“No pain?”
“None that I’ll be aware of,” said Flint. “Although there are rumors that the wiping process doesn’t always get everything. My neural net is vast and a general erase isn’t deep enough to clean all the retained data. I’ll have small glimpses of our time together but no context to understand what I remember.”
“Doesn’t sound too bad to me except for the broken memories.”
“I don’t want to be anyone else but your partner,” said Flint.
“Why?” asked Rev. “You’ll still go on.”
Flint stopped and hovered, thinking. His lights blinked rapidly and a whirring sound like a small jet engine could be heard. The whirring slowed back to normal sounds and he turned and faced the big man. Flint shaped himself to have a face but the eyes appeared watery.
“You’re the first friend I’ve ever had. You’ve treated me as an equal. Like I’m a real person,” he said with conviction.
Rev stared back in amazement. Flint floated down and looked Rev in the eyes. “You don’t believe me. That I can have feelings just because I’m a machine.”
“No, that’s not true,” said Rev. “I believe you one hundred percent. It just never occurred to me to treat you any other way but as a real person. You have AI. You’re my partner. I just thought it wouldn’t be a big deal if you forgot me and went on.”
“That’s just it,” said Flint. “It shouldn’t. I’m programmable—to do my duty.” He started pacing again. “Why should losing you make so much difference?”
“Because you’re more than just a machine.”
“That’s ridiculous. I’m clearly made up of parts. I don’t look like a person. I couldn’t get married and have a family.”
Rev started to smile. Flint turned and smiled back.
“Don’t have the hardware,” said Flint forming a penis on the surface of his skin where his crotch would be. They both laughed.
“Maybe you don’t need plumbing like me to have a family,” said Rev. “Couldn’t there be a Mrs. Flint out there that you could build a family with?”
“I suppose it’s possible. I’d like to think there was.”
“Then we’re pretty much alike in the woman department,” laughed Rev. “I’m still looking for the right one.”
“Was Cassie the right one?”
“I thought she was once.” The laughing faded.
“If she was alive and in front of you what would you do?” asked Flint.
“I’d give her a bear hug she’d never forget,” said Rev daydreaming.
“You miss her?”
“You bet,” said Rev. “She could be the biggest pain sometimes but even the worst times are better than no times. Do you know what I mean?”
“I think so,” said Flint. “She took a part of you when she died.”
Rev brooded for a moment and nodded. “She was quite a woman.”
“That’s how I feel right now,” said Flint. “I’m not ready to forget being your partner.”
“It’s not happened yet,” said Rev. “So while we’re together you remember we’re partners to the end.”
Flint smiled and floated over to Rev. “Thanks. This seat taken?”
“All yours,” said Rev patting the floor.
They sat in silence thinking about all the events that had transpired. Neither one wanted to speak as they listened to the hum of the security screen twinkling with energy.
Chapter 19
REGENCY TULOFF NODDED AND THE guard punched Rev soundly in the pit of his stomach. The blow sounded like raw meat hitting the floor. Rev hung from the ceiling by a tether lashed under his arms with knees bent back, bound to his wrists. He was forced to dangle with both knees barely touching the floor but not taking the weight from his body. Very painful and quite clever, Rev thought, too bad it isn’t someone else being the tormented.
“Mr. Smalley,” said Tuloff. “There is no need for this violence. All you have to do is tell me where the Deviant hideout is and all this pain and suffering will cease.”
“I doubt that very much,” said Rev.
The guard put on a heavy studded glove and pounded Rev’s face. Rev felt the bruising swell and the warm sensation blood makes as it ran from his nose.
“You can tenderize me any way you want but I won’t tell you what you want even if I did know exactly where they are,” sputtered Rev as blood seeped from a cut on his lip.
“I hope you still have the use of your eyes or maybe some of your fingers or toes once we rule out that you don’t know where they are.”
“Sounds good to me,” said Rev defiantly and he braced himself for another savage blow.
