“Where are you?!” Alphonse shouted, shoving an android to the side and onto the floor. “We have no time! They’re coming!”
“STOP RIGHT THERE!” a guard screamed from behind. There was the sound of boots coming to a halt and the frantic breathing of their group. Alphonse refused to turn around, deciding to close his eyes instead. It didn’t matter if there were only ten of them and they were human. He didn’t want a single scratch to be inflicted upon him. To his father, he was simply in a HUSK, but to him, this was his true form. His real self.
Clocking in at 5’8, possessing a boring head of finely cut, dark brown hair, and quite the skinny frame—it was exactly how he envisioned himself. His father suggested choosing more chiseled shells for his missions, but he was never comfortable in them. They felt bulky and awkward, and quite frankly, he preferred the speed over the strength.
Alphonse turned around confidently and brushed some invisible dirt from his blue dress shirt and khaki pants—a tactic his father had taught him to do when faced with a large crowd. The movement would make them nervous, he said. And nervous, it did. He could hear their heartbeats sounding off like drums, sensed their pores releasing their nervous sweat into the air, and smelled the trace amounts of urine trickling from their pant legs. The self-imposed leader of the bunch stepped forward with shaking baton in hand.
“Stand down now and you won’t be hurt,” he practically wept as Alphonse snickered.
“I have a job to do. Run along now.”
“No!” he shrieked as Alphonse made his move. Before the leader could swing his baton at Alphonse’s head, the android had already sprinted outside the store and back into the corridor, ending up behind them all. Without a moment’s hesitation, he smashed two of the guards’ heads together with enough force to render them unconscious. The rest of them, now high on adrenaline, rushed forward, swinging with all their might, but Alphonse dodged them all beautifully, his arms still folded as he weaved and bobbed at the last second from their attacks. He kicked one square in the abdomen and sent him to the floor in tears. Another was roundhouse-kicked across the face, and he simply head-butt another officer on the forehead. It took only one outward performance of his power to incapacitate each of them individually, and it didn’t take long for the guards who weren’t attacked—to back off.
“Listen, we were just doing our jobs,” one said, and they all began running away. Alphonse didn’t even watch them leave. He went back inside the Companion Depot and felt relieved that he had bought himself some more time. Just as he was about to commence the inspection, however, someone cleared their throat from behind.
“Back for more?” Alphonse asked as he turned to face the stranger. He took a step back as soon as he saw who it was. It was definitely not a security guard.
“Greetings,” the stranger chuckled as he clasped his hands together. He was wearing a tailored vest suit with striped, dark blue and white pants. His vest was of the same color and material, and he wore a black dress shirt underneath. His hair was cut short, but gelled and formed into tiny spikes. His eyes were a soothing green, and he gave a smile that oozed confidence. Alphonse realized that this handsome man was surely not there to sell him some of the merchandise.
“Hello, yourself,” Alphonse said, remaining still. “So who are you exactly? The owner?”
“Hardly,” the man laughed, with an accent he couldn’t place coating each syllable. “I am a repo man of sorts.” He stuck a hand in his pocket as he admired the tux on one of the androids. “I’m here for Joseph Stair. I’m told he works here. Do you know where I might find him?”
“Even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. We want the same thing.”
“Oh? And why is that? Surely you’re not from A.I Corp. I would know. They sent me here to complete this job.”
“We’re all from A.I Corp, my friend,” Alphonse replied.
The stranger’s eyes smiled and he extended a hand out.
“My name is Roman,” he said. “And you are?”
“Alphonse,” he said, keeping his hands to himself. “And if you don’t mind, I would like to skip the pleasantries. Like you, there is a job to be done.”
“More than happy to oblige,” Roman said, taking his hand back. “I understand that not everyone likes their coffee with cream and sugar. Sometimes it is best black.”
