Without asking him if he wanted to sit, or if he needed a glass of water, she pushed him onto the couch and hurriedly went into her bathroom, starting the shower.
He got up and retrieved a cup from the kitchen, filling it from the tap. He continued his pacing as she showered. Neither one of them said a word through the open door.
Finally, she came out, toweling off in front of him. Monica treated him like a brother and it probably never occurred to her that he found her young, athletic body attractive. As a gay man, he hardly commented on his occasional attraction to women, since saying anything just confused them and had resulted in more than one occasion where they lavished affection on him in hopes of altering his sexual preference. The female form attracted him, just not as much as that of males.
Lost in thought, her voice startled him. “Well, c’mon. You’re obviously having some sort of crazy breakdown. What happened? You act like you have a sudden onslaught of OCD. Did the Director do something? Something else, I mean, since the asshole seems to have his tentacles mixed in everything?” She paused, her voice sounding worried. “Or did you find something in your research that’s worse than we thought?”
“The Tech came to find me. Me. Specifically me. It even waited until Dr. Garbine left.” He fidgeted with the printed material on her table, organizing it obsessively. She grabbed his hands and forced them to stop.
“Okay, seriously, you need to get a grip. Stop flailing around my apartment.” Her jaw clenched and her eyebrows rose. “So, it came to see you. Maybe it had been instructed to keep an eye on you. The Director seems to have some sort of rapport, if not outright control, over them. Maybe it is supposed to keep an eye on your whole team.”
“No.” He shook his head. “No, that’s not it. It’s, I don’t know. It’s so weird. The Tech came to me and it said hello and stuff. It greeted me in a friendly way, though it is robotic when you talk to one. It took my hand.” My forearm, he thought. “It was staring right at me for a moment. You know what I mean. Like it had blocked out the rest of its millions of incoming messages and impressions and focused on me, specifically.” He took a breath and clamped his temples between his thumb and middle finger of his left hand. A headache was starting. “It appeared to be concerned about something, I could tell by the way it avoided saying certain things directly. But it didn’t say anything I could interpret to figure out what was being implied.”
He looked up at her sheepishly, deciding he’d better be completely honest with her. “Monica, I know this sounds really lame, but if it had been a normal guy, I would have asked him on a date.”
She reared back. “Are you insane? You can’t date a cyborg!”
“They aren’t cyborgs!” Then, seeing her temper flare and her mouth open to unleash a tirade, he said quickly. “Okay! They have a lot of technological modifications to their bodies, including some neural alterations I don’t know much about, but they are born and grow up just like the rest of us.”
“Oh sure. I remember fondly how, when I was a little girl, they first plugged my face into the WorldNet and I started learning how to command every little technical aspect of my neighborhood. While making brownies in my Happy Princess Bakery, I discovered I could use my brain to direct traffic and command robots to affect infrastructure upgrades and repairs. Just like all the other little girls in my class.” She scowled. “Of course, this was before I abandoned all my friends so I could use my Pony Land Adventure Suit to correct anomalies in the power grid.” Her frown deepened and she said, “Oh wait, that’s right! None of that crap happened because it isn’t how normal kids grow up.”
“Calm down. Sheesh. Point taken. He hasn’t had normal exposure to humanity, but he’s still human. Just raised in an uncaring and unfeeling way.”
“He? It, you mean. They aren’t male or female, Jason. They’re robots with human bodies and brains.”
“Not fair, Monica. He is definitely male. Believe me.”
Her eyes widened. “Omigod, Jason, you can’t hump on a Tech! Seriously? Forget for a moment it can have you obliterated with an idle thought. They’re also the most protected members of our society and the population would rip you to shreds if they thought you were interfering with one in any way. And believe me, they would consider trying to sleep with a Tech as interfering.” She grabbed his arm and led him to the table, almost forcing him to sit in one of the chairs. She pulled up another chair right next to him. “Oh, and never mind the fact the Director seems to have them under his thumb and since he’s a ruthless bloodsucking leech, he’d gladly have you torn limb from limb if he doesn’t need you. Aside from all those minor obstacles, it would as soon as sacrifice you to stop an out-of-control truck from hitting a grocery store as it would use a toothpick to dislodge a sesame seed from its teeth. Assuming they eat like the rest of us and don’t have their nutrition piped into some weird mechanized orifice.”
