Kurt Viemeister had told her that Tricker was being punished for something and that was why he was here. The idea that the abrasive agent was subject to someone else's whim tickled her.
But she didn't actually know whether to be pleased or distressed that the agent was nearby. On the plus side, she knew where he was and what he was doing.
On the negative, he was much too close to Skynet.
Clea glanced at her watch. It was almost time for her to meet Kurt for dinner.
The I-950 was working covertly with Viemeister on his project and had put in a request to make it official. She had every expectation that it would be approved.
Hadn't she laid the groundwork for this long ago?
Her relationship with the human was surprisingly satisfying. He was a brilliant conversationalist and hearing his ideas about how he was planning to create the intelligence that would be Skynet was deliciously exciting. Her computer could barely restrain her emotional responses to him.
Instinctively the I-950 had been reluctant to try sex so far. Though she was mostly meat herself, the act itself had seemed a little
Of course he'd assumed her reluctance was due to her being a virgin. A quaint notion that she'd allowed him to keep. He'd asked her for the information and she'd provided it, finding it somewhat amusing that while it made him no less determined to have his way, it caused his manner to change entirely. Clea had decided it was probably best to let him think of her as young and naive.
It didn't hurt to have Tricker thinking of her that way, too. Especially since he continued to look at her suspiciously when he met her. He had told the I-950 that she resembled someone he'd known, but she sensed that he hadn't yet connected her to Serena.
But she'd been careful to keep her manner and her voice as different from her parent as she could. Still, she watched him carefully. After all, even Serena had been wary of his intelligence.
She hopped from her stool and headed toward the door. So far there was no need for her to do anything about him. When there was a need, she'd find a way. Clea snapped off the lights.
She found Kurt in the cafeteria. Seated alone, as usual. He'd once told her that he'd discouraged the other scientists from socializing with him.
When she'd asked him why, he said, 'Because they're not very bright outside their own little field, and as people they're not interesting.'
So she'd asked him, 'Should I be flattered because you think I'm both intelligent and interesting? Or should I just assume you want to jump my bones?'
He'd laughed and assured her it was the former. She didn't believe him naturally, but took note that he could be diplomatic when he wanted to be.
Now she watched him watching her approach, and something in his eyes evoked a sensation of warmth below her waistband. The scrubbers stopped it, of course, but it had been very pleasant while it lasted. She gave him a smile, bold and shy at once, and kept walking, though with slightly more swing to her hips.
This was going to be an interesting evening. And… well, Viemeister was Skynet's creator, not Skynet… so it wouldn't be
***
Clea was feeling oddly pleased with herself as she went to confront Tricker.
Every now and again a sense of well-being would sneak up on her. She knew that her processors were scrubbing endorphins by the bucket out of her system.
If she'd known sex was so pleasant she'd have tried it much sooner. Though she suspected that the right partner was important.
The I-950 knocked on the agent's door and opened it without waiting for an invitation.
Tricker looked up, his blue eyes unwelcoming. 'Yeah?' he snarled.
Clea gave him a dazzling smile and entered his office, leaving the door open behind her. 'I was wondering if you'd heard anything about my request?' she chirped.
'Which request was that? You're pretty much a never-ending fountain of gimmees.'
She pouted, then smiled at him. 'My request to work with Kurt Viemeister,' she said. 'Has it been approved?'
'You really ought to stay away from that guy,' Tricker said. 'You're kinda young for him, for one thing.'
'We've gotten very… close,' Clea told him, and blushed, smiling at him.
Tricker held up a hand. 'I don't want to know.' He pulled forward a set of papers. 'Your request has been approved. But you'll need to sign these waivers.'
'Really?' she said, taking them and looking them over. 'What's the point of that?'
'So that you'll know how serious what you're dealing with is.' He stared at her, his gaze impossible to interpret.
Clea laughed. 'What are you going to do to me if I tell someone about what I'm doing?' she asked. 'Send me to Antarctica?'
'You never know.' He sat forward in his chair, picking up a pen and offering it to her.
Clea rolled her eyes and took it. She signed the papers and handed them back to him. 'I have another request to make.'
'Surprise, surprise,' he muttered.
'I'm finding it harder and harder to endure being indoors all the time,' she said.
'It's like the walls and ceiling are closing in on me.'
'Hey, baby, it's cold outside,' Tricker quipped.
Clea waved that aside. 'I'm from Montana. Cold doesn't frighten me. But being closed up like this does. I need to get outside. I'd like to combine my time outdoors with a project I've thought up. I want to study some of the seals that live nearby.'
Tricker sighed. He had a steady stream ot scientists wanting to get away from the base. But not one of them had suggested simply going out for a nature walk.
'There are plenty of scientists on this continent studying seals,' he began.
'And it wouldn't hurt anything to have one more.' She looked him in the eye.
'Please,' she said quietly. 'I wouldn't have come to you about this except that it's really becoming a problem for me. I'm just not used to being indoors all the time like this. These other people have probably never been on a hike in their lives. I grew up in the mountains, and they don't call Montana the Big Sky Country for nothing.' She let a few tears wet her eyelashes and swallowed hard. 'I
And she did. Not for the reasons she was alluding to, but to further her plans, to test her new micromachines on a living subject. And hopefully to send messages to her sister through a specially designed radio collar she intended to put on some lucky seal.
Tricker rolled his eyes. 'So submit a request,' he said. 'I'll send it up the pipe.'
'Thank you,' she said, endeavoring to look more misty-eyed than ever.
'Hey, I'm not promising you anything.'
'I know. But if you put your recommendation on it they'll take that into consideration, won't they?'
He just looked at her. She smiled slightly, and lifting her hand slightly, she turned and walked away.
Had she overplayed it? Time would tell. She thought she would get her way in this. If for no other reason than that he'd want to know what she was up to.
