Artie’s legs worked again by noon and Elder Stow let her get up to join everyone around the lunch fire.  Alexis and Boston got some fairy weave and made her some clothes.  Her gray uniform had actually been a coloring of her flesh, but now that she had changed the color to a nice copper tone and developed some nice ‘lumps of fat’, as they were calling them, the women knew she needed to cover up.  Artie did not mind, and she was amazed to discover she could shape and color the fairy weave clothing with a mere word.  Meanwhile, they had to teach her how to sit so she didn’t send the wrong message.

Mingus examined her with his mind magic, and explained.  “Her mind is well organized and not subject to stray, frivolous, human-like thoughts.  She has compartmentalized memory and thinking, though I cannot say what parts may have been damaged in the accident.  Because of that, I feel it is safer to have her change her clothing with verbal commands rather than with her mere thoughts.”

Artie ate some of everything, and said everything tasted wonderful.  “I ate only paste before, and it had little flavor.  This food has mostly extra, unnecessary elements that will pass from my system, but since I have arranged the sensors in my mouth, tongue and nose, and reworked them to imitate your human sensations, the taste and smell makes it worthwhile.  I smelled it before it was ready and it made me feel hungry?”  She wanted to be sure she used the word correctly.  The women nodded.

“To be honest,” Mingus spoke in a very flat tone of voice.  “Alexis is the most passable cook.  My cooking is poor, this beast is tough, and the greens are wilted.  Someday, you might taste some real cooking—some real food and then you will be amazed.”

“Father, it is fine,” Alexis said.

“We do the best we can with what we have, but none of us is perfect,” Lincoln added.

“That is certain,” Mingus said with a hard look at Lincoln.  Then he changed his mind.  “Sorry.  Old habit.”

“Me too,” Lincoln said with a look at Mingus, but without explanation.

“Well, I am a long way from perfect,” Boston said, a bit loud, like she wanted to ease the tension.

Katie turned to Artie.  “You wanted to say something?”

“My judgment is flawed,” Artie said, like a confession.  She looked down at the fire as she spoke.  “I found myself behind the enemy line and should have returned to my line, but I thought to kill the Pendascotti on the ground before they reached my…my people, but three Pendascotti ships tracked me and I was shot down before I could do much.”

“Blobs,” Lockhart said.

“We call them blobs,” Katie explained, and smiled her support.

“Blobs,” Artie repeated before she continued.  “I am sorry I am not perfect either.  Perhaps you should not trust my judgment.”

“No.  Not at all.  It doesn’t mean that.” Everyone said

“No one is perfect,” Lincoln said.

“We have all sinned and fallen short,” Boston added, but looked pensive about that thought.

“That just shows you are human,” Katie began.

“A person,” Mingus interrupted.  “Even if you are not a human person.”

“Your own person,” Alexis continued.  “Flawed like every other person in the universe.”

“That is what you get for being alive,” Decker added.

“You are self-aware, intelligent, and just as capable of making mistakes as anyone else,” Elder Stow concluded.

“And we should get going,” Lockhart really concluded.  “I want to get close enough to the city to get to the city gate in the morning.”

“Perhaps you could ride with me,” Katie suggested.  She smiled again, but looked at Elder Stow.

“I suppose that would be all right,” he said.  “But there are some further adjustments I would like to make before dark, so please keep that in mind.”  He turned to Artie.  “And if you feel something is not right or systems may be shutting down, say something right away, and we will stop and have a look.”

Artie nodded.

“Hold on to the horse with your knees, but not too tight,” Katie explained.  “And hold on to me around the middle, but again, not too tight.  I can be damaged with too much pressure.”

“I would never hurt you,” Artie said.  “I would never hurt any of you.  You saved my life.”

Katie nodded.  There was so much to talk about and explain about human life.  She hardly knew where to start, but they had no trouble talking all afternoon.

###

By the time the sun went down, Elder Stow said he fixed and adjusted everything he could.  He said he would not mind if the Kairos, maybe Martok took a look at her.  She was a different form than any he ever worked on.  He saw where many of her systems were poorly designed—almost jury-rigged.  She was missing a number of standard systems in more advanced androids.