Jason scowled, pushing his chair back from the table to fold his arms across his chest. “You know what? You’re missing the point here. Stop it. The thing came to find me at the lab. It came in, watched me for—hell, I don’t know how long—then walked up to me and shook my hand. It said it ‘saw me’, which came across as a friendly and honest greeting. A little odd, but friendly. The Tech seemed awkwardly anti-social, but not malicious.”
“Jason, seriously. I’m not missing the point. You think the thing is attractive. You just said so yourself. I know you see a nice face and some muscles and your faggoty brain short-circuits, but you have got to look past his pretty . . . whatever it is you are looking at. Please don’t fall for a trick like this. Please don’t let the Director suddenly control you through a ruthless attack on your self-imposed celibacy.”
He laughed, taken off guard. He lowered his arms. Monica always surprised him. “That’s actually a fair blow to my ego. You get points. I still don’t think it had anything to do with Faust, but I will take your paranoia, which has been pretty on-track so far, and keep my wits intact.” He pulled in his lower lip for a moment, then blew it out. “Besides, my physical attraction isn’t influencing me. I’m just trying to be honest with you. Nobody gets close to a Tech, so I shouldn’t have any issues with keeping myself in line. Plus, my attraction is laced with a healthy dose of terror.”
She looked at him for a moment with concern, then relaxed. Finally, she smiled and got up, moving behind him to put her hands on his shoulder. She massaged him for a moment, obviously thinking. “This could be good. At the very least, you appear to be necessary. If it is Director Faust behind this, he needs you bound to him. If it isn’t the Director spying on your or trying to manipulate you, you have a Tech which, for the first time in known history, is—well, whatever fondness correlates to when you’re an alien robot person.”
Jason relaxed under her hands, the tension leaving his shoulders. “We still have a problem, though. If it wasn’t Faust, my emotions were out of control all afternoon and I’m sure we were watched. Until I came here, my suit probably broadcast everything back to Central.”
“Yeah, so? If Faust intended to drive you crazy by sending in the Tech, then he’ll be pleased he succeeded. If that’s not what he’s up to, what’s he going to do? Even he isn’t power hungry enough to cross a Tech, no matter how friendly this one is.”
Jason thought for a second. “You’re right. He’ll need to figure out what is really going on and get control of the situation. This might make me more valuable.”
Her hands stopped their work on his muscles and she moved away from him toward her room. “Okay, I’m getting dressed and we’re going to dinner. Water only tonight.” She pursed her lips. “And maybe we need to find you some cock, because you are clearly sex starved. It should take your mind off robot guy.”
Jason’s communicator sounded. “Dinner, sure. I’m really hungry, so dinner will be great. But I’m not picking up some random guy.” His communicator sounded again, and he connected. “Hello?”
“Ah, Doctor Emerson. Thank you for tak
ing my call.” Director Faust. The timing was too convenient. Whatever was going on, it wasn’t good.
“Certainly, Director. I was just getting ready to go to dinner with my friend. What, uh, may I do for you?”
Faust paused briefly and then chuckled. “My, how quickly we’ve regained our composure, Jason. I just got back from a conference and found your readings were off the chart. If I’d been in town, I would have dispatched a team to drag you back to the office for help. As it is, I’m concerned about your mental well-being. Surely, you must know I saw the recordings of this afternoon.”
Monica stared at him and Jason mouthed, “Faust.” She bared her teeth and clenched her fists to her mouth with a panicked expression.
Jason bit his lower lip.
“Jason, are you still there?”
