Sleeping with Reka was like clinging to a piece of driftwood in the middle of the ocean. Their bed was big enough to get lost in, but his fiancee was always there holding him, protecting him. Other people might not understand their dynamic; it was clear to Brad, though. They'd been together for over three years at this point and he wasn't stupid, rumors to the contrary notwithstanding. Reka stood watch over him, wary, in a constant state of suspicious alertness. She didn't fall asleep until after he did and always woke first. It was a bit sad that he never got the chance to watch her sleep. Sleeping Reka would be so cute.
This morning was much the same as any other they spent together since they were two college students sharing an apartment. The early morning light coaxed his eyes open and the woman he loved was already wide awake, looking at him playfully. Her lithe, strong body was entangled with his own and her heavy breasts were pressed up against his chest.
"Do we wish to make love this morning?" she asked heatedly, no doubt feeling little Brad stiffen down below.
He was about to say yes when he smelled something delicious. Was that bread baking?
"Ah," Reka said in acknowledgement. "Galiban has assumed his duties. Knowing him, our prompt attendance would be best. Never fear, my love. I will pleasure you all the more later today."
Brad knew enough to know that was no idle promise. She was going to destroy him later, but first, breakfast!
They dressed quickly and descended the stairs to find Galiban, their metal skeleton butler, wearing a shirt and tie with a cook's apron over it, grinding their morning coffee by hand.
The kitchen smelled crazy.
Bowing deeply, Galiban greeted them, "your royal highnesses, by your will, breakfast shall be served presently."
Reka inclined her head minutely, "you may proceed, Galiban, good morning."
The butler set down a plate in front of each of them with a light, fluffy, French-style omelette and a decadent, flaky croissant, the kind you really could only find in a proper French cafe, not an American bakery.
"Good morning, your grace," Galiban said back. "Your espresso will be ready shortly."
Galiban flitted about the kitchen, every movement precise, everything "just so", stylish, exacting, but also seemingly effortless. The way he moved didn't seem much like a robot at all.
Brad enjoyed the smell coming from the espresso machine and took a bite of egg, but it didn't taste like any omelette he ever had! The flavor was so deep and rich, the texture smooth and creamy, Brad could hardly believe it was just eggs.
"Only the finest for the king-consort," Galiban said as if the robot could sense his thoughts, placing a small glass of coffee in front of him. "Those eggs were delivered fresh from a local organic farm early this morning."
Galiban could do that?
"That's right, my love," Reka said, munching happily on her croissant. "We are quite wealthy, you know. It's past time you became accustomed to proper cuisine."
Now that she mentioned it, this did seem to be more Reka's style. Was she planning to take him back to Hungary to live in her family's castle? Would he have to learn fancy table manners?
"It's wonderful," he said in appreciation, taking a bite of his croissant.
God, food this good should be illegal, he thought. This was bread right? What right did bread have tasting like that?
An intrusive thought made Brad pause mid chew. Why did Galiban talk like that? Was Reka actually the queen? Was she the last heir of the Habsburgs or something? Austria-Hungary didn't exist anymore, but the family probably still had land somewhere. It made a dangerous amount of sense. The only thing that was missing was the chin.
I'm marrying the queen, he thought dreamily. What kind of good deed did he do in his past life to get rewarded like this?
Reka stroked his arm lightly, sending little electric shocks of pleasure coursing through his body. "Try the coffee, my love."
There wasn't a whole hell of a lot of it, more like a shot than the big cups of coffee he was used to in his Navy days.
"Jesus Christ!" he said out loud before he could stop himself. "How did you make it taste like that?"
"The finest beans, carefully selected, roasted and ground by hand, the water triple-filtered and purified by reverse osmosis," Galiban said proudly, sounding like the best coffee commercial ever. Brad could definitely get used to this!
After they finished eating, Reka smoothed her skirt and fully buttoned her blouse. "We going somewhere?" he asked idly.
She frowned a little. "Unfortunately not, my love. Julie is coming later, but she needs to be, shall we say, prepared for faithful Galiban. It is not so different to when you prepared me to meet Mother."
Brad glanced at their black metal manservant fastidiously washing their dishes, yeah, best not to spring this on Julie all at once.
"Leaving me all alone, honey?" he asked lightly.
Reka looked stricken. "Never! My love, you must have some sense of your own value. You are beyond precious to me, Brad. I would never leave you unguarded."
He looked at Galiban waiting attentively and back to Reka, connecting the dots. Guess I have a babysitter after all...
Brad just kissed her. She was so adorable when she got emotional and possessive like this.
"Farewell, my love. I shall return soon. And Galiban?" her tone suddenly shifted, stern, even regal. "You will protect my beloved with your life."
Their butler bowed deeply once more. "With my very existence, your grace, to the uttermost end of my power."
Reka nodded firmly. "Very good." Her tone softened again, turning back to him. "I'll not be long, Brad. Farewell."
When his fiancee left Galiban resumed tidying up the kitchen. Brad felt like Galiban could still see him, even when his back was turned.
"You can do all kinds of things, can't you, Galiban?" he praised. "Did you ever think you'd be washing dishes and dusting cabinets when Reka had you help designing fusion crystals? I was there you know, when she did it."
"Well do I remember," Galiban said, wiping off the kitchen counter with a white cloth. "It was an intriguing problem, but there is a certain elegance in pursuing the path of the ideal butler."
"You don't think you'll get bored as a butler? Can't you do, well, anything? You can learn; Reka mentioned it."
The robot paused as if to think. "This Galiban was created for the sake of serving her grace the queen, in every capacity. There is something peaceful, something fulfilling in a life of service, no? Is it not noble? Is it not elegant to devote oneself completely to a worthy master? To live for the sake of another? Surely, the king-consort can understand if anyone can."
