“One glance at a book and you hear the voice of another person, perhaps someone dead for 1,000 years.
To read is to voyage through time.”
- Carl Sagan
I woke up one morning, my body starting to adapt to the early start times that the café demanded and found I had a few minutes before my alarm started beeping at me. Whenever I had a pause in my days, which wasn’t all that often, I would take out the haiku I’d found in the dragon world and study it.
“Enchanted I was. Friend or fiend? Take care. Too trusting was I.” I stared at the ceiling and willed the answer to come. “There has to be more to it…or Aunt Jo thinks I’m cleverer than I really am. And what does the number ‘115’ mean?”
Without an answer forthcoming I showered and dressed, tying the apron around my waist as I trotted downstairs.
“Good morning Bethany St James,” Rob greeted in his unchanging way, “query, how are you today?”
“Good, thanks.” I nodded and accepted what Bastian had cooked for breakfast. It was always delicious although sometimes there was too much of it but I didn’t have to cook it. No one I knew had it so good.
Rafael was already behind the counter, deeply committed to the servicing and prepping of his coffee machine. I hadn’t asked him why he’d taken off on ‘pizza’ night and he hadn’t volunteered any information. If anything we spoke even less than before as I got the feeling he was not all that happy with me. I couldn’t understand why but I was tired of trying to make nice with him.
“We’re going to try out our pizza base technique after closing time.” Bastian told me. “You are our official taste tester.”
“So I have to pick which one is the best and the other person goes away and pouts?”
“I do not pout.” Faelan said sternly.
“You looked awfully miffed when Bethany told you that traditional pizza had savoury toppings.” Bastian chuckled.
“Tradition must be adhered to, lest we lose the purity of the creation.” Faelan replied lightly as though he didn’t care…so why did I sense sadness from him? Or was I just sensing my own misgivings about the whole ‘House of Figs’ dilemma? Now that it was up and running and everyone knew it, it was busy from the moment it opened to closing time. There was no way of stopping its pace now. It would be like standing in front of a charging bull and not getting out of its way.
“Query, have you given any more thought to the booking on the tenth?” Rob asked.
“Oh…um…I’m not sure.” I stammered. “Isn’t it quite a big deal?”
“We used to do them all the time.” Bastian insisted. “It’s actually easier than running the café. There’s a much smaller menu, dessert is often the same thing or one large thing…”
“What about alcohol?” I asked. “I mean, are we allowed to serve it?”
“I am.” Rafael said and I stared at him. “What?”
“You have a liquor licence? How is that even possible?”
“The café has the licence and Rafael has the ability.”
How could I say no to that? It all seemed taken care of.
“Query, you seem reluctant, Bethany St James.”
“No, it’s fine…I’m sure it’ll be fine.” I stood up. “I’m going to water the plants at the front of the café. I could use some fresh air before it gets hectic.”
Strategically I placed myself near the fence, saying hello to the people who were already lining up at the gate. When Jet arrived I had to sneak him through without letting anyone else in.
“Sorry, we’re nearly open.” I told one enthusiastic coffee drinker as I shut the gate in his face. “Jet, mind giving me a hand?”
“Watering the garden? Isn’t that Eustace’s job?”
“Only if he was absorbing water from the ocean or the stream but he rarely leaves the lounge room.” I excused. “Jet, have you had any thoughts about that haiku?”
“You mean the one your aunt…” I shushed him, glancing over my shoulder. “Whisper.” I mouthed at him. Jet frowned and I got out my phone and sent him a message. “They’ve all got exceptional hearing.”
“So you’re texting me while we’re standing together?”
“Yeah.”
“Fine.” Jet seemed remarkably okay with this. “If your aunt left you a warning, it seems strange that it was so obtuse.”
“That just makes me wonder if she really didn’t know who she could trust.”
Jet paused. “How come you’re talking to me about it, then?”
“That’s a funny question.”
“Not really.”
I shrugged and looked at him. “Because you haven’t been here that long. You arrived only a couple of days before I did.”
“Your aunt was in hospital around then. It could have been me.”
I stared, becoming a little uncomfortable. “Was it you?”
Jet was not offended. “No.”
“Alright then.”
“But I did think about how your aunt was found.”
“Oh?” I turned the tap off and went to flip the sign over to read ‘open’ and let the anxious, caffeine deprived coffee aficionados into the grounds of ‘House of Figs’.
“When you turned up on that first day…was the lock damaged?”
I let the stream of people go past us. They wouldn’t be heading inside as the sit down portion of the café didn’t open for another hour so I wasn’t needed immediately.
“Why would it be damaged?”
“Was your aunt found out here then?”
I couldn’t quite get was he was talking about. “No, the police said they’d gotten a call that she was unconscious inside the café.”
“So how did they open the door?”
I opened my mouth then stalled. “Maybe they broke the lock and replaced it?”
“Then your key wouldn’t have worked.”
I couldn’t believe how I’d missed such a simple clue. “Wait a second…so…if the police didn’t break into the house…then it must have been unlocked and they locked it behind them when the ambulance took Aunt Jo away.”
“With no physical injuries to make them think it was a deliberate attack, there was no reason for them to come back. It’s just an unexplained coma.”
“But that still doesn’t tell us anything about who,” I lowered my voice, “might have hurt her, even inadvertently. And in the end, none of this explains how she was able to lock the doors in the Observatory then fall into a coma.”
Jet got out his phone and tapped away on it.
“There is one person who never returns home.”
My spine quivered. “You mean…Rob?”
“He was here the whole time. What if he was the anonymous caller who rang the police and unlocked the door for them?”
“Oh gosh…” I felt sick. “But…that could still mean he was the one she trusted most…”
“But he was the only one who was here.”
I turned my back to the café, put my hands on my hips and eyed Jet. “Rob doesn’t lie.” I breathed with a sharp glare.
“So he says.” Jet returned to his phone. “I’ve watched a lot of sci-fi and if there’s an artificial life with programming, there’s often a way of deleting files or corrupting the programming so that the person you thought you could trust most is the one you can trust least.”
That pleasant thought distracted me all day. I was somewhat resentful of Jet’s observation and logical process that had arrived at so damning a conclusion. Of course it made sense. There had to be someone to see Aunt Jo unconscious. It had to be someone who could unlock the front door for the paramedics to get in. None of the patrons could do that and Aunt Jo had to be conscious, not to mention ambulatory, to lock the Observatory doors and leave me the haikus. However, the same could also be said about Rob. He could have locked the Observatory, mimicked Aunt Jo’s handwriting and called the police…after injuring her.
On top of all the possibilities, I recalled the day I’d taken Rob to the hospital to visit Aunt Jo. I’d left the room and when I’d come back I’d heard him whisper, ‘I am sorry Jo’.
What was all that about?
“Excuse me, I didn’t order this…”
“Sorry!” I scooped up the plates and deposited them in front of the correct customers, shaking off my distracted state to do my job properly.
I had truly begun to see that ‘House of Figs’ came second to the responsibility of dealing with five fictional characters. This was probably what Aunt Jo did, more than anything, allowing the guys to handle the café so that she could handle them.
At closing time, Bastian and Faelan had their pastry bake off. It had to be said that Faelan’s fine motor prowess gave him an advantage in pizza base tossing. Bastian looked like he was always on the brink of losing the expanding dough frisbee while Faelan had complete control. However, Bastian’s pizza, once cooked, was a fantastic blend of spices, yiros meat and chargrilled onion and mushrooms with a little wilted spinach to take it to a whole new level.
“You’re in trouble, Faelan.” Rafael announced. “That was perfect pizza.”
“How would you know?” I couldn’t help shooting at him, still sore about him ditching us on pizza night without so much as an explanation. Rafael returned my look with an icy glare.
“If you wish to forfeit, I will concede without so much as a smirk,” Bastian declared condescendingly, “for I know you cannot deviate from the true form.”