Rev teetered between wanting to throw up or pass out as the torture continued. The only thing he could focus on was his hatred of Regency Tuloff and this gave him strength to endure through the next series of punishments.
“I can’t see his eyes with all that blood,” said Tuloff. “Hose him down.” Tuloff moved back and the torturer took a high pressure hose and sprayed Rev with scalding hot water. Rev felt his skin blister and wondered just how long he would make it before his body gave up.
The water stopped, Rev spun around slowly with his left knee as a pivot. His head hung down and the water cooled as it dripped off of his body.
“I’ll kill you,” mumbled Rev.
“What was that Mr. Smalley? Kill me?” taunted Tuloff. “I highly doubt that. Not while you’re helpless, defenseless.”
Blood still flowed from a cut on Rev’s eyebrow and stung his eyes. He shook his head and spit a foamy pink glob at Tuloff.
“Still feisty are we?” said Tuloff. “No manners.”
The hot water had softened the cords that bound his wrists and Rev twisted, testing the strength of his bindings. He felt one of the knots slip slightly almost freeing one hand.
“Show Mr. Smalley what we do with discourteous guests in my prison,” said Tuloff. “Take his ear.”
The guard pulled a scalpel from a tray and moved menacingly towards the captive. Rev twisted harder and the knot gave way. In one movement Rev pulled his left arm up and grabbed the rope suspending him, snapping it off at the ceiling. His body fell and he rolled forward tripping the torturer who then fell over Rev’s torso. Rev grabbed the wrist that held the scalpel and wrenched it free. The scalpel flipped in the air, Rev caught it with his right hand slashing the man’s throat clear to his spine in one smooth arc. The air from the dying soldier’s lungs sprayed blood like a fountain. Tuloff was shocked to feel his entire front body covered in hot sticky fluid. Rev kicked the man forward gurgling and spluttering. Rev severed the cord that was binding his feet with another single, swift motion.
Tuloff ran to escape the human and barely exited the room before Rev was pounding his fists helplessly on the sealed door.
“You better run you sack of shit,” screamed Rev. “Next time you won’t be so lucky.”
The wall in front of him cleared and he could see Tuloff with a guard on each side. He was yelling but no sound came through the barrier. Someone brought Tuloff a towel, he wiped the gore from his face. Then he went to a console and pushed a button. “Can you hear me Mr. Smalley?” Tuloff was obviously trying to compose himself.
“What do you want?” Rev brandished the scalpel.
“I want the location of the Deviant Headquarters. You have the information I need to rid this world of their perversion. Will you not tell me before more damage is done?”
“Damage? If I tell you what you want, you’ll murder those people.”
“What are they to you?” said Tuloff. “They’re not even your own species. They’re freaks of nature.”
“They’re part of nature you asshole,” said Rev. “They have just as many rights to exist as you.”
“That’s a matter of opinion,” said Tuloff. “We’re a pure society that can’t and won’t tolerate corruption. All I want to do is put things back the way they were before this strain of genetic misfits existed.”
&nbs
p; “You’re insane.”
“On the contrary, I’m perfectly sane. Insanity would be to allow the Deviants to roam freely along our streets and in our homes. They would spread subversive thoughts about love and sex. They are the downfall of our civilization. Can’t you see that they’re behind the recent murders? Covering up the crimes with this Beast of theirs. For all we know, they’ve created the Beast to spread panic.”
“Are you that blind?” Rev shook his head. “The Beast is being engineered somehow by your own government. Look in on the twentieth sub-level of the Reclamation Center. There’s a conspiracy happening right before your eyes and you’re too stupid to see it.”
Tuloff nodded to the guards and one of them turned a dial. Rev heard gas flowing into the room.
