The Power of Passion
Tremorton High School was as quiet as ever on this bright, but uncomfortably cold winter morning. Students hustled back and forth between classes, each wearing jackets to protect them from the chill wind that swept through the hallways. One student, however, needed no jacket.
Jenny walked with her friend Brad, chatting companionably and holding her school books in the crook of one metallic arm. "I don't know why you're so worked up Brad, if you studied then you're ready for the test. All the answers are right in the books."
"Yeah, but unlike you, I don't have a photographic memory." Brad replied. "Human brains are more like sponges. You pour a bunch of water on it and hope enough water gets caught to do what you need to do with it." Brad took a moment to wave to another student as she passed them in the hall. He stopped when he saw a small group gathered near one of the lockers. "Looks like the rumor mill has another victim."
"Rumor mill? Victim?" Jenny stopped and stared at Brad, scratching her head. "What's a rumor mill and what does it do to people?"
"They spread slanderous stories about people to make others not like them as much." Brad gave Jenny a sly look. "I'm going to see who's getting it this week. If I don't come out in ten minutes, presume me laughing too hard to move." Brad moved into the crowd and pushed his way inside, vanishing from sight. Jenny stood outside the circle of students, trying to catch a glimpse of Brad.
"Brad? Are you okay?" She crossed her arms, waiting for her friend to emerge from the constantly murmuring pile of students. She was able to catch snatches of conversations, a word here and there, but there were far too many to make any of them out clearly. "Brad?" She blinked in surprise when the group suddenly dispersed. "Huh?"
"Don't take up the entire hallway, android." Jenny whirled to see Brittany and Tiffany Krust standing behind her, staring at her balefully. "There are REAL people who have to use it." Brittany smirked and put her hands on her hips. Jenny narrowed her eyes, but moved out of the way to let them move past her, eyeing the students in the hallway but not saying anything else until they were gone.
Jenny blinked in confusion as Brad walked up to her with a solemn look on his face. "What's going on Brad? Was the rumor as funny as you hoped?"
Brad shook his head and stuffed his hands on his pockets. "Not really. Supposedly, Brit is pregnant." Brad told her as they resumed their trek through the hallways. Jenny looked at him in surprise.
"Pregnant? Who's her mate?" Jenny asked. Brad gave her a curious glance. "The shows on the discovery show said a female needs a mate to get pregnant."
"Well yeah, they do. And nobody knows who it is." Brad replied. "And please say 'boyfriend' instead of 'mate'."
"Boyfriends make girls pregnant?" Jenny blinked in confusion. Brad looked over at her incredulously.
"You don't know how babies are made?" He exclaimed. Jenny blushed a soft blue color, shaking her head. She got the feeling she should have known, but honestly had never thought about it. Brad rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Jenny... you know I'm your friend and I've never refused to tell you anything you wanted to know... but ask your mom that one." He rushed ahead of her toward their classroom. Jenny scratched her head and followed, wondering why he refused to talk about it...
The class went as normal, until it let out and Jenny set off down the hall alone toward her next class. She wasn't in the mood to walk with Brad at the moment... she needed to find out what it was that Brad refused to tell her. And she knew one person who would be smart enough to tell her what was going on...
She found Sheldon in the metal shop, shaping a small piece of steel into what looked like a small ring. "Sheldon, can I ask you something?" Jenny asked. Sheldon looked up in surprise, then closed his hand around the steel object. A small 'meep' sound escaped his throat as a plume of smoke rose from his hand, but he shoved it into his jacket pocket and planted a smile on his face.
"Y... yes... anything you need Jenny." Sheldon spoke through clenched teeth and pulled his hand out of his pocket. There was a large red welt in the middle of his palm where the steel had seared into his flesh. Still he had a grin plastered on his freckled, somewhat homely face.
"Are you okay?" Jenny quirked one eyebrow.
"I'm fi... FIRE!" Sheldon leapt up when the pocket containing the metal burst into flames. He whipped his jacket off and threw it to the ground. Jenny grabbed a nearby glass and threw it on the blaze, putting it out in a puff of smoke before it could spread any further. "Whew... thanks Jenny. Now, tell me what you need." Sheldon sat down on a nearby stool.
"Uh... no problem..." Jenny shook her head and sat on the stool beside his, holding her hands in her lap. "Well, you're a smart person Sheldon, how do humans have babies?" Sheldon gave her a curious look. "I know human girls carry the babies, but how do the eggs get fertilized without leaving the body? And what do boyfriends have to do with it?"
Sheldon's face turned bright red and he gulped, looking down at the floor. "Well... h... human procreation... is a simple matter really..." He gulped and looked at her. "How much do you know of human anatomy Jenny?"
"I know the functions of every part of the human body... I think." Jenny scratched her head. "I think there are a few blank spots now that I think about it. There's nothing in my database concerning reproduction."
"I guess your mom was as nervous about it as I am..." Sheldon coughed and settled down more firmly on his stool. "Well, as is often the case, the girls have the eggs and the boys have the... er... 'fertilizer'..." His face was bright red. "The boy... injects the fertilizer into the girl's womb... where it fertilizes the egg. The baby is incubated inside the mother to emerge later."
"Injects with what? Where is the womb?" Jenny asked.
"Injects... with..." Sheldon looked like he would rather be anywhere else at that point, staring at the ground and tapping his hands against his knees nervously. "Injects with the... the... penis... into the girl's vagina... th... the womb is inside the vagina..."
"Ooohhh..." Jenny blinked and stared at him. "That sounds like it should hurt a human girl, being injected into and all."
"I wouldn't know..." Sheldon blushed again, even brighter if it were possible. "But they say it only hurts the first time..."
"So Brit had a boy inject her with fertilizer... because she wanted a child. I think I understand, if she wanted a child she can't be as bad as I thought she was." Jenny stood up, having confirmed what she wanted to know. Sheldon looked up in surprise as she headed for the door. "Maybe I can help her raise the child as friends instead of enemies. It could be fun."
"Hey wait Jenny, it doesn't necessarily mean..." Sheldon's voice faded behind her as she rushed down the hall, anxious to look for her. She'd never held a real baby before... well not when she wasn't surrounded by laser fire or carnage anyway. She was anxious to see what it was like.
She found Brittany and Tiffany heading down the hall toward their next class, together as they always were. They stopped when they noticed Jenny approaching. "Oh, it's you again. What do you want?" Brittany asked.
"Brit, I want to be friends with you." Jenny exclaimed. The Krust cousins exchanged a strange glance before turning back to her. "I know you don't like me for... whatever reason... but if you want to have a child then I want to help. I'm all about helping people. It'll be fun!"
"Want to have a child? At my age?" Brittany asked incredulously.
"Of course... why else would you have a boy inject you?" Jenny asked, a bit embarrassed, as if there was something she should have known already but didn't. Tiffany narrowed her eyes dangerously while Brittany stepped forward, flicking Jenny in the nose with one finger. It didn't hurt, but a metallic clang rang through the mostly empty hallway.
"The world must be so simple to a THING who sees nothing but zeros and ones." Brittany had a smug smirk on her face as she stared down the tall, metallic robot. "The world isn't so simple for PEOPLE. Machines can't solve... or even comprehend... some problems." She turned away from Jenny abruptly and walked off. Tiffany shook her head and turned away from Jenny to follow her cousin.
The robot stared after them, putting one hand over her mouth. "What don't I get...?" She asked herself softly. She looked up in surprise as the bell rang to signify the beginning of the last class period. "Oh no, I'm late!" She took off down the hall to find the appropriate classroom.
Hours later, Jenny left the school with a sigh and a slight slump in her shoulders. She turned her head to see Brittany and Tiffany heading off toward their own home, leaving the school behind. It seemed like Brittany didn't have the usual arrogant gait in her step that she normally did. Instead it was like a heavy weight was holding her down. The light stoop of her shoulders, the barely noticeable dragging of her feet, her head bobbing up and down in an almost imperceptible manner. Jenny's robotic eyes and attention to detail captured it all.
