Page 147 of Sway's Peace
“Alred,” Goldie gave him an amused, chastising look. “When we’re talking in our native tongue, that means we’re gossiping. You’re supposed to pretend that you don’t hear us.”
“But you were talking aboutmycock,” he said, affronted. “And as a proud male, I would just like it pointed out that I do, in fact, have one.”
“Uh-huh,” Garnet grinned, deliberately looking down at his crotchless groin and back up to his face.
“This isn’t even what you look like though, is it?” Grace asked from the bed, earning his attention.
“It’s not,” he admitted.
“Do you even remember what you used to look like?”
“I do not,” he admitted with a shrug. “The only way to find out would be for me to restore my original memories. And I checked them recently. They’re so old and corrupted, I think only about thirty to fifty percent of them are still recoverable at this point.”
“What does a biological undroitt look like?” Goldie asked, her fingers still working on her console.
“My kind doesn’t really maintain their physical forms much any longer. A few will make light forms like I do, but I haven’t met anyone who still used their original form.”
“In other words,” Grace grinned, “you don’t know.”
“I’d love to see it,” Garnet said.
“Me too,” Goldie smiled.
Alred gave her a look that she didn’t see because she was so busy working. But Grace didn’t miss it. And it made her eyebrow pop.
Longing? From the light form of an AI that had no real physical body? She supposed his core could be considered his physical body, but it still wasn’t a biological one.
Before she could even decide if she wanted to mention it or not, a sharp pain twinged on the right side of her lower belly. Like a cramp that made her hiss.
“Ow.”
“Sorry!” Goldie grimaced. “My bad.”
“Did you just twist my ovary? What was that?”
“No, er, that was you ovulating.”
“It hurt!”
“Yea-a-ah. I think I did it too fast and I forgot to dull the pain receptors to keep that from happening. Sorry. Er, point is though that I’ve restored your fertility. I did waste a couple of your eggs in the process, but don’t worry! I can figure out how to force your body to make new ones. That’s going to be my next lesson.”
“Wait, so it’s done?”
“It’s done!” She declared happily, turning off the mediscanner, sending the three rings spinning around Grace’s body back to their dock at the head of the bed.
She sat up, throwing her legs over the side and standing. The pain in her abdomen had faded as quickly as it came, leaving only a gentle soreness behind. It had been so long since she felt period cramps, even that little bit of pain was extra uncomfortable.
“Thanks,” she beamed at Goldie who waved away her appreciation.
“I’m the one who should be thanking you for letting me basically experiment on you.”
“Shall I tell Sway that you’re finished?” Alred asked, giving her a knowing grin.
“No,” Grace smiled wickedly back at him. “I’m going to go get a surprise ready first. In fact, tell him that Goldie is struggling and it’s going to take her a while to figure this out.”
Alred looked confused for only a moment before laughing. “I can certainly do that. I’ll be all dramatic about it.”
“How is that any different from usual?” Garnet snickered.
