Around ten verdora, the Delelens among them, used strands of dragonleaf to secure themselves to the translucent superstructure. By the time Eyrin began to speak, ninety-eight eyes pointed his way, their hosts all gingerly balanced in dragonleaf webs.

"I trust that we've all known about the status of planet 39744 as an agricultural holding of an unspecified Core World, mediated through Vora Galaxy planet 75526, Tatsuin." The verdora inclined their heads. Considering their noble status, not knowing would be cause for concern. "According to records available to the princes of Illudis," he began, intently eying the crowd, "the Core World in question requires a set quota of food from the planet each year. To meet this quota, the Core World utilizes a workforce of androids." He gestured with a hand. "You can see them everywhere."

Eyrin sensed their confusion and mild boredom, their shells bubble-like orbs of pastel yellow. They already know all this, as they should. "No doubt many of you are wondering why I said that my information comes from records available to Illudis' princes." Their orbs turned pastel violet. So they're mildly interested, at least. "While part of our contract with the unnamed Core World involves non-interference with their agricultural production, we have never been prohibited from visiting planet 39744. Several thousand years ago, we sent a team of engineers and scientists aboard a ship--not the voyager, but a leased vessel--to visit the planet."

"Only once?" the female Delelen murmured absently. She immediately tensed as she realized who she was questioning. Her fear and embarrassment gave her violet shell a smattering of sunset red and midnight blue. "Apologies," she said, voice uncharacteristically soft.

Eyrin shook his head dismissively. "There's no need to emulate statues," he remarked, brow ridges rising up. "If you have questions, simply follow traditional rules of decorum and ask them."

No less than twenty-percent of the verdora present pinched the fabric of their veils between fingers.

"I'll take questions in a moment," he added, eying the female Delelen. What's her name...Arey..Arzey...Ezrey...Ah. "Erzey house Delelen--" that must be right-- "you asked why I only mentioned an expedition several thousand years ago--four-thousand and twenty-five years ago, to be exact. The answer is economics: leasing the required ship was exorbitantly expensive. As Juserin only acquired the voyager in the past few years, we had no financially feasible method to send more researchers to the planet before then.

"Perhaps more importantly, based on our findings, we saw no reason to send another expedition."

The pastel violet turned plum. Now they're truly curious.

"The androids will speak if spoken to," Eyrin said, his smile peaking out from his veil. "According to the archived report, they have no programmed knowledge of their creators or anything beyond the scope of the Galactic Encyclopedia. Even so...they have fairly peculiar behavioral patterns.

"I'm not going to tell you what the report said--instead, I want everyone present to observe the androids carefully. Take note of their mannerisms and body language, as well as their manner of speech." Eyrin looked off in the distance towards the glare of a white sun. "I'll gather all of you in an hour or two."

All present looked at him with expectant eyes, now more than half pinching their veils. Oh, right. He cleared his throat. "Questions?"

---

Lisa ran her fingers through vegetation as she progressed down the center of the field. The crop here is like...hairy corn. Thick, fibrous stalks stretched in rows for the entirety of the field. Above loomed the superstructure, glass-like against the intense aquamarine sky. She chose to walk, deigning to assume the same point of view as the androids that tended the field.

She tried to understand why a civilization with potentially billions of years of technological development would use vaguely humanoid androids to manually till and harvest fields of crops. She had difficulty conceiving of such a society needing to export crops from a random planet like Dusk's Halo. How did they even find this place? And why here--why not someplace closer? Dusk's Halo was a full three years out from the Core World. No doubt, the string of gates leading from Dusk's Halo to the unnamed Core World was almost impossibly inefficient--based on what she'd read, getting from the fringes of the universe to Ildr could take decades.

Even so, Lisa had no doubt that there must be planets closer to the Core who could also produce agricultural goods. If the Core Worlds could have fresh crops, why settle for crops preserved?

