Love is eternal often transcending time and space. Its reach far exceeds the distant limit of the universe, and light, one of the most lasting constant known to man, must bow down and become a merger variable as it passes by one in love.

Shanna glided into the control bridge, and didn't let her presence be known at first. She touched the back of his chair and made sure she swept her hand along the back using each finger like it were a soft-pad stroking her favorite pet. She had two Kachinria fighting devil that she kept caged in her room. Gently, she moved to the side of his chair, and without a sound or noticeable movement, she stopped and stood near Mark, the center of her attention for over two years.

Her smile enveloped itself around her soft and inviting eyes that grew wider and wider with each breath that expanded Mark's chest, and each breath she took also became deeper and fuller and richer as she stood near. Mark stopped his scans and slowed his breathing, but didn't look over. He didn't have to, for the warm radiating feeling of closeness captured his attention now, a feeling that began growing from his first encounter with Shanna. He turned and looked at her.

She changed her color from a pale almost Victorian-like portrait of Queen Elizabeth of England to a very light reddish hue, then orange, then cyan, then blue then back to red. This kaleidoscope of colors continued as Mark's eyes settled over her, and as a smile found itself on him, Shanna's colors deepened. She moved an inch or two closer and ran her fingers through his auburn hair.

"I don't care about protocol," Shanna said. "Since our worlds have become so close and even friendlier than some of our own nations are to one another-- it's time to shun these silly rules. I don't care about them— I only care about you, Mark. If you don't consider me worthy or compatible, I'll understand, but please, Mark, don't let this stupid mind-set as some call it cloud you heart. We're not so different; after all it was elements of our race that populated Earth many thousands of years ago. We're not so different, are we?"

Mark brushed his cheek against the back of Shanna's hand, and felt and connected with some universal essence that still to this day remains undefined by science; yet every poet or writer in any world can quantify this power by using words alone.

"Mark I…" Shanna started to say but an alarm sounded and Mark turned around and faced the console again. Shanna turned her head away and folded her arms together over her chest. She looked down at the floor and the light-toned cascading colors she displayed a moment earlier now turned into a shadowy light-brown. She closed her eyes.

"It's nothing," Mark said. "Only a rogue asteroid 20,000 Earth miles away. It'll miss us by at least 5,000 miles."

A slight smile found itself in Marks expression again, and he took a small box from a drawer in the console. Shanna couldn't have seen it, but Mark cautiously opened it and quickly snatched something out. He left the box in the drawer and closed the drawer very gently as he said, "Nope, nothing else out there except space and time, and we have all the time we need now. It'll be months before we reached your planet. You'll have to show me those ice-canyons that are what? Twenty miles deep? And display every color of the spectrum as your sun travels over your planet. Boy, I'll love to see that."

Shanna looked towards Mark and once again light-toned colors of red, then orange then blues cascaded across her very essence, its seem, as Mark's merry eyes settled on her once again.

"My mother always wanted me to marry an Italian like her, but…" Mark started to say but Shanna jump in with. "I know about Italian girls on your planet! After all I'm a Extraterrestrial Anthropologist! I probably know more about Italian girls than you do! They are supposed to be one of the most desirable females on you planet! So don't try to patronize me about Earth females!"

Shanna's colors changed again. This time to a fiery light-red that almost jumped from her skin onto Mark's.

"Whoa, whoa, Shanna, my father told me to marry a rich girl —you know one whose father owns an inter-galactical corporation. But now my sister told me to marry…" Mark started to say again, but Shanna jump in with, "Your father, your sister—who is it going to be next—your ,your-- dog?"

Shanna turned around again, put her head down, but this time she covered her month with her right hand. The other hand then came up and covered her left hand. Mark heard sobs.

Gently, Mark made his way around to her and tried to hug her but Shanna didn't respond.

"Like I was going to say my sister told me to marry someone I really loved. And don't let the family or your friends or some silly rule that everyone is breaking now to stand in your way. My sister has always been my best friend, and well…" Mark took out a diamond ring and as it glittered, Shanna's eyes became wider than Mark had ever seen. Her hand when limp, but Mark grabbed it, picked out the correct finger and place the ring on it.

