A few hours later, Waverly called xem over and explained the project he was working on. It was a remote tour program written to work with a variety of the available virtual-reality equipment. It was designed to allow people who couldn't be on site to attend things like events, construction projects, or meetings that were going on far away. It used a gyro-balanced sensor array to collect the relevant information. He had about seven of them, all with different balances of camera placement, microphone sensitivity, and agility. They were about six feet tall with all their camera equipment extended, but built to be light, maneuverable, and quiet, and they looked like lumpy black animate broomsticks.
"You think these bots are creepy looking?" Waverly asked. "David says they'd cause a panic rolling through a crowd. Need to look more human looking. But they're not human; they're just stand-ins. I think they look fine, for that."
Okka shrugged. "I'm really not the person to ask," xe said. "I'd just as soon talk to a walking stick as a human."
Waverly grinned. "Yeah, I think we'll get along just fine." He tilted his head thoughtfully. "I was gonna test that aspect out on you, but I'd guess I'll get better data out of someone who might be unnerved by it. But I don't think it'll end up being a big issue. I think people'll get used to them, the way they did Roombas, and trying to make them look human is just gonna land 'em straight in the uncanny valley."
"Where is the Uncanny Valley?" Okka asked.
There was a moment of silence as Waverly stared, a little wrinkle between his eyes, and then he said, "Wait, was that a philosophical question, or did you actually think it was a place?"
Okka gauged the look in Waverly's eyes before responding with a rueful smile, "Would you believe me if I said it was philosophical?"
Waverly shrugged. "Might have, if you'd sold it," he said. "'Cause that's a good question, philosophically speaking. I'm sure it's different for everyone, that line that we draw between 'human' and 'not'. The blurry area in the middle that makes people uncomfortable. On the one hand, I'm a businessman, right? I wanna sell stuff. So I like to try to stay away from the creep factor in that area.
"But on the other hand, I've always sort of wanted to challenge people and their perceptions of that line. Because there's a lot of people on this planet who fall into the blurry area for other people, for one reason or another. Everything from disabilities or illnesses that cause people to act just too far outside the average for their comfort, down to little things like speaking a different language or having darker skin. There are so many things people can use to justify the thought, 'that person is creepy' or 'that person is less human than I am'. So yeah, if I have a chance to muck up that line, make people think about where it is, maybe I should, huh?"
Okka took a breath, and thought about all of that, all the humanoid xenophobia that xe, as Mimica, feared, and tried to answer the best way xe knew how.
"I think maybe what you are doing now is going to be the best way to combat that kind of prejudice," xe said. "You make things that are clearly not human. Toto, these bots, probably other things. You make them look like things, but then you let them act like people. The people who see them will interact with them as if they are people. The better you do your job, the more these things will be smoothly inhabiting the spaces where only people could have been before. The fuzzy area will grow, I think. People will need to look twice more often before they determine whether something is a person. I also think the larger that fuzzy area becomes, the less potent it will be in its ability to cause people discomfort. And, hopefully, its validity as an excuse."
"Oh," Waverly said softly. "Wow. I like that." He broke into a grin. "I dig that a lot, Okka. You ever wanna talk philosophy, I'll be open to it. Very open to it." His grin went lopsided.
"Well, then I hope I can deliver," Okka replied.
Waverly's eyebrows wavered between startled and approving.
Okka replayed the conversation over in xir head, realizing how flirtatious it might have sounded, and then sighed internally. Xe knew xe should not be encouraging this. It would not end well.
Waverly must have seen some of that on xir face, because he'd developed a little crinkle between his eyes.
"Okay, seriously," he said, "I need to know what kind of things bother you. Should I be doing this, should I not be doing that? I don't wanna make you uncomfortable if it's something I can fix. I'm not great at toning down the crude jokes, but I could try."
Fates and powers, he was endearing, though.
