I, Android: A Different Model

by Heather Killough-Walden

  Across the chasm, on the other side of the line, I could see Jack waiting for me with Matt, Charlotte, and Eddie. Jack and Matt prepped the line to stop me when I arrived and Charlotte and Eddie waved for me to hurry. I heard footsteps running across the room at our backs, so I knew Lucas and the others were not far behind.

  To my right, Nicholas strapped himself into one of the zip line harnesses. I gave Shawn a nod when I was ready to go, and he released the catch that sent me on my way.

  On any normal day, I might have enjoyed the trip. But at the moment I barely registered the wind, the snow, the beauty of the city lights from an elevated nighttime location. I focused on Jack and on the waiting apartment balcony so I could stick my landing safely.

  Halfway across, Nicholas caught up to me on my right. We hit the deck together and were helped out of the harnesses. I turned to face Vector Fifteen’s sheer building face in time to watch four more androids hit the line at the same time and cascade across the night between the buildings with perfect grace.

  Stinking androids, I thought with a small smile.

  Lucas landed firmly beside me with that android agility that I was forever jealous of. He turned and gave me a confident, enigmatic curve of his lips, and I looked away with a shake of my head as he unstrapped everything and tossed the equipment to the side.

  But his arm snaked around my shoulder, cupped my chin, and gently pulled me back around to face him. Now his smile was gone. “Samantha. You and I must speak privately when we reach Prometheus.”

  I frowned. His gray eyes were somehow beseeching, even if his expression as usual gave nothing away. Without forming any look in particular, he was managing to give off a feeling of such intensity it was stealing my breath.

  He hadn’t yet let go of my chin, and I wondered if he realized that. Around us, people moved, clearing the lines and heading inside to cover the downstairs. Jack and Matt were already gone.

  “Please,” Lucas said more earnestly, as his thumb brushed softly along my jaw line.

  So he was fully aware he still held me.

  “It concerns IRM-1000,” he finished.

  I felt my cheeks heating under his touch. My heartbeat was picking up. This was neither the time nor the place – but I couldn’t help it. And from the way his gray eyes slipped to my lips, and his EED flickered before he looked back up at my eyes, I was willing to bet he was reading every effect he had on my body loud and clear.

  I swallowed hard and nodded, just to give the discussion closure.

  That seemed to do the trick. He glanced away for a second, then back. And then he nodded as well and released me to turn and help the others as the rest of Prometheus made it to this side of the street.

  Once everyone was together, we rushed down the flights of stairs and headed to the three waiting trucks and their getaway drivers. Within less than a minute we were packed up and tearing away from Vector Fifteen’s property in the snow. Nicholas had hacked the gate earlier that night, allowing the trucks through – and Lex had taken care of the guards.

  We were home free.… So why did I feel so unsettled?

  That was too easy.

  Leaving Vector Fifteen and making it out of west Pittsburgh without further incident was unusual, if not normally impossible. I would have liked to think that really good planning on the part of Prometheus was responsible for our clean getaway. But something was niggling at me.

  As we left the “hot spot” areas we considered most dangerous and headed into the safer parts of town, I looked out the back window at the snow-covered streets, empty and dark – and the west Vector Fifteen buildings rising high and well-lit over the entire city.

  Like its east side counterpart, it was a complex of spires, each rising different heights toward the floor of the heavens above. The tallest was more than twice the height of the one we’d escaped from. It was a show of power to build something like that, but especially so in this part of town.

  When I looked past the rest of west Pittsburgh and peered up at the tower – I swear I felt as if it were peering right back at me.

  Chapter Seven

  Night in the Prometheus facility was miraculously always peaceful. Maybe that had something to do with the fact that three-fourths of the enormous estate was surrounded by a sheer metal wall twenty feet high, equipped with numerous defense mechanisms that would make both android and human alike rethink wanting to get across it. Maybe it was the sheer cliff-side drop on the last side that did it.

  Maybe it was luck.