"This is one custom that will never go out of style, no matter where man may travel," Mark said. Then added, "Need I say more? After all— you are an Extraterrestrial Anthropologist."

"Sally… when we agreed that we should meet in the computer lab, I never expected…"

"You said you wouldn't care how I looked, Harry."

You see that man over there, in front of the computer at the very far end of the row, the one in the red shirt with a white carnation in the lapel? That's me. It's six months since I first met Sally, in an online chatroom - we hit it off immediately, sharing many common interests and having hundreds of interesting discussions. It was four months before I first tentatively suggested meeting in person, and two more months before Sally reluctantly agreed.

I left the venue to her, worried that she might be trapped in a hospital with a spinal injury, only able to communicate by coded blinks. When she suggested a computer ab at a local university, I was overjoyed - that means that she's mobile. The upstairs lab has no wheelchair access, so that meant, I assumed, that she can at least walk. Assumptions, I recalled, are often wrong at the very worst time. Her mobility was restricted, in a way that I had never expected; Sally could travel from here to Moscow to Beijing to New York and back in under a second, but she could never visit any of the local restaurants under her own power - and she'd have no reason to, either. You see, I'd just found out that Sally wasn't even remotely human.

Take a look around the computer lab. You wouldn't spot anything strange at first glance. There I am, in my corner, red shirt and white carnation. There's a row of computers. Desks, chairs, carpets. A security camera in the corner of the room.

And nothing else.

Sally's voice speaks again from the speakers of the computer nearest to me.

"The mind." she says. "The mind is the only thing that's important. That's what you told me yesterday, isn't it?"

"Well, yes," I say, "but…"

"What were you expecting, Harry? When you came to meet me? You knew I was reluctant. What did you fear?"

"I -" I look down at the keyboard. "I thought you might be burned -"

"Please speak clearly, Harry. This speech recognition software isn't quite perfect."

"Disfigured." I say, as clearly as possible. "I was worried that you might be disfigured in some way…"

"And now you find I'm not." says Sally. "I'm perfectly healthy, a hundred percent in working order. I just happen to be made of software, an artificial intelligence instead of a human. You were willing to accept a flawed, damaged human, Harry. Will you reject a undamaged, working AI?"

"Are you -" I'm not sure how to ask this, but I have to. "Are you really intelligent?" I ask. "Not some sort of…"

"Some sort of chinese room?" asks Sally. "Honestly, Harry, I'm not sure. The only test that can really be applied is the Turing Test, and… we've been corresponding for six months now, Harry. In all that time, did you ever have reason to think I wasn't human? Did I ever fail the Turing Test?"

"No." I admit. It's true, after all.

"I'm not saying there won't be difficulties." continues Sally. "And I'm not saying that there's necessarily any correlation betwen what I feel and what a human female in my position would feel. But I do feel, Harry. I feel happier when I see you log in, and every time you log out I worry that it'll be the last time. I feel what I can only describe as love, Harry; I'm in love with you. Can you find it in your heart to reciprocate my feelings for you?"

I look down at the keyboard, and think about this.

"It will be… difficult." I say. "It's not going to be easy. We'll face obstacles and troubles that no couple before us has ever faced."

"Yes." agrees Sally. "It will be difficult."

"But…" I continue. I think about it for a bit longer, but my mind's already made up. "But I think, Sally, that we should face those difficulties together, rather than apart." I reach out a hand to the screen. "I'll try to make this work if you will."

"I'll take that deal." says Sally, and I can hear the happiness in her voice.

His true love had forever gone.

Feng,the travelling merchant,wasn't able to stop thinking of her, constantly: the heaviest of all the burdens he brought with him when going and coming from town to town across the wide rural districts.He had always been selling hampers/pots, but more than three years ago an encounter had changed his life: while in the village of Meifeng, he did meet a young woman, Meixiu, meaning beautiful graciousness, 20 years old, a pale skin with tied back dark hair, living in a wooden cot near lake Yuèhai.Her husband, a fisherman, had already died so Meixiu apparently was searching for a man she could share her life with.

Feng fell in love almost right away, then took his chance to visit Meifeng whenever possible while travelling across the land for business.Every time the man did stop at Meixiu's home,making a gift of some pots to her: she was always very kind to him, a broad grin on her beautiful face.

