[Part 2]

Elara finds it hard to focus on the drawing tablet she holds. She has a good reason for why this is the case: E-77 is watching inside her head. At some point, Elara knows she will be “switched” with E-77 and left to watch for herself. Every second she spends thinking is a second not drawing what she wants.

The compulsion to act before it’s too late gets Elara to start. Selecting a pen tool from among the displayed options, Elara draws a few black, curved lines; joining them together, she makes a single downward arch. Elara then sketches out a pair of human eyes, trying to get it done before her control is taken away. She manages to finish drawing a basic outline of the eyes and then stops to think.

“Are you finished?” X-7 asks, standing close by Elara’s chair and looking at the tablet.

“What? No!” Elara turns slightly to look up at X-7. Why is it standing so close to me? “I just don’t know quite how to sculpt out—”

SNAP. “Mode Shift, Elara,” X-7 says.

“—the… face…” Elara slurs out as she slumps in the chair. Her hands keep holding the tablet as E-77 takes dominant control. The robot opens Elara’s eyes after a few seconds of silence.

“I am active, Mistress.” E-77 looks down at the tablet. “This is what we are drawing with?”

“Affirmative. Elara has already started. You will add some now.” X-7 does not state how long E-77 will be “active” at this point.

“Compliance.” E-77 keeps the same tool Elara selected on the tablet. Compared to Elara’s motions, E-77 uses Elara’s fingers with a more rigid motion. She focuses around the area of the eyes but leaves those objects alone. She sketches out a small nose, adding on to the image of a face with a pair of cheeks and a dimpled chin.

As E-77 finishes sketching out the chin, she pauses and turns to X-7. “Mistress,” she asks as her clouded green eyes look expectantly at X-7, “am I allowed to erase anything we have drawn?”

X-7 considers this with all the processing speed of an advanced machine. “No,” it finally decides. “You must build trust with Elara, and erasing work one of you does can potentially break that trust. Why did you ask this question?” X-7 finishes as its visor creates the image of a raised eyebrow above one of its eyes.

“I am hypothesizing that one of us may make a mistake and want to correct it.” E-77’s voice remains emotionless and calm under scrutiny; just like a machine. “If we cannot correct mistakes, then our disapproval of the exercise will grow. This can be a problem.”

“Noted.” X-7 quickly snaps her fingers before announcing, “Mode Shift, please.”

“Switching… now…” E-77 is already closing her eyes as she says the second word. Elara comes back with no complaints, taking the tablet and looking over its new contents. She does not show anger, which X-7 notes with some mechanical “pride”.

“She did this? Huh.” Elara squints her eyes at the new facial features. “That’s not what I expected.”

“Work with it, Elara,” X-7 presses with the vocal authority of a schoolmaster talking to a student. “You will not be able to erase what is drawn.”

“Okay, okay.” Elara gets to work straight away. She goes above the eyes now, sketching out the forehead of a human face. She starts with the basic lines, and then tries to add more lines to emphasize a three-dimensional appearance from the front. No sense in drawing a flat head, she thinks.

While shading the left side of the head, Elara’s hand unexpectedly jerks to the side. She ends up drawing a sharp line through the face’s “skin” on its left side. “Gah!” she exclaims. “That wasn’t right!”

SNAP. “Mode Shift, Elara.”

“No, wait… Wait…” Elara drops fast and hard into trance, her body relaxing against the chair once again. X-7 briefly notes how pretty Elara looks like this, before E-77 takes control once more. Seeing her fall into trance this often in so short a time is… pleasing.

“I am active, Mistress,” E-77 announces. She looks down at the tablet, her eyelids widening and shrinking in mimicry of mechanical lenses or optics.

“Elara claims to have made a mistake,” X-7 tells its servant. It does not say anything more; really, it does not feel it needs to.

“I see where she has made it,” E-77 says. “I will work with it.” She does just that, shading the area around the misplaced line so it becomes a scar going down the “face’s” cheek. As E-77 moves to deepen the shading inside the scar, X-7 sees her shoulders start to shake and move irrationally. The four-armed robot considers intervening, reaching its two lower arms out to keep E-77 still. X-7 stops when it sees E-77 freeze her arms and shoulders on her own.

