Dyllys
Chapter Eleven

AlthoughDyllys often found herself sleeping, it wasn’t a required function of her body,not unless she was low on power, but that was an occasional thing. She onlyrequired recharging every month, even less if she was on a planet being bathedby sunlight. She stored solar energy with pleasure. So instead of sleeping, shewatched Parris sleep, trying to remember what it felt like to dream. All shehad were her memories, and as much as she recalled those as dreams, they weren’tthe random images that came from a human mind, the creative voice of thesubconscious. If she missed anything about being human, now that she could feelagain, it was dreams. Faran always loved listening to her dreams. He relishedevery word she said when she told him what story her mind had weaved while shewas sleeping. She remembered that he used to say her mind held as many storiesas the stars did and that with an imagination such as hers she didn’t need toexplore, she could do that from her bed just by closing her eyes.

“Butmy stories aren’t real, Faran, they are just a device my mind uses to keepitself from going crazy from boredom. I like your stories much more, becauseyou actually experienced them. I want to experience them too,” Sabine said.

“ButI learn just as much from your stories as you do from mine,” Faran retorted.

“Howis that even possible?”

“Haveyou ever thought that maybe your dreams are not your own thoughts, but thatwhen you sleep you are slipping from our galaxy and into another, and while yousleep another person on the other side of the universe is sleeping as well, andsomewhere on that altered plane of consciousness you are actually listening totheir story and they are listening to yours? Maybe your dreams are the dreamsof others, stories that need to be shared,” Faran was staring out at the starsas he talked.

“Ifthat’s the case, than why aren’t all people's dreams as far away as mine?”

“Because,not everyone can tell a story like you can, Sabine. I think stories replace thepeople that can tell them best. I think you have to be open to them.”

Sabinelaughed, “If that’s the case, Faran, then they should have found you.”

Faranrolled over and onto Sabine, staring down at her from above, pinning her armsbeneath his hands, “Maybe they have, in a different way than they found you.Here in this galaxy you are the storyteller and I am the story.” He kissed herthen and she laughed.

* * * *

“Areyou sleeping, Esper?” Dyllys asked.

“Ido not currently require that function,” Esper replied.

“Iwant to talk, if you don’t mind.”

“Iam open to that.”

“Whatwas Parris talking about when he said that there was a flaw in the androidsthat Davenport Electronics produces? Do you know?”

“Parrishas shared everything with me, from the moment he created me, so yes, I know,”Esper paused for a moment. Dyllys decided she was trying to figure out where tostart. “Parris didn’t mention it, and I don’t know why, possibly he was toofatigued, but Davenport Electronics’ android program is built off of EmanuelSalazar’s stolen research. The problem was they didn’t get all of the researchbecause Salazar made sure that all his notes were not together. They built theandroids from the base structure that Salazar had outlined, but they weren’table to reach the level of sophistication that Salazar reached with you. No oneat Davenport Electronics has ever come close to understanding androids likeSalazar, until Parris.”

“Soyou don’t carry the flaw?”

“No.”

“Whatwas the flaw?” Dyllys asked once again.

“Theflaw was that Emanuel made the nanomachines with you in mind. They didn’tcombine properly with other tissue. Parris realized that he had to restructurethe nanomachines so that they would combine with the DNA of its host instead ofjust adding onto it.”

Dyllysfroze at her words. This was what Parris had been trying to tell her before.Dyllys was wrong, the AS series androids weren’t different from her at all,they were exactly the same. Was this the truth that Parris had learned thatmade him want to leave? Dyllys wasn’t entirely convinced of that, for Parriswould have known how the androids were constructed to have worked there and tohave constructed Esper. What exactly was it that had made him turn against hisfather and brother?

“Theyuse humans to make the androids? All of them?” Dyllys asked although she wasscared of the answer.

“Clonedtissue, grown to the desired specifications.”

Thatsmall bit of information relieved Dyllys’s mind; she couldn’t stand the thoughtof that many people suffering her same fate.

“Dothey experience life before they become an android?”

“Onlymomentarily, not long enough to form conscious thought. Our only life is aswhat you see.”

“Sohow did Parris discover this flaw to being with?”

“Henoticed that instead of augmenting the DNA strand in all places, differentportions of different DNA were actually consumed by the nanomachines. Heisolated all those pieces and made me from it. All those pieces of DNA he tookmust have been the pieces from all the hosts that most resembled you. Inessence, that may be why you and I resemble each other.”

Itwas true: Dyllys had seen the resemblance between them the moment she had seenEsper, but it was subtle. Their DNA was only similar, not the same, almost asif Esper was her child. If everything Esper said was true, it would make sensewhy Parris wanted Dyllys to feel again. He wanted Dyllys to share that giftwith Esper. If all the androids were like her then maybe she could help themall. She didn’t know if it would work when the other androids had no humanmemories to work from. She could try, but with all her efforts it was likelynot to work. Faran had used her existing humanity to awaken her, how could sheawaken humanity when there had been no experience to begin with. She was backto the same problem she had when she thought they were nothing like her at all,but now there was a seed of hope.

“DidParris ever try to erase the master program from the other androids before heleft, like he did with you?”

“Hedid. Parris doesn’t like to bring it up. When his father realized what he haddone, whole batches of androids were destroyed. It is why Faran hasn’t done iton a mass scale, even though it would have destroyed the control base of theOrdalis.”

“Iguess that’s where I come in then,” Dyllys said, “I can infect the computers,erase all the data, and with Parris gone they will have nothing. Then if heerases the master program their product will be useless to them.”

“Yes,all I need to do is uplink with the other AS-24 androids and the master programwill be gone forever.”

“Thisis a good plan.”

“Parrishas never had a bad one,” Esper said with the utmost confidence and, if Dyllyscould dare to say, admiration.