Hey, guys! I know I took my own sweet time, but remember- good things come to those who wait. But still, my apologies for taking so long. I have too many hobbies, plus I fell sick again. Grrr….damn weak immune system! Damn chronic bronchitis!
Sidenote: I just finished reading the book Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding last week and I saw the name of my second robot character, Zen, on page 81. In BJD, Zen is referred to as a peaceful state of mind. Is my Zen like that? He isn't to Jax, that's for sure. I also saw the name "Prae'tor" on an episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine a few months ago and it referred to the Romulan council in some way or another. If I have any Trekkie fans, they'll probably know what I'm talking about. Well, those were just sidenotes I'd thought I'd share with you guys. I'm done rattling on. Enjoy!
ILL
Chapter 8
A couple of hours later Jax had gone from sitting quietly in his seat to pacing back and forth behind Zen and Nia. He had noticed and counted the numerous times she had straightened her spine and massaged her lower back. She had also rubbed her left shoulder more than once and had made at least three runs to the toilet. After she had sent him on a search mission for a seat pillow, Jax concluded that she was obviously uncomfortable. What in the worlds of all the Yaut'ja could be so interesting on this thing called the Internet? And why was Zen so oblivious of her restlessness?
Jax braced himself for another impending quarrel.
"Nia," he began. "You are perceivably ill at ease sitting there. Maybe it is time I take you back to your quarters."
"I'm not ready to go back, yet," she replied, not taking her eyes form the screen. "Zen, check this out! I found a website where I can download movies."
Jax frowned down at her in irritation, noting how his list of emotions had been steadily increasing since she had come into his care.
"Yes, but for twenty human credits each." Zen informed her, his robotic eyes having already scanned the entire page.
"That's dollars, not credits, Zen." Nia corrected. "Do you have anymore funds in that account you were telling me about?"
Zen's face crinkled into a smile.
"What account?" Jax demanded, but Zen ignored him.
"Enough to indulge the shao'uta in whatever she wishes." he replied to Nia, who squealed in delight then immediately began scanning the list of movies. Jax groaned in irritation.
"Would you not be more comfortable watching movies in your bed with pillows behind your back and under your feet?" he suggested, trying a different tactic.
"And where you can keep the shao'uta all to yourself." Zen mumbled.
Jax glowered angrily at him.
"Stop calling me that, Zen." Nia snapped, then glanced over her shoulder at Jax. "I've been stuck in that room for days and I'm not in any hurry to go back there. So just chill out, would you?"
"I do not know what you mean by 'chill out', but I do know that the library is not going anywhere. We can always return after you have gotten some rest." he persisted.
"Would you stop bossing me around?" Nia barked, banging her fists on the desk with each word. "You're making my head hurt."
"All the more reason why you should do as I suggest." Jax added assuredly. Nia groaned loudly.
"Didn't you say earlier that there was a theater around here?" she asked Zen attempting to ignore Jax.
"Yes, I did." he replied.
"As in movie theater?"
"Yes, but smaller, much smaller."
"If we download a movie can it be seen in the theater?"
"Absolutely." Zen announced proudly, moving his hands skillfully across the keyboard to fulfill her request.
"Are you even remotely concerned about her health, or the well-being of this baby?" Jax suddenly snapped at Zen, needing to direct his irritation somewhere.
"Don't you have a shut-off switch?" Nia said before Zen could reply.
"Of course not!" Jax harumphed completely unaware of the fact that the question was an attempt at sarcasm.
"Well, you definitely have an over-protective chip."
"And a kill-joy button." Zen added and Nia laughed.
"I am distraught over the fact that you find this so amusing." Jax scolded his counterpart. "If our assigned roles were reversed, you would be just as concerned as I am."
"Oh, lighten up, Jax. You worry too much." Nia said dismissively.
"It is in my programming to worry about you."
Nia ignored him and pointed to the screen. "Download these three, Zen. I haven't seen either one of them in a while." He immediately carried out her request.
"Are you really going to watch all three of those movies, as you call them, before you do what I want you to do?" Jax demanded.
