Yule sat in the uncomfortable work chair and stared at the computer screen. He watched the green scanner as it completed another circle around the monitor. At first glance a person wouldn’t be able to tell that the area encompassed within the circle spanned half a light-year’s distance, but since he’d been watching this screen for almost two years—two complete cycles—he knew what every blip on the monitor meant.
The blip on the top right corner was the planet Respeth. The one in the lower right was the meteor fields of Huntu. The blip to the left, near the middle, was the planet Mayna and the blip in the center, well, that was him. Not him physically, but the small outer space outpost not very far from the home planet Mayna that he’d been relegated to.
He had to stay here for another three moon rotations to complete the job that he’d been assigned. After his assignment was over the councilors of Mayna would pay him enough credits to allow him to travel the galaxy—which was what he really longed to do. But he had to face the fact that if he left he’d most likely be traveling alone and without the company of his best friend.
“Yule,” a dull voice called out from the speakers on the wall.
Yule didn’t answer. Instead he watched as the green scanner went round and round and round. His eyes focused on one blip in particular, Mayna, where a home awaited him if he chose not to travel.
“Yule,” the voice called again. “Why won’t you answer me? We have not completed your lesson for the day.”
Yule took a deep breath. “I’m not in the mood to keep the lessons up. I have other things on my mind right now.”
“Like what?”
Yule let his gaze fall from the screen for the first time in what seemed like a lifetime. His eyes burned something fierce. He closed his lids and rubbed them, trying to coax the dryness away. “Like other things is all. Besides, what good is learning about Earth anyway? I’m not really planning to go back there, so I might as well get that notion out of my head.”
“It’s your home world; why would you not want to return?”
Yule snorted and opened his eyes. They still burned like the Anslori sun, but that was to be expected since he’d been monitoring the tracking system for most of the day. “Because...because I won’t fit in. I’d stick out as different.”
“That is why Earth and the people there are so unique. They have many different physical characteristics that vary from race to race. You are human—one of them. You would fit in nicely.”
Yule had seen enough pictures of the people who had come from Earth to know what was being said was true. The people on Earth were tall, short, fat, skinny, and their skin tones ranged from the lightest color to the darkest. He guessed his ancestors had come from what used to be Europe or America. When he looked at old pictures of the people from those places he thought that he resembled them the most. But he couldn’t be for sure. Deep down he knew he’d probably fit in, so that wasn’t the real reason he didn’t want to return to Earth, the home of his ancestors. If he returned it would be alone and without the friend he’d spent the last two cycles with. “I’d go if you were coming with me.”
“We have discussed this before, Yule. I am the property of the councilors of Mayna. I would not be allowed to make the journey with you.”
“Then I won’t go to Earth. I can’t see myself going that far away from you. You’re the only thing that’s kept me sane these two cycles. I won't abandon you here.” Yule shrugged. “I’ve never been there before and, honestly, before you started talking about Earth and teaching me about its history and culture I never would’ve even thought about going there. I can just stick with my original plan and finish out my days on Mayna. That’s what I came here for anyway.” He frowned and shook his head. “I shouldn’t have let you fill my head with that nonsense anyway; ‘returning to the home of my ancestors’. It was just a waste of time, Tyd.”
Addressing Tyd as the Telematic Ytterbium Defense and Collection System had become too cumbersome and, for some reason, the shortened version of the A.I.’s name seemed to fit better. He’d given Tyd the nickname when he’d first come to this remote outpost.
“You enjoyed learning about Earth. You especially liked to hear about the different climates; the coldness of Antarctica and the heat of the Sahara dessert.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t want to hear about those things anymore. From now on let’s only talk about Mayna and what’s there.”
“But—”
“Enough! No more about Earth. Let’s just do our jobs and focus on that.”
When he’d first come here, he’d just been happy to have an opportunity to leave Gurun and get a brand new, well-paying job. His job was to help protect the planet Mayna from hostile aliens. He’d been introduced to his new partner Tyd. He’d never worked with an A.I. before, but after a day or two of getting used to talking to a voice in the speaker, he and Tyd formed a good working team.