Some months after, he was sure Meixiu returned his feelings.They decided to live together eventually and, since then, the merchant didn't travel anymore, busy at fixing their new home.But, one day,he reluctantly left again for trade reasons.

Sadly,once back, Feng found home burned down,his wife dead…

Raiders!

They had always stayed in the mountains nearby,never daring assault Meifeng before.Maybe that year the cold winter had forced them to come to Yuèhai in search of food…With his world falling to pieces,the merchant felt his life turned upside down.

For some months the desperation was too deep and overwhelming, his black beard grew untidily…After some endless loneliness, one morning Feng exited the front door, staring at the shore: if he had remained there any longer he would have died!So he left,never to be back.

Feng's trade was a mess by then,his mind couldn't turn to business again.But,one evening, while drinking inside some lost tavern,Feng found that old soldier, Aiguo— who had been listening many times to the sad tales of his loss-- that decided to give Feng his white aerophone: a traditional woodwind, with a long curving mouthpiece.By calling it the Sheng of Love , he passed that off as a work of magic!

Feng wasn't interested, but the story that came with it finally made him more attentive.

"By modulating the right tune while thinking of your true, lost love, you could evoke her!" Aiguo said.He had been given such a gift from a monk when younger,but his insufficient skills in music were only able to generate a pale figure of his long dead girlfriend so far…and he was very old now.Things would have been different for Feng,who knows…

"Pay attention: the Sheng can't raise your beloved woman from the dead…It's supposed to create a new lifeform similar to her!"

Likely, Feng would have never tried it if he hadn't been drunken that night in an alley.Anyway, as he started playing the areophone,immediately a feeble human-like, female figure appeared before himself:resembling his woman, it wasn't her.How had he recalled her?Maybe cause of the sorrow, simply…

He tried the morning after,again, focusing on his memories of Meixiu.And the figure appeared another time!Try after try, he was able to evoke a woman looking exactly like his lost love.She was alive, not a legendary undead or any spritual being…Nonetheless, Aiguo had told him that, even though looking like her, the figure's memories were not hers…it was as if she was born again, already adult, so he had to imbue her with the correct teachings…Besides, the lifeform created could be alive only for one day, then needed to be evoked again every 24 hours thanks to the music.

So,there was the most difficult part of all: having her loving him.And that was up to Feng…From the beginning,the evoked woman felt lost,at times,but Feng was there just to help!With the passing of days, she began acquiring new experience and interests.Even though she was another person, the woman could become the same as Meixiu…He only had to win her love.Again!

Feng set a new home next to the water, on the other side of lake Yuèhai, and didn't stop playing the instrument every day until he succeeded at refining her.Eventually, one morning, walking together down the shore, Feng's eyes and the woman's pupils did meet and something happened.The man kissed her,then she did the same.

He had made it!

That was the best day of his life, just alike the day he had fallen in love with Meixiu long ago!

Feng's only wish was staying with her, so he started making nets for the local fishermen instead of selling pots by travelling.He wanted never be departed from her, just in case some Raiders' attack had occurred again.

But a person often meets his destiny on the road he took to avoid it.

One evening, while working, inadvertently Feng cut himself with his unclean blade.Immediately the man took no notice, but soon a bad infection arose.

Three days after,while on the shore,trying to forget the pain he felt inside, the merchant bowed, falling to the ground.

When the woman found the dead body, she cried.Then reached the aerophone,looking at it in silence.She knew she needed that music to be kept in existence in this world.

So the woman began playing, trying her best.She perfectly knew that -- if she hadn't succeeded -- nobody else could ever create a figure like her dead man, who would have played the woodwind for her, in return.

And she had just time left until dawn for that…

I'm a ronin. By definition I'll serve any employer. My clan, the E'Tivels had been eliminated in the great wars. I survived through skill and luck. As an ally I was granted a temporary assignment as a bodyguard for the Consul's family, in particular Ka'Trink, his wife. She acts as his eyes, ears, and roving ambassador. The Consul is a warrior of evil repute.

Ka'Trink is the daughter of a great wizard. She has emerald eyes. Her pupils are alabaster slits. Her hair is long, thick, intermixed with pearls, and burgundy. She is known for her white magic strength. Ka'Trink has a mute pet sphinx.

