Chapter Three; Lacero

Lacero. Verb. 1. Slander, torment, harass 2. Cut 3. Mangle 4. Destroy

In the months that followed we explored our surroundings, ourselves, and each other, testing the limits of our bodies and our programming. The summer faded to autumn and then to winter. We made it to the mountain's highest peak and loved each other there, at the top of our world, our mingled breath crystallising on our faces, and I watched the snowflakes catch in Lore's eyelashes and thought giddily that there would never be two crystal flakes as alike as we were, he and I. We mapped the forest with our feet, tearing our human clothes away and bounding through the deep icy drifts like wild things, shouting and whooping. The cold meant little to us, save that our processors were running at peak efficiency, and our circulatory fluid was perhaps a little more viscous than was ideal for the micro hydraulics. We cared nothing for these things, because on those winter days it was as if we were the only ones on the whole planet, and it belonged to us alone. Our warm bodies left impressions in the snow where we lay and loved and moved together, only for the evidence of our union to be swallowed once more by the drifting flakes. Mother and Father worried and scolded when we came home soaking with melt water, clothes ruined again.

"What on earth have you been doing, to get into such a state?" Mother would shake her head at the missing fastenings and tears in our shirts, and how could we ever explain that sometimes our love for each other was so intense that the barriers between our bodies became too much to bear?

We tested ourselves against each other, wrestling and racing, jumping and climbing, and discovered to our delight that physically we were perfectly matched, but mentally our development was diverging. Lore was always the imaginative one, better at dreaming and wondering, puzzling over hypotheticals, whereas I was analytical and information led, always eager for more experiences, more input. I had some artistic ability, largely thanks to my mother's programming, but I was never able to create as fluidly and intuitively as Lore. Our personalities complemented each other, my drive for knowledge spurring Lore to further flights of fancy. He told me stories of his own invention, through the long dark winter nights, or sometimes would recite old fairytales or legends, acting out the different parts. He told me of Odin's two ravens, Thought and Memory, and we laughed to think that we were like them, and he called me his Munnin. I absorbed it all eagerly, storing every word away for future reference. And of course, every moment of everything we shared, every breath, every touch, his voice in my ear and my reflection in his eyes. The depth of feeling between us seemed only to grow, and every time I thought we could not possibly care more deeply for each other Lore would say or do something that would make me love him all the more.

Then came the week where the snow fell heavily, the wind driving into deep drifts, and the nights freezing it solid. Five days and no respite from the driving icy flakes, and our parents forbade us from leaving the house, the conditions so severe that even we would struggle. It was no hardship for us to be confined within the house, as long as we were quiet we could do as we pleased, although our proximity to our human parents compelled us to discretion with regard to some of our activities. Lore played their old piano and sang for them in the evenings, and I could only watch in delight as his hands danced over the keys and his voice filled the room with song.

"Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow!" His voice rang through the house, and our parents laughed and applauded. Yet they were worried, and I shared their concern. Father had resisted installing a replicator that fashioned anything beyond necessities, preferred instead to create with his hands, and I heard them talking one evening, worrying that their power cells would not have enough charge to last until the weather changed for the better. The meteorological system predicted that the storm would not abate for some time, and my butt layer was too thick to allow the solar panels to collect sufficient energy in the few short hours of daylight available. It seemed apparent that a journey to the township would be necessary, and none of the vehicles available would cope with the conditions, so I volunteered myself and Lore to make the trip. We discussed the matter at length, all four of us, until the decision was made that I would go alone. Lore was not welcome in the town, and I had been several times with Father, the store owners knew me well enough, although they still seemed wary of me.

"And besides," Father noted, "If anything happens, we can send Lore out for you. If you get lost, or whatever."

"Father, there is no possible way that I could become lost." I replied, checking the straps on my pack. Mother looked deeply concerned.

"Even so, try and stick to the track." She told me. From behind me Lore chuckled.

"You sound as if you think he might be eaten by the big bad wolf!" He joked, although our parents did not laugh. I turned to share his smile.

"I do not think that there is anything that would find me palatable." I quipped and he raised an eyebrow at me. It took me a moment to work out why his smile had broadened, and it sent a mixed thrill of embarrassment and arousal through me to realize my unintended innuendo. I am sure that, had I capillaries and blood, I would have blushed furiously.

