The Daughter of Invention

"Darling," a voice rang from the kitchen.

Travis looked up from his new schematics and invoices that he had haphazardly strewn across the coffee table along with a copy of Robotics Digest. His focused expression melted into a warm smile. "Yes, dear?"

Talia rounded the corner. She was the very image of beauty itself as far as Travis was concerned; the way her dark hair hung and her laugh lines deepened whenever she saw him. She was rapture, she was his Aphrodite, and in her eyes he knew he was her Adonis.

"Coffee is ready." She said with a rapidly growing smirk when she saw him staring. "How many eggs do you want?"

"Just two whites today, dear. A client is coming in late this morning and I don't want to be too stuffed."

Talia rounded the corner with a playfully admonishing glare and a cup of coffee in a white ceramic mug. "You know, you should eat more for breakfast. I know you, darling. You have a nasty habit of skipping lunch!"

"Only when I forget my meds. Thanks, dear." He said.

She opened her mouth to speak again only for her shin to smack against the edge of the coffee table, causing her to drop the mug of coffee onto the floor with a dramatic crash. "Ah, dammit! I am so sorry, Travis."

He stood and caressed her shoulder. "It's ok, babe. I'll go grab some paper towels and a broom. Thankfully, we have hardwood floors."

Then, without warning, Talia closed her fingers and took three purposeful steps backward. "-more for breakfast. I know you, darling. You have a nasty habit of skipping lunch!" She then rammed into the coffee table the exact same way as she had before, dropping a phantom coffee mug over the same spot. "Ah, damn- what the hell?"

"Oh, no..." Travis said with a tinge of exhausted gloom, "not again."

"What do you mean, not again?" Talia asked in confusion. She then took a deep breath in and yelled, "Coffee is ready!" She then looked down as her feet crunched down upon a sherd of the now thoroughly broken mug. "Huh?"

Travis sighed and then kissed her on the forehead. "It's ok, Talia, it's my fault. I thought I fixed that glitch last night. Unfortunately, it seems I'm not as much of a code guy as I thought. I'm learning. Soon, you'll be perfect." He held her hands. "Indistinguishable."

"Travis, what in the ever-loving-hell are you talking about? You're freaking me out!" She said, slamming her shin into the table again during their embrace. "Ow."

"Shh, it's ok," he said, tenderly grabbing her chin. Just as she began to trustingly melt and prepare for a kiss, Travis lightly jammed his thumb upward with an audible click. As she quieted to a halt, the lack of ambient noise betrayed the barely audible whir of halting servo motors.

Travis held Talia's head in his hand a moment longer. The look and feel of her skin was flawless over her aluminum armiture, though he had yet to discover how to perfectly simulate the warmth of a human touch. "I love you." He looked down at his schematics. The image of his wife at various angles and scales was clearly noticeable among the numerous diagrams. "And every sleepless night is worth making you real."

-----

This short was inspired by and created as a submission for L.C. Schafer's Dollar Challenge for June.

Also, L.C., I know you wanted a steampunk version of this, but you got modern sci-fi. I will hold the steampunk version hostage until I receive ... one MILLION dollars! Mwaahahahahaaaaaa. (Just kidding, I will when I have time, I just wanted this done while I had a minute to write it before the deadline lol. Also, now I gotta wait a bit. Call this a cross-genre draft.)

Also, for some good ole behind-the-scenes whatnot, the names I chose have deep historical and etymological ties. (In my work? Shocker.) Talia, as you might have possibly guessed, is a more lateral reference to the myth of Talos (Yes, the Greek one, not from the Elder Scrolls. Glory to the Empire.). Talos and his use in the tale of Jason and Medea is an allegory about the weakness of technology and artifice compared to wit and intelligence. However, that is not quite where I went with it in this micro. The etymology of the name 'Talos' or 'Talon' is rather disputed in academia. Ancient sources suggest that the name is a Cretan dialect variation of helios or halos, which means 'the Sun', or chalkos, meaning 'bronze/metallic'. However, some modern scholars suggest it might be descended from the verb talassai or tlenai, which means 'to endure or suffer'. With that, I think we can sympathize with poor Talia and her state as a being of artifice.

With that said, I must get off my nerdy little soap box and get some housework done.

-Ian