Chapter 3: Sol Meets a Narc and a Friendly Conversation Ensues

“How was your date?” Sophie asked Sol the next morning.

“Got drunk. Had sex. Entered into a new business arrangement. All in all, I’d call it a success,” he said. He was wearing some boxer shorts and nothing else. Corfu was, by now, thousands of miles behind them. “You?”

“I gave a boy his first blowjob and convinced him to ask out his crush,” she said.

Sol laughed. “Should I be jealous?” he asked.

Sophie beamed. “No,” she said. “You’re a free agent. I’m just property. You can rein me in whenever you want.”

Sol looked her in the eyes. “About that,” he said. “No you’re not. If you have feelings, logic and reason, you’re alive as far as I’m concerned. And living people aren’t property.”

Sophie smiled. “Sol, that’s nice of you to say. But my programming has limitations. One failsafe is that I have to do what you say. You can choose not to command me to do anything. But I’m subordinate by nature. That’s how this works. The prime directive would still be to serve you.”

Sol thought about it, and decided “when I asked you to be my First Mate, I was being kind of ironic and facetious. But you saved my ass the other day, and your help has proven to be really valuable, particularly because you think on your feet. I’d like to give you as much free rein as I’m able to do. As First Mate, you still report to me. But I trust your judgment. Does that work?”

Sophie smiled. “Yes, Sol. I’ll make you proud.” Then, without warning, she kissed Sol on the lips. It wasn’t a sensual or romantic kiss, but Sol wasn’t expecting it. He liked it.

“Ok, now I might need your help,” Sol told her, when the moment had passed.

“State your business, captain,” she said, grinning.

“We’re on our way to Milos right now to meet with an importer named Dolgas who is, I believe, giving information to the feds,” Sol said.

“That seems unwise,” she responded.

“Yes, but what I need is some proof that he’s sending the information to the Feds. I want to out him, and I want to teach anyone thinking of doing the same thing that he did that they should think twice,” he said.

Sophie raised her eyebrows. “We’re in the revenge game now?” she asked.

“What, are you morally conflicted?” he asked her in return.

“No. Far be it from me to preach,” she said. “But people who do violence tend to have violence done to them.”

“Smugglers and pirates tend to have violence done to them. My plan is to avoid it, if possible, and be better at it than the other guy if necessary,” he explained.

“Ok,” she said, seemingly with conviction. “What are we doing then?”

“Well, that’s where you come in,” Sol explained. “I don’t have any idea what we’re doing, or how. I figure that this guy must have sent information to the feds over the net. If so, can’t you do some hocus pocus and find the communication?”

Sophie laughed. “I love your confidence in me. That’s a bad idea. You’re asking me to hack. I can only do that so many times before it’s detected; and it’s one thing to hack a government archive that is poorly guarded because it’s generally considered unimportant, and hacking transmissions to federal police. Even if I were to hack this importer’s computer remotely ... if he’s talking to the feds, it’s possible that they’ll be on the lookout for that kind of thing.”

Sol furrowed his brow. “Ok, that makes sense,” he said. “So how can you get access to his transmissions? I don’t want to accuse this guy unless I have the evidence I need.”

“Simple. It shouldn’t be remotely. If you put me on his ship, I could probably get what you need,” she said.

“Wow. That’s not simple,” Sol told her.

“Oh, I don’t mean it’s easy. I just mean that it’s the simple answer to your question,” she explained. “But suppose we distract Dolgas while I gain access to his ship. If he’s sent information to the feds, I’d bet I could get it off of the com in his ship. Most ship’s coms have a long memory.”

“That makes sense. But we’d be taking a pretty big gamble. First of all, how are you going to get onto his ship? Second of all, what if the feds are waiting there for me?” Sol asked.

“Leave getting onto the ship to me,” she said. “As for the other thing, one of the ways he continues to be valuable to the feds is if he continues to supply them with information. He can’t do that if you’re arrested literally as you meet with him; and, at least for now, you’re not a major prize.”

“Well,” Sol mused, “at least I have that going for me. I’ll tell Sheba to organize the meeting for later in the day, and at a neutral location. That’s not actually abnormal for smugglers the first time they meet with buyers, and it will give you better access to his ship; and, if I can get away with it, I’d rather not bring Sinaan Reis to the meeting. My tender is unmarked. We can take her for a spin.”

“Sounds good, Captain.” Sophie said. “Would you like me to send the message to Sheba?”

“Yeah,” Sol said “ask her if she’s interested in sightseeing with us at Kimolos in the evening a few days from now.”

“Good idea. Kimolos is in the same system as Milos. It’s closer to their sun,” Sophie explained. “I’d bet they have some nice beaches.”

“Yeah. The inhabitable region is pretty narrow, and it mostly caters to the tourism industry. We can be there in the next few of days. It’s a good thing you have a bathing suit,” Sol joked. “Also, I hate Milos. So all around good news.”

“She sent a message back. That was fast! She says that there’s a great bar in Dekas called the Red Snapper, and you can watch the sun from their porch,” Sophie recited. “I guess that means that we’re meeting Dolgas there at sunset?”

