Matchmaking at The Towers

Airen and Amilla and the Minions (Puppies)

Airen has been the "house boy" at the Towers on the Crest for more thirty years, since the Towers heir inherent was Ayla Towers's Great Grand Dad. Airen was hooked into everything and controlled everything. In the last few years, he had developed an unprecedented closeness with Miss Ayla, the last living direct descendant of the Towers clan. She was his programmer and kept him up to date mechanically and software-wise, and ensured that he was the most intelligent of his kind.

He had been there at the Towers when she was born. He would be there when she passed on. She was his friend. She treated him like a person and never made him feel less than good enough, just because he was circuitry rather than flesh and blood. He took care of her and the Towers on the Crest herself everyday of his life.

Over the years, he realized that she suffered from an all-too-common human malady. She was desperately lonely. She lived in this monstrously huge house all by herself, only infrequently making forays into the town of Crestfield to visit other computer aficionados, and north into the Varda Cartel domain, snooping to hopefully eradicate the drug business thereabouts.

On one of her snooping visits, she found and rescued a handsome young man who had been beaten badly by the Cartel's lieutenants, because he had been undercover for a few months gathering intel for the DEA. He did something wrong (...The young man described his action as "stupid"...) and got caught. They hurt him badly. He escaped and had somehow stumbled onto the Towers property and was saved by Miss Ayla. His name is Lane Crawford. He became a true and devoted friend to Airen and the love of her life to Miss Ayla.

The two of them performed the human "mating ritual" for a few weeks, flirting and teasing each other, round and round in close proximity, but always together. They discovered that they more than belonged with each other. They were absolutely inseparable. They lived as two halves of a whole. Before their forced separation, they spent much of their time in a true mating dance, "becoming one," as often as is humanly possible. Lane had later asked Airen to research love between a man and a woman. It was very enlightening. That is when Airen found what "becoming one" really meant, and that these two were essentially one being because they were "in love."

This is also when Airen realized that he was alone, absolutely alone. He had tinkered around in his lab and had made a couple small versions of himself out of scraps and spare parts just before Lane had to go away. He let them do some of his easier "servant" tasks. But they were not companions or friends. They were merely constructs. It was then that Airen realized that he wanted what his friends had, love.

He made a new construct out of all new and special parts and circuitry. Her body was softer and rounder than Airen's. Her skin was warm and supple. Each piece was "lovingly" assembled, and she (...He thought of her as a she after Ayla, as he thought of himself as a male like Lane...) was "loaded" with all the good and kind and sweet things that he had learned from Ayla and Lane. He named her Amilla, an acronym for Airen's love.

Airen made a special effort to introduce Amilla to Lane. This introduction was when Lane found out how lonely Airen was, making Lane feel mightily ashamed of himself for not having seen how much his friend was suffering. He told Lane how he had felt so alone and, he guessed, "sad?", not having anything with which to compare. Lane's heart ached for his little friend.

After Amilla made her debut, she and Airen made minions, (...She called them puppies, which brought more than an amused smile to Lane...) the special process of their making causing the little beings to have personalities and gender differentiation.

Airen explained how the circuitry couple made "puppies." The two were designed with male and female inter-connectable parts. When they were creating a puppy, they "connected" and simultaneously downloaded the memories that they were planning for this particular baby-'bot. Their little baby circuits couldn't handle all the info that was being "force-fed" to them, so parts of the data never made it into their little brains. This made for an individual and unique personality for each 'bot. After their creation, they were checked to be sure that the essential training they'd need to perform their everyday chores was received. They had that data added, if it wasn't there.

Airen explained that when he and Amilla were connected, that all else faded from their consciousnesses. They exchanged all that they had learned that day as individuals and expressed how much they loved having each other to commune with. Then the little fella marveled that every time that he and Amilla "loved" each other, that they somehow lost seven seconds of time, felt warm and comforted, and no longer alone. Lane mused that Airen had just described "bot sex."

"Airen, don't feel that you have to keep things from me. You're my best friend. If you need any kind of help, I want to know. If I should somehow disapprove of something, I'll tell you and tell you why. I won't judge you. But it distresses me no end to know that you felt so alone and couldn't come to me for help. I might not be able to fix anything, but I'd want to know how you feel, so I can at least empathize.

"Sir...Lane...until I met you, I did not know what having a friend was about. I did know that the relationship that I observed between you and Miss Ayla was something that I wanted. You may know that you have helped me, sir, in that your example was what I must strive for. I got the idea to find a mate watching how you and Miss Ayla were when you were together. In human terms, it is beautiful to see.

When you asked me to research about love between a man and a woman, I discovered how a mate, a love, could make life worth living. Love could actually make one want to continue living just to be able to be with the one you love."

Airen seemed to have run out of words. He lowered his face so Lane wouldn't see his confusion. Looking back up at Lane's concerned face, he added softly. "When I learned about love, I learned that there are different kinds of love." He clasped his little hands in front of him. "I love you...Lane...my true and only friend. "

Lane had to blink rapidly to overcome the lump in his throat. Taking one step forward, Lane dropped to one knee, and hugged the little being to his heart. "I love you, too, Airen...my good and true friend."

All their lives, the two remained good and true, loving only their mates more than they loved each other.