New Breed

The woman rushed in the dark. Cold air bit at her cheeks as she pulled the coat tighter. These streets were always empty at night. Creatures lurked in the dark and those unfortunate to venture through the city were at risk. Glowing eyes appeared near the woman. She barely had time to hear the clink of metal against the sidewalk. The beast pounced and caught her neck. She died within minutes. Police lights danced on the brick walls. “Another one?” Detective Howels pushed the door shut with more force than needed. “This is too frequent. It reminds me of history class.” Detective Sparrow tilted his head. “History class, sir?” “The teacher would tell us about when they first came here.” Howels frowned down at the body. “She told us about when the New Breed started.” Chapter 1: Amelia “As you can see here,” the slide behind the podium changed to a molecule structure. “My team and I have created a new alloy. This new alloy, Titan Feather, will be used to build the latest BioPets.” “Ms. Curta, why would we use this new alloy when we just launched a new line using the Steel Blade structure?” One of the sharply dressed men at the board table leaned over the table. Amelia gritted her teeth at her friend's betrayal. This man was Shawn and she had known him for years. But while they remained close comrades, he was more cutthroat in the board meetings. Still, she would not hold it against him. Amelia Curta walked out from behind the podium while she contained the irritation. “The new line was launched premature. We have received multiple complaints that these BioPets are not as strong as the originals. We are asking our costumers to give up their pets and downgrade to these shiny, pretty creatures that can no longer protect them." “But they are still giving up their pets.” Another man spoke with a laugh. “If you endorse Titan Feather the next step will be to endorse it’s sister project. This project was launched 2 years ago and, though with low funding, has shown high promise. This project will take the essence of the original pet, the memories and what makes them them, and transfer it to the new BioPet body.” Amelia grinned as she presented these facts. “Ms. Curta,” the first man raised his hand again, “there is no proof that these BioPets have personalities or actual memories. Their recordings and programming can be transferred. But to say it is a pet that thinks and acts on its own, that will just scare our shareholders!” “He’s right,” another man slammed his hand on the table, “we created the BioPets and built a company based on these creatures to protect us from freethinking robots. To suggest now that we make them on purpose…” The large, older man at the end of the table rumbled, “enough! Ms. Curta, Amelia, please choose your words wisely in such settings. These new board members are all figures and shareholders. They do not understand the passion and connection to the BioPet line. Now, I would like both of your projects to take the next step forward and be completed. Please have prototypes done within the next two months. We will begin phasing out the Steel Blade BioPets. I look forward to your Titan Feather line.” “Thank you, Mr. President.” Amelia smiled to her boss. “And thank you, Amelia, for another excellent presentation. Board meeting adjourned.” As the room emptied, the first man to speak out against Amelia walked up to her. “Why push for a new line of BioPets? You who have never upgraded to the next model, why?” Amelia laughed sarcastically, “ I love BattleCat. I want to preserve the original as much as possible. But they wear out over time and yes, they need updated. This new line gives us, the ones who love the BioPets, the option to save them.” She walked out of the boardroom and down the hall as they talked. “Steel Blade was nothing but a downgrade and people will notice. The programming was buggy and the structure weak. We need to turn this around and make it right, before we are questioned in our goals.” “Yes, Amelia, but,” Amelia opened her office door and a large mechanical creature moved past the door. “What?!” Shawn leapt back. Then placed his hand, filled with papers, to his chest. “BattleCat! Why is he in your office?” Amelia looked over at the giant mechanical tiger. “He’s always in my office. Battle Cat goes everywhere with me.” Amelia’s heels clicked as she stepped across the floor and patted Battle Cat on his cold, metal head. “My big sweetie.” Shawn stared at the human hugging the feline creature. “Amelia, asking our customers to think about our robots thinking on their own is only going to remind them of the past 50 years. Steel Blade was weaker because it doesn’t need to be as strong. New Breed, they’re almost gone, the BioPets have destroyed most of them.” “But not all.” Amelia’s eyes shifted to him. “The New Breed factories are still going strong. If we could find them, then destroying them would be no problem.” “I wonder if the company wants to destroy the New Breed factories.” Shawn mulled over the idea aloud. “They would lose business, right?” He shot a thoughtful look at Amelia. The suggestion had emerged in Amelia’s thoughts before. But she supported this company. “We will focus on something new. It can’t always be about a war. I’ll start research on our next products.” Shawn gave an exaggerated thumbs-up. “You’re a real go-getter. Maybe the next CEO!” He laughed at himself as Amelia smiled politely. Shawn shook his head and turned with a wave. “See ya. And good luck on your next…umm.” “Endeavors?” Amelia answered with a raised eyebrow. “Yes,” Shawn pointed at her and then left. Battle Cat tilted his head back to give Amelia a questioning look. “I know he’s weird.” Her voice was indignant. “But I don’t have many human friends… and he’s kind