What Lies Behind: A New Adult Dark Science Fiction Romance

by Travis Simmons

  “Why not?” Brandon asked, his eyebrows furrowing.

  “This is the robot graveyard. This is where automatons go to die,” Cass said. “No one will help me now.”

  “Unless a human claims you as their own, then you can be helped. Cass, would you let me care for you? Would you be my…Cass?”

  Cass smiled at that, and nodded her head slightly.

  “Can you walk?” he asked, standing. Brandon didn’t let go of her hand.

  Cass tossed her legs over the side of the bed and waited to see if her head spun.

  It didn’t. She stood, using his hands to help.

  “Bring her out here,” Mathilda said. “We will have some tea and talk.”

  Brandon led Cass to the kitchen table, shuffling step by shuffling step.

  “In time your walking will improve. The nanobots have a lot of work to do,” Mathilda said, helping her down into a chair. She then poured a cup of tea for each of them, though Cass couldn’t drink. “Now,” she said, arranging herself in her chair. “There’s no way that you can go back and get those weapons from Natalia,” Mathilda said. “At least, not until you have your programming reconfigured so her devices are no longer calibrated to you.”

  “How would we do that?” Cass asked, fingering the handle of her cup. If they did that, then Janet’s device wouldn’t work on her either.

  “Doctor Stephenson is the man who worked on me, helped me become more android than robot. He will be able to help you. It might take a little money on your part,” she said to Brandon, “but he will do it if I ask him to.”

  “Alright,” Cass said. “Then we will go to this Doctor Stephenson and have him fix me, but I need to resolve this thing with Natalia.”

  Brandon was shaking his head.

  “Listen to me,” Cass said. “If I’m reconfigured, her weapons can’t harm me. I need to make sure she’s punished for what she’s done. If I don’t, she will keep doing this to each android she buys.”

  “That’s no good,” Mathilda said. “What are you going to do?”

  Cass frowned. She didn’t know exactly what she was going to do, but she felt this overwhelming need to do something. Natalia needed to be stopped, and Cass couldn’t tell if that was part of her programming, or if it was her need for safety. Either way, it would help her to make sure Natalia couldn’t hurt Brandon or her ever again.

  “You’re a robot. She’s a human. Are you going to storm in there and beat her up?” Mathilda wondered. “You would be in worse shape than you are now if the authorities caught you, and trust me, they would catch you.”

  “I will figure something out,” Cass said.

  “And then what?” Brandon wondered. “Are you going to start avenging beaten robots? You can’t save all of them from all the humans like Natalia.”

  He was right. That sounded too much like the Android Equal Rights. She didn’t want anything to do with them. They said they were equal rights, but they were still controlling her in a way they were fighting against.

  “I need closure,” Cass said. “I need to know that it’s over with her.”

  “How very human of you,” Mathilda muttered into her cup. It was hard to tell if that was a compliment or criticism.

  Brandon sighed and looked into his mug of tea. “Is there any arguing you out of this?” he wondered.

  Cass smiled, worried that it would have been harder to get him to agree.

  “Alright, so we need to get you set up with Doctor Stephenson. Then you can go on your crusade, but I’m going with you,” Mathilda said. “You will likely need more help than just your own when you get to Natalia’s.”

  “I will take all the help I can get,” Cass said. “I really don’t want to be alone with her.”

  “If we go barging into her apartment she can have us arrested for trespassing,” Brandon said.

  “Her work is a public place, isn’t it?” Cass asked.

  “If she even has the EMP on her any longer, which she might not,” Brandon said, shrugging his hands.

  “She will,” Cass said. “She will want to keep it with her so she can punish me whenever she sees me.”

  “What if she just gets another one?” Brandon asked Mathilda.

  “She can’t get one specialized for Cass without knowing what the new configurations would be,” Mathilda told him. “So, before you go off and play hero, you will want to go see Doctor Stephenson.”