"If you truly hate it here so much," Zen began. "why not go back to Nia's room and I'll stay with her and escort her back later."
Jax glared at his fellow robot as if his head had suddenly rolled off his neck for no reason and onto the floor. "There is no way I will leave Nia and the future of the entire Yaut'ja race in your incapable hands."
"I resent that!" Zen screeched, jumping out of his seat and coming nose to nose with his rival.
"So that means you'll be coming to the theater with us, right?" Nia intervened and Jax tore his heated gaze from Zen and regarded her.
"I believe," he said with a sigh. "That I have just been duped."
"Now that didn't take too long, did it, Jax?" Nia asked him as the three of them walked down the wide corridor back to her quarters. "Considering that we only watched one of the three pictures."
"The movie would have come to its conclusion much sooner if you had not insisted upon watching numerous scenes over and over again." Jax complained.
"Killjoy." Zen mumbled, which got him a very sour look from Jax. Nia had to stop herself from laughing out loud.
"How often does a person get to rewind a scene at a movie theater?" she reasoned. "When Zen showed me that I could control the film from my mini-comp, I just had to take advantage."
"So I noticed." Jax grumbled and Nia tossed him a goofy look.
"Did you at least enjoy the movie?" she asked next, but he paused before answering.
"It was a bit…odd." he finally replied. "And I do not appreciate the way in which those two robots were portrayed."
"Oh, good heavens, Jax, you sound like a censure committee." Nia grumbled. "What didn't you like about the roles of the robots?"
Again Jax waited before answering. Nia studied his face and realized that he was actually mulling over her question.
"Well, first of all, I do not understand how two robots with such varying personalities and who disagree as much as those two did could possibly be friends. Secondly, why could only one of them speak a basic language? Thirdly, why were they treated as slaves and not as contributing members of their society?"
Nia was shaking her head in disbelief.
"Did you even try to enjoy the show, or did you just sit there and analyze it to find things wrong with it?" she asked.
"He is incapable of enjoyment." Zen answered for him. Jax glared at him hotly over the top of Nia's head.
"Do you not have things to attend to in the gardens?" he fired at his counterpart.
"It would be rude of me not to at least walk the shao'- I mean Nia- back to her quarters." Zen replied casually.
"Could you walk in silence, then?"
Zen smiled nonchalantly at Jax and Nia was glad that she was standing in between them so they wouldn't exchange blows.
"What about you, Zen? Did you like the movie?" she asked him.
"I thought it was creative, well-made, intriguing and I cannot wait to watch the next chapter with you." he replied elatedly.
"Oh, you're gonna' love it. In the sequel, the story is slower-paced, but it has very important themes that move the plot along. Oh, listen to me! I sound like a movie critic." Nia chastised herself then giggled.
"I trust your judgment." Zen admitted but he was looking directly at Jax with a haughty look on his face.
"What's all that?" Nia asked neither one in particular, pulling both of the robot's attention away from each other.
The trio had just rounded the corner that led to Nia's quarters and spotted two tables set up on either side of the door. Both tables were loaded with the oddest paraphernalia Nia had seen so far. Jax immediately rushed over to the tables and began searching through everything, treating each item with the greatest of care. Zen, who did not want to be outdone, went to the other table on the left-hand side of the door and also began a search.
"Well?" Nia asked anxiously after a short while.
"Gifts for the shao'uta, I would imagine." Zen replied with his attention still focused on the artifacts on the table before him.
"What?" Nia gasped and stepped up the nearest table. The first thing she came upon was a wide bowl, hand-painted and beautifully decorated with alien texts and figures crudely shaped like the Yaut'ja people holding spears. The bowl was filled with glittering multi-colored gemstones. Nia dug her hands into the bowl and scooped out some of the gems, temporarily mesmerized by their beauty.