“No,” E-77 whispers, speaking to herself—or perhaps Elara—with strong insistence. “I will make this better. Watch.”

E-77’s eyes, though clouded, show a focus that X-7 notes with more “pride”. This is a good sign, too; the two sides are communicating more openly.

“Mode Shift, please,” X-7 says authoritatively. Snap.

“Switching.” E-77 finishes saying the word just before she relaxes in the chair. Three seconds later, Elara comes back to an “Active” state.

“Ugh. Agh.” Elara smacks her lips a few times. “What did…?” She opens her eyes to look down at the tablet. Her pupils dilate for a second; a shocked, “Oh, wow,” escapes her lips.

X-7 keeps watching, noting Elara’s surprise but lack of anger. Furthermore, the transition between Elara and E-77 is getting quicker and causing less reaction. Another good sign.

Elara gets to work with no further comment, focusing on the area below the nose, adding lips to one side of the face. The other side is left lipless and given sharp teeth. Like before, Elara’s work is simple sketches compared to E-77’s detailed drawings. This does not slow her down as might be suspected with humans competing against other humans.

“Elara.” X-7 risks kneeling by its captain. “How do you feel?”

“This can work,” Elara whispers, her eyes focused on the tablet, her hands and wrists shifting with smooth motions. “I feel like this can work,” she repeats.

“Is E-Seventy-Seven helping you right now?” X-7 quietly asks.

“Maybe. I don’t know.” Elara’s pupils dilate again as she gives more visible points to the visible teeth in the evolving image.

SNAP. “Mode Shift, Elara.”

“If I can… just…” Elara’s voice gives out a second before her body; she becomes “Passive” with no resistance this time. E-77 takes over with no immediate resistance, either.

“I am active, Mistress.” E-77 looks down at the tablet and does not react beyond a momentary curling of their lips. “I see what Elara is doing. It is within acceptable parameters.”

“Good. Continue your work,” X-7 commands.

“Compliance.” E-77 adds more details to the teeth, making the area without lips appear scarred around the teeth. As the gums around those teeth become exposed, E-77 shades that area even more. It gives the image a menacing look, but there is enough contrasting beauty to prevent a predatory look.

“Yes. This is good.” E-77 begins muttering like Elara, speaking with the other half of the same mind. “This will work.”

“You are finished?” X-7 inquires, careful not to sound forceful. No need to rush.

“No. No,” #-77 repeats quietly as she squeezes her eyes shut. “We are not done.”

“Mode Shift, please.” Snap.

E-77 only says, “Yes,” before she gives up control.

“Oof.” Elara adjusts her posture once she is “Active” again. She mutters, “Okay, okay…” as she looks at the tablet and works with it. Elara adds a few long lines beneath the eyes to simulate stress lines or wrinkles from age. She then finishes sketching out the face’s outlines, not putting any hair on the head’s scalp. Her work is frenzied, rushing from one point to another, but her motions are direct and smooth like a machine’s.

“Yeah, yeah.” Elara appears to talk to herself again, or so X-7 surmises. “Uh huh. Yep. Got it.”

“Who are you speaking to, Elara?” X-7 asks with a burst of eagerness. The robot already knows the answer, but to hear an admittance would be excellent progress.

“Almost there. Just need to—Wha?” Elara blinks quickly, her eyes regaining some clarity as she looks back at X-7. “What did you say?”

“Who were you just speaking to, Elara?” X-7 repeats, trying to sound gentle despite the thrill of discovery racing through her artificial brainwaves.

“E-Seventy-Seven. She’s helping me. She’s…” She stops, realizing the implications of what that means. “She’s… in my head. Whispering. Holding my hands.” Those hands start to shake, and by extension so does the tablet she holds.

Quickly, X-7 takes the role of caregiver. “Don’t be scared, Elara,” it tells her.

“I’m not scared.” Elara’s hands stop shaking, her body breathing slowly despite the fear she was just showing. “I think we’re finished. Or nearly so.”

SNAP. “Mode Shift, Elara.”

“Okay,” Elara says before her eyes roll back to show the whites, her eyelids rapidly flickering for a few seconds before E-77’s glazed stare takes over. She doesn’t even slump back in the chair this time, the transition is that quick.

