[Kardian’s point of view]

“Back when I was on Planet 6, I would have loved to have the time and opportunity to wear all of these clothes... Like any other woman, I wanted to experience how it was like to dress up and go out to have a good time either alone or with friends. Unfortunately, time doesn’t wait for anyone, and now, I’m old enough to be considered a grandma by some... Partying and having fun shouldn’t be on my mind.” Nataly said as she looked one last time at the bag she left behind.

“When looking at you, I wouldn’t really consider you to be that old... maybe thirty at best.” I told her with a shrug.

“My body has a young appearance, true, but my brain is old...” she pointed out.

“I estimate that my nanobots can still maintain the proper functions of your central nervous system for another 70 years at best. If I learn how to regenerate and rebuild cerebral tissue, then maybe even more. Thus, I do not understand why you are currently worrying about your age. Physically, you are able to mate with another male of your species, if this is what worries you.” Xerya gave her an explanation with the subtlety of a nuclear bomb.

“Mating... heh, well, for you I might have sounded like a female in heat, but it’s not about that. I don’t have the slightest qualm in regard to entering in a relationship with someone.” she said and closed her eyes, maybe she would have shaken her head too if she had control over her neck muscles.

“If this isn’t about mating, then what is it about?” the AI asked in a curious way, tilting her head to the left.

This is a first... I thought when I noticed her gesture.

“It’s about experiencing life as a human and as a woman...” Nataly told her.

“I do not understand.” Xerya shook her head.

“Maybe you will, in due time.” she giggled.

“Xerya, every one of us has something that they wanted to experience in the past and which they can’t do right now. It’s about your age... and how others look at you.” I tried to explain.

“That does not make any sense.” Xerya shook her head. “There’s nothing stopping you from doing those actions and at this moment, there is no society to judge you, unless you consider the remote survivors we have yet to meet as a society.” she declared.

“It’s not about that... it’s...” I tried to deny her words, but... they hit a sore spot.

“Then what is it about? What’s stopping you?” Xerya asked.

“With regard to dancing, for example, you. I can’t exactly move, remember?” Nataly laughed.

“Processing...”

“Sigh... Don’t worry about it, Xerya. It’s not like you are wrong either... it’s more complicated than that...” I rubbed the back of my head while trying to explain this to her, but I also had a hard time understanding it.

Sometimes, mankind was stuck in the rules and norms that the people around them declared to be the correct way at one point. Indeed, nothing stopped us, if we looked at it from a physical point of view, but once it was over, society would come biting you right on your ass. Everyone would look at you strange for thinking or acting differently. The worst part was that those who were normal in the eyes of a certain group were abnormal in the eyes of another group.

In the past, before genetic gender change was no longer an issue, there were times when people who were straight were being discriminated upon by the bisexuals or homosexuals. Technically, it made no sense, everyone should have been free to live with their own sexual preference without remorse or fear of being looked down upon as having done something bad. After all, if you looked even further than that into history, you would come upon the dark times when same sex love was considered a crime to the point of receiving capital punishment for it. Even after it was legalized and people of the same sex were allowed to marry, there were still extreme beliefs on both sides.

In the end, it didn’t matter how society evolved, what mattered was how the individuals who formed it acted and believed they should live like. What in the past was a crime could become the normality in the future and what was normal in the past could become a crime in the future. From this point of view, mankind as a whole... was fickle and more than once we were proven that if not for the fear of punishment from the police or the comfort given by our technology, we would revert to a primitive society in no time at all.

Planet 6 was the main and prime example of this on which even now there were many debates regarding as to whether or not this event showed a side of humanity we had all neglected so far.

When looking at the acts of the raiders here in this city, I couldn’t help but think that all those smart men and women who talked about this dark side were actually right. I didn’t understand the ‘how’ and the ‘when’, but I did know that it was an undeniable fact right now.

“I have come to a conclusion.” Xerya declared, pulling me out of my thoughts.

“And that would be?” I asked raising an eyebrow.

“That I wish to observe one of these so-called impossible actions by you two. Thus, this wearing of dresses and dancing you mentioned, please exemplify it for me.” she declared.