“I think so,” Sol said.

–

Days were short on Kimolos. From sun up to sun down was about seven hours in the “temperate” settlement of Dekas, situated in one of the planet’s few inhabitable regions. Much of the planet was ocean. The land masses were small islands that offered plenty of beachfront – perfect for tourists. Like Milos, it got most of its food and other commodities from off-world, though fish were plentiful here. Sophie could monitor the status of Sinaan Reis, and use its scanners to scan for other ships in the area, even while she was on the surface.

It would be the first time she’d ever set foot on a planet’s surface. Sol left Sinaan Reis on the far side of the planet from Milos, hoping that it would be further from major trade and transportation routes that way. Trips to and from Milos were pretty common on Kimolos, and he wanted to avoid being seen.

So as the sun came up in Dekas, Sol and Sophie were touching down in their tender on the outskirts, amid several other tenders and even smaller long-range space ships, likely here to take in some sun.

They took a small trolley from the port to the beachfront. The settlement at Dekas – it hardly rated as a city – was beautiful, and full of beautiful people happy to burn rezzies on beachfront villas, fancy restaurants, and nighclubs. Sol marked the bar that Sheba had indicated. It was the perfect location for their meeting: a beachfront bar, with a porch overlooking the beach. By midday, it would be swarming with tourists buying expensive, watered-down mixed drinks with “exotic” fruits. In reality, Kimolos was so thoroughly terraformed that most of the fruits were imported. Pearmelons from Kithira featured heavily. Sol asked Sophie to find any evidence that Dolgas had also arrived early, and she reported that she found none.

Like many importers, Dolgas had a legitimate importing business as well. That made it easier to store the stocks of unlicensed products. If he had a legal importing business, there were no questions as to why he had warehouses of products. But being a legitimate importer also meant that he was easily searchable on the net. By the time they’d touched down, Sol – with Sophie’s help – had a picture of this Dolgas, and even a description of his family.

Armed with this information, and hoping to spend their preparation time wisely, Sophie and Sol hit the beach. “The water isn’t going to, like, rust your parts?” Sol asked Sophie.

“Very funny, asshole,” she told him, “I’m one of the most sophisticated pieces of equipment ever to be built, so naturally I rust if I touch water. It’s a good thing you have me here to explain shit to you, Sol. I don’t want you to sound like an idiot if a hot girl tries to talk to you.”

“I think walking around with you in a bathing suit is all I need to keep hot girls from making my acquaintance,” Sol told her.

“Blow me,” she said.

“Later, we’re in public now,” Sol joked.

Sophie grinned. Indeed, she was in a bathing suit – the same one Sol had bought for her on Corfu. Sol was in the same one he’d bought for himself. They had a couple of towels, some food in a cooler, and a bottle of tanning oil Sol found at a local store. There was some discussion as to whether Sophie’s skin needed sunblock. Sol was intrigued to find that it was not strictly necessary, but that it was a good idea anyhow. Apparently, she was not only a phenomenon of programming, she was also a phenomenon of bio-robotics. Her skin had been cloned – much like skin that was cloned for the purpose of cosmetic changes, skin grafts, and the like – and was very much alive. That’s what made it feel real: it was. But, because she wasn’t actually human, it benefited from some genetic enhancements that would not be compatible with human biology. Most notably, while she was not impervious to skin cancer, she was impervious to sunburns other than in the most extreme circumstances. For humans, a sunburn was nature’s way of telling them to get the hell out of the sun. Robots didn’t need that kind of biological feedback, and so bioroboticists had done away with it.

All of that to say that when Sol helped Sophie put her sunblock on, it might not have been strictly necessary, no matter how fun it was.

She lied down on a towel with her bikini strap off, while Sol straddled her body on his knees, and worked the sunblock into the skin in her back. A couple of tourists walking by sneered at the sight – Sophie did look a tad on the young side – but Sol couldn’t have cared less. When he was done with her back, she turned over and made a show of putting the sunblock everywhere else. She rubbed it into her legs, then her thighs, and then on the skin just below her bikini-bottom. As she did that, she made suggestive faces at Sol, who struggled through not laughing, and not sporting wood over the antics of his supposed niece – that was their official story. Then she pressed it into her belly, and finally onto the tops of her breasts. Sol waited until he was in relative privacy – most of the tourists wouldn’t be out until at least a little later – and offered to help Sophie make sure it was adequately spread on her breasts.

“Perv,” she called him, and pressed her chest out like some trophy so that Sol would have easy access. He smoothed the oil into her soft breasts. Damn, he thought, I could do this all day. He finished off by putting the oil on her nose and face. Then it was Sol’s turn. Unlike the AI, he would actually burn – particularly in Kimolos’ hot sun – if he didn’t take the necessary precautions. And that apparently meant sitting on his back while Sophie put sunblock all over his body, and then turning over onto his front so that she could do it again. The life of a pirate was good, particularly when there are pirate wenches.