Roman sucker-punched Alphonse in the face before he could register the movement, propelling him through the countertop, splintering it to pieces and then continuing in like fashion through the back wall. Alphonse landed like a rock into the employee bathroom, banging his head on a toilet bowl as he was finally able to feel the floor beneath his feet. Roman hummed to himself as he ignored Alphonse and began inspecting the android displays curiously. Alphonse climbed to his feet and inspected his casual attire—it was shredded and torn, and barely hanging off his shoulders. His pants had now become half-shorts and he was sure his body, while not bruised, was quite dirty. He sucked his teeth and walked over the debris as Roman tapped a female android on the forehead.
“He’s in here,” Roman stated as he reached into his vest pocket and then produced a small tin cigar case. He placed it onto the female’s chest, and tiny spikes came out, latching itself into the artificial skin. A low hum resonated throughout the room as Roman looked pleased with himself.
“Well, it appears my mission is a success. He’s stuck there now. Guess I’d better be going.”
“I’m still here!” Alphonse shouted as he ran at the fine-clothed man. Roman met him head on at the last second and thrust his shoulder into Alphonse’s abdomen while grabbing his extended arm. Roman chucked Alphonse like a bag of garbage out the window and out onto the mall’s tiled floor. He skidded to a stop once he hit the adjacent store’s exterior, the impact causing the glass above to shatter. Racks of women’s hats and shards of glass began to rain down upon him as he shielded his face. Roman stepped out into the light with hands clasped.
“We don’t have to do this, my friend,” he said in a friendly tone. “I wish you no harm, especially a fellow android. I am merely doing my job. You understand.”
“I can’t fail anymore!” Alphonse shouted as he jumped to his feet. “I won’t!”
“What do you…oh, I see. You are the one that has been trying to save A.I Corp’s targets. I’ve heard of someone being at each assassination, struggling to put a stop to it but always failing to succeed. I never thought it was an android though…just a man with great luck.”
“I can’t let you take that man.”
“I’m sorry to disappoint you,” Roman said solemnly. “Really. I can only imagine how it must feel for a droid to habitually fail at its purpose, but listen, whomever your programmer is has decided to put you into an impossible situation from the start. You cannot fight against the company and hope to win. Learn from your mistakes and move on.”
“It’s not that simple,” Alphonse scowled. “I believe in the cause as well. My mission—it makes sense to me, and I refuse to yield.”
“Then at least you understand why I won’t either.” Roman ran forward at blinding speed, cocking back a fist to put an end to their scuffle, but Alphonse refused to budge. He allowed his opponent to connect, and as Roman did, he felt the jolt. An electric current that covered Alphonse’s body like a net fired back on impact, paralyzing his attacker and sending him to his knees. Alphonse still had to weather the blow unfortunately, and he had been hit so hard it felt like he was going to be shut down at any moment. His body went cruising through the hat store, and by the time he landed, a pile of racks, hats, and clothes covered him like snakes, sticking to him from the static electricity and wrapping around him from the out of control spiraling he had done in the air. He ripped them away as fast as he could and ran out. As soon as he was outside the store, he searched the floor frantically.
But Roman was gone.
Alphonse sprinted to the Companion Depot and immediately felt like he had been punched in the gut. The female android was gon
e, and every other android has been destroyed as well…how had Roman been able to do so much in such a short time? He decided to dwell on it later and instead focus on his escape. He was sure there was nothing short of an army outside the mall by now, and he had no other HUSKs to transfer himself to. Not to mention that he couldn’t just part with this form. Who would he be without it? Just software? A file waiting to be downloaded into the invisible nexus?
“THERE HE IS!” he heard someone yell, and he looked up with a heavy sigh. In the distance was a literal tank, bursting through the entrance of the store that used to be known as Bullseye. Alphonse felt his morale take a nose dive.
“Seriously?” he replied in disbelief as it fired off its first shell. It came at him like a missile, whistling past the department stores and cracking the glass windows in its wake. He thought for a moment about testing his limits against it, but opted on the side of caution. He ducked under it, and it exploded against the wall behind him. He was over ten yards away from the impact, but it still rocked him off his feet. His arms flailed in the air as he was thrown forward, and he squinted his eyes as he saw several soldiers, all outfitted in military gear, begin to open fire on his airborne body.
