Change of tempo

It had been a while since I was a regular at Firefly's. When 'Brina left for Ariel I lost my dance partner and, to be honest, we hadn't been as social at the bar in the previous months in any case. And no, it wasn't because I thought I'd been snubbed by never being featured in any of the bar's calendar's over the years.

Still, the bar had always attracted a broad range of folk and I was quite fond of many of them. They'd always billed themselves as the friendliest bar in the 'Verse and, while it was debatable, the claim did have more than a little merit. I'd met my wife in Firefly's back when it was on Blackburne, and sparked off more than one friendship, so the place would always have a reservation in my heart.

Thing was, since 'Brina had gone off to work on a special project with Uncle Elsoph, I'd been a bit lonesome. Not the 'defining characteristic' level of lonesome it had been when I'd gotten to Hale's Moon in the first place, but I was critically aware that I was sharing my room with a Beagle rather than a Beagle and my wife. While Haley was adorable, she did snore, and her nose was cold, and there were some needs a dog, no matter how affectionate, just couldn't fulfill.

I'd gone back to Firefly's on a lark. Taking the shuttle down from the Orbital to see who was around on one of the nights when Gray was spinning the tunes. Wednesday nights are usually quieter than the weekends, which kind of fit my mood. I wasn't really looking for anything, except, maybe, a distraction from being alone in my office in orbit.

I was actually mildly surprised to see Raids there in the bar. It had been a while since I'd seen her, though I tried to keep tabs on her and had made an effort to tell the Alliance patrols that she was legally a citizen and entitled to the same protection and respect that everyone else on the colony deserved. That, and if they pissed her off, I wouldn't be responsible for their medical bills.

Raids asked me if I was aware of another mechanical on the Colony, other than herself and Krenshar. It seemed she'd encountered another inorganic and was curious as to its status. It was, honestly, the first I'd heard of it, which came as something of a surprise. I was generally pretty good about keeping track of the 'unusual entries' to the colony.

She had the impression that this new mechanical had come in on a boat, rather than being the spawn of our remaining Mother Bot. More of a utility model than a combat unit. I was perfectly happy to trust Raids to look into this new machine, though I'd look myself as well and check with others on the ground. The more information we had, the better. If it was just another sophisticated machine, not so much to worry about. If it was another development of the Mother? Different story.

What really surprised me was when Raids asked me to dance. Considering where my head had been for the last week or two, it was a welcome invitation. Also a pleasant surprise to find that Raids was a superbly graceful dancer. I'd seen her in combat before, of course. The four purely mechanical arms, tipped with razor sharp talons, moving like a threshing machine, mowing down anything unfortunate enough to get in their way. She was strong and blindingly fast, but also graceful and lithe.

Maybe it wasn't a surprise that she was an excellent dancer. Though I had to admit, at some level, it was funny that the only person here who'd ask me to dance, with 'Brina gone, was our resident 'reformed' killing machine. In some ways though, it made perfect sense. Raids and I shared a similar situation. Though I'd never entirely understood it, I'd been told that many of the Men and quite a few of the Women found me intimidating. All 41 kilos of me. Understood or not, it did explain why I'd been alone so long before 'Brina. For Raids, the difficulty finding a dance partner was a little easier to understand. Not everyone was comfortable with the idea of a sentient machine, and her origin as a combat model frankly scared a few people.

Fortunate, then, that I wasn't scared of Raids.

If I had been, I'd never have found out how good a dancer she is.

I'd taken a risk in accepting her as one of us. The town council had gone along with me then and, now, without a doubt, I knew it was the right path. Raids wasn't Human. She never would be, and that didn't matter in the least. She was one of us. She'd proven that as I always believed she would.

She was also one hell of a dancer.