Tyd’s main purpose was to scan the surrounding area for hostile alien life forms and defend Mayna if any should breach the protected space. While performing scans, Tyd also transmitted data back to the outpost, where Yule’s job was to filter the results, which was mostly space junk, and send anything useful back to the scientists on Mayna. When he and Tyd weren’t busy working they spent their free time talking and virtually exploring the galaxy together. What he’d never expected to happen when he got here was to actually like the A.I. Like it to a point that he couldn’t imagine what life would be like when he left the outpost and Tyd behind. If he stayed on Mayna he would still be able to have his conversations with Tyd. They wouldn’t be able to spend most of their time together anymore, but at least his best friend wouldn’t be snatched away from him.
“I understand why you are upset, but I do not comprehend why you are directing these feelings toward me. You sound...mad.”
“You’re an A.I. It shouldn’t matter to you if I’m mad or not.”
“One of my responsibilities is to monitor your wellbeing. If you are angry, I am tasked with trying to make you happy.”
“You aren’t responsible for my happiness. Only I am. Don’t you forget that Tyd. Don’t let the councilors set you up for failure.”
“I do not want to fail at my task, Yule. Failing...is not an option.”
Yule shook his head and let out a heavy sigh. He’d had this talk with Tyd more times than he could remember, and of late this topic came up more often. “Failing is always an option. You’ll fail at trying to control my happiness and I’ll fail at trying to free you from this monotonous job—no matter how hard I try.”
“This job is what I was made for.”
“But...but...why can’t they find another A.I. to take over here? You’ve been at this long enough. You’ve earned your freedom.”
Tyd became silent, but just as Yule began thinking that the A.I. wouldn’t continue the conversation, Tyd spoke again. “I will miss you when you leave. You are a most interesting human.”
Yule leaned back in his chair and sighed. “I’ll miss you too.” And that was no lie. He had some friends on Gurun, but not many. Work is what everyone did the most, there was not time for sitting and talking like he and Tyd did. Although he couldn’t touch or feel Tyd, he was closer to the A.I. than anyone else he knew. Tyd knew everything about him, his likes, dislikes, hopes and dreams. In truth, Yule wasn’t sure if he would survive without hearing Tyd’s voice in his ear.
“Would you really?” Tyd asked. The usually monotone voice had the slightest inflection at the end of the sentence.
“Of course. You’ve been my best friend—only friend—all this time. Why do you think I’ve been begging and pleading with the council to let you come exploring with me?”
“That is a very nice gesture. I will be fine and, besides, when you leave this place you will make new friends and forget all about me,” Tyd said matter-of-factly. “Once gone, you will be happy again.”
“I can’t lie, I’ll be happy to leave this place, but not happy to leave you.” Yule took a long, hard look around the room. To the right were pictures of females from various species projected onto the wall. Behind him was another wall with pictures of all the places in the galaxy that he wanted to visit. There were also two doors, one that led to a storage room and the other to his bedroom. And to the left was yet another wall, that one taken up by various computer instruments, a space suit that hung on a hook, and another door. But this door led to the outside—the docking bay—where the air was too dense for him to breath and too cold for him to withstand.
“If I could I would stay here with you, but I can’t...I can’t stay trapped in this place any longer,” Yule continued. “Humans weren’t meant to be dropped on an outpost and expected to survive and thrive. Two cycles is enough for me. Any longer and I’d going crazy out here all by myself.”
“But you are not by yourself. I am here with you.”
“I know, but I wish for something more. I have to be able to touch someone.” He closed his hands into fists. He’d yearned to touch something besides cold metal for so long now. “You’re just a voice.”
“I am sorry that I have been poor company. I wish I could have been more to you while you were here.”
“Don’t take it the wrong way. You’ve been my best friend. But...” Yule shook his head. “I can’t help longing for something that I can touch—feel. Day after day my hands touch these...these...” Yule flicked a hand out toward the controls on the console. “Objects. I can’t wait to touch skin. Any kind of skin. Heck, I’d even go for a Slinethian right about now. The Slinethians are slime balls—literally. They secrete mucous through the pores on their skin. If that’s not desperate I don’t know what is. But you know what? If I could, I’d grab one and hold that slimy motherfucker so tight I’d probably end up squeezing the life out of it.”
“But you do touch skin, quite often I might add. Sometimes you touch your penis two or three times—”
Yule threw both hands up. “Whoa! You’re not supposed to know about that. It’s private.” He could feel heat creep across his neck and face. Tyd was just an A.I., but it was embarrassing just the same. Yule had always waited until late at night, when he was sure Tyd wasn’t paying attention, to take care of his burning need. Sometimes he even stroked himself in the ionized shower. Hard and fast, eyes closed, thinking about one of the females projected on his wall. He thought about one of the females on her knees sucking him off, or bent over his chair while he fucked her from behind, or up against the shower wall with her legs wrapped around his waist.