“What?” we both asked at the same time.

“Please exemplify the forbidden action that would be bad in the eyes of society, specifically, the act of dancing while wearing a dress.” Xerya explained again.

“Erm...”

“For that, you would need to allow me to move my body again.” Nataly pointed out the big flaw in her judgement.

“It is doable. I can grant you free access to your motor system for the duration of this experience. I will be recording and monitoring your every move, so it will be useless to try anything to get rid of me or Kardian.” her explanation sounded more like orders given to a criminal while they were out on a parole.

“I don’t mind, but where will we get the music?” Nataly asked.

“I can access a song from an existing database and then play it right into your ears, thus only you two will be able to hear it and the Nano-Z outside won’t be attracted by the noise.”

“Now I’m curious as well and a dance doesn’t sound so bad.” I told her.

“Sigh... well, just wait for me in the living room. I’ll pick a dress and then come out.” she said as she let out a sigh.

“Is dancing with me such a bad thing?” I asked with a wry smile on my lips.

Nataly tossed a glance at me from head to toe and then replied “I’ve danced with worse.”

“OK...” I simply looked at her with dead fish eyes and went out of the room to check the security of the perimeter.

About ten minutes later, Xerya told me that Nataly was ready for her dance, and I couldn’t help but feel a little nervous. Despite the age of her brain, her body was that of a very attractive mature woman who marked a lot of my likes.

Suddenly, I felt like I was back in High School waiting for my date at the entrance of her apartment building to pick her up and go to the prom. She never showed up, and I learned later on that she had left earlier than she told me to come because she was just messing with me. I drank my sorrows with a few beers and spent the night with some friends at the arcade.

This time, however, well... rather than going out on a date with a teen, I felt more like I was going out with the hot teacher everyone was leering on.

When Nataly walked out of the room, she was wearing a beautiful golden dress that perfectly hugged her toned body, leaving little to the imagination, but at the same time turning her into a flower you could only hope to admire from afar and not dare to go over to pick up. Right now, this mesmerizing beauty was looking back at me with a shy look in her black eyes and a deep blush on her cheeks.

“You look... stunning.” I complimented her while feeling my own pulse rise.

“Thank you...” she replied as she brushed back a strand of her dark brown hair.

“Interesting reactions.” Xerya commented and pulled me out of my daze.

“The dance, yes... Then, shall we? My lovely lady, would you allow me the honor of having this dance with you?” I asked as I stepped forward and offered my hand to her with a slight bow at the waist.

As a teacher at Resonance High, I thought it would be a bit shameful of me if I didn’t know at the very least how to dance with a woman. The number of students who found themselves stumbling on their own two left feet before prom night was a bit too high to my liking. Someone had to offer themselves to save them from the humiliation.

“Yes. Thank you...” Nataly took my hand, and a soft music began to play in our ears.

It was just at the right volume to allow us to speak casually and enjoy it fully.

I placed my right hand over her waist and then pulled her close. We looked into each other’s eyes and then took our first step in the dance. It was a waltz, which I led with confidence. The song was one that was famous throughout all the human colonies, a song that originated from a small country in an era long before the internet was a thing, before even the First World War, it was ‘La Blue Danube’ by Johann Strauss II.

The song started slowly like when the morning rays of the Sun first breached the thick clouds around Earth and then gently grazed your skin. Afterwards, it jumped into a happy beat, that made you move your body, putting a smile on your lips just like two birds that chirped and danced on the branch of a tree. With each step we took, the smile never left our lips and the song continued to play in our ears. We looked into each other’s eyes and allowed the music to guide our steps, listening to the story of a gentle and happy morning on the shore of the big Danube River.

In this moment, for the first time since I woke up in this crazy world, I felt as though all the blood, guts, and gore that surrounded me every day had vanished into thin air. All that was left was me dancing with this lovely woman in my arms, staring in each other’s eyes, on the shore of a peaceful river... with no worries, and no threats to our lives.