Flashbacks of previous failures plagued his mind as he hit the floor gracefully, rolling with the impact and jumping right back to his feet. He wasn’t fast enough to dodge the spray of bullets, but he could at least make it difficult for them. He sprinted off to the right and into an unknown store as he felt the little pricks of pressure against his skin cease instantly. The men shouted and reloaded outside as he inspected his body for a second. Every place where a bullet has struck him had pierced his skin and created a miniature crater, but at least that was as far as it had gotten. He could see the steel and carbon based mixture his father had created for him underneath, granting him a harder exo-skeleton than most androids in the world.
It had saved his life countless times…and yet, it still wasn’t enough to grant him what he needed to save the lives of his targets. Facing humans was not strange to him. After all, until today, they were the ones to humble him. Lone Snipers, assassination squads, a mob of angry citizens, and now an android, followed by an army of soldiers and a tank…his odds of success were getting worse not better, and he could only wonder how his experience and knowledge of their skills wasn’t keeping up with their artillery and firepower.
Another explosion sent him sliding across the floor as he realized the tank had fired on the store he was in. He banged up against a metal shelf of toys that immediately fell down on top of him—a symphony of squeaks and electronic bells and whistles going off as he sunk down low. He could see the soldiers’ boots from underneath the rubble, carefully advancing as they kept their rifles ready. They searched the toy store carefully, looking behind and under each crevice. Alphonse waited until one was close enough to feel his fury, and then he let loose.
He burst through the metal shelf like it was water, diving straight for one of the soldiers. He rolled under a volley of bullets and grabbed his leg. He picked him up like a doll and swung him around in a circle, knocking the other soldiers off their feet. The guns fired off into the air and decorated the ceiling as Alphonse wasted no time in knocking them out individually—punching each one at a time.
With the meager threat neutralized, he peeked around the corner and saw the tank at the ready, just waiting for its orders. He figured that it wouldn’t fire with the men still inside so he ran out. To his surprise, the tank fired immediately, and he was so shocked that he didn’t get out of the way in time. The shell missed, but the explosion was enough to shred the rest of his shirt and set some of his hair on fire, not to mention his entire right arm had lost a great deal of skin, and an artificial mix of blood and oil began leaking from within.
He barely managed to leap out of the way when another shell sounded off in what felt like only seconds later. Instinctively, he leapt to the second floor, barely grasping the railing above him. He grunted and pulled himself up just as another explosion sent him forward into a video game store. He pounded the ground in anger and scrambled to his feet, clutching his arm and heading for the door. At least the tank couldn’t reach him now. At least not without taking out most of the mall.
Some android I am. He thought bitterly as he heard more footsteps coming from around the corner. Oh no. Screw that.
Alphonse took a deep breath, bent his knees as low as he could go, and then leapt upwards through the ceiling like he was Superman. As he broke through to the outside, he realized that the last bit of energy he had put out was enough to take its toll on him. He knew he had to keep running, but his body just collapsed….and right into the fresh coat of tar at his feet. He wretched himself from the muck and forced himself to walk away slowly, ignoring the cries of the crowd in the distance who had been denied their Universe X tickets, the shouts of the soldiers out for blood, and the sirens of the police barricading the area.
He just wanted to go home.
Alphonse leapt off the roof as high as he could, hitting the tree line of the miniature woods in the back of the mall. Now that he was under the canopy of darkness, he felt safer, but not relieved. There was no excuse his father could make after tonight—not if there were other androids getting in the way of his missions. It was ridiculous, and the only way he could hope to do better was to get stronger. A lot stronger.
Human beings weren’t limited. They could increase their muscles and strength with extensive work-outs and careful maintenance. If androids were the superior race as his father loved to claim…why couldn’t he?
