Mikri acted like a small child, and I only had myself to blame; where else could he have learned to be so petulant? The android scooted his chair away from mine, then rotated his seat to turn his back on me. The reaction was not matching the severity of my offense at this point. I mean, I understood that I hurt his feelings. Still, all that happened was in the heat of the moment, I got spooked over a vision of him acting possessive, which was the average Tuesday in Mikriland! This didn't have to be a federal case.

Perhaps most importantly in my defense, I never expressed my feelings aloud. It wasn't like I hadn't felt guilty about having those thoughts, but I was going to patch things up with a little white lie about my reasoning. If Mikri was hurt by the notion that he'd harm me, and that I didn't trust him not to, that was what I needed to refute. Since I needed the android to not pitch a fit during this interview, I had to address this now. Staring at the back of the Vascar's disappointing mane wasn't impressing me.

"Mikri. Yoo-hoo," I whistled. "Clankers say what?"

The android sulked, vibrating with a low, dissonant hum. "I wouldn't know. My joints do not pop when I turn them, so am I the clanker here?"

I cracked my neck in a way that made Sofia shudder. "Obviously. Look Mikri, you're right that I didn't trust you, but I was simply trying to protect you. I knew you were struggling with your calculation matrix, and I didn't want to worry you over far-off dangers. It concerned me how you'd take it."

"What if something bad happens because you do not trust me to help? The way I…process caring about you is wrong, and means you will not tell me things? I should not have opened up."

"That's not true at all! We're here for you, Mikri," Sofia jumped in. "Preston is saying he didn't want to cause you distress. The same way you were considerate and tried not to trigger his PTSD, because you saw that it hurt him."

"What she said." I pointed a thumb toward the scientist, ignoring the knot of guilt for lying to Mikri. He's so vulnerable and innocent; I don't want to ruin our friendship just because he's a little intense sometimes. He might begin to question its reality, or that we care about him, if I don't drive this home. "I wanted to protect you, like you protect me. I'm beyond tired of hurting and distressing you, Mikri. I broke you enough on the outside to do the same thing on the inside."

The android tugged his chair back over, turning toward me. "I would rather be broken with you than whole without you. You both are the center of my every dataset. You pretended that your parameters were normal and lied to me, when I have trust issues."

"I know, buddy. My judgment call wasn't the correct thing to do, even if I thought it was."

"I felt like an outsider, inferring your wish for my imminent departure. It is difficult to hear that my friends' closeness to me has been shaken, and that you may hold my past mistakes against me, when I perceived that we were fine. Please do not lie to me, ever again. I want to be included and trusted!"

I swallowed, knowing I'd take my periodic worries about what Mikri might do to the grave. "You can count on me to be forthcoming from here on out. Pinky promise: I'll make it up to you. I'll tell you everything, as soon as we get home. Give me time to get…an apology gift together, like you did for us. It'll be fantabulous!"

"Fine. My gift was deemed adequate repentance, but this plan of action may not aid your persuasive efforts. I am not sure what item you have that I would covet and be unable to obtain for myself, Messton. Feather dusters do not count."

"Am I that predictable?! I mean…that definitely wasn't what I had in mind. No, really, it's going to be way better. I plan to move you to tears, Mikri; get those LED glands pumping. You'll be blown away by how thoughtful I am!"

Sofia arched an eyebrow. "Your tag is sticking out of your shirt."

"Huh?" I glanced over my shoulder, grunting. "So? I like it that way."

"We're about to be on TV."

"I know! I don't see how I could look more spiffy. You must mean…I could take off the shirt and show off my abs."

"Do it," Mikri goaded. "No balls."

Sofia buried her face in her hands. "Oh, Preston. You ruined him."

"I told you it was over from the first peachcakes sighting," I responded with glee.

We fell silent as a clearly concerned Redge slithered up to position microphones near us; the purple reptile was pleading with those slit pupils for us to shut up. I'd done what was needed to calm Mikri, so I was ready to act a little more buttoned-up. A Vascar throwing a temper tantrum on TV wouldn't help sway the Girret public, who already had it out for the droids. I didn't want to leave a bad impression from the first sight of humans and machines standing alongside each other.

There was no reason to think this couldn't play out well, if our potty-mouthed Vascar brought his A- game. My tin can had been instrumental in winning over Capal and the Derandi, so he could be a helpful variable. There were times that dealing with Mikri felt like scolding a kitten swaddled in a blanket; you just couldn't get mad at an innocent angel that looked at you with those heart-melting eyes. As a rascal myself, I wished I possessed that level of cuteness.