of funny.” Amelia entered her studio apartment and switched on one of the lamps. Battle Cat sauntered past her and made no noise as he jumped onto the couch. She sat her plastic bags on the table and slid her messenger bag onto the chair with a sigh. “You’re late,” the room filled with an anatomic voice. “You should have been home hours ago.” A 3-foot metal parrot was roosting on a large beam. “Hours ago?!” Amelia gasped, “hours?” She repeated while checking the time. “YOKO, the meeting ended 45 minutes ago. I grabbed food on the way home, I am not late.” “If you’re going to live under my roof,” the robot lectured. Amelia glared up at the ceiling, “YOKO, I own this apartment. That is my roof,” she pointed vertical, “and you’ve left scratches on it.” YOKO snorted, “maybe you should get a taller apartment, then. With a better, unscratchable roof.” Amelia was turning the Chinese food containers over above her plate. She used the chopsticks to pull the last of the wonderfully scented noodles from the bottom. “Unscratchable is not even a word.” She spoke between mouthfuls of food. “Then what do you call something you can’t scratch?” YOKO’s mouth then opened wide. “-a visitor- -a visitor-“ “Oh, someone’s at the door. Hehe. –doorbell-“ Whistle. The robot bounced between his parrot voice, normal voice, and the doorbell recording. Amelia shoved her chair out and wiped her mouth. “Scratch Proof,” she yelled at the ceiling before answering the door. “Oh, Stacey.” Stacey the assistant carried boxes past Amelia. “Sorry, boss.” She breathed as she lowered the boxes onto the end of the couch. Battle Cat lifted his tail out of the way. “Thanks, kitty.” “Stacey,” Amelia sighed, “why didn’t you let me bring those earlier. It’s a lot to carry.” “I forgot and you left the office in a rush.” Stacey fixed her outfit. “But they are important. As important as the schematics the team needs from you. “ She frowned and waved a finger. Amelia jostled over to the desk and scooped up some papers with a few folders. “Here,” Amelia smiled as she handed them to her assistant, “sorry they are late.” “Two days late. Boss, you’re terrible with keeping schedules.” Amelia was taken aback, “and you’re pretty mouthy for a 22 year old assistant.” “Goodbye, Boss.” Stacey smiled as she headed to the door. Amelia walked over to close the door behind her guest. “See you next week, Stacey.” “Yes,” Stacey was moseying down the hall. “Next we… No, tomorrow!” “The 20th? That’s the next scheduled project check.” Amelia knitted her eyebrows. Stacey’s face was stern again, “the 20th is tomorrow. I’ll see you at 1.” “Oh,” Amelia smiled sheepishly, “Okay. I’ll be in the office at 1.” She finally closed the door. Back pressed to the door, she tilted her face to the ceiling. “YOKO, make sure I leave at noon to go to the office.” “Ok,” YOKO snorted, “as if you would be awake by noon.” He laughed to himself. “Quiet, YOKO. I have work to do.” Amelia scooped her supper into the trash and replaced it with a laptop. Her fingers dashed over the keys. “Shawn got the results for the new compound.” Amelia held her hands together and squealed with delight. “Experiments are moving to the final phase. Titan Feather is a go. We can start the new line prototypes by next week.” She knocked the chair over in her hurry to rise. Amelia ran to her workshop with Battle Cat at her heels. Her hands worked automatically to pull her long hair into a ponytail. “I can’t believe we got the results so quickly.” Amelia smiled at the reflective surface of her new compound. The chest plate was crafted days ago and would become one of the final elements to a new machine. This would be a future launch of BioPet shells with the memories of previously owned BioPets. It would harness the cyber imprint of a previous BioPet and give it a new body. New bodies that would be difficult to damage and would never wear down. Amelia rolled her chair to the opposite desk. Here she had tubes of artificial skin and nerves. She lifted a small vial with a sigh. “I wanted to focus on this project this week. Job before hobby.” A soft roar came from BattleCat. He rested his chin on Amelia’s thigh and closed his eyes. The large creature became a picture of comfort in his rest. The two had been a pair for a long time. They did everything together from the time he was given to Amelia. Her parent brought him home 20 years ago to be her life-long companion. Amelia’s breath shuddered as she pictured her parents. They were so young in her memory. There wasn’t much money back then. She had never imagined getting a BioPet like the other children. But the door had opened and in pounced Battle Cat. She could ride him then, before she grew tall. Her parents had lifted her from the tiger’s back and her father spun her around. “I finally received that promotion. Our lives are going to change.” Amelia wiped a tear from her eye and pulled herself back to the present. With the status placed upon BioPets like they were the latest fashion, it was easy to forget their main function. They were created to protect. It was the human’s responsibility to care for them like a living pet. She pulled a paper from under a screwdriver and allowed it to roll off the desk. Amelia knitted her eyebrows and drew. Butterflies filled her stomach as her heart pumped faster. Her pen scratched the paper while blood thumped in her ears. “There,” she held out the paper with a sigh. “I’m terrible at drawing. But I’ll let marketing and design work their magic.” BattleCat made a soft meow to show his curiosity. “I’ll show you later. It’s for my presentation tomorrow.” Her lips curled. “I’ll change the way BioPets and humans interact and live. It will be a personified design to bring the beloved mechanical pets closer to their owners.”