"Still thinking about that pregnancy thing?" Brad asked as he walked up behind her, his gaze following hers. "If I were you I'd just forget about it. They've never done a thing for you but try to bring you down." Brad turned to walk toward their homes, and Jenny turned to follow behind him, clasping her hands behind her back.
"Maybe... but Brad, I have another question. If someone doesn't want to have a child, why would they have a boy fertilize their egg?" Brad blinked and gave her a blank, yet slightly amused look. "Sheldon explained it to me..." Jenny blushed.
"Figures." Brad rolled his eyes and shrugged, jamming his hands into his pockets. "Sometimes people do things that seem like a good idea at the time without thinking of the consequences. You know, because they feel good..." Brad trailed off suddenly and looked at her. Jenny was staring up at the sky, her eyes half closed. There was that damned word again... 'feel'. However often she tried to feel anything, it always ended in disaster. "Sorry." Brad told her.
"Hey, I asked." Jenny flashed her friend a quick smile. They walked on in companionable silence until Jenny's chest-plate opened up suddenly, and a three-dimensional image generator extended before her. Her creator and mother was all business as she spoke in her usual accent.
"XJ-9, you're needed down at the library. A group of Harry Potter protestors have gotten out of control, and the police are swamped." Mrs. Wakeman told her urgently.
"I'll be right there." Jenny's image generator slid back into her chest before her chest-plate closed again. "I'll see you later Brad."
"Later." Brad waved her off as her pigtails swiveled around and a pair of flames shot out of them. She roared through the sky, scanning the ground below her for any signs of the reported disturbance. She spotted the library in the distance, and sure enough a group of protestors in thick jackets were milling about frantically like a pile of ants attacking their own anthill. The sky was muted thanks to the clouds overhead, giving the entire scene a blueish hue that made it look more like paintings she'd seen than a real life occurrence. The police desperately trying to keep order, however, reminded her that it was very real.
Jenny landed lightly nearby, the jet engines retracting once again into her pigtails. The writhing crowd in front of her was compounded by cries and screams to be heard. Jenny lifted her right arm, which split in half to let a small bullhorn rise to her lips. Several more sprouted in front of that one, forming a solid line. "KNOCK IT OFF!" Her voice echoed through the streets, drowning out the sounds of the crowd.
Everyone fell silent and turned toward her as the line of horns withdrew back into her arm. "What is all of this about? It's just a book, it's not like it's hurting anyone."
One of the women in the crowd smirked and huffed. "Like you would know what it's like to watch our children be exposed to such things. What it feels like to know that their minds are being corrupted no matter what we do!" Several others cheered in agreement, to be joined moments later by the rest of the crowd.
"Maybe, but I know that violence is wrong!" Jenny retorted.
"You can't judge us, so stay out of this!" Suddenly a steel pipe flew out of the crowd, slamming into Jenny's head and knocking her off balance in surprise. Before the pipe even touched the ground, the rest of the crowd rushed forward, slamming into her like a title wave and knocking her to her back on the hard concrete. he roar of the crowd came from all around her, screams of anger and revenge as feet slammed into her from every side. She felt no pain, her metal didn't even move now that she was braced against the ground, but the blows still seemed to hurt regardless.
Jenny pushed herself to her feet. "Stop it... please stop, I don't want to hurt anyone!" Jenny raised her arms quickly to shield her eyes from another oncoming pipe. Suddenly, the crowd fell silent and backed away from her. The robot blinked in confusion and slowly lowered her arm. A soft gasp escaped her throat when she saw a young man lying on the ground several meters away, surrounded by the crowd, which was staring at her in shock.
"N... No... I..." Jenny stumbled frantically as the police managed to get through the crowd to check on the boy. Jenny walked around frantically, but the crowd kept moving to keep their distance. "It was an accident! I didn't mean to hurt him!" Another police officer made his way over to her with a solemn look on his face. "You've got to believe me officer, I wouldn't..."
"I know." The officer smiled and put one hand on her shoulder. "We saw the whole thing, and we know you wouldn't do it on purpose." He looked around at the hateful looking crowd. "But you'd better leave, before the situation becomes even more tense. We can take it from here. Thanks for your assistance." The officer gave her a kindly smile and a polite nod before turning to check on the boy.
Jenny looked around at the crowd, then extended the engines in her pigtails and took off, flying through the air as fast as she could. "What just happened down there... I've saved this city more than anyone, why did they hate me?" She sighed. So many question were popping up now... so many questions to which she had no answers. She didn't even know how to get those answers.
Her chestplate opened and her image generator extended, with a rather solemn looking Mrs. Wakeman staring at her. "XJ-9, would you return home for a little while? I want to run a diagnostic to see if there are any malfunctions in your systems."
Jenny sighed again. She didn't feel anything wrong with herself... aside from overwhelming confusion. Still, she wasn't one to disobey her mother. "I'll be right there..." The image generator retracted into her breastplate and she turned to head home. She landed in front of her house and walked inside. She found her creator standing in front of her laboratory door, giving her a disappointed glare.
"Come inside XJ-9." The woman gestured to the back room and stepped aside. Jenny walked past her.
"I didn't mean to do it..." Jenny said as she climbed onto the table obediently so her creator could strap her down.
Mrs. Wakeman gave her a small comforting smile. "I know, but still it's better to be safe than sorry. Especially where you are concerned." She strapped the robot in and moved over to a small table beside her. Jenny sighed and stared at the ceiling. She thought to ask her creator about the strange incidents that day... but thought better of it. She was already under suspicion of malfunctioning, and she didn't want to add to that.
Jenny looked over at her mother as she moved up to the side of her table again. "Goodnight, mother..." She said, knowing she would be shut down during the diagnostic. Mrs. Wakeman smiled one more time before reaching up and hitting Jenny's deactivation switch, sending her instantly into a sleep-like state where only her main processors received any power.
Information learned that day flooded through her hard drives, being organized and categorized to make access more efficient. The rumor mill went into the school facts section, knowledge of pregnancy went into the biology section... but there was so much that couldn't be categorized. What could make Brittany let that happen if she didn't want to be pregnant? What made those people at the library so unreasonable? She couldn't ask all those people... but Brittany...
SYSTEMS CHECK COMPLETE. NO MALFUNCTIONS DETECTED. Jenny snapped to consciousness as her internal systems sprang back to life automatically upon completion of the test. Mrs. Wakeman was nowhere to be seen... probably because her internal clock said it was past ten PM. She sat up on the table and looked around at the dark room around her. She wasn't malfunctioning... so it would be safe to go out.
She slid off the table and headed through the house to the front door activating her pigtail jets. She took off through the night, lit up only by the moon and the sea of stars high above. They glinted off of her light blue frame, creating a silhouette of light in the darkness. Almost as if a star had left its perch to streak across the night sky.
She floated up to a fairly large house on the edge of town. She floated up to one of the outside windows, putting her hand on it. Inside she could see a bed covered in luxurious deep violet quilts, surrounded by walls painted with dark green, and a deep black carpet that was woven like the top of a cloud. The robot watched as a figured walked in through the main door, yawning.
Brittany was wearing a dull black nightgown that almost blended with her silky dark skin. A small bulge in her stomach was visible through the thin fabric, the evidence of her pregnancy that had been almost invisible in her normal clothing at school.
Jenny reached toward the window, but hesitated for a moment. Brittany obviously didn't like her very much, so there was no reason for her to cooperate. But Jenny couldn't stand not knowing... she had to figure out what caused all of this self-destructive behavior.
She rapped on the window lightly so as not to break it. Brittany whirled in surprise and frowned when she spotted the robot outside her window. She approached and pushed the window open hard enough to slam it into Jenny's chest, sending her flying back. She would have fallen if her pigtail jets weren't still activated.
"What are you doing here?" Brittany demanded haughtily.
"I need to know why you let yourself get injected if you didn't want a child." Jenny floated up to a window. Brittany rolled her eyes and turned away from her, walking over to the bed. Jenny floated inside and landed on the carpet, letting her pigtail jets retract.
