Dyllys
Chapter Five

Faranand Dyllys were in the galley when Parris and Esper found them. Faran didn’tknow at all what to say to the man. Parris merely grabbed something to drinkand sat down to regard his new passengers. Faran examined him. Parris was olderthen he, but not by much, probably just a handful of years. Faran guessed himto be in his thirties. Parris displayed with his every action that he was incontrol. Faran could see it in his hazel eyes, as surely as he could see thespark of life in Dyllys’s icy blue. His hair was copper which he wore short andspiked. His face was covered partially by a closely trimmed goatee and mustachethat made Parris look even more intimidating.

“Itseems I have a little time for us to exchange stories, though I am sure you twowill be doing more exchanging than I.” Parris looked at Faran when he talkedand Faran felt his heart beat erratically out of fear.

“Thankyou for rescuing us back there,” Faran said.

Parriswaved his cup in the air and shook his head, “Seems to me you did a fine bit ofthat yourself, my involvement was merely to retract a gun and speed away.Rescuing would not be something to thank me for. Not killing you would havebeen more appropriate. But I’m sure my intent was merely selfish, for yourdeath most likely would have caused my own. Your Bellezza seems most protectiveof you.”

Faranlooked at Dyllys and then back at Parris. “Yes, well oddly I’ve only known herfor a matter of days. She thinks I’m someone else and won’t leave my side.”

Parrisleaned in at these words, his interested peaked. “Master not by choice you say?I can fix that problem if you wish.”

“Whatdo you mean?”

“Wellyou may have noticed I have a dislike of said Davenport Electronics, mostlybecause of their God complex. You see they have this insane idea that they cancreate life and master it with their will. Not even God created such a thing.To create life with no free will, I call that a hideous crime, even worse thanthe fact that they make them unable to feel.

“Youmay not have noticed that Esper doesn’t take commands from me seeing as we haveonly just met, but she doesn’t, do you Esper?”

“Nochance of that Parris,” Esper replied.

“Thenwho is her master? How is it that you two are together?”

“Thatreally is the question now isn’t it? Well, lucky for me I have a way withprogramming, and well, I discovered a way to make the AS seriesmasterless. Esper does what she will;just so happens that what she wills is the same as mine. She is my partner. Ifyou are so interested, I could make her free of you,” Parris finished gesturingtowards Dyllys.

“Youmake it sound as if I am the bad guy here,” Faran huffed.

Parrisleaned closer to Faran. “You make is sound as if your Bellezza is a burden toyou. It’s when people treat them as less than human that they become such. Ihave a mind to set her free from you and then toss you overboard.”

Espergrabbed Parris’s shoulder and eased him back into his chair. “Can we at leasthear their story first Parris, before you dispose of the boy.”

Parriswaved his hand for Faran to begin. Faran looked at Parris, his words failinghim. It was instead Dyllys that spoke, her soft voice ringing through thegalley like a song.

“Faranis trying to help me remember. I want to remember those memories of before Iwas Dyllys when I was She. He took me to a doctor. He wanted to see if he couldfix what was wrong with me. They say I am dying, but I do not believe that isso. How can a nonliving being die?”

“Whatdoes she mean memories of She?” Esper asked.

“Dyllyswasn’t always an android. She was a human like me and Parris. Someone wantedher body more than her mind and turned her into this eternal doll. She isdying, her organic structure is decaying. I don’t know how long until she dies,but I wanted to help her remember who she was before she dies,” Faran supplied.

“EmanuelSalazar. I had heard the rumors of such a thing, but I never thought it wouldbe true. For her to still be alive.” Parris was staring intently as Dyllyscaptured in the depth of her icy blue eyes and then suddenly he turned to Faran.“You were right not to hand her over to Davenport Electronics. She would bedangerous in their hands; they could make a much better weapon than the onesthey are producing now. The AS androids are far inferior to Dyllys, there,possibly because of her origins. Maybe it was because Emanuel Salazar was agenius when it came to androids and he refused to hand over any of his researchto DE. Whatever it is, if DE ever got their hands on her, this galaxy would befar less tolerable than it is now.”

“Whydoes everyone I talk to have such disdain for the Ordalis?” Faran asked.

“Wehave a believer amongst us Parris,” Esper said. “Maybe the airlock is the bestsolution for him after all.”

Parrisheld up his hand for silence. “Now, now Esper, give the boy credit. I’m surehe’s only seen the friendly side of the Ordalis. If he ever experienced thetotalitarian side of the Ordalis he wouldn’t say such things. The side thatwould crush a human’s free will as effectively as they control an android. Whatplanet are you from, Boy?”

“I’mfrom Radden. I immigrated there with my parents five years ago.”

“Andbefore that?”

“Ihave never stayed on a planet for more than five years. My father helps withthe first stages of reform on newly adopted planets.”

“Wellthat explains a lot. You are from the upper class, used to spouting the idealsto those less fortunate. I won’t try to convince you that the Ordalis is evil,Boy; I will let them do that for themselves. Just don’t talk about them withstarry eyes when you are on my ship.” His words had finality to them. Thesubject was closed.

“Yousaid you could help Dyllys,” Faran quested.

“Notin the way that you are looking for, Boy. I haven’t figured out how to get themto feel emotions, though I have had an interesting time trying. I can, however, let her make her own choiceas to what she does. If you are to stay on this ship of mine I really wouldhave it no other way.”

“Stayon the ship? I don’t want to stay on your ship. Dyllys and I just want to goback to Tossu.”

“Thatis not an option, Boy. The DE would be all too happy to come calling to collectyou again. I really can’t be having that.”

“That’sridiculous. You can’t keep us forever.”

“Don’tlook at me. You are the ones that boarded my ship without permission. It wasyour choice to come here, not mine. My choice is to not go back to Tossu, andseeing as this is my boat, that means it goes wherever I want it to. Esper andI like to keep a low profile. We don’t port very often. We don’t need to. If wedo chance to port, then it will be your decision whether to leave or not. Untilthen, welcome aboard the Salvatore.”