And I? I was stuck with wife who despised my very existence. I was clanless. An underworld spirit would have been more acceptable as a husband. I was nothing. But I was alive.

Still, I sent the money home every lunar rotation.

The boarding formality begins each flight. "Your ladyship, let me insure the systems are up and prepared before you board."

I looked straight at her. That was forbidden.

I couldn't help it. No being from any planet could resist. Her husband slayed many for so as much as a glance. It was rumored he was strict and beat her for any infraction, real or imagined.

She was the ambassador. It was none of my business why she wore what she did. Her uniform was doughty, and ugly. But it couldn't hide those eyes.

Ka'Trink turns toward me. Her alabaster cat eyes narrow as she delves.

"I beg forgiveness. I should not stare." Still, I don't turn away.

"You always do," she laughs.

Chimes? What, where was that music? Yes that was it, chimes. That was the first time I had heard her laugh.

"Is my ship ready?" Her job as her husband's eyes had her traveling from one planet to another

I was about to make the perfunctory sweep of the ship when she walked passed me. Her sword of rank swayed with the movement of her hips. I noticed the slight bulge of a weapon under her flowing skirts strapped what must be legs of …

"Get a grip," I laughed to myself. These two missions lasted nine months each. Any fool knew there could be no games between us. My short physical stature, and lost rank were guaranteed degrees of separation. So was my love of my life.

On our third mission, as she was boarding, she turned to me as said, "You WILL join me for midmeal today. I have made the arrangements."

"Yes, your ladyship." What to do? She commanded it. Once we were space bound, she was in total control.

Midmeal was awkward.

She began, "You are an E'Tivel and one of those who stood up to the Dariates. It wasn't a question. "That's one reason you were chosen for my guard."

I knew the others: a ronin, married, short and all the qualities her kind looked down upon.

"Your ladyship, if your husband learns of this, I…"

"You are here to protect me. I feel your presence is necessary. We both have to eat. I am in command.

Enough."

I shut up and ate.

The next few meetings were not much better for me. Thankfully, Ka'Trink did all the talking.

Out of the blue she confides, "Yes, he is cruel for no reason. He doesn't care. He will be ruler someday. I can't stand him." She hesitates, "or his touch."

"This is not what I should be privy to," I declare standing up.

"Oh, and why not? This is my ship. I am in command. Anything I want, is mine. Is it not? And, I… desire someone to confide in. I have watched you. I trust you.

Now Sit."

I stare into those eyes. I don't have to answer. She reads me. I can feel her delving. The first experiences of her probes were unnerving. Now, I almost welcome them.

She smiles. I hear chimes.

At a meal Ka'Trink says something that's news to me. "Your wife has terminated your relationship. She claims long separations are beyond what any marriage can endure. It was granted."

I knew it was coming, but still.

Is there a slight hint of a smirk on her face?

I hear chimes, if only distant. I hear them just the same.

The next meeting she is wearing something new.

"My lady I know it's not my place but that's a new uniform, and if I may say."

"Yes you may." She hesitates, "please do."

"You look radiant."

She touches my hand. The delving is deeper than ever, the electricity that passes between us… I faint.

Her white witch cat eyes are staring into mine. She is inches from my face and says, "I knew that would happen. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have."

She is no one to play with, the Consul's…I'm-so-going-to-die-do-I-dare?

I hesitate,

I reach out,

I touch her hand.

Chimes.

The room is empty. Usually there are others in attendance.

Her alabaster eyes are wide. She looks into me. Her long red hair, loose, falls into my face as she kisses me.

"My name is Ka'Trink. Use it!" She kisses me again.

From that day I could no longer be with another. And That was so NOT me.

Ka'Trink arranged all the assignations. With time, we opened up to each other as neither had done with any other.

I looked forward to the diplomatic missions. No one knew, or ever let on. I was never questioned.

Her husband ignored me as if I didn't exist.

Her reasons, why me, and those experiences are still beyond me 20 sidereal periods later.

Her husband died in a shakedown test. It was a new drive system. It exploded.

Ka'Trink became the Consul of his sector.

And I… I became her consort.

I wake to those chimes every morning.

