Sorry about the delay. I found out that it wasn't that wasn't allowing me to post my chapter 11. It was my own stupid floppy disk (Yes, I'm still using floppy disks.) I had to type this chapter all over again on another disk. It's a good thing I don't throw my stories away after I get them typed up! Still, thanks for all the great reviews for chapter 10 and I hope you guys like this one as well.
Disclaimer: I'm not a Yaut'ja expert, so I have no idea what their planet looks like. I'm using my imagination here big time, so no flames about stuff I admit I don't know about. Man, I love Sci-Fi !
ILL
Chapter 11
"Zen!" Nia exclaimed, nearly jumping out of bed to rush to him.
"You look well!" He greeted her merrily. "And I like what you have done with your hair."
"I was just thinking, 'Man, I wish Zen was here!'"
"Ah, the shao'uta honors me with her thoughts," he returned with a polite bow.
"Oh, cut the theatrics." Jax snapped from the kitchen, drawing the other robot's heated gaze.
"I see your disposition is still as sour as ever." Zen returned abrasively. "It is always a pleasure to hear your nasty little remarks."
"What did you bring me?" Nia jumped in and Zen smiled brightly at her, forgetting about Jax for the time being.
"Well…not only have I repaired your mini-comp, and downloaded a few more movies that I think you'd enjoy into its database, but I have also brought these." He crossed the room, sat down on the bed and revealed a box of playing cards, laying the mini-comp far to the side.
Nia squealed. "See, I knew you wouldn't let me stay bored."
"Unlike some." Zen mumbled, cutting his eyes to his counterpart. If Jax heard him he didn't respond.
"What can you play?"
"Well," he began, "I have downloaded the rules and procedures to several dozen card games into my memory banks. I now know how to play Hearts, Go Fish, Pitty-Pat, Casino, Two-Man Spades, Speed -"
"What about B.S.?"
"B.S.?"
"Yeah. It actually stands for an expletive I'd rather not say aloud. A few of my college girlfriends taught it to me. Have you heard of it?"
Zen's eyes rolled up into his lids while he accessed his databanks, then they focused back on Nia. "I have found no references to a card game called B.S. or the long form of the two letters."
"I'll just have to teach it to you then," she avowed, then shifted her position on the bed until she was sitting Indian-style. She took the cards from Zen, shook them out of the box and riffled through them.
"The object of B.S. is to get rid of all the cards in your hand," she began.
"By what means?"
"That's the easy part. You just take them out of your hand and lay them down," she replied indicating the free space on the bed between the two of them. She found the two jokers and advertisement cards in the new deck and cast them aside. "But you have to put them face down in a stack and you have to say aloud what you're putting down, okay?"
"Does that not defeat the purpose of a competitive game?"
"No, because the fun part is you can lie about what you are putting down. For instance, if you have two ten's and a Jack in your hand, you can either put down the ten's and on your next turn- if you get one- play the Jack. Or you can lie and say that you're dropping three ten's or three Jacks. Got it?"
Zen was nodding. "I think so."
"But here's the catch. If I suspect you of lying, I can call you on it by saying "B.S." and you have to turn the cards over and show me."
"You will be…calling my bluff, as you humans say."
"Exactly. And if the cards aren't what you say they are, then you have to put all of the cards in the deck back into your hand."
"I see. But what if they are exactly what I say they are?"
"Then I have to pick up all the cards as punishment for calling you a liar. See?"
"Yes, that is only fair." Zen agreed thoughtfully. "I am very intrigued. Let us play this game."
"I hate to ruin the fun-" Jax suddenly chimed in for the kitchen, where he had been listening to the entire conversation. "-but there is one thing you are overlooking."
"And what, praytell, is that?" Zen asked, humoring him.
"You are a machine. You cannot lie."
"So are you, still you lied on Prae'tor the last time we were all together."
Jax had to recall the situation he was referring to before replying. "That was not a lie. It was wishful thinking that did not come true."
"B.S.!" Nia shouted and both of them glanced at her curiously. She giggled at the odd expressions on their faces. "Forget it, Zen. We can play something else."
"No, no. Deal the cards."
"But Jax said-"
"I know, but he just gave me an idea."
"What?"
"It is true, I cannot tell a lie, as he obviously can," he added glancing to Jax knowingly. "But I can deceive." Nia laughed, understanding, then began passing out the cards.
"You are incorrigible." Jax snarled and went back to whatever he had been doing. Zen ignored him. He and Nia played cards, but after a while, she unexpectedly dropped her hands to her lap.
"You know what? This game doesn't work with two players." She declared. "Now that I think about it, I've never played it one on one before."
"Why not?"
"Because the cards are divided equally between the two of us. I cannot possibly bluff because I know exactly what's in your hand and vice versa."
"Yes, I see your point." Zen agreed glumly, lowering his own hands. "What do we do about it?"
Nia looked toward the kitchen. "Jax, come play with us."
"No." He refused flatly.
"Why not?"
"Because I'm not okay with telling blatant lies like some A.I.'s," he answered having turned away from his duties to face them. "Only humans could come up with a card game that not only encourages one to perjure oneself, but has such a derogatory title name as well."