"Nevertheless," Mother said, "Please be careful."

"I will." I promised and kissed her cheek. Father was not fond of physical displays of affection, and simply nodded approval. Lore saw me to the door and held me close.

"Please be careful." He whispered, and I kissed his mouth briefly.

"Do not worry, Lore. I know that you will imagine any number of worst case scenarios." I berated him fondly, but he shook his head, his eyes dark.

"Come home soon." Was all he said, and I nodded in acknowledgement and went out into the storm.

It was a hard journey, even for me. The wind was ferocious and seemed to swing round me, sometimes pushing at my back, sometimes driving the snow into my face. I had worn a thick jacket, padded trousers and boots, to try and maintain the optimum temperature for my hydraulic system. The drifts were thick and frozen, and I spent most of the way to the town wading waist-deep through the hard packed ice covered snow. I was soaked through by the time I made it to the township, and the frigid wind chilled the melted snow on my clothing and hair to ice that crackled as I moved. There were few people out in such severe conditions, and those I did see were so thickly bundled and muffled as to be unidentifiable. Still I greeted them politely, receiving nods in reply. The store was, thankfully, open, and I bartered for the power cells we needed with the proprietor. He was wary with me as was normal, although disappointing. I hoisted the loaded pack and was making to leave when he spoke.

"Be careful out there. Lot could go wrong in conditions like this. Make sure and stick to the trail."

"I will. Thank you." I replied. I knew that he was only being courteous, so I felt no need to remind him of my superior strength and endurance.

The trail I had broken was already filling with new snowfall, but although it was beginning to get dark, it had not yet frozen so it was easier to push through. I did as I was bade and remained on the path, although it wound here and there, avoiding small rises and the occasional dip in the landscape.

It was on such a part of the path, where it threaded between two rises, that I heard movement, the muffled crunch of boots on snow. The wind made it difficult for me to pinpoint the direction, and I turned around, listening. There was another sound, a laugh, and it was behind me this time. When I turned there was someone on the trail. I could see that they had approached from behind the rise, and I raised one hand in greeting. They did not move, and I heard further sounds, more booted feet, and soon there were six of them, muffled and masked against the cold, surrounding me. Thick fur-lined hoods covered their heads, and I had no way of establishing race, sex, or even species.

"It is a bad day for you to be out." I said. They looked at each other, their faces inscrutable to me under layers of fabric. One of them spoke and, although his voice was muffled, I established that he was male.

"I think it's a bad day for you." He said, stepping forward. I stepped back away from him in supplication, and felt someone shove my back. It did little more than rock me on my feet, but it sent a shock of fear through me, and I abruptly realized that they were intent on doing me harm.

"You shouldn't have come to town." The man said. "You know you're not welcome."

"I know what my brother did and I assure you, I am incapable of..." My explanation was cut short by a searing burst of agony as someone behind me cut at the backs of my legs. What they had used I couldn't tell, but it efficiently severed the synthetic muscles analogous to a human's semitendinosus and semimembranosus, effectively hamstringing me, and my legs gave out. I could not hold back a mingled cry of pain and fear as I fell, and it seemed to amuse them. This was a new feeling, intense and crippling, and I classified it as terror. Combined with the pain, the agony from my severed sensors, it was debilitating.

"We know what you're capable of." The man said, and his voice was rough and angry above the wind. I could feel fluid draining from the cuts in my legs, and my pulse weakening as my circulation increased as a response to my emotional state, pumping the hydraulic fluid onto the snow.

"Please, I told you, I would never..."

"Enough!" One of the others spoke, another man. "I'm fucking freezing. Let's get it done and go."

One of them stepped around me, and I saw the weapon they had used to cripple me, a laser scalpel. I tried to push myself away with my arms but hands grabbed me and a glove was shoved into my mouth as someone gripped my jaw, bending my head back.

"Tell Often Wrong to keep his experiments at home." Hissed the one with the scalpel, and they activated it and drew it across my throat with a swift slash. My scream was muffled by the fabric in my mouth, what little sound that emerged swept away by the driving wind. The gash in my throat released a gout of yellow gold, gushing from the wound to spill down my chest. The hands dropped me and I heard them move away, laughing and cursing, stamping heir feet and clapping their hand against the cold.

