Rei stood silently in the middle of the room for perhaps 30 seconds, looking down at the blank, bare floor beneath her feet with an expressionlessness that was remarkable even for her. When, at length, she spoke, her voice was low, flat, almost entirely without inflection.

"HK-47," she said. "Orders."

HK-47 snapped to attention. "Ready!"

Rei gestured slightly to the emptiness of the floor on which she stood. "Get it back."

HK-47 drew his blasters. "Query: special parameters?"

Rei shook her head. "None. I don't care what you have to do. Your contempt level for this assignment is ten."

If HK-47's faceplate had been equipped to do so, it would have broken into a huge grin. "Rapturous exclamation: Oh, Master! You have made a simple droid very happy."

Rei looked up from the floor, turning toward him. Her face remained as blank as ever, but for her eyes. They burned with an intensity of fury - of very personal and bloody hatred - HK-47 had seen in few humans in his long history, and only once or twice before in his present master.

Now her voice seethed with the same barely contained wrath as she hissed, almost inaudibly, "I want my rug back."

HK-47 nodded. "Observation: It did really tie the room together, Master."

"Contempt Level" - a Future Imperfect Micro-Story by Benjamin D. Hutchins
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