Coded ambition

Fragment 4: Similarities, Part 2

When Lysander visited Natalie this afternoon to deliver L-35, he was once again in a good mood.

The sun was shining warmly and he felt proud to be the one specific person that could help Nat and her son out with their robot issue.

Of course he would not tell them that L-35 was basically a L-36 now. It was sufficient to say that he was fixed.

Even if Lysander was itching to talk about his genius in development, it would be against company rules. Fusion of different android models was forbidden due to the potential incompatibilities of new with old modules and technologies that legacy systems could bring with them. Also, individual treatment like Lyss provided for the Arsted family was rarely approved, at least not without a large invoice.

However, even if he ignored this rule, nobody would really understand the effort and sophistication behind his work. Dean might be somebody with high technical expertise but it was in a very different field. Lyss highly doubted that he understood much of android programming. And as a former model, Natalie would not feel the need to understand all the details of L-35's system.

Even though Lyss would have loved to talk about his upgrade, he felt a little bit alone when he considered telling them and therefore decided not to talk about it. He figured that Dean, with all his great achievements regarding the Meteors, must feel the very same way. Maybe they were not so different after all.

But it did not change the fact that he still disliked this man. On the contrary, he enjoyed time with Dean's wife much more. She was quite grateful and impressionable, though she might not understand the technical details.

Natalie was greeting him with a smile and welcomed him inside. When she saw L-35, she looked very angry for a second but then managed to regulate her emotions quite fast.

"Good afternoon, Nat", L-35 greeted her politely, trying to establish a feeling of familiarity by using her nickname. "I would excuse myself until you are finished with Lysander. It seems to be the best option when we could talk about our conflict in private, if you want to", the robot said.

"We'll see", Nat said curtly, turning her head to the side. Her eyebrows revealed that she was annoyed by his appearance.

L-35, unprovoking as he was programmed to be, took a polite bow and left them on their own.

Natalie watched him go upstairs with a feeling of discomfort. He would probably start cleaning right away, which was nice help. But his presence felt strange after all that had happened and she was not able to forgive him yet.

"L-35 is as good as new", Lysander told her cheerfully. "I moved heaven and earth in order to overhaul him without erasing his memory data. That is a very expensive service. You know that, right?" At the end, he looked at her a little daringly.

Nat was indeed confused by that. "If it's about money, I can talk to Dean", she tried to get rid of the topic as swiftly as possible. Lyss checked the rooms and stairs to his side for Dean and considered her words. It was apparent to him that her husband was not home. He felt intrigued by it, exactly like last time.

Looking at her innocent and pretty face, he could not resist being a tiny bit bolder and to mess a little bit with her.

"Nah", Lysander sent his broad wolf-grin at her. "I don't need his money. I am quite wealthy myself, you know? I only did this to meet with his nice and beautiful wife, that's all."

For a second, Natalie could not believe her ears. Did he really flirt with her right now?

When she unexpectedly felt her heart starting to flutter, she turned away and cursed this emotional reaction of hers. She knew too well that Lysander could be a very charming person.