Chaos Theory (Cosmic Lovely)

Chapter Two

“Glass,” Creighton ordered without raising his eyes from his screen.

She ignored him and puckered to swig and swallow.

“Kali.”

She peeked over the rim of the jug. The disapproval was clear to see. “Howl,” she called. “Please can....”

“Stars above, do not use that FetchMe.”

She gave Creighton an exasperated look. “His name’s Howl, Papa.”

“I’m used to calling him that. His ears are damn sensitive. The moment you even whisper his name, even if you don’t actually want to summon him, he comes running. I hate that.”

On cue, the Loklear’s FetchMe came scuttling around the corner on energised mechanical legs, eager for attention. He skidded to a stop at the threshold of the kitchen, sleek head swinging between Creighton and Kali.

His tail whipped side to side in excitement.

The latest design in biogenetic robotics, the FetchMe was designed with the characteristics and physical attributes of a living organism. Having the cognitive ability of a young adult, Howl was cloned and grown within a biomechanical womb from stockpiled animal DNA.

The companions were cyborgs considered indispensable to HiCaste families, and recognised as honorary members.

Kali’s first FetchMe was a gift from her parents when she was a baby, an adorable wolfhound called Fluffy who died of old age. Left to choose the breed of the FetchMe this time, Kali had been tempted to get a felid breed like her best friend Max, but in memory of Fluffy, she got an Arctic wolf instead.

Howl was loyal to the family and programmed to protect them from danger. His intelligence was considerably higher than most FetchMe borgs because Kali didn’t see the point of creating such a beautifully intelligent creature to dumb it down to just look pretty. Wolves were naturally intellectual creatures, and by adding lines of genetic coding, the FetchMe had become a friend, confidant, guardian, and genuine member of the Loklear family.

Most importantly to Kali, he had the ability to control certain household functions.

She trained Howl to be able to open cupboards and bring her things the moment she realised he was canny enough, and only recently had her parents figured that out.

And they gave her hell about it.

Reading Creighton’s adrenaline levels to determine him unapproachable, Howl sat at Kali’s feet.

Obsidian eyes with gold slits stared lovingly.

Dropping to her knees to give him a hug, she let his silken muzzle rub her neck. His off-white coat was satiny smooth, and smelt like cotton, as it had been coded to. Kali purposefully allowed him to keep his sharp teeth because giving him a mouth full of blunt herbivore canines felt cruel. In essence, he was a wolf, and loved to hunt. Curbing those urges detracted the primal essence of what he was.

Rikard Loklear had been hesitant to allow her a full wolf breed because the animal fell in the high-risk category. Wolves and predatory big cats malfunctioned more often than any other kind of borg. Their animal sides overrode the genetic suppressants keeping them docile, and there had been occurrences of attacks on humans. By keeping Howl’s hunting and tracking instincts, Kali had removed those suppressants, relying on Howl’s connection to the family to keep him in line. Regardless of logical argument, when Kali had seen him freshly birthed as a puppy, covered in embryonic fluid and the metal alloy enhancements showing through his thin, hairless skin, she’d known he had to be hers. Howl would never hurt her. He loved Kali as much as she loved him, and that bond was the reason Rikard relented.