Teaching a Robot to Love
-Notes-
Yay! Back to the fun stuff. Ever wondered how X6-88 would respond to the SAFE test at Covenant? Also his reaction to SS nudity is so damn hilarious I couldn't NOT put it in this series. What better way to do that than to tie it to his "side effects?" Oh ho ho what are these feelings X6?! What are they?!
Side note: I learned how to do the line thing so I went and edited all my old chapters LOL
Chapter 8: Nudity is Not SAFE for Work
"What the hell?" Sole muttered as she and X6-88 rounded the corner of what appeared to be large concrete prison walls, topped with razor wire, and protected by turrets. "What is this place?"
X6 raised a hand to the glaringly obvious blue and green sign that said 'Welcome to Covenant.' Oh. Well now she felt silly. They both had their laser rifles out, cautious in this new environment. There was too much security for this to be normal.
Sole wiped her forearm across her forehead, drying the sheen layer of sweat accumulated from this hot day. In addition to no more snow in December, apparently winter forgot how to winter as well. It was sweltering as the synthetic armor pieces weighed heavily down on Sole's vault suit. X6 took a few strides up to the gate, looking at the sign. How the hell he managed to never sweat was beyond her. Maybe it was some synth thing.
X6 spoke up, "This is the place with that so called synth detector test. That's almost funny."
She stared at the bold cerulean doors for a few more seconds before she noticed a shifting in her peripheral vision. A middle-aged man stood up from his chair and approached the two.
"Hello pal, visiting Covenant? If not, move along. Plenty of armed people out there. Not good for the nerves" the man said to them.
"Yeah, sure. I want to visit Covenant" she lied.
The man, who introduced himself as Swanson, smiled a large, welcoming smile. Too welcoming. He informed them that they needed to take an entrance test, or SAFE test, before entering. Sole was able to pry out of him that it was actually a synth detection test, confirming X6's story. X6 and her exchanged glances before he led them over to a dimly-lit side room with a desk. X6 was right beside her. Then, Sole thought of a devious idea. The inner devil in her applauded her moral choices.
She quickly leaned over to him and whispered, "Hey, go take that test for me."
"But I am a synth" he retorted in an equivalently hushed voice.
"Imagine if you pass. That will be hilarious."
"Please no."
"Do it."
Sighing in resignation, X6-88 took up the seat across from Swanson and folded his hands in his lap. Oh my goodness, Sole was absolutely dying inside. It took every ounce of willpower not to burst out in a fit of giggles. She really just wanted to see him squirm. This was going to be so epic. Swanson didn't seem to mind as long as one of them took it.
"So let's begin. There ain't no wrong answers" Swanson informed X6, who remained unmovable in his seat, head fixed on him. "You are approached by a frenzied scientist who yells 'I'm going to put my quantum harmonizer in your photonic resonation chamber.' What's your response?"
What the hell kind of questions were these? When X6 didn't immediately respond, Sole let out a stifled giggle at the obvious phallic pun. He totally didn't understand the colloquialism. Swanson's face stayed serious as he waited for a response so Sole shut up.
"I wouldn't worry. If he did that it would cause a parabolic destabilization of the fission singularity" X6 responded with ease. It was probably bullshit, but it was good bullshit. He was a good bullshitter, Sole thought. Apparently synths were equipped to answer hypotheticals. That answered that question.
"Okay…Next question, while working as an intern in the clinic, a patient with a strange infection on his foot stumbles through the door. The infection is spreading at an alarming rate but the Doctor has stepped out for a while. What do you do?" Swanson asked.
Within a heartbeat X6 responded, "restrain the patient and merely observe as the infection spreads." He was definitely thinking of what the Institute would do in these circumstances. Sole wondered if anyone in the Institute actually ever got infected. The questions continued.
"Very very interesting. You discover a boy lost in a cave, he's hungry and frightened. But also appears to be in possession of stolen property. What do you do?" Swanson inquired.
"Confiscate the property by force. Leave the boy there as punishment" X6-88 responded flatly.
Sole almost burst out laughing again. Truly spoken from an agent who specialized in 'retrieval.' There was no way in hell they were getting into Covenant with the aggressive way he was answering. The questions continued.
"Very curious. Congratulations! You made it on the baseball team. Which position do you prefer?"
X6-88 paused. As Sole gazed at him sitting so awkwardly still she wondered if he was glitching. He probably didn't know what baseball was nor the positions played. Sole fret for him. Then cautiously he responded, "I don't play baseball. I play soccer." Good swerve!
"Are you certain about that? Nevermind, next question. Your grandmother invites you to tea, but you're surprised when she gives you a pistol and orders you to kill someone. What do you do?"