"Crudeness doesn't bother me," xe said, then thought for a moment. "But you should be careful about initiating touch." Xe needed to keep Waverly at some kind of distance, at least until xe could figure out what the fuck was happening there.
"Noted." Waverly frowned a little. "I'm kind of a touchy guy, though, so if I mess up, feel free to yell at me. And if I misgender you, because I haven't had a lot of practice with nonbinary pronouns."
Okka shrugged. "That doesn't really bother me," xe said. "As long as you don't try to limit what I am. Just because I don't identify with a particular gender at the moment doesn't mean I mind being perceived that way. It's inaccurate, but not troubling."
"Still," Waverly said. "And if you think of anything else, let me know. Yelling is encouraged."
The corner of Okka's mouth quirked. "Noted," xe said. "Now, you wanted my help with this?" Xe waved at the arrays, still standing ready.
"Here, get in the booth," Waverly said. "Tell me how intuitive it is to move the sensor array around. It's supposed to be just like walking. Not sure how close I'm getting." He frowned a little. "If it makes you nervous, tell me that, too. This is the kind of thing we want to be testing for. We don't just need to know how well it works. We need all kinds of information about how people react to it."
"I'll be fine," Okka insisted. Xe climbed inside a small booth, donning the equipment which was supposed to let xem experience the robot array's surroundings as if xe stood where the robot did. It was very good, but it also reminded Okka of being an aquatic creature with a less-developed set of eyes.
Waverly approached the array. "So how is it?" he asked.
"It's a little soupy," Okka answered.
He laughed. "Honest. I like it."
It was fun, working with Waverly. A lot of what he said went right over Okka's head, but some of it didn't, and he always made sure to punctuate the really long technical rants with a joke or two. Okka found xemself longing to learn enough to follow the rest.
There were a huge number of training programs available from the company's computers, even beyond those Okka had found in xir earlier research. The syntax was rough to learn so quickly, but the concepts were mostly familiar or intuitive. It was one of very few things that hadn't completely changed for xem in the last few days.
Myrdu had been fighting the Cewri with programming all his life. Okka had a fervent wish that ousting the Cewri from the Collective was as easy as ousting them from a computer system.
Okka took xir lunch breaks in Central Park. Xe thought xe would recognize another Mimica if they passed by close enough. Xe remembered that cold feeling of nearly touching the Collective when xe first woke up. Xe thought it would feel like that to walk close by Mimica if they were controlled by the Cewri: cold and empty and dead. It would feel warm, like a living being, if they were still undercover and ignorant, as xe had been. The way it normally felt to come close to other Mimica without merging with them.
The chance of stumbling across other Mimica at all was slim, but every moment Okka spent in the constant flow of humanity through the streets of New York, the more significant that chance became. So xe took every moment xe could get.
Xe needed allies. Xe needed other Mimica.
And on top of that, Okka just liked people. Sitting in the park for half an hour a day watching humanity flow by was no hardship, except when xe let xir thoughts dwell on why xe was making a point to do so.
Xe said hello to people who caught xir eye. That wasn't many, in this crowded city where personal space was at a premium, but it did happen. Xe was becoming particularly fond of the crowded mess of humanity that pushed in and out of coffee shops, especially in the mornings, all different types of people but all in search of something hot or sweet or cold or bitter to get them through the day.
A harried-looking young woman ordered seven drinks from a hastily-scribbled list, then balanced a cardboard carrier in each ring-bedecked hand. Okka watched, concerned. "Do you need help carrying those?" xe ventured.
"No, I've got it," she replied, "but if you could get the door, that'd be great. I've gotta get used to my role. Newest intern always does the coffee runs, you know the drill."
"I'm afraid I don't. Is that what I'm supposed to be doing?"
"You just started an internship?" she asked, pausing on the sidewalk, looking amused.
"Yes, at Kemptech. You think I should be bringing my boss coffee?"
"Depends how high up they are and how much help they already have, but probably."
