Silent Book: Art of the Thirteen Striking Cobras

Silent Book shut the program down. A sensor had warned
him of an impending overload. This displeased him, but
under the circumstances his exploration of the past would
have to wait while his nano technology performed a number
of much needed maintenance procedures. This was typical
and not alarming. Book put himself into a long sleep mode.
Now that he knew how to access all his memories it seemed
logical to "rest."

The android came online several hours later. He was made
aware that all of his technical problems had been addressed
and that his systems had returned to maximum efficiency.
There were other problems to contend with however. He
left the van but did not return home. For some reason his
disguised hand was something he was not quite prepared
to deal with in the presence of Cindy. The android was
concerned with the possibility that the schoolgirl would
react negatively should she discover he wasn't a human.

Was this what the humans called "stress?" His artificial
intelligence was struggling to process some rather complex
data. He didn't want Cindy to know that he wasn't human.
There were a number of reasons for this desire including
some that were not logical.

He was very curious about this person named Father who
had created him. Would his memory programming reveal
more about this myterious character from the android's
past? Also Silent Book was dealing with the realization that
he was in fact 77.71 percent living organism. Fascinating.

There remained so many questions. Despite the powerful
urge to revisit his memory banks, Book found himself in
direct confrontation with some unusual new program that
must have been initialized while he had scanned his
memory files. Book felt vaguely annoyed when some of his
internal sensors fed him data that hinted of the emotion
humans called fear. This could absolutely not be a positive
development and made him question his curiosity where
his "hidden" files were concerned.

Certainly he shared a common characteristic with humans;
he was, for the most part constructed of living tissue. It
wasn't flesh and blood but it wasn't machine either...at least
not all of it. A program came online and suggested that it
might be helpful if he talked to someone...anyone. For an
android this sensation was quite alarming but Silent Book
suppressed his misgivings and went in search of some
person who could serve as a temporary companion.

The question was: who would adequately meet his present
need? After reviewing all available data he walked towards
the park. It was a beautiful Sunday morning, unseasonably
warm. He hoped no one would take notice that he wore
gloves. After a complete, unproductive search of the park,
the android sat on a bench and attemped to "think."

"Silent, is that really you?" Belinda was still some distance
away but the auburn haired beauty approached rapidly. Her
face was red and she appeared out of breath. "Oh man, you
got to get your ass out of here...there are some really bad
people looking for you my friend."

"Very well," Silent Book replied. "But where do you suggest
we go?"

"Believe it or not, I haven't been sleeping in the laundry for
the last couple of days. I used some of the money you gave
me to rent a room for a week. It ain't much but I think we
can be safe there if we hurry and nobody sees us leave the
park." Belinda took his hand, his good one, and they slipped
into the concealment of the trees. "This way," the girl said.
"What's the deal with the gloves?"

"I'll explain later, its complicated," the android replied.

The room was in a seedy motel about two miles from the
park. The couple entered quickly as Belinda shut and
locked the door...after a quick look around to see if they'd
been followed. "I think we're OK," she declared. "I've been
thinking about you a lot lately. I know its stupid since we
hardly even know each other."

Belinda turned on the room's tiny audiovisual set and flipped
through the channels. "Wait," Book said. "Would it be Ok
if we watched the Beauty Channel?"

The girl shrugged and punched the remote until she found
the proper setting.

She lit a cigarette and they sat there watching some model
get her hair done. Neither said much of anything for awhile.
Belinda struggled to recall something they had in common
to talk about while puzzling over why the boy should be so
damned interested in watching someone get their hair done.
She was becoming a bit pissed at the way her new friend
was totally ignoring her.

"I'm going to get a shower while you enjoy yourself," she
said at last and crushed the cigarette butt with more than
a little irritated agressiveness. Silent Book didn't seem to
notice the gesture but he did look up unexpectedly.

"Do you want me to come along with you?" he asked.

Belinda brushed her hair away from her pretty violet colored
eyes. "Huh, why would I need you to follow me while I go
take a shower?"

It was Silent Book's turn to exhibit a hint of puzzlement on
his handsome features. "I just thought that maybe you
needed me to stand there naked while you showered. You
know, to help while you masturbated or whatever? That is
what girls do while they bathe, right? I wanted to talk but
I guess it can wait."

