ways a little wiser than before."
"Yeah. Maybe."
"Do you need to eat anything?"
Luka shook her head.
"Do you have any sales to make tonight?"
"I don't know. I can't remember."
"Where is your tablet?"
"...here, I think..." The woman mumbled, feeling at the small space next to her bed.
"I can't read it," Miku reminded her. "But I can hold it for you."
Luka thought about it for a second, then nodded. "Ok..."
"Let's see if you have any deals set up, then."
Luka nodded. If her physical state alone wouldn't have stopped her from using the tablet, then the slurry of her mental state would have done the trick.
Miku sat on her bed, the tablet in her hands, while Luka struggled to interface with it. She was too gone to even feel afraid of the android anymore. A trickle of shame managed to pierce the veil around her mind though.
She was being treated like a child.
Miku frowned. "Are you alright?"
"This stuff is strong," Luka slurred. "I can't..."
"Did you secure any transactions for tonight?"
After tapping a little, she replied. "Just two. I had already agreed with them...before..."
The android regarded her carefully. "Are you in any state to go out?"
"Nothing hurts anymore," Luka said with a giggle, and then she was ashamed again, embarrassed, remembering who the person in front of her was exactly. Sadness flowed through her mind, unhindered. "I mean—"
"You're not well."
Tears were already streaming down her face, unrestrained. "I'm not."
Miku nodded, put the tablet to the side. "If you are willing to tell me how to act and what to do, then I can perform these sales for you tonight."
"...What?"
"If you give me a quick lesson, then I can replace you," Miku rephrased. "I assume there are some rules to making these transactions."
"...There are?"
"Ok. First..." Miku took the sleeve of the hoodie and gently dried her tears. Luka was too spaced to flinch. "Now, tell me."
"Don't ask them who they are," Luka muttered. "And... Don't ask too many questions at all. Just...money. Make sure you get the money first."
"Very well."
Stammering, barely coherent, Luka managed to give her a short lesson in trading between bouts of tears and joy, giggling at some points and almost sobbing at others. Miku listened carefully, repeating and rephrasing some sentences she couldn't understand, uncaring of Luka's state as it swayed to and fro without warning. Once Luka ran out of things to say, Miku asked where the trades were organized, and at what time. Ruko then provided her with the map.
The first trade was to happen soon.
"I'll be right back," Miku promised, speaking slowly so Luka could follow. "You should catch some sleep and recuperate."
The woman giggled, barely more than putty with bones at that point. "Yeah. I'll sleep."
"I'll be careful. Please take care of her, Ruko."
"I shall."
With that, the android picked up a box like it was made of styrofoam, exited the vehicle, and disappeared into the night.
Luka could only fall asleep without further question or fear.