  Or maybe it was something bigger, something watching over us, like the Force. Maybe Yoda liked androids. The Star Wars franchise movies were classics I’d only seen once with my foster parents, but I seemed to recall the little green dude was fond of R2D2….

  Prometheus was a compilation of seven buildings, some with bedrooms like apartments, and others with training and medical facilities or meeting areas. There was a small children’s park in the middle that the Eddie’s had built for Mabel and the other child androids of Prometheus. And the entire area was well wooded, as everyone had been very careful to build around the trees rather than cut them down to create the bastion.

  One massive, spared tree ran right through the middle of the home Jack, Lucas, and I shared. It was a three-bedroom “house” with two special add-on features that the other Prometheus homes didn’t have. One was a massive dog house for Nanuk. The dog house was built into the wall so that Nanuk could go in one side and come out the other as he either entered or exited the home.

  The other add-on was an even bigger house for Saxon.

  My bear.

  Precisely, he was my android polar bear. He had been rescued by Charlotte and Lex during a raid on a zoo run by a nasty asshole psycho creep who liked to take android animals of all shapes and sizes, chop them up, and then sew them back together again hodge-podge. Charlotte had brought the bear to Prometheus. When I’d appeared a few days later and begun helping Lilith to repair him, he’d simply attached himself to me. I had no idea why. But there it was.

  Now he was mine. And I’m sure he was positive I was his.

  As a result of these housing add-ons – built by the Eddies, of course – our home was affectionately referred to amongst Prometheus inhabitants as the “Animal House.”

  In the Animal House at 3:20 a.m., Jack and Nanuk were both asleep and snoring. Amazingly, Jack’s snores were the far louder of the two. Our resident doctor Lilith had given him a muscle relaxer and pain killer for the twisted, swollen ankle he’d obtained during our escape. The captain hadn’t needed any further encouragement to hit the sack.

  Lucas, Saxon, and the others were out around the facility because they never needed sleep. In fact, tonight Lucas had yet to even return to the house and say “hi” to Nanuk; he and Daniel and a few others had been deep in discussion when I left to help Jack back to his room.

  Now that I was done, despite what I’d been through, I couldn’t rest. I’d already given my account of the mission during our usual post-mission debriefing. During the debriefing, Daniel had confirmed that he’d heard Luke’s mental call for help, followed rather shortly with Luke’s warning about a trap. It seemed Luke had understood the Morse code message I’d sent him right away.

  And I guess for the most part, that wrapped everything up. I’d been too worried and frazzled to remember to ask about Byron’s being there and their luck at finding me on the twenty-seventh floor. But did it matter? I was honestly just happy to see my old friend again. Maybe he’d just finally decided to join the good guys, and he’d done it right on time for a rescue mission. And as far as finding me quickly on floor 27 was concerned, surely once they’d hacked Vector Fifteen’s system to any degree, Prometheus would have found camera footage or heat readings – you name it – that would have pointed them in my direction.

  I tried to go to sleep. But Nicholas’s warnings about Zero kept going through my head. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw IRM-100’s blue eyes staring back at me. Sometimes I h
eard explosions or gunfire, and given the violent state of affairs in Pittsburgh, half the time I wasn’t sure whether it was just my imagination or all too real.

  So eventually – at 3:20 a.m. to be exact – I found myself fully dressed and walking alone along the top of the cliffs overlooking the lake on one side of Prometheus. Hands in the pockets of my leather jacket, I stared down at the moon reflected on the water. It was waxing gibbous, almost full. Fortune was said to favor the brave during a waxing moon… I wondered if that was true.

  Then I wondered if we were the brave.

  Something moved in the water below, and I froze on the cliff wall. I focused on the movement, my vision adjusting to the light. But when I heard laughter and recognized it as Charlotte’s, I instantly relaxed. I heard a childish squeal next and a small splash, and then Lex’s booming laughter, and I pieced together what was happening.