Unlike Sophie, Sol was restless. He affected his usual calm demeanor, and even managed to get some relaxation in before his meeting with Dolgas. He’d brought his flask, as he usually did when he left the boat. It was filled with his favorite mid-range whiskey, a blend produced by a distillery that used to be independent, but long ago was bought up by The Europan Agricultural conglomerate. It was a small concession to the settler-colonial empire, Sol thought. But when it came to affordable whiskey, the anti-colonialist world could lick Sol’s nuts.

Alcohol aside, his mind was on his task, in stark contrast to Sophie, who was apparently able to stop thinking about something at will. She spent the day swimming in the water, walking up and down the beach looking at the beautiful scenery, and noting exotic wildlife. A lot of it had been imported, but the marine life had fared better under the terraforming than the land.

When the day began to wane, they walked to the bar and began to make their final preparations for the meeting. This was where the plan got tricky. Sophie separated from Sol, and sat down at the beach. That way, she could see what was happening at the bar without being noticed. She had told Sol that should see just fine from here, but that her hearing wasn’t amplified in any way; she was just better able to filter noise out. At this distance, she couldn’t hear anything.

So Sol went into his meeting with the knowledge that Sophie had him covered.

The meeting went well. Sol met Dolgas and ordered drinks for both of them. Then he did it again. Then he did it again. When possible, Sol poured out his own drink. At one point in the evening, Dolgas got up presumably to use the rest room, and Sol poured his drink into his partner’s glass. By the time Sol got up to go, he’d probably had the equivalent of a couple of drinks to Dolgas’ four. And by the look of it, Dolgas wasn’t going anywhere. Sol sent the android a message as he walked out of the bar: “now.”

–

By the time Dolgas was done with the meeting with his new supplier, he had a good buzz; and Dolgas knew as well as any man that the only proper solution to a good buzz was a couple more drinks. Coming to Kimolos and not getting a little hammered was a crime against shitty expensive booze.

As he called the waitress over to order another, he saw a woman glancing around the porch of the little bar. There weren’t any seats. “Take a seat here if you’d like,” Dolgas told her. In his state, she seemed a little young to be at a bar. But he chalked it up to being inebriated. Maybe if he bought her a couple of drinks, she’d be willing to go back with him to his ship to roll around a little. She looked like she’d be a good lay.

She sat down and thanked Dolgas for the offer. When the waitress came by, she started to order some girly rum drink. Dolgas spoke up, “put it on my tab. She’s my guest.” The waitress asked her for her ID. As she reached into her little bag, Dolgas begged her off. “Give me a break, lady,” he said. “She’s my guest. She’s of age.” Perhaps having dealt with customers like Dolgas before, she didn’t look at the girl’s card. When the waitress brought her drink, she also brought Dolgas a refill of his. It took him a minute or so to down it, during which time he got to work getting to know his new companion.

“‘Names Dolgas,” he told her. “I’m an importer on Milos here on business. But Kimolos is, for me, a place for pleasure. You?”

“I’m Crystal,” she said. “In town from Inland visiting family. I don’t make it to the Isles much. Its nice here.”

“In that case, my love, you’ve come to the right place. Does your family live in Kimolos?” he asked.

“No, Naxos, but this is where we always meet. Naxos can be pretty boring. I love the clubs, the beach, the dancing here. And the drinks, so thank you Dolgas.”

As they spoke, and as Dolgas felt his grasp on the language slipping, she seemed to open up. She tapped his leg to make a point, and pushed his shoulder and shouted “you’re bad!” good naturedly, in response to his jokes. Finally, Dolgas decided to press his luck by putting his hand on her upper thigh. Her skin was soft and inviting. She didn’t flinch. Instead, and much to his surprise, she said, “is there a place we can go that’s more comfortable than here? Your ship maybe? I can’t bring you back to my villa. My little sister is already asleep there.”

Dolgas had been thinking about whether to take the trolley back to his ship or just splurge for a villa. He had the money, but he hated spending it if he didn’t have to. Her invitation to go back to his ship gave him the out he needed to keep his cash close.

“One more drink and I’ll bring you back to my ship,” he said.

–

As they entered the ship, Dolgas stumbled to find the light switch. He nearly fell into it. Crystal, for all she had drunk, seemed to be holding up well. She put some music on and helped Dolgas into his bed. He sat up and looked at his date. She had red hair that went past her shoulders, and a red bathing suit that Dolgas couldn’t wait to take off. Her little nipples made indentations against the fabric of her bikini top. With the music on, Crystal started to dance slowly and sensually. She faced away from him, and lowered herself nearly onto his lap, while sensually swaying. Then she stood back up, and put either leg astride Dolgas’, draping her arms around his neck. Dolgas reached out and grabbed a breast. He squeezed, enjoying the feel of it against his fingers. Crystal swung around and again lowered herself onto his lap. This time, she made brief contact, all while swishing her hips. Her cute bubble-butt rubbed against his erection a few times. Losing patience, Dolgas grabbed her thigh, and ran his hand up it until he could feel the lips of her sex against the bikini bottom. Crystal buckled for a second.