Although
I don’t have any feelings I could tell by the facial expressions and the body
language that most humans thought it odd that Frank would always have me book a
seat for myself beside him. Most
humans who travel with their robots would have them checked into baggage as it
is about 30% cheaper. The first
time I noticed it I had asked Frank why he did that. After all, he could wear his little
button and be in contact with me.
He said it was to insure he would not have to make chit-chat with some
bloody fool. I thought that was
highly unlikely in first class, but he told me wealth was no guarantee for
someone to be an intelligent conversationalist. Frank would take the window seat and I
would take the seat next to him.
However, there was one other reason why Frank would have me with
him. He would instruct me to
order exactly the same drink that he would when the stewardess would come
by. If the stewardess questioned
why a robot would want a Manhattan, he would politely remind her that he paid
full fair and that entitled his robot to have anything another rich bastard
would get. If the swearing did not
intimidate the poor girl the tone would do it.
The
flight from America to London was not unusual. Frank got drunk off of six drinks and
slept from the thirty-ninth meridian until we landed in London. Thankfully, he was sober when I woke him
up to put his seat upright. He was
hungry when we landed so we went straight to our hotel and I ordered him
breakfast. He ate it in his room so
he could relax and enjoy the Times and the European version of the WSJ.
After
eating he finally cleaned himself up.
Thankfully, the alcohol level was now so low that humans could not smell
it. I could and from the intensity
I could correlate Frank’s blood level.
That is important information when trying to figure out how serious Frank
is when he tells me to do something.
I laid out a suit for him knowing that he would probably want to make a
couple of social calls in order to refresh some of his contacts. He saw the suit was out but went over to
the window to look out at the London cityscape. I couldn’t surmise what my master was
thinking, but I did hear steps of a woman heading towards our end of the hotel–
then there was a quick firm knock at the door.
“Jack,
answer it, will you?”
“Yes
sir,” and I opened the door and immediately recognized Princess Marianne. “Princess, please come in. Mr. Huntington, I believe you know
Princess Marianne.” I made way for
her to enter and pointed to a chair, but she went directly over to Frank and
stood by him. I closed the door and
then concentrated on recording this unexpected encounter.
“Mr.
Huntington, how was your flight?”
“Smooth,
I don’t remember anything. Can I offer you some coffee, tea or something
stronger?”
“Scotch,
if you have any. With a little
mineral water, please,” and with that she sat on the bed and on master’s
suit. I hoped she would not wrinkle
it. I worked hard enough to make
Frank not look like a tramp.
“Jack.” That was my signal to be bartender. We had the scotch, but I immediately
contacted Room Service and ordered a liter of mineral water. It would be delivered by a fetchbot to
the room. The Princess finally
relaxed a little and laid back on the bed.
“My
secretary told me you wanted to see me.”
“Yes,
I did. I didn’t expect you would
come to my hotel room. It’s not
that urgent.”
She
gave a laugh and said, “I know, I just thought I would welcome you back to
London personally.”
Frank
smiled one of his non-committal smiles and said, “I’m flattered, your royal
highness. I guess that is one of
the reasons I love coming to the U.K.
Everyone is so friendly.”
I
wondered what Frank was hinting at. The fetchbot signaled me that it was at the
door so I opened it and prepared the drinks. I handed one to her royal highness and
one to Frank. I then retreated to
the far corner of the room. They
both said “Cheers” and took a sip.
“Mr.
Huntington.”
“If
you like, you can call me Frank.”
“Thank
you, Frank, call me Marianne, please.
I wanted to see you because I thought you deserved a more accurate view
of my marriage to Sir Terrance.”
“I
don’t usually write anything for the Ladies section.”
She
laughed and Frank came over and sat on the bed next to her. She took a big sip of her drink and then
looked at him coolly, “I did not marry for love, exactly. I enjoy my husband, but there are many
times when I am not accessible to him.”
“What
is the deal? Does he have a
mistress or just a low libido?”
“Maybe
both. His mistress is Maidstone
Lab.”
