Page 36 of CHOICE Lover
It frowns accusingly. “I’m not sure reading them is a good idea.”
“They aren’t labeled Private or Journal Entry,” he argues.
“How are they labeled?”
“Only the date and Dear Reader.” He hovers his finger over the most recent entry and waits for . . . what, permission?
The manupartner grins. “Oh! Then that means she wants people to read it. You’re in the clear.”
Relieved, Res6 sits back against the pillows, taps the file, and starts reading.
“What seems to be the problem now, sir?” Tommy asks, glancing up from his workstation to address Res6 over his screen later that morning.
“I think I’ve been taking her on dates, not outings,” he whispers, glancing around at the technicians going about their work in other parts of the lab.
He nods to his office, and Tommy follows. Lextr pokes his head out from around the corner, joining their march. “How do you know?” Lextr adds, also whispering.
When they’re safely behind the closed door of his office, Res6 says, “She makes Brain Dumps in the Scrawl app to that effect. When I first saw them, I was curious, but I decided it was best to ignore them to keep a much-needed boundary between us. I’m not trying to get to know her.”
Lextr snorts. “That’s wise. You’re just managing her livelihood until she can be re-homed.”
“She’s not a pet otter,” Tommy interjects, shaking his head.
“Or a houseplant,” he adds, repeating her chastising words. “I realize that. It occurred to me that the Brain Dumps might be useful in determining how effective my outing strategy was, but the entries are not flattering.”
“Let us see,” Tommy prompts.
When Res6 has the app pulled up on his large screen, he opens her most recent entry. Lextr and Tommy lean over his shoulder.
Dear Reader,
Help! SOS! Call in the troops.
Remember how I referred to Res6 as an inept pervert? I realize now that might have been a little harsh (though he might have a Red Room of Sex,or Death—that’s a whole other story). The thing is, I don’t know what I did to deserve this. Deserve what, youask?
Dates! As in, I think I’m accidentally dating a future man.
He keeps taking me on these classically romantic excursions and calling themoutings. I’ve read enough from this time to understand dates are still something people do, so he can’t be confused. Well, not people/people dates, but ones with people/manupartner couples. Not that I would mind dates, under normal circumstances, and admittedly, they are doing a good job of cheering me up. Plus, I’m actively learning about future people. But this is the inventor of sex clones we’re talking about! It makes no sense why he would try to date me. He doesn’t like me, or real human women for that matter, and we’re obviously not compatible.
Do you want to know what’s worse? I think he watched a bunch of romcoms from my time and is trying to replicate the activities from them.
“DumBot?” Tommy asks.
“DumBot,” Res6 confirms.
“Red Room of Sex?” Lextr asks.
“I believe she’s referring to the spare room I’m using to conduct the Jerme trials in. I forbade her from entering.”
“You should try locking it,” Tommy suggests.
“Obviously. The problem is she’s curious, so I explicitly stated the rule, which seems to have backfired because now she’s more curious.” He clears his throat. “Keep reading.”
Thank heavens he’s never read my books. Who knows what types of ideas that would fill his mind with? He’s already taken me on a rowboat, which I’m pretty sure he got fromThe Little Mermaid, horseback riding, which I can’t place in a specific romcom, and to a class where we learned to build structures with food. Again, I have no idea about that one, and I’m pretty sure the instructors were paid actors. I guess bonus points for creativity. You should have seen him when his tower of crispy potatoes toppled into the ketchup river, splashing a big red blob onto his pristinetan jumpsuit. Talk about controlled frustration. The poor man is clearly repressing some serious emotion—
Res6 closes the window. “Well, that’s enough for you to get the point.”
“Oh, I have an idea!” Tommy offers, perking up. “You told me she was a fiction author in her past life. Read her books. Surely that will give you insight into how to deal with her.”
