Where Nothing Ill Can Dwell

Chapter 10 - ARIEL

I observed the interaction between my young mistress and Ferdinand with avid curiosity. Their expressions, their actions, the way they stumbled over their words and stared at each other for stretches of silence—all these were part of the human experience I had yet to register. And the longer I observed, the more I recorded for my databases. Perhaps once I returned to my creator, she would help me sort out what emotions these young humans were experiencing.

Once Ferdinand was back on the trail to the compound, I flew ahead of him to report my findings.

Dr. Prospero watched what I'd seen and nodded. "Very interesting."

"I agree." I hovered in front of her. "Could you please explain to me why they acted like they were scared to touch each other, and yet seemed to want to do nothing but that?"

My creator cracked a half smile. "It's called lust and attraction."

"Base emotions?"

'They can be, in certain situations. Take what Caliban tried to do to Miranda last year. But Cadet Santos seems to be more civilized than Caliban. Let me show you." She replayed the video one more time and paused it on Ferdinand's face.

I studied it with her. The furrow between his eyebrows spoke of his focus. The press of his lips gave the appearance of pain, yet the wide openness of his eyes refuted that sensation. It was such an odd combination.

"That is called longing, ARIEL."

"Longing?" I asked, filing away the expression into my hard drive.

"Yes. Ferdinand finds Miranda attractive, much like she does him." She flipped the video around to reveal a similar expression on my young mistress's face. "But unlike Caliban, he's demonstrating restraint. He feels lust and desire, but has high enough intelligence not to act on them without her permission."

"So it is a sign of intelligence not to give into lust?"

Dr. Prospero laughed. "All humans give into lust eventually if they want to procreate."

"And do you worry that he will try to procreate with her like Caliban did?" I ran through my defense systems. If he tried to harm her, I would have no trouble executing one of my primary commands, which was to protect Miranda.

"He's a teenage boy. Of course, I worry about that. But thankfully, he seems to have enough of a conscience not to act like Caliban." She turned off the video and pulled up a map of the area, pointing to a small blip on the screen. "And speaking of that dim-witted devil, he ran away yesterday."

"Should I retrieve him for you?"

Dr. Prospero leaned back in her chair and rested her chin in her hand. "No, not yet. I'm curious to see what develops between my daughter and Alonso's son, and adding Caliban to the situation would cause a level of unpredictability I would prefer not to deal with."

I calculated the possible scenarios and discovered one alarming one. "You fear Caliban will see him as a rival?"

"Yes, and I wish to return Ferdinand to his father unharmed, if possible." She highlighted another segment of the map, zooming in on the place where the Admiral's pod was located. "Speaking of which, I want to you to keep an extra close eye on Alonso. My plot is nothing if he's dead."

"Are you commanding me to intervene should I see any danger arising?"

She nodded. "But I want Antonio and Sebastian alive, too, so Alonso can see what snakes he keeps in his company."

"I hear and obey." I bobbed once in the air and flew off in the direction of the escape pod.