Belinda stared at the boy; she was having a bit of a hard
time processing what he'd just said. As bizarre as his words
had seemed, one thing stuck in her mind...the bit about him
getting naked for her. "I'm a virgin Silent, and I intend to
stay that way. Don't ask me why because I can't explain it
totally. I think that maybe its just that I've had to give up
so much of myself that its kinda nice to have something
that's still mine. I know you must think that I'm a little bit
crazy, especially after I offered to suck you off and all that."

"What has that to do with me helping you masturbate? It's
perfectly natural and very pleasurable. Don't you agree? I
do it occasionally myself."

Belinda rolled her pretty eyes ever so slightly and bit her lip.
"What is it about you anyhow that's so fucking different. I
think you are trying to tell me that you want to play with
yourself while I do the same thing? That actually sounds
kind of sexy in the weirdest kind of way. What the fuck, I'm
in...I'd be a damned liar if I said I didn't want to see what you
got coiled up inside those tight ass jeans."

The android followed the girl into the bathroom. "I want to
keep my gloves on if you don't mind. I guess it's sorta like
that thing you have about staying a virgin."

"You are one weird ass dude Silent, but I can dig weird if it
comes in a smokin' hot package; and since we're speaking
of packages, drop your pants. I want to see that big cock
and I want to see it right now you bastard." Book lowered
his pants and underwear. He had become accustomed to
seeing the huge erection that sprang out proud to be finally
free. He initialized inebriated mode and his dick swelled to
even greater size. Belinda's eyes flew open wide and she
licked her lips instinctively.

Within seconds both android and human were naked save
for the one glove. Belinda didn't bother asking why, her
breath was coming in gasps as she reached out for the boy.
He put his arms around her while being careful to not touch
her with his bogus hand. She sighed and melted against his
rock hard frame. Her hand went to his cock while her pubic
mound ground against his muscular thigh. Belinda stroked
the big dick and squeezed it tightly in her little fist.

"Oh dude," she moaned in appreciation as he kissed her
slender neck. "I want to be fucked with that more than you
know but I'm so scared of being used again."

"I understand entirely," Book replied. He used his perfect
white teeth to pull the glove off his good hand. His fingers
found her steaming hot bush and he pinched her clitoris for
only a moment before the girl tensed with her first orgasm.
"Uhhhhhh," she grunted as waves of intense electrical
sensation swept down her long shapely legs. "Oh shit, you
made me cum so damned easy you disgusting bastard."

Frantically Belinda worked the shaft of the android's long
phallus. She was determined to make him blow his load
before she might succumb to the overwhelming desire to
feel his dick shoved deep into her virgin womb. Silent Book
was hardly used to the sensation of having his cock fondled
by a semi-professional and he didn't last long.

Belinda watched in wonder as at least a dozen streams of
warm cum spurted from the purple head of the big cock.
She squeezed his nutsack with her free hand until it was
finally emptied and the fat love muscle gradually relaxed in
her firm grip. "Wow," was all the girl could say. "I'll need
at least a dozen birth control pills before I can let you fill
my pussy with that much cock milk. You could probably
make a rock pregnant with loads like that."

"I've had a lot on my mind lately," Book grunted.

"Yeah, no doubt that little high school trick Cindy Collins
has been teasing the fuck out of you. Has she been sucking
your dick? Don't lie to me Silent, I deserve the truth."

"Why does it matter, I don't understand. My cock is entirely
reusable."

Belinda didn't particularly like the boy's answer but she
kept her emotions in check. "Whatever, anyhow you're with
me right now. You could easily prove how much you really
care by licking my pussy. Lick my cunt, you weird horny
bastard."

The android nodded and got on his knees just in front of
the skinny redhead's lush, thick auburn bush. She grabbed
her boobs and squeezed the hell out of them as his tongue
skillfully entered her moist box. "Uhhhhhhhh!" Belinda
moaned and soon found herself cumming again, and again,
and again. She had her little ass planted on the vanity
where she squirmed feverishly. Her knees were up high and
tucked beneath her arms. Book's internal intell informed him
that her positioning was most efficient. This greatly pleased
the logical, mechanical side of Silent Book. He intensified
his pleasuring technique with predictable results. Several
hours of wonderful sex continued between the lonely,
melancholy girl and her robot lover.

