As it turns out, I was wrong. All of a sudden this real fancy lady comes wandering into the courtyard, and there I was, in my jammies. It was awkward for a couple seconds, but she was a real polite and proper lady. Made me feel comfortable... or at least less uncomfortable about the whole situation.
She said her name was Mirra Zanzibar, and she was looking for Krenshar, referred by Feargananym of the Bihar sanctuary. I told her that unfortunately Krenshar was incommunicado, he was recharging or updating or somesuch. I asked her to sit down in the Lounge and wait for him, if she wanted. Made her some tea, too, which she seemed to like.
Her dress was really fancy and I told her so, and she told me it was a sari, but that in private she wears pantaloons. She seemed like a real smart woman, she looked at me, wearing long johns and nothing else, and could tell I was a merc. She said such insightful things, I felt all simple compared to her.
After a while, when Kren still hadn't woken up, she asked me if I could do her a favour. She wanted to buy a gun from the gun store back in town, but she didn't know very much about them, and so she asked if I could help. I said of course, and then she asked me to cover up my bee-hind, 'less it could be considered "a free invitation for physical familiarity", as she put it. I could only agree.
After I had gotten dressed we started the hike into town. As we passed by Firefly's, she asked if we could go inside and look. When we got in, I told her to stay away from the warbot. She seemed awful interested in it, though, and kept walking closer and closer.
She got really sad, and started talking about it as if it was a person. Wondered if it could suffer. Said it was synthetic, not mechanical. I was feeling all kinds of uneasy, and when miss Zanzibar asked if she could touch her, I strongly advised against it. I don't think anyone should fiddle with that thing.
Venica and Altarus Byron, a new fella, came by to see what we were up to. Altarus said he'd heard that the bot's motivator was missing, but it was still conscious. Still all there in the head, but with no will. It scared me bad, hearing that, 'specially after what happened last night, but miss Zanzibar only got sadder.
"Sister, if there is a being within you, I weep on her behalf and pray for your release or redemption. I apologize, but that is all I can offer you today," she whispered to it, and she got uneasy and wanted to leave. I had no objections.
We finally reached the gun store and looked at the piece she wanted, and she ended up buying it. I think she'll be satisfied. I took a detour before I went home, and when I got back to the Lounge, miss Zanzibar had left a little note and a gift for me, a real nice mural for the Lounge. It was a real shiny gesture, and I'm glad to have met her.
I just relaxed in the Lounge the rest of the day, thinking about all the things she said. Such a wise lady.
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