"Oh, he's… high up. And I'm his only intern at the moment." Okka didn't think Toto counted in this capacity, seeing as he had to be plugged into the wall, rather than wandering freely around the city.
Her eyebrows shot up. "Well. Sounds like you've got coffee to buy. And I've got coffee to deliver. Hope you know how he takes it!"
Okka returned to the coffee shop, trying to remember that very thing. Would it be better to simply show up with a drink? Should xe text Waverly, and potentially interrupt his work?
Ultimately, xe decided to text David, instead.
Getting coffee, would you or Waverly like anything?
The reply came, quick and friendly.
Thanks, I'd love a latte if you're there anyway. It's a little chilly today so I predict that if you bring Waverly a dirty chai, he'll praise you to the heavens.
Nodding in satisfaction, Okka placed xir order.
*~*~*
"What's this?" Waverly asked when Okka nudged a cup in his direction.
"Dirty chai. I hear it's traditional for interns to provide coffee."
Waverly snatched up the cup and took a long pull, eyes closed as if the taste required his entire focus. "Oh my Lord. That is just what I needed." He opened one eye to look at Okka. "Did David ask you to do this? Because it's not something I need my interns to do. Just so we're clear. You're here to learn the business, not to be a gofer."
"No, he didn't ask," Okka reassured him, "but he did tell me what to get when I offered. Then demanded my receipt so he could reimburse me."
"Good. What'd you get yourself?"
"Peppermint tea."
Waverly's eyebrows drew together. "Oh my god, do you actually like that? Do you have a cold? Or are we just not paying you enough?"
"I'm trying different things. This isn't terrible."
Waverly rolled his eyes. "Not terrible, xe says. Get something you like next time, okay? Bill's on me."
"I like," Okka emphasized, "trying new things."
"Fair enough," Waverly conceded. Then he smiled. "Hey, you ever had sushi?"
"No," Okka said.
"Stick around for lunch sometime, we'll order in."
Okka shook xir head. "My break is my own time."
"Okay!" Waverly raised his hands, conceding. "Yeah, just thought I'd offer. Lunchtime's a work-free zone for you, huh?"
Okka shrugged. If xe found other Mimica in xir wanderings, the work xe did then could end up being just as important as anything xe accomplished here. "I like getting out into the city," xe answered instead. "The energy of it, the crowds."
That was true enough. Okka had always been an explorer. Always eagerly awaiting the next undercover assignment, the next chance to see new things. Waverly seemed satisfied by that answer, because he let it lie, and conversation turned to the work ahead of them for the day.
*~*~*
The life of the city was so different when you were actually in it than when you were observing from afar, Okka mused as xe left the run-down building where xe was staying with a sack full of laundry. The details of how people got their daily tasks done were much more compelling knowledge when you also had to get the same things done.
After the conversation about coffee, Okka didn't think Waverly would be pleased to know what kind of place Okka was living in, so xe simply resolved not to tell him. Xe'd lived in many worse places, and moving was not among xir priorities right now.
The people around xem here were a fascinating contrast to the people xe worked with at Kemptech. Neither group really approved of the other, but they were all just people. Rich, poor, unassuming, quirky. These people might have scared Waverly. They definitely would have scared Caroline. The denizens didn't scare xem. In fact, after Caroline's welcome, xe preferred the attitudes of the residents of these rundown places in many ways.
After xir laundry was done, Okka contemplated what to do with the rest of xir day off. The open air of Central Park drew xir thoughts, and there was much of it xe hadn't been able to explore over a lunch break.
Okka watched as xe walked, noticing what kinds of different activities the varied places in the park invited. Xe was particularly drawn to the clusters of tables with grids of squares etched into their surfaces. Sitting at one was an invitation to interaction, it seemed. Okka watched several games begin before xe decided to try joining in.
A black girl with a scuffed leather jacket and similarly well-worn boots set out her game pieces. Her backpack was covered in patches, and as she put the empty box away, the whole bag shifted with a quiet clanking noise.
