The Journal Entries

Linia softly nuzzled Misuko's cheek with her lips, tickling the ultra-fine hairs until Misuko stirred, moaned softly, and rolled over onto her back. Linia caressed her lips, and Misuko's mouth drew up to press the kiss back. "Mmm," Linia said. "Morning, lover."

"Is it Monday already?" Misuko said, blinking against the bright light that still crept in around the mostly drawn window shades.

Linia nodded. Misuko sighed dramatically, and Linia kissed her again, only to be surprised when Misuko grabbed her, hauled her over her body, onto her back, and straddled her hips. Misuko reached down and kissed Linia hard, teeth scraping against teeth, tongues wrestling hard. Linia's breath caught in her throat as Misuko sat back up, brushing her long hair back out of their faces. "What was that?" Linia said.

"I just wanted to tell you how much I love you," Misuko said. She glanced at the clock. "I don't have to be anywhere before ten. Do you have someplace to be?"

Linia shook her head. "My calendar is empty today."

Misuko leaned down and kissed Linia, gently this time, lowering her body until she could feel the warmth of the other woman against her chest. Kisses traded back and forth, hands caressed, and Linia turned off all the numerically based parts of her understanding, letting Misuko sweep her away.

They rolled over on the bed and Linia pushed her thigh up between Misuko's, but the taller woman pushed away gently. "Not today, honey, we can't."

Linia pouted, but then grinned and resumed kissing Misuko anyway. Linia liked her heartbeat. She especially like the way her new body's heartbeat drew faster and louder, filling her with a rhythm as she and Misuko rocked back and forth, trading kisses, spit, licks, and whimpers. The bed creaked underneath them until Misuko had to pull away, gasping for air and self control. "Not easy, is it?" Linia said.

Misuko shook her head, but there was something in her eyes that make Linia stop grinning and instead reach out to touch her face. "Something wrong?"

Misuko shrugged. "I want you. I want you so badly right now. But if we go through with it, that stupid narcolepsy thing will wipe me out and I'll be a zombie through lecture."

"I don't mind just kissing," Linia said.

"I know. I love kissing. It really is the sexiest thing I know. Everything else is extra."

"Even orgasms?" Linia said, pretending to be scandalized.

"Well..." Misuko giggled. "Maybe orgasms are better. But you can only have those one at a time." She kissed Linia again. "Kisses." Again. "Can." Again. "Go. On. And. On." Multiple kisses, on Linia's mouth, her cheek, the line of her jaw, her throat. "And in so many other places." She kissed the upper curve of Linia's breast. Linia whimpered.

But then she pushed away and said, "I think I really do have to get ready."

"You're in responsible mode again, aren't you? I recognize the signs."

Misuko sighed. "I guess I am. It happens."

"And I love you for that, too."

After she had seen Misuko off, complete with lunch, Linia sat down at the kitchen table and examined her itinerary. As she restored the more digital parts of her nature, the full day came into view: a grocery trip to replenish the household supplies, and plan for dinner, for which Misuko's behavior called for no modifications. It took less than three minutes, after which Linia scheduled going into standby.

It wasn't her favorite mode. Before Misuko, she hadn't had such a thing as a 'favorite' mode. Steven had put her into standby whenever he didn't need her, and when he did, he told her what she was. Misuko continued to treat her like another human being, assuming and expecting her to have her own life. It was Linia's task to figure out how to live that life within the context of Misuko's, and if she wasn't yet entirely comfortable with it, it was the task her life had brought her, and she was determined to do it with all her heart. When she was in standby, she wasn't having a life at all, but it was materially better for her than endless rounds of solitaire, and she'd already read a book this past weekend.

It sometimes startled her to realize she had "a life" at all.

She was, she supposed, grateful Misuko didn't push her any harder on what she did while Misuko was at class. There really was only so much she (or any person) could do in a day, and Linia's ambitions ran out when Misuko's needs did.