Chapter 2 – Ain’t I a Human?
“They’re monkeys. No…worse than monkeys. They’re like bacteria…or viruses—a plague upon the world that should be eradicated immediately. I don’t know why it’s not a priority in New Jefferson.”
“You know if it doesn’t involve money, nothing’s going to change.”
“But that’s what I don’t understand, Valerie,” her friend scoffed. “It’s no secret that most of them have shares in A.I Corp. Who isn’t trying to get in these days? I mean, even my husband checks every couple of months or so. The politicians in New Jefferson can get very rich by contracting out to them so why don’t they try to solve this android problem?”
“Listen to yourself,” Valerie giggled. “You just answered your own question. The politicians aren’t going to get rid of the androids because they’re heavily invested in the company that created them. That’s why it’s not a priority.”
“Okay, but there hasn’t been a new line of androids for three years. It’s all new toys and gadgets now. Those robots were simply a way into the market. Said it was supposed to revolutionize the way we live or something like that. Well it hasn’t.”
“I disagree.”
“Oh, c’mon.”
“No, Ursula, I’m serious. Think about it. The economy was in shambles before their arrival. We were on the brink of collapse and default, but they saved us in a sense. It’s no secret that America was built on the back of free labor, and it was the reason we were able to build such a concrete foundation. Not to sound racist, but it wasn’t until the Negro was freed that we began to lose our way as a nation. The arrival of our automated counterparts set us right back on track, and they were so affordable too!”
“Is that why you have a staff of thirty?” Ursula scoffed. “I mean, even I think that’s excessive.”
“It ensures that I have the time to do what I wish,” Valerie laughed. “And everything gets done. Especially since they don’t have to be paid wages. It’s just the one-time fee to purchase them. They don’t have to eat, sleep, they never get sick. You know what, I take back what I said about the Negro earlier. The androids are even better than they are.”
“You need to stop,” Ursula giggled. “No one says Negro anymore.”
“Would you prefer for me to use the other word?”
“You wouldn’t.”
“I would.”
“Valerie, you’
re terrible!” Ursula giggled again as a shuffle of a chair broke their conversation. Valerie looked down at the teenage girl next to her and scowled.
“LYDIA! STOP FIDGETING! That’s very unladylike,” she scolded as she went for another sip of Tie Guanyin tea. Ursula shook her head and also took a sip, letting the cup down onto the china saucer plate loudly. A light breeze flew in through the small kitchen window. The translucent drapes with gaudy flowers on them lapped at the back of Ursula’s head and Lydia nearly giggled at the sight. The way the sunlight came in, it looked like her mother’s friend was engulfed in some kind of aura and the drapes created an effect that made it look like a bride’s veil. Knowing how nasty and mean Ms. Ursula could be, the idea of her being a glowing bride at all was hilarious. Even a man with a lobotomy would stay away from a death trap such as her.
“Well, I only have two of them,” Ursula said smugly. “I would hire more but I just can’t stomach it. Two are more than enough to get my daily necessities done.”
“You know the homeless only have one?”
“I know!” she exclaimed. “I can’t even imagine it! Collecting cans and spare change to afford only one companion. It’s sad. You know there’s talk over in…now where did I hear about this? I don’t know. Well, over in Nebraska or something, there’s talk of a female and her male android companion falling in love! She wants to get married to the thing!”
“NO!” Valerie scoffed, covering her mouth. “That’s like me wanting to take my microwave out on a date!”
“You would, you cow!” Ursula practically screamed in delight as Lydia shut her eyes. If this is what her mother meant by observing them on how to behave like a lady, they sure weren’t doing a phenomenal job. And besides, she had a cello recital that night, and her mother had already threatened to cut her allowance if she botched one note during the performance. She was already nervous. Why wasn’t she allowed to go practice instead of listening to these old crows caw?
The Works of Julius St. Clair - 2017 Edition (Includes 3 full novels and more) Page 85