"You're just wracking your brain aren't you?" Brittany smirked and sat down on edge of the bed. "All that processing power and you can't figure out something so simple. That certainly puts a silver lining on a bad situation." She chuckled derisively, holding her head high and looking down her nose at the curious robot.
"Please Brit, I can't process this information without your input. You don't like me for some reason but please... help me." Jenny moved further into the room, holding her hands in front of her in a pleading position. "Why did you do it?"
"That's none of your business, quite frankly. Now kindly take your leave before I report a breaking and entering." Brittany demanded.
"But there was no breaking, you opened the window..." Jenny scratched her head.
"It doesn't take much to break glass." Brittany glared. "Now leave, my personal affairs are none of your concern."
"I can't, I have to know." Jenny approached the bed. "Please?" Brittany rolled off the bed on the other side, glaring at her angrily. Jenny moved to go around the bed, so Brittany backed into the door.
"You stay away from me!" Brittany gripped the doorknob and pushed it open, backing away into the hallway.
"Hey, hold on!" Jenny followed after her quickly, rushing through the hall. Brittany stomped through the hallways, huffing the entire way with her fists clenched. "Wait, please. You don't have to hate me, I'm a good person. I would help you if you would help me!" She blinked in surprise when Brittany stomped up a flight of stairs and emerged onto the roof, underneath the night sky. "Brit? What are you doing? It's cold out there!" Jenny rushed up the stairs and ran out after her.
"You get away from me, robot." Brittany stomped up to the edge of the roof and turned around, crossing her arms over her chest. Her nightgown and neck length hair blew violently in the steady winter wind and her eyes glinted with barely contained tears. Jenny narrowed her eyes. She didn't know much about pregnancy yet, but apparently it didn't do much good for a girl's mental state. "Leave right now, or else you won't find out anything from me."
"Brit... step away from the ledge..." Jenny put her arms up and took a slow step forward. "We can talk about this calmly..."
"Get back!" Brittany stamped one foot, but it came down on a patch of ice and slid forward from underneath her. Her expression was one of shock as the rest of her body tilted backwards, until she flew right off the edge of the roof. A high-pitched scream leapt from her throat as she plummeted toward the ground.
"Hey!" Jenny charged forward and leapt off the side of the roof, her lower legs retracting into her thighs to let a pair of high-powered jets extend downward, coupled with a pair of jet wings from her mid-back. She streaked toward the ground and turned upward within a minute, grabbing Brittany in both arms and pulling up just before they hit the pavement underneath. Jenny streaked back into the sky, leaving a trail of thick white smoke behind her.
Brittany opened her eyes slowly, cradled in the robot's arms like a little girl. Jenny looked down at her worriedly, letting her pigtail jets take over the burden of flight while her back and legs returned to their normal configurations. "Brit, are you okay?" The robot asked in a somewhat worried tone.
Brittany stared at her blankly for a few moments before looking away from her, down at her stomach. Her eyes were shining with moisture in the moonlight shining on her face from over Jenny's shoulder. "No... I'm not..." she muttered darkly. Jenny blinked in surprise as the girl looked up at her face again with a solemn expression. "I won't be for a long time..."
"What's wrong?" Jenny asked sincerely.
"You want to know why people do things that will lead to disaster or make no sense?" Brittany asked in an unusually soft tone of voice for her. "It's because of passion..." She put up one hand and clenched it into a tight fist, though it was shaking violently. "It blinds us to sense... we do things that we would never dream of otherwise... mess up our lives for years to come for a night of cheap thrills..."
"Passion...?" Jenny muttered softly, trying to place the word. Brittany looked up at her face again. The robot's face was silhouetted by the moon behind her, reflecting the pale light as if she were glowing with golden fire. She held the dark skinned girl in her arms, floating aimlessly through the night sky with the wind blowing through the girl's hair and thin black nightgown. "What's passion?"
"It's... a knowledge... a surety... a whim... I don't even really know. I doubt if anybody does." She stared at Jenny. "It's just a feeling."
Jenny closed her eyes and arched her head back, opening her eyes to stare at the starlit sky. It figured that word would come up again. It always did in these matters. She opened her eyes when she sensed something odd in her arms. A kind of vibration... Brit was shaking. Why would she be doing that? Was she crying or...?
Jenny looked down in surprise to see a small white dot float past her toward the ground. She blinked and looked around... there were dots floating down all over the place. It was snowing... and she had Brit out here in a piece of cloth that offered no protection from the cold. Looking down, Jenny noticed that Brittany was shivering violently in a curled up position.
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. I'll find you someplace warm..." Jenny looked down to search out a place where they could take shelter. She quickly spotted a small hut in the center of a small pond, so she streaked down and pushed her way inside, slamming the door behind her. "Come on, don't worry. I'll get you warm." Jenny extended her arms, wrapping them around Brittany like a pair of snakes, snaking through her nightgown to thoroughly cover her skin.
"Y... You're warm..." Brittany commented.
"My body is designed to stay at 98 degrees. Any internal temperature changes could damage my systems." Jenny pulled Brit in close so she could wrap her arms around her as much as possible. Brittany blinked, staring at her face under half-closed eyelids. Jenny stared back, not sure what to make of her expression.
"Tell me something... do you feel?" Brittany asked pointedly.
Jenny stared at her, surprised both at the content and bluntness of the question. She blinked and turned her head away, half-closing her eyes. "No... I don't think I do... I'm not even really sure what it is..."
Brittany pulled one of her arms out of Jenny's coiling embrace to place one palm against Jenny's check. Her hand slid across the smooth yet warm steel, turning the robot's head so that they were once again face-to-face. "Have you ever wanted to feel... passion?" She asked in a soft, sultry tone of voice. Jenny blinked slowly, staring at her with a mix of surprise and wonder.
"I want to feel... everything." Jenny replied, taking a cue from her and lowering her voice to the same half-whisper. Brittany moved her face in toward Jenny's slowly, pressing her lips against the robot's and closing her eyes. Jenny closed her eyes as well, pressing her lips back against Brittany's and uncurling her arms from around the girl's body somewhat.
Time faded even to the robot as the snow continued to rain down outside. The robot had no real idea what was happening, but something seemed to drive Brittany onward until her entire body began to shiver. Jenny thought she might be getting cold, but the girl didn't complain or stop for an instant. She only grew more intense. Clinging to the robot with a furious grip.
Was this passion? Was this what Brittany had said caused people to do stupid things that good sense would normally not allow? Jenny still didn't understand... even when Brittany finally seemed to come down from whatever had encompassed her senses. Her arms ran across the robot's back, staring up at her eyes with a wondering expression.
Jenny rolled to her back so that her weight wouldn't crush her partner when she relaxed. Brittany rolled over with her, so that her head was lying against Jenny's chest with her arms around her waist. "Do you understand now... Jenny?" Brittany asked softly. Jenny looked down at her, unsure of how to answer even this seemingly simple question.
"I don't know..." Jenny replied softly.
"Well no matter..." Brittany lay against her, closing her eyes and yawning tiredly. "It's a human thing I suppose..." Her eyes closed slowly. "You're probably better off without it..." Her eyes shut and her breath settled into a steady rhythm, indicating that she had fallen asleep. Jenny looked down at her, then up at the ceiling above them.
"But I still want to feel it..." Jenny whispered softly. With that she settled down and closed her eyes, shutting herself down to register the information gleaned in the last hour. It was a lot to process for such a short amount of time... but the main answer still remained beyond her grasp.
The rest of the night passed and Jenny reawakened at 5:15 AM. She found Brittany still asleep in her arms, as nude as she had been the day before. The robot sat up, carefully putting her arms around her partner so as not to drop her on the ground. Brittany moaned and opened her eyes halfway, looking up at her. "Good morning." Jenny said politely.
Brittany looked confused for a moment, but her eyes soon softened. "Good morning..." She sat up on her own and climbed to her feet. Jenny stood up beside her, watching her slide her panties and nightgown back on. A coat of fresh snow lay on the ground outside, but the sun was shining brightly from the sky, keeping it from being too cold at the moment.
