Love and Robotics (62 page)

“Such as?”

Sienna leant back in her chair. “The public adores Claire. Him and her, they’re instant copy. If we put them together and make it look like they’re working through their problems, think of the ratings!”

“I like. I like a lot,” Adrian said.

“Why the heck not, it’s worth a try,” from Sugar.

“You’re forgetting something,” Josh said. “What about what
I
think?”

He was used to being paraded like a circus freak, but this was too much.

“She kicked me out. There’s no way I’m pretending I love her.”

Sugar shook his head. “He really believes it. Langton’s groomed him too well.”

Josh hurled himself at Sugar. His limbs grew heavy and couldn’t land a blow. Sienna pinned his arms behind his back and sat on top of him. Fisk watched the whole thing, quite expressionless.

Adrian snatched around his throat. “Perhaps it’s escaped your nonexistent brain, but we own you. Do as we say or it’s into -5 with you. Permanently.”

                                                                                     
Cubed

Josh’s world had shrunk. A cube of a room, no windows, no mirrors. A door code only they knew. He lay on the table that served as his bed, slipped in and out of consciousness.

Sometimes there were voices, Malik’s more often than not. Every now and then she was joined by Adrian, speaking in a barely human snarl. He never addressed Josh by name. Sometimes they came in to observe him. Sugar squinted through his tortoise shell glasses and tugged his beard. Ozols looked like a babysitter who’d overstepped her authority. And Fisk, silent and twisting her necklace.

“We want to help you,” Malik would say. “Once you’ve responded to treatment you can leave.”

He knew what they wanted. You were indoctrinated by Langton, seduced. Perversion Prevention would arrest him the instant he set foot on Lilan soil -

“That’s not true. I pursued
him
. I made love to
him
.”

More questions, more pink drink. They tried to catch him out. The more they picked, the stronger he and Alfred
became. In dreams, in waking. Camping together. The Larch Toaster. The conch - he was surprised they hadn’t wiped that. Maybe they didn’t know.

He conjured Alfred. Rusty hair greying at the temples. The crooked grin, dreamy eyes. The texture of his scars beneath his fingers. His voice, deep and cracked and soothing.

Tell me a story.

Anything special?

Something inspired by current events?

Once, in a city not a million miles away, there lived a robot. He was beautiful, brave and stubborn. Unfortunately he was at the mercy of shysters - what? Write what you know.

Not if it’s libellous.

You’re not beautiful and brave? Could’ve fooled me. Stubborn we’ll keep.

If only he could cry.

The door hissed open. He didn’t raise his head. “Hello, Dr Fisk.”

She pulled up a stool, performed the checks. “Everything normal.”

“It would be, wouldn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m a robot stuck in one room. I can’t get sick or go wrong. What’s the point in a check up?”

“How long do you think you’ve been here?”

“Literally or rhetorically?”

“I don’t like your tone.”

“Is the show going ahead?”

“That’s up to you.”

He wouldn’t look at her. He settled on a crack in the tiles.

“You’ve only yourself to blame. If you only tried -”

He wasn’t mistaken. Withered hands stroked his fingers. “What are you doing?” he demanded.

“We could be a team, you and I. A robot and his handler.” Her tongue caressed the last word. “I could be your devoted friend -”

“No!”

He pushed her away. She crashed into the table, the locket breaking. The heart fell open. “Don’t touch it!” she cried.

Two pictures. The first a boy, smirking gap toothed at the camera. “My nephew. His name was Eric but I called him Tiger. He got himself into terrible trouble and - harmed himself.”

Although it was a sad story, Josh wasn’t interested in Eric. All his attention was focused on the second image. Fisk, younger but still recognisable, laughing with her arms around a man. Small, fine boned, blond. His eyes were brown but otherwise -

“My husband, Joseph. We met at university; I couldn’t believe someone like him would notice me. Neither did the girls on campus. I’d see them making cow eyes at him, then they’d spot me and be puzzled. He said I was the love of his life.”

Tears brimmed in the dull eyes. He handed the locket back. “What happened?”