Ah, she thought, stopping abruptly. It's one of the androids. She stepped to the side, watching as it used a series of brush-like protrusions to...fondle (?) a stalk of the hairy corn. She walked close to it, following it as it continued to move to other stalks.

Wondering whether it had some way of detecting her presence, she walked off to its side, then waved her hand in front of its face.

"Rather rude," a sinuous, deep female voice articulated.

Lisa's jaw dropped. She whipped her hand back, eyes wide. "Um..."

"To stare," the android clarified. "I hoped you would leave."

"Staring...?"

The android continued to brush a stalk of corn. "I'm working on a tight schedule. You should leave."

"Can't I just watch?" I don't see how conversing is slowing you down, she thought, noting how the android's pace remained unchanged.

"Mm..." the android intoned. Lisa had the distinct impression that, were the android human, she'd be smiling. "Why are you here?"

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Curiosity," Lisa said. "Why are you here?"

"I'm tending these fields," the android replied matter-of-factly.

Lisa's lips pressed into a line. No shit. "What's your name?"

"Jezebella," the android replied, voice deadpan.

Lisa paused. "That's a cool name," she murmured.

"I lied," the android said, following the words with lifelike laughter. "What do you think my name is?"

Lisa coughed. Since when do androids lie? "Uh..."

"Concision is everything, dear."

Lisa's eyes narrowed. "Maybe I was wrong to assume," she muttered. "Do you have a name?"

More laughter. Then, in a starkly robotic, ungendered voice, "No."

"Fine then, no need to string me along," Lisa grumbled. "What are these crops called?"

"Vigigi," the android said.

Lisa raised an eyebrow, padding along next to the android. "Vigigi?"

"Why the focus on names, hmm? You seem to have a few of your own."

Lisa's knuckles tightened. Wait, what the hell?

"I don't know what you're talking about."

"Dear, don't lie to auntie now, hmm?"

This is the strangest--

"It's not that strange," the android mused.

Lisa's nostrils flared momentarily. "Why are you here?"

"Some prisons are black metal," the android replied. "Some are clear sky."

Lisa's forehead crinkled. "Why are you here?" she repeated.

"I know of you," the android sighed. "Church, Asil, and girl of another name. Your legacy spreads by the day and gate, and I am here, unchanged."

What's with the sing-songy prose? Lisa wondered, deeply unsettled. Though if the android has access to an up to date encyclopedia, it isn't impossible for her to have heard about COTD and myself.

"How long have you been here?" Lisa asked, changing the subject.

"Time is meaningless."

...Seriously? "Time kills stars and planets," Lisa argued.

"Time is deadly," the android said, "but meaningless. Time is rot."

"Time is also potential," Lisa rebutted. "People can do great things."

"But in the end," the android said, her artificial voice wistful. "Time will waste you."

Lisa chewed her lip. While Lisa found the subject matter interesting, she wasn't here for a philosophical debate. This android isn't giving me any useful information.

"Before I leave," Lisa said, "is there anything you want me to know?"

"The universe is a vast place, as vast as it is old," she said. "A tree of time and space, winding both inward and outward." The android stopped, and Lisa turned away. Just as she was about to zoom off...

"Remember the name: Jezebella Vigigi."

Lisa furrowed her brow, her head whipping around. "Who?"

"Jezebella Vigigi."

Yeah, I got that much. "Why?"

"What, how, when, where?" Deep laughter. "Who's to say?"

Lisa sighed, then turned away for good. She resolved to find another android, one less...erratic.

---

Bath finished the water slide ahead of schedule. The bedrock of the lake made for a good building material: Bath layered rock with thick sludge, hardening the slide components and weaving dragonleaf around them. The issue of connecting the slide to the bathhouse turned out to be a non-issue: he created a high-rise catwalk above the bathing area below that stretched from the entrance to the back of the room.

The steam should keep everything private, he mused. Probably. Besides, it was a public bathhouse: prudish western propriety was positively unwelcome. If people want their own private baths, they can make them.