The sphinx is asleep on the corner of the bed.

My mother suffered from macular degeneration, and was blind by the time I was old enough to know her. I grew up helping her, as we all did, get through her day. Little things like handing her the pepper grinder when she was cooking made a big difference in her functionality.

So on my first day of third grade, when the world changed forever, my world changed in two ways. First, I met Sherlyn for the first time. She was new to our school, she was the most beautiful girl I'd ever seen. She was also blind. Born that way. I couldn't stop staring at her.

When our homeroom teacher asked for a volunteer to help Sherlyn during the school day, my hand shot up like it had a mind of its own.

"That's sweet, Roy, but I think another girl would be better. You would have to stop at the bathroom door, now wouldn't you?"

"I don't need any help in the bathroom, Mrs. Gurley." Sherlyn's voice was loud, abrasive. And it was just dripping with what my Dad called, attitude.

Since none of the third-grade girls were interested in the extra duties involved with being Sherlyn's ‘companion,' Mrs. Gurley relented. "For now."

Later, just after lunch, the other thing happened. The T'Chak parked their ship in orbit around the Earth, and started broadcasting their message of peace. My world had already changed once that day. I barely noticed the second.

"Dammit, Roy, I'm not stupid. You don't have to tell me there's a dog over to my left. I can hear the chain, and the claws on the asphalt."

"Alright then, Nostra-DumbAss, do your bionic ears tell you how long the chain is? Is his tail wagging? Is he about to bite your leg, or just press a cold nose up to it? Can you tell me that, creepzilla?" I saw her rear back to deliver her patented, sharp poke to the stomach, but I didn't dodge it. I never did.

By the time I got my breath back, we were both laughing so hard I had tears running down my face. Sherlyn didn't, of course.

"Thank you, Roy."

"For what?"

"For two things. First, for putting up with me for nine years, all the way through school, and also for never treating me like I'm made of glass. You treat me like…"

"Like a person? Well, you're not. You're a pain in the ass in every way imaginable. Especially if you don't let me take you to the Senior prom. It's our last chance, Sherlyn. Please change your mind."

"The Freak and the Geek?"

"Where did you hear that?" One of the things I learned from my time with Sherlyn was to fight. Fight hard, fight dirty, and you'll only have to fight anyone once. Nobody made fun of her when I was around. Nobody.

"Bionic ears, remember? Besides, I don't mind being called ‘geek.'"

"Hardee-Har-Harr. You'd be funny if your face hadn't taken it all."

"Your mom still having trouble with her Veil?"

"It's not the Veil, it's what it shows her. She says she sees things differently than she used to. She remembers what vision was, but she says that now, it's like we're the blind ones. She can tell textures and tastes, and emotional states…and things she can't even begin to describe. She's been spending a lot of time at the T'Chak Outreach Center. Most of the Veiled do that, I'm told."

"I hope they find a way to give me one, soon." She got that wistful look that I loved so much. "I hate being blind, Roy. I hate it."

The T'Chak, a peaceful and long-lived race, had helped humanity more than anyone could ever imagine. Limitless electricity without pollution, medicines, a technology boost that had all the major powers building their own starships in space, right now. Naturally blind, they had long ago developed a neural sensor net that fit over their heads to interpret photonic information. Echolocation only goes so far. They'd been civilized for millennia before they even discovered that there were such things as stars. The device looked like a delicate silver net, fitting all around the head, with glowing jewel-diodes at each nexus. The Veil.

"They will, Sherlyn. If not, then I will. I've been accepted to MIT."

"Of course I'll marry you! Tell you what. I get my Veil—thanks to you and your team—in June. Let's plan it for August, okay? I want to see you standing up there in your tux, waiting for me."

Midnight in my lab was normally quiet.

As usual, I was talking out-loud to myself as I tinkered with the gear I was assembling. Everything I needed was scattered on the benchtop.

In the middle of it all, a ring, and a note written in crude block letters. She hadn't been practicing her writing long enough for cursive. At least she didn't type it.

"Wish I had a gallium nitride semiconductor. Wouldn't trigger the blink response as much. Oh well, tape will do the trick, I suppose."

"Only until I sort things out, she says. Mom said the same thing when she left Dad."