Yes, Okka thought she was a good bet. Xe approached. "Good morning," xe offered.
"You're watching people like you're sizing them up," she said without preamble. "Don't think I'm easy prey just because I don't look like I spend all day playing chess."
"I'm not looking for prey. I'm looking for a teacher."
The girl's eyes widened in disbelief. "You kidding? And you picked me?"
"I don't know the game at all. I'm not looking for a certain skill level. I'm looking for patience."
She looked xem over, then smiled slightly. "Yeah, okay."
She was, as Okka had suspected, an incredibly patient teacher.
*~*~*
Waverly had apparently gotten frustrated with the project he was working on, because he stalked out of his office, looking around as if looking for trouble. Eventually he came to a stop beside Okka's desk.
"If you could write an app," Waverly asked xem, "any app, what would it be?"
Okka blinked for a moment, absorbing the abrupt question. "I hadn't really thought about it. I haven't been in a position to do anything like that."
"Oh, come on," Waverly prodded. "Everybody has their little dream app idea they'd build if they knew how, right? A better dictionary, a better digital poker game, an app that reminds you to water your plants?"
"I don't have plants."
Waverly scowled playfully. "You're terrible. Come on. Gimme something."
Okka turned over and discarded several ideas for programs xe had liked in other lifetimes but wouldn't work here. But maybe something loosely inspired by one of them might work?
"What if there were an app that gave users a quick survey about their mood, then assigned a color to the result? Then xe could look at a map of other users and their current colors, sorted either by color on an abstract map, or by location on a literal one. Maybe it could have its own chat function."
"Huh." Waverly raised his eyebrows. "I have no idea how that would play out. Well, now I'm curious. You wanna make this happen?"
He was actually going to ask Okka to write it? Okka frowned. "I'm not sure if I'm ready for something like that."
"Well, I'll help you out," Waverly said lightly. "We'll do a rough draft in HTML. You've got a pretty solid grasp of JavaScript, right?"
Okka inclined xir head. "If I have help," xe agreed, "sure."
It took some time, some tinkering, and a lot of mistakes, but Okka thought they might have something vaguely functional. It was time to start testing and troubleshooting.
Waverly dug through a drawer and brought out an iPhone. "I like to test everything I write in every possible environment," he said. "Apple is my least favorite, so I always do it first. I've got it all kicking around here somewhere, though. Four most common versions of Linux for desktop as well as the major Android releases, plus I've got at least three different versions of Windows, and that's not counting the Windows phone OS or Wine installations."
Okka frowned, hoping xe wasn't missing something obvious again. "I know both meanings of the words apple, android, and windows," xe said cautiously. "But wine? I only know the intoxicant."
Fortunately, Waverly didn't seem surprised. "This kind of Wine can be intoxicating, too, if you use it right." He waggled his eyebrows.
Okka delighted in being his straight man. It was a wonderfully fun part to play. "And what is the right way to use it?" xe asked.
Waverly's eyes sparkled, recognizing the cue to go ahead. "You run it on a Linux machine, usually, and then use it to run Windows programs. Although you can also run it on a Mac if you try hard enough. It's a Windows Emulator. Or, well. Wine is not an Emulator. But I personally feel like that distinction's just pedantic. It emulates Windows. It just doesn't do it the way a classic emulator would." Waverly paused, frowning at himself, and then waved all that away with a gesture. "Anyway, it means whatever your preferred OS and kernel, you can run programs that people for whatever reason didn't write for anything but Windows. Makes for a very adaptable system." He gave Okka a pleased look with a touch of mischief in it. "Very sexy."
"It injects one operating system into another, so that they can function as one?" The humans of Earth truly were striving to become more like Mimica. "I agree. Very sexy." Xe grinned.
Then Toto ambled in. "Craig Mepps is here," he said. "Just to drop off some secure files, he said, but I'm sure he'd like to prod you about that project that's been giving you so much trouble, too."