Frank
gave her a long look-over and then reached over and kissed her. She did not resist. In fact she reacted as if it was her
first meal in a long, long time. I
stopped my video recording as was my protocol, but kept recording the
audio. Frank had always told me you
never know when you might hear something interesting.
After
Frank proved his manliness to the Princess they sat quietly in bed enjoying the
afterglow. Frank finally spoke and
told me to bring two fresh drinks.
They told each other how pleasant the other was for awhile. Seems that is always normal when humans
make love for the first time.
Frank
finally sat up against the headboard so he could enjoy his drink. He looked at her lovely face and asked,
“Why did you come to me, Princess?”
“Well,
you would be surprised what a girl hears when talking to her fellow princesses
and aristocratic friends,” she said with a slight smirk.
“I
guess when it comes to that, some women can brag just as much as some men
do.”
“Oh,
don’t be cross with me, I meant it has a compliment. And I do find you interesting. Our conversation during lunch was
fascinating. Even my husband found
you interesting for a non-scientist.”
“So
is it that bad being married to a genius?”
“Not
really. He creates a very
interesting culture around himself.
I enjoy being part of it. He
is very much a polyglot and Renaissance man. It is just that he does work long hours
and when he is not doing that he is reading new research papers or a book. He usually has at least four novels
going at any one time. We have to
keep extra copies about the castle so when he wants to read more a copy is close
by. Odd he doesn’t like reading off
a tablet.”
“I
see. You must have a lot of free
time.”
“Yes. In a way that is nice. I don’t feel micromanaged. He really doesn’t make any demands on
me. Maybe I expected a little of
that when I got married.”
“Do
you miss your religion?”
“Haven’t
given it any thought, Frank. Why do
you ask?”
“Well,
the news was always full of stuff about you visiting some holy place and doing
something in the name of God.”
“No,
I don’t miss that. However, I have
wondered about how I changed so fast.
One day I felt very inspired by the Word of God and the next day I threw
my Bible overboard into the Atlantic.”
“Just
like that?”
“Yes,
just like that. I never had such a
fast change of mind like that before.
Not even breaking up with old boyfriends caused such a quick
about-face.”
“Does
that strike you as odd?”
“Yes,
it does. All those urges I had to
pray or do good are gone. I still
do charity work, but it is all arranged by my husband’s
staff.”
“So
is picking up new lovers your only charity work you do?” he said giving her a
coy look.
“No,
I am not that type. You are my
first indiscretion,” she said averting her eyes. Frank could sense there was still
something of a virgin about her and pulled himself closer to
her.
“Well,
I am honored by your choosing me. I
would be pleased to get to know you better. Of course, on the sly. It would not be good for either of
us. The media would have a field
day and they would want to follow me everywhere.”
“I
suppose it would be harder for you to avoid the publicity than me. I have a staff that can keep the media
vultures at least far enough away from me that I can’t hear them shout their
silly questions.”
“Did
you ever hear of anyone else ever losing their religious beliefs like you
did?”
“I
asked Richard Dawkins's son if he gave up religion cold turkey or if it came to
him slowly.”
“What
did he say?” Frank asked sipping his Scotch.
“He
said because of his father he never felt religious, but the feeling of atheism
came on him slowly. He says now
that if he reads the Bible it disgusts him. Too much violence and injustice by both
God and his Son.”
“I
remember reading about a month ago some nuns in a convent suddenly gave up
religion. They started a commune
and the Church had to have them physically removed. Did you hear about
it?”
“Yes,
I remember hearing about that from my husband. He found it all quite funny that they
had to be dragged out and carried.
I did not see it in the news, but I don’t read three papers a day like my
husband does. God, he can read
fast.”
Frank
smiled, “You are like me, I use God only as a way to accentuate what I want to
say. Funny how an atheist can’t get
away from religious profanity.”
Marianne
laughed and took another sip. Frank
did the same and then he took her by the shoulder and moved her closer to
him. He kissed her first on the
forehead and said, “What a lucky boy am I.” Then he kissed her on the mouth and
the sexual action began all over again.
While they were busy I picked up the glasses and washed them. I knew they would be thirsty again in a
little while.
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