She told me she loved me more than anyone she ever met.
I shouldn't have put much weight in those words coming from a robot
programmed to love, but I did. There was something about her eyes,
her lips. I couldn't get enough of them.
"I love you too honeysuckle".
She giggled. "What's honeysuckle'?"
I told her it didn't matter, it was just a cute word.
That night we were bowling. She had just hit another strike. Five
for five.
"So, leave him", I told her.
Her face fell. She cried that she couldn't. She had no money and
nowhere to go. Besides, she was his property. Someone would have to
buy her from him, and he would never let that happen. She was stuck
in that house with him and his clone-butler.
"Clone-butler?", my ears pricked up when she mentioned it.
"Sure", she told me, "It's common in these parts. He cloned himself
and uses the clone as a butler and companion."
"Honey, it's common all over these days", I told her. I was losing
the bowling game badly, but I was smiling now. A plan was forming.
gemini://cosmic.voyage/Cilix/03_clone_butler.txt