  A week later Cass sat in the off-white waiting room of Doctor Stephenson’s office, her legs crossed, her hands fidgeting with the hem of the violet dress Mathilda had gotten for her. They hadn’t wanted her wearing any of her old clothes. To be honest, neither did Cass. It reminded her too much of her old life.

  Brandon sat beside her, leaned in close, his hand resting on her forearm.

  “Are you nervous?” he asked.

  Cass’s eyes flickered up to the entry door as another person came strolling in. This was a nurse in purple scrubs. She was a robot, though you couldn’t outwardly tell. Not even her eye glowed red like most automatons. She must also be a patient like Mathilda who was undergoing more modifications to blend in with humans. She carried a soda and a take-out bag with her.

  “I just worry that at any moment the door will open up and Natalia will come in for me,” Cass explained.

  Brandon smiled, but it wasn’t a happy smile. “Don’t worry about that,” he said. “She doesn’t know we are here, and she hasn’t even tried to control you since I rescued you. I think she’s moved on.”

  Cass couldn’t explain why that still stung. She should be relieved that Natalia had moved on and no longer wanted to be in her life. She shouldn’t be upset that she was finally getting what she wanted. Deep down, and maybe it was her programming, she felt as though she wasn’t good enough and she was being tossed aside.

  Again.

  A door beside the check-in window opened and a nurse stepped out. “Cass,” she called, looking up. Cass stood. The nurse smiled at her. “Doctor Stephenson is ready for you, if you will just follow me.”

  Cass reached for Brandon’s hand and he gripped her tight. He followed her through the door and down a white hall to a room at the end. It was oddly silent, but she wasn’t sure what she expected to hear. Maybe sawing? Drills? Other mechanical sounds? Instead, it was quiet and peaceful like one would expect a doctor’s office to be.

  Behind the doors she passed, Cass could hear people talking in hushed tones. She wondered if they were there for similar reasons to hers. Probably not.

  The nurse followed them into the room and shut the door behind her. There was a speaker above the door that emitted a slight white noise, most likely to drown out what was happening in other rooms.

  “Now, Cass, have you been here before?” the nurse asked, motioning for Cass to take a seat.

  “I’m not sure,” Cass said. She sat down in a chair opposite the nurse. “I don’t remember being here.”

  “And is Cass your given name?” the nurse, whose tag read Sara, asked.

  Cass’s hands tightened around one another. What if these were questions that would land her back with Natalia? What is she confirmed her name and the police would show up and took her to Natalia. If she started telling them all of the horrors she’d been faced with at Natalia’s, would they believe her?

  “It’s okay, everything discussed here is confidential,” Sara smiled at her.

  “Yes, my name is Cass,” Cass told her. Brandon placed his hand on her shoulder. She looked up at him and he smiled down at her. Her grip relaxed.

  “Alright, if you just lay down on the table, I will get some numbers from your panel,” Sara said.

  Cass climbed up onto the metal table and lay down. Sara walked to her left and opened the hatch on her side. She scribbled down some numbers and made a disapproving noise.

  “Are you her owner?” Sara asked, her eyes cutting up to Brandon.

  “Not her owner, no. I’ve recently started caring for her though,” he said.

&n
bsp; “How recently?” Sara asked. Her dark eyes were hard.

  “In the last week,” he told her.

  She nodded and wrote some more notes.

  “Alright, Cass, it shows here that you’ve been through a high level of trauma. It’s likely that Doctor Stephenson will want to monitor you overnight. You can discuss that with him when he comes in.” Sara helped Cass to sit up. “Are there any questions for me before I go?”

  Cass shook her head. When Sara left she turned to Brandon. “What kind of trauma do you think she means?” Her hands shook. She clenched them tight to stop them from shaking.

  “Natalia abused you pretty badly. I’m sure it has to do with that,” he told her. Brandon pulled a chair up beside the bed and sat down. He took her hand in his.

  “But my nanobots repaired that,” she said.

  “Don’t worry, I’m sure it’s nothing that can’t be fixed.” His full lips parted in a smile and she relaxed.