  Lex, Charlotte, and Mabel were playing in the lake. Lex kept tossing Mabel out before she would swim rapidly back in and ask Lex to throw her again. I watched them for a minute. It was little surprise to me that Charlotte’s laughter was the most frequent. There was something so laugh-inducing about the happiness that came with watching someone you loved have fun. Mabel was everything to Charlotte.

  I stood alone on the cliff and smiled to myself. And as I did, I forgot about my niggling worries and felt a small pang of pride because I realized that it was due to an invention of mine that the three of them were down there in that 33 degree water, splashing around.

  Approximately four months earlier, I’d developed a type of spray-on coating for androids that once applied instantly sank into the “neurological” fibers of an android’s outer tissues. That coating acted as an extra sealant against moisture, but more importantly as a thermal buffer.

  Androids were already equipped with a silicon layer meant to offer them protection from things like rain – just as I’d begun telling Jack when we were on Vector Fifteen’s rooftop. But the silicon aged, grew hard, cracked, and became ineffective.

  The coating I developed worked in conjunction with that silicon, giving it a plasticity that remained flexible, pliant, and unbreakable. In effect, it both water-proofed an android’s inner workings and regulated their temperature, keeping them safe, comfortable and dry no matter the environment.

  If I hadn’t invented it, Mabel wouldn’t have been down there in that water having the time of her life.

  “It’s curious how you can be convinced you have everything you’ll ever want until someone introduces you to something you don’t have.”

  I turned at the familiar and welcome voice to find Daniel strolling toward me, his hands clasped casually behind his back, his expression serene. He stopped beside me on the wall and looked down at the trio splashing in the lake.

  “When Charlotte, Lex, and Mabel first came to Prometheus, they did so because they were free. But when they realized that simply being free was not a goal but a fundamental right and that their true goal was still on the horizon, they decided as a family that they wanted to fight for it. They wanted to fight for something they hadn’t even realized they were missing.”

  Daniel’s voice was calm and soothing. He watched his companions, but I knew the inner workings of his mind were in a dozen places at once, contemplating right and wrong and the puzzles of the universe.

  “That’s what you give us, Sam.” He turned to me, smiling warmly. “By sharing from your heart and your mind, you continuously give us pieces of life we didn’t even know we were missing.” He laughed softly and turned back to the trio below as Lex now picked up Charlotte instead and she shrieked a warning at him before he laughed louder than ever and tossed her into the water anyway.

  “Every day, I wonder what we’ve done to deserve your devotion,” said Daniel, who was trying not to laugh at Lex’s antics. He shook his head. “But whatever it is we’ve done, I’m thankful we’ve done it.” He turned his beautiful eyes on me again. “And I’m thankful we have it.”

  I was blushing furiously by the time he finished, and extremely grateful for the cover of night. Not that it mattered one iota with androids; they could see clearly in any light, and Daniel’s readings would tell him everything about me anyway.

  I had no idea what to say in the face of such praise. Fortunately, I was saved by the bell. Or rather, the excited demands of android children – as down below, the rest of Mabel’s friends ran out onto the small beach and demanded Lex toss them in the water too.

  Daniel laughed. “He’s started something now.”

  I laughed too. But my laughter faded when Daniel’s expression grew serious and his gaze distant. My heart sank. “You came here to get me because something’s wrong, didn’t you?” I asked softly.

  Daniel turned to fully face me. I steeled myself before he gently but firmly took my hands in his. “Sam, I’ve been speaking with Byron.”

  I closed my eyes and groaned.

  “I know you don’t want to listen to what he has to say,” he continued, his tone placating. “But as Prometheus’s leader, I have no choice. And I’m glad I heard him out.”

  “I already know what he told you, Daniel. But I don’t know what I’m supposed to do about it. I can’t change what I am.”

  Daniel squeezed my hands tight and said fervently, “No. Never, Sam. Never change who and what you are. The problem isn’t you. It’s IRM-1000. I believe Byron is right in assuming you are his primary target.”

