My vision's so blurry, I can't see a thing, thought Leela. I can't even tell if I have one eye or two.

Her back sensed a mattress underneath it. Her nose detected a sterile hospital smell. Her two eyes made out the vague images of one humanoid looking over her and two probable robots at either side. Inside her head, there was nothing but pain.

"Uuurrghh…" she moaned, trying to sit up.

"You've suffered a contusion," one of the nurses spoke in a female voice. "You're at the St. Peter, Paul, and Mary Hospital, sixth floor."

"It's best if you remain in bed," said the other robot, this one a male.

Leela rested her head on the pillow underneath it. She blinked a few times, and her vision became clearer. Before her stood a white-clad fembot on the left, a similarly uniformed manbot on the right, and a curly-headed young woman wearing a sports bra in the middle.

"Who are you?" she asked the strange woman.

"Don't you remember?" was her response. "I'm Mildred, your fiancée." The girl had an upturned nose and freckles the same shade of red as her hair.

Leela shook her head to ward off the creeping delirium. "No, no," she mumbled. "Fry doesn't have a fiancée."

Mildred lowered her eyes in disappointment. "Damn," she lamented to herself. "I was hoping he'd have amnesia."

Leela turned her pain-wracked head to the right. "You're a manbot," she remarked. "I didn't know there were manbot nurses."

"Neither did I," said the 'bot. "But there was a shortage of nurses, and I wanted to work where I was needed."

"So what stops them from simply manufacturing more fembots?" said Leela rhetorically.

The manbot considered his statement for a moment. Then, with an angry whine, he snatched the white cap from his head and hurled it to the floor. "Screw this," he said, marching out of the hospital room.

Mildred looked sheepishly at Fry's prostrate body. "Well, now that I know you'll be all right," she said, "I guess I'll be going."

"Wait," said Leela as the girl turned to leave. "I remember you from the fitness center."

"Yes," said Mildred with a nod. "You fell off the treadmill and hit your head. I was worried about you, so I followed the ambulance here."

"That was very thoughtful of you," said Leela, "considering that we don't know each other."

"Well, I was going to introduce myself to you," said Mildred, "since I think you're kinda cute."

She thinks Fry's cute, thought Leela. Now I know she's crazy.

"I'll leave the two of you alone," said the fembot nurse, walking away.

"My name's Mildred Sikes," the girl went on. "I work at CMB Research."

"Really," said Leela, intrigued. "Are you a scientist?"

"I wish," said Mildred, giggling slightly. "No, I work in the clearance processing department. Now that I've told you that, I'll have to kill you."

A cold shudder passed through Leela's heart.

"That's a joke," said Mildred when she saw the anxiety on the young redhead's face.

"It's not funny," said Leela sternly. "Look, I don't know you, but I think I can guess what kind of person you are. If you really want to get a date, my advice to you is to jump off a building and hope one of the men below catches you."

Mildred started to chew the nails of her left hand. Her eyes became moist, and a tear rolled down her cheek.

Great, thought Leela. Whenever I see a girl cry, I start to cry too. Except it's not happening this time. I wonder why.

"I've never had a boyfriend," said Mildred, her voice breaking. "The men won't touch me with a ten-foot pole. I can't help what I am."

"What are you?" Leela asked her.

The curly-haired girl drew a handkerchief from the pocket of her shorts, and wiped her face with it. "My father was a Chalnoth," she admitted with sorrow.

Chalnoth. The word conjured images from history books and war movies in Leela's mind. She had never met one, and didn't need to. Nearly every human and robot who had encountered one, had done so in mortal combat. They had no poets, no artists, no diplomats, only warriors and warship builders. They took no prisoners and made no slaves. When they had no enemies to vanquish, they fought among themselves. Both males and females served in the Chalnoth warrior caste, fighting with equal fury, killing with equal ruthlessness. Chalnoth women had been known to give birth to multiple babies, abandon them to survive on their own, and return to the battle within hours. They carried laser rifles, but preferred to use blade weapons at close range. Zapp, who had reportedly killed hundreds, habitually erased from his logs the records of his engagements with them. Popular opinion regarded them as foul beyond foul, irredeemable, a plague to be eradicated.

"Gosh," said Leela emotionally. "I can't begin to comprehend what it must be like for you." And I thought having one eye was tough.

"The Chalnoth had never been known to violate human women before," Mildred related. "My father was the first to attempt it. He was so disgusted with the experience that he ran away and left my mother alive."

"That's terrible," said Leela. "You never knew him?"

"Why would I want to?" said Mildred, gripping her handkerchief tightly.

Leela struggled into a sitting position, against the nurse's advice. "I have a friend," she told the distraught girl. "Her parents are sewer mutants, but she lives above ground. She has only one eye, like a cyclops."

"That's not so bad," said Mildred. "She can still see fine, right?"

"Yes," replied Leela. "But she's had a hard time of it as well. I should introduce you to her."


To be continued