"I'll take you home." Jenny offered. Brittany nodded and moved up to her. The robot picked her up like she did the night before and extended her pigtail engines, taking off through the sky as fast as they could carry her. Brittany clung to her neck to make sure she didn't fall.
"Jenny... let's not tell anyone about what happened last night." Brittany suggested.
"What? Why not?"
"Because... it's a human thing. There are a lot of social mores I broke. And while I don't mind breaking rules, having it become public can be a stain on my image. You understand how important image is don't you?" Brittany asked.
"Sure... I guess..." Jenny replied as she set down just inside Brittany's bedroom.
"I knew you would." Brittany stood up and turned back to Jenny. "I'll see you around school then." She flashed the robot an unusually gentle smile before kissing her on the cheek. "Tata." She walked over to the bed and sat down, rolling into it... presumably to look like she'd been there the entire night. Jenny turned and flew out the window again, shaking her head as she went.
"This is too confusing... I have to talk to someone about it... someone I can trust..." she turned in midair and made her way toward home. She stopped just short however, landing in front of the house next door and knocking loudly. "Come on Brad, open up!"
Brad opened the door several minutes later rubbing his eyes and yawning. He seemed to be wearing nothing but a fuzzy blue robe over a pair of boxer shorts. "Jenny? Do you have any idea what time it is?" He yawned.
"Five thirty AM." Jenny replied. "What does that have to do with anything?" Brad grumbled and waved for her to continue talking. "Well, last night... some things happened, and... someone told me about something called 'passion' that makes humans behave in strange ways."
"Okay, that makes sense." Brad rubbed his head. "So you have an answer, what are you confused about?"
"Well this... person... they wanted to show me passion, so they... I don't know. I think they had me try to inject into them with my hand." Jenny replied. Brad stared at her blankly, as if not comprehending for an uncomfortably long time. "Brad? Are you okay?"
"Oh, just thinking. Come inside." Brad turned and walked inside, not looking at her again until after he was sitting on the couch. "So you had sex with one of the girls from school huh? Who was it?"
"I promised I wouldn't tell." Jenny muttered apologetically.
"Hey, understandable." Brad shrugged. "So what happened? Do you understand passion after doing that?"
"That's the thing... I don't think so. I mean, she seemed to feel it somehow, but I didn't feel anything. Does passion just... make you forget about things? She has a lot of problems right now... and she seemed to forget them while we were together." Jenny sat down beside Brad, putting her hands on her knees.
"Well Jenny... passion is a tricky thing. It's LOTS of things, actually." Brad rubbed the back of his neck. "It... spurs us to do things. It's motivation... to accomplish or do something that you think is worth doing. Whether it's having sex with someone at a certain time or accomplishing a lifelong goal."
"But what causes it?" Jenny asked.
Brad shrugged. "That's like asking the meaning of life. I know you hate it when people use this word, but it really is just a feeling." Jenny looked down at the carpet, running her hands over her eyelids uncomfortably. "Don't worry about it Jen, it's not worth getting worked up over. You don't need passion, you're perfectly fine the way you are."
"Speak for yourself..." Jenny stood up and headed to the door, pushing her way outside and flying away with her pigtail engines. She was getting tired of always running into the same dead-end no matter what she did. She wanted to feel... she wanted passion. Well, either way she would likely never get her wish... so she turned to make her way to school, knowing mom would assume that she'd just left early.
She landed in the schoolyard and went inside. The school was graciously empty for several hours before students started to show up for the day's classes. She passed Brittany and Tiffany, but they treated her simply like she didn't exist. Brittany gave her a sideways glance as they passed, but that was her only acknowledgement... her only personal acknowledgement anyway.
She started noticing students laughing or chuckling as she passed, and casting glances her way. She was starting to think there was something wrong with her appearance when Brad finally caught up with her. "Brad, thank goodness you showed up. Everyone's staring at me strangely... just like that look you're giving me..." Jenny blinked.
"There's another rumor going around Jen, I just thought you should know." Brad looked around conspiratorially. "Rumor has it the girl you were with last night was Brittany Krust." Jenny's mouth fell open in shock, staring at him with a blank gaze. "I know it can't be true, but I thought you should know." Jenny looked down at the ground, trying to think of when someone could have seen them. Of course... when they were floating through the sky... "Jenny?"
"Excuse me a minute!" Jenny took off running through the hallways, ignoring the stares and snickers of the other students. She had to find Brittany and tell her that she didn't spread the rumor... she didn't want her to think she'd betrayed her trust like that. She would never tell a secret.
She skidded to a stop when she saw Brittany leaning against a locker with a large boy standing in front of her, looking particularly menacing. Tiffany was standing beside her, giving the boy the look of death itself about to swoop in on a victim.
"I asked you a question, is it true?" The boy demanded angrily. "Because if you are fraternizing with that freak, I wanna know about it." He slammed the palm of one hand against the locker behind Brittany, making her flinch somewhat. The boy had pale white skin and dirty blonde hair with blue eyes. His body was one a football player would envy, having muscles upon muscles on the torso.
"It's none of your business, Neanderthal." Brittany sneered.
"Yeah, so why don't you back off and mind your own business, Tyler?" Tiffany added with an evil growl.
"Stay out of this short stuff." Tyler grabbed Tiffany's forehead and shoved it back into the locker hard enough to knock the smaller girl unconscious. She collapsed to the floor in a limp heap, for once looking weak and vulnerable as opposed to the tough front she usually put up. Jenny moved to advance on them, but a hand grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back.
"If you don't want to confirm it, you'll hang back." Brad told her warningly. Jenny stared at him, then looked back at Brittany, who was leaning against the locker and glaring at her attacker angrily.
"Mind your own business." Brittany insisted again.
"Everything you do is my business. This says so." Tyler put a hand on her stomach, but Brittany pushed it away.
"That was nothing more than a mistake. Just like you." Brittany shot back acidly. Tyler huffed in anger and shoved her against the locker, raising one fist over his head.
His fist stopped in mid thrust, unable to go farther. Tyler grunted and strained to move it, but it wouldn't budge. Looking back, he saw Jenny standing right beside him with a dark glare on her face. "What do you want? This has nothing to do with you. Unless it's true." He scowled.
"Helping people IS my business!" Jenny yanked his arm behind his back and shoved him face first against one of the lockers with a loud bang. "I don't care who you beat up, or why you beat them up. If you lift a hand against anybody, I will stop you. You got that?" Jenny demanded.
Tyler whimpered as she yanked his arm high enough to stretch tendons to their maximum. "Y... yes... got it... got it..." He grunted. Jenny let him drop to the floor and he scurried away on all fours, cradling his wounded arm. Jenny looked around, seeing the blank stares of the rest of the students upon her. Brittany was kneeling down beside her cousin, checking her head.
"Is she okay?" Jenny walked up to them and knelt down beside her.
"It's just a bump... a rather hard one, but she'll recover with an ice pack..." Brittany looked over at her, her face hidden from the others by her crouching position. "And you had to ask me what passion was?"
"What are you talking about?" Jenny blinked in confusion.
"I've never seen anyone so passionate about anything." Brittany told her. At Jenny's blank stare, she shook her head. "Why did you feel the need to help me? Why do you feel the need to help anybody who asks you for it?"
"Because... my program..." Jenny stuttered.
"Your programming applies to saving the world, not saving me from an asshole." Brittany smirked. "So why do you think you wanted to help me?" Jenny stared at her, realization finally dawning on her.
"Because... it felt like the right thing to do..." Jenny realized with her mouth hanging open.
"Welcome to humanity." Brittany grinned mischievously. Jenny smiled back as they moved to lift Tiffany from the ground and get her to the nurses office. So that was passion... knowing what you wanted to do and never deviating from it. She couldn't feel physically passionate with Brittany... but Jenny realized she was passionate about something. She was passionate about protecting all those dear to her... which was everyone. Every person, friend or foe, near or far... she would protect them all. That was her passion... and she would always see it through.