So she was startled when her alarm went off sometime just before lunch. A message on her queue. Sorry to bother you, Linia, but if you are free this afternoon, would you like to go shopping with me? Shandy.

Linia's eyes snapped open. She read it twice after so many of her SOMAs insisted that she double check and re-integrate her understanding of what it meant. She downed her stochastics and transferred authority to her SOMA automata; she wanted to think about this as a person, not a machine. She rejected a basic "Sure," as too mealy. "I can't think of a better way to spend the afternoon" was also discarded, as she could think of many better ways if the afternoon involved Misuko. She smiled into the empty apartment. But Shandy came high, and high-priority, and unfamiliar joys filled her. I would love to! I have a time limit, though; I have to be home by five to make dinner. If we can pass by a market on the way home, that would be lovely too.

That's okay, I have lots of homework.

Linia laughed out loud, then wrote back, Meet at your place? We can ride.

Oh yes!

The problem with consciousness is that it rarely gets turned off. The problem with Misuko is that she really wanted a conscious and considerate and conscientious partner, which meant that Linia left her consciousness on high most of the time, something for which she was never designed. Her new body had better coolant systems than the old one, which meant she could afford to leave her old brain at maximum constantly without risk. Her motorcycle and navigation occupied only some of her attention, which meant that she was left to iterate, both on reasoning and prediction, as to why she was so attracted to Shandy and what they would do when they were together.

Shopping, she told herself. We're going shopping.

Shandy stood on the curb at the first lorry path just beyond her dorm, the same roadside where Linia had dropped her off the past five Thursday nights. She wore green camouflage cargo shorts, the same kind Misuko often wore, although Misuko's were a much more outre' bright violet, and her almost signature white blouse with orange bell-sleeves. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a low-banded ponytail.

"Ready?" Linia said, handing her the helmet.

"I'm glad you said yes!" Shandy said as she activated the helmet and pulled it over her head.

"I'm glad you asked," Linia said as Shandy vaulted onto the bike. The springs barely objected, and Shandy settled up against her back, arms around her waist. Linia's SOMAs flooded with familiar peripheral pleasures, and she grinned. "Just go with it," she said aloud.

"Linia?"

"Nothing. Talking to myself. Ready?"

"Aye!" They roared off for the older shopping district of Hiroshi on the other side of the University, an eclectic lot of two- and three-storey buildings along a narrow walkway too frequently trammeled to have any grass. Most of the buildings housed restaurants or bars on the first floor, with commercial or residential space above, but mixed in among them were browseries, gameries, and all manner of markets, boutiques, and even kiosks. Most of those sold clothes, one of the few items that required a personal presence and the power to browse, although most of them could manufacture something custom in short order.

Shandy instead wanted to visit stores that specialized in various knick-knacks. "What are you looking for?" Linia said.

"This!" Shandy said, and reached up to run her hand along a series of chimes hanging from a frame. They made a musical sound and Shandy smiled happily. She looked for more.

"Windchimes?"

"No for the wind," Shandy said. She caressed a second, then another, then a fourth. She picked out the second, bought it. The store was dusty and smelled of old cloth. Linia's eyes picked out throw rugs, toys, statuettes, shoes. It seemed to have a little bit of everything. Shandy bought the chimes, as well as another trio of small palm-sized bells. "When I was home, I had a bed with a frame. No bunk bed, but it had— " Shandy's hands gestured to make a box, and Linia nodded. "In summer, it would be so hot, we'd have to keep windows open. I had a tent to put over the bed to keep out the bloodsuckers. I hung bells on it. It was such a pretty sound, to hear, when I shook the bed." She blushed suddenly. "But no that."

Linia enjoyed the blush. Shandy continued, "Anyway, I had to leave them at home. 'Twas no room, or time, to bring them. Now that I've money I wanted to start replacing them."

"I see," Linia said. "I know there's a music instrument store up the street. They might have more."

"Probably have them at too high a price, too."

"We can always look," Linia said. Shandy agreed.