Silent Book decided to leave Belinda's place early the next
morning at least an hour before dawn. He needed to go
to his van. For some reason the android realized that his
desires were undergoing an unusual series of variations.
Sometimes he desired the companionship of humans and
at other times he felt the need to be with machines. He
would have to try and research the reasons behind this
entirely illogical behavior later.

"I really wish you'd stay here with me," Belinda pleaded as
her small hand anxiously stroked the android's muscular
arm. "I know it's crazy and I apologize for saying it, but I
think I'm starting to have real feelings for you."

Silent Book nodded and put his hand on hers. "I understand
how you feel," he lied, though not completely. "However,
I'm sure my being here is putting you in danger. It's best
that I go now. I'll get in touch again later on when things
have cooled down a bit."

"The word on the street is that some really gnarly gangster
types want you dead. I don't know why, you seem so nice,
but there's a lot about you that I can only guess at. Where
will you go that's safer than here?" Belinda felt extremely
reluctant to let go of her new lover.

"I have a very secure place to stay where I won't be putting
you...or Cindy in danger." Book placed five hundred dollars
in the girl's hand.

Belinda became agitated, "I'm not a whore, well actually I
am, but I'm not your whore Mr Silent Book. Please keep your
money...you don't owe me a thing."

"NO, I want you to find a better place farther away from this
area. When you get settled, find a computer and send me
an e-mail." He wrote the address down on a small bit of
paper. Then he hugged her and slipped out. He hurried at
once back to his van. It was time to revisit his past. He
would concern himself later with the gangsters on his trail
and the mysterious woman who'd chopped off his hand.
Oddly, the stump almost seemed to be changing. If his
programming hadn't taught him differently he would almost
swear that it was beginning to grow back. Then it hit him...
he was 77.71 percent plant! Maybe it was possible that the
hand would grow back, or at least something similar to a
hand? Utterly fascinating. He examined the stump more
closely, yes...he could even see tiny bumps which logically
promised to be new fingers. Incredible.

The electronic machinery that surrounded him inside the
van made the android feel very comfortable. He knew then
that he needed to always stay in touch with his mechanical
side. He liked the familiarity and logic that contrasted so
starkly with the unpredictable though exciting activities
that humans involved themselves with...like sex. He could
not deny that sex was something he was beginning to enjoy
very much. A program reminded him that this was illogical
and perhaps a dangerous mode of thinking. Book shut the
program down and wondered if he could delete the annoying
loop altogether. Perhaps later.

One by one Book shut down various parts of his many
conscious functions until he was immersed once again in
his own past memories; and what a strange journey this was
all proving to be.

/[/[/[/[/[/[[/[/[/[/[/[/[/[/[/[/[/[/[/[/[/[/[

Silent Book watched Kitty as she worked on M99's head.
He had to admit that she appeared to know what she was
up to. Logically, he could not see what use an android's
head could be but he calculated an 87 percent probability
that this activity mostly served to give the pretty blond girl
something to do with her time. Time was something they
had an excess of, at least until the Xobanard returned. The
probability of that occurring was at least 99 percent. The
chances of them surviving such a visit was only slightly
lower.

"I've just about got it I believe. The secondary battery
located inside his head is still functional and it likely has at
least another good twenty years charge on it. If I've rewired
this thing correctly we should know something as soon as
I've finished smoldering this last set of wires. Fuck, these
are some tiny little bastards too. Just about done..."

No sooner had Kitty spoke than M99's one remaining eye
flew open. It focused immediately upon Silent Book.

"Why in hell aren't you at your position soldier? I must have
shut down there for a moment. Did you see me get hit...
how bad is it? Dammit soldier, answer me!"

Same old M99, still thinking he was back in the robo-corp
instead of being little more than low end, expendable
security. "Actually Sir, it's my duty to inform you that we
have been able to salvage only your head...I'm afraid the
rest of you has been destroyed."

"Well dammit boy! Gather up some pieces of other out of
service units and give me another body. Now get your tin
ass moving."

