TUZ Teaser: seaside
They stood side by side in the breakers, watching the water crash onto itself.
“Stranger,” she said, “Why have you come? Every time we land here, I see you. Even when we were small.”
“My father told me once that there is a ship out there, that docks here once in a blue moon, and on that ship is a girl courted by the ocean itself. I wanted to see her, because if the ocean itself courted her, she must be like an angel.” he shrugged, “I know it's just an old story, but its become a habit.”
“Courted by the ocean itself?”
“Silly, isn't it?”
She smiled.
“Stranger,” she said softly, stealing a glance at him through her eyelashes, “Your years don't show very much, yet I know you are older than I.”
“On the contrary, I'm much younger than you,” he smiled a bit, “I'm seven years old. It's old for my kind, but barely a child to you. You aged those seven years, as did I, but not externally.”
“What are you, stranger?” she asked bluntly, “I don't wish to judge, simply to know.”
“I am a robot, nothing more and nothing less.”
“A seven year old robot.... Do you have a name?”
“Victor Liev. My father tells me it means 'the victorious heir', he's already got one of those but he wanted to leave a legacy in the world of circuits and metal.”
“I'll just call you Victor.”
“That's what most people do.”