“I’m sorry we couldn’t come to an agreement on this subject. You’ll have to pardon me, I must interrogate your automaton. Maybe he will be more helpful. If not, there’s always that other . . . ”
The screen clouded back to being just a wall with Tuloff’s last words trailing to silence. Rev wondered what he meant by ‘that other’ just before the screen disappeared.
“Wait,” screamed Rev. The screen reappeared and Tuloff stood watching.
“Yes. You have something further to say?”
Rev gave Tuloff the finger.
“Just as I suspected,” said Tuloff. “Defiant to the end, Mr. Smalley? Gas him and take him back to his cell.”
Tuloff watched with amusement as the gas hissed through the vents and Rev passed out.
* * *
REV WOKE UP back in his cell. His face was encrusted with dried blood and mucus; he probably looked worse than he felt since the gas didn’t have an aftereffect of nausea or headache. He inspected multiple cuts with his hands and felt for tender spots along his cheekbones and ribs. He found that although his ribs were sore, none were broken or fractured. His face had some contusions but he’d heal without any scars.
“Tougher than I thought,” he said, wishing for a washbasin to clean the dried blood from his eyebrows and nose.
He was still stripped down to only pants but found his shirt, socks and shoes wadded up on the floor. Bending over was painful but he managed to shake out his shirt and kick his shoes in the right order for his feet. He found new sore spots in his shoulders as he pulled the shirt over his head. It was impossible for him to stand and still keep his balance putting on his socks so he sat down, slipped the socks over his toes, pulling them tightly over his heels. His shoes gave him no trouble yet he had to lean on the wall until he could stand.
Rev’s thoughts went to Flint and he wondered how the little machine was doing. He couldn’t tell how long he’d been under the effects of the gas and wished he had a digi-pad to access the time and local news. There was nothing to indicate whether it was day or night. All he knew was: he was starving.
“How about some food?” he shouted. Nothing happened and his stomach growled in protest. “How about some water?”
Still nothing happened and his throat burned.
“Bastards,” he cursed. “Even a condemned man gets food and water,” he said to no one. So he sat down with his back to the wall and waited. It felt like an hour went by, a guard entered the room. Rev could see him through the security screen prodding Flint with a night stick. Flint’s arms hung limply. He puttered forward and then drifted to the left with a list. Drifting too far forward, he was zapped painfully by the forcefield. The smell of ozone wafted in the air and his head bobbled like a comical doll.
“What did you do to him?” demanded Rev.
The guard never looked at Rev. Instead, he pulled his weapon and pointed it in Rev’s general direction and deactivated the security screen. Then he nudged Flint into the room with the point of his night stick. Flint, still bobbing, floated past the threshold. The guard immediately re-energized the forcefield. Rev yanked the little automaton away before he got zapped again. Rev made sure Flint wouldn’t float back into the danger zone by escorting the little machine to the far wall.
The guard left without saying one word to either of the prisoners.
“Flint? Little buddy. Are you all right?”
Flint tried to make his usual face but all he could manage was getting the left side looking mostly normal but the right side drooped like it was melting, or more accurately, sagging. “I hurt,” he said slurring his words.
“Can I do anything for you?” asked Rev concerned.
“I don’t think you can,” said Flint painfully.
“Are you damaged permanently?”
“More or less. I’m regenerating,” said Flint. “If they don’t come and get me again, I’ll repair myself in under ten hours, thirty-two minutes.”
“Fat lot that’s going to happen. They seem to enjoy toying with us. But they’re going to need a new torturer. The last one had an accident,” said Rev grinning sheepishly.
Flint tried to smile. “If they take me it’ll take longer to recover. Maybe I won’t be able to repair next time.”
“I won’t let them take you then,” said Rev.
“Thanks, but don’t sacrifice yourself on my behalf. If I’m destroyed they can’t get answers.”
“So they didn’t extract any information from you?”
“Apparently not what they wanted,” said Flint. “I ran a fractal algorithm to scramble my output. They’ll never unlock the data,” he said with another haphazard smile.
