An awkward silence stood in the air between Theodore and Duunim the fourth of Turia.
To Theodore's credit, Duunim had expected to find Theodore a shivering mess and yet he was coherent and able to answer the door.
Duunim had run simulations using Theodore's bio-metric data and psych-test records to help him understand the man he was instructed to pick up here by his employer.
The young lady had not spoken to anybody in a significant amount of time and so when she did, Duunim had wasted no time to hurry to this place.
The artificial body he occupied was, unfortunately, necessary for this task and Duunim felt slightly claustrophobic and limited in it. Of course, he'd never show it.
The etiquette subroutines were carefully built by his machine spirit and were the best of the best.
Fit for use by diplomats and the like they allowed Duunim precise control over his body language and voice.
He was proud of this body, as it had taken him a significant amount of time to obtain.
This moment of awkward silence seemed much longer to Duunim than to Theodore.
One of the drawbacks of physically interacting with humans was their slow reaction speed in base reality.
This problem got only worse, the higher the machine spirit's computational ability was.
It had become an inside joke of sorts for the machine cultivators.
Dealing with organic beings in the base reality outside a virtual reality required tremendous patience.
Their responses were slow and required interpretation, rarely if ever being as precise as binary machine language.
In the long milliseconds that passed between Duunim's greeting and Theodore's nod, Duunim decided to take the time and examine this sudden feeling of dissatisfaction with his body.
He knew that there was nothing wrong with it of course and yet he found himself wishing to be able to complete his task as fast and efficiently as possible.
To him traveling was almost instantaneous in his machine spirit form.
'To have to physically travel to this place... What a waste of time... If I didn't know the young lady's temper I would .... sigh'
Theodore was suddenly aware of the commotion caused by the butler's arrival, as several neighbors started observing the situation.
He became painfully aware of his haggard appearance.
He had slept for three days straight and his clothes had soaked in sweat, then dried and got soaked again.
Had he not opened the door from the inside people would most likely mistake him for some kind of homeless vagabond!
The butler's waiting vehicle had begun to cause the neighborhood children to gather and stare in wonder at its sleek, polished black frame.
It was a luxury limousine with tinted windows and there were no door handles.
Where ancient limousines had tires, this one had metallic spheres sporting a beehive surface and only their bottom halves facing the ground were visible.
Their upper halves were neatly hidden under the chassis of the limousine.
It felt awfully out of place in this neighborhood!
Most of the residents here were employed in the service and hospitality industry or students attending the public academies.
The amount of money this vehicle cost was astronomical. The spheres underneath its chassis were custom gravity suspension field emitters!
This limousine could technically leave the surface at any time the driver wished.
Theodore decided to invite the man in and he hastily opened the door wide.
"P.. please come on inside."
Theodore hurriedly led Duunim to the living room of his government-sponsored condo.
Once there he took a look down his shirt and seeing the stains on it, wanted to excuse himself:
"I'm just gonna go and.."
As if Duunim had read Theodore's mind, he nodded and simply walked over to a window, looking out onto the bustling streets holding his hands behind his back.
The sight stunned Theodore as he realized he had neglected to offer him a seat.
Duunim had not simply taken a seat either without being offered one.
Theodore began to feel even more like an uncultured barbarian.
"Time flies, young man."
Duunim said, causing Theodore to simply nod and quickly leave the living room to get changed.
Something about Duunim's tone of voice left no room for discussion and yet did not feel insulting or provocative.
Just before Theodore closed the door to his room he said :
"Please feel free to take a seat, I'll be right back..."
Duunim smiled, still facing the window and said to himself:
"Erratic and worried and yet...considerate...how interesting. I had expected him to be in worse shape. His appearance seemed to support my guesses and yet.."
His monologue was interrupted the very next millisecond by a choir of binary machine language that was transmitted using mana.
"That's only because you didn't see him wake up this morning!"
"Ha-ha-ha, the lad looked like he was gonna puke his guts on to the ceiling. You should have seen it!!"
Duunim frowned, his facial expression becoming that of a supremely disappointed father figure about to scold his son for being a total idiot.
Turning around his mind focused on an object in Theodore's room and he replied in an impatient wave of binary, for Duunim the most disrespect he could allow himself as a butler.
"And if you would have done your task as you were instructed to, the young lady would not have to send me here to do it for you. You disappoint me. Be careful not to disappoint her too."
"....."
Duunim's reply hit home. While Duunim was currently looking at Theodore's room sporting a serious frown, the other party to the conversation had the digital equivalent of sweat pouring down their virtual face.
There was something to be said about someone, that can get mad at you and yet do so politely.
It just left no room for discussion at all.
"Make sure this does not happen again or I will take you personally to her to explain yourself."
Another virtual shiver went down the other party's circuits. Anything but that!
The young lady's temper was famous and he rightly feared it.
"...Anything but that!!!..."
"...I promise..."
"...I shall repent and reflect on my transgressions..."
A weak mana pulse brought the other party's apology to Duunim.
His frown lessened substantially.
"Good. Now be obedient and show me what you saw. Would you kindly?"
"...Yes, sir..." Came the downcast reply.
This entire conversation was so fast, that not even two seconds had passed since the beginning.
Because mana was used to transmit it Theodore had absolutely no idea of it happening at all.
He simply hastily changed into a black-golden striped tracksuit and sneakers.
When he left the room he saw Duunim facing his way with a slight frown, eyes closed.
"Could I please inspect your left arm lad?"