THE END
Tremorton High School was as quiet as ever on this bright, but uncomfortably cold winter morning. Students hustled back and forth between classes, each wearing jackets to protect them from the chill wind that swept through the hallways. One student, however, needed no jacket.
Jenny walked with her friend Brad, chatting companionably and holding her school books in the crook of one metallic arm. "I don't know why you're so worked up Brad, if you studied then you're ready for the test. All the answers are right in the books."
"Yeah, but unlike you, I don't have a photographic memory." Brad replied. "Human brains are more like sponges. You pour a bunch of water on it and hope enough water gets caught to do what you need to do with it." Brad took a moment to wave to another student as she passed them in the hall. He stopped when he saw a small group gathered near one of the lockers. "Looks like the rumor mill has another victim."
"Rumor mill? Victim?" Jenny stopped and stared at Brad, scratching her head. "What's a rumor mill and what does it do to people?"
"They spread slanderous stories about people to make others not like them as much." Brad gave Jenny a sly look. "I'm going to see who's getting it this week. If I don't come out in ten minutes, presume me laughing too hard to move." Brad moved into the crowd and pushed his way inside, vanishing from sight. Jenny stood outside the circle of students, trying to catch a glimpse of Brad.
"Brad? Are you okay?" She crossed her arms, waiting for her friend to emerge from the constantly murmuring pile of students. She was able to catch snatches of conversations, a word here and there, but there were far too many to make any of them out clearly. "Brad?" She blinked in surprise when the group suddenly dispersed. "Huh?"
"Don't take up the entire hallway, android." Jenny whirled to see Brittany and Tiffany Krust standing behind her, staring at her balefully. "There are REAL people who have to use it." Brittany smirked and put her hands on her hips. Jenny narrowed her eyes, but moved out of the way to let them move past her, eyeing the students in the hallway but not saying anything else until they were gone.
Jenny blinked in confusion as Brad walked up to her with a solemn look on his face. "What's going on Brad? Was the rumor as funny as you hoped?"
Brad shook his head and stuffed his hands on his pockets. "Not really. Supposedly, Brit is pregnant." Brad told her as they resumed their trek through the hallways. Jenny looked at him in surprise.
"Pregnant? Who's her mate?" Jenny asked. Brad gave her a curious glance. "The shows on the discovery show said a female needs a mate to get pregnant."
"Well yeah, they do. And nobody knows who it is." Brad replied. "And please say 'boyfriend' instead of 'mate'."
"Boyfriends make girls pregnant?" Jenny blinked in confusion. Brad looked over at her incredulously.
"You don't know how babies are made?" He exclaimed. Jenny blushed a soft blue color, shaking her head. She got the feeling she should have known, but honestly had never thought about it. Brad rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Jenny... you know I'm your friend and I've never refused to tell you anything you wanted to know... but ask your mom that one." He rushed ahead of her toward their classroom. Jenny scratched her head and followed, wondering why he refused to talk about it...
The class went as normal, until it let out and Jenny set off down the hall alone toward her next class. She wasn't in the mood to walk with Brad at the moment... she needed to find out what it was that Brad refused to tell her. And she knew one person who would be smart enough to tell her what was going on...
She found Sheldon in the metal shop, shaping a small piece of steel into what looked like a small ring. "Sheldon, can I ask you something?" Jenny asked. Sheldon looked up in surprise, then closed his hand around the steel object. A small 'meep' sound escaped his throat as a plume of smoke rose from his hand, but he shoved it into his jacket pocket and planted a smile on his face.
"Y... yes... anything you need Jenny." Sheldon spoke through clenched teeth and pulled his hand out of his pocket. There was a large red welt in the middle of his palm where the steel had seared into his flesh. Still he had a grin plastered on his freckled, somewhat homely face.
"Are you okay?" Jenny quirked one eyebrow.
"I'm fi... FIRE!" Sheldon leapt up when the pocket containing the metal burst into flames. He whipped his jacket off and threw it to the ground. Jenny grabbed a nearby glass and threw it on the blaze, putting it out in a puff of smoke before it could spread any further. "Whew... thanks Jenny. Now, tell me what you need." Sheldon sat down on a nearby stool.
"Uh... no problem..." Jenny shook her head and sat on the stool beside his, holding her hands in her lap. "Well, you're a smart person Sheldon, how do humans have babies?" Sheldon gave her a curious look. "I know human girls carry the babies, but how do the eggs get fertilized without leaving the body? And what do boyfriends have to do with it?"
Sheldon's face turned bright red and he gulped, looking down at the floor. "Well... h... human procreation... is a simple matter really..." He gulped and looked at her. "How much do you know of human anatomy Jenny?"
"I know the functions of every part of the human body... I think." Jenny scratched her head. "I think there are a few blank spots now that I think about it. There's nothing in my database concerning reproduction."
"I guess your mom was as nervous about it as I am..." Sheldon coughed and settled down more firmly on his stool. "Well, as is often the case, the girls have the eggs and the boys have the... er... 'fertilizer'..." His face was bright red. "The boy... injects the fertilizer into the girl's womb... where it fertilizes the egg. The baby is incubated inside the mother to emerge later."
"Injects with what? Where is the womb?" Jenny asked.
"Injects... with..." Sheldon looked like he would rather be anywhere else at that point, staring at the ground and tapping his hands against his knees nervously. "Injects with the... the... penis... into the girl's vagina... th... the womb is inside the vagina..."
"Ooohhh..." Jenny blinked and stared at him. "That sounds like it should hurt a human girl, being injected into and all."
"I wouldn't know..." Sheldon blushed again, even brighter if it were possible. "But they say it only hurts the first time..."
"So Brit had a boy inject her with fertilizer... because she wanted a child. I think I understand, if she wanted a child she can't be as bad as I thought she was." Jenny stood up, having confirmed what she wanted to know. Sheldon looked up in surprise as she headed for the door. "Maybe I can help her raise the child as friends instead of enemies. It could be fun."
"Hey wait Jenny, it doesn't necessarily mean..." Sheldon's voice faded behind her as she rushed down the hall, anxious to look for her. She'd never held a real baby before... well not when she wasn't surrounded by laser fire or carnage anyway. She was anxious to see what it was like.
She found Brittany and Tiffany heading down the hall toward their next class, together as they always were. They stopped when they noticed Jenny approaching. "Oh, it's you again. What do you want?" Brittany asked.
"Brit, I want to be friends with you." Jenny exclaimed. The Krust cousins exchanged a strange glance before turning back to her. "I know you don't like me for... whatever reason... but if you want to have a child then I want to help. I'm all about helping people. It'll be fun!"
"Want to have a child? At my age?" Brittany asked incredulously.
"Of course... why else would you have a boy inject you?" Jenny asked, a bit embarrassed, as if there was something she should have known already but didn't. Tiffany narrowed her eyes dangerously while Brittany stepped forward, flicking Jenny in the nose with one finger. It didn't hurt, but a metallic clang rang through the mostly empty hallway.
"The world must be so simple to a THING who sees nothing but zeros and ones." Brittany had a smug smirk on her face as she stared down the tall, metallic robot. "The world isn't so simple for PEOPLE. Machines can't solve... or even comprehend... some problems." She turned away from Jenny abruptly and walked off. Tiffany shook her head and turned away from Jenny to follow her cousin.
The robot stared after them, putting one hand over her mouth. "What don't I get...?" She asked herself softly. She looked up in surprise as the bell rang to signify the beginning of the last class period. "Oh no, I'm late!" She took off down the hall to find the appropriate classroom.
Hours later, Jenny left the school with a sigh and a slight slump in her shoulders. She turned her head to see Brittany and Tiffany heading off toward their own home, leaving the school behind. It seemed like Brittany didn't have the usual arrogant gait in her step that she normally did. Instead it was like a heavy weight was holding her down. The light stoop of her shoulders, the barely noticeable dragging of her feet, her head bobbing up and down in an almost imperceptible manner. Jenny's robotic eyes and attention to detail captured it all.
