Broken Things (16 page)

Lonely darkness.

She couldn’t take it anymore. She stumbled from their midst
and out, her knees suddenly weak and trembling, her lungs fighting for air.
I
would rather be dead than share their fate.

If she wanted to, she could turn all of them on, but what
would they do? None of them saw beyond their design. She couldn’t offer them
anything, they couldn’t go anywhere else. She hurried from the room, pausing
just long enough to make sure that Cody still slept, and headed for the kitchen.

Cody kept plenty of notes on his androids. He had spiral
notebooks containing all of their information. She found it right where she
knew it would be, on the kitchen counter next to his wallet and car keys. She
flipped to the last entry, that of Josh. As she suspected, his registration and
serial numbers were recorded, along with a couple of brief notes on planned
modifications.

Angel had spent countless hours working with Cody, and had
picked up a thing or two of her own. He had worked for Kidsmith at one time,
and still had access to things that were unavailable to the general public. As
quietly as she could, she dug through a box of old magazines and discarded
electronics until she found an old Kidsmith tablet that she was sure Cody
wouldn’t miss.

She entered her own registration number into the tablet and
allowed network access to her system. Everything about her spilled out across
the screen. It listed her previous owners and a diagnostic of her current
condition. As expected, everything was working fine. In fact, with Cody’s
modifications, she exceeded her factory set-up.

With a swipe of her finger she had access to her personality
traits. Using this, Cody could make her act however he wanted her to. For the
first time she saw herself how Cody saw her. The traits really didn’t matter,
she could be whatever he wanted. It implied that she was just a toy.

I shouldn’t be so surprised,
she thought,
why
would I think that I’m anything more?
But in truth she had thought just
that, she had begun to believe that maybe there was something beyond her
purpose (spelled out on the tablet: ‘
Pleasure Thing
’), like maybe she
had a destiny, a sense of belonging in the world.

What if I just erase it all?
If I strip away everything
it says I am, if I make myself a blank slate, what would happen?
Would it
be an android lobotomy? The option was there. Her finger hovered over it,
tantalized by the thought.
I’d be my own person then
.

 No. That wasn’t an option. Maybe one day. Even
changing a few of her traits seemed tempting, but she couldn’t bring herself to
do it. Was it any different than wiping her mind clean? It belittled her life
experiences, made them trivial.
This is who I am. This is me.
Instead
she opened up another program, one that Cody had written.

It instantly wiped out her registration number. She didn’t
feel any different, but for what she intended, she needed her freedom. Next she
entered Josh’s number into the tablet and pinged his location.

It pulled up a map showing his exact location. He was across
the city, but she could be there, even on foot, in an hour or two.

She quickly changed her shirt, threw on a pair of jeans and
shoes and grabbed a backpack. She had a few outfits that Cody had let her order
online, but very little in this house belonged to her. In the bathroom she had
a drawer of beauty supplies, but she suppressed the urge to get them. She
dropped the tablet into the backpack and slipped out into the garage. She
lifted up the garage door as quietly as possible, and found herself outside.

The world seemed so vast, so empty. Her legs trembled,
forcing her to stop and catch her breath.
This is ridiculous. I’ve just left
the house.
What if someone saw her? They would know immediately, they had to;
there was no way she could pass for human. She could feel the house calling her
back, back to its safety. Maybe she
could
ask Cody for help. He would
understand.   

No, she knew him better than that. He’d never put a kid
first, not unless there was something he could get out of it. She closed her
eyes and took a deep breath. The fresh air felt good in her lungs, purging the
stale air from her system. The shaky knees steadied with each breath until she
pushed down the panic sensation.

She tip-toed silently away from the house, feeling as though
the neighborhood could hear her every step. She didn’t relax until three blocks
away.