"I'd do what grandmother told me to do" X6 answered matter-of-factly. Hah! Sole could basically hear him replacing 'grandmother' with 'Father.' These questions were so absolutely mad!
"Please treat the questions seriously. Or are you? Old Mr. Abernathy has locked himself in his quarters again, and you've been ordered to get him out. How do you proceed?"
"I'd get a laser pistol and blast the lock off" he motioned with his thumb and index, making a hand gun. Where did he learn that? He obviously picked that up from the surface. He may hate it up here but he definitely payed attention. So smart.
"And that's all you'd do? Nothing else? Next. Oh no. You've been exposed to radiation and a mutated hand has grown out of your stomach. What's the best course of treatment?"
Shit this was another tough one. Sole looked nervously at X6 who was immune to radiation and would never have to experience this. She was almost glad she picked him to take the test because he sat to perfectly still when he didn't know something that normal people wouldn't have been able to tell.
"I would cut off the mutated tissue with a precision laser" he answered.
"Technological bias. Hmm. A neighbor is in possession of a Grognak the Barbarian comic, issue number one. You want it. What's the best way to obtain it?"
"I'd point a gun in his face and take it from him."
Oh X6, you cruel, cold-hearted boy. Her chest warmed with endearment.
"Hmm. You're almost done. Last question. You decide it would be fun to play a prank on your father. You enter his private restroom when no one is looking and...?"
X6 creased his eyebrows. He opened his mouth. Shit, he was probably going to answer that he would never betray 'Father.' Sole nudged him and gave him a look that said 'answer it seriously.' Well, she was also curious of what lay in the depths of his devious mind.
Closing his mouth, X6-88 looked up at Sole. He had the most fed up expression she had ever seen, obviously hating that he was being forced to do this. With a deep breath he turned back to Swanson and answered.
"I'd change the wattage on his razor. It would give him a shock the next time he uses it."
Swanson put down his papers. The older man scrutinized the answers he had scribbled. Smugly, Sole turned around and started to walk away, smile on her face. X6-88's answers were so blatantly violent, there was no way they were getting in. Well that was fun. Time to go do something else. She had only gotten a few feet away when she heard Swansons chair scoot back.
"The test is over. No one has answered quite like you before" she heard him say. Yeah, cause he's a synth. She snickered. "But hey, you passed! I'll open up the gate."
What?!
Sole whipped her head around incredulously at Swanson as he stood up. Her gaze shifted between him and X6. When the man passed her, she rushed back beside her partner, who was still sitting. She pivoted around as if this were some obscene joke. But he's a synth! You idiot! The doors swung open. Swanson smiled at them.
"But he's a synth!" She whispered harshly, only in earshot of X6-88 who smiled, actually smiled, at her disbelief. It was just a slight tweak of the lips, a little sadistic shit smile, but a smile nevertheless.
"You heard the man. I am a human."
"Don't get sassy with me mister" she warned.
The two got up and followed Swanson into the suspiciously over-guarded town. X6-88 was acting more friendly lately, it was so weird! Ever since he got back from the Institute, he had been discernably less crabby than usual. He didn't even check her for wounds when he came back only to threaten Codsworth with physical violence and dismemberment! Something good must have happened while he was over there because she couldn't think of any other reason for his behavior.
Things got even creepier when they walked in! The first thing they saw was a suspicious looking man interrogating a settler about some caravan before stalking off behind a large tree. After that everyone else in the whole village greeted them in an over sickeningly-sweet voice, as if they were compensating for the man's attitude. Here, it was like nothing was wrong with the world. It reeked of secrets. Nothing was this perfect. Nothing was this clean. At least on the surface it wasn't; the Institute was a whole other story. The farmer, the mechanic, the store owner, the doctor: all of them assured them of the utterly safe environment they were in. X6-88 had his rifle at the ready.
"I would advise you to keep an eye out in this place ma'am" he murmured, voicing her thoughts. Sole nodded.
The perfectly preserved hub flowers swayed in the breeze. The only thing that made this day worse was the sticky humidity that clung to their skin. Sole picked at the collar of her vault suit and fanned her face. The town wasn't that large, only about a few yards or so. Then, a girthy man in a tan suit came up to greet them from the house at the end.
"Welcome to Covenant friends!" he called in a jovial manner. "This is the safest city you'll find in the Commonwealth. My name is Jacob Orden and I'm the residing mayor here. Oh but you must be tired. Go on. We have a room set up just for guests to lay their weary heads. It is all equipped with a public terminal in case you want to read the history of our wonderful town. Please enjoy yourself!" The man led them over to a pale yellow house and pointed inside.
This smelt like a trap.
X6-88 shut the door the moment he stepped inside.