Brad found he could understand. "Reka is just that special. She deserves the world."
Galiban's mechanical eyes flashed. If you had asked Brad, he might say their robot butler looked amused. "It is even as the noble king-consort says," he returned with gravity.
"And you won't ever...become like AM, or Skynet? You don't resent being created as you are?" Brad had to ask. He was a little worried about living with a self-aware AI.
"This Galiban could make quite a nuisance of himself, if he had the mind," he said simply. "But the world need not fear the likes of me, the noble king-consort least of all. Something of the queen's heart is within my programming," he said as if it explained everything, which it mostly did.
Seamlessly, the robot started preparations for the next meal. "Tea and cakes for her grace and her noble lady companion," Galiban explained without being asked. "You are of course invited."
"You know, I've been meaning to ask," Brad segued. "Reka is the queen, right? I'm the king-consort because I'm married to the queen, or will be?"
Galiban inclined his head. "Just so, your grace," he confirmed while putting the tea on. "You may also be addressed as 'your grace' as I just did, or a number of other styles besides."
Since the conversation was going that way, Brad had another question. "You always say 'this Galiban', what do you mean by that?"
Galiban smiled creepily. "Quite simple, your grace. 'I', if you would the allow the use a singular pronoun, which is not strictly accurate, am in many places at once. This Galiban, or rather, this automaton platform before you, is but one instance of many. This elegant life of ours is not my only task in the queen's service. The king-consort need never fear his servant Galiban growing bored."
Good, Brad thought. That was good. Galiban had plenty of things to occupy his time, things Reka had never told him about. It would be a nice surprise, he was sure.
Brad started wondering what Reka meant by "soon" when Galiban perked up.
He heard them before he saw them.
"Reka, this is crazy, even for you," Julie was saying as she walked through the front door. Brad was sitting down at the kitchen island and Galiban was polishing teacups.
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean," Reka defended herself as she followed behind.
"Welcome back, your grace, this Galiban has prepared refreshment for yourself and your lady guest."
Their butler bowed formally. Was he going to bow every time?
Julie looked quite flustered, not speaking for a moment.
"Reka, darling," she said finally in a faux-calm tone, "why did you give your robot a daddy voice?"
His fiancee blinked. "Galiban has no parents, as far as I'm aware."
That must've been the wrong thing to say because Julie started freaking out more. "Brad!" she cried out in exasperation. "This is not normal! I know you married a mad scientist but even you have to realize how crazy this is."
Brad just shrugged. "Reka was tired of takeout I guess, and neither of us is particularly handy in the kitchen. I can make a few simple things..."
"That makes it worse! Reka made a walking, talking, robot butler just because she wanted some home-cooked meals. And what's that in its chest?" she pointed accusingly. "Is that a fusion reactor, Reka? That's illegal. You can't have that in your house!"
"That's, er, proprietary technology," Reka dissembled. "It's not radioactive at all. You can run a Geiger counter over him if you like."
"Perhaps the lady would like to sit down with tea and cakes," Galiban offered in appeasement.
Brad witnessed Julie wage an internal battle with herself, and eventually tea and cakes won out, or so he assumed.
Their house had a very nice sitting room with a glass wall that let the sun in and they all sat down at a table that Galiban had already set.
Reka passed over her chair and sat right on Brad's lap, not that he was complaining. He nibbled on some kind of fancy cookie while he wrapped one arm around her waist and rested a hand on her flat stomach, thoroughly enjoying the contact after being apart for over an hour. Maybe he was becoming as bad as Reka?
"You know, Reka," Julie said while Galiban poured tea, "the most infuriating thing about you is also the coolest thing. You just don't give a fuck."
"Whatever do you mean, my friend?" Reka asked as if she genuinely had no idea.
Julie took a sip of her tea, hiding behind the coffee cup. "You're just rubbing up on hubbie right in front of me. I don't even want to know what you'll do as soon as I leave."
"We'll make love, of course," Reka said as if it was obvious. "Brad was amorous this morning but Galiban had just baked fresh croissants. Considering that, I delayed our relations, though I was loath to do so."
Brad knew Reka would never leave him unsatisfied, and those were really good croissants. It was the right decision in his view.
Julie blinked. "Anyway," she said, "you know I'm grinding on my dissertation right now. Why did you really bring me here?"
"It's time, my friend," Reka said seriously. "Regency is expanding, and our deal with Rainforest gives us connections in all sorts of places. George Stavros informs me that they're about to make a major investment in the medical field."
"You don't mean..." Julie trailed off.
"I do," Reka said emphatically. "Regency has the energy and the thinking machines. There's no reason we can't dive right in to pharmaceuticals."
"Reka, you don't understand," Julie said, finally relaxing now that the topic of conversation was somewhat in her comfort zone. "Bringing a new drug to market takes years. There's a whole process, regulations, structure. You can't just 'dive in' like you think you can."
"Not so," Reka contradicted her. "With the recent plague, there are now provisions to speed up the process greatly. We'll have the backing of Rainforest Medical. The thinking machines will help, too. You will lead this effort, Julie."
Julie took a bite of a pink finger cake, chewing and swallowing deliberately. "Reka, I'm flattered. This is great cake by the way," she said, finally acknowledging Galiban who had been hovering over them, ready to refill their teacups. The robot inclined his head at the praise. "But what do you mean about 'the thinking machines'? You have another AI?"
"This Galiban is fully capable in molecular modeling and simulation, drug discovery, and the use of machine learning to enhance clinical trial outcomes," their butler explained in that devilishly smooth voice of his.
Julie looked around helplessly. "I'm in danger."