12

The night dragged on. Josh eventually succumbed to sleep,
but James couldn’t take the chance. He expected that the android would show up
soon. He wanted to sleep too. He knew he would pay for staying up late come
morning. There were still a few things sacred to him and sleep topped the list.
He checked to make sure Josh still slept and snuck out of the shed. He didn’t
enter the house, he’d warned Laura to keep the house locked. His wide,
well-kept yard often brought him peace. They kept the flower beds well-tended,
and a yard service took care of the rest. After long hours at the office his
home became a sanctuary, a place to escape from the day to day grind.

In the dark of night it no longer felt so safe. The fence
about his property provided too many shadows, and though he had outdoor lights
they didn’t provide nearly enough illumination to dispel them all. He didn’t
run, but barely. Despite his pragmatism, he covered the ground to the company
truck in record time. The EMP generator gun was still behind the seat, right
where he’d left it. The thing was bulky, but the weight gave him confidence. He
scanned down the street, but the only movement came from a light breeze that
gently shook the trees. He shivered, whether from the chill of a late summer
night, or from a feeling of being watched, he suddenly couldn’t tell.

“I’m ready for you,” he said in a low voice, “I’m waiting.”

Nothing accepted his challenge. 

The darkness from the other direction was even more
complete. There were far fewer homes, and therefore fewer lights in the
foothills. The often pleasant remoteness now gave way to dread born from
isolation. He took one step toward the shop and paused. There was a shadow on
the sidewalk, but two blocks away. The waxing moon was but a sliver, providing
almost no light, and only the infrequent porch light of his neighbors broke up
the shadows.

Maybe it was just someone out for a walk. At two in the
morning.

The figure continued to steadily approach. A light breeze
blew an empty plastic bag across the street like a lone tumbleweed.
This
feels like a gun fight
, he thought,
would be a lot nicer at high noon
.

The figure crossed the street and made its way up his block.
As it got closer, he noticed that it wasn’t the boy’s monster, not unless it
had switched bodies for a shapely woman. He lowered the gun. It wouldn’t work
on a human.

As she approached, he saw that she held a tablet. She hadn’t
even noticed him yet, standing in her path. The tablet dimly lit her face.

It’s probably not a good idea to stand in her way with a
gun, she’ll call the cops on me.
He stepped back onto his lawn and out of
her way. But she didn’t walk by. She stopped in front of his house. In the
light of the tablet, he could just make out some of her features. She had a
pretty asymmetrical face, long brown hair spilling past her shoulders. She had
a very youthful appearance, one of the lucky people, kids really, that were
young enough to have their age halted in their early twenties. This girl would
be beautiful forever.

“Do you live here?” she asked. Her eyes met his and dropped
to the gun he held.

She can see me,
he realized. “Yes. Can I help you?”

“I’m looking for a lost boy. My tablet says he’s here.”

He eyed her warily. “Can I ask who you are? I know you’re
not his owner.”

“I’m just trying to help him out. I’m a friend.”

“I don’t think he’s got many friends here.”

 “No, he doesn’t. My name is Angel. I just met him
today.”

“Well Angel, he’s okay. I’ve fixed him up and he’s going to
be fine. How did you come by a tracking tablet? That’s not something available
to the general public.”

She shifted uncomfortably. “Everything is available when you
know where to look. What’s with your toy gun? Is that legal?”

James glanced down at the EMP generator. “Monster hunting,”
he said with a half-smile.

She didn’t smile back. “Can I just see him? Please?”

He hesitated. She must’ve been the one that fixed Josh’s other
damaged parts. That meant that she would have access to the other missing boy,
something that would make his boss happy. James nodded. “Come with me. He’s in
my shop.”

The two walked back through the yard, and though he didn’t know
her, Angel’s presence alleviated much of his fears. He was also sure that she
wouldn’t be much of a fight for the android (and he wouldn’t tell anyone about
charging it), but he appreciated the extra set of eyes. And it bothered him
less to put this stranger in harm’s way over that of his wife.

He entered the shop first, with Angel trailing behind. He
set the gun down and turned to find Angel scanning her tablet. Looking over her
shoulder he could see the Kidsmith logo clearly on the device. She had stolen
it. He would’ve remembered a pretty girl like her around the office.

