"Maybe one day," Aldrec played back with a grin of his own. "But what was it you asked me?"
"I asked about what you did. What's your job?"
"Oh, that. I'm a historian, I guess you could say."
"Really?" Mericlou's eyes flashed with sudden and intense interest. "What kind of history?"
"Um … general history," Aldrec said, slightly amused, but encouraged by her reaction. "The whole round of it, actually. You ought to see my library."
"Books?" Mericlou breathed. "You have real, honest-to-God books?"
"Well, of course I have books!" Aldrec laughed at her enthusiasm. "Doesn't everybody? You sound like you've never owned a book before."
Mericlou shook her head. "I haven't."
"Are you serious?" Aldrec said, half in disbelief. "How could anyone have never owned a book?
"I only make enough money to pay for daily expenses," Mericlou explained. "And then the rest goes home to help my brothers and sister. After that, I'm usually not left with enough to pay for things that I want, unless it's during the festival season. Most information I get from the Orb Network, but I'd prefer to have books of my own to read. But since the Republic put all books from the National Library on the Orb Network, they've fallen out of favor in most cities, even here in Lusea. So they've been kind of hard to come by, and expensive in places where you can find them."
"I see," Aldrec said contritely. "I'm sorry; I forgot about-"
"Oh, it's alright," Mericlou cheerfully assured him. "You were right after all; most people have at least a few books, but some androids have never had that luxury. And it's obvious that you don't know much about us anyway."
"But what kind of job do you have that pays so little?" Aldrec asked, changing the subject to something slightly less exposing. "I thought that your master …"
Again, Mericlou shook her head. "I don't have one of those anymore either."
"You don't?"
"I ditched him a long time ago," Mericlou said airily, and with more than a hint of disgust. "He wasn't what you'd call the most scrupulous of people. To be completely honest, he was a jerk and a pervert. He kept me underfed and worked me long hours on appliance office jobs until my power cells were almost drained and I bled."