There were also small woven baskets of food, human and alien. Next to the overloaded table, Jax was investigating a tall, exotically decorated vase that held three metal spears with long, deep red scarves tied directly underneath the points. Nia rubbed the fabric between her fingers, finding it to be unlike anything she'd ever felt. Next, she walked to the other table where Zen was and found more material folded in a low basket. Their textures ranged from silky to terry cloth like. She lifted the one on top and realized it was a garment. Next to that were two flat dishes, one of gold and the other silver. The gold dish held exotic silver bracelets, earrings and something that Nia guessed to be hair decorations. The silver plate held the same items, only they were fashioned out of gold.
"Oh…my…" Nia gasped softly, taking in all of the things before her.
"I would say this is more like an offering." Jax amended, still standing beside the vase of spears.
"What?" exclaimed Nia, staring at Jax as if he were insane. "Where did all of this come from?"
Jax threw Zen a 'what-have-you-done-now?' look, but Zen held up his robotic hands up in surrender and shook his head.
"I had absolutely nothing to do with this." he denied. Jax didn't refute him, but looked up at the spears again, then to Nia.
"Male Yaut'ja's do not bind fabric around their hunting spears- neither do females, for that matter- but some have been known to do so when they can no longer hunt because they are with child." Jax theorized. "I believe that a group of very appreciative female Yaut'ja are behind this."
Nia was baffled and it showed on her face. "Why would they do that?"
"Besides the fact that you are the shao'uta," Zen chimed in. Nia hadn't noticed until now that he had moved over to the vase where Jax was and was kneeling beside it. "But the symbols on this vase depicts the females offering gifts to a deity."
"What deity?"
Zen scanned the vase again before answering.
"Their fertility goddess." he replied. "One of the Yaut'ja's only female gods. Most times, only female Yaut'ja pay homage to her in the hopes of conceiving."
Nia unconsciously laid a hand on her lower belly. "It's a little late for that, don't you think?"
"Well, they could also be asking the fertility god to bless your pregnancy and delivery." Zen added.
"But why bring this here? Why not take it to a temple or something?"
"Who knows?" Zen said with a shrug, rising to his full height. "Maybe they believe that you are their fertility goddess reincarnate. Whatever they believe, they just want to honor the shao'uta."
"Well, I don't want to be honored. I want to go home." Nia responded sourly, as she walked to the door of her room. "Give it all back to them!"
Zen gave each other surprised looks, then quickly followed behind her.
"You do not want to do that." Jax spoke up. "You would be insulting the honor of whoever gave you these gifts."
"Hell on their honor!" Nia snapped. "Every time I turn around I get one more subtle reminder that I'm just some…pawn to these creatures."
"But that simple is not true, Nia. You are not a-"
"Shut up, Jax!" Nia screamed. "You are just as guilty as they are."
Surprised by her outburst, Jax fell silent but Zen took up the slack.
"I have a suggestion," he began calmly and when Nia didn't command him to be quiet as well, he continued. "What if I keep your offerings in the gardens?"
Nia, who had begun to pace frantically to and fro, stopped in front of Zen and stared at him as she contemplated his idea.
"There is plenty of room, as you saw for yourself earlier. And if anyone asks, I could simply reply that the shao'uta charged me with the safe keeping of her offering."
Nia glanced toward the entrance as if she could see the tables laden with gifts through the metal door. Then she looked back to Zen.
"You wouldn't mind moving all that stuff to the gardens?" she asked.
"Absolutely not. I would consider it a privilege to do anything to help you with your transition through this difficult period." he assured her.
"I just bet you would." Jax grumbled sarcastically beside him and although Zen turned a bitter expression on him, he didn't reply.
"But maybe we should leave the gifts outside your door just for a few days," Jax suggested, no longer concerned with keeping quiet now that Nia had visibly calmed down. "So as not to insult the honor of the Yaut'ja who arranged all of this."
"Whatever!" Nia snapped. "Just don't bring it in here."
"If that is your wish."
"It is. Now, I want to be by myself. Please leave."
Jax and Zen exchanged worried, questioning looks, but decided to grant her request. Turning in unison, they strode across the room and out the door.
Nia watched them go and afterwards she threw herself onto the bed, scrunched a pillow underneath her head and wept.