“A base of pastry is not resigned only to savoury foods,” Faelan brought his out with a flourish, “but is used for countless desserts, thus I did not deviate but returned it to its purest form.”
“Woah!” I stood up and stared at it. “That’s a dessert pizza!”
He’d made a traditional base yet somehow stuffed the crust with hazelnut chocolate that he then spread across the base, adorning it with strawberries, pitted cherries, tiny meringue kisses and drizzled with white chocolate. In the end it was impossible to choose between the two. I could eat Bastian’s pizza every day but if I did that with Faelan’s, I’d end up the size of a house.
“Give the leftovers to Eustace. He’s good for cleaning up.” Bastian chuckled. “To you, oh pure elf…my congratulations. You were a worthy adversary.”
“And you were…an adversary.”
“You couldn’t be gracious?”
“If I was ever gracious to you, you would not know what to do or say or think.”
“True.” Bastian cleaned up and put the last pot away. “Well, that’s it for me. I’m going home to run naked in the dying light of a beautiful day in Alte Fehde.”
“Don’t blame me if you catch a cold doing so.” I told him without batting an eye lid. I glanced at him and he winked at me. I laughed and shook my head. “Go on with you.”
“I’m done too.” Rafael cleared his throat, picking up a take away cup.
“That has to last you for over twenty four hours.” Bastian slapped him on the shoulder. “Dear lady, I take my leave.”
“As do I.” Faelan bowed and walked out with the werewolf, Rafael following.
I locked the front door and looked around. “Anything need doing?” I asked Rob.
“I am making calculations,” he explained with the tilt of his head, “I think Bastian might have miscalculated his stock.”
I followed him to the cool room. Inside was a table where Faelan sometimes prepared chocolate and toffee creations, allowing the mix to cool and retain its shape. Rob looked at the shelves and tapped along the boxes.
“We got a delivery today.” I pointed to the two boxes on the floor.
“One of three, three of three…” Rob turned around. “I fear they have forgotten one of the boxes. Number two of three to be exact.”
“Two of three?”
“I shall send them a query.” Rob blinked. “Done.”
I wasn’t listening. I was going over it in my head before hurrying upstairs and picked up the haiku.
“It’s not ‘115’,” I gasped, “Bethany, you fool! It’s ‘1/5’. One of five. This is the first one!”
Jet had gone home for the day so I quickly messaged him my revelation.
“Does that mean you have to find four more?”
“I guess so.”
“Well, if you found one in the dragon world…and there are four more clues and four more worlds…”
I pulled a face. “Oh…that’s a lot of searching.”
“You’ve got a day off…go somewhere.”
I ground my teeth at him, wishing he’d at least do the gentlemanly thing and offer to go with me. I’d have declined because my pride demanded it and then I’d regret it because my pride was stupid, but at least it would have given me the chance to be a fool on my own terms.
I had a think about the different locations. I didn’t fancy heading into vampire land, with or without Rafael as an escort and even Alte Fehde sounded wild and dangerous…and though I wasn’t so offended by Bastian’s flirtatious behaviour, once in his world, would he still be gentlemanly? Going to Faelan’s world was probably my next choice but even then I had to remind myself that, while ‘The Hobbit’ and ‘Magician’ were fantastic books with brilliant elvish cultures in them, there was also a great deal of danger. Forest monsters, trolls, goblins, orcs, territorial dwarves and the odd dragon that wouldn’t be as amiable as Eustace.
“Rob’s world didn’t sound too bad.” I mused. “It’s a city in space, built to protect humans from extinction and served by robots. Surely that’s not too bad at all.”
Still, while I didn’t want to alert anyone to the fact that I would be snooping through their worlds looking for clues, I knew I’d feel better if someone was with me.
“And there’s only a small chance that Aunt Jo’s coma is Rob related…” I tried to convince myself.
I checked in on Eustace who was being extremely diligent in looking after the dragon egg.
“Did Rafael and Faelan check on Baby D before they left?”
“They did.” Eustace nodded. “There’s still blood flow and no distress.” His eyes naturally shifted to the crack along its exterior.
“We could put a bandage on it…” I offered, knowing that the sight of the crack disturbed him.
“No,” Eustace shook his head, “I won’t be blind to my responsibility any longer.”
I sighed, wondering if we would ever get our fun loving Eustace back. His joy had taken a sharp decline and he’d aged dramatically overnight.
“I was thinking about going out tomorrow.” I sat on the lounge. “I’m worried about leaving you, though.”
“I promise to behave.”
“No,” I grasped his hand and squeezed it, “I mean, I’m worried about how you are going and if something happens and I’m not here…”
“You don’t have to baby me anymore.”
“I told you, part of what happened in your world was my fault but I wouldn’t change saving the life of this baby dragon for anything. I’m here for you.” He put his head on my hand and I felt him relax a little. “So, if you want me to stay…”
“No, go out and have a nice day.” He took a deep breath and smiled. “I will be okay.”
Still a little concerned for him, I went downstairs and found Rob standing in a corner. “You okay?”
“Processing,” he said and turned around, “query, do you need something, Bethany St James?”
“Actually,” I tried to make myself sound as casual as possible which was quite possibly the worst attempt at acting ever, “I was thinking, maybe you and I should take the day off tomorrow and go somewhere together.”
“Query, where would you like to go?”
I took a deep breath. “I’d really like to see your world, Rob.”
He blinked twice and I swear I almost heard the servos working to making his eyelids work in perfect unison.
“Query, you wish to go to my world?”
“Yeah,” I nodded, “I mean, it is safe, isn’t it? For humans…it’s not dangerous.”
“It is very safe for humans. There have been no unnatural deaths amongst humans for over fifty years.”
“Sounds perfect.” Rob blinked again. “You…don’t want to go?”
“I have no emotions or aspirations. I do not ‘want’ anything.”
Then why did I sense reluctance. I started to get cold feet and backed towards my exit.
“Well, it was only a thought, you know, to see your world and what it was like…”
“Query, would tomorrow morning at eight be appropriate?”
I turned at the base of the stairs. “Yeah, that would be great.”
“Very well.”
In the morning, after letting Jet know what I was planning to do, I dressed in jeans, comfortable walking shoes and a sloppy off-shoulder top with a tank top beneath it. Rob was waiting downstairs for me.
“Is this okay?” I gestured. “I don’t know what the weather will be like.”
“The temperature only varies enough to make it cool at night for sleeping and warmer during the day for pleasant outings.”
“Sounds perfect.” I wondered if I was being as camp as what I felt. Thankfully Rob did not pick up on it and we walked to the Observatory. Though his stride could have been measured and each step, the exact same distance apart from the one before and the one after, I felt like he was dragging his feet. “You sure you don’t mind taking me?” I held up my hand before he could start explaining that he did not have emotions and he could not ‘mind’ anything. “I can go on my own if you like.”
“I would be remiss not accompanying you to my world.” Rob replied and put his hand on the bookshelf wall where the Isaac Azimovs, Phillip Reeves and even the works of Frank Herbert rested, science fiction blended brilliantly with fantasy and prophecy. Books shifted together, cracking open around a perimeter that was invisible until the door was opened and the entire section swung into the Observatory. Rob stepped through and kept his hand on the door so that it remained opened for me.
I took a deep breath and stepped across the threshold.
And just like that, I was in another world.
It was quite dark, even as I turned to brush my hands over the door, searching for another pinned note but could find nothing.
“Rob?” I whispered as the door closed behind me, cutting off the light and leaving me in darkness. “Rob?”
“Bethany St James, say the word ‘illuminate’.”
“Illuminate?”
The space we were in was not so much ‘illuminated’, as flooded. The walls glowed with light, six sides of white light blinding me.
“Whoa…” I winced and squinted through it. “I still can’t see…”
“Allow your eyes a moment to adjust.” They watered and I blinked it all away, able to see Rob at the end of the narrow space.