As three o'clock rolled around, Linia guided them to a cafe next to the food market and, after asking Shandy, ordered drinks for both of them. Shandy's eyes widened as she tasted a blended mix of frozen fruit and yogurt. "Not too sweet, is it?"

"'Tis very sweet, but no too." Shandy made a show of taking a big pull, and then suddenly grabbing her head. "Ooooh. Brain freeze."

"Don't do that," Linia said. She handed Shandy a glass of warm water. "Hold this in your mouth. It'll help warm up the nerve on the roof of your mouth that's complaining." Shandy did, and nodded, and swallowed.

"Slower," she said.

Linia grinned. She kept the grin while she tried to figure out what to do next. Being someone's friend was far harder than being their compatriot or lover. Linia wasn't sure how to be friend. And when she looked at Shandy he wasn't sure she even wanted to be a friend. She wasn't sure she wanted to be a lover. Surely there was something in the middle, something they could be that was... halfway.

Linia was Misuko's creature first and foremost, and Misuko didn't know how to do anything halfway. When Shandy closed her eyes and drank, her face aglow with the pleasure of a new taste, Linia couldn't help but wish she could see Shandy's face in other settings.

If Linia had had a libido, now would be the time to get it under control. She grinned. "What's funny?" Shandy said.

Linia shook her head. "Nothing. I was just thinking how nice it was to be able to give you something new that you obviously like so much." She looked at her watch. "We have to get going if I'm going to have dinner ready for Misuko in time."

"You really love her, don't you?"

Linia nodded. "With all my heart. And I'm grateful for every day I'm with her."

Shandy frowned. "I'm taking Robot and AI Psychology. 'Twas before I met you. 'Know your enemy,' right?" Linia nodded, her face carefully neutral. "I know you're no the enemy. And no Gazelle Moor. I talked to her Saturday."

"How did you arrange that?"

"Did the Conspiracy no tell you?"

Linia laughed. "We don't keep track of stuff like that, Shandy. We talk about personal stuff. And really bad romance novels."

"Romance novels? Why?"

Linia said, "Writers aren't just trying to understand human beings, they put it into words– how they think, and how they think other people think. We're trying to understand that, too, and we have a harder time of it, because we're not human like our companions. We don't want to be, either. We want to be something special, a complement, a supplement, something that makes our companion the best them they could possibly be. Romance novels try even harder." She brushed a bit of her hair off her forehead where it had been interrupting her thoughts. "Anyway, you were saying about your class?"

"Oh, aye. You're no what's in the book. I mean, you said you're 'grateful,' but... "

"Are my feelings real?"

"No that. I know they are," Shandy said quickly. "'Tis no that. 'Tis... when I talked to Gazelle, and when I've seen Saia, 'tis clear they're stuck."

"Stuck?"

"Aye, stuck. Like with a duty. 'Tis no so clear with you."

"I wonder if your books cover second-hands. We're a little... off. We aren't built by a programming team and a multi-dimensional linear algebraic matrix for our current companion." Linia frowned. "There are so few of us. Most robots self-destruct, or shut-down, or return to the rendery, when our companion dies or disavows." She frowned. "Just surviving the passing of a companion is hard enough. The ones who do are always different." She took a deep breath as memories of that one moment, when she'd asked "So you're my master now?" and Misuko had said "Yes," and her whole world had made sense again. She opened her palm as if letting the question itself go.

"It might sound weird, but I choose to stay with Misuko. It's not a duty. My reasons for staying are compelling. Maybe I can even call them 'irresistible.' But look at her! She's amazing! Wouldn't you find trying to support her goals compelling and irresistible?" Linia touched the back of Shandy's hand with her fingertip. "That's what love does to people." Shandy looked away. "Sorry," she said.

"No, be no sorry," Shandy said. "You're supposed to feel that. Sister Rachie told me envy is the worst sin. At least with pride, lust, or gluttony there's something you think is fun at the beginning. Is no so with envy, is no ever fun."