"As opposed to a race of beastly, fighting aliens with advanced weaponry and resources who come to my planet to chop off people's heads and kidnap helpless women?" Nia returned.
"Nice comeback." Zen applauded her. Jax scoffed.
"Come on, it's just a game, for crying out loud," she persisted.
"Do not waste your breath, shao'uta. He does not know how to have fun," said Zen. "Let us play Speed. That is a great two-player game."
"I do know how to enjoy myself." Jax defended. "I conversed in chat rooms with you, did I not?"
"Chat rooms are so impersonal. No one really knows who they are talking to in there, so the fun-level is limited."
"That is not the point. The point is that I did it."
"Only because I was asleep and you had nothing else to do." Nia reminded. Jax glanced from one of them to the other as if he was wondering how he ever got stuck with these two simpletons.
"I know what you two are trying to do," he said at last.
"What are we trying to do, Jax?"
"You are attempting to bait me into playing this mendacious card game by using reverse psychology."
"Is it working?" Nia asked, smiling wickedly at him. Her guardian did not want to argue with her, but he knew he wasn't going to get a moment's peace if he continued to refuse. Sighing, he pulled a chair from under the table over to the bed and sat down.
"Deal me it," he requested.
Nia squealed in delight.
"I win again!" Zen jeered, a self-satisfied smile plastered across his plasti-metal face. It was more than an hour later and he had won nearly every match.
"You must be counting the cards or something." Nia complained.
"I am not!" He denied appearing hurt.
"He knows when you are lying." Jax said, his tone flat. Zen glowered angrily at him. "Any A.I. worth his weight can detect the subtle changes in your pupils, breathing and heart rate whenever you tell a lie."
Nia's eyes widened in shock then her expression quickly turned to anger. She folded her arms under her breasts, glaring at Zen in irritation.
"Even your blinking pattern changes," her guardian added for emphasis. Nia threw the gardener-robot and evil look.
"If…if I was reading you," he stammered, "then why did I not call you on every fib you told during the game?"
"Because you were waiting for the discard deck to pile up extra high. No chance of you losing with fifteen extra cards in the shao'uta's hands, hmm?" Jax supplied as if it was all so simple. Nia's jaw dropped.
"You talk too much!" Zen snapped at him, but his counterpart was unfazed.
"You wanted me to play this game. You should have known that I would be watching you as much as you were watching her."
Now Zen's mouth fell open, but he recovered quickly. "We are not going to play B.S. with him anymore," he said to Nia.
"I'm not playing with you anymore," she returned hotly. Zen threw his hands up in surrender.
"All right, I confess!" He blurted. "I was watching your pupil dilation, but not your breathing nor your pulse."
Nia couldn't help but to laugh, her anger melting. "What am I going to do with you, Zen?" she asked chuckling.
"For starters, you could tell Jax that I am your favorite A.I."
She laughed again. Jax shot daggers at the other robot before standing up and replacing his chair back under the table.
"I think you should take a nap now, Nia," he said and she glanced at him like he was insane.
"Take a nap? What am I? Three?"
"I meant no disrespect," he clarified, "Just rest for an hour or so, okay?"
"But I'm not even sleepy."
"You will be if I drug you."
Nia frowned in disbelief. "You wouldn't."
"Try me."
"You couldn't. I'd fight back and you wouldn't risk hurting the baby."
But Jax was undeterred. "I will have Zen hold you down while I administer the sedative."
"Wait! How did I get pulled into this?" Zen protested, but was ignored. Nia began to shake her head in denial.
"No, he wouldn't do that to me." She argued.
"Despite our banter, I am Zen's superior. He will obey my order or be decommissioned. He knows that."
Nia glanced at Zen, but the truth was evident in his robotic eyes. She looked back to Jax and held his steady gaze, her anger growing, but she knew he had meant every word he'd said. Plus, she had seen enough sci-fi/robot movies to know that Zen was ten times stronger than she was. Ultimately, she groaned in defeat, her hands clenching into tight fists.
"I HATE YOU!" She unexpectedly screamed. "GET OUT OF MY SIGHT!" Without another word she rolled onto her right side, turning her back on both of them. Jax just stood there watching her with a sympathetic look in his eyes. Zen, however, shot up from the bed.
"Could you not find a better way to handle that?" He hissed at Jax.
"She stayed in bed, did she not?"
"And she has been there for hours and will be there for hours still. Why could you not let her watch just one movie by herself or something?"
"I do not have to explain myself to you." Jax snapped, then pointed to the door. "Out."
Zen grumbled unpleasantries under his breath, but left. Jax went back over to the bed, picked up the scattered playing cards and the mini-comp and sat them on the table. Glancing at Nia, he saw her shoulders quivering and knew she was crying. Thinking it would be best to give her some space, he slipped from the room, dimming the lights on his way out.
An ear-jarring noise blared across Nia's unconsciousness, jolting her awake. Heart pounding, she blinked several times to clear her vision, yawned, then glanced around, wondering where the sound was coming from. She called out for Jax, but there was no reply. She was alone.