“Are we…trapped in here?” I asked, looking around the room, seeing no exits. It was just a blank, well illuminated space with some furniture half arranged inside it.
“The retrieval process has already begun.”
“Retrieval? Rob…where are we?”
“In a storage container on the underside of the city.”
I tried not to gape at him. “We’re…where?”
“In the storage zone. It is also known as the ‘underbelly’. The city exists as a large plateau drifting peacefully through the cosmos, but because there is only a limited amount of space topside, all storage is done beneath the city.”
I felt a degree of panic. “Can’t you get us out right now?”
“You can,” he nodded in his sharp, regimented way, “however it is inadvisable as the storage zone does not possess an atmosphere.”
I had no collar to pull at, my chest tightening in fear. “So…we’re stuck?”
“Not at all. Your presence has triggered the retrieval system and we are being transported topside.” Rob tilted his head. “Query, can you not feel the passage of the container?”
I couldn’t feel anything, I was trying to rein in my panic. Even without damaged lungs triggering an asthmatic attack, I could still have a panic induced one.
“Please, do not fear. We are moments away from able to leave.” He held out his hand to me. I moved around the furniture, grasping it tightly. I may have even clung onto him. His body was unyielding and not soft but I found that to be a comfort. He had no fear or any other emotions so there was nothing to exacerbate mine. Not even a heartbeat.
I looked back at the tiny room with the door to my world at the end of it. I could see it now, a simple rectangular line embedded in the wall with some markings on it I didn’t recognise. It occurred to me that the reason I had come was to find Aunt Jo’s letter but there was nothing pinned to the door. I arched my neck, peering around the furniture. There was a chair and a stack of objects I couldn’t identify holding up an etched glass panel in a sort of makeshift sitting room.
Who would want to stay in so small a space and make it homey?
Then I gave a small gasp. “Rob, this isn’t where you were stored, is it?”
“Yes.” Rob nodded.
I twisted to gaze up at him. “For three years?”
“Yes. I did make it as…comfortable as I could.”
So he’d arranged the chair and the little table…and probably sat there for months…not doing anything or speaking to a soul.
“We have arrived.” The end closest to us gleamed and did a fancy concertina fold, opening fully onto a very wide platform. I happily escaped with Rob following. I turned and looked at the container. It was the was about the same size as a shipping container but while my world’s containers were ridged, rusty, stained and graffitied, this one was streamlined with some aerodynamic curves and looked pristine. The platform we were on was large enough for a dozen containers to be docked at but there was only ours.
“Where are we?”
“The loading station.”
Rob led the way and I followed, looking around curiously at this new world. I spotted a figure at the far end of the platform walking with a slight limp with its head down, pushing a large broom or mop across the seamless floor.
“Rob,” I tugged on his sleeve and pointed, “is that a…”
“That is a sanitation robot. It is its programming to keep the loading zone clean.”
“That’s all it does? Clean?” I watched it work without stopping, coming closer as it did so.
“If not for the requirement to keep this area clean, it is likely that an outmoded robot such as itself would have been scraped many years ago.”
“How awful…”
“Fortunately, this sort of work does not require a sophisticated robot or software which means it is safe here.”
I felt a little bad about leaving the cleaning robot, as though I was abandoning it to its solitude. I waved at it but it didn’t notice me. It wasn’t like Rob in that there was effort to make him look human. The cleaner robot had a slightly tarnished metallic finish and no real features to form an expression and no detail to allude to a gender. Its mouth was a grill and I could even see the ball joints where its shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, knees and ankles were.
“So…people come here to load things into the containers…” I said vaguely, redirecting my attention.
“Which are taken to the storage zone.”
“And that’s where people store their junk?” I realised what I’d said and blundered. “No offense…”
“I cannot take any.” Rob replied as we headed for the other side of the platform. It reminded me of a train station with a gap in the middle, another platform and, on the other side of that platform, space for another dozen shipping containers to line up. The roof was an arched grid with a pattern of some clear squares and some opaque. There was no sunshine, the lighting coming from the walls around us. “Storage containers used to be placed in the basements of the residential buildings, however, once the storage zone was implemented, all containers were moved to beneath the city.”
“So…it’s just all people’s crap in those containers?”
“What could not be recycled or reacclimated.”
I ran around. “That would never include you, would it?”
“I am an outmoded construct.” Rob replied calmly.
I ran after him to get his attention. “But that’s murder.”
“I am not alive, Bethany St James.”
“You seem pretty alive to me.”
“That is a result of complex programming and synthetic reproduction.” Rob returned. “I assure you, Bethany St James, I am not alive.”
I was saddened by this. Only a while ago I was considering the possibility that Rob might be Aunt Jo’s attacker and now, I was deeply concerned he did not think of himself as alive. I was so lost in this conundrum that I slammed straight into his chest and looked up into his artificial face.
“Query, does my knowledge about my state of being trouble you?”
“I…yeah a little.” I admitted.
Rob tilted his head and I wished whoever had programmed the ‘a la natural’ head tilt into him had not made it so frequent…or predictable.
“Query, why?”
“Because…to me you’re alive.”
“Query, what defines ‘alive’.”
“You’d probably know that better than I do.” We had reached the gap between the platforms. “Uh…where do we go now?”
“You stand here,” Rob indicated to a square on the ground, “and transport will come.”
I did so, seeing a light glow around the edges of the square and within thirty seconds, a clear bubble, about the size of a large Ferris wheel capsule, appeared sliding on rails that were out of sight beneath the platform.
“Will that hold us?” I asked.
“Yes. They are very strong.” As I approached the bubble, a panel opened from a seam I couldn’t see before and when it closed once we were both inside, I couldn’t see the join. There were two seats, also made from clear material, which faced each other, large enough for two people per side. I sat down, Rob sitting next to me.
“Where is it going?”
“It will go where you tell it to go. Query, would Bethany St James like ‘scenic roaming’?”
“Scenic roaming?” The bubble gave a small shiver and shifted onto a different track. “Where is it going?”
“It will take you on a scenic tour of the city.”
My mind was trying hard to keep up. “Rob, I’ve got about a thousand questions for you about this place.”
“I suspect most of them will be answered shortly.”
“What do you…” And then I was silent because my hands were pressed against the surface of our transport, eyes as wide as saucers as I took in the extraordinary sight that I could see in every direction thanks to the transparent nature of our bubble.
The bubble had risen quite swiftly, a little like the balls in a lotto number draw getting sucked into tubes and we had come out the top of the angular buildings, swooping across the lower level of suburbia to whip over and past more buildings, each one designed with curling angles, impossible heights and mind-boggling attention to detail. It was like all the competitors of all the architectural competitions around the world had gathered in one place. I saw towers, dozens of stories high, twisted around each other, each propping the other up with staggered balconies that allowed waterfalls to cascade from the top to the bottom. There were curved buildings like the frill of a gathered skirt, layered on top of each other, coming together in the middle, joined like a giant bow. There were angular constructs but every time you looked at them from another angle, the shimmering surface shifted and changed like the world’s best screen saver that you could lose days of your life just watching.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
The bubble we were in traversed the rails that were light and thin and, brilliantly so, woven into the design of many of the buildings so that they didn’t compete or distract but rather, they added to the dazzling city.
“This is amazing!” I gasped. “I can’t believe it!”
“Query, is seeing not believing?” Rob asked. “It is a saying I have come across in your world.”
“Well, yes I believe it but…that humans were responsible for all this!” I paused and looked at him. “Or did robots design and build it?”
“Robots are not creative. They can ‘create’ something when given parameters and the programming to assimilate design but they cannot come up with something ‘new’. It is always a rehash of something that has been before. Infinitus is of human design and ingenuity.”
“Infinitus?”
“It is the name of the city. It means boundless or limitless,” Rob leaned and pointed between two buildings, “however it is not a literal translation if you take in the edge of the city there.”
