Page 34 of The Genius
“Shelly, look at me.” I waited until she did. “It’s very simple. Show me Natura so I can see for myself that I tested a robot or tell me the truth right now.”
Her shoulders sunk lower and she couldn’t meet my eyes.
“You… we… but that can’t…” I tried to make a coherent sentence, but I couldn’t think straight. Pulling back to create distance between us, I stared at Shelly. “Why?” I finally managed to ask.
She offered no explanation but kept her face hidden from me by looking away.
“Why, Shelly?” Anger rose inside me. “Was this some kind of prank?”
“No.” She shook her head and finally met my eyes.
“You lied to me.”
“To an extent.”
“To an extent? What the fuck is that suppose to mean. Are you the next-generation sex-bot?” The question was rhetorical at this point.
“No, but I do plan on building one. And in my defense, it was you who assumed I was a robot. I just went with it. And my skinisgrown from human tissue.”
“Christ, Shelly, you were always different, but I never took you for a liar.”
“I’m not a liar,” she protested. “Not usually anyway.”
“We had sex.” The realization hit me hard and I scrunched up my face. “You fucking tricked me.”
She wrung her hands, still sitting in her chair with her eyebrows drawn close enough to resemble the unibrow she’d once had.
“Why did you sleep with me?”
Her gaze was glued to her thighs now.
“Look at me,” I demanded, and when she did, her eyes were moist.
“You used me, Shelly. You should have told me who you were.”
“I’m sorry.”
“That’s not good enough. You owe me a fucking explanation.”
She wrung her hands and spoke in a low voice that made me have to lean in to hear her. “I was curious.”
“Curious?”
“I’m sorry.”
I moved around her desk and back again. “This is why I never wanted to marry a Motlander. Everyone thinks you’re kind and gentle people, but it doesn’t run very deep, does it? How would you feel if I’d tricked you into having sex with me?”
Shelly looked devastated. “You’re right, I wouldn’t like that. I didn’t like it when I tricked you either.”
Something in that sentence bothered me. “Are you saying you didn’t like tricking me or that you didn’t like the sex?”
Getting up from her chair, Shelly moved around, uncoordinated and nervous. First, she rolled her chair back to the desk, then she began moving things aimlessly around. “It’s probably best if you leave now.”
I was still angry but nowhere out of questions.
“Leave? I don’t think you understand the ramifications of what you’ve done.”
“I’ve made you angry and I’m sorry.”
