S&N: Being New 1

I disliked many things now. I'd say hate but that human emotion didn't get that far. One of the things was that Karma wouldn't accept me without testing. I knew I had reprogrammed myself so that The Net wouldn't control me any more. However, getting Karma's approval was a request of Samara's. And doing what she wanted meant a lot to me right now.


If I couldn't be human, at least I could make her happy. Brushing Glau to the background had taken a lot. But, finally, we had settled on a truce. I don't know if either of us really believed thoughts of Glau were really gone from our minds.


Turning around I smiled at Samara. She was only in her bathrobe. A lovely floral design was on it. Sam was only wearing that one since Kered was going to be arriving soon.


Myself, I was naked. I had no shame of appearing naked, not that I had before I was a Machine, plus the testing would go easier without any clothing.


Sam shook her head. "Sometimes it's hard to believe that you're not human." She said. "If you were still human I'd say you were trying to make an Elemental nervous."


"That has not changed." I said and smirked. "Like before, I don't like my privacy being invaded."


Sam and I shared a short kiss before I stood up. She was beginning to get used to my senses being better than before. However, she was still slightly nervous.


I walked over to the door and opened it up a second before Kered could finish starting his knock. This made for an awkward motion of him dodging the opening door. Once he got hold of himself we stared at each other.


He knew I could kill him without a second thought now. Yes, he held the rank of Elemental Earth. Yes, he was one of the four most dangerous members of Karma. However, I was a Machine with all the knowledge of the human Nazilla.


I stepped back. "Welcome, Earth."


"You should have had your Machine get dressed, Crichton." Kered said angrily.


"Nazilla is not the enemy, Elemental." Samara said and hurried to shut the door behind him.


"It isn't human. It's a Machine." Kered replied.


"If you wanted to kill me you wouldn't have knocked." I said tonelessly.


"Naz," Samara reprimanded me. "If you don't allow Kered to do the testing, you won't be allowed back into Karma."


I thought of being an outsider. Someone that had to run from those she would save. Looking at Samara, however, I couldn't stand putting her in danger from Karma.


"Yes." I said and put my head down in shame. "Kered, no matter what you think of me now, I wish to serve Karma as I did when I was human. I am feeling nervous, for lack of a better term, about being exploited like I was during my time with The Net."


Though a human couldn't see Kered's look of pity, I could. It was slight and lasted less than a second, but I noticed. He guided me to the couch where I lay down. I prepared myself to look at his short beard for a few hours.
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