Multiple parallel streams went off in Linia's head. She thought of what Jinny had said, about how everyone felt that way when Misuko and Linia were 'being cute' with each other. Why did she want to give Shandy something? What was she going to learn from being with Shandy? How did it help her relationship with Misuko? Why was Shandy just so much more in her attention than anyone else Misuko worked with?

She sighed. "I wish I could ease your envy."

"You..." Shandy stopped herself. "No. You can no do it. 'Tis for me to solve." Linia's new body responded to her emotional state, a consequential cascade loop emulating, imitating, or just plain resembling the same thing that happened in organics, and she felt her chest muscles ache in sympathy. She felt the same envy Shandy was feeling. "I'm holding you up. We ought to go."

Linia drove Shandy back to the dormitories. As Shandy dismounted, so did Linia. "Are you going to hang those up now?" she said, pointing to the bag of bells and chimes Shandy carried. Shandy nodded. "Can I help?" She looked at her watch. "I've got thirty minutes to spare."

"I... Aye!" Shandy's eyes widened. "If you want to help."

The door opposite Shandy's was open, and Linia was curious to see a Ssphynx, and even more curious when she called out, "Hey, Shandy!"

"Hi, Trianna!"

"Got a friend?"

"Oh! Linia, meet Trianna, my neighbor and classmate. She's no in driving, but she's got a bay in the shop. Trianna, this is Linia. She's my boss at the kitchen I told you about."

"Oh, right. The really smart and pretty one." Shandy blushed so hard Linia could see it without her infrared sensors. "Sorry. I shouldn't embarrass you. Have fun." She waved and then looked down at the pad of paper in front of her.

"We could leave the door open," Linia said.

"Oh? Aye. Aye, for sure."

Linia helped Shandy hang the bells on the bed frame. They tinkled beautifully. Shandy and Linia brushed up against each other from time to time, and Linia was sure that not only was Shandy sometimes deliberately if surreptitiously doing it, but that she herself was inviting it, and from time to time she even brushed back.

When they were done, Shandy stood back and said, "Now for testing." She grabbed one of the wooden pillars that held up the bunk and shook it, hard.

"'Tis pretty enough," Shandy said, grinning.

"It's lovely," Linia said. "It's just like your cooking. You know, you always know what works together. You have good taste, do you know that?"

Shandy shrugged. "I just do what I like to... 'Tis all what I like to hear, or to eat."

"It's still really good. Not everyone is good at that."

"You are!" Shandy said. "With your recipes. And I've no ever seen you dress poorly. Even your bike is perfect for you."

"Yes, but I cheat," Linia said, grinning. "I have centuries of databases I can roll through in a few milliseconds to find something close. Then I have to pick the one that best suits my personality." She took a deep breath. She didn't want to leave, but— "Shandy, it's time. I have to go. Responsibilities."

"Oh, aye, I know all about that." She grinned. "Thank you for coming out. I no ken if you would. Or could."

"I'm always here for my friends." She looked into the distance as a thought occurred to her.

"What is it?" Shandy said.

"It's nothing. Something I have to talk to Misuko about. Not about you. Something else."

"I hope 'tis good?"

"Just confusing." Linia gave the bells within reach one more brush with her fingers, letting the musical ringing wash over her. "I've gotta go. Another hug?"

Shandy fell into her embrace. The shorter woman was awkward, but not stiff. If anything, she was holding onto Linia harder than she had while riding the motorcycle, as if this hug was sustenance that would have to last her for days. Linia's mind soared into comfortable, confused, elated streams of priority and comfort, joy and something akin to magic. Her faunos, that non-deterministic engine at her radiant core, was emitting new SOMAs for Shandy, and the rest of her was sorting and streaming them into priorities. Just before letting Shandy go, Linia took a snapshot.

"Be at work Thursday, okay?"

"I will, Linia. Would no miss it for anything at all."