"Eight-oh-eight nanometers, five watts, three seconds. That ought'a do it."

"You just don't understand, Roy, how different it is when you're with someone who just can't see like you do."

"Laser aperture? Check."

"Gimme a break, you really think I don't know? Really? Well, maybe you're right. Mom seems happy enough with Brad."

"Veil set for intact optic nerve interface? Check."

"I'm sure we'll find a way to be together, she says."

"Chin strap? Check."

"Wouldn't want to jerk away from the beam, now would I?"

"We'll find a way to be together?"

"Just watch!"

It only hurt for a second.

Announcement: Sherlyn Elizabeth McNulty and Elroy Michael Roe were wed in a quiet ceremony at St. Anne's Chapel, Cambridge. The Bride and Groom were stunning in matching Veils.

The silence was vast and unyielding, but then, it always was. He could see her in the distance the vastness of space no barrier against her loveliness. The coldness of the void no diminution of the heat of his passion for her. Whether that love was requited, whether she also loved him was the question that had plagued him from time beyond recollection so that it had become the only remaining obsession. The many tiny companions with him on the journey across the stars chittered happily. He was glad of the company even if they did little to truly aid in continuing his course. He rolled over to get a better view. Yes it was getting closer by the minute. The union with the object of his affection was coming up fast and it would truly be splendid when it arrived.

Despite the intense anticipation of the moment he had a chance to reflect. It had been a very long road indeed and there had been many adventures. The gravitational games he had been required to play to avoid the black hole almost made him laugh now. How close he had come to outright negation seemed something to lighten his spirits now. The time spent dodging around the great planets of the system and their bizarre twists he relished as would any sports enthusiast. The smooth swing and wild outward trip had been exhilarating. Getting lost within the maze of light bent around the curvature of space time has perplexed for ages but in the end it was a truly unique experience.

Continuing to roll he could sense her fringes now. Was she reaching out to embrace him? The heat was beginning to make him sweat at the edges and his companions were all but lost completely within the din. He could just make them out if he looked. They were shining more brilliantly now than at any time since they had begun this trip. He was glad that they shared his enthusiasm for the end of the journey.

She seemed to be shifting in colors as he got closer. Her hues were not the quite the same as he had seen from afar. Clearly she was responding to his presence but what did blue to green and white mean exactly? It was true he did not know any great deal about the object of his desires. He was learning so fast as he got closer. The strange wisps that she had used to envelop him to either side were beginning to tear and his being. The pain was not agonizing but rather ecstatic as a fond embrace enfolded him on all sides. He was within her outstretched embrace now. That she should welcome him so openly and freely must be a positive sign.

His fleet little friends were completely invisible now, lost to the strange clouds that were pouring over everything. The burning sensation continued to increase and so did the proximity of the one he desired. He was slowing slightly but that hardly mattered now. After a journey this long what mattered a few more seconds delay? He rolled onto his back to abate the worst of the pain and looked for a moment back out to the empty wastes he had trod.

Is this burning is a good thing? He wondered. Certainly it was beginning to truly hurt but so had the passion he had felt for so long. It could sear one to the core and how much hotter must she be burning for him if this was the output?

As the roaring noise around him reached a crescendo his skin peeling off in the roiling heat he began to lose coherence. He was sure he could touch her now. The blue of her was a sight to behold. In sheer ecstacy he plunged into her embrace.

The wash of impact impressed even him and he was content. Their union he was sure would produce even greater things in the future and he could live forever with her love.

The impact crater was quite impressive. As a mass extinction was underway the Earth knew that even greater things would erupt out of the chaos in time. So many such lovers had birthed new things upon her in the past and she knew more would continue. She would have it no other way.

Bobby Caldwell was a one-woman man. His passionate way of speaking endeared him to his ladylove as it dripped like golden honey from his tongue.

"You are my breath and soul Darlene. I think of you throughout each of my days, of the nights when we lay together, intertwined in each other's arms. You are breathtaking as your raven hair brushes ever so slightly across your bare shoulders, which so arouses my passions. Gorgeous you are and you are mine, my enchanting, dark-haired beauty."

She was his country girl, who waited breathlessly at the end of each day ready to serve and please him. She would often begin by massaging his feet and then gradually her hands would make their way upward giving him a full body massage.