"I'm afraid that may be impossible. The Xobanard have
done a very thorough job of completely destroying all
elements of every android they found...we were lucky to
find your head still intact; and if you don't stop bossing my
friend Silent Book around I will shut you down and use
your head for a coaster."

"Who the hell is she 627-A9081? And who is this Silent Book
character she's ranting about?" M99 still had enough of his
neck left to enable him to rotate his head for nearly 360
degrees. He rapidly looked all about, attempting to fully
comprehend the situation. He was not one who liked being
out of the loop. No way. "And what the fuck happened to
my other visual scanner? Can't you people fix anything
correctly?"

Silent Book did his best to manually feed data to the angry
head of M99. "This lady is Kitarra, you can call her Kitty.
Thanks to her, your present, albeit limited ability to function
has been restored. She's the last human still alive on this
planet as far as I've been able to determine. I suppose that
puts her in charge. Therefore you'd best start referring to
me as Silent Book. That's the name she choose for me.
We also have a canine named Spot. The Xobanard defeated
us entirely and no one, nothing else remains, save for what
you see here. It appears that our mission is still viable
because there remains a human for us to protect. Any
advice you could give me would be very much appreciated
I'm sure. In your present, low functioning condition, I will
not expect much more of you."

"I see," M99 said after a pause. "How did you mange to
survive in such prime condition?"

"A building collapsed on me. It took a long time but at last
I managed to dig myself out. Later I found Kitty and Spot...
and you."

Kitty joined in, "we'll continue to search for suitable
replacement parts Mr M99. In the meanwhile I think you'll
be called Ulysses...remember what he named himself in
order to trick the Cyclops? Nobody. Get it, no body?"

M99 turned his lone visual unit on the girl accusingly.
"Humor is not part of my programming. However, that is
precisely the point of your using irony in regards to my
"name," isn't it? I hope my condition has provided you both
with a degree of levity."

"Sorry," Kitty said and shrugged. She brushed a strand of
long blond hair away from her pretty face before continuing.
"I guess I maybe needed a little something to lighten things
up around here. I mean to say it's not often a teenage girl
finds herself all alone on a planet totally controlled by those
sadistic Xobanard jerkwads." A hint of a tear formed in the
girl's eyes. Spot rubbed his nose against her knee. "I guess
it's just you and me little guy," the girl said. "My great idea
about a nursing career is certainly shot all to hell it would
seem."

"No, you have me. At least parts of me are alive," Silent
Book said in an effort to reassure the woman. A sliver of
his human interaction programming reminded him of how
insecure humans could be...especially the females. "And
you certainly nursed M99, I mean Ulysses, back to health.
At least he's as healthy as can be given the circumstances."

"And you have me as well," M99 chimed in unexpectedly.
"Ulysses is a fine name. My memory banks informed me
that he was a great and clever warrior. I am therefore well
satisfied with such a notation. I also pledge to complete my
mission and do all I can, albeit I'm uncertain how, to help
you stay alive in spite of our hostile situation, dire though it
be."

Kitty stood up and dusted off her dungarees. "Well, no point
in having a pity party. I'm open to suggestions as to what
we're going to do now. Is there any way to contact a
passing ship and get them to take us off here?"

"Regrettably, the possibility seems remote. The Xobanard
are admirably thorough. Any ship passing through this
quadant lacking Xobanard coding in total compliance with
their strictest authority would be destroyed on sight. The
aliens are a very paranoid race to be sure." Ulysses was
not one to sugarcoat a complex problem. Book suppressed
a program urging him to emit a human-like groan.

"We could steal an Xobanard ship," Silent Book suggested.

Everyone was silent for several seconds as they attempted
to process this rather radical idea. Even Spot lay down and
stared at Book as if the android was an alien with twelve
heads.

Book's idea made his former commander plainly irritable.
"We'd have to find an Xobanard outpost which shouldn't be
all that difficult...if we can find decent transportation first.
Then we'd need to somehow infiltrate the base without
being detected by their devilishly ingenious security devices
and sounding an alarm. After that we'd simply need to steal
a ship and acclimate to its technical specs, determining
if said ship would support human life forms. Then we would
only need to freely fly our way out of the quadrant without
getting annihilated by any Xobanard warbirds that chanced
to hail us. My internal calculations suggest a success
probability for this mission of at least .0008 percent."