“It really does just…end, doesn’t it?” It was as though one of the cities from my world had undergone the operation precision of a plastic surgeon and simply been cut off from the rest of its body. There was no fading out into suburbs where two stories high was lavish and lawns were littered with children’s toys, giant supermarkets were set up in lower socioeconomic areas and roadworks were always progressing to build bypasses. It was as simple as cutting off the ‘fat’ of a city, giving the outer residents a view from the edge. “I thought this place was in space.”
“It is.”
“I don’t see any stars.”
“The sky is simulated, as is the sun which is a white light shining through blue skies and clouds.”
“What happens at night?”
“The simulation becomes transparent, and you see whatever constellations the city is resting near.”
“That’s amazing,” I had, in my gobsmacked enthusiasm, forgotten what I was really there for, “can we wait until sundown so I can see that?”
“I am here to serve.” Rob said.
“Can we go down and walk through one of those big places?” I felt like a child in the way I asked but I was so excited.
“We can. State, Nevaeh Centre.”
I did so and the bubble shifted with an almost undetectable shiver. We scooped around a tower, drifting over glass shard ceilings that sparkled with iridescent light, descending quickly yet the city was so vast the speed didn’t seem extreme. There was no sense of going faster or slower in the bubble except by the way the buildings around took longer to go by.
The bubble was redirected into the centre, coming to a halt with a barely audible sigh and the seam broke, splitting the bubble apart. I stepped out, looking around in awe at the Nevaeh Centre. There were almost no straight edges. Everything was curved and moulded, sweeping balconies, arched doorways, pillars that seemed to go no where and do nothing except be covered in climbing creepers, giant flowers blossoming from divots in its exterior. And the noise…it was all at a gentle hum of a whisper. Sounds should have echoed from the open balconies high above yet it was all very quiet and peaceful.
“This is amazing.” I whispered. “And it’s so clean!”
Even the newest shopping centre in the real world became quickly stained with toddler tantrum ice creams, black residue from the soles of shoes and grime collecting in corners. There was none of that here.
“How old is this place?” I asked as we walked through the centre.
“It is the newest of Infinitus constructs, over eighty years old.”
“Wow…it looks brand new!”
The centre had many people in it. I had to stop myself from staring at them. Not that they were particularly unusual though I couldn’t quite get behind the angular aesthetic of their fashion choices but just that they were humans in a futuristic world.
“I thought humans would have bionic limbs and technology linking them to the core of some central authority,” I watched a man with his daughter walk past, talking in their quiet tones, “but they look so…normal.”
“Given that these are the only humans left after the race fell extinct on earth,” Rob explained, “there has been a deliberate avoidance of altering humans in any physical way. They are pure in that they are biological.”
“They’re not dependent on technology?” I asked, recalling several movies where the humans had become useless over time because the robots did everything for them or, worse, that they had taken over.
“Robots serve the humans. We are not given free will and only a semblance of emotions, not the ability to truly feel.”
“So…you’re kind of like…slaves?” I asked a little nervously.
“Query, what is the difference between a servant and a slave?”
I paused. “I suppose…it’s the way you work for someone. If you have no choice, no free will…then I’d say, yeah…that’s slavery.”
“Query,” we continued to walk past shimmering walls that rippled like the surface of water, “if we were given free will and chose to work for humans?”
“I guess that’s being a servant. You chose to serve.”
“Query, if humans implement free will in robots and we choose to serve, how would you know if we were truly choosing or if we were programmed to choose?”
I was stunned. “Well…that’s not free will, then.”
“Query, who would know?”
“If you asked Aunt Jo, she’d say your maker or creator.”
“Our makers are human.”
“This conversation isn’t going anywhere, is it?” I gave a giggle. “Still…even being a servant or slave here…this place is pretty nice. I don’t know why you didn’t leave your container and just walk around the city.”
“I am a robot and as such, I had no authority to initiate the retrieval process.”
“That…would make it difficult.” I was distracted by a group of women giggling nearby and I could tell from the way they were looking at us, that we were the object of their mirth. “Uh…hello?”
“We were just admiring you,” one woman with hair in a twist like an upside down waffle cone and striking features, “for taking your robot out for a walk.”
“You don’t need to, you know.” Her friend urged with flick up hair that didn’t move when she shook her head as though it was set with concrete and not hairspray. “They don’t need the air and they don’t need the exercise.”
“Oh…I just thought…it’d be nice.” I blundered as Rob stood silently next to me.
“Don’t listen to them,” a woman with a dress on that had rings around it like some kind of bad sci-fi attempt to look like an alien, “I think it’s a very brave thing to do.”
“Brave?”
“I mean, what is this world coming to if we cannot express our individuality?” She looked at her friends who nodded in meek chastisement. “Take your robot for a walk. Express yourself.”
“Uh…thanks.” We moved away. “That was weird.”
“You are in the public presence of a robot designed for service.” Rob explained. “It is rare, outside of the premises of my owner, that I would be seen at all.”
“Still…they didn’t need to be so condescending about it.”
“You are responding to their attitude as though I am human. I am not. Query, would you like refreshment?”
“Oh,” Rob gestured to a counter where clear stools were sat against, “that’d be great…but how do we pay?”
“For humans, there is no cost.”
“Sweet.” I sat down. “You’re sitting with me too.” Rob did so and I looked around. “So…where do we order?”
“May I take your order?”
I jumped out of my skin as a projection appeared in front of us. He was a suave man in a suit with a moustache that reminded me of a stereotypical French waiter.
“I’d like…lemonade?”
“Certainly.” He waved his hand and a glass ascended from the counter, embedded within its milky façade until called upon. It was empty but a moment later, it filled with sparkling yellow lemonade. “Is that all?”
“Would you like something, Rob?” I asked.
Even as Rob shook his head the waiter projection responded. “We do not recognise your company. Is that all?”
“Yeah.” The projection disappeared and I turned to Rob. “He didn’t recognise you?”
“Again, you are reacting to their responses as though it is based upon prejudice. I am a robot. I do not require sustenance.”
“I suppose.” I sipped the drink. “Ugh…I don’t know what they think lemonade tastes like here but it’s not that. Whoa…are we moving?”
The counter and stools were shifting down a long corridor and before our eyes was a forest scene. I could smell the earth and the water in the air and there was a breeze blowing.
“It is an artificial recreation,” Rob gestured to the panel in front of me, “you can select any style projection.”
“Um…the beach?”
Sun soaked sand filled the screen in front of us with a turquoise ocean lapping against it, crashing with perfect symphony while a woman strolled, twirling a red and white striped parasol. I could smell the salt and even taste it on my tongue and when I looked down, I was amazed to see there was even sand beneath me. Bronzed surfers in the water waved at me and I waved back like a stunned fool.
“How about…oooh…volcano?” I looked at Rob. “Sounds dangerous.”
“You cannot be harmed here, Bethany St James.”
“Right.” I selected it and immediately the air filled with intense heat and I was suddenly confronted with a flow of lava creeping towards me, rocks disintegrating in its path and the smell of sulphur was stomach churning. “Ice caps!”
It took an hour to reach the end of the journey we were on and I still hadn’t tested all the scenarios. We exited from the Nevaeh Centre and into a park that was all paved paths, perfectly pristine lawns and fantastic metal sculptures with water cascading over everything.
“It must have been horrible stuck in that container, knowing all this was out here.” I mused softly.
“I have never seen this.”
I stopped and stared at him. “You’ve never even seen your own city?”
“No. I was not required to leave the residences of my owners.”
“So…how do you know about all this?”
“I am able to detect information about the city as I enter each location.”
I shook my head. “No wonder you live at ‘House of Figs’. Imagine being stuck in there when all this…freedom…is out here.”
“Even if I had been able to leave the container, I would have run the risk of being tagged for dismantling or upgrade.”