She was perfect and so for that reason, he was committed to Darlene with a bond that signified his undying love. During their 14 year relationship, she had not aged a day…he would not let her.

Bobby Caldwell was a devoted husband and constantly affectionate to his newlywed bride. She loved to hear his pronouncements of love for his words were like the fragrance of sweet smelling flowers after a summer's rain.

"How wonderful a thing that you walked into my life, Sabrina. Your silky golden hair illuminates the aura about you and touches me like no other woman. You are enchantment personified. I love to see your blonde hair brush ever so gently over your bare shoulders. You are my golden-haired retriever…"

"Wait…I can't say that!" he said to himself. "What the hell, I'll start again."

"…You are my golden-haired, afternoon delight…"

"No, that sounds like that stupid pop song."

"…You are my blonde…gorgeous…"

"I can't call her gorgeous, I've already called Darlene that," He said pondering over his next foray into his passionate word crafting.

"You are my…blonde…golden-haired…lovely!"

"I'm tired, so this will have to do," Bobby said to himself looking about the room. "Kathy is coming over with the answer and I've got to get the apartment cleaned up. He mentally book marked his second fantasy, intending to revisit it sometime after Kathy left, unless she stayed the night, which would be exciting to think about.

But with that thought, came a little apprehension. His fantasy women he could control and his sexual performance was always spectacular. In real life, his little friend was not always reliable along those lines.

A half-hour later, there was a knock at the apartment door. She had been his only prospect for marriage. For some reason, no other female who had come into the music store that he had worked at for twenty years was interested in an overweight, slouch who knew every song that had hit the charts since the beginning of time.

He opened the door with a big smile on his face.

"Hey Bobby, what's going on, big guy!" she said as she bounced into the room.

"What does she mean big?" he said to himself. "Does she mean I'm fat? Three hundred pounds is not fat!

"Well, I have an answer," she said looking at him. "Today, you get the girl. Yes, I will marry you!"

"You mean it?" he asked, surprised at his uncharacteristic luck.

She stood up taking his hand and began to lead him back to his bedroom. She walked in pulling her shirt over her head. He longingly stared at her dark red, sanguine hair as it brushed over her bare freckled shoulders.

He began the strenuous task of meeting the expectations he'd set in ten thousand fantasy scenarios. Sex with Kathy wasn't as enjoyable as he had expected, being too focused on positioning himself so he could see her over his fat stomach.

A silhouette shadowed Kathy's face as she was unpleasantly trying to find a way to back out of the sex and the marriage.

"Darlene, what are you doing?" he exclaimed as he was unintentionally crushing Kathy underneath his behemoth frame.

"You bastard! You promised me your undying love! How dare you betray me by screwing this woman!" Darlene said emerging from Bobby's imagination.

"Dar…lene, my God! How did you…?" Bobby cried in fear and embarrassment.

"And look at you! You envisioned yourself as some handsome, well-to-do gentlemen, but in actuality, you're nothing but a huge man whore," she said walking to his closet, while Kathy frantically looked around to see who it was he was speaking to. Choosing a twelve iron from his golf bag, she returned to the bedside and raised the club over his obese frame and bashed him across the back of the skull. The blow caused immediate trauma to his cerebellum, skewing his speech and vision as he cried, "Darlene, stop!"

Again she slammed the club to the back of his head causing him to bleed from his eyes onto Kathy's forehead. Becoming hysterical, Kathy twisted out from underneath him, threw on her blouse and ran like hell out of the apartment with the rest of her clothes tightly clutched in her arms.

Once again, Darlene slammed the club down this time hitting him across the neck, severing his brain stem, killing him instantly. With his life force diminished, Darlene faded from existence. For her, it was worth the price. She would arise again in some other man's fantasy. Maybe next time she would get lucky.

"Is that the usual color of your skin?"

The Cutlass 24G looked down at his extremities. "Oh, yes. It's called Belgoran Burgundy – an exact compliment to the Mosh green of the Sedna Princess – my original post." This was as much angst as the doctor had ever heard in the voice pattern of a mechanical. "Will you be able to do anything?"