“We married straight after graduation. Ten wonderful years. One night, coming home, this drunk driver -” She shook her head. “I wish I could have died instead.”

“I’m sorry. But I’m not your husband, Dr Fisk.”

She pulled away, offended. “I know
that
.”

“Yes, there’s a resemblance. But -” he tried to be tactful - “I can’t
like
you. Not that way.”

“No,” she said bitterly. “You love a man who was arrested for playing strip poker in the Palace toilets.”

Josh burst out laughing. “When did he do that?”

The time for sharing had passed. Composed, dry eyed, Fisk slipped the locket into her case and left.

***

He only had her word for it he’d been there a month. There were no clocks, no calendars. The next day - it might have been a few later - his head felt dense. He knocked into the chair, stared at his feet. They looked as though they were going to give way.

A talk with Sienna. A lesson with Ozols. There was a curious echo to her voice. He hadn’t noticed it before.

“Hello?” She waved her hand in front of his face. “Anyone home?”

“Sorry, I’m -” He collapsed, banging his head on the table.

“Code 6! Code 6!” Ozols said into her ear piece.

Sugar’s voice crackled into life. “I’ve just settled down with a cuppa.”

“Cuppa yourself! He’s gone woozy.”

“I’ll get Julia.”

She was up in ten minutes, making Josh wonder again where the room was. Too small and underequipped to be a lab, sound proofed -

“Leave him to me,” Fisk ordered.

He wanted Ozols to stay but couldn’t form the words. Fisk laid him on the table and sealed the door behind her.

“A relapse, perhaps?” Out with that stupid torch. “Basic signs normal.”

Other than the fact I can’t move
.

Fisk brushed his cheek, slowly and deliberately. He tried to stop her but his hands were so weak, he couldn’t lift them. He was acutely conscious he was naked, raw beneath her gloating eyes.

“I enjoyed our chat the other day. It made me understand a few things.” She crawled over the metal surface, stopping when her head was level with his groin.
“If you hadn’t been naughty, I wouldn’t have to punish you.”

She began to suck, her false teeth scraping his skin. He wondered what possible pleasure she derived from this. He couldn’t move, couldn’t come. He couldn’t close his eyes. Hitching up her skirt, taking down tights -

Alfred, I need you. Please!
He was screaming but no sound came out.

“It’s for your own good,” she said.

If I get out of here ... No.
When
I get out of here. They’ll get bored, or I’ll ...

Josh didn’t know how to finish that sentence.

He felt his mind drain away like dirty water. He couldn’t hold onto anything. He dreaded Fisk’s interviews, but didn’t remember why until they were happening.

He had always known, from the moment he opened his eyes and she was holding his hand. No one else detected the sordor, the wrongness. She called herself ‘Mother’. “Mother wants the best for you,” “Mother truly loves you” - even while she was doing it to him. She demanded to know if he loved her. He refused to say it. She’d shake her head, slap his face, storm out.

It was unrealistic, expecting Alfred to carry him to safety, but he’d thought it the first few times. The fourth time he accepted nobody was going to help. The team was probably watching them and laughing.

One morning she strode in, her normal brisk self. The last few occasions might never have happened. “It’s over,” she said.

“What do you mean?”

“Langton’s done a runner. He’s not coming back.”

“But -”

“Now he’s had you, he doesn’t want you. It’s the oldest trick in the book.”

“I won’t believe that. We love each other.”

“He hasn’t called or written. The house sale’s all over the news. Are those the actions of a man in love?”

He searched her face for a sign she was lying. Nothing. He folded up and sobbed.

“Let it out.” Gnarled hands patted his back. “It’s for the best.” She brought out a bottle of gin. “Would you like some?”

It warmed his insides. It was a brand he and Alfred had drunk together. When she started to undress he didn’t protest.

Claire. Fisk. What difference did it make? They could do what they wanted.

He was never going to think about Alfred again.

***

CER was in turmoil. Everyone knew it.