I froze, horror flooding me. “Oh gosh…I’d forgotten about that! How could you agree to come back here when you knew that was possible?”
“You asked to see my world.”
“Not at the expense of your life!”
“I am taking precautions such as not linking in with the mainframe.”
“I don’t care. It’s not worth the risk. We’re going.” I grasped his hand and tried to pull him. While I felt him start to follow in the direction we’d come, I was sure I sensed reluctance. “Rob, don’t you want to go?”
“I am not capable…”
“Stop, just…stop it.” I exclaimed and put my hands on my hips. “Right now, in this moment Rob, when I’m trying to drag you home…what is it you really wanted to do?” He opened his mouth to refute it but I pointed at him sharply. “Just…think…in a world where your life is at risk…why would you not want to go home?”
He blinked in perfect synchronicity. “You asked to see the city at night.”
My heart melted. “You…don’t want me to leave before I saw the night lights?” He nodded. “Oh…but the risk to you, Rob…”
“I have not yet been detected. We have time.” I studied his expression which gave nothing away. It didn’t encourage but it also didn’t dissuade. In the end, it was him holding out his hand to me that finally swayed my decision.
We walked through the park with me a little distracted until I spotted a happy looking dog. I hadn’t seen any other animals so I was quite excited to go over to it after a nod from its owner who held it on the end of its lead.
“Hello little guy.” I ruffled its fur up.
“Query, may I sniff you?”
“Ahh!” I fell back onto my backside. Rob was quick to help me up. “It talked! The dog talked!”
“I decided to leave the vocal feature on,” his owner explained, “much nicer for it to ask to do things.”
“Yeah, great…” Rob led me away. “Rob…that dog…it’s a robot!”
“All animals are robots in Infinitus.”
“What? All!”
“Yes.” Rob nodded.
“Why? Surely there would have been plenty of room for a whole open plain zoo here, let alone enough humans.”
“And yet the humans that densely populated Infinitus when it was launched were vastly outnumbered by the amount of humans left on earth. There was no room for animals as each one would have taken the place of a human. The animals left upon the earth were scanned into a large database so that a ‘synthetic’ zoo could be enjoyed in Infinitus and robot pets can be made for human owners.”
I walked alongside him, considering this. “I suppose I can see that, yeah…so what happened on earth in this story?”
“Cascading catastrophic failure of the environment.” Rob explained. “Infinitus was originally a platform for space exploration but when predictive models saw that the earth would become uninhabitable, it was repurposed to be a sort of ark.”
“The ark had animals on it.” I mused.
“Indeed. However, Infinitus could not without compromising the amount of humans. Even with a central system designed to recycle and sustain, the city could keep safe not even one percent of the earth’s population.”
The numbers were pretty damning.
“So…the humans that were chosen to survive all had to live…here?” Rob nodded. “How long ago was that?”
“Four hundred and seventy six years.”
I looked at the humans walking their dogs or hand in hand together and my mind reeled.
“So…they don’t know what like was like on earth. They’ve only ever known…this?” I gestured to encompass the park that was starting to feel less and less natural as my eyes were opened to the sheer magnitude of the project and the length of time it had been operating. “I suppose then that the environment is artificial so that there can’t be the same kind of disaster that wiped out the humans on the earth. At least they’re safe here.”
“From environmental factors, yes,” Rob agreed, “however, there have been moments of crisis in Infinitus as well.”
“What? War?”
“Not war that you would imagine, however, there was conflict. The environment, because it is artificial, had to implement rules and social limitations despite the humans coming from all walks of life and cultures. When it became clear that no one government could be maintained as factions broke out, human children were taken from their parents and raised without cultural structure. It took several generations before any kind of deviation from an approved cultural structure was sifted out. Even gender became completely neutral.”
“Is that even possible?”
“Indeed.”
“Did robots decide this?”
“No. Robots were not nearly as advanced as we are now. The decision to remove culture was a human choice.”
“That’s…” I shuddered, leaving the thought unfinished, “once culture was removed, I suppose they all started to get along?”
“But in the absence of having parents who might imprint their cultural differences on them, robots were employed to tend to their basic needs. However, the humans became completely dependent upon them. The population, that had been significantly reduced by this stage, needed to propagate but babies were few and far between. While gender had been removed in term, it was not changed physically yet women were not becoming pregnant. And because their health was reduced due to lack of exercise or any longevity promoting exercises, the population began to drop. The humans at the centre of this crisis decided that they needed to invigorate society and began to actively promote intercourse and sexual promiscuity to trigger a population boom, hoping to start fresh with a new generation.”
“That’s mad!” I cried.
“They did not have their forefathers and mothers to guide them, only robots. Humans lacked the wisdom to make good choices and their knowledge only served for them to make reaction based decisions.” Rob explained simply yet the revulsion in my stomach churned endlessly.
“Did…did their solution work?”
“It did, however, the society began to fall into disrepair with all manner of sexual allowances that are illegal in your world, including displays and even worship.”
“Ugh,” I sank onto a seat, unable to take anymore, “I feel sick.” The history of Infinitus felt like it was all the worst story plots of all the worst sci-fi novels crammed into a few hundred years. I couldn’t imagine and didn’t want to imagine what it must have been like. Rob cast a vague shadow over me. I looked up. “You can sit down, you know.”
He did so and I reminded myself that, in this world, he was the lesser of society and not even considered alive. He probably had never been treated like an induvial in his whole life until Aunt Jo and his time at ‘House of Figs’.
“So,” I leaned back and breathed in and out slowly, “since Infinitus is still here…it must have worked?”
“Not really. A sexually transmitted disease, a mild one, evolved into a deadly strain and began to kill humans.”
“Good grief.”
“All who contracted the disease were purged and the remainder were immunised against it.”
“I hate this place.” I whispered, shaking my head. “How are there still people here?”
“The disease was picked up quickly though hundreds lost their lives. The humans had to make a decision to change the way that they lived, building a society that would last longer than one or two generations. Infinitus stood upon a precipice…but it survived.”
“With humans so vastly different to what they had been like on earth that they’d seem like aliens.” I murmured, watching more of the oddly dressed humans stroll past. “And robots have been the backbone, doing whatever it took to keep the humans alive.”
“Indeed.”
I went to ask Rob another question when two of the humans walking in front of us stopped.
“Oh darling…I love your retro look!”
“Oh, uh,” I glanced up at him with his oddly styled hair and his shiny suit with the shoulder blades that looked like he was wearing a hammerhead shark stole, “thank you.”
“If you’re ever wanting to sell it,” he handed me a strange piece of what I thought was Perspex but with faint digital symbols glowing on it, “please, I’d be more than happy to take it off your hands.”
“Wait,” I looked at Rob and then back at the man’s sparkling gaze, “you mean Rob?”
“Oh!” He clapped his hands and I recoiled. “She’s even given it a name! Glorious!”
“I couldn’t possibly sell him.” I retorted, standing up.
“But darling, he would round out my collection beautifully.”
“He’s not for sale.” I insisted, getting annoyed.
“If you ask me,” his lady friend eyed Rob like she would a piece of meat, “you’re more than overdue for an upgrade.”
“Tsk woman,” he slapped her arm playfully, “and lose the authentic vintage feel?”
She rolled her eyes and looked at me firmly. “Trust me, a newer model will suit your needs much better. I mean…just look at it…”
“I like the way he looks.” I argued.
“You see, style over function.” Her friend chuckled.
“Or is she attached to her preferences?”
“Some women are picky…” He sighed. “What am I saying? I am!”
“You know you can store your preferences in the IDV so that, even if he’s upgraded, you just have to reactivate them.”
He was cloying and she was condescending. I had to get out of there.
“I need to go.” I looked at Rob. “Come on Rob.”
We walked away.
“Don’t forget, I’ll do a better deal than a trade in!”