"Still thinking about that pregnancy thing?" Brad asked as he walked up behind her, his gaze following hers. "If I were you I'd just forget about it. They've never done a thing for you but try to bring you down." Brad turned to walk toward their homes, and Jenny turned to follow behind him, clasping her hands behind her back.
"Maybe... but Brad, I have another question. If someone doesn't want to have a child, why would they have a boy fertilize their egg?" Brad blinked and gave her a blank, yet slightly amused look. "Sheldon explained it to me..." Jenny blushed.
"Figures." Brad rolled his eyes and shrugged, jamming his hands into his pockets. "Sometimes people do things that seem like a good idea at the time without thinking of the consequences. You know, because they feel good..." Brad trailed off suddenly and looked at her. Jenny was staring up at the sky, her eyes half closed. There was that damned word again... 'feel'. However often she tried to feel anything, it always ended in disaster. "Sorry." Brad told her.
"Hey, I asked." Jenny flashed her friend a quick smile. They walked on in companionable silence until Jenny's chest-plate opened up suddenly, and a three-dimensional image generator extended before her. Her creator and mother was all business as she spoke in her usual accent.
"XJ-9, you're needed down at the library. A group of Harry Potter protestors have gotten out of control, and the police are swamped." Mrs. Wakeman told her urgently.
"I'll be right there." Jenny's image generator slid back into her chest before her chest-plate closed again. "I'll see you later Brad."
"Later." Brad waved her off as her pigtails swiveled around and a pair of flames shot out of them. She roared through the sky, scanning the ground below her for any signs of the reported disturbance. She spotted the library in the distance, and sure enough a group of protestors in thick jackets were milling about frantically like a pile of ants attacking their own anthill. The sky was muted thanks to the clouds overhead, giving the entire scene a blueish hue that made it look more like paintings she'd seen than a real life occurrence. The police desperately trying to keep order, however, reminded her that it was very real.
Jenny landed lightly nearby, the jet engines retracting once again into her pigtails. The writhing crowd in front of her was compounded by cries and screams to be heard. Jenny lifted her right arm, which split in half to let a small bullhorn rise to her lips. Several more sprouted in front of that one, forming a solid line. "KNOCK IT OFF!" Her voice echoed through the streets, drowning out the sounds of the crowd.
Everyone fell silent and turned toward her as the line of horns withdrew back into her arm. "What is all of this about? It's just a book, it's not like it's hurting anyone."
One of the women in the crowd smirked and huffed. "Like you would know what it's like to watch our children be exposed to such things. What it feels like to know that their minds are being corrupted no matter what we do!" Several others cheered in agreement, to be joined moments later by the rest of the crowd.
"Maybe, but I know that violence is wrong!" Jenny retorted.
"You can't judge us, so stay out of this!" Suddenly a steel pipe flew out of the crowd, slamming into Jenny's head and knocking her off balance in surprise. Before the pipe even touched the ground, the rest of the crowd rushed forward, slamming into her like a title wave and knocking her to her back on the hard concrete. he roar of the crowd came from all around her, screams of anger and revenge as feet slammed into her from every side. She felt no pain, her metal didn't even move now that she was braced against the ground, but the blows still seemed to hurt regardless.
Jenny pushed herself to her feet. "Stop it... please stop, I don't want to hurt anyone!" Jenny raised her arms quickly to shield her eyes from another oncoming pipe. Suddenly, the crowd fell silent and backed away from her. The robot blinked in confusion and slowly lowered her arm. A soft gasp escaped her throat when she saw a young man lying on the ground several meters away, surrounded by the crowd, which was staring at her in shock.
"N... No... I..." Jenny stumbled frantically as the police managed to get through the crowd to check on the boy. Jenny walked around frantically, but the crowd kept moving to keep their distance. "It was an accident! I didn't mean to hurt him!" Another police officer made his way over to her with a solemn look on his face. "You've got to believe me officer, I wouldn't..."
"I know." The officer smiled and put one hand on her shoulder. "We saw the whole thing, and we know you wouldn't do it on purpose." He looked around at the hateful looking crowd. "But you'd better leave, before the situation becomes even more tense. We can take it from here. Thanks for your assistance." The officer gave her a kindly smile and a polite nod before turning to check on the boy.
Jenny looked around at the crowd, then extended the engines in her pigtails and took off, flying through the air as fast as she could. "What just happened down there... I've saved this city more than anyone, why did they hate me?" She sighed. So many question were popping up now... so many questions to which she had no answers. She didn't even know how to get those answers.
Her chestplate opened and her image generator extended, with a rather solemn looking Mrs. Wakeman staring at her. "XJ-9, would you return home for a little while? I want to run a diagnostic to see if there are any malfunctions in your systems."
Jenny sighed again. She didn't feel anything wrong with herself... aside from overwhelming confusion. Still, she wasn't one to disobey her mother. "I'll be right there..." The image generator retracted into her breastplate and she turned to head home. She landed in front of her house and walked inside. She found her creator standing in front of her laboratory door, giving her a disappointed glare.
"Come inside XJ-9." The woman gestured to the back room and stepped aside. Jenny walked past her.
"I didn't mean to do it..." Jenny said as she climbed onto the table obediently so her creator could strap her down.
Mrs. Wakeman gave her a small comforting smile. "I know, but still it's better to be safe than sorry. Especially where you are concerned." She strapped the robot in and moved over to a small table beside her. Jenny sighed and stared at the ceiling. She thought to ask her creator about the strange incidents that day... but thought better of it. She was already under suspicion of malfunctioning, and she didn't want to add to that.
Jenny looked over at her mother as she moved up to the side of her table again. "Goodnight, mother..." She said, knowing she would be shut down during the diagnostic. Mrs. Wakeman smiled one more time before reaching up and hitting Jenny's deactivation switch, sending her instantly into a sleep-like state where only her main processors received any power.
Information learned that day flooded through her hard drives, being organized and categorized to make access more efficient. The rumor mill went into the school facts section, knowledge of pregnancy went into the biology section... but there was so much that couldn't be categorized. What could make Brittany let that happen if she didn't want to be pregnant? What made those people at the library so unreasonable? She couldn't ask all those people... but Brittany...
SYSTEMS CHECK COMPLETE. NO MALFUNCTIONS DETECTED. Jenny snapped to consciousness as her internal systems sprang back to life automatically upon completion of the test. Mrs. Wakeman was nowhere to be seen... probably because her internal clock said it was past ten PM. She sat up on the table and looked around at the dark room around her. She wasn't malfunctioning... so it would be safe to go out.
She slid off the table and headed through the house to the front door activating her pigtail jets. She took off through the night, lit up only by the moon and the sea of stars high above. They glinted off of her light blue frame, creating a silhouette of light in the darkness. Almost as if a star had left its perch to streak across the night sky.
She floated up to a fairly large house on the edge of town. She floated up to one of the outside windows, putting her hand on it. Inside she could see a bed covered in luxurious deep violet quilts, surrounded by walls painted with dark green, and a deep black carpet that was woven like the top of a cloud. The robot watched as a figured walked in through the main door, yawning.
Brittany was wearing a dull black nightgown that almost blended with her silky dark skin. A small bulge in her stomach was visible through the thin fabric, the evidence of her pregnancy that had been almost invisible in her normal clothing at school.
Jenny reached toward the window, but hesitated for a moment. Brittany obviously didn't like her very much, so there was no reason for her to cooperate. But Jenny couldn't stand not knowing... she had to figure out what caused all of this self-destructive behavior.
She rapped on the window lightly so as not to break it. Brittany whirled in surprise and frowned when she spotted the robot outside her window. She approached and pushed the window open hard enough to slam it into Jenny's chest, sending her flying back. She would have fallen if her pigtail jets weren't still activated.
"What are you doing here?" Brittany demanded haughtily.
"I need to know why you let yourself get injected if you didn't want a child." Jenny floated up to a window. Brittany rolled her eyes and turned away from her, walking over to the bed. Jenny floated inside and landed on the carpet, letting her pigtail jets retract.