The song itself was around 11 minutes long, but that time felt like an eternity and not a single moment felt like it was repeating itself. As we turned and danced, Nataly’s smile grew bigger and what was initially embarrassment soon turned into joy.

It was just like Xerya said... right now, there was no society to look at us in a strange way, there was no law or rule to say that we couldn’t do this.

Now I kind of feel foolish for being against this in the first place... If Xerya didn’t ask for us to show her, I might not have done this... I might not have had the courage to ask Nataly for a dance... After all, who in their right mind would start to waltz in the middle of the apocalypse when blood thirsty monsters were lurking not far from you, waiting for the right moment to jump on you to rip apart your flesh? I thought, but the answer to that question was a logical... ‘no’.

After the song was over, we stopped, but we kept looking at each other. Maybe an entire minute passed like this until we finally realized that it was over. With a bit of a regret in my heart, I let go of her hand and took a step back.

“Thank you...” Nataly said as she looked back at me with a gentle and innocent smile on her lips, something I wouldn’t have ever thought of being able to see on someone with her background.

“It was my pleasure... a real pleasure.” I replied and she blushed.

We took a seat on the couch to relax and unwind a bit. Although we were both enhanced with implants, we felt exhausted after just that one dance.

The one to break the ice of this embarrassing atmosphere was Xerya.

“According to the data I received from you two, it appeared as though you had fun.”

“Well, we did, didn’t we?” Nataly asked with a giggle as she looked at me and brushed back a strand of her hair.

“Yeah, we did.” I nodded.

“Then, how was this act that made both of you smile and have fun considered a taboo?”

“Hm...” I leaned back on the couch and then looked up at the ceiling. “I guess it wasn’t that much of a taboo, was it?”

“No, it wasn’t.” Nataly agreed.

“What made this taboo then?” Xerya asked.

I looked back at Nataly and then with a smile, I said “Maybe it was just in our heads? A matter of perception?”

“Yes, that’s what I think so too...” she nodded “Initially, I didn’t think that the dance would feel so good, but maybe having you as my partner also worked. You... you didn’t reject me.” Nataly said as she brushed her hair back.

“Why should I?” I laughed.

“Yeah, why should you?” she giggled.

“Humans have weird perceptions. They see things that are not there. They think about impressions that might not even exist in others. Neither of you thought it was a bad thing to dance after you danced, but both of you were against it because you thought that the other might look at you differently.” when Xerya mentioned that final remark, we both looked at each other and blinked surprised.

“We never thought about it that way...”

“No...” Nataly confirmed.

“Taboo is a word used to describe forbidden, often indescribable acts, but what you did just now could not be seen as something as such from my perspective. Yet, you are saying that society might judge you for this?” Xerya asked.

“Yes?” I was a bit unsure about my answer.

“Then, why do you care so much about what others think about it when they themselves are not living your life or might never be part of your life? Do you choose to live your life based on what a stranger tells you or according to how your perception matches with others in your own group?” Xerya asked.

“Erm....” I found myself at a loss of words.

“The latter... should be the logical one, but human emotions are complex, and sometimes, we don’t pick the most logical one. Sometimes... it’s logical to kill, yet you can’t.” Nataly said as she looked down with a deep sadness reflected in her gaze. “This was fun and... it changed my perception a little. I will go change then we can return to exploring this place.” Nataly said.

“Understood. Once you change, I will resume control.” Xerya declared.

“Aw, and here I thought I would get to control my body for a little while longer.” she giggled as she walked away.

“This experiment proved that such a possibility might exist in the near future.” she declared.

“Sounds good! Besides, being the passenger isn’t that bad either, it’s like a much-earned vacation.” Nataly stretched out her arms and then let out a deep sigh.

As she walked back to the bedroom to change, I looked down at my hands and thought about what Xerya said earlier. A speech like that was not something I would have heard from her when I woke up, which was a solid proof of her own evolution, however, while I thought I was going to be the expert who was going to give her advice on how humans lived and behaved, it turned out that I was the foolish human learning from her instead.

“This isn’t bad, but in a way... it makes me realize that I may have been several degrees foolish in some of my past decisions. Hahaha!” I let out a bitter laugh.