"You bleed … from malnutrition?" Aldrec said. He nearly dropped his glass.

"Our circulatory systems aren't like those of you organics," Mericlou explained with a nod. "They degrade without a constant supply of power to keep them regenerating. If there isn't enough power, we bleed through our pores, tear ducts, salivary glands …" She grimaced. "It's not a pretty sight; let me assure you."

"I can imagine," Aldrec said, envisioning for a moment, Mericlou's face running with blood, as if from open wounds on her forehead, and inside of her eyes and mouth. He gave a faint shudder. "But please, continue. I'm sorry I interrupted."

Mericlou waved off the apology. "As I was saying, my old master was a pretty disgusting guy, to say the least. A few times, when he got into some severe financial problems, he tried to solicit me for brothels. But of course, they wouldn't accept me. I don't think they ever bothered to tell him that Alerian models like me are way too fertile to use in that line of work. And then he was too stupid to find it out for himself, as he only bought me to be his workhorse. I'd have been saddled with a baby once every nine months if they took me. And then, altering our biological cycles is expensive, and so the brothels wouldn't pay for it. But to make a long story short, when he started looking for brothels to put me in, it was the last straw for me. I got sick of him, and left."

"But … I thought that your programming … your service imperative, I mean. You do have …" Aldrec stammered, scrounging up the bits of information he knew of androids to try and sound intelligent.

"Oh, I still have that," Mericlou said. "After all, service my purpose in life. I just do it in a different way. That's where my job comes in."

"I think I understand now," Aldrec said, at last making something of a mental connection. "Your job fulfills your service imperative, so you don't need a master."

Mericlou nodded. "That's right."

"Well, what is it that you do, exactly?"

"Many things," Mericlou replied. "My time with my master wasn't the most enjoyable, but it was intellectually stimulating in that he had a large collection of work programs that I downloaded. And so I've become something of a 'Jack -or Jill- of-all-trades,' I guess you could say."




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