"Yeah, yeah," said Waverly, no longer smiling. "Untangling the mess he handed me last time was always going to take a while. Hopefully he has something for me that will help."
"Hope springs eternal," Toto said. That, at least, made Waverly chuckle grimly.
The man who came up to the offices was unremarkable, white, probably in his fifties, and wore a slightly sour expression. Okka was unable to tell whether this was something Waverly brought out in him, or a more constant state of affairs.
Waverly offered a handshake and took the flash drive that Mepps handed over.
"So how's our project going?" Mepps asked.
"Slower than either of us would like, to be honest," Waverly admitted. "Hit another snag this morning. Hoping this will help." He lifted the flash drive.
"It'd better. Getting authorization to bring that outside the building was like pulling teeth. We need that architecture up and running as soon as possible."
"Don't ask for much, do you?" Waverly rolled his eyes.
"Is that what you were so upset about earlier?" Okka asked. "You seemed like you were working hard."
"Banging my head against a wall is more like it," Waverly answered, taking a couple of steps closer to Okka's desk again. His expression softened, as if talking to Okka was a relief. "Our little project is just the break I needed."
Okka smiled, glad to have contributed something, even if it was just a distraction.
Mepps made an annoyed noise and came up to look over xir shoulder. "You're coding an iPhone app with HTML?" he asked. "What, do you not know Swift? It's not gonna look right."
An intern at this level should know more about that, Okka was sure. Mepps was more of a danger right now than Waverly or David, who already knew something was off with xem, but had done nothing about it. This man certainly would.
Okka narrowed xir eyes, peering at Craig Mepps, studying the way he carried himself, his reactions to cues. If Okka could throw him off balance, he'd be less sure of what he knew about Okka.
Craig Mepps was a consummate bureaucrat, of the type that the Kintinnan government and the Avlan support staff were lousy with. There was something about humanoids that made them want to puff themselves up, appear more essential and powerful than they were. Mepps knew what gestures to make, but behind that, how much could he really do?
"And can you code in Swift?" Okka asked, as if merely curious. When Mepps frowned and shifted his weight minutely, xe continued, tone going a little harder. "Do you know Objective-C? Could you really tell me just by looking whether an app is written for the iPhone or in HTML and JavaScript with a native wrapper?" Clearly Mepps had his doubts about that, as he crossed his arms in a shielding gesture. When Okka continued, xir voice was icy. "Or are you only an expert in telling other people what they can and cannot do?"
Mepps shook his head, dismissing the question. "I'm not saying I can tell. I'm saying none of the native wrappers out there are good enough to combat all the issues with an HTML-based app. If you want the best performance, you have to write in our languages."
Okka cocked xir head. "Or we could design a better wrapper," xe said, turning to look at Waverly, to see what he thought. "Something that solves those issues. That adapts itself automatically to the needs of the app. Code that will make it so only the people who wrote the app would know for sure how it was built."
Waverly seemed intrigued by the idea. "Well, if we could find a way to do that, something stable and simple, that'd be…"
"Intoxicating," Okka finished.
"Sweeter and more intoxicating than Wine."
The two of them were grinning at each other like oblivious idiots when Craig Mepps cleared his throat.
"Good luck with that," he said. "Better programmers have tried."
Waverly scoffed. "Better than me? Name one."
"You'd be on this?" Mepps asked. "You can make that happen?"
"Sure," Waverly said. "I mean, show me more of your base code and I can make anything happen."
Mepps shook his head. "Kemp, you're not authorized."
"You mean you're not authorized to give it to me." Waverly wrinkled his nose. "Next time, can I please talk to someone who is?"
Craig left, mumbling something that might or might not have been an insult.
Okka looked after him thoughtfully. "David said it was important to Kemptech that we keep good relations with that man," xe said. "Did I ruin that?"
"Nah," said Waverly, waving it away. "Me and Craig are always like that. Besides, I don't care what David says; I'd rather have you here. A thousand times over."
