RobotWorld

by Ray Verola

  Click.

  “Sir? Sir?” Regan said. The line was dead.

  Marisa came back into the living room. “We’re so screwed,” she said.

  ***

  Sophia ripped the communication earpiece out of her ear and flung it on her desk. She paced to the piranha tank in her RW office and hit it hard with an open hand. The fish fled to the opposite end of the tank. It was well after closing time and, outside of the fish tank lights, no other illumination devices were on in the office.

  She returned to her desk, reinserted the earpiece, and pressed a button on the telescreen to automatically dial Dee Woodson’s home number.

  When he picked up, Sophia said, “The goddamn Aguilars failed. Make them disappear. Tonight! It’s time they become Serenity ingred . . . never mind. Have the usual goons get rid of them. Our most competent goons, so as to minimize the possibility of government detection. Now. And don’t involve that screw-up Hart.”

  “Done,” Dee said.

  She hung up and heaved the earpiece across the room. The earpiece hit a wall and shattered into small pieces. She was furious for two reasons. The first was the Aguilar screw-up. Her instinct not to use the loopy couple in the Taylor Morris hit proved to be correct. The second was that she’d almost made the mistake of uttering a highly guarded government secret to Dee Woodson: that human DNA was a component of Serenity. That’s why so many homeless disappear, human morons. That’s why the government doesn’t investigate the downtown homeless disappearances. And why doesn’t the government crack down on Serenity use? Because it’s the government who’s pushing it, human morons.

  She wasn’t worried that Dee would ever bring up her Serenity verbal slip in the future. Dee had been programmed to never question her.

  33

  The next morning around sunrise, Austin arrived at Taylor’s bedroll with breakfast from McDougal’s, the most popular fast food restaurant chain in Capital City. The name was chosen by its owner because of the similarity of the menu with the famed, defunct fast-food place that had enjoyed worldwide popularity up until World War III. Taylor, Errol, and Max were already up.

  “Egg McDougals and coffee for four is served,” Austin said. “I reached into my rainy-day fund. After last night, we all could use a good breakfast.” He then turned to Taylor. “How’s the eye feeling?”

  “You did a great job last night,” Taylor said. “Only a little swelling and almost no pain.”

  The four leaned against the nearby ledge and attacked their food with vigor in a morning chill so unusual for this time of year that they could see their breath.

  The moment after he swallowed the last bite of his Egg McDougal, Taylor said, “While I’m almost certain it was the Aguilars’ PTV that tried to run me over, I need to be completely sure. The Aguilars were so nice. It’s hard for me to fathom why they’d do such a thing. I’ve got to know. So, I’m going over to their place later this morning. My intuition tells me to check them out. It might be stupid, but I just have to.”

  The men of few words, Errol and Max, had no reaction.

  “Do you think it’s wise to go over there?” Austin asked. “If they tried to kill you last night, they obviously failed. You show up—and you might be giving them a chance to finish the job.”

  Taylor took a sip of coffee. “It sounds crazy, I agree. But I can handle the Aguilars physically, if it ever comes to that. I used to be a champion wrestler back in high school.”

  Austin groaned. “That had to be a long time ago. Plus, not even a champion wrestler can compete with a gun, if they’ve obtained one illegally. We already know they’d use a PTV as a lethal weapon.”

  “The Aguilars didn’t strike me as gun owners. But I’ve got to find out. There’s an outside chance it wasn’t them in that runaway PTV last night. Maybe another red PTV has a grille consisting of two eagles soaring together in front of a mountain, like the Aguilar one. Perhaps I had a great dinner with the Aguilars, then blacked out in that alley on my way back here and forgot everything. With all the Serenity I’ve been doing, it’s possible.”

  “If you’re intent on seeking out the Aguilars, Taylor, then we’ll go along with you,” Austin said. “To be your wingmen, so to speak.”

  “You guys don’t need to do that.”

  Austin turned to Errol and Max. “But we want to, more than anything. Right, guys?”