  Doctor Stephenson came in sooner than she would have expected. His hair was full and white, but his face looked younger than his hair made him appear. He was wide and wore glasses. He carried a glass panel with him that Cass knew to be a computer. He sat it on the counter and pulled up a stool.

  “Well, it doesn’t look good,” Doctor Stephenson said. There was something about his voice that struck Cass as strange, but she shrugged it off. “You’re not her current owner, is that correct?”

  “Yes,” Brandon said. “Her owner had been abusing her. I rescued her.”

  Doctor Stephenson frowned. “I’m afraid that isn’t something one can really do with an automaton. They are the property of their owner, no matter the abuse—”

  “She abandoned me,” Cass said. “She also used control remotes and EMP devices on me.”

  Doctor Stephenson sighed. “The accusation of EMP attack is a strong one.”

  Cass lifted her chin, despite wanting to crawl under the table. “It’s also true.”

  “I wouldn’t put it past whoever your owner was. They’ve done an awful lot of damage to you.”

  “Please, doctor, she’s been away from Natalia for a week now and she hasn’t come to claim her. Is there any way you can reconfigure her? The EMP is specific to Cass, if she’s reconfigured, she won’t be able to reach her with it,” Brandon said.

  “That brings me back to my original issue,” Doctor Stephenson said. “Your bio fuels cells are leaking. I’m afraid they are already starting to do damage to your brain.”

  “What does that mean?” Cass asked.

  “I’m not sure of the entire range of damage right yet, but we will need to repair the cells. If they rupture before we can work on them, the bio fuel will destroy your entire brain. Unlike a human brain, your brain isn’t organic. It’s electric. If it’s flooded, you will be electrocuted,” Doctor Stephenson said. “I’m sorry for being so abrupt, but it’s better to know what you’re facing.”

  “What are our options?” Brandon asked.

  “Well, for right now I can repair the cells, but I would like it to go deeper,” Doctor Stephenson said. “We can’t do it right yet because I would have to build the right size brain and put the memories and everything in place, but I would like you to consider an organic brain.”

  Cass couldn’t speak. She stared at the watery blue eyes of the doctor and tried to speak, but she couldn’t find the words. That would take away her computer. That would make her one step closer to an android.

  She felt the tears coming on, but blinked them away.

  “That will change a lot,” Cass said.

  “An enormous amount,” the doctor agreed.

  “Is it like, a brain transplant?” Brandon asked.

  “Not precisely. It’s a synthetic brain, built in a lab, not taken from anyone. We would need to install all of her memories and personality traits into it and stuff, but we could certainly put a brain into her. Unfortunately, repairing the cells will only put a bandage on the damage. The cells have already started to leak, which means they will only continue damaging the mechanical brain.”

  “So I could feel, and I could smell, and I could taste?” Cass asked.

  Doctor Stephenson smiled. “Yes, you’d be a ‘real boy’.”

  Cass huffed out a laugh. She couldn’t help it. Everything she’d wanted, and somehow Natalia had given it to her in the process of trying to take it all away.

  “I take that as a yes?” Doctor Stephenson said.

  “Yes!” Brandon told him. “Yes, we will do it!”

  “Now, it will take a couple months to build the brain, and we will need you to come here from time to time so we can copy your systems to the brain. Once it’s installed it will take several months for you to learn to use it, so you better plan for that.”

  “Of course!” Cass said, nodding.

  “For now, I’d like you to spend the night here after I fix your cells. I want to be sure that you’re okay before I release you.” Doctor Stephenson smiled at her. “How does that sound?”

  “Great,” she said. She couldn’t stop smiling.

  “Alright, I will have Sara come back in and get you ready for the repairs. It will be a quick procedure. After that we will show you to a room for you to spend the night.” He turned to Brandon. “You’re more than welcome to stay with her, if that will help calm her?”

  “Thank you,” Brandon said.

  The doctor left.

  “So what do you think about that?” Brandon said.

  “What do you think about it?” Cass asked, gripping his hands tight.

  “I think it’s the first time that I’ve seen you smile without fear shadowing your joy, so I like it.”