“Sort of like trying to build a jet out of a steam engine,” he said, putting it in a way the others might grasp.  “Still, I suppose it is state of the art for the Anazi.”

“God willing, we can relax this evening,” Decker said, but it was not to be.

That evening, Artie asked lots of questions.  They mainly focused on things Alexis told her the night before.  She was particularly having a hard time grasping the difference between good and evil.  She tended to think in very black and white terms.

“Evil is the opposite of good,” Lockhart tried, though he knew that did not really answer the question.

“Evil is the absence of good,” Lincoln tried.  “Like life is a good thing and evil would be taking away that life.”

“Like killing?” Artie asked, and everyone heard the distress in her voice even if she did not recognize the feeling in herself.

“It isn’t that simple.” Mingus spoke up.  “People die for all sorts of reasons.  No one lives forever.  When people die of natural causes, no one honestly calls that evil.  People die from accidents and disease, and people say it is unfortunate, a shame, and wrong, but no one really says evil.  Sometimes when people who are in great pain die, people call it a mercy or a blessing.  Evil requires thought and choice, but even when life is taken by thought and choice, it is not necessarily evil.  Sometimes, people have to defend themselves and sometimes that means killing, as has happened to us many times in this journey.”

“So, what then is evil?” Artie was concerned to learn.

“Evil is the rebellion against the good,” Mingus explained.  “Where there is life, evil wants death.  Where there is light, evil wants darkness.  Where there is something, evil wants nothing.  Where there is order, evil wants chaos.”

“Like the Blobs,” Artie suggested.  “They rebel against right order.  They are evil.”

“Not necessarily,” Alexis said.  “The Blobs might not want Anazi order, but they may have a different order of their own.  They may want freedom and they may see the Anazi order as an attempt to impose slavery on them.”

“Freedom is a good thing,” Boston said.  “And Alexis, you almost sounded like a conservative.”  Alexis made a disgusted face at that thought.  She worked hard to gain her liberal card.

“Freedom is deciding for yourself what you will do, where you will go, and who you will do it with,” Katie suggested, and looked at Lockhart.

“Where there is freedom, evil imposes slavery,” Lockhart said, as a kind of non-answer to whatever secret passed between them.

“I am confused,” Artie admitted, and she did not question the word.

“It is both simple and complex,” Mingus spoke again.  “We all make choices, sometimes every minute of every day.”

“I choose freedom,” Artie said, quickly.

“We all choose freedom,” Mingus agreed.  “But mostly the choices are not that obvious.  Sometimes we must choose between two goods, or the lesser of two evils.  Sometimes, there are many options, and it isn’t always obvious which is the good, right and true way to go.  Sometimes, people choose evil without meaning to, or innocently.  Of course, then the mind finds a way to justify our choice so we don’t think of it as evil.  But it is what it is…” Mingus let his voice trail off as he looked at Alexis.  He kidnapped her twice, and both times justified his choice in his mind, though there was no justifying it.  He felt terrible.

“I need to sleep.  Sleep is a good thing,” Decker said, and things broke up around the fire.  People went their own ways and Artie sat for a long time, wondering what kind of choices she might make, and what choices may have been forced on her back when she had no will of her own.

In the morning, she was still sitting there, stirring the fire and wondering.

Katie came over to set the leftovers to cook and to stir up whatever substitute they had for morning coffee.  “Have you been sitting here all night?”  Artie nodded, and Katie felt all motherly.  She sat and hugged the android, and spoke soothing words.  “Life is complicated, difficult, and sometimes hard, but you don’t have to figure it all out at once.  All you have to do is decide on your part, today.  Just make today a good day, if you can.  Sure.  We all do things sometimes that we don’t want to do, and we are not proud of that, but that is what forgiveness is for.  Some days, I hardly know what I would do if I did not feel that God, or whoever got this universe up and running—the universe if you will, is forgiving, gracious, merciful and full of love.”

“But I don’t know what love is,” Artie said.

“But you can learn.  You are a quick learner.  It will come to you.”  Katie leaned over and kissed Artie’s cheek and went back to work on the fire.

Boston hurried into the camp.  “We have visitors,” she said, even as the others heard a ship landing nearby.  They began to wake everyone.

“I am a dominant in form and thought,” Artie said.  “I had many submissives that answered to me.”

