Read Online A Boy and His Tank by Leo Frankowski - Free Book Online Page B

tux, something I'd never done before. There was a gold-and-diamond watch on my wrist and matching studs on my shirt.
    "I think I like you when you're well dressed, Mickolai. You did well this afternoon, so you deserve something special this evening. I caught you thinking about roast duck a while ago, so voila! " With a flourish, she took the golden lid from a golden platter, displaying a beautifully roasted duck with all the trimmings.
    "It smells as wonderful as you look," I said, "But you know, I think you were right, yesterday."
    "What about, handsome?" She rested her chin on her intertwined fingers and smiled at me in a way that very few women had ever done before. It felt good, but somehow it was also frightening.
    "About how I should call you something else than Kasia. It's confusing, you know, having two Kasias on my mind. How about Maria. My mother's name was Maria."
    "I don't think I'd want you confusing me with your mother, Mickolai."
    "Okay, then. How about Agnieshka? I once had a childhood crush on a pretty little red-haired girl named Agnieshka."
    "If you want, you can call me that. Eat your supper before it gets cold."
    So I carved the duck and served her, too. We both knew that she wasn't really eating, but then we weren't really here at all, so what the heck.
    After eating a very full meal, she suggested that we put off dessert for a while and go to a show.
    "I thought that I had to spend the evening watching that orientation lecture again, Agnieshka."
    "Tomorrow. You've been a good boy today, and all good boys deserve favor. You speak English. Do you like Shaw?"
    "GBS? Sure. A fine writer."
    "Good, because I have tickets to the theater."
    The cottage had a garage now, and the garage had a big new Hunyadi in it. We drove only a mile to town and saw a fine play from the front row, center balcony. We had the best seats in the house because all the rest of the seats were there just to give the proper atmosphere. Not that I could tell that anything was phony.
    There didn't seem to be any limitation to what she could fake up. At one point during intermission when she was in the women's room, I hit up a conversation with one of the engineers from Soul City that I'd met when we were getting the power plant installed on Freya, and I swear I couldn't tell him from the genuine article.
    The play was Man and Superman , and well performed, though I'd seen it once before. Driving back to the cottage, Agnieshka sleepily rested her head on my shoulder. It was all so real that I couldn't help being more than a little attracted to her.
    Back inside, she got us some champagne and said, "Dessert, boss? You got your choice of Big Boy fresh strawberry pie or New York cheese cake." Now she was sort of American, but still with red hair and freckles. Her skirt was much longer, but the top of her dress was about as low at the law allows.
    "Make it the cheese cake. Why are you still changing your appearance?"
    "Just doing some more calibration, boss. I'm monitoring your blood pressure and pupil diameter with each of my body and clothing changes, zooming in on what you want in a woman." She came next to me on the couch, sitting much too close.
    "Can't we just be good friends? You know that I've already found the woman I want, and I'm going to marry her as soon as I can be done with this army business. Can't you understand that I don't want to get involved with another woman right now?"
    "Especially one who's really a computer in a war machine, Mickolai? Your physiological reactions will tell me what they will tell me, so don't you worry about it."
    "Okay, I won't," I said, getting angry. I mean, forcing me to go through a training program was one thing. Forcing me to have a love affair with a goddamn army tank was quite another! It was not only illegal but downright immoral on top of it! Suddenly, the cheese cake stopped tasting good. "Hey, wait a minute. Are you trying to tell me that you have feelings?"
    "Me? Of course not! I'm just a