“Yes, Director. I’m just, well, honestly I’m not sure what to say. I had an anxiety attack earlier when a Tech happened by the lab and I’m only just now calming down. Then you call and I’m freaking out about things all over again. Didn’t you send it over in the first place?”
This seemed to give the Director pause, as if he should claim the deed. “Ah, no. I didn’t. Please don’t worry about what I think, or if you are in any way in trouble with me. I’m just concerned. We need you badly for the research, I’ll be the first to admit. I simply cannot think of what to make of your visitor.” He seemed genuinely concerned, or his acting had gotten better. “I’ve spoken only a dozen words with the Techs since I’ve been privileged enough to interact with them. There’s no need to verbally communicate with them at all, and they seem to disregard any sort of attempt to engage. The fact you not only spoke to one twice, but that it also purposefully sought you out is, well . . .”
“Am I in danger, Director? Will this . . .” he stopped, choosing his words carefully, “this creature, will it harm me? I’ll be honest, I thought you sent it there to ensure I kept working.” A slight, purposeful lie.
Jason could detect Faust smiling on the other side of the communicator, obviously pleased Jason assumed he had so much authority. “No. Like I said, it wasn’t me. I don’t control them to such an extent. I’ll find out what is going on.” Then, as if admitting he couldn’t control them completely pained him in some way, he said, “As a member of the Council, I do have some power over them.”
“I appreciate your protection, Director.”
Jason detected a palpable sense of relief on the other end of the line when the Director inhaled through his nose and let out a long, nasally breath. “No, Jason. It absolutely will not harm you. They are incapable of doing so. As a matter of fact, it would destroy physical infrastructure and bend its considerable powers toward keeping you safe, as it would with any citizen. They are our great protectors and, aside from this oddity today, they do not interfere with us in any way short of keeping us safe. Actually, getting their attention is exasperating. They only respond to summons from the Council majority. Even then, the response is not timely.” The tone of his voice conveyed he was loathe to admit this. “Techs have been known to disregard the Council completely. This is something else. Perhaps they see the same potential in you I do.”
He couldn’t think of anything else to say. “Okay.”
Director Faust paused and then simply said. “All right, Jason. Get some rest and I’ll see you in the morning. Please let me know if you need anything at all. Like I said, the team needs you and I will spare nothing to enable your research.”
“That’s generous of you. Good night.”
“Good night, Dr. Emerson.”
They disconnected and Jason filled Monica in on the other side of the conversation. She relaxed, then quickly got dressed. When she returned from her bedroom, she said, “C’mon. I’m too hungry to talk about this anymore. And I’m exhausted from feeling constantly on pins and needles. Let’s just forget this whole thing for a while and get some food. We’ll figure out what to do when we have time this weekend.”
Monica dimmed the lights and put away a few things before they left her apartment. Jason took the initiative and chose an Italian restaurant with a wonderful selection of unique dishes and a great wine list. They traveled in silence, except for a comment Jason made about her hair still being wet and dripping onto his shoulder. She glared at him teasingly, then flung her hair in his face. With a laugh, she moved away from him a bit and they rode the rest of the way to the restaurant in silence, staring out the windows on either side.
The restaurant was moderately busy, filled with the chatter and laughter of other diners. Jason was fond of the art, which consisted of large metal and glass sculptures lit from within in a mesmerizing way. The tables and booths were far enough apart to give privacy, and the lighting dim enough to be pleasant without being too dark to talk. Faint instrumentals resonated throughout, audible only when the conversation lulled.
Despite Monica’s insistence they drink only water, he ordered a glass of wine for each of them and they both ordered the same fine dish of butternut and eggplant ravioli with fried sage leaves and pine nut couscous. Everything tasted delicious and eating helped them relax. Jason paid for the meal, overriding her protests with a friendly appeal to let him do something nice for the only love in his life. “Besides,” he said, “I have a ton of extra money with this new position. I already had more money than I knew what to do with.”