"You're just wracking your brain aren't you?" Brittany smirked and sat down on edge of the bed. "All that processing power and you can't figure out something so simple. That certainly puts a silver lining on a bad situation." She chuckled derisively, holding her head high and looking down her nose at the curious robot.
"Please Brit, I can't process this information without your input. You don't like me for some reason but please... help me." Jenny moved further into the room, holding her hands in front of her in a pleading position. "Why did you do it?"
"That's none of your business, quite frankly. Now kindly take your leave before I report a breaking and entering." Brittany demanded.
"But there was no breaking, you opened the window..." Jenny scratched her head.
"It doesn't take much to break glass." Brittany glared. "Now leave, my personal affairs are none of your concern."
"I can't, I have to know." Jenny approached the bed. "Please?" Brittany rolled off the bed on the other side, glaring at her angrily. Jenny moved to go around the bed, so Brittany backed into the door.
"You stay away from me!" Brittany gripped the doorknob and pushed it open, backing away into the hallway.
"Hey, hold on!" Jenny followed after her quickly, rushing through the hall. Brittany stomped through the hallways, huffing the entire way with her fists clenched. "Wait, please. You don't have to hate me, I'm a good person. I would help you if you would help me!" She blinked in surprise when Brittany stomped up a flight of stairs and emerged onto the roof, underneath the night sky. "Brit? What are you doing? It's cold out there!" Jenny rushed up the stairs and ran out after her.
"You get away from me, robot." Brittany stomped up to the edge of the roof and turned around, crossing her arms over her chest. Her nightgown and neck length hair blew violently in the steady winter wind and her eyes glinted with barely contained tears. Jenny narrowed her eyes. She didn't know much about pregnancy yet, but apparently it didn't do much good for a girl's mental state. "Leave right now, or else you won't find out anything from me."
"Brit... step away from the ledge..." Jenny put her arms up and took a slow step forward. "We can talk about this calmly..."
"Get back!" Brittany stamped one foot, but it came down on a patch of ice and slid forward from underneath her. Her expression was one of shock as the rest of her body tilted backwards, until she flew right off the edge of the roof. A high-pitched scream leapt from her throat as she plummeted toward the ground.
"Hey!" Jenny charged forward and leapt off the side of the roof, her lower legs retracting into her thighs to let a pair of high-powered jets extend downward, coupled with a pair of jet wings from her mid-back. She streaked toward the ground and turned upward within a minute, grabbing Brittany in both arms and pulling up just before they hit the pavement underneath. Jenny streaked back into the sky, leaving a trail of thick white smoke behind her.
Brittany opened her eyes slowly, cradled in the robot's arms like a little girl. Jenny looked down at her worriedly, letting her pigtail jets take over the burden of flight while her back and legs returned to their normal configurations. "Brit, are you okay?" The robot asked in a somewhat worried tone.
Brittany stared at her blankly for a few moments before looking away from her, down at her stomach. Her eyes were shining with moisture in the moonlight shining on her face from over Jenny's shoulder. "No... I'm not..." she muttered darkly. Jenny blinked in surprise as the girl looked up at her face again with a solemn expression. "I won't be for a long time..."
"What's wrong?" Jenny asked sincerely.
"You want to know why people do things that will lead to disaster or make no sense?" Brittany asked in an unusually soft tone of voice for her. "It's because of passion..." She put up one hand and clenched it into a tight fist, though it was shaking violently. "It blinds us to sense... we do things that we would never dream of otherwise... mess up our lives for years to come for a night of cheap thrills..."
"Passion...?" Jenny muttered softly, trying to place the word. Brittany looked up at her face again. The robot's face was silhouetted by the moon behind her, reflecting the pale light as if she were glowing with golden fire. She held the dark skinned girl in her arms, floating aimlessly through the night sky with the wind blowing through the girl's hair and thin black nightgown. "What's passion?"
"It's... a knowledge... a surety... a whim... I don't even really know. I doubt if anybody does." She stared at Jenny. "It's just a feeling."
Jenny closed her eyes and arched her head back, opening her eyes to stare at the starlit sky. It figured that word would come up again. It always did in these matters. She opened her eyes when she sensed something odd in her arms. A kind of vibration... Brit was shaking. Why would she be doing that? Was she crying or...?
Jenny looked down in surprise to see a small white dot float past her toward the ground. She blinked and looked around... there were dots floating down all over the place. It was snowing... and she had Brit out here in a piece of cloth that offered no protection from the cold. Looking down, Jenny noticed that Brittany was shivering violently in a curled up position.
"Oh my gosh, I'm sorry. I'll find you someplace warm..." Jenny looked down to search out a place where they could take shelter. She quickly spotted a small hut in the center of a small pond, so she streaked down and pushed her way inside, slamming the door behind her. "Come on, don't worry. I'll get you warm." Jenny extended her arms, wrapping them around Brittany like a pair of snakes, snaking through her nightgown to thoroughly cover her skin.
"Y... You're warm..." Brittany commented.
"My body is designed to stay at 98 degrees. Any internal temperature changes could damage my systems." Jenny pulled Brit in close so she could wrap her arms around her as much as possible. Brittany blinked, staring at her face under half-closed eyelids. Jenny stared back, not sure what to make of her expression.
"Tell me something... do you feel?" Brittany asked pointedly.
Jenny stared at her, surprised both at the content and bluntness of the question. She blinked and turned her head away, half-closing her eyes. "No... I don't think I do... I'm not even really sure what it is..."
Brittany pulled one of her arms out of Jenny's coiling embrace to place one palm against Jenny's check. Her hand slid across the smooth yet warm steel, turning the robot's head so that they were once again face-to-face. "Have you ever wanted to feel... passion?" She asked in a soft, sultry tone of voice. Jenny blinked slowly, staring at her with a mix of surprise and wonder.
"I want to feel... everything." Jenny replied, taking a cue from her and lowering her voice to the same half-whisper. Brittany moved her face in toward Jenny's slowly, pressing her lips against the robot's and closing her eyes. Jenny closed her eyes as well, pressing her lips back against Brittany's and uncurling her arms from around the girl's body somewhat.
Time faded even to the robot as the snow continued to rain down outside. The robot had no real idea what was happening, but something seemed to drive Brittany onward until her entire body began to shiver. Jenny thought she might be getting cold, but the girl didn't complain or stop for an instant. She only grew more intense. Clinging to the robot with a furious grip.
Was this passion? Was this what Brittany had said caused people to do stupid things that good sense would normally not allow? Jenny still didn't understand... even when Brittany finally seemed to come down from whatever had encompassed her senses. Her arms ran across the robot's back, staring up at her eyes with a wondering expression.
Jenny rolled to her back so that her weight wouldn't crush her partner when she relaxed. Brittany rolled over with her, so that her head was lying against Jenny's chest with her arms around her waist. "Do you understand now... Jenny?" Brittany asked softly. Jenny looked down at her, unsure of how to answer even this seemingly simple question.
"I don't know..." Jenny replied softly.
"Well no matter..." Brittany lay against her, closing her eyes and yawning tiredly. "It's a human thing I suppose..." Her eyes closed slowly. "You're probably better off without it..." Her eyes shut and her breath settled into a steady rhythm, indicating that she had fallen asleep. Jenny looked down at her, then up at the ceiling above them.
"But I still want to feel it..." Jenny whispered softly. With that she settled down and closed her eyes, shutting herself down to register the information gleaned in the last hour. It was a lot to process for such a short amount of time... but the main answer still remained beyond her grasp.
The rest of the night passed and Jenny reawakened at 5:15 AM. She found Brittany still asleep in her arms, as nude as she had been the day before. The robot sat up, carefully putting her arms around her partner so as not to drop her on the ground. Brittany moaned and opened her eyes halfway, looking up at her. "Good morning." Jenny said politely.
Brittany looked confused for a moment, but her eyes soon softened. "Good morning..." She sat up on her own and climbed to her feet. Jenny stood up beside her, watching her slide her panties and nightgown back on. A coat of fresh snow lay on the ground outside, but the sun was shining brightly from the sky, keeping it from being too cold at the moment.