The workers only had a rough idea what had happened to Josh. They guessed he was in the building, but anywhere past the tenth floor was off limits. Claire stopped by sometimes, asking for Sienna. Adrian disappeared for hours, accompanied by menacing men in dark suits.

Then the letters went round. Brilliant white, a holographic cog in the corner, it explained CER was going through a “challenging period” and the recipient’s role was at risk of redundancy. Their discretion and co-operation would be appreciated. Or “Nah nahdy nah nah, you’re gonna get fired,” as Ravi put it.

Morale was nonexistent. They had time to brood. Thanks to the Prime Minister’s campaign, the purchase of domestic robots was at an all time low. The media blamed artificials for everything from learning disabilities to climate change.

Madge’s team were stupefied when she came down from a meeting with Adrian and cleared her desk.

“You’re the best team leader here!” Ravi protested. Even strange, quiet Tatum touched her shoulder and said, “They can’t
do
this.”

Madge grimaced. “They can and they have. I’m surplus to requirements - and, as Aidy tactfully reminded me, three years from retirement.”

“Want me to stick needles under his nails?” Dean asked. “Failing that, there’s this throw I’ve been working on -”

“I’ll consider it.”

This was followed by still more sensational news: Ozols had been let go. She appeared with the contents of her office in a crate, exclaimed, “Monty!” and ran back towards the lift.

Adrian caught her by the wrist. “You are no longer an employee. The code to your office has been changed.”

“But my cat -”

Monty burst from Ozol’s shoulder bag, where he had gone for his catnap that afternoon. He deduced that his owner was being attacked and launched himself at Adrian’s face. It’s difficult to fire someone when their enraged cat is whirling around on your head.

He shrieked, “Get it off me!” and blocked Monty’s attempts to claw out his eyes. Ozols plucked her pet from his shoulders. He promptly became a purring pudding of fur.

Adrian ran whimpering into the lift, a handkerchief clutched to his face. Ozols had smiled during the fracas, but as she passed through CER’s doors and into the tethering bay, despair returned to her eyes.

“What am I going to do?” she asked the universe.

The morning the letters arrived, Pip knew what was coming. It didn’t matter she was the longest serving tour guide with an excellent record. She was too close to Josh. She knew that after her last interview with Adrian, he would take great pleasure in letting her go.

Sure enough, the day after Ozols’ dismissal, Mandy came looking for her. She cringed. “Aidy wants to see you.”

“Nice knowin’ y’.” As Mandy’s face rumpled, “No hard feelin’s. Y’re only the messenger.”

Her personal effects were minimal: her badge, her pass, a robot mug. She shoved them into her locker and went upstairs the long way.

When the door gusted open, she was surprised to find the office empty. It was more fixture than room - you expected to find wrappings over the furniture. The one change was a flipchart, scrawled with unconvincing equations. She corrected them.

A stagy cough. She dropped into the chair the other side of the desk, her slouch stopping short of insolence. If the bastard was going to fire her she had no intention of helping. Adrian stepped into the room, the gashes raw on his milky face. He fiddled with his chair until it was suitably magisterial and eyed her over his knuckles.

“Ms Parfitt. Do you know why you’re here?”

“I have a sneakin’ suspicion.”

He ignored her. “When selecting employees for redundancy, we consider a range of factors. Their attendance record. The quality of their work.”

“I’ve won Best Rep every year -”

He motioned for silence. “That may be the case, but we’re making certain - changes. Regretfully there’s no place for you in the new structure.” As she blinked at him, “I expected more of a response. Most people have threatened legal action.”

She pushed her chair away with her foot. “I’m not most people, Aidy. The shit y’ gonna be in, a court case is the least of y’ worries.”

He made the Daves search her on the way out. They didn’t find anything. She had taken everything she needed the day she received her letter.

The day Pip left was noteworthy for another reason. Dr Sugar was having his daily wrangle with the chocolate machine when Fisk advanced down the corridor.

He’d always found her unnerving. Now, the ghost of a smile on her lips, the watery eyes bright, she was sinister. Josh followed as though he was playing grandmother’s footsteps.