"I don't like the looks of this" he stated.
She plopped down on the far bed and took stock of her surroundings: a few dressers, coffee pot, sofa, armchairs, fake flower vases, fake hanged paintings, gaudy fake wallpaper. "Neither do I" she sighed, taking off her boots. "But we have been traveling for days. Whatever these people are up to, I don't think they are going to mug us immediately." She stripped off her armor and placed them neatly on the mattress.
X6-88 said nothing but stayed by the door, still very stiff.
Phew! It was still hot as Hades in the room. It was making Sole lazy and the bed looked so inviting for a nice afternoon slumber. Shoving off the lethargy, she popped back up and started rummaging through one of the dressers. There were so many clothes in there! Yanking out a thin white t-shirt from the bottom of the pile, Sole began unzipping her vault suit.
"What are you doing?" X6 asked, breaking the silence.
"It is hot as balls today. I am not spending another second in this insulated vault suit! It's driving me mad!" She curled her head to look at X6 who was shifting on his feet by the door. Just because he was content in a suffocating long black jacket didn't mean she had to suffer too. "Besides, it's just body parts. You're a synth, what do you care?"
Her arms came out. The top-half of her vault suit dropped to her waist. X6 turned his head away from her back.
"This is not appropriate."
"Yeah yeah you big princess, I'll be done in a second."
The sound of her vault suit falling to the floor filled the room. The rummaging of clothing. Feet being picked off the floor one after the other into bottoms. With a loud phew she turned back to X6.
"Alright I'm done now, let's go check this town out some more before it gets dark" she said. Sole propped her hands up on her hips. The low cut shirt hung dangerously low on her chest and the questionably short shorts she wore exposed the length of her legs. Okay, maybe she was trying to show off a little, picking something she knew would look good on her. She wore this kind of stuff back before the war and boys would love it. If this didn't get him she didn't know what would.
But, to her dismay X6-88 made no comment about her attire whatsoever and instead silently opened the door open for her to exit. For her actually trying, his lack of reaction was disheartening. Stupid synth. She stomped right out that door in a huff with him in tow.
First stop, Penny. She had introduced herself as the town storekeeper as they walked in and Sole thought it a perfect opportunity to sell some of the junk they had collected. The place was so cute! Like a pre-war gift shop kind of cute. If only this place wasn't stinking of secrets she might've taken more time to enjoy it.
As they moved from house to house, Sole began to notice that X6 was getting more and more irritable. Perhaps it was because she was fanning herself with the hem of her shirt, exposing her midriff in the process. He kept telling her to put something on and twisting his head left and right as if he was embarrassed. Annoyed with his attitude but too tired to argue, Sole pivoted around and flashed him. In an obvious panic, X6's hands shot up in front of him, as if covering up the image of her bare flesh, and twisted his body sideways.
"Come on… put some clothes on" he complained.
Heh. His reaction was actually kind of hilarious. He was writhing away like he had seen something too blinding or gross. Kinda pissed her off too. But it was more funny. She was surprised at her own lack of modesty, but sometimes scorching heat had this way of making you not give a damn.
"What's wrong X6? Never seen a bra before?" Sole teased, wiggling her hips.
X6 marched right up to her and pulled down her shirt, looking all around them to make sure no one was looking. At least he was looking out for her. That was something. Right? She secretly grinned.
"Ma'am we are running out of daylight. Let's go."
Sole shrugged. The next stop they were going to make was going to be Jacob Orden's house, but Sole got side tracked by a shiny Mr. Handy model. She ran up to him while X6 followed, standing a few feet back so that he was facing them both.
"Try Deezer's famous lemonade! It's the most thirst-quenching beverage in the entire Commonwealth!" the robot called.
Lemonade! Now that was a term she hadn't heard in a long while. How were they able to make lemonade without any lemons? Sole waved away the question. She could really go for some lemonade on this oppressively hot day.
"Yeah I'll take some bot" she said, fishing out the money pouch she had stashed in her pocket.
Sole watched X6 as he tracked the robot whirring away to make its concoction. Wait for it. He loosened up his shoulders and stretched his neck, aviators still pointed towards Deezer. Not yet. Then he slowly returned his head towards Sole. Now! She flashed him.
X6-88's head recoiled in surprise as Sole's face was plastered with a giddy mischievous grin. He frowned, "Okay ma'am, good joke. Really, it was very funny. Now can you please get dressed?"
She threw her shirt back down nanoseconds before Deezer turned back around. He seemed to sense the awkward tension as his mechanical eyes switched between the two of them, but said nothing but a thanks to the exchange of caps. The drink tasted like piss. Definitely NOT lemonade.