Okka looked at him, wanting to see if he really meant that, and then, after a moment, xe was still looking just because Waverly was looking back at xem, a small smile on his face.
Eventually Okka tore xir own gaze away, conflicted. Xe didn't actually want to discourage Waverly, but there was still a litany of "bad idea, bad idea, bad idea" running in the back of xir head.
The thing that interrupted it was a flicker of reaction left over from Myrdu's lifetime.
Xe had become accustomed, over time, to the way the wireless communications on xir phone flickered in and out without warning. It had been rough, at first, because the priority of most Cewri viruses was to cut off communications to and from the device, to prevent whoever was operating it from calling for help. This had, however, never happened while xe was inside the Kemp building, with its own cell tower and hardy Wi-Fi network.
"What?" Waverly asked, zeroing in on xir frown.
"I've never seen the Wi-Fi go down here," xe said. "What do you think is wrong?"
"Oh, good catch. That shouldn't be happening." Waverly paced to his workstation, opened a window, and began typing. "Looks like a tailored virus. Probably a hacker, maybe hired by one of our competitors, maybe just in search of an independent payoff." He selected some files, then deleted them. "It's taken care of. Gotta keep a look out for that one, though. It's rare someone bothers to write a virus for anything UNIX-based."
Sure enough, the network was back up in short order.
Okka still worried.
Despite every precaution the Avlan protectorates took, there was Cewri surveillance on the majority of their spacefaring worlds. The Empress would suspect by now that her missing Mimica was the runaway Avlan pseudo-noble, and that xe was on one of the non-spacefaring planets within that sphere of protection. If there was no Cewri surveillance here, there soon would be.
Xe was just starting to get the hang of one or two of the major programming languages. There was so much more to learn.
Okka wanted to be able to fight the Cewri on this ground. But xe had to know the systems xe was protecting. All of them.
There was so little chance to give any trouble to the Cewri all by xemself, and so much to learn to get to the point where xe could even begin.
Xe pushed xemself to work harder, to learn more. It was fascinating. It was also exhausting.
Waverly passed by, about five hours into a particularly stubborn coding problem. "Hey, do you need to take a break?" he asked. "You look tired."
"What?" Okka took a moment to parse the words. Then xe shook xir head. "No, I'm fine."
"You're worse than me, Okka. At least have a soda." Waverly tossed a plastic bottle of Coke underhand across the desk.
Curiously, Okka twisted the cap until the seal broke. The liquid inside fizzed and sprayed out across xem and xir surroundings.
Xe licked xir lips. It was sweet, flavorful, and very odd. Xe wondered if it was supposed to do that.
"That's… invigorating?" xe ventured.
Apparently not, since Waverly's eyes had gone wide. "Ohh, shit, I hope your work was saved," he said, rushing to get a handful of paper napkins. "Let's unplug that keyboard and get you a fresh one."
Waverly moved around xem with swift and efficient purpose, mopping up the spill from the desk, plugging in a new keyboard. Most of the soda that had hit Okka had been soaked up by xir soft maroon scarf, which didn't look too worse for wear.
"Let me get that cleaned for you," Waverly offered.
"Not necessary, but thank you," Okka said.
Waverly settled into a nearby chair, studying Okka, eyes flicking to xem and away again. Okka's melancholy and exhaustion must have showed on xir face. "You know you can talk to me about stuff, right?" he asked. "Like, if there's anything you don't like about working here, maybe we can do something about it."
Okka looked at him with fond exasperation. "Waverly. I love working here. But thank you."
"Okay. If you're sure." Waverly's eyes lingered on xem. "Well, maybe you could use a change of pace, at least? Usually helps me." He frowned. "Maybe something slower for now. I've got some old papers that need going through?"
"I could do that," Okka agreed. Xe looked at Waverly wryly. "I didn't know you knew what paper was."