  “It will make me nearly human, and away from Natalia forever,” Cass said. “Free from programming and control.”

  Brandon was nodding. “You know that I don’t need this, right? Don’t do this for me.”

  “Pfft, I’m totally doing this for me!” Cass said.

  They both laughed.

  “We should lay off the Natalia thing for now,” Brandon said. “Until we know for sure that you’re okay.”

  Cass was shaking her head.

  “Cass, you’re free from her. Can’t you just leave her in the past and move forward?”

  “I can’t really explain it,” Cass said. “I have to know that she’s stopped. I have to know that she can’t do this to anyone else. If we bring this to light, maybe stricter regulations will be put on ownership?” Cass shook her head. “I’m not doing this because of the programming. Or at least I don’t think I am. I’m doing this to know that we are both safe from her.”

  Brandon sighed, and then frowned.

  “Besides, you will be there. Mathilda will be there. We will be in public. Nothing will happen to me,” Cass said. “My programming will be different, her EMP won’t affect me.”

  “I don’t like it,” Brandon said. “Your cells are already damaged. You heard him, this is just a bandage. If something goes wrong, she could kill you.”

  “Kill,” Cass said. “Can you kill an automaton?” she wondered.

  “Don’t be foolish, of course you can,” he said.

  She smiled. “Before long I will be more like a human anyway. I better start learning to care more for my wellbeing.”

  “Does that mean we are going to leave her alone?” he asked.

  Cass frowned.

  Before they could discuss it further Sara came in with a gown. “Alright, I hear someone is getting fixed up and re-programmed?”

  “That would be me,” Cass said with a smile.

  “We will need to turn you off for this procedure, so your friend will have to say goodbye now,” Sara said. “He can rejoin you in recovery.”

  Brandon kissed her hand and stood to leave.

  “Wait,” Cass said, pulling him to her. “What if something goes wrong?”

  “Listen, you will be fine, I will see you shortly,” Brandon said.

  The door closed behind him. Sara watched him go, and
then smiled at Cass.

  “Well, with Doctor Stephenson helping you, your relationships with humans will hopefully only deepen. Alright, now here we go.”

  Sara opened the hatch on her side, and darkness intruded on the moment.

  “Jack is dead?” the woman asked.

  “Yes,” the man said. “What did you gain from all of this anyway?”

  “You weren’t hired to ask questions, just to make sure the machine did what I paid you for her to do.”

  The man didn’t say anything more. He tampered with something at Cass’s side for a moment, and then he was gone. A door closed somewhere to her right.

  “Cass,” Janet said, leaning down. “I’m sorry to have done this to you.”

  “Jack was one of many standing in the way of your rights,” the woman said. “Sure, he loved you and Olivia, but he never truly saw either of you as equal. We need that equality. You will help us get that.”

  Janet was silent for a moment.

  “Now you will leave your family and go to another. I’m sorry for the hardship you will endure there, but when you are done with this human, you will be a powerful voice for our equal rights.”

  What did she mean? What had Cass done?

  Her vision wavered and suddenly she wasn’t staring up at the light swinging above her head any longer. Instead, she was standing before the open door between the garage of her old home and the kitchen.

  Her hands shivered. She knew what she had to do now. She knew what had to happen. The reason for her programming. The same reason she’d been sealing up the windows for the last couple weeks when everyone was gone for the day.

  To make sure no one escaped.

  Again, she was outside the kitchen, in the garage, but this time she was closing the door behind her. The fire she’d created ate away at the interior of the house. Voices rose up in terror, in fear.

  “No!” Cass screamed, coming up out of the darkness of her dreams. Brandon jumped and came to her side, rubbing his tired eyes and blinking back sleep. “No,” Cass moaned, slumping down to the bed. A machine beeped beside her.

  “What is it?” Brandon asked. “Cass, what’s wrong?”

  Cass could only shake her head. That terrible woman. Her insides felt like knots, remembering what she’d done. For the first time since she could remember, Cass truly wished she could put a memory behind her. She wished she could un-remember something.