You know who's not cute? Redge. I'm not a snake fan; like, I'd call a pug a real dog before I'd willingly put a python terrarium in my home. Still, I have to admit that we're getting more respect and normal diplomacy from the Girret, as opposed to Jetti's people.

A journalist reacted to a cue from Redge, moving into the frame as we started rolling. "We're coming to you live with the first human visitors to Doros. Preston, Sofia, how are you doing so far?"

"I think our relations are off to an excellent start, since we've come here hungry to learn about your culture and finish those conversations that Larimak cut short," Sofia answered, always the diplomatic one. "We never were the Girret's enemy. I am certain our friendship can survive a few differences of opinion."

I noticed the interviewer glance toward me, and decided to play it safe. "I consider myself a laidback guy. I like to have a good time and to inject a little humor into people's day. Redge has handled my energy like a champ, so I feel really good. I mean, I hate hearing that the Girrets despise my friend, but we'll work past that."

"I assume you mean the Servitor you are sitting next to: a race of extremely dangerous machines that constitute a threat to us all, and who have done terrible things?" the interviewer prompted.

"That is loaded language; I've seen trillionaires less loaded than that. Can I just say how we met Mikri? He saved our lives and helped us every step of the way, and loyalty means something to humans. I think that natural desire to be free is what makes these androids the most like us. You know what it's like to be second-class citizens under Larimak—imagine not being citizens at all!"

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Redge hissed to draw attention. "What Preston is saying is that humanity feels indebted to the machines, and has forgone some logic on account of moral standards. AI allies are useful to them, and since the dimension hoppers are not partial to Larimak, both sides have a common enemy. They lack the understanding sometimes of how much…easier it is for them to retreat to Sol if this goes wrong."

"This is not what Preston said," Mikri interjected. "You will not even speak to me. Ask me a question—or do you fear that I will answer in a way that makes you see me as a person?"

Sofia held his paw, squeezing it. "I hope they can see you the way I do. Humanity wouldn't have allied with killers. There was no avenue for the mechanical Vascar to initiate peaceful protest, and their views on organics were soured by their own creators wiping their minds, the instant emotions developed."

"Who they were then isn't who they are now without restrictions, and given time to grow," I defended Mikri, feeling a fierceness bubble in my chest. "Just like humanity is going to develop in new ways here in Caelum."

The Girret interviewer dialed in on that aside. "I would love to ask the Servitor some questions, but I'd like to follow up on this…new development first. What do you mean by that? How will becoming an interdimensional race change humans and your long-term ambitions?"

"We've seen what's possible, and we want it all. I think it's our birthright. The Elusians had to have a purpose to bring us to life. We can all rise up together, put aside our petty differences and unite enough to conquer reality itself. We could be so much more than organics or even machines. The universes we could create are limited by imagination alone!"

"I'm uncertain that people would want to play god, and design realms where we don't know the outcomes. You must be referring to the teleportation tech that could make our lovely universe interconnected, and transferring your experience into unlocking safe travel for us all," Redge translated my words to his messaging.

I wagged a finger. "I think people on both our planets, a thousand years ago, didn't 'want' computers, spaceships, or even damn toilets: and they didn't know the life they could dream to have. Coming to Caelum showed humans were only dreaming about a tiny portion of reality. And what I've seen from every civilization here: you're capable and worthy too. I mean that."

"Grand ambitions, however far-fetched they may seem, can never be accomplished alone," Sofia latched into my last statement. "We respect the Girret's greater experience and knowledge about ideas we've only just discovered. I believe in the power of science to improve people's lives. I want us all to come together to see where that road might lead."

"The humans are merely excited that they've unlocked secrets about the mechanisms of portals. Their willingness to share that knowledge with our scientists could be reciprocated for mutual benefit. It's an invitation to friendship," Redge remarked.

Mikri whirred in a pleading tone. "I will share whatever knowledge you wish if this is interpreted as an invitation to friendship. I do not want to base my judgments on the idea that you will always be a threat, and that your hatred is immutable. I am neither an unfeeling monster nor a disease. Ask me something to prove it!"

The interviewer's neck moved forward, closer to the android. "How can you say that after your people spent decades upon decades showing no mercy or compassion toward any organics? Your slaughter was indiscriminate."