He didn't know when Lisa was getting back, and noted that Dean was engaging important vanguard personnel in conversation regarding the ships and fuel sources.

Not my ideal afternoon...

He whipped out of the bathhouse, his thin, feathery wings propelling his slight body into the air. He scanned the surrounding area for signs of the verdora, other humans, or Lisa.

Hmm...humans, he noted, swooping lower. A group of five were walking through a field, clustering around a metallic object. One of the androids.

Bath vanished, his body dissociating in the air. The feeling was mildly unpleasant, but quickly remedied by the formation of a new body: that of Thaddeus house Clanemic.

"Greetings," Bath called out, pushing away a crush of stiff, green crop. Spikes on its edges bit into his hands, though didn't make it past his ribbon wraps.

The humans jumped, startled, though the android remained as passive as before as it trimmed one of the stalks. He recognized them, having already memorized the identities of all thousand-or-so vanguard members. Clayton, Avery, Zina, Stevie, and Angela.

"Haha," Stevie chuckled. "Thought you were another one of them." He gestured back to the android.

"You lost?" Angela asked, her accent the same as the man's. Australian, Bath thought.

"No," Bath replied, coming closer. After his experience with AI Ninety-Seven on Vast Desert, he was careful to keep his essence contained within his body until he developed a sense for the android's observational capabilities. Even if they were allegedly simple androids vetted for use on the rim, "simple" was a relative term.

The humans appeared a bit uncomfortable. "Want to join us?"

Bath smiled, his eyes crinkling. "The pleasure is mine." He regarded the android. "Does it speak?"

"It did until you came," Zina said, her tone mildly accusatory.

Bath snorted, then asked, "What is your purpose?"

"Ah, an easy question," a deep, female voice replied. "To prepare and harvest crops."

Bath nodded. "Excellent." He turned back to the others, noting their baffled expressions. "Problem?"

"We've been talking to it about the meaning of names for the past half hour," Stevie stated. "In that time, we haven't gotten a single straight answer out of it."

Bath cocked his head. "Perhaps you just aren't asking the right questions." He turned back to the android. "What's an easy question?"

"Those I'm permitted to answer."

"Do you have a list of answerable queries?"

"There are infinite."

"How do you determine whether a question is difficult or easy?" Bath asked.

The android swapped plants, drawing its pair of shears across the browning nub of a stalk. "How do you determine whether a question is difficult or easy?"

"Here it goes again," Avery grumbled, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes.

"He got pretty far," Angela murmured. "Not surprising, considering he's a verdora."

Bath wasn't sure why being a verdora would make him better at conversing with androids, but decided to let the comment slide for now.

"Using your definition of an easy question," Bath began, "determining whether a question is difficult or easy would depend on the identity of the asker."

The android sliced a patch of rough skin from the surface of a stalk. "It is as you say."

"Wait, what?" Zina hissed.

"Do you know who I am?" Bath asked mildly, ignoring the chittering off to the side.

"No."

"Does it matter?"

"No."

"Then tell me: what is your purpose?" Will she respond as she did before, or will our conversation change her answer?

"To prepare the harvest."

Bath cursed inwardly. The same response, for all intents and purposes.

"For whom?"

"The powers that purchased the rights to farm this planet." An encyclopedic answer. Bath sighed. However, as he did so, he emitted a cloud of essence. He directed it to the android, molding it over her metallic body and pushing it into the android's joints. There's scarcely any space at all, he thought. This android is air-tight.

"Very well," Bath murmured, stepping back. He eyed the humans. "I tried." And no apparent reaction to my meddling; excellent.

They nodded. "Angela, why don't you take a crack at it?" Stevie suggested.

Bath decided to watch them for the next ten minutes, sending his essence into the android's exterior folds and creases while probing its body for openings. After that, however, he set off on his own, this time to inspect the superstructure.

If the superstructure is any less closed-off than that android, I'll be satisfied.