"I'll take you home." Jenny offered. Brittany nodded and moved up to her. The robot picked her up like she did the night before and extended her pigtail engines, taking off through the sky as fast as they could carry her. Brittany clung to her neck to make sure she didn't fall.
"Jenny... let's not tell anyone about what happened last night." Brittany suggested.
"What? Why not?"
"Because... it's a human thing. There are a lot of social mores I broke. And while I don't mind breaking rules, having it become public can be a stain on my image. You understand how important image is don't you?" Brittany asked.
"Sure... I guess..." Jenny replied as she set down just inside Brittany's bedroom.
"I knew you would." Brittany stood up and turned back to Jenny. "I'll see you around school then." She flashed the robot an unusually gentle smile before kissing her on the cheek. "Tata." She walked over to the bed and sat down, rolling into it... presumably to look like she'd been there the entire night. Jenny turned and flew out the window again, shaking her head as she went.
"This is too confusing... I have to talk to someone about it... someone I can trust..." she turned in midair and made her way toward home. She stopped just short however, landing in front of the house next door and knocking loudly. "Come on Brad, open up!"
Brad opened the door several minutes later rubbing his eyes and yawning. He seemed to be wearing nothing but a fuzzy blue robe over a pair of boxer shorts. "Jenny? Do you have any idea what time it is?" He yawned.
"Five thirty AM." Jenny replied. "What does that have to do with anything?" Brad grumbled and waved for her to continue talking. "Well, last night... some things happened, and... someone told me about something called 'passion' that makes humans behave in strange ways."
"Okay, that makes sense." Brad rubbed his head. "So you have an answer, what are you confused about?"
"Well this... person... they wanted to show me passion, so they... I don't know. I think they had me try to inject into them with my hand." Jenny replied. Brad stared at her blankly, as if not comprehending for an uncomfortably long time. "Brad? Are you okay?"
"Oh, just thinking. Come inside." Brad turned and walked inside, not looking at her again until after he was sitting on the couch. "So you had sex with one of the girls from school huh? Who was it?"
"I promised I wouldn't tell." Jenny muttered apologetically.
"Hey, understandable." Brad shrugged. "So what happened? Do you understand passion after doing that?"
"That's the thing... I don't think so. I mean, she seemed to feel it somehow, but I didn't feel anything. Does passion just... make you forget about things? She has a lot of problems right now... and she seemed to forget them while we were together." Jenny sat down beside Brad, putting her hands on her knees.
"Well Jenny... passion is a tricky thing. It's LOTS of things, actually." Brad rubbed the back of his neck. "It... spurs us to do things. It's motivation... to accomplish or do something that you think is worth doing. Whether it's having sex with someone at a certain time or accomplishing a lifelong goal."
"But what causes it?" Jenny asked.
Brad shrugged. "That's like asking the meaning of life. I know you hate it when people use this word, but it really is just a feeling." Jenny looked down at the carpet, running her hands over her eyelids uncomfortably. "Don't worry about it Jen, it's not worth getting worked up over. You don't need passion, you're perfectly fine the way you are."
"Speak for yourself..." Jenny stood up and headed to the door, pushing her way outside and flying away with her pigtail engines. She was getting tired of always running into the same dead-end no matter what she did. She wanted to feel... she wanted passion. Well, either way she would likely never get her wish... so she turned to make her way to school, knowing mom would assume that she'd just left early.
She landed in the schoolyard and went inside. The school was graciously empty for several hours before students started to show up for the day's classes. She passed Brittany and Tiffany, but they treated her simply like she didn't exist. Brittany gave her a sideways glance as they passed, but that was her only acknowledgement... her only personal acknowledgement anyway.
She started noticing students laughing or chuckling as she passed, and casting glances her way. She was starting to think there was something wrong with her appearance when Brad finally caught up with her. "Brad, thank goodness you showed up. Everyone's staring at me strangely... just like that look you're giving me..." Jenny blinked.
"There's another rumor going around Jen, I just thought you should know." Brad looked around conspiratorially. "Rumor has it the girl you were with last night was Brittany Krust." Jenny's mouth fell open in shock, staring at him with a blank gaze. "I know it can't be true, but I thought you should know." Jenny looked down at the ground, trying to think of when someone could have seen them. Of course... when they were floating through the sky... "Jenny?"
"Excuse me a minute!" Jenny took off running through the hallways, ignoring the stares and snickers of the other students. She had to find Brittany and tell her that she didn't spread the rumor... she didn't want her to think she'd betrayed her trust like that. She would never tell a secret.
She skidded to a stop when she saw Brittany leaning against a locker with a large boy standing in front of her, looking particularly menacing. Tiffany was standing beside her, giving the boy the look of death itself about to swoop in on a victim.
"I asked you a question, is it true?" The boy demanded angrily. "Because if you are fraternizing with that freak, I wanna know about it." He slammed the palm of one hand against the locker behind Brittany, making her flinch somewhat. The boy had pale white skin and dirty blonde hair with blue eyes. His body was one a football player would envy, having muscles upon muscles on the torso.
"It's none of your business, Neanderthal." Brittany sneered.
"Yeah, so why don't you back off and mind your own business, Tyler?" Tiffany added with an evil growl.
"Stay out of this short stuff." Tyler grabbed Tiffany's forehead and shoved it back into the locker hard enough to knock the smaller girl unconscious. She collapsed to the floor in a limp heap, for once looking weak and vulnerable as opposed to the tough front she usually put up. Jenny moved to advance on them, but a hand grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her back.
"If you don't want to confirm it, you'll hang back." Brad told her warningly. Jenny stared at him, then looked back at Brittany, who was leaning against the locker and glaring at her attacker angrily.
"Mind your own business." Brittany insisted again.
"Everything you do is my business. This says so." Tyler put a hand on her stomach, but Brittany pushed it away.
"That was nothing more than a mistake. Just like you." Brittany shot back acidly. Tyler huffed in anger and shoved her against the locker, raising one fist over his head.
His fist stopped in mid thrust, unable to go farther. Tyler grunted and strained to move it, but it wouldn't budge. Looking back, he saw Jenny standing right beside him with a dark glare on her face. "What do you want? This has nothing to do with you. Unless it's true." He scowled.
"Helping people IS my business!" Jenny yanked his arm behind his back and shoved him face first against one of the lockers with a loud bang. "I don't care who you beat up, or why you beat them up. If you lift a hand against anybody, I will stop you. You got that?" Jenny demanded.
Tyler whimpered as she yanked his arm high enough to stretch tendons to their maximum. "Y... yes... got it... got it..." He grunted. Jenny let him drop to the floor and he scurried away on all fours, cradling his wounded arm. Jenny looked around, seeing the blank stares of the rest of the students upon her. Brittany was kneeling down beside her cousin, checking her head.
"Is she okay?" Jenny walked up to them and knelt down beside her.
"It's just a bump... a rather hard one, but she'll recover with an ice pack..." Brittany looked over at her, her face hidden from the others by her crouching position. "And you had to ask me what passion was?"
"What are you talking about?" Jenny blinked in confusion.
"I've never seen anyone so passionate about anything." Brittany told her. At Jenny's blank stare, she shook her head. "Why did you feel the need to help me? Why do you feel the need to help anybody who asks you for it?"
"Because... my program..." Jenny stuttered.
"Your programming applies to saving the world, not saving me from an asshole." Brittany smirked. "So why do you think you wanted to help me?" Jenny stared at her, realization finally dawning on her.
"Because... it felt like the right thing to do..." Jenny realized with her mouth hanging open.
"Welcome to humanity." Brittany grinned mischievously. Jenny smiled back as they moved to lift Tiffany from the ground and get her to the nurses office. So that was passion... knowing what you wanted to do and never deviating from it. She couldn't feel physically passionate with Brittany... but Jenny realized she was passionate about something. She was passionate about protecting all those dear to her... which was everyone. Every person, friend or foe, near or far... she would protect them all. That was her passion... and she would always see it through.
THE END