“I am active, Mistress.” E-77 looks down at the tablet, taking in the details added and what could be further added. The summary E-77 gives to X-7 is, “We are nearly finished.” This is enough for X-7 to let E-77 continue. However, the only thing E-77 does is add a final set of shading and enhancements to the image. This causes the details already present to gain further prominence, drawing the viewer’s eye to places designed for them to look.

With no signs of struggle, E-77 completes what she – and most likely Elara as well – considers a piece of artwork. E-77’s eyes scan over the image one more time, making a few miniscule adjustments, and then leans back in the chair with the tablet in her hands.

“It is done, Mistress,” E-77 says. The beginnings of a smile form on Elara’s face as E-77 expresses pride in what she has helped make.

“Mode Shift, please.” Snap.

“Yes.” E-77 closes her eyes most of the way, the remaining visible eyeball showing pure white. Then, Elara’s bright green stare emerges once more. She sits up straight, looks down at the tablet, and… just looks at it some more. Blinking every so often, breathing at a slow pace, Elara just looks at the producet E-77 claims is complete.

Ten seconds go by. Then thirty. At fifty seconds of silent staring, X-7 risks getting the captain’s attention with a soft, “Elara?”

As X-7 leans closer to Elara, the robot suddenly catches Elara’s lips moving rapidly, as if subvocalizing to herself. A dialogue is happening before X-7’s eyes, and it cannot discern the full meaning of it. Even if X-7 put in the effort to read Elara’s lips in real-time, Elara is only half of the conversation.

How mysterious. How pleasing for a fellow machine like X-7 to study and appreciate.

Elara’s lips suddenly shut tight. She closes her eyes, inhales, and then announces, “We’re done,” with finality.

X-7 places one of her hands on the tablet’s edge, gripping it lightly. Elara catches the meaning behind the action and allows X-7 to take it. The robot brings it closer to her visor’s eyes and looks at the finished image.

The drawing is a front-facing image of a middle-aged woman’s face, parts of it scarred and showing metal beneath the skin. However, both her eyes are clearly human and none of her skin appears fake or decayed. The woman’s expression is neutral, neither happy nor sad about her condition.

“This is your combined drawing?” X-7 asks Elara without looking away from the tablet.

“Yes. It shares human and machine traits. It is…” Elara audibly swallows before she tries speaking again. “It’s what we wanted.”

X-7’s electronic eyes blink. “I am surprised you chose this. It closely represents your mental situation, Elara.”

“How closely?” the captain suspiciously inquires. She even stands up from the chair and goes by X-7 to look at the image herself.

“The machine and flesh seem to blend together, each aiding the other.” X-7, now acting like an art critic, points to various marks and signs as she talks. “Additionally, the scars indicate experience and resilience, a trait you both share.”

Elara’s head is literally occupied with more immediate thoughts than how this picture is being judged critically. What she wants is a simple yes-or-no answer to a question she subsequently asks X-7: “Do you like it?”

X-7’s upper hands wave in a “so-so” gesture. “My opinion does not matter in this exercise,” it tells Elara. “Do you like it, both of you?”

“I…” Elara’s eyes glaze over for a second, letting E-77 peek out from inside her mind. The sensation is only for a few moments, but Elara feels every single wiggle and rustle her robotic side makes. “We think it’s okay.” After a brief pause, Elara adds the word, “Mistress,” with noticeable hesitation.

“Thank you.” X-7 takes the tablet in its lower two hands, moving the drawn face out of Elara’s line of sight. “I shall preserve this drawing for the time being. Perhaps we can print it later to mount in your quarters.”

“That sounds… okay?” Elara nods to herself. “Yeah, it’s okay.” She smiles wistfully at seeing that face again on the Wayfinder. Better that than having it sold across the galaxy, right? She’s not ready for that kind of fame or critiq—

“Sleep, Elara.” X-7 simultaneously snaps both her lower pairs of fingers by Elara’s ears.

Elara, not expecting this command, succumbs to X-7’s power without resistance. X-7 holds the tablet in one hand while using the other three to catch Elara’s slumping body. As X-7 puts Elara back in the captain’s chair, a quiet snore leaves her mouth. In the span of a few seconds, her hypnotic state becomes natural, human sleep.

X-7’s eyes mimic a human’s gleeful smile. The bond is deepening. This can be useful.