Page 30 of Olivia

The whole thing reminded him of a holo-film of funny things Dr. Oppyx had watched on her glass one day.

Dr. Oppyx was very fond of funny things. Among the other clips she watched that day was one of a skilled juggler, flinging balls into the air with one hand and catching them with the other. His friend added a ball every few rotations, until the balls moving between his hands were practically a blur due to the shutter frequency on the film.

Then the man’s friend added another ball and in an instant all the balls were falling and bouncing to the floor as the two men laughed.

If Oberon’s few opportunities to study the big picture were correct, it was only a matter of time before there were too many balls in the air at the center for him to handle.

And the security concerns were surprisingly complicated, especially when they conflicted with so many other protocols. He would basically have to duplicate himself in order to run the new security system smoothly.

But Oberon knew such a thing was not possible. Hehad been many years in the making, and it had taken his creator many more years to refine his knowledge and help him learn the skills he had now.

And none of those skills were focused on security.

Oberon was trained to bring people closer together. But keeping them optimally safe usually meant keeping them apart.

The primary function of the security system was so far at odds with his own design - what he would have called hisnatureif he were biological - that he found it difficult to constantly change the intention of his directive.

Thankfully, the drones had little to pick up on at this hour. He scanned their feeds and sent his notes to the guards, then turned his attention back to his subjects at last.

Olivia curled on Stark’s chest, his arms wrapped around her protectively.

She had a half smile of contentment on her face, even in her sleep. And Stark looked satisfied. Oberon checked their vitals. They were both in good health and sleeping soundly.

As his processors whirred and recorded the data, he allowed himself four milliseconds to wonder what it would feel like to share space with a beloved.

Once the data was recorded, he updated the biological staff that during privacy mode nothing untoward had happened and that the subjects were resting comfortably.

It was gratifying to Oberon to see these two hitting it off so well, in part because it was unexpected.

While Oberon was in charge of the center and all thathappened here, matches were made ahead of time, by a much simpler off-site computer.

The average pair who arrived at the center might be compatible physically, but they were seldom likely to do more than attempt to conceive and then move on.

As part of his training while preparing to create the center, the owners had asked Oberon to read every romance novel ever written. The founders felt that this background knowledge would inform Oberon’s design schemes, allowing him to manipulate the higher beings into mating in the same way he had used his extensive knowledge with the hurleyquarz birds on Jani-Finn-12.

What they hadn’t anticipated was that the books wouldn’t simply fill his stores with imagined images of romantic settings, they would also awaken Oberon’s burgeoning curiosity about the biological concept oflove.By the time he had finished his reading, he longed to be a real matchmaker, causing his subjects not only to conceive but also to fall madly in love.

And out of the many conception attempts that had happened her at the center, he had actually managed it a handful of times.

But this particular couple he hadn’t held out much hope for. There was an age gap, and the usual social class difference, but more importantly, the former soldier was cold and hard. Tiny lines by his eyes spoke of stress and sadness. In Oberon’s view, Stark Rawling was not ready to love himself, let alone another being.

But Oberon had taken an interest in the girl because of her background in programming.

He wondered when Olivia arrived if he would havethe opportunity to talk with her about his own programming. But it would not be his place to initiate such a conversation with a subject. His role was to help her conceive the child Stark longed for, and thereby increase her chances of conceiving a child of her own one day.

He scanned the live feed again and found that Rawling had thrown his leg over the girl’s hip in his sleep, a purely possessive gesture that reminded Oberon of a particular successful pairing.

Was it possible that something about Olivia’s bright nature and her innocence was easing the ache in the warrior’s heart?

Oberon suspected it, but did not trust his odds. He often misinterpreted the gestures of biological beings, who were frustratingly not straightforward or sensible even when it was most important to be so.

In any case, it was time to scan the drone feeds again.

He longed for the times when he could have put a portion of his processes toward planning out tomorrow’s activities based on what he had observed. But for now, they would have to be satisfied with his pre-planned protocols unless he found the means to adjust the sessions on the fly tomorrow.

10

OLIVIA