  Errol and Max nodded.

  Later that morning, the four men began the approximate one-mile trek to the Aguilars’ apartment building. As with most government-sponsored apartments, there was no security code to enter. As the four walked through the lobby, they got glares from some people, most likely due to their shabby clothes, which were clearly a cut below those worn by even the poorest of residents. Taylor could feel a red heat of embarrassment on his ears.

  Out of the corner of his mouth, Taylor said, “Even though these folks are only a rung above us on the social scale, they think they’re way better than us. Sad what our society has become.”

  Austin nodded in agreement. “Our society has become like crabs in a barrel. As one crab climbs up, seeking to get out of the fix they’re in, the other crabs drag it back down. In time, they’ll all be boiled.”

  All four men kept their eyes down. At the elevator bay, Taylor hit the up button and they waited.

  From behind them came a hard-as-nails male voice. “I know you.”

  The four turned around in unison to see a mountain of a man, easily standing over six feet five, almost as wide as a PTV, with bushy eyebrows, a crew cut, and a scowl across his pasty face.

  The man pointed his right index finger at Austin. “I know you,” he said again. He strode toward the group and stood right in front of Austin. “You knew my brother down on the Point. Jeff Bordeau was his name.” The big man’s scowl was still locked in place.

  Austin nodded. “I remember him well.”

  “I used to visit my brother on occasion after he became homeless,” the man said with his upper lip trembling. “Tried to get him out of that downtown hellhole. But I failed. You were his friend, or so he thought. The week before he vanished, he told me that you had been talking to some well-dressed government agents, disappearance men. My brother suspected you were talking about him. And then suddenly, like a small leaf in the wind of a hurricane, he’s gone. Never to be seen again.”

  In a strong voice, Austin said, “Jeff disappeared suddenly. True. But many people disappear abruptly from the Point. I can assure you I wasn’t involved with your brother’s disappearance. In fact, I did everything I could to help him. I liked him a lot.”

  “Well, I want to ask you some questions about what you might have said to those disappearance men right before—”

  Now it was Austin who pointed a finger at the big man. “Look, friend, I have no idea what happened to your brother, other than the fact he was hitting the Serenity pretty hard. I had no involvement in his disappearance. There’s nothing to discuss.”

  “I’m not sure about that,” the big man said. “And I’m not your friend—and maybe you weren’t my brother’s friend.”

  A ding signaled the arrival of an elevator going up. But no one in Taylor’s group moved. The elevator door opened and closed.

  “Hey, pal,” Taylor said, “I’m sorry about the loss of your brother, but we’ve got to get upstairs.” He pointed at Austin with his thumb. “My friend indicated he knows nothing about your brother’s disappearance, so there’s nothing more to discuss. We need to get going.”

  “I don’t think so,” the man said. He turned his glare back to Austin. “I want some answers.”

  Austin shrugged his shoulders. “I have none for you.”

  The man took a half step toward Austin, getting right in his face. “That’s not good enough.”

  “I’m afraid it will have to be,” Austin said. “I have no information for you.”

/>   A ding signaled the arrival of another elevator.

  The man’s lips were pressed closed, and his jaw muscles appeared to be ready to pop out of his skin. Both ears glowed a fiery crimson as he towered over Austin.

  Taylor thought the guy was about to get physical with his friend, and it seemed there was no way Austin’s denial was resonating in any way. Taylor quick-stepped to the man’s right side and threaded his left forearm behind the man’s right elbow and over his back. As he applied pressure, he grabbed the man’s hand with his own right hand and began leading him away from the elevator bay.

  “Ow!” the big man cried as Taylor led him on an involuntary march.

  “Listen, pal,” Taylor said, “we’ve reached an impasse. My friend says he knows nothing about your brother’s disappearance. My friend’s an honest man. Therefore, we’re going to have to end our discussion right now.”

  As they got near the exit to the apartment complex, Taylor let go of his grip and pushed the man toward the door.