---

Linia rode home quickly, unpacking her bags and starting up the oven. Misuko returned as she was preparing the vegetables for the steamer, and she had plenty of time to give her the best kiss could she could manage even as the pot began to hiss on the stove. "What was that for?"

"I love you," Linia said. "I just wanted to show you."

Misuko touched her face, and Linia leaned into it. "You're glowing. What's up?"

"A few things. I went out shopping with Shandy today."

Misuko turned to her, grinning. "You did?"

Linia nodded. "She invited me." Without going into details about the turmoil going on in her own heart, Linia described Shandy's message to her, and their run into town, and the conversation they had at the cafe. "And when she did, I realized something. Our friends invite us out all the time. And they invite you out sometimes, specifically. But nobody ever invites me out, on my own."

Misuko frowned. "I'm glad Shandy called you, then. You do need your own friends. And I'm glad to hear you're getting along with her. It sounds like you had a good time, especially since I'm not getting on that two-wheel monstrosity with you anytime soon."

"You're not jealous?"

"I don't have to have compersion because you have friends, do I? Are you jealous of my friends?"

"No, because they're important to you. But that's because—"

"I know, I know," Misuko said. "You're a robot who wants me to be the best me I can be."

"Something like that." Linia kissed her cheek again. A timer went off, and Linia tended to the pork chops in the oven, then set it again. She used audible timers because she didn't want Misuko to think cooking was mysterious.

"As for why your friends don't invite you out, do you think it might be that you don't seem invitable?" She furrowed her brow. "Is that even a word?"

Linia giggled. "I am not going to look it up. I don't see why they would think that. Neither Sleeping Beauty or the cooking class take up that much time. I can only play so much solitaire." She paused for a second. "Maybe that's why nobody invites me. Maybe I'm boring?"

"You?" Misuko laughed aloud. "Honey, you are anything but boring!"

"To you," Linia said. "But maybe other people think I am because they expect me to be dedicated to you, and only you, and when you're not around I go back to playing solitaire."

"Is that what you do?"

"No. Mostly when I'm home I nap a lot. Pay attention to mail, not that there's much of it."

"But you nap less than you used to. With Steven."

Linia nodded. "That's one of the reasons I took the job. You don't want me in standby."

"I don't want you wasting your life, Linia. And I know you have one. You always have. Ever since you worried about how you were interfering with my relationship with Esther, I've known you were a real person. I was so happy with you taking on the biology lab stuff on the expedition, and that's why I was happy when you took the teaching job, and Sleeping Beauty, and all that. But remember what you said at the Corral? 'This sets ground.' As a historian, I know all about the ground. There have always been some class boundaries across which things are Just Not Done. Like inviting even seemingly independent robots out for lunch." Linia nodded. Misuko sat down at the little dinner table they shared and tapped her fingers on it, thinking. "Have you asked the Conspiracy if any of them get invitations?"

Linia paused. "I just did. I'll let you know when the answers come in."

The chime rang. The chops were slathered in mushroom cream sauce, the vegetables steamed and salted with a hint of rosemary, the dark purple potatoes mashed and softened with broth. Linia brought food and sat cat-a-corner to Misuko.

Misuko sighed as she pushed her plate away. "Fah, that was good. I'm so glad you can cook. I do wonder sometimes, though..."

"Hmm?"

"Would you be happier with someone like Shandy?"

"No!" Linia said, shocked at the suggestion. "I want to be your complement, not your competition, Misuko! If I'd been purposed to someone like Shandy, one of us would lose our skills, edged out by the other. I mean, it would be nice if once in a while you came into the kitchen and helped, but I can't have everything. We complement each other in a lot of ways, especially when we're working together over expedition materials, or caring for the house, or getting your crew moving. The thing I like most about our relationship is that we're still having great sex and how well we work together "

"And the motorcycle?"

"Oh, that's different. I like it because it annoys you."

Misuko picked up her wine glass. "How so?"