She grinned wickedly at this, hinting at diamond earrings and a nice vacation on one of the colony worlds. She suggested he use his rank to override the government travel board who’d blocked her before. His rank and proximity to the Council should unlock any door, she insisted. “And,” she informed him, “you can do all of this without any strings. I won’t put out, since you don’t want that, but I will allow you a male concubine or two. As long as I get some use out of them, too. Or have my own.”
He shook his head. “You’ll do as you’re told and put out when I tell you, woman. You know how I hate having to beat you into submission all the time.”
She made an indelicate noise and raised one eyebrow in derision.
Their banter helped them both relax and, as always, Jason felt incredibly grateful for her strong personality and for the fact she was always there for him.
Jason decided to go straight home, rather than share a lift back to her place. They left the restaurant, Jason planting a chaste kiss on Monica’s cheek. Once home, a pleasant lassitude set in and Jason fell asleep almost immediately after he prepped for bed. He drifted off with a general sense of peace. His dreams, however, were frantic and bordered on nightmares, though strange and unrelated to his daily life.
He dreamt of a top spinning, more a gyroscope perhaps, flashing brilliant colors in the surrounding darkness. Jason felt a strange fear the top would fall over, the lights would stop, and darkness would flood in.
He dreamt of flying, too—not an unusual dream for him. In his dream, he simply willed himself off the ground and, because thinking about the specifics of how he managed flying made him lose control and fall, simply accepted his ability to soar above the city and set himself down anywhere at will. His pleasant flying, however, took him over large areas of dead vegetation and poisoned water. Without warning, he lost control and plunged from the sky and into the muck.
He dreamt of strangers with green eyes everywhere he wandered. Something about them tugged at him in an alluring and seductive way.
Lastly, he dreamt of great cities of people, all performing their designated tasks with clockwork precision, every one of them unaware the leaders who once treated them as equals now drove them like the queen of a hive mind, a queen who expended them at will to increase her power.
Eight
WHEN HE FINALLY WOKE UP and shambled into the bathroom, his reflection startled him. Hair messy and sticking out all over, features gaunt, he looked like a derelict. He mechanically got ready for work, briefly recalling flashes of some of his dreams. He shuddered.
Preparation for leaving took longer than normal, and he found h
imself walking out of his bedroom having forgotten to clean his teeth or to put on his communicator.
By the time Jason left the apartment, he was already late. The day was too bright, the streets too busy. His trip to the station and the gravity lifts to the transit involved dodging through hordes of people, something he normally did without much thought. Today, it felt like he had to avoid colliding with everyone. It took most of the trip to finally reach a state of calm, where he felt he could properly manage his emotions and handle those around him.
When he arrived, he noticed the hospital bustled with activity. Apparently, it had already been a busy morning. The doctors and nurses greeted him with quick smiles and then hurried on their way to various appointments, patients, or to their labs. Without thinking, he emanated a sense of well-being and calm, visibly affecting everyone within his proximity. He usually took his abilities for granted, hardly paying attention to them. This time, he consciously made himself aware of everyone around him. As a test, something he’d never thought of ever doing, he tried to sense others in the general area who were behind walls or were further along corridors he could not see.
When he consciously paid attention to each person, he could identify and detect them. Their nannites were receptive to his broadcast inquiries. He broadcast further out, noting that his calm reassurance reached everyone on the first floor. Attempts to reach further than that became increasingly difficult as the signals became degraded by object interference. He tried hard to detect the signaling and found himself cocking his head sideways as if to hear the faint echoes of the distant transmissions.
Outside, in the open, his ability to reach others was spherical. He could both sense and broadcast the same distance in each direction. Inside, being able to reach out and sense others was more complicated. With strain, he found he could broadcast and receive in a non-spherical way, due to obstructions, with people outside or even on the floor above and below. Jason also found he could sense blind spots: thick concrete interfered with his senses and concentrations of medical equipment confused the return data. Even so, his ability to sense and to broadcast elated him.
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