"Of course." Riordan sighed.
"I can tell you a fact."
"Well?"
"Master Xana will never terminate you, master Rio."
"How can you say that?"
"He lied."
"What? How do you know?"
"Xenos cannot suffer distress. Lying is part of their complex defense and surviving mechanism."
"You're making my head hurt."
"I wasn't present to your conversation, but I registered the change in the environmental conditions."
"You mean, the temperature drop?"
"Yes."
"But what does it mean? Why did he say something awful like that?"
"I can only speculate. Please, reveal the content of the conversation."
"I asked him about my career choices once he finishes his business with me. He got in a funk and told me that he would put egg after egg inside me, so I never leave him. When I said I was against it, he threatened me. What do you make of this?"
"He reacted to the initial threat by launching a counter-attack."
"What initial threat?"
"You leaving, master Rio."
"I said that I will carry the first egg. It's not like I threatened his bloodline or something," Riordan said rather miffed.
"That is most peculiar, master Rio. After the first egg, Xenos let their bearers go. Maybe this conversation was ill timed. Master Xana reacted as if he was denied the right to his offspring."
"It's so fucked up." Riordan groaned. "All I wanted to know was what I was going to do after. Are you trying to tell he just overreacted?"
"It is a possibility."
"So, after landing the first egg, he might not be so clingy?"
"That I do not know," the bot supplied dutifully. "Could it be that master Xana is too young to process what it means to have a bearer?"
"Don't ask me. I'm not from around here if you haven't noticed," Riordan said.
"Ah, sarcasm," the bot replied.
"You catch on quickly," Riordan praised the bot.
"Thank you, master Rio."
"So, usually, Xenos don't get a bearer while they're this young."
"No. Master Xana is quite an exception, due to his outstanding results in politics."
"So he pulled some strings, the idiot," he mumbled.
"The High Chancellor agreed. He is for allowing the minimum age for awarding bearers to go lower than what it is presently."
"But why? The guy already has that punk kid, Xer."
"Yes, and the High Chancellor believes that his son is ready for a bearer. He said it on several occasions and publicly."
"Frankly, the dude is insane. There's no way that punk kid is ready for a family. He thinks with his dick."
The bot made a sudden, screech like sound, and Riordan covered his ears.
"What the fuck, Kyle?"
"I am terribly sorry, master Rio. You said a joke, so I tried to laugh. It looks like I need to work on the sequence more."
"Definitely," Riordan agreed. "Now, tell me, Kyle, do you happen to know why Tasha is kept in that household?"
"He is the High Chancellor's bearer. You already know this, master Rio."
"Yeah, that's what everyone says. But Xer is bent on porking Tasha and he looks fucking entitled about it, too. What if, listen to me closely, Marn wanted a bearer just so he could pair his son with one?"
"I doubt it."
"That's it? You doubt it?"
"There is not enough information to process."
"Well, that's true. In that case, just call it human intuition."
"How does human intuition work?" the bot demanded to know.
"Pretty much like what you said about Xana lying about wanting to kill me and dropping the temperature in the house."
"That was a routine I created based on prior knowledge."
"Ah, well, just push a little further that knowledge you have. Marn Saver has a son in his teens. He doesn't need a bearer. He pushes for teens to have the right to bearers. So he brings one in his home, but refuses to have another egg. At the same time, the dude is obsessed with his bloodline. Maybe he doesn't want to die without seeing his son having an offspring? How old is he, anyway?"
"In corresponding human years, 143 years old."
"Shit, the guy must look like a mummy. How can Tasha stand to fuck that sack of bones?"
"The High Chancellor is physically attractive to most species, including Earthian, and does not resemble a mummy. You are referring to the ancient method of preserving the dead, I assume?"
"Oh, so he's good looking. He looks just like Xana, then?"
"No, the High Chancellor has more of a commanding presence."
"You know what? You must have a picture of the guy somewhere. Show me."
Riordan stared at the Xeno in the formal attire displayed by Kyle. His hair was a shade of grey and his face seemed cut in stone. But the guy was definitely a looker. The kind you don't dare say anything without asking for permission to speak.
"How many years do these guys live?"
"The equivalent in human years would be at least a few hundred years."
"So Marn is in his prime, by the looks of it. How come they only have just one egg?"
"The Xenos are an efficient species. They are very powerful and besides preserving their bloodline, they do not have an interest to increase their numbers uncontrollably. In the event that an offspring passes away before their parent, they consider having another egg. They are also absorbed by politics and the need to expand their influence, which leaves little time to offer each new Xeno the required education and formation."
"So there are no Xenos with more than one kid?"
"Yes, there are. But it is not a common practice."
"And do they use the same bearer?"
"No. No such cases are registered in my memory."
"So Xana was really talking out of his ass," Riordan said with a sigh.
"It is not impossible. The medical advancements can foresee any possible complications. Humans, so far, seem to be the most compatible and resilient of the species that have been used for reproduction by Xenos."
"Even so. I don't think I want to be a walking uterus all my life."
"Technically, it is not a uterus you are carrying. The abdomen tissue..."
"Whatever. You know what I mean."
"Yes, master Rio. You are afraid."
"Where did that come from?" Riordan watched the bot suspiciously now.
"I can read your emotions to some degree. But I don't understand the source of your fear."
"Forget about it. Let's just talk about it another time."
"As you say, master Rio," the bot complied.
He needed rest. It was good that Kyle knew exactly when to leave him alone. There were no windows to the room, as there weren't everywhere. So he just chose to stare at the ceiling and empty his head of all thoughts. Too much had happened.