  The man stared into Taylor’s eyes with his own moist ones and appeared to be totally beaten. Taylor was amazed that the man, who’d looked so immense and foreboding no more than a minute earlier, now seemed small and almost submissive. With his head down, the man turned away and walked out the door.

  Taylor strode back to the elevator bay. He and his three allies entered an elevator. Taylor pressed the button for the fifth floor.

  “That was interesting,” Taylor said.

  “Where did you learn that move?” Max asked.

  “A basic wrestling arm bar,” Taylor responded. “I told you guys I wrestled in high school.”

  “Very impressive,” Errol said.

  “Thanks for saving my butt, Taylor,” Austin said. “I think that guy was ready to punch me into next week.”

  There was an uncomfortable silence as the elevator climbed past the third floor.

  “Just for the record,” Austin said, “I was nothing but a friend to the guy’s brother. I know nothing about his disappearance.”

  Taylor nodded. “Of that we’re sure, Austin. Still, I feel for the guy. He lost a brother, after all. Didn’t like doing what I did, but that guy wasn’t going to give up.”

  The elevator door opened on the fifth floor.

  Walking down the narrow hall, Taylor noticed the door to the apartment where he’d been the night before was wide open. He put his hand out to stop the progress of the men behind him. He slowed his own pace as he neared the door.

  He peeked in. No furniture in the place that he could see. No sign of the Aguilars. He walked in, followed by his three friends. They walked through each room of the vacant apartment.

  “Are you sure this is where you were last night?” Austin asked, his voice echoing off the bare walls.

  “This was the place. I’m sure of it,” Taylor said. “Let’s go to the manager’s office.”

  As they stepped into the office on the first floor, a heavyset, balding man with a handlebar mustache was seated behind a desk. He said, “We have no vacancies.”

  Taylor smiled. He took the comment as a preemptive strike to an anticipated rental request from four undesirables. “Oh, no, sir, we’re not looking for an apartment to rent. We only want to ask about two friends of ours who’ve seemed to have moved out suddenly. The Aguilars. In apartment 510.”

  The manager focused on Taylor’s eyes. “Usually, I don’t give out information on any of our residents. But in this case, I’ll make an exception. The Aguilars kept to themselves and stayed out of trouble, as far as I could tell. The husband acted a bit shady, but the wife was friendly and cute. We have a lot of short-timers here, but they set the record for quick moves. Less than a week. I’m a little pissed at them. But, lucky for me, their apartment is rented to someone else already.”

  “Right,” Taylor said, “we’re not looking to rent here. Can you tell me if the Aguilars left any contact information, like a forwarding address?”

  “Nothing. Only because I’m angry at the rapidity of their move, I’ll tell you what I heard from our overnight manager. Shortly after midnight, four large, serious-looking guys came by and said the Aguilars would be vacating immediately. One of the men paid the outstanding rent on the place and agreed to forfeit the security deposit. The four guys were quickly joined by several other big men who cleaned out the apartment in minutes. When I arrived at work this morning, it was like your friends had never lived here. No contact information was given. That’s all I know.”

  “Thank you, sir,” Taylor said. “We appreciate the information.”

  As Taylor and the other three turned to leave the office, the manager said, “If you ever talk to your friends, tell them to get in touch with me. They left the apartment in as good a condition as when I rented the place to them. Much as I hate to say it, they’d be entitled to the return of their full security deposit.”

  “Will do,” Taylor said.

  As they ambled to the main exit of the apartment building, Taylor kept his eyes peeled for the big guy who had hassled Austin. The big guy was nowhere to be seen.

  On the walk back to the Point, Austin said to the group, “The apartment manager can pocket that security deposit. The Aguilars won’t ever show up to claim it. They’re gone for good. Gone as in disappeared.”

  34

  As Taylor, Austin, Errol, and Max turned the corner to arrive back at the bridge around noon, Taylor spotted Roz leaning on the ledge near his bedroll. Despite a degree of embarrassment at having Roz continue to see him in his current situation, he was still happy to see her.