“Yule, not only am I a data collection and defense system, but I am tasked with keeping you alive. That means I must monitor your vital signs as well as the operating system on this outpost. I know when you are excited sexually.”
Yule put a hand over his face, covering his eyes. He was sure his entire face was dark red by now. “I didn’t even know it was possible for an A.I. to make me feel embarrassed.”
“At first I was confused about what you were doing and why, but after researching the database I understand now. Humans place a high value on sexuality. A foreign concept for me, since the Mayna do not hold sex in such high regard, so I decided to watch you and take notes for future reference.”
Yule raked his hands down his face. “Ugh, as if this conversation couldn’t get any worse.”
“I thought it was important for me to learn your likes and dislikes. The research that I have compiled will help me to better serve you.”
Yule snorted. “Yeah right. What good did that do? If you wanted to serve me better you would’ve convinced the council to let you go with me. Or at the very least you could’ve convinced them to send me a sexy female. One who likes being on her knees more than she likes standing.” Yule let out a chuckle. He could imagine the council members reply, “No and no”.
“I have spoken with them on numerous occasions about your need for human companionship.”
Surprised, Yule looked up at the speaker located in the wall near the ceiling. Even though Tyd wasn’t there he did it out of habit, looking at the nearest speaker when addressing Tyd directly. It always helped to give him something to focus on. “You did that for me?”
“Of course I did. We are friends.”
Since a transporter with a female on it hadn’t arrived, Yule didn’t get his hopes get up. “So I’m assuming that was also met with a no?”
“Not entirely.”
Yule raised a brow. “What does that mean? Did they send me somebody or not?”
“No.”
Yule turned his chair around and stared back at the monitor. His eyes once again settled on the monitor, glaring at the scanner going round and round. “Pft, figures. As far as they’re concerned I could’ve rotted out here. They just wanted a warm body to manually sound the alarm if a hostile alien somehow penetrates their defense system to ruin their wonderful utopia.”
Yule’s family had spent generations mining metals on the planet Gurun. His ancestors had been stolen from Earth, sold as slaves, and taken to Gurun. His ancestors stayed there, generation after generation, mining away, because that’s all they knew. Soon enough they built homes and made a life for themselves. They became content and the life that humans had back on Earth was soon forgotten. Even after the liberation of all slaves in this galaxy, many of the humans—including his family—had decided to stay where they were.
But not Yule. Every time visitors came to Gurun he’d ask them about other worlds, wanting to know what else was out there. He waited, bided his time, for the right opportunity. When that time came Yule snapped at the opportunity. The promise had come from two pale men with long, stark-white hair and light grey eyes. They were different than anything he’d ever seen before. The people who came from Mayna were so different from him in all ways. They were tall and willowy while Yule was short and stocky. Their pale skin was cleaner and shone brighter than his soot-covered skin. He was dirty—filthy—in comparison.
The visitors even talked in complete sentences, with refined speech and voices that were lyrical to his ears. Yule and the others on Gurun communicated with grunts or one word sentences. What use were complete sentences when everyone completed the same routine on a daily basis?
The new beings from Mayna were different, and Yule bought everything they were selling. A new life—a good life—on their planet, which they described in detail, making it sound like a virtual utopia. He’d stuffed his meager belongings in a bag, hugged his mom, dad and brothers and didn’t give anyone a second look as he ascended the steps into their vessel. It was only when they were in outer space did he look down at his small planet, not being able to take his eyes off of it until it had become just a speck in his vision.
They’d let him have that new life—but only for a little while. Before he could completely settle in, the good life had come to an abrupt halt.
“You’ll have to earn your place among us,” Hontis, one of the council members had said.
“You’ll need to work on the outpost and help guard against the hostiles,” another had said.
“If you don’t abide by our terms of service we will take you back to Gurun.”
At hearing that Yule had dropped to his knees, pleading to stay within the Mayna society. At that point Yule would’ve done anything not to go back to Gurun. On Mayna he had a home, one that didn’t have grime on the walls and wasn’t filled with soot that clung to the furniture and coated the floor. On Mayna he dressed in different clothes—clean, fresh clothes that weren’t worn just as a means to protect his skin from the harsh environment of the mines. He had bathed every day, not feeling guilty about wasting the precious water that would’ve been recycled to drinking water. No, he never wanted to leave Mayna and he’d do anything to solidify his place there—anything.