  I shrugged and tried to pull out of Daniel’s grip, but he was Daniel, and his grip was tight – and he was dead set on having me hear him out. So I sighed and looked up at him like a petulant child because just like a petulant child, I knew what he was going to say next and I really didn’t want to hear it.

  Daniel hardened his gaze. “Samantha, I’m ordering you to refrain from joining any further missions until we figure this out.”

  My heart thudded hard. He was going to make me a virtual prisoner. It was exactly what I’d been afraid he would do. I would be relegated to the sidelines, unable to help Luke and Jack should they need me, unable to gather information or parts, just stuck helpless and blind while Prometheus changed the world without me. “You’re grounding me?” I asked as blood began to roar through my ears.

  The expression on Daniel’s face became plaintive now as well as determined, and his grip on my wrists tightened. “Believe me Sam, I can see how this is upsetting you.”

  I just bet he could. His android readings of me were probably quite alarming. I wasn’t just angry, I was terrified. My absolute worst fear was that Luke or Jack would die out there in the field – and I wouldn’t be there to say goodbye. Just like I hadn’t been there when my foster parents had died.

  “No,” I said firmly.

  He raised a brow.

  “I won’t do it,” I iterated. “I will not sit on my hands while my friends take on the world without me. What if you need something spur of the moment that I can give you? What if something goes wrong with one of my inventions and it has to be fixed on the fly? What if –”

  “Sam, stop.”

  I fell silent mid-sentence.

  Daniel took a deep breath and sighed. “Please don’t make this difficult. It’s too dangerous out there for you right now, and we can’t lose you.” He shook his head. “Don’t you see that?”

  What I was seeing was spots. Because I’d never been one to handle my anger very well, and this anger was worse because Daniel was right and I knew it. Hell, Nicholas was right and I knew it, and that was worst of all.

  Daniel let go of me and took a step back, tilting his head a little. “Come with me,” he said softly. “I want to show you something.”

  I frowned, narrowing my gaze at his back as he turned and began to walk away.

  He called back to me over his shoulder, but kept walking. “I promise I won’t tie you up, Sam!” He chuckled, but then added with a backward glance and killer smile, “Unless you want me to, of course.”

  I only half stifled m
y heated, embarrassed squeak, hated myself for blushing again, and finally followed after him.

  He led us through Prometheus into the largest structure in the facility, which housed the rooms for Daniel, Matt, Sonia, Shawn, and Lilith. It also boasted a recreational center with a small school room used by Finn to teach the android children. The recreational center as well contained several musical instruments – and a large curtained-off section that I knew by now was filled with canvases and paints.

  This private section belonged exclusively to Daniel… aaand any child who asked Daniel if they could paint too. Daniel was a sucker for a kid who liked art.

  But I’d personally never been inside. Not until now.

  Daniel glanced back at me again as he stopped before the heavy curtain and pulled it open. He stepped to the side, gesturing for me to enter. I did.

  The walls were lined with canvases of all sizes. Some were blank and waiting for the color and brush stroke of fresh ideas. But others had already been blessed with life and given personality.

  It took me a moment to move forward again; I’m not sure how long I stood there staring at my surroundings before I finally stepped further into the space and began to walk through the landscape of painted dreams. They were all… “Alive,” I thought. And then I realized I’d said it out loud. But I didn’t care. I was too focused on the art.

  And it was the word that best described Daniel’s work. Some paintings depicted the faces of our friends and make-shift family, some were of situations and scenes that had transpired, or that Daniel clearly wished would transpire. And some were surreal, almost disturbing in the way they pulled me in, as if each brush stroke were a rope that wrapped around me, threatening to drown me in a sea of vibrant emotion.

  Eventually I came to a complete stand-still. After a second, I realized I’d stopped a mere few inches away from a very large canvas. And the reason I’d stopped is because it was the only painting in the room that was covered.

  A heavy white cloth had been carefully draped over it. It was clear from the degrees of age of the paint splatters on the cloth that it had been placed over the painting repeatedly, over a long period of time. The painting beneath it had evidently been a lengthy labor of love.