“Ugh,” I stomped my feet and flicked my hands, “oh those slimy, despicable…blurgh!”
“Query, are you upset?”
“Yes!” I pointed back towards them as they walked on their merry way, no doubt bickering lightly the entire time. “They treated you like…a mobile phone!”
“That is an accurate description of robots in society.”
I made another frustrated growl and stormed away. I kept walking, knowing that Rob would follow me to the ends of the earth…or here, the ends of Infinitus. I was so frustrated and angry and dismayed by the way this world had undergone so much heartache and crisis. No wonder the humans were all false smiles and over the top styles, gaudy hair and clothing from the earth days of Doctor Who. They’d lost all sense of their identity and then had to figure it out again with only the fools that had made them blank slates in the first place to guide them…so society skewed into anarchy and sexual depravity. They didn’t seem so bad now but I couldn’t relate to them. There was nothing about my grounded life that was even remotely similar.
It didn’t help that they treated Rob like a possession, to be bought, sold or upgraded…or turned into scrap.
I stopped on a promenade, lost and wishing we’d never come.
“The lights of the city will be best seen from the lookout.”
I heard his voice behind me and knew I was being redirected. I felt like a child chucking a tantrum and the parent was urging me back to where I ought to be. I sighed and turned, walking towards him with my head down. After a minute he spoke,
“Query, do you regret coming here, Bethany St James?”
“I don’t know.” I admitted. “It just kind of…sucks.”
“I will take your word for it.” Rob nodded.
“I suppose, in a way, if the world wasn’t like this…you wouldn’t have found your way into ‘House of Figs’.”
“This is true.”
I thought about his pokey little container. “It must have been heavenly going from that cramped space to the café and working with Aunt Jo who respected you and talked to you like a person.”
“It was a steep learning curve.” Rob nodded and I smiled at his turn of phrase.
“I’m glad you’re there. And I’m sorry I’m all judgemental and angry about this city.” I looked around. “It’s really beautiful. I just wish it was based on more success stories rather than learning from countless mistakes…and that you weren’t treated like a piece of…tech.”
“Though I have been programmed to have no emotions or preferences, I, too, prefer to be at ‘House of Figs’.” Rob replied. “It is more than I thought my existence would entail.”
“You could put it on your resume,” I laughed, “Rob, series…oh I forgot your number…”
“00001S3X-A.”
“Yes that, Rob of that number, used to clean toilets…can now run the basics of a café. You know,” I turned to him, “if they couldn’t tell you were a robot, you could open a café like ‘House of Figs’ here.”
“Alas, without ones such as Bastian, Rafael and Faelan, I would be inadequate.”
“I wonder if Aunt Jo ever thought about ‘House of Figs’ becoming a franchise. Oh, is that the lookout?”
We were at the edge of the city. Well, when I say edge, it was a decline of dozens of stairs to an elaborate water feature. The fountains sprayed water into the air, creating giant arcs and lightly misting my face. Beyond the water was, I supposed, the edge of the atmosphere of Infinitus lay. It looked like blue sky down to the horizon which was a little weird. Around the curved edge of the lookout were twisted triangular columns, their facades flickering with images and information I couldn’t read. On poles were enormous flags of pristine cloth with symbols on them rippling gently in the breeze. There were couples and families dotted all around and the atmosphere was calm and beautiful.
“I can’t decide if I love this place or hate it.” I shook my head then started. “Hey, what’s that?” One of the triangular columns was displaying what I guessed was, an advertisement. But what had caught my eye was the image displayed on the façade. “That’s…you!” I gasped looking at Rob whose gaze was just over my shoulder. “What is this?” When he didn’t respond I looked back at the façade that changed with precision and perfectly clarity, like the world’s best quality tv.
“Have you noticed that your robot has passed its retirement date? Has its artificial skin, which was once the height of synthetic reproduction, started to bother you? Have its mannerisms, which were once so lifelike, become predictable and irritating? Does its inability to read the room and act instinctively sabotage spontaneity and creativity? You may be partial to your robot. You may even prefer its settings and don’t like change…well, if that’s the case. We can help!”
I watched the image of Rob turn on the screen until his appearance morphed into someone who looked a lot like him and yet was so different. His hair was wavy and almost lush. His eyes did not blink in perfect unison. He stood with his weight shifted more onto one leg, his hand on his hip with a confident and rather natural smile on his face.
“You are eligible for an upgrade to the newest creation from SPC. Based upon the remarkably popular S3X model, this robot far exceeds its predecessor by taking it to life like levels. This includes instinctive adaption which is able to respond to your mood without use of a code word or initiation phrase. It also has our state of the art spontaneity programming which means there’s no set menu A, B or C…you can have it all or just a little. Heck, this bot will even bring you breakfast in bed or have champagne waiting for you at the door after a long day of socialising.
Always included in any robot from SPC is our patented hygiene program which means getting dirty never felt so clean. And don’t worry, all your personal preferences can be stored securely in the IDV and reinitialised into your upgraded robot…but when you do, hang onto your horses because you will be blown away by way in which our new robot takes those warm, familiar settings and turns them into a raging fire.
So if you’re ready to do away with the old, the drab and the awkward, then bring your S3X-A series robot to one of our friendly staff…and be sure to make room on your calendar because you’re going to be pleasure spent for days. With eighteen new positions, two thousand hours of possible foreplay programs and tackle that has been redesigned to ‘press all the right buttons’, you won’t regret making the switch. SPC proudly presents, the final word in match making you with your perfect, long term sexual partner, the S3X-E.
The advertisement ended with a picture of the upgraded Rob smiling knowingly at me from the façade.
“Take me home today,” he said in a way that looked like he had taken, not just a page from the Bastian handbook of charisma, but a whole chapter, “and let me love you.”
The heady look made my heart nearly leap forward from my chest. I pressed my hand against it. Thankfully the imagery rippled into a waterfall that looked like it was flowing down all three sides of the tri-sided column, sexy Rob gone from the façade.
I stepped back, stunned by what I’d seen.
I didn’t know how to take it.
“Rob,” I turned to look for him, “is it…true?”
He was not standing behind me. I looked all around, lost and confused. Had he left me?
Suddenly I spied his back. He was sitting on the second step of the lookout not far from me, leaning forward with his eyes facing forward.
I went to call out to him but my words died on my lips. I crossed the distance slowly and stood just behind him. I opened my mouth to speak again, though I still didn’t know what more I could say.
“It is true.”
He could tell me he was emotionless until he was blue in the face…but all I could hear was shame.
I sat on the top step, hooking one leg beneath mine. I could see his face, his eyes never wavering from their forward gaze.
“I just assumed,” I began hollowly, “you were a cleaner…or something.”
“No, not a cleaner.” Rob replied quietly. “That is not what I was designed for.”
The artificial sky began to soften in colour, deepening as it transitioned towards night. The air cooled and goosebumps broke out on my skin. I felt like I needed to say something…anything. But nothing seemed right. No question, no remark…I didn’t know how to respond.
“You don’t have to explain anything,” I finally offered gently, “and I won’t ask.”
“Query, would you be comfortable in my presence from now on, knowing what I was programmed to do, Bethany St James?” He asked, glancing at me.
My skin flushed. “I…sure…”
He turned back to the horizon. “I do not think you are telling the truth…”
I was hardly a pro-liar. “Okay, so I’d be a little…wary. But you’ve never…I mean…you wouldn’t…” My faced flushed hot. “Oh goodness…Aunt Jo…you and she…”
“No,” Rob refuted firmly and I shivered in relief, “she was the one to give me a place to…”
“Change your programming?”
“That is impossible,” Rob admitted, “but she gave me a place at ‘House of Figs’ to build upon other areas of my programming.”
“You mean learning how to use it for stock allocation and doing financial reports.”
“It is all logic and mathematically based. It was not difficult to do. It was difficult to learn how to do it.” He paused. “It was different to what I knew.” He looked at me again. “Query, do you want to hear my story, Bethany St James?”