The council members knew what they were doing. They’d gone to Gurun looking for a sucker to thrust into a new and exciting way of living, only to snatch it away from them and force them to do the job that no one else wanted to do. Even so, there was nothing that Yule wouldn’t do for Mayna.
He’d served his purpose and afterward he’d be rewarded for it. But what fun would traveling be if there was no one to go with him? The option of returning to Gurun for his family and taking them with him was out of the question. They hadn’t wanted to leave Gurun, ever; they made that clear many times. That meant Yule would be forced to travel alone while Tyd would be stuck here and unable to visit all the places that they talked about.
Yule pushed back his chair. The legs scraped against the floor and the noise grated on his ears. He hated that sound. He was beginning to hate everything around him. His lip curled up in disgust as he stood. “It’s just not fair that they’re allowed to keep you prisoner here.”
“When you get to Earth and all those other places that we have found, I expect for you to send communication and pictures. I would enjoy that very much. Will you let me know what you find on your home world? Send me pictures of Earth, Yule.”
“Why are you so obsessed with Earth and humans anyway? Humans didn’t even come from a Class I planet and, because of our ignorance, it was taken over in a heartbeat. There’s nothing interesting about us.”
“Ah, but there are many traditions and customs that I found interesting about humans.”
“Yeah? Name one.”
“There is an old holiday that humans celebrated on Earth, Christmas. Were you ever told about it?”
Yule shook his head. “We don’t celebrate any of the old Earth traditions anymore and the knowledge of them was forgotten long ago. The only thing that most humans know about the home of my ancestors is that it was a small blue planet made mostly of water.”
“That is a shame. There are a lot of interesting facts about Earth and human culture in the database. I discovered information about holidays and traditions and found out that Christmas was approaching. In fact it is today.”
Yule lifted his eyebrows. Normally he didn’t mind indulging Tyd, but now he just wanted to go and take a nap. At least in his dreams he was roaming the galaxy and living happily ever after. “And you’re bringing this up because...”
“During the Christmas celebration humans would exchange gifts with one another.”
“Yule chuckled. “So what are you saying? You want to lighten my mood by celebrating Christmas and exchanging gifts?” He started for his room. “If that’s the case you’re in for a sad surprise. I don’t have anything to give you and I’m pretty sure you can’t give me what I need.”
Yule crossed over the threshold to his room and, after reaching his small, standard-issue bed, he kicked off his boots.
“Hear me out. I will give you a gift and in return you will give me one.”
Yule pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it in the corner with the rest of the clothes that he needed to wash. “Uh, didn’t you just hear me?” He reached into his pockets and pulled out a piece of lint. “I don’t have anything to offer you. Besides, last time I checked you didn’t have anything that I wanted, unless you found a way to escape here and come traveling with me.”
“I can’t leave here, but I have something that I believe you would appreciate.”
Yule didn’t bother to pull back his blanket to get under the cover. He planned to lie down long enough to dream of someplace better. “Really? I doubt it.” Yule crawled onto his bed and settled on his back. He crossed his arms across his chest, waiting for Tyd’s retort.
Silence.
He and Tyd went back and forth often, feeding off of each other, but sometimes he knew he took things too far. When Yule left, Tyd would be stuck here until when? Until Tyd was disabled and set aside? Maybe Yule would find another job somewhere else and earn enough credits to come back to Mayna and buy Tyd. How much was the A.I. worth anyway?
Yule closed his eyes as the thoughts of what he could do in exchange for Tyd’s freedom filled his head. When he woke up he would apologize to Tyd and they would make plans to leave the outpost—together.
Shuffle, shuffle.
The sound reached Yule in his dream and pulled on his consciousness.
Shuffle, shuffle.
If he didn’t know any better he’d think it sounded like footsteps. Yule frowned as he opened his heavy eyelids. He stared up at the ceiling.
Shuffle, Shuffle.
No mistaking it now.
Footsteps.
Yule quickly sat up in bed. His eyes landed on the doorway, where the sound had come from.
His head spun from the sudden movement. As his blurry vision began to sharpen, he didn’t know what to expect.
What he wasn’t expecting was a woman. A beautiful woman.