Android Deception

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

X put up a sheet of protective covering over the library windows. Outside, the UEA flags flapped in the wind. The city shone against the shimmering Atlantic. Cruiser jets patrolled the skies, booming through the air and creating coronas as they crossed the sun. The skies, normally full of flying planes and cars, were empty for fear that Jeanette Crenshaw would return with her airships.

X felt the city’s quiet deep within him, and it resonated with the memory of walking down the streets in Aruba when everyone was holed up inside their homes, holding their breath, scared of what the android Brockway would do.

This silence, this tense calm that spread across the city, was ten times as strong as the silence he’d experienced in Aruba, yet it felt the same. If he had taste buds he could have tasted the fear, silvery and airy and bitter like burnt popcorn. People were in their homes right now, doors locked and windows shuttered, talking about the attacks. Talking about what might happen next. Talking about how things might never be the same.

X hammered a nail into a window frame, clutching the hammer’s plastic grip tightly. It felt weird to hold a human tool. Many of the maintenance androids had been killed during Crenshaw’s attack, so everyone had to help out wherever they could. He drove in more nails until the plastic covering ruffled against the wind, blocking out half the daylight.

He stepped back, crushing glass with his boots. A disc-shaped sweeper bot zoomed past him, gathering broken glass and dust into a bin, leaving a trail of cleaning solution behind it. It circled the room, and when it turned around, X saw a gash in its back. The bot jerked, fell on its side and started to spark.

“I’ll get that,” said a voice.

Lonnie, the custodian, emerged from the stacks with his janitor cart filled with mops, brooms, and colored bottles of cleaning products. He was a short African-American man with wrinkles and gray hair. His arm was bandaged, and he had stitches across his cheek and a Band-Aid on his chin.

“Damn robots,” Lonnie said, shaking his head. “I don’t care what they say. They won’t ever replace me.” He picked up the robot, turned it off, and tossed it into a trash can.

“It’s good to see you,” X said, shaking Lonnie’s hand. “I thought you died in the attacks.”

“Me?” Lonnie asked. He grinned and grimaced at the same time. “It’ll take a lot more than a group of rowdy androids to take me out. Besides, I wouldn’t miss our library conversations for anything, X. You look good, considering the circumstances.”

“I was lucky.”

“Ain’t no such thing as luck for you, unless you count making your own luck. I heard you kicked the shizzle out of those androids.”

X was quiet before answering. Looking out the window, he said, “No, Lonnie. They’re kicking the shizzle out of us.”

The man grabbed a broom and swept in a circular motion, moving a wide arc of glass into a dust pan. “Those androids are scum.”

“Where were you when it happened?” X asked.

“I was in the cafeteria eating a sandwich.” Lonnie’s voice broke when he spoke. “Lunch break. I was sipping some root beer when the lights went out. Almost choked. The windows shattered and the next thing I knew, a bunch of android thugs in berets were marching around telling everyone to get under the tables or die. I wasn’t even done chewing by the time they shot a woman. I won’t ever be able to eat salami again. Every time I think about what it tastes like, I think about that woman getting kilt. I remember the smells of the cafeteria at lunch time—all the deli meats and the Chinese food and the hamburgers—and I just want to throw up, man. Talk about ruining your appetite. When you get to be my age with a couple of grandkids, I guess something like that messes with you.”

“They were ruthless,” X said. He took a shard of glass and crumpled it in his fists as he listened, the glass scratching against the steel under his skin.

“I did what they said and got under a table. Watched ‘em kill a few more folks. Everybody knew they were serious at that point. They killed people for no good reason. I guess I was lucky.”

“We were all lucky.”

“I hear Jeanette Crenshaw returned. That true, X?”

“It appears so.”

Lonnie winced and shook his head. “That girl done gone and ruined her family name. Thank God Roosevelt ain’t alive to see this. Would’ve killed him.”

X remembered that Lonnie had cleaned Dr. Crenshaw’s laboratory when the doctor was still alive. “You knew her, right?”

“Sure did.”

“What can you tell me about Jeanette?” X asked.

“You don’t remember her?”

“I … don’t have my memory chips,” X said.

“That’s right, sorry. I forgot the UEA took ‘em from you. That’s the dumbest thing I ever heard of. But anyway, I’ll tell you. Jeanette Andrea Crenshaw was Dr. Crenshaw’s only daughter. She was a daddy’s girl, too. Set to follow in his footsteps before he died. Now don’t misunderstand me, X. She was a good girl. A really good girl. Sweet. Always kind. Sophisticated but not snobby. Ambitious like her dad. She was always thinking of him and doing stuff for him.”

X analyzed the way Lonnie described Jeanette, and none of the characteristics matched the woman he had encountered.

“But you know what?” Lonnie asked. “Despite all that, she was the most selfish person I ever met.”

“How is that possible?” X asked.

“When she wanted something, she wanted it,” Lonnie said. “Ever since she was a girl. And Dr. Crenshaw with all his money wouldn’t let her sit around and cry about nothin’. That girl was his weakness. He spent a lot of money on research and all that, but he spent even more money on her. I guess you could say that he created this monster, although that would be a discredit to his name. That’s what fathers do, you know what I mean? I’m not saying she was a brat, because she wasn’t. She doted on her dad, looked up to him, and never disrespected him like the youngsters running around today. Like I said, she was a good girl. But I’ll tell you what: if Dr. Crenshaw is sitting up in heaven right now, I know he’s got to be shifting in his seat because what she’s gone and done is despicable. And when I say despicable, I say that because I can’t think of a stronger word.”

“Was she a scientist?”

“Yeah. A good one, too. She took after her father well, but she was still an apprentice when he died. She didn’t really understand the nuances of androids at that point. She used to make some raggedy androids, man. Their arms would fall off or their noses would be too big. Kinda like when a baker’s apprentice bakes a cake for the first time—it doesn’t taste horrible, but all the measurements are off. She was a great engineer, but she didn’t have the design skills that Dr. Crenshaw had. You can’t teach that. Come to think of it, those androids that busted in here were raggedy, too, but they weren’t much different from you. I guess she’s gotten better these last few years.”

“She’s gotten evil,” X said.

“It doesn’t surprise me, but it does.” Lonnie dipped his mop in his bucket, filling the area with the stinging smell of disinfectant. He swished it and left shining streaks across the floor.

Lonnie often spoke in strange binaries, and X had a hard time understanding what he meant. “You said earlier that she returned,” X said. He put his hand on Lonnie’s shoulder and squeezed it gently. “Where did she go?”

Lonnie laughed nervously. “You got a million questions. You androids are supposed to have all the answers.”

An audio link opened in X’s ear. It was Fahrens, the commander of the android agents. His voice sounded tense. “X, what are you doing right now?”

“Rebuilding the library.”

“Well, congratulations.”

“Congratulations, sir?”

“The Council is giving a press conference soon, and they want you to be on their security detail. Please report to the briefing room.”

“I’ll be,” Lonnie said. He leaned on his broom and whistled down an octave. “That’s quite an honor, X. But I’d be nervous as hell right now if I were you.”