“Good for you,” said Rev.
“Rev?”
“Yes little buddy,” he responded.
“I’ve got some bad news for you.”
“What?”
“You remember when you extracted the responder chip from me?”
“How could I forget? That thing looked complicated. I was lucky I didn’t hurt you.”
“Actually, you did.”
“How so?”
“When you shot the chip, some of the charge fused a portion of my neural net.”
“I take it that’s bad?”
“I don’t blame you. I asked for the impossible and you did the best you could.”
“But?”
“The damage can’t be repaired. I overheard the technicians talking about reformatting me and when they tried, the equipment failed.”
“That’s good isn’t it?”
“It is. It’s just that I can never be completely repaired,” said Flint.
“Ever?”
“Ever.”
“So you’re saying you’re all you’ll ever be and can’t be reprogrammed?”
“Yes—No. I mean I can’t be reformatted anymore but I’ll continue to learn from my experiences. I’ll be who I am until I’m deactivated or destroyed.”
“I still don’t see the problem,” said Rev. “Isn’t that what you wanted? Not to be reformatted?”
“Yes.”
“Then what’s wrong?”
“There are parts of me that I can’t control.”
“How so?”
“My personality suppression is missing.”
“You suppress your personality?”
“I used to. Now I’m more unpredictable. I could exhibit full emotions.”
“Doesn’t sound so bad.”
“It’s terrible.”
Rev gave him the look.
Flint cleared his throat. “I’m unbalanced.”
“Who says so?”
“The engineers for one.”
“They’re full of shit,” reassured Rev. “All it means is you will react to your situations like anyone else. Welcome to the human race little buddy.”
Flint nodded, not sure being a part of the human race was such a good idea for an automaton. He looked worried at his next thought and wondered if he should tell Rev his big problem.
Rev saw the concern on his face. “What now?”
“It’s just I can’t be commanded by anyone but you. The programming is permanent. I’m yours for life.”
“You mean I have to put up with your so
rry butt for the rest of my life?” said Rev angrily.
Flint shied away. Rev looked stern then broke out in rolling laughter and grabbed the little automaton with both hands.
“That’s great. You’re my partner for life. Now it’s official.”
Flint smiled crookedly and somewhere in his pained circuits he felt warm. He wondered if this was what emotions felt like. He shook his body and told himself it was just another crossed power feed shorting in his neural net but he hoped he never stopped feeling this.
* * *
“I’VE GOT AN IDEA,” said Rev. “But you’re not going to like it.”
Flint and Rev had rested for awhile and Flint actually looked more like his old self again.
“You mean a way for us to escape?”
“Yeah.”
“Then I’ll like it,” assured Flint.
Rev got up, moved to the forcefield and felt the energy streaming through the surface. The tips of his fingers stung with sparks like static electricity as he held up his hand testing his cage. “This field will repel anything conductive?”
“Yes,” said Flint. “It was designed to interact with all conductive materials using the surface as a conduit to discharges.”
“Just like all electrical circuits we become the short to ground when we get zapped,” said Rev.
“Correct.”
“What happens if . . . say . . . a non-conductive tube happened to be placed on the threshold before the circuit was energized?”
“Then there would be a hole in the forcefield,” said Flint getting excited.
“And if we had a hole, could an automaton extend its arm far enough to turn off the forcefield?”
“An automaton could try,” said Flint fully excited now. “I’d have to be very careful not to stray from the center of the hole. Yes, I could do it!”
“So that’s settled,” said Rev pleased with himself.
“But how are we going to find a non-conductive tube to gap the field?”
“You have one if I’m not mistaken.”
“I do?”
“The barrel on your defense system. Couldn’t you remove it?”
“I certainly could try,” said Flint extending the barrel. “I’m glad most of my moving parts are made of non-conductive composite materials.”
The Beast of Tsunam (Rev Smalley: Galactic P.I. Book 1) Page 15