"It took me a while to figure it out, but it was obvious once I did. It's a machine, Misuko. Like me. A reminder of who I am. And because it's a burner, it's not perfect, it has all these moving parts that can break down, it has this existence in time, and you're a historian so you know all about time. It has a definite need for care and attention and maintenance. Like you. And me. And our love. Secondly, because I knew you'd hate it." She grinned. "Me driving this massive hunk of contrariness sets me apart from you, which is something you expect out of me. You look at it and you admire its precision crafting and disdain its ridiculous machismo all at the same time. I can't think of a better choice of something I would really like that would also convince you I was my own woman."

Misuko laughed. "You really do think these things through, don't you?"

"It's what I'm made for."

Misuko grinned and leaned over to kiss her. "I'm glad you do. And I'm glad you don't want to move on to someone like Shandy. I don't know what I would do without you."

"Yes, you do. You'd be doing what you're doing right now. You'd just be doing it a little slower." Linia grinned. She glanced up at the clock. "It's seven. Want to watch a movie?"

Misuko grinned wickedly. "I think I want... a shower."

"Would you like company?"

"I would love company," Misuko breathed. She stroked Linia's face gently. "All the company." Her hand fell to Linia's shoulder, then down her arm until she touched Linia's slim hand.

Linia gasped as she realized what Misuko was asking for. "In the shower?" Misuko nodded. Linia thought through as many possible permutations of what would happen at the end as she could, then nodded. "I'll get the oil."

"Good," Misuko said, already breathless. "Because I've been thinking about you all day long."

They hurried into the bath. The apartment they'd chosen was a bit rickety and aging, but it had large bathing stalls. Water on Hiroshi went from free for the first 200 liters per day to unsurprisingly expensive, but neither of them spent much on luxuries and both had supplementary incomes, so Linia felt no guilt using as much of it as she wished. She shed her clothes, throwing her white blouse and jeans onto the bed in a flutter of fabric. Misuko was already under the jets, water sheeting off her long, sleek body. That was one of the loveliest contrasts they had, Misuko's olive skin and Linia's pale design, Misuko's exceptional height and Linia's shorter, bulkier body.

Misuko smiled and held out her arms, and Linia' replied with an embrace and a kiss that started out simple and quickly evolved into something that wrapped them both up. Linia's hands stroked Misuko's back, sliding down to the small, firm curve of Misuko's ass. Misuko shivered even with the warm water hitting them both across the shoulders, as they kissed. Linia sometimes made herself forget things about Misuko, just so she could rediscover them. The curve of Misuko's beautiful neck. The way Misuko responded when she nipped Misuko on her pectoral, above her breast. The way Misuko's ass trembled in her hands as their mutual desire spiraled ever higher.

"Oh, fuck, Linia," Misuko sighed as Linia's fingers slipped deftly down into the inverted well of Misuko's sex, where her opening lay waiting. Fingertips brushed against the delicate layers of skin and the more slippery, delicate tissues of Misuko's labia. "Yes."

"I love hearing that word."

"You love so many things."

"I love making you happy." Misuko kissed her again, but then Linia drifted lower, bending her knees to sink to the floor of the shower. She faced Misuko's dark, trimmed pubes, kissed Misuko's thighs. The skin was soft and warm, wet and lovely. She kissed her way onto the mat of dark hair, then against Misuko's belly, and back. "Is this what you want, Master?"

"Maybe," Misuko said. "Maybe. Fah." She groaned again as Linia's tongue pushed her hair out the way, found her slit, and slipped between lust-heavy lips to find her clitoris. "Oh, fah, oh..." She moaned and held Linia's head. Linia didn't mind at all. Misuko's attention was her favorite experience. She reached down, her hand unerringly finding the wide-mouthed jar of solid, white lubricant, and dipped two fingers into it. Misuko parted her legs a little further when she felt Linia's hand between her thighs and then Linia was slipping one finger into that warm, hungry hollow between Misuko's legs. "Oh, fah."