  To his friends, Taylor said, “I have a visitor. If you guys don’t mind, I’ll catch you later.”

  “No problem,” Austin said. He, Errol, and Max then headed off in another direction.

  Roz held up a paper bag as Taylor approached. With a smile, she said, “I happened to be in the area. Checked my wrist computer and realized it was lunchtime. Would you join me for some McDougal’s?”

  He smiled back at her. “Be happy to. This is my second McDougal’s meal of the day.”

  Roz snapped her head back in mock horror. “Didn’t know you all ate so well down here.”

  “It’s been an unusually good day for my diet, for sure.” He paused and looked down. “You didn’t have to do this.”

  “Of course not. But I wanted to.” She fixed her eyes on his with what seemed to Taylor to be a look of concern. “What happened to your face?”

  “Someone tried to hurt me bad last night. Not sure who. Not sure why. I think I’ll need to move from this spot for safety reasons. Time to go on the run.” He bit his lower lip. “Harder to hit a moving target.”

  The color drained from Roz’s face. She said nothing as she reached into the bag and handed him a burger.

  As they sat on the ledge and began to dig into the hamburgers and sodas she’d brought, Taylor broke the awkward silence. “This is a big day for me. You might have guessed I have, I mean, had a Serenity habit. This is my first full day clean.”

  “Congrats. Just take it one day at a time. String those days together, and you’ll be free in nothing flat.” She took a sip of soda through a straw. “You know about the rough five-day withdrawal period some are said to have. Any problems yet?”

  “None. They say only forty percent of Serenity addicts have a bad withdrawal. Most of those people have problems early in the process. As I’m almost through day one with no symptoms, I might be home free.”

  “Any plans for the future?”

  “I’m determined to help my fellow human beings out of the mess we’ve created for ourselves. Don’t know how to do it yet. But I’m confident I’ll figure something out. I have the feeling it will involve exposing our not-so-wonderful government to a certain degree. So, I’ve bitten off quite a big chunk of whatever meat you want to call this problem-laden society made of. We’ll see
if I can chew. I guess you can say I’ve resolved to make something of my life, which up to now has been useless.”

  Roz said, “Your life hasn’t been useless. But I admire your new goals. I’d like to help. You realize kicking Serenity with the temptation present on these mean streets will be tough, and trying to fight the government while attempting to keep clean here will be downright impossible. And if someone is after you, as you believe after last night, maybe it’s wiser to dump the strategy of moving around in the downtown area, where you’d be easy to find. A quiet, out-of-the-way apartment might be the play to make.” She took a sip of soda through a straw, then put her cup down. “My prior offer of staking you to a small apartment still stands, as a loan-type situation if that’s how you want to handle it.”

  In his head, Taylor clearly heard George’s voice. Accept her offer. Taylor said, “You make good points. You don’t have to make this apartment offer.”

  “I know. But I want to.”

  “The one thing I don’t want to do is put you in any danger.” Accept her offer, George weighed in again.

  “Life is never guaranteed, and it can be dangerous,” Roz said. “One of my uncles is the manager of an apartment building who’ll agree to rent the place in the name of another relative of mine that’ll be hard to trace. I’ve already cleared it with my uncle. The risk for me is low compared to your risk in being a clear target on the street.”

  Accept her offer. Taylor sighed. “I can’t argue with your logic. Moving around to another spot downtown is not a great tactic. If you think we can do this apartment thing—as a loan, of course—while keeping your name off the rental agreement, maybe that’s the way to go.”

  She said, “It most certainly is the best way to go.”

  Taylor gazed at the gray sky. It seemed the sky was always ashen these days. But he smiled as he took stock of where he was right now. He’d gone through tough times, but he felt his life was finally on the uptick. Not a huge uptick, especially after last night, but an uptick nonetheless. He looked at Roz. “Okay, I accept your offer. As long as everything you advance me is an ironclad loan. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate what you’re doing for me.”