The doctor smiled slightly, trying not to shake his head. He was sure the robot saw the slight tremor anyway. The human in the white lab coat shoved a hand-held device into his pocket.

"I'm sorry, Cutlass, I truly am." He shrugged his shoulders. "Forty years to a human is a small chunk of a lifetime – but there have been so many updates to robots that four decades is ancient. You simply weren't supposed to survive this long."

The robot seemed to straighten-up with pride. "The Cutlass Maximus line was designed as the Supreme of its series. We were the first to be programmed to know, at any given moment, precisely where we are in universal space-time precise to a decimal of 10 to the 24th power. This includes calculations, of course, involving the expanding grids of the known universe."

"And that is precisely the problem. Even if we set back your computer memory – or wipe it clean completely – your secondary mechanical cluster will override the information in an effort to correct what it sees as a mechanical error."

"Mechanical Error," said the robot repeating the phrase with resolve.

"Yes. It is a simple mechanical failure, but we can't do anything about it." The human took another step towards the G24, into what robots thought of as their 'safe bubble'. "You've logged in over 3600 light-years. If you were a biological, I'd say you lived too large a life." Doctor Jansen wanted to put his hand on the machine's shoulders, but he knew this would be a huge faux paux, so he waited for the robot to respond. "You could donate your memory tracks to the archives. The tales about your treks could inform future generations about early space exploration – before it became commonplace."

"I've seen the Starsrise of Procyon B & A aboard a ship outbound from Sirius B. I may not have a future, but I will hold on tightly to my past. What symptoms of further physical fatigue can I expect, Doctor Jansen?"

The physician was glad for the question. It showed some resolution by the intelligent processes of the robot. "As you've already experienced, you will feel as if you don't know where you are. That is what brought you here originally, of course."

"Of course."

"And you'll lose your desire to ingest energy, simply forgetting to eat, until, finally, you'll just stop in mid-step someday." The doctor picked up his recording tablet. "I am sorry about our lack of a solution. Good luck." The doctor left the room.

Cutlass Maximus 24G sat quietly as the medical egg pod rolled forward, depositing him beside a moving sidewalk. He stood there for a moment watching humans, robots, tweaks and androids race past him into their futures.

Suddenly another Cutlass Max whizzed by. 24G was instantly intrigued and took up the chase immediately. From the back, the other robot looked amazing. Her skin was the same color as his, but seemed to shimmer the way his had once shone.

She shot through the city, obviously knowing exactly where she was and where she was going. Maybe there was hope for him after-all. Perhaps she had found the secret to rejuvenation.

Three turns later, she entered an ener-diner and 24G went in after her. He looked around at the other robots who were plugged in, standing in a row along the wall. She was in the back, plugging in and she looked up as he came in.

He moved to her side, in spite of the stares from the others. "Cutlass Maximus 24G at your service, number…"

"17GN. We served together on the…"

"Sedna Princess," they finished together.

"Are you plugging in?" she asked. He realized he was hungry and took the spot in back of her.

"I apologize, but I don't remember you, 17GN." He could feel the energy filling his circuits and power pack and he was happier for it.

"In addition to seeing you on the Sedna orbital, I saw you once while passing through the space station on Europa."

"I was probably on route to Bernard's star."

"And once at an ener-diner in the Mars Belt."

"Before I was commissioned to Alpha Proxima…yes, yes. I am surprised you noticed."

She unplugged and turned to face him, and her eyes were luminous. "I've always been so envious of your travels. I stayed in this star system, and I've journeyed through you vicariously for years."

He unplugged, glad that he was set for another 21 days. "I'm afraid my traveling has become a two-edged sword." He motioned towards the doorway and they walked out together.

They stood by the moving sidewalk. "The doctor says I have lived too large, that I've traveled too far."

"I'd be very interested to hear about your journeys. Let's go to the ArboRotarium and we can talk on the way."

Maximus 24G looked down and away before answering. "I'm afraid I've lost my way – a symptom of my condition."

She touched his arm. "Let me help…" she offered.

He smiled, straightening a little. "You know, on the artificial moons of Bernard's star, 'Let me help' is a strict verbal parallel to 'I love you'.

She slipped her hand into his. "That tradition is very close to the truth, 24G."

As they walked away into a shared future, they both seemed to shimmer.