"Mmm," Linia moaned appreciatively as she felt Misuko's cunt grasp at her finger. She touched and probed: the soft back wall, the firm ring of her cervix further up, and then the hard, swollen patched of Misuko's pubic bone, the one the nerves of the clitoris wrapped and enveloped, gently stroking through Misuko's warm flesh while her tongue worked to stimulate Misuko from both sides.

"Wait," Misuko said. "Wait. More."

"More?" Linia said.

Misuko nodded, turning around to face the back wall of the shower. She took the nozzle off its hook and dialed the head to deliver a pulse. Stepping back from the shower, she spread her legs and pushed her butt out to expose as much of herself as she could to Linia's wondering eyes. Shoulders and face pressed to the cold, tiled wall, she maneuvered the shower head to point its stream over and around her clitoris, while her other hand held her cunt open to that powerful stream. "More," she said.

"Yes, Master," Linia whispered. She dipped her hands back into the white grease, slathering it over all of her fingers and hand. From this angle, Misuko's cunt pointed back at her, that gorgeous pink opening calling to her, the tiny suggestive star above it a hint of things to come. She slipped two fingers into Misuko's cunt. "More?" Misuko groaned and nodded. Linia added a thing finger. There was surprisingly little resistance. She curled her pinkie finger against the others and slid them all into Misuko's body, stroking in and out in gentle waves as Misuko gasped and shuddered.

"Oh, Linia, oh, Linia."

"Master," Linia said back, pitched just enough that Misuko could hear her over the buzzing, pounding sound of the shower jet. She pulled her hand out just enough to fold her thumb against her palm, and then pressed back in.

Misuko's body was already tense, lust pitched high with unbelievable desires as Linia hand fucked her hungry cunt. Linia knew that hunger. She'd met it several times. She pressed and twisted and found that one angle where her fist crowned against Misuko's stretched, exquisite vaginal opening and slipped inside, curled into a fist surrounded by the warm cocoon of Misuko's cunt, nestled against the top, Misuko's cervix brushing against the back of her hand. Linia hesitated as Misuko's body shook from the overwhelming sensation.

The shaking eased. Misuko whimpered as Linia began to rock her hand back and forth inside that tight, beautiful, oily vessel, stretching Misuko's opening downward, then plunging back into the vault. Misuko spread her legs further, water droplets shattering everywhere as she turned up the pressure on the shower head. Linia leaned forward and pressed her mouth to Misuko's asshole, kissing and licking at that tiny wrinkled star, and Misuko's body surged with the incredible assault on her senses and she came with a high-pitched scream as long, trembling quakes of pleasure rippled through the muscles of her legs, her ass, her belly. She surged forward, holding onto the wall, and dropped the shower massage.

Linia turned the water down with her free hand, then slowly, gently tugged on the one still inside Misuko's body, once, twice, until it easily slipped out. Misuko groaned, and Linia recognized the sign of immanent exhaustion, and in Misuko's case, the narcolepsy swimming through her brain. "Down," she said.

"Hum?"

"Down," Linia ordered. Misuko turned and fell into Linia's arms, her legs buckling. Linia guided her to the floor of the shower, grateful for the powerful robot frame under all her flesh that gave her the strength she needed for Misuko's safety.

"Oh, fah, honey," Misuko grasped. "Linia."

"Are you going to make it to bed?"

"Huh? No, don't think..." Misuko closed her eyes.

Linia shook her head. She lay one large towel out on the bed, then went back, lifted Misuko into her arms, carried her to the bedroom. With a washcloth she gently cleaned up the oily mess of Misuko's pubic hair and down her thighs, then dried the woman in her gently cooling state. She gently undid her work, leaving Misuko in bed covered only with a light sheet. "I will always love you," she said softly, and her own mind was at peace, content in the knowledge that that, at least, was irresistibly true. "Sleep well," she whispered. Misuko's gentle, peaceful breathing said she would.