“Definitely a female,” Lincoln decided, and Alexis gently slapped his shoulder to quiet him.

“But do you eat?” Boston asked.

Artie paused for a second to consider the word ‘eat’.  She concluded, “Consume. Yes.  I can go many cycles without, but I consume when I can.  My flesh perspires to keep my systems cool, so I need water for replenishment.  Also, my flesh, what you call hair, grows to accommodate to the environment.  My sensory apparatus requires sustenance to operate at optimal levels, and I have an efficient system to eject extra, unnecessary, and foreign substances that may enter my system.”

“No shit…” Decker whispered as he stepped over to the others, but everyone heard.

“Are you taking me back to the Anazi base?” Artie asked a question of her own.

“We are taking you to the Kairos,” Katie said.  “She will know what is best to do.”

“But my base is…” Artie stopped.  She could not raise an arm or even a finger to point, but the confusion that crossed her face said she was not sure where her base might be.  At least the humans read the look on her face as a look of confusion.  Boston felt the need to speak.

“We removed the homing signal for fear the Blobs would pick it up and track us.”  She told the half-truth with a perfectly straight elf face, while inside she grinned and patted herself on the back for not telling an outright lie.

“The Kairos will know where your people are, and if it is safe to take you there,” Katie added.

“Kairos.”  Artie repeated the name.  Her eyes widened suddenly when she accessed the relevant data.  “We were told to stay away from the Kairos at all costs.”

“If you are with us, you will be safe,” Alexis assured her.

“Enough for now,” Elder Stow came over to the group.  “The young woman has enough pseudo-organic systems to need rest and healing time like a human.”

The gathering started to back up, but noticed when Artie got a good look at the Gott-Druk.  She looked terribly afraid for a moment before a thought entered her mouth.  “You are an ancient one?”

Elder Stow nodded, and Artie found that acceptable.  She nodded as well as she could and closed her eyes.  Elder Stow touched the disc he had placed on her temple and she became as still as death.

###

Boston and Elder Stow worked on Artie all during the breakfast, lunch and supper breaks.  They gave her water, then let her sleep while they moved.  They headed south, the Euphrates their constant companion, after making a wide birth around the fighting.  By the time the sun set on the second day, Artie could sit up.  Only her legs remained to be fixed.

Alexis came from the fire to visit Artie, as the sun set golden against the distant clouds.  Alexis felt much better, as long as she did not strain her shoulder.  Artie would be all better, once her legs got repaired.  Elder Stow was still there, working in the fading light.  They had lamps, but dared not expose themselves to the Anazi and Blobs by using artificial light.  Lincoln made a torch, but soon enough, that would not cast enough light to really work.

“Artie,” Alexis said and smiled for the android.  Katie, Boston, and after a moment, Artie returned her smile.  “I was wondering if you might be hungry.  Would you like some food, to consume?”

Artie shook her head.  She had already picked up a number of human actions.  “I am not hungry.  I can go a while without the need for sustenance.”

“Let me know if you feel hungry,” Alexis said.

“Do you have feelings?” Boston asked.

“Of course,” Artie responded.  “My flesh has many, many sensors that indicate to me if something is hot or cold, rough of smooth.”

“No, I didn’t mean that kind of feeling.  I meant feeling, like what you sense on the inside.”

“I have all eight senses functioning well enough.  I can touch, taste, smell, see, hear, communicate, think, and sense myself.”

“She is self-aware,” Elder Stow explained that last one.

“Yes, but what about feeling?” Boston did not know how to explain it.  Alexis took over.

“Do you know what love is?”

Artie paused to think.  They were getting used to that expression on Artie’s face, and normally gave her time to work through her thoughts, but this time, Katie interrupted.

“Yesterday, before we told you we removed your homing device, you thought to point us to your base camp, but when you could not find the right direction, you looked confused.  Did you feel confused?”

“And after.”  Alexis got the idea.  “When you saw Elder Stow, and you asked if he was an ancient, you looked afraid.  Did you feel afraid?”

“I thought bad things,” Artie admitted.  “But I knew there was nothing I could do about it.”

“So you felt resigned to your fate,” Katie suggested.