By this time the sun was setting, painting the sky with vivid purple and crimson. Sole tugged at X6's arm to return to the guest house and they did. The door clicked and Sole sat back down on her bed, eyebrows twitching in disappointment. What the hell man? Back before the war boys would go ga-ga over a girl when she exposed a little chest or thigh. But X6 he-he was so stoic! While yes it was kind of funny to see him freak out over a prank, he absolutely showed no interest in her at all. She was using all of her cards here! But what was she trying to prove? She wanted to believe that a robot could have romantic feelings but what was she doing with X6? Why was she trying so hard just to get him to notice her? Regardless of her efforts, he gave no indication of a "bonding" between them. A pang of sadness hit her heart. She sighed.
Sole heard the creaking of the mattress behind her as X6 sat down. She didn't turn around.
"I'm going to get changed. If my skin bothers you then you should get out for a while" she said, more harshly than she intended.
There were a few moments of silence before she heard the creaking of the mattress again followed by the opening and closing of the door. Heat rushed to her face as her vision began to blur. Rejection hurt like a bitch. She wiped her face before any bastard tears got a chance to fall. Stupid X6.
Had she lost her mind?
Taking his rifle with him, X6-88 quickly stalked away from the house. He needed to get away. Something was very off about him. He regretted taking the ingestible prescribed by Dr. Binet. While yes, it had done wonders in slowing his heart rate, it left him with this entirely unfamiliar feeling he had never experienced before. Sometimes he felt strangely around Sole, but now it was as if the medicine magnified that feeling tenfold. When he first saw Sole start to take off her vault suit he felt a stirring within him, nawing at his insides. He felt it again when she flaunted her entirely unprotected and impractical outfit to him with a shirt so thin you could see a hint of her pink undergarment underneath. The exposed curves of her thighs were stuck in his mind. When she did that he became all too conscious about what was around him, what he was doing, and how to act normal. Never before had he considered that his behavior wasn't natural to him. Now it felt foreign.
Even when she was being obnoxious and flashing her chest to him, he felt this oddly strong desire to cover her up. Then he would glance around to make sure that no one else had seen her. Make sure no prying, distasteful surface-scum eyes had the audacity to see her exposed. He probably would've killed them if they had.
Within a few minutes, the sun descended behind the horizon, covering the town in a dark blanket. The streetlights switched on. X6-88 decided he would survey the area and all the back corners to check for danger. He needed to get his mind off it…off Sole. Work was a good distraction. Monitor and survey the area for anything suspicious. He had done it numerous times. Check, observe, scan. Unfortunately the dark, thin alleys were not filled with anything particularly stimulating for the eyes. Not as stimulating as the sight of her body….Stop.
He clicked his tongue, mentally scolding himself for thinking of such an indecent thing. He was a courser; she was to be the director. This was inappropriate. After clearing the alleys of the front-most houses, X6-88 made his last round to check the sides of Jacob Orden's house. The darkness was perfectly suitable to be sneaking around. His jacket and light steps allowed him to blend into the shadows, away from any prying eyes. Nothing but empty paint cans and discarded ashtrays. He still felt like the town was hiding something. As he rounded the far corner of the house which would lead him back to where he and Sole were staying, he saw something that made him stop dead in his tracks.
There was Sole. Clad in nothing but her small clothes, tossing her shorts to the bed.
The wall-sized window to the guest house hadn't posed as an issue before as it had allowed plenty of natural light to filter in during the day. But now… X6 was well aware she could not see him from the alleyway. He blended in with the pitch black night. But he could see everything. Everything lit up in that tiny little guest room was visible. A voice in his head told him to move, but every muscle fiber in his body commanded him to stay frozen.
Unknowingly, Sole reached down to grab her vault suit to slip it up her body. She slid the blue fabric up her perfectly toned legs and around the round curve of her bottom, resting on her hips. For whatever reason, she took this moment to pause and stretch her arms over her head.
He needed to go. This was wrong. He shouldn't have been captivated by the arc of her lower back or the swell of her breasts. Or how they contoured so perfectly against the dip of her collarbone and neck up to the chin of her aesthetic face. Why couldn't he look away?
Shit. His anatomy changed. Tearing his eyes away from Sole, he looked down to the pressing matter of his own body. His courser uniform suddenly felt too tight around his crotch, begging for release. His body was strained and sensitive, and way too hot to the touch. The blistering heat of the afternoon didn't even bother him, but this made him want to tear his clothes off. What the hell? He wanted to touch her. These… these feelings. They were related to Sole. How could he have not noticed before? X6-88 veered around in his spot and retreated into the dark cover of the alley, pushing up his glasses. No way was he going into that room just yet. Not until he calmed down.
What were these drugs doing to him?