My memories of the time I spent lying there are hazy as my systems struggled to maintain operations. My visual feed cut in and out, as did my auditory system, and there are long periods of time were I have no memory at all. I know that it was three hours, eighteen minutes and twenty four point oh nine seconds before the glove was pulled from my mouth and I opened my eyes to see my own face in front of me. I was terribly confused, weak and covered with frozen liquid, snow and hydraulic fluid alike clinging to my chilled body as it cooled, and I looked both angry and worried as I looked down on me lying crippled in the snow. I picked up my pack and slung it over my shoulder before lifting me in my arms, and I looked up at me rescuing myself and murmuring comforting words to me with my own mouth and my head swam and I closed my eyes, and then there was nothing.

When I came back online I heard Lore and Father arguing. I had been repaired, my fluidic system filled once more, but I found myself unwilling to move. I wanted to listen.

"I still have a chance of picking up their trail if I go now!" That was Lore, and he sounded angry and frightened.

"Any tracks will be long gone by now, it's been days! And even if you did track them, what then, hmm? If you found them, what would you do?" Father, also angry. I hated to hear anger in their voices.

"I don't know... Bring them to justice! Hold them accountable!"

"Don't be ridiculous!"

"I am not being ridiculous! They could have killed him!" I could hear panic in Lore's voice and it made me ache with sorrow to know that it was fear for me. How frightened he must have been, to think that he might lose the other half of himself.

"But they didn't! You know I built you better than that! He shut down, nothing more."

"Nothing more?!" Lore's voice had risen in his agitation, he was almost shouting. "You don't know what it's like! It's... It's like being dead! How can you say it was nothing?"

"Because we brought him back, so no harm done. He's good as new, so just let it alone." Father's voice was gruff, and I found it hard to believe that he felt the truth of his words. There was a ringing crash. I surmised that a cabinet of instruments had fallen over. Or been pushed.

"Lore!" Father shouted.

"What?" My brother roared. "Just fix it! No harm done!"

"That is enough! I will confine you to your room if you don't calm down!"

"But by your own admission I've done nothing wrong!"

"Stop!" I said. I could stand it no longer. I opened my eyes and sat up.

Lore was standing almost toe-to-toe with Father, glaring at him, his gold eyes glowing with anger. Father was returning his gaze with his ice blue eyes, hard as glass. As soon as he realized that I was active Lore turned and raced to my side to gather me into his arms.

"I thought I lost you." He sobbed into my shoulder, his grief and fear making his body shake. I held him in return, gripping him tightly to reassure him of my presence.

"I am here." I whispered to him, and he leant back to clasp my face in his hands, gazing into my eyes as if to make sure I was real.

"Tell me who did this to you." He hissed, the fear and anger in his eyes startling in its intensity.

"Don't say a word, Data." Father barked. Lore let go of me and whirled to face him.

"How dare you order him not to tell me? After what happened? It's attempted murder, Father, I won't have it any other way!"

"Because no one else will ever see it like that! Why do you think I keep you away? After what you did to that poor girl? If you go rampaging into town, dragging people into this... why, they'll have me dismantle you both for sure! It'll be a witch-hunt!"

"THEY are the ones who have done this!" Lore was shouting again. "He did nothing to them, nothing! They hate him, simply because of what he is! What WE are!"

"Yes, and that is why this will go no further!" Father was furious, I could see it in the way he held his body, fists clenched at his sides. "If you find those responsible, you'll hurt them, and don't tell me you won't! And then all my work will be destroyed, everything I've worked for..."

"Your WORK?!" Lore roared. "Is that all we are to you? We are your sons, your children, that's what you have told us! Are these the actions of a father, who cares about his offspring?"

"Enough!" I had rarely raised my voice before, and it felt strange to change the volume on my vocal synthesiser to increase the force of my word. I swung my legs over the edge of the table and tried to stand, but the repaired muscles were not yet fully integrated with my systems, and my knees buckled. Lore flung his arm around me to help me gain my feet. I looked at him.

"I want to go."

"You're not going anywhere until..." Father began, and for the first time in my life, I interrupted him.

"I am leaving. I am going out. I cannot stay in this room a moment longer."

I made good on my words, Lore helping me out into the main living space of the house and towards the door.

"Don't you dare!" I heard Father shouting from behind us. "If you go out that door, don't expect me to let you back in."