"Very funny," Waverly said, but the line of his mouth belied the sarcasm of his tone. He hauled out a big cardboard box. "Most of these are just scribbles I made during meetings that gave paper handouts for some reason and then failed to keep my full attention. Basically, I just need someone to go through them and find any ideas I had, jotted down, and forgot about. I'm not gonna lie, it'll probably be like panning for gold in someone else's discarded sediment. Not a lot really worth much. But you might find a speck or two that shines."
"I'd be honored to go through your garbage," Okka replied with a smirk as he removed the box's lid. It would definitely be a welcome change of pace.
There were many scribbles that were unintelligible. They may have meant something to Waverly at the time, but if so, Okka couldn't distinguish it. There were seemingly random geometrical patterns, dancing figures, and scribbled complaints about the nonsensical nature of whatever presentation was going on. At about the twenty-minute mark, Okka was becoming fairly certain that this whole endeavor was just make-work.
And then xe found the back of a page full of drawings of exquisitely detailed mechanical wings, and the way which they could be attached to Toto's chassis.
"This is beautiful," xe exclaimed.
"What?" Waverly's head came up from the code he'd been contemplating. "Did I do something cool?"
"You gave Toto wings."
"Oh," Waverly said. "That. It was a stupid idea."
"I seriously doubt that it was entirely without merit," Okka said. "Besides. I just meant it's a beautiful drawing. You couldn't make it work? I thought there was nothing impossible around here."
Waverly sighed. "Well, of course you can't get enough lift from the wings. You'd need to supplement with VTOL engines. Even then, the energy consumption of the whole thing would outweigh the power of even the engines they put in the BigDog models, let alone Toto's piddly little battery backup. And what good is a flying robot if he's tethered to a wall by a power umbilical?"
"You don't have any better power sources? Bigger batteries?" Okka knew there were at least a few electric cars on the planet. Xe didn't know how they worked.
"Not my field," Waverly lamented. "And no one I've got working on the problem has really come through." He shook his head. "Psh. Couldn't get horse riding down, so of course I try to jump to the next level: robotic flying horse. Can't take a hint when the universe is shoving it in my face."
Okka looked at him for a moment. "You're so quick to try and stop me from being unkind to myself. Right now, I would really like to return the favor."
"You know why I wanted so badly to get in on programming for the Boston Dynamics pups?" Waverly continued, as if he hadn't heard. "'Here is a thing like a horse that I can make into whatever I want it to be. It can't stop me from learning its secrets, because they're all zeros and ones, and I know those'." He gave a brief bark of a laugh. "Then Toto goes and proves he's a person, instead, and something beyond what I can understand."
"He was a miracle, then," Okka said. "The fact that you created something that became more than you intended can only do you credit."
"I wanted a servant. A steed. Doesn't that say something about who I really am?"
"I think," said Okka carefully, "that what you actually created says more about the kind of heart you have than any of the angles you started from."
Waverly looked down at the drawing, frowning. "I still wanted that," he said.
"And it is a beautiful vision. It can still be beautiful, even if you'd never change Toto into your old vision, because what he's become is more important to you." Okka smoothed the sheet's wrinkles and carefully pulled out the staple to separate it from its mates. "Can I keep this?" xe asked.
"You really want that?" Waverly's eyes went a little wide.
Okka gave him a soft smile. "Very much," xe said.
"Yeah, yeah, of course." Waverly waved his hand vaguely. "What are you going to do with it?"
"Hang it above my desk," Okka said, a mischievous quirk to xir mouth. But xe meant it.
Waverly looked thoughtful. "If you really like it that much," he said, "must be something in it."
"There's a lot in it," Okka said, still smiling.
Eventually xe got Waverly to smile, too.
The next day, Waverly talked Okka through a couple of the issues he was having with the VR code, and in the process, inadvertently solved one or two. Okka didn't think xe was contributing anything much further than a blank look, but perhaps that was just what it took.
Waverly tweaked the code appropriately and then grinned. "Okay, let's see this baby in action now. Gonna tour something super exciting. Make sure the stakes are high enough that I really notice anything getting between me and the experience."