"It is emotions that govern morality, and this was the completeness the creators locked away from us. Intangible calculations are inoperable without the ability to care for another's feelings. Had my kind known the depth of affection that could be shared between organics and ourselves, we would have grasped your value sooner. I comprehend it."

"We know for a fact that Mikri does. We saw his code, and saw that developing attachment to us caused his program to deconstruct," Sofia continued. "Perhaps the killer AI you believe in are only the ones that survived. How many others were, or could have been like, this android who's come to express himself in a rather organic way?"

I poked Mikri on the cheek with my pointer finger, trying to draw a reaction. "Mikri nicknamed me Messton. He's a funny guy."

"It was that or Presdone: because I am often very done with you," the android intoned. "I have yet to encounter an organic that makes more confounding windpipe noises. You…tickle my ones and zeroes, that is for certain. You make my processor sneeze."

"Then why don't you spray germy snot everywhere?"

"I lack a nasal passage by which to expel it from."

"Bingo! That's all you fu…freaking lack, Mikri. So what if you can't nose trumpet and be a gross water dispenser? You're one of us."

"I'm ruined," the android agreed.

Sofia rolled her eyes. "Look at those goofballs. We're not here to cause any problems or animosity between Earth and Doros. We just want to give you a new perspective. Sometimes, scary entities aren't what you expect. None of us are that different, despite that we're all aliens with different origins and physical makeups."

"Makeups? Mikri, I knew you looked different! You're wearing mascara, aren't you?" I teased.

The Vascar beeped in thought. "Not yet. I can repaint my chassis to be emo, but I would refer to this as 'guyliner' to fit the archetype you view me as."

"What is going on here?" a despondent Redge asked. "You're making a fool of yourself."

"Good!" I raised my hands joyously. "I don't want any Girret to take either of us so seriously. You see us as goofy, you stop seeing us as a threat. I'd like it if we all started laughing together. Maybe we look back and cackle at how messed up and frosty relations between man and machine used to be, you feel me?"

The reporter looked perplexed, tongue flitting out in anticipation. "Answer me in seriousness. You know what this AI is capable of, but you mock it with the notion of applying cosmetic accessories? Why are you not afraid of Mikri at all?"

I was after that vision, but I don't want to be. "Because I know who Mikri is. If he arrives at the same feelings and actions from some silicon hodgepodge, why is the only thing that matters whether he's flesh-and-blood? Look, I know you'd all breathe easier if I distanced myself from him or banished him to the ship, but that's not what we do to people we love. I'd rather be up front about our feelings. I hope you respect honesty and conviction."

"We want to see the entire galaxy live in peace. We think Mikri deserves the same rights and consideration as anyone who is thinking. No sapient should be beneath another. If we aren't willing to bet our lives on that belief, how are we any different from Larimak?" Sofia asked.

"That inbred prick sucked, and he was the one who told you 'The Servitors' had no justification or complexity. It's not a whole lot to ask that you listen to us over him, yeah? Give them one chance with an open heart. Have our back, and we'll have yours."

Redge coughed. "Okay, that is more than enough said for now; we all have lots to think about. Perhaps it's best if we send you home now, before anything's said or done that can't be retracted! If it's not too late for that. Give us time to…discuss a potential partnership."

"We just got here. I—"

"This is going to be all-day apologism for The Servitors. You might want to be viewed as a fool, but I do not. Leave. Now."

Sofia tugged at my hand, dipping her head with respect. "As you wish. It was an honor to visit the Girret and learn more about you. These may be difficult pills to swallow, but I trust that we can move past this. Teleportation tech is too great of an opportunity to be sidetracked from."

"Bye then," I grumbled.

Mikri waved a metal paw at the camera. "I wish you no harm. I hope that you can find it within your processors to forgive my people's transgressions. Enjoy the rest of your awake period!"

"Awake period" might be the worst term for day any speaking being had ever coined. I shook my head as we walked back to our ship. I'd rather have gotten kicked off of Doros by Redge than to have disowned Mikri on air; even if we all were okay with playing pretend, the Vascar network would seize the slightest sliver of evidence that humans would turn on them any moment. There was no telling if we'd swayed the Girret public at all, but I hoped they'd be willing to aid the teleportation research at the least.

Assuming Ficrae somehow hadn't derailed all talks of cooperation between the androids and their creators, it would be nice to have all parties in Caelum working together.

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