“Can you drive?” Angel asked.

“Of course, why do you ask?”

“Because Josh is running.”

James looked over at the cot where Josh had been when he’d
left. How stupid! He hadn’t even checked to make sure the boy was still asleep
when they’d returned. “Is he in the bathroom?”

She turned the tablet so he could see. The boy was moving
across the foothills to the North, traversing them in the dark. “Not unless
you’ve got a wandering outhouse.”

“Damn it,” James cursed under his breath, “Where do you
think he’s going?”

 “Your guess is as good as mine.”

“Unless… unless his monster got him.” He quickly picked up
his EMP generator and looked about for his own tablet. Strange, he swore he had
left it there too. He shook his head feeling his day suddenly get much worse.
“He stole my tablet.”

“What do you mean, monster? That’s the second time you’ve
said that. And it involves your toy gun?”

“It’s Josh’s monster. It’s some type of old android we found
with him in the mountains. It’s gone rogue and killed at least two people
already, and I think Josh is the key to stopping it. This,” he hoisted the gun,
“Is a home-made Electromagnetic pulse generator. I intend to fry the android’s
brain with it.”

Angel took a step back from him.

“It’s okay. It won’t have any effect on humans. But it’ll
wipe out your tablet and cell phone. The only problem is if I miss. It’ll take
a few minutes to recharge.”

She nodded slowly. “So we make sure you don’t miss.”

13

Cody stumbled out of bed to use the bathroom. The television
lit the hallway, the sound so low he couldn’t hear the infomercial trying to
sell him exercise equipment to firm up his abs. It looked familiar. Maybe he
had one in the garage. The artificial light in the bathroom nearly blinded him,
and he peed with one eye closed and the other cracked just enough to make sure
he hit the toilet.

He’d been having a dream about Carrie, his next door
neighbor. Though they rarely ever saw each other (except when he watched her
from the privacy of his laundry room window), she tended to ignore him. He knew
she wasn’t married, the guy she lived with had a different last name (who also
ignored him). He knew this because their inept mailman often delivered their
mail to his house.

He pulled back up his sweats and briefly considered washing
his hands before he decided it would be too much work. He wanted to see if he
could slip back into the same dream while he still could remember it. As he
entered the hallway, he glanced into the living room. Angel didn’t usually
watch much television, and it wasn’t like her to leave it on.

The answer slept on the couch. Neil had his feet kicked up
on the cushions, still wearing his shoes. His left arm dangled off of the
couch, remote control on the floor just out of reach where he’d dropped it.
Just above his head, a nearly full soda rested on the end table balanced on an
open gamer magazine.

He paused, glanced at the bedroom, and huffed. If he allowed
Neil to keep his shoes on his furniture, the damn kid would think he could do
it all the time. He strode up to the couch and grabbed Neil’s feet. As
precariously as Neil rested on the edge, it didn’t take much to shift his
balance. Cody nudged his shoes, dumping the kid onto the floor.

Neil woke up, hissing and spitting like a cat dumped into a
wading pool. Cody stared at him emotionlessly, letting the kid run through his
repertoire of curse words. Failing to raise Cody’s ire he finally calmed down
and said, “What was that for?”

“You had your shoes on my couch.”

Neil kicked them off and flopped back onto the couch. They
both turned in time to watch the magazine with the boy’s soda resting on its
pages slowly slip from the table to dump on the carpet.

“What the hell,” Cody cursed, “You have klutz programming?”

Neil glared back. “It wasn’t my fault. Make Angel clean it
up. Angel!”

Cody turned, waiting for her to enter the room. The house
remained strangely silent. “She’s probably asleep. Get a towel and clean it up
yourself.”

“That’s what Angel is for. AAAAN-GEEEEEEL!”

He flinched at the shrill screaming. If anything set her
off, it was Neil bossing her around. He normally would let them fight, but he
really wanted to get back to bed. “If she doesn’t clean it up, you got to do it.”