"Oh?" Mericlou said, trying to sound marginally surprised. But in truth, she was ashamed that in the year that she had known him, she never talked much about them, giving only tidbits about little humorous or embarrassing episodes, like the time that Sedriil installed a faulty buffer in Alaema. The backwash from her pent-up sex drive had caused her to nearly go after the neighbor next door -not that he minded. She was mortified, but she remembered that it took Aldrec several minutes to stop laughing. Perhaps it was because Alaema was the most dynamic and outspoken member of her family, that she was the only one who Aldrec knew a great deal about.

"What do you want to know, then?" Mericlou asked.

"Well, Skori seems so uptight about something," Aldrec said. "It's almost like something's constantly bothering him."

"Well, you just don't know Skori very well," Mericlou said, placing her palms outward. "He's supposed to be 'uptight' as you say; it's his programming. He's a Linsk model."

"A military type?" Aldrec said.

"You know about them?" Mericlou said, mildly surprised.

"Oh, I know quite a bit about the military types," Aldrec said confidently. "I used to be in the military myself."

"You were?" Mericlou asked. Here was another facet of this elf that she knew nothing about.

Aldrec frowned. "I served in the Daina army during the Liberation War, but I didn't like it. I quit after my mandatory year was up. But I think that Skori's personality is rooted in something different from his original programming. He's hiding something, I think."

"I rather doubt that!" Mericlou said, indignant. "Skori's the most forthright of us all! As a matter of fact, if there's anyone who should be labeled a walking enigma, it's Sedriil."

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"I think Skori's past is entwined with Sedrii's," Aldrec remarked.

"By the maker …! How did you know that?" Mericlou said. Aldrec never failed to surprise her with his keen insight.

Aldrec winked. "Simple observation." He then pointed to his long, pointed ears. "And I have hearing that is almost as good as any android's. I picked up on the conversation they were holding at the dinner table. But they kept it subsonic, so I didn't understand everything."

"Subsonic?" Mericlou echoed. She had been too fascinated with Aldrec's anecdotes during dinner to have noticed much else. "So how much of it did you get?"

"Sorry, Meri; I don't divulge personal matters," Aldrec said, shaking his head. "Besides, I think that if they feel it's important to let you know, you'll be the first they tell."




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