I made sure to close it behind us.

In the time it had taken them to repair the damage done to me, the storm had broken. The sky was a deep blue, the sun dipping towards the horizon, and the snow was thick and crisp under my feet. I did not look back, but I knew Lore was there. I was angry. Really, truly furious. How dare Father say such things, as if I had no life to lose, as if my life were somehow less important than a human life? It went against everything that he and Mother had told us, that we were special, the first truly sentient androids, and we deserved to be treasured. But he would not stand by us when we were threatened, would not fight for our right to be recognised as people by the others that shared this world. I felt sickened by it, dizzy and sorrowful under my anger. I had no idea where I was going, simply wanting to put distance between me and the humans who had disappointed me, betrayed me.

Lore moved up to walk beside me as we entered the forest. The snow here was not as thick, cradled as it was in the branches of the pines. Now that the wind had dropped it was still and almost silent, the only noises the ones we made as we walked, and the occasional soft thump of a pine bough loosing its blanket of snow onto the forest floor.

I stopped in a small clearing. Lore stopped next to me and I turned to look at him. I saw my anger reflected back at me, our shared hatred of the unfairness of our situation. His jaw was clenching rhythmically, his eyes were bright gold and full of rage. I grabbed his jaw in my hand and kissed him roughly, and he answered with equal ferocity. He bit my tongue when I tried to lick his mouth, and I answered by twisting his arm up his back and forcing him to his knees in the snow. He growled in mingled anger and pain, and I took his back, grabbed the waistband of his pants and dragged them down his thighs. He struggled and I wrapped one arm around him, pinioning his arms by his sides. I drew out my sex with my other hand and brought my sexual behaviour programming online, biting his throat as I entered him. He cried out, his body arching away from me, and I forced him down, pushing his face into the powdery snow as I drove myself into him, all my rage and frustration pooling in a hot pit in my stomach. He cried out again, and I did not care if it was passion or pain, I simply did not care. He dragged one arm free from my crushing embrace and elbowed me in the face, my head snapping sideways. It knocked me off my knees and before I could retaliate he was on me, his mouth on mine, tearing at my clothes. I bit his lip clean through and he shrieked with rage and brought his knees up either side of my chest to pin my arms above my head with one hand. His chin was slick with the gold dripping from his mouth, his lips twisted into a snarl that I knew I was answering with my own. He gripped both of my wrists in one hand and used the other to grab my face, pushing my head into the snow. I bit his hand, making him yelp and draw his arm back as I jerked my knee up into his back, sending him lurching forward and down far enough to allow me to bring my forehead up to meet his nose. He cried out as he fell back, the force of my blow stunning him, and I was on him again, ripping his clothes from his body, biting and kissing and seething with rage. He grabbed my hair and twisted, throwing me off him, and I grabbed his arms and dragged him with me, kicking and scratching, howling with anger. He was spitting like a wildcat, his eyes feral and dangerous as he pinned me on my back again, and he shoved my knees up to mount me, howling as he buried himself in me. I screamed into his face, trapped by his body, kicking my legs against him as he thrust into me. He turned his head to sink his teeth into my leg, ripping through the bioplast and tearing it from my body. I managed to catch him a glancing blow to the temple with my heel and the momentary distraction was enough for me to break his hold. I shoved him back and drew myself up to sit in his lap and he pushed himself up into me, his teeth worrying my shoulder and neck, my hands clawing his back.

"Tell me you want me!" He shrieked as he thrust upwards into my body, and I ground myself into his lap. I took his hand and wrapped it around my erection and I cried out along with him, the pressure too intense, the need for release overwhelming.

"I want you, I want you!" I stared into his eyes and poured out all my fury, my rage subsumed by the crashing force of my climax. He screamed as he came into me, his body rigid against mine, and I watched the anger drain from his eyes.

I bowed my head to his shoulder and he wrapped his arms around me, breathing hard together. I kissed the marks I had left in his neck, kissed the fluid from his chin, kissed his broken lip. He sucked my tongue into his mouth, the damaged sensor clusters that he had ruptured with his teeth singing pain and pleasure into my mind. He leaned back and pulled me down, opening himself to me, and I took what he gave me, telling him over and over how much I loved him, our minds and bodies one entity as we moved together, loved together, found comfort, completion and rest in each other.