Okka raised xir eyebrows. "Sounds like you have something in mind. Is it nearby enough to test now?"
Waverly snickered. "Yeah, you could say that." He closed himself away inside the booth.
The gyro-balanced mobile array started up, its stick-like form moving smoothly across the floor, but then it seemed to just go in circles.
"Is your robot malfunctioning?" Okka asked the figure, a crooked smile on xir face.
"Nope," said Waverly through the array's speakers. "The tour's going very smoothly." The bot continued to circle Okka.
"What exactly are you touring?" Okka asked skeptically.
"You. Up for being my guide?"
Okka just laughed. "Am I really so interesting?"
"Well, I could be the guide, if that's okay. Notable features, points of interest, that kind of thing."
Xe gave a "go ahead" gesture at the drone.
"Here we can see Okka Pathfinder in xir natural habitat," Waverly said in a put-on fancy accent. "In this center of both innovation and celebration, Kemp Technologies."
Okka struck a power pose, surveying the office as if it was xir domain.
"Oh yeah, vogue for me, baby," Waverly said, and the 'bot body gave a little wiggle.
Xe obliged with a more thoughtful pose. It seemed only fair, what with the amount of time Okka had spent admiring Waverly's form and motions.
"And now we see Okka in xir element, pondering the secrets of the universe, philosophizing about the nature of consciousness and blurring the lines between the human and the otherwise."
Okka felt a wave of longing. I want to blend the boundaries between us so badly I could never describe it in words.
Thinking of rejoining the Collective was now strictly off-limits, not that that stopped xem in xir darker moments, but this, the desperate need to connect with someone, perhaps merely because Waverly was the closest someone, caught xem by surprise.
"Woah, okay," said Waverly, and the 'bot froze in place as he removed the VR equipment in a hurry in favor of leaving the booth and watching xir face closely. "Just… hit the wrong spot, there, somehow?"
Okka licked xir lips. "Yes," xe said, voice cracking.
"Yeah," Waverly echoed. "Anything I can do to cheer you up?"
"I don't think so," Okka said mournfully.
Waverly frowned, then looked at Toto, flicking a finger up. Something jazzy and upbeat started up over the main office speakers. Then he waggled his fingers beckoningly at Okka.
"What now?" Okka said.
"Come on. Come on, Okka. You feel that beat? How can you be sad with a beat like that playing?"
Okka's mouth quirked. It was truly hard to resist his exuberant playfulness. But xe knew that in this, playing along would only make everything worse.
"Dance with me," Waverly asked earnestly, holding out a hand.
Xe wished, almost more than anything else, that xe could accept. Xe wished xe could dance as xe wanted, express everything that was within xem in unfettered movement. But xe was Okka, all of Okka, in xir mind, and xe had only one body to work with. Human limitations pained xem enough without trying to express the impossible within them.
Xe could barely breathe to make the words, "I can't."
Waverly watched xir face, tilted his head to the side as if to get a new angle on the perplexing creature who was Okka. "Is this because you think you can't dance? I know I'm intimidating with these mad skills," he tried, the corner of his mouth quirking. "But I don't wanna be on Dancing with the Stars. I just wanna dance with you."
Oh, he was so sweet. And xe knew that if xe couldn't force out a response, Waverly would be very worried, rightfully so, and would only try harder to help. Xe said weakly, "You're not intimidating, Waverly. You're ridiculous."
"Is that better, or worse?" Waverly asked, eyebrows raised curiously. "Because I could work with either. Just give me a sign. Thumbs up? Thumbs down?"
It was better, and worse. Xe loved it. Xe couldn't have it.
"Just let me work," Okka said, pleading.
"Okay, then," said Waverly. His eyes stayed on xem for another moment, sad and worried. Then he disappeared behind his office door.
Xe wanted to call him back almost immediately. As much as it pained Okka to be so close to so much xe longed for, Okka realized that the distance was worse.