"I thought I was supposed to sleep," she grumbled, throwing the covers off and stumbling out of bed to the bathroom. Even with the thick, heavy door closed she could still hear the repetitive blast of what she assumed to be a fire alarm, even though she couldn't smell smoke. When she emerged from the bathroom, she didn't go back to bed, but into the kitchenette instead where she checked for anything that could be causing the siren to go off. Finding nothing significant, she strolled across the room to the entrance. She was surprised when the doors slid apart, assuming wrongly that Jax had locked her in.
Outside in the hallway the signal was louder. The orange/white lights along the floor were flashing in unison with the long screams of the alarm. The tables that had been laden with gifts were gone. However, Zen had left the waist-high vases, holding three Yaut'ja spears each, to keep guard on either side of the door. Nia was hoping to find him, Jax, or even Prae'tor standing in the hall, but it was empty of real or artificial life.
Thoughts of Jax brought back the memory of the horrible way she had yelled at him earlier. She hadn't meant what she'd said, she had just gotten so uncontrollably angry- again. He didn't have feelings like hers, but she had to apologize anyway. Still, Jax was going to blow a fuse when he caught her out of bed. Well, she'd have to cross that bridge when she got to it. On bare feet, she stepped out into the corridor, walked to the nearest corner and turned right.
There was no one in this main hallway either. The lights that had been built into the floor were also flashing in tune with the alarm and fog curled around her feet and ankles. She was hoping to find Jax in the gardens and if not then Zen would definitely be there and maybe he could tell her what the heck was going on.
Was this passage this long the first time she'd trekked down it?
Up ahead she noticed a shadow of a big doorway on the wall to her right. When she reached it, she realized that it was the silhouette of the door that Jax would not let her go out of the first time she'd left her quarters. The reason why it was throwing a shadow was because it was wide open!
"That's odd," Nia mumbled to herself. She'd never noticed a door in this place that didn't shut automatically sometime after it opened. Maybe it had malfunctioned. Well, broken or no, she could not resist the twinge of curiosity that weaseled its way into her brain. Any thoughts of finding the robots were pushed aside. She eased up to the doorway and peeked around it.
The immediate area outside the entrance was vacant also. Thank goodness! She wasn't quite ready to announce her presence to Jax just yet. Nia stepped out and was almost knocked backwards by the heat and humidity, but it didn't deter her. She bravely strolled across the smooth concrete surface until she came to the edge of light that spilled out from the open doorway. It was dark, obviously well into the night. If it was this hot now, what was it like when the sun came up? The moon was full, high, and and four times the size of the moon over her planet. That meant this planet was probably four-times the diameter of Earth to offset the moon's gravitational pull- or something to that effect, she wasn't an astro-physicist. Didn't Jax tell her once that this was just one of the many planets of Prae'tor's people? How many were there and were they all as big as this one seemed to be? Just thinking about it made her dizzy. Or was that the heat?
Regardless, the big, bright moon made it possible for her to see the landscape somewhat. The first thing that caught her attention was the huge stone pyramids scattered about the area. They weren't at all shaped like the ones in Giza, but they had a touch of familiarity to them as if she'd seen pictures of them in books or on TV. Nia did a one-eighty and learned that she, too, was housed in a giant pyramid. She spun back around to continue taking in the scene. All of the buildings had broad steps starting from the ground, which was very far down, and stretching nearly to the top. The crowns of the pyramids were either flat or square with statures and obelisks gracing them. The entrances were extremely tall and spacious, logical considering Prae'tor's size and he was just one Yaut'ja. Most likely there were others even bigger than he was.
Each massive structure was carved with intricate designs and images along the outer walls that she found beautiful and exotic. Whatever direction they faced, there were wide, spacious roads running to and from between them and beyond. As she looked about she could see that some pyramids were smaller in stature but still larger than most buildings on Earth. She wondered if they were residences and if so, which one did Prae'tor dwell in?
Far off in the distance she could just make out a flat-topped formation that was the loftiest and massive of them all. Was that where their ruler lived? Where no buildings or roads dotted the landscape, tall, stout trees thick with foliage smothered the area. It seemed as if the Yaut'ja people had built a pyramid-city right in the middle of a dense forest, cutting down only the trees needed to make a clearing to erect something.
Nia eased a few more paces forward and peered down the sloped stairwell with steps expansive enough to accommodate Prae'tor's large feet. She could detect motion down at the very bottom, but it was too dark to tell who it was. She wondered why they were just now tending to the alarm. Was it only going off in this pyramid? She didn't want to be standing here if that was Jax she had spotted. Believing that her curiosity was satisfied for now, she decided to go back inside and carry on to the gardens. The heat was getting to her, plus her breathing had become labored as though one of her lungs had shut down. The sweat trickling down her neck and between her breasts had her dashing for the cool air on the other side of the enormous open doorway. She was three steps from the entrance when she heard a snarling hiss behind her. She spun around so fast that the tail end of her French braid smacked her on the chin.
Nia barely registered the sting as the most hideous, gruesome creature she'd ever seen or dreamed about sauntered over the top step, crouched, then roared ferociously at her….
Can we say 'cliffhanger' ? Don'tcha' just hate me? I hope not because then you won't review. Can't wait to hear what you guys think…