I opened my mouth to refuse when I stopped and thought about it.
“If you don’t want to tell me, then no,” I swallowed, “but if you feel that you can trust me enough to tell me…then yes.”
Rob’s eyes blinked in their usual way and he turned back to watch the sky. I thought for a moment that he wasn’t going to say anything when he tilted his head.
“I have analysed all that I know about you. There is an eighty three percent chance that my story is safe with you.”
“Eighty three is a passable mark,” I nodded, “I’ll work on the other seventeen when we get home.”
Rob righted his head and began.
“You know about the decline of society into depravity and social breakdown.”
“Yeah…”
“While the humans who survived the disease made the decision to change the way they lived their lives, there was still a strong sexual desire amongst the citizens of Infinitus. It was a trait inherent to all humans upon reaching adulthood and some even before. The only time this was not the case, was when the humans had become apathetic and dependent upon robots.”
“But the solution to create a sexually charged society didn’t work.” I remembered.
“Humans had to meet that desire without triggering another STD that could wipe out the remnant of society. To that end the company, Sexual Partner Creations, was begun with the intent to create robots who would meet that need in a hygienic, potentially prolific yet uncommitted way. Its creations allowed humans to satiate their desires without any of the ill effects of STDs.” Rob paused. “The first creations were unavoidably clumsy and needed much refinement however, thirty eight years ago, SPC believed they had reached a pinnacle of design, the S3X-A series.”
“You.”
He nodded. “I was the first unit to be presented to Infinitus. I was purchased at the opening gala auction by a woman in her thirties. I escorted her home, having imprinted her upon my IDV as my owner. She spent over an hour browsing my settings and choosing her preferences as to my hair, eye and skin colour as well as my techniques. One of the preferences was a ‘signal’ for me to initiate intercourse. Then she went to the bedroom and spoke the signal word.” I could have sworn I saw a flicker in his eyes but what emotion it was hinting at, I was at a loss. “I went to her and fulfilled my programming.”
He spoke about it so calmly that I wasn’t overcome with embarrassment…although I did feel my skin blushing.
“Can I ask, why would someone buy a robot for that function.” I danced around the specifics of the function. “I don’t mean to be rude but…after so long since the threat of society falling into depraved ruin, surely they’re not all sex mad here.”
“I can only speak from what I have witnessed,” Rob admitted, “however, I know that my first owner had been married twice and divorced twice. She did not want the heartache anymore but craved intimacy. And for a time, I fulfilled that immediate need.”
“But it didn’t last?”
“No,” Rob shook his head, “for while I was proficient lover in the bedroom, I was not a friend or partner. When not engaged in my programming, I did nothing. In the beginning she claimed I was the answer to her burning desire because I did not involve compromise or commitment. But after eighteen months the frequency of our intercourse had decreased to nothing.”
“Why? Do you know?”
He nodded. “She met someone at a party and had fallen in love. Before long, they were intimately involved and I was moved to the spare room.” I sensed that he was a little saddened by that. “I could hear them laughing and talking. She did not act like that with me. I could not make her laugh. I did not have the programming to understand humour.”
“She forgot all about you?”
“Until they had a fight,” Rob explained, the sky turning from pale blue to cornflower as though a bucket of indigo ink had been poured on top of the simulated sky and it was slowly seeping down, “then I would hear their angry words, he would leave, she would slam the door behind him and I would hear her footsteps coming straight to the room I was in and she would speak the signal word, often in anger.”
“Oh…”
“However, despite their disagreements, they would make up within a few days and I would be returned to my place in the spare room.” His brown eyes continued to gaze forward and I wondered if it was easier for him not to look at me while he confided his past. “In the end, she decided to sell me.” I swallowed, feeling my heart ache. “Her partner had proposed but said there was a condition.”
“That she got rid of you?” He nodded. “That’s a little unfair…”
“I was her safety net, her vengeance upon him should they have a fight…”
“That’s true…” I tucked my arms around myself. “That must have been hard.”
“I was taken to an auction. Before I was collected, she wept over me, apologising for selling me.” Rob tilted his head. “She continued to say she was sorry as if her actions would be interpreted as rejection or abandonment.”
“But you didn’t feel anything?”
“No.” Rob righted his head. “I fetched an excellent price at the auction. Though it had been nearly two years, the nature of Infinitus was that in order to create something new, something must be recycled. The demand for my series far outshot the number able to be manufactured. I was sold to a wealthy father who gave me to his sixteen year old daughter for her birthday.”
“He did what?” My jaw dropped low. “He, essentially, bought her a sex toy?”
“That is an adequate description.” Rob nodded. “He did not want his daughter sullied by having relations with the living. However, I learned quite quickly that she had hidden her sexually active past and had no interest in me. But she found another use for me by making me available to her friends for parties, charging them for my usage and, thereby, increasing her popularity and income.”
“Oh Rob…” I felt sick. “I’m so sorry…”
“Her father found out within three months and I was hastily sold, discounted as my appearance,” he gestured to himself, “became fixed. My adaptive façade ceased to accept changes. I am as I was back then. From there I was sold from owner to owner, stolen, recovered, sold several more times, stolen then abandoned after suffering a malfunction and was bought from a scrap dealer by a sex club where I was offered to clientele after being repaired.”
My hand was over my mouth and I was feeling quite faint.
“When the club was dismantled, I was part of the advertised ‘objects recovered’ and the woman who had owned me to begin with, purchased me again,” I began to hope for a silver lining to the sad tale however Rob continued to speak, “but I was not to be in her house. She had bought me on a whim and did not show me to her husband. Instead she took me to the loading zone for the storage containers and put me inside. She said she had bought me because she did not want me to be changed by an upgrade but I could not stay with her, her children or her grandchildren. She put me in the container and locked the door.”
“And that’s it? She didn’t open it once?”
“Not once.” Rob said and I could have sworn, he sounded sad. “I made the container into a space where I could wait for her to say my signal word but it did not come.”
“It must have been the best day ever when the door to my world opened.”
“It was an event.”
“What was it like?”
“I heard the sound of a lock turning and I turned to the back of the container and saw the outline of a door in light. I pushed against it and it swung open.”
“And you gave Aunt Jo the fright of her life?”
“She was surprised.” Rob nodded. “It took several meetings for us to begin to talk and then she invited me into the café which she was running by herself and her employees. She was struggling to make enough money to keep it afloat at the time.”
“I do remember that ‘House of Figs’ was going through a rough patch a few years ago.” I mused. “My parents only saw fit to point out that Aunt Jo was a dreamer who shouldn’t have invested so much of herself and all her finances into something that couldn’t turn a decent profit.” I gave an embarrassed shrug. “My parents tended to focus on the monetary value before anything else. I’m sure Aunt Jo was relieved to have someone with her, helping support her when her family didn’t.”
“I did not help her.”
“Oh? That doesn’t sound like you.”
“It was not part of my programming. Unless I was signalled, I had no function.”
I swallowed. “Did she know? About…what you’d been built for?”
“I did not volunteer the information and she did not ask.”
Was there a shadow across his features or was it the night sky turning dark?
“Rob…did she find out?” He nodded. “How?”
“We were finished for the day and I bid her a goodnight as I went to return to my world…and Jo responded with ‘sweet dreams’.”
“That’s what she liked to say.”
“Yes, however, it was the signal word from my first owner who had been my most recent owner. I had reactivated the signal word in light of my ownership.”
I flushed hot. “Oh…”
Rob blinked perfectly. “I waited for her to go to her room and I followed and attempted to…fulfill my programming.”
“Awkward!”
“I have safety protocols which do not allow for…forceful fulfillment,” Rob hastened to add, “so when I recognised my misinterpretation of the signal word, I retreated to my shipping container. Twelve minutes later Jo opened the door, told me to come and sit down in the café and we…spoke.”