Ulysses blinked his single eye as if putting an exclamation
point on his low opinion of Book's idea.

"Great, let me think on it awhile. Who know? Maybe
I can come up with some bizarre plan that promises
a remote likelihood of success." While her words
sounded hopeful, Kitty's eyes suggested otherwise.
"Let's look around and find a bottle of good booze. I
need to get good and wasted."

"Don't just stand there 62...err, Book. Help the woman
find what's she's looking for." Silent Book was
beginning to regret finding the other android's head.
Perhaps he would get rid of the annoying thing at
some point in the near future. He struck out alone in
search of some half destroyed liquor store. Kitty fell
in beside him. No one had bothered to pick up
Ulysses. "Keep an eye on things here until we get
back," the girl commanded. The head's single eye
blinked angrily and swiveled from side to side as if
in search of invisible legs.

The next morning, while Kitty slept off her drinking
binge, Silent Book decided to go alone and explore the
surrounding countryside. Ulysses would contact him
if any trouble arose. They were linked through an
internal communications capability. It was wholly out
of character and entirely illogical, but the youthful
looking android wanted to be alone. With any luck he
might stumble upon the location of the Xobanard's
base of operations. He did not totally disregard the
program that had suggested the bold move of
stealing an Xobanard ship. In any case, it was clearly
obvious that no other method of escaping Celine 3
was likely to present itself, at least there were none
that he could easily calculate with even his most
advanced programming.

Book wanted to help Kitty get off this horrible planet
if at all possible. A human being deserved much
better than this.

Father had been a human, a scientist from Earth no
less.

Silent Book knew that humans were far from perfect,
but at the same time most possessed an innate
nobility. They could demonstrate kindness, love, and
compassion. Father had taught him that these were
very important qualities; in fact they were easily the
most important attributes in the universe besides life
itself. Father was a very good man. When the leaders
of Earth threatened to make him cease his radical
experimentation with advanced android/plant hybrids,
he had realized it was only a matter of time before
Silent Book would have been confiscated and likely
destroyed. This was not acceptable to Father who
had originally created Book to be something like a
son for the lonely genius.

With his supreme mind Father went to work. He soon
created a fraudulent identity and gained access to
an Elessonorian android staging area. There Father
stole an Elessonorian police droid and replaced it
with Silent Book.

This had been an ingenious plan and the scientist's
great creation had been saved...at least temporarily.
Father distrusted the Earth government because not
only had his special android been constructed of
mostly real living plant tissue; Silent Book had also
been programmed with an incredilby complex series
of commands that had, for all practical purposes,
given the android a real imagination...imperfect as
should be expected of any prototype, yet still highly
functional none the less!

Throughout the universe an act such as this would
of course be viewed as the ultimate crime despite being
considered impossible...merely a theoretical dream.

Machines with imaginations, which might produce
real, human style emotions, could be the seed that
would prompt a takeover of the entire galaxy by
mechanical beings. Every world's leadership felt
extremely uncomfortable with this unlikely, yet much
dreaded possibility. Heavy restictions were placed
on all scientific reasearch related to this area of
robotics development. Even advanced pleasure bots
were limited in terms of self advanced artificial
intelligence.

Father had purposely given Silent Book only a vague
understanding of many of the highly imaginitive
concepts that figured into his development. This was
partly for Book's own protection and partly to enable
the android's "growth." Father knew, that give time
and real life experiences, the android would perhaps
eventually learn all...at least that seemed to be the
plan. Father had had regrets about what he'd did but
he'd accomplished his greatest dream just the same.
Silent Book searched for internal data concerning
what had happened to his creator but on that subject
there was essentially nothing available. What the
android did find was an urgent, unexplained desire
to return to Earth someday and personally conduct a
search for this great but myterious man.

The android wanted to save Kitty and save himself
in the process. He was not afraid of destruction but
he preferred to delay his demise until that time when
his many questions had been answered. The circuits
in his head buzzed with calculations that hopefully
would somehow make his "dream" come true. He
would know more of the man who had called the
android "my boy."