Human Company | Page 5

watching.
I picked another battery out of Tiny's shirt and pitched it well above Flasher's head. In a blur of sudden motion, wing fabric unsnapped; legs pushed the body upright; and a manipulator extended to snag the battery out of the air.
After the battery disappeared into the hole, Flasher stayed up, looking alert and ready. So I threw the next battery as hard as I could, high and well away from her, out over the water.
The throw was not fair, but Flasher sprang gamely backwards into the air, pushing with her powerful legs and spreading her wing fabric for balance. She did catch the battery, at the peak of her leap, but had no chance to right herself. She fell on her backside, and although Tiny and I ducked, we were soaked from the splash.
As I took the last battery from Tiny, Flasher righted herself in the shallow water, getting her legs set underneath her, ready to spring in any direction. But instead of throwing the battery, I stepped to the edge of the lake, holding it out to her. Her sensors rotated suspiciously as she puzzled out the new rules of the game.
When I remained still, Flasher crept forward, looming over me. I made myself hold my pose, resisting the urge to back away from her. Slowly her manipulator jaws closed over my hand and stripped the battery from my grasp.
I moved between the two manipulators and touched Flasher's body. It was smooth and warm and gave just a little when I pushed hard. She was patient with me as I poked and prodded at one of her manipulators. For grasping, it had two powerful jaws that could rotate to any angle. And for finer tasks, the jaws could fold back to let tendrils get at the work. Her sensor stalks, I noticed, had bent forward so she could track my explorations.
"Come on, let's take a ride around the lake," Tiny invited. She stepped on the joint where the first leg joined the body and scampered up onto Flasher's back. Then she held down her hand and helped me climb behind her. She slid up between the sensor stalks and had me sit behind her with my arms around her waist.
"Swim, Flasher, Swim," she commanded.
Flasher turned in the water and stroked gently away from the shore.
"She understands you?" I asked.
"Sure she does, I know all the commands, I'll show you, say, 'Left, Flasher, Left,' only loud so she can hear."
It was fun -- learning to ride the mechanical. I liked the feel of the powerful legs pushing us across the lake, the feel of the noon sun drying the splash of cold water, and even the feel of my arms around the little human girl.
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When we returned to our starting point I jumped off. "Come on," I said. "Let's take her to the ledge. I want to fly her."
"Fly? It's too dangerous."
"I thought you wanted to be friends."
"You can meet all the mechanicals, we can have a swim in the lake."
I raised my arms. "Come, Flasher, Come."
Water cascaded down her sides as she heaved herself onto the bank and followed me towards the crater wall.
"Wait," Tiny cried. "Wait, we've got to put on her harness."
I lowered my arms to stop the mechanical. "All right," I said. "But make up your mind. If you want to be friends, you've got to help me when I want."
I helped Tiny carry a cushion out from the storage cave. The leather straps coiled on its top made it heavy and awkward to handle, but with Tiny pulling and me pushing, we lifted it onto Flasher's back. Afterwards, Tiny made Flasher rise high on her legs so she could drop loose straps to me while I ran them under the mechanical's body and threw them back up.
Once the harness was secure, Tiny pulled me up and we rode Flasher up the ramp. At the ledge, a tight knot formed in my stomach when Tiny made me lie down on the cushion. It positioned me up front between the sensor stalks, forcing me to look down past Flasher's body into the depths below the cliff edge.
Fortunately, Tiny was quick. She used straps on the harness to tie my thighs in place and showed me a strap to grasp with my hands. "Hang on tight," she said. "And just let her go out and come right back."
When Tiny scrambled off and raised her hand, Flasher stepped off the ledge and we plunged downwards.
CHAPTER 2
-- FARMERS

The trouble with jumping off cliffs is it makes you scream. But it wasn't my fault: the harness was too loose. For that first moment as we fell free and the wind tugged me away from Flasher's back, I had this vision of myself falling all alone down the cliff face, flailing my