Artie stared for a second before she nodded.  “If that is what it is called.”  She looked at Boston, and then Alexis.  “I did not understand why I could not pinpoint the location of my base.  I thought of and rejected many possible explanations before you explained what happened.  And as for love.  I have heard the word, but I do not know what the word means.  I understand it has something to do with kindness, obedience, loyalty, and other such concepts that can be expressed in physical action, but I do not know that I feel it.  I do not know if I have the sense of feeling.  I did not even know that there was a ninth sense.”

“I have examined her cranial capacity—her brain,” Elder Stow spoke.  “There is no reason she should not experience feelings, but it may be her obedience crystal—obedience chip prevented her until now.”

Artie smiled to hear that.  It was her first spontaneous smile.

“Do you feel happy hearing that?” Boston asked.

“If that is what it is called,” Artie said, and smiled a bit harder where
Alexis noticed something.

“Hey, you have teeth.”

“I saw that you have teeth,” Artie said, as Lincoln stepped over to check on his wife.  “I am not sure what they are good for, but I have also grown a tongue and arranged my sensors to be more like yours.”

“Her flesh is plasma based, more like a plastic than real flesh,” Elder Stow explained.  “She mostly healed herself from all of her cuts and abrasions from the crash.  I am just working on the internals where she does not feel anything except if the system is working or not working properly.  Anyway, apparently she can reform and reshape her flesh to some extent.”

“I have scanned you.  I mean, the…” she paused to think a moment.  “Females.  Alexis and Katie, especially.  Real flesh is a wonder, the way it heals, naturally, without you having to even think about it.”  Artie sounded impressed.

“Not as fast as you healed yourself,” Alexis said, and put one hand to her shoulder.

“But it is miraculous that it heals all on its own,” Artie insisted.

“But how did you get teeth?” Katie was curious now.

“I reshaped my flesh, and I can reshape to look more like you, if you don’t mind.”

Everyone said they didn’t mind, and it made Artie smile again.

“Of course, I can only make my arms and chest so small, but I should be able to make some nice fat blobs on my chest.”

“Fat blobs?” Boston objected.

“They are called breasts,” Alexis told Artie.  “But they are basically fat blobs,” she told Boston.

“The fat blobs on my bottom will be a bit more difficult, but I should be able to thin my legs and waist to fatten my hips and bottom.”

“That’s okay,” Katie said.  “You don’t want a fat butt.”

“But wait,” Boston was thinking.  “Why didn’t you scan me?”

“I did,” Artie said.  “But you are different.  You have all the attributes on the outside, but your insides don’t seem to be there.  It seems you are there and not there at the same time.  I do not understand it, and I cannot reconcile it.”

“That’s because I’m an elf,” Boston said with a true elf grin.

“She isn’t human,” Alexis said as Boston removed her glamour.  Artie’s eyes went wide as Alexis tried to explain.  “She is more spirit than flesh.  She is a spirit of nature, an earth spirit.”

“But no,” Artie objected.  “There is no such thing as spirit, much less spirit people.”

Elder Stow put his things away and spoke.  “Her senses, and her brain will interpret things based on what she knows.  At the same time, she can see internal as well as external reality, kind of like x-ray vision.  That was how she knew I was of the elder races, though I never removed my glamour.”

Artie nodded.  “It was confusing,” she said, then looked to see if she used the word in the right way.

“But here I am, a spirit person,” Boston said.  She raised her arms and turned like a model.

“I can see that you are not human,” Artie admitted that much.  Again, Alexis had another thought.

“What do you think happens to you when you die?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Artie answered.

“No telling,” Elder Stow said with a shrug.  “Something good, I hope, but I will say one thing.  Any human in her wreck would have died.  Artie would have ceased to function altogether if we had not gotten to her when we did.”

“Why should something happen when you die?  Isn’t that just the end of everything?”  Artie was curious.

“I’ll leave that discussion to our Methodist,” Katie said and wandered back to the fire.

“My evangelical heart wants to get in the middle of that,” Boston said.  “But my elf spirit feels very ambivalent about that.”  She joined Mingus and the others.

“I’ll let her stay awake for a while, but not for long.  She still needs to rest.”  Elder Stow left.  Lincoln pulled out the database for reference.  Alexis smiled.  Artie gave voice to her curiosity.

“What?”