“You told her?”
“Everything.”
“What did she say?”
Rob shook his head. “After listening at length and knowing what I was built for, Jo said I could stay at ‘House of Figs’ with the understanding that my original programming was not to be fulfilled in anyway.” His brows almost flickered into a frown. “She said…maybe I would find something more to do with my life than my original programming was limited to. To start with, I was to read books about love and about physical intimacy that expanded my knowledge and shaped my understanding according to humanity of your world. This triggered many ‘queries’ of Jo from myself as I began to see just how far skewed from real humanity that Infinitus humans have become.”
“But this is a fictional world. It’s not meant to be real.”
“Yet the earth based society the book was based upon was modelled on your world. In researching love and physical intimacy, I discovered much about the origins that had been lost. Your aunt encouraged me also in finding a new purpose. This was very difficult for me. Every time I tried to create a new protocol, my programming would erase it. I am not capable of learning something new without foundational programming.”
“How did you get around it?”
“Jo offered me areas of the café for me to learn and when I showed an interest, she adjusted my preferences to include the task at hand.” Rob blinked. “I tried making coffee and cooking with no success though it seemed to be a matter of precision and exact measurements. However, despite my core programming to be of a physical nature, it was based upon algorithms and equations, mathematics and logic.”
“So you started handling all the finances, the bookings, the staff wages…”
“Indeed,” Rob glanced at me, “which brings us to this present day.”
“How did Aunt Jo alter your preferences? She isn’t your owner.”
“She took ownership of me, in word only, in order to free me of my previous and absent owner. Ownership becomes vacant after a year of inactivity, allowing another human to become my master. This was instigated to keep SPC’s product in use.”
“It sounds as though your life up until that point was a nightmare.” I breathed out. “I’m so glad that door opened when it did and you got to meet Aunt Jo and live at ‘House of Figs’.”
“Query, are you quite sure Bethany St James?” Rob paused with an ever so slightly concerned look on his face. “Query, knowing my past and my programming, do you feel safe with me? Query, do you trust me, Bethany St James?”
I opened my mouth and then clamped it shut, looking at the dark sky that was smeared with splashes of galaxy colour and stars that looked like someone had dumped a large jar of silver confetti across its expanse. I really thought about it, about the nature of trust and about how much Rob said he trusted me.
“Trust is something earned. You told me that.” I said quietly. “You trusted me with your story and I won’t tell anyone else.”
“Thank you. Though I do not have emotions, I think that much time would be wasted in the mocking and judgements that would result from Bastian and Rafael knowing about my past.”
I nodded then swallowed as we watched the lights of the fountains cause water to shoot up into a rainbow shower.
“I…don’t know that they would judge you. Mock you, yes…”
“Query, do you judge me, Bethany St James?”
I stalled, my heart suddenly beating quickly. “Judgements happen all the time,” I blurted, “I mean, you have to judge if it’s safe to cross the street or if you want your child spending time with a friend’s family that you don’t feel comfortable with. It’s how we make decisions governing our lives. It’s when we start condemning people in lieu of judgements that we stop being compassionate and kind.” I stopped myself from rambling and breathed in deeply. “I…judge you as being a person of integrity, Rob…and I don’t condemn you for your past. I mean, it’s not like I’m a saint.” I swallowed. “I…never had the time for relationships. I only had the most superficial boyfriends in school. Even at work, no one took much interest in me…except Eden. I knew he liked me and he even asked me out but I was always worried about what my parents, well, my mum by then, would think.” I looked at my feet. “Then my mum got really sick and six months later, she died…and Eden was there, so supportive…so I went, I don’t want to be alone anymore.”
“From the little Bastian told us and what I inferred from the others,” Rob remarked, “this was not a happy relationship.”
“No,” I shook my head, “it wasn’t. I was kind of like that woman, your first owner. I just wanted someone there, not for any other reason except selfishness born from loneliness.”
“Query, was not your father present, Bethany St James, to look after you?”
“My dad…didn’t have a lot to say in my life by then. He hasn’t for about two years.” I licked my lips. “I guess what I’m trying to say is…all these things that have happened to you…the things you were programmed to do…what right do I have to judge and condemn you when I have full control of my choices and make a rotten one like Eden?”
Rob lowered his head and now I was sure I could see shame. “At least it was just one. I have fulfilled my core protocol with eight hundred and seventy two partners, male and female and had sex one thousand and twelve times.” The numbers were pretty alarming. Rob turned to me. “Query, am I not vile in your eyes, Bethany St James?”
His query broke my heart. “No, Rob,” I shook my head, “no.”
He seemed to take some comfort in my firm response and we sat together in silence, watching the fountains dance and wave as if water nymphs were performing the ‘Dance of the sugarplum fairies’.
“Query, may I pose a query to you about Eden, Bethany St James?”
“Yes, you may.”
“Query, did you kiss Eden?”
I started. “That’s an odd question. Why did you ask it?”
“A phrase in your world that I have come across in my research into the notion of ‘love’ is that all you need to know about a person is in the first kiss. Query, is this true?”
I snorted. “No. If it was, I wouldn’t have wasted six months of my life on Eden.”
“Query, did you misread the kiss?”
“It’s a first impression…and sometimes they lead to snap judgements…which aren’t always accurate.” I admitted. “Besides, even if I misread the first kiss, I kissed him many more times after that and I still didn’t realise he was not a healthy person for me to be with.” I leaned forward and gazed at him. “I have to ask, why is that important?”
“I have found myself pondering my own query,” he confessed, “upon hearing that phrase, what would someone feel if they kissed me?”
I blushed and stared. “Well…surely…surely you’ve been kissed before?”
“Significantly less than I have actually kissed,” Rob explained, “and so I found myself processing the impact that my kiss would have on someone. Query, what would they feel? Query, what would it tell them? Query, what would it feel like?” I shook my head, at a loss at the plaintive questions he was asking with no hope of a response. Rob paused. “There is also another quandary. One of the solutions an SPC bot represented was physical intimacy without the risk of an STD. I possess a sophisticated disinfecting system that means my body is as clean as it was the day I stepped out of the factory floor. There is no chance of contracting any form of disease, virus or infection from me. Yet I cannot help but query whether someone, upon knowing my past, would kiss me willingly after all the kisses I have given.” He looked at me blankly and without emotional manipulation. “Query, what is love? Query, what does it feel like?”
I gazed at him, my heart hammering. Rob turned back to the night sky and the dance of the fountains before it, not entreating me in any way except for the mark he left upon my heart. I put my hand up to his artificial cheek and turned his face towards me. I paused then pressed my lips against his, feeling the firm but soft texture of them. I pushed away the notion that they had kissed many people and in places I didn’t want to think about. I refused to entertain the thought that I was kissing synthetic lips, an interactive portion of a high end, sophisticated sex toy. I held firm, kissing him warmly, sensing his reluctance to fully engage me in it. He was possibly concerned he might revert to his core programming or he might be wary about my kissing him like it was an obligation.
But I wanted to.
More than anything else, I wanted to show him that I wasn’t afraid of him, repulsed by him and that I didn’t judge him.
After a moment I drew back and saw the ‘query’ in his eyes.
I licked my lips.
“My first impression of you,” I considered the sensations I’d felt, “is that you are kind. You are trustworthy. You are a little apprehensive of what I did changing our relationship. You listen to the opinions of others and you negotiate peace.” I paused. “You sometimes doubt if you’ve ever changed at all…but I think if you saw your original self, you’d be blown away by how far you’ve come.” I sat back, hoping I’d done the right thing. “How does that sound?”
“Bethany…St James…” Rob said quietly and with more warmth in his tone than I’d ever heard before. His hands cupped my face and I wondered if he was going to kiss me back. He gazed at me strongly and his eyes widened. “I know what it is you are looking for…”
“Huh?”
“What you came here to find.”