6. Klaus

6

KLAUS

As it turned out, the massage parlor was filled with machines—robots made to look like humans but they had dozens of arms instead of just two. At the ends of the arms were rollers, both large and small for working on different muscle groups. They also had a few arms tipped with long, many-jointed “fingers” to reach places the rollers couldn’t go.

They did have faces that were meant to look human, but they were mechanical and obviously fake. Their eyes lit up and the corners of their mouths twitched up into pseudo-smiles, which gave Klaus the fucking creeps. Their bottom halves were a single leg mounted on a set of rolling wheels, which allowed them to glide around the floor with silent ease.

“ Good evening, fine patron!” one of them, which was meant to look like a human male with brown hair and green eyes, said to Kelli as it rolled closer. “ How may I serve you tonight? Would you and your romantic partner enjoy a couples’ massage?”

“ No , we would not,” Klaus said firmly when Kelli opened her mouth to agree.

“ But I want one— I want a massage!” She looked up at him, frowning.

“ You want to let that thing touch you?” Klaus gestured to the “massage therapist” with its dozen mechanical arms and its fake smile and glowing eyes. “ It’s fucking weird looking, Kelli !”

“ I don’t care.” She crossed her arms and gave him a stubborn look with her eyebrows knit together. “ The Questarions made this place just for us and asked us to try it out and I want to try it.”

“ Fine , but I’m not doing it,” Klaus said, shaking his head.

Her face fell.

“ So you’re going to stay out here and let me go in all alone?”

“ No , I’m not,” Klaus said firmly. “ I’m going to go in the room with you to make sure nothing goes wrong.”

Her cheeks went immediately pink.

“ But I’m going to be mostly naked! Or wait…” She looked up at the robot masseuse who was still waiting patiently. “ Do I have to take off my clothes to get a massage? Or could I leave them on?”

The robot’s face twisted into a semblance of sympathy.

“ Regrettably , you must undress completely,” it said. “ It would be a safety hazard to leave your clothing on.”

“ Oh …all right.” Kelli sighed. “ Then I guess I won’t get a massage after all.”

Klaus suddenly felt bad. He knew that human women loved getting massages and he didn’t like denying Kelli something she really wanted.

“ Look , get the massage,” he said. “ I’ll stay in the room with you but I’ll turn around so I don’t see anything—not that you have anything to be ashamed of,” he added, letting his eyes sweep over her curvy figure.

Her cheeks got pink and her eyes widened for a moment.

“ You’re sure you don’t mind?”

Klaus shook his head.

“ No , it’s fine. I just need to be near you in case there’s a problem.” He looked at the massage robot again. He didn’t trust the fucking thing but if Kelli wanted to try it, he would have her back.

He just hoped the massage didn’t go wrong.