by Katrina Cope
By that time, Oscar was sitting in a tree near them, watching the commotion.
“Thank you, Oscar!” Aaron called to him through his sniggers.
Oscar responded by imitating Aaron’s laughing, a trick he had learned from his special human during their extended time together. The bird’s laughter only made Aaron, Jayden, and Eva laugh harder.
“See, I told you not to hassle Ari,” Jessica rebuked Taylor. She turned to Aaron and stroked his arm, planting a kiss on the cheek. “Next time, don’t be a stranger.”
Aaron’s face flushed, and his laughing halted.
Eva grabbed his arm and dragged him to the door. “Come on. Let’s get you out of here before you cause more trouble. Besides, we still haven’t found Robert.”
They left the confines of the mountain, stepped into the sunshine, and headed toward the external workshop. Jayden tightened his hoodie around him, placing a barrier between him and the crisp spring air.
When they reached the workshop, Eva scanned her hand then waited for Scarlet to grant her access. It was still strange to have access to a room forbidden to many others—it was a perk they had earned after their heroism against the corrupt Professor Showden.
The door slid open, and the three entered the first room, which was set up as an office. He wasn’t there, so they continued to the next room, which was like a workshop-slash-laboratory, and found Robert’s large frame hunched over something he was working on. Absentmindedly, he reached over, grabbed a big slice of cake on the bench beside him, and took a large bite.
“Good to see you’re not going hungry,” Eva said, lifting an eyebrow.
Robert spun around with a surprised look on his face. Chocolate cake crumbs and frosting covered his mouth, spilling onto his cheeks.
“Oh. Hey, guys!” he greeted with a full mouth.
Jayden’s stomach turned at the repulsive sight of mushed-up chocolate cake in Robert’s mouth.
“Jeez, Robert, you glutton! You have chocolate cake all over your face.” With agitated movements, Eva indicated the spots he needed to clean.
Robert roughly wiped his face then looked at the result on his sleeve. He shrugged at the mess.
“We brought you these. We didn’t want you to go hungry.” Eva placed the two muffins down in front of him, looking at the chocolate cake in disgust. “But I see that isn’t the case.”
“What have you been doing, man?” Aaron asked him. “It’s strange for you to miss a session at the dining room.”
“I’ve been working on my little robot.” He indicated the workbench in front of him.
Jayden studied the contents of the bench and saw a bundle of formed metal. When he looked closer, he realized it was the same shape and size as a three-year-old. The outer body was silver with wires networking everywhere. It had eyes, hands, feet, everything but skin.
“Holy moly! You did it!” Jayden looked at Robert in surprise. He couldn’t believe that Robert could have done it at the age of fourteen—the same age as he was. “You are actually making the robot you were drawing on my first day in lessons.”
“Well, yeah!” Robert looked flabbergasted.
“Does it work?” Jayden’s eyes were wide as he stared at the robot.
“Well, I’m working on it,” Robert replied in a tone that said it was evident.
“I can see that.” Jayden acknowledged his sarcasm. “But does it do anything yet?”
Robert picked up the robot and stood it on its feet. He flicked a switch at the back of its neck, put the robot on the floor, and picked up a mobile device that looked similar to an iPhone. He touched the screen then started entering information into the device. It took several minutes, and Jayden’s impatience rose. “I’m still working on sorting the demand sequence,” Robert explained, noting the impatience in the room made clear by Aaron’s shuffling feet.
The little child robot came to life and started to walk along the floor, heading toward Eva.
When it reached her feet, it looked up at her and opened its mouth. “Hello.” Its voice sounded very young, as though it was only a few years old. “My name’s Shelly. What’s your name?”
“Eva.” She looked down at the little robot with adoration.
“Hello, Diva!” Shelly said.
“No, no. Eeeva!” she said slowly, her voice filled with patience while pronouncing it with clarity.
“Oh.” Shelly sounded innocently mistaken. “Sorry. I thought you were Diva. You know, the bossy one,” the little robot explained. “Eva the Diva.” Then Shelly burst into giggles. “Eva the Diva,” she continued in a teasing voice.
Eva understood instantly. “Robert!” She glared at Robert, who sat with a guilty smirk on his face.
Hearing the cross tone in Eva’s voice, Shelly said, “Uh oh!” precisely how a two-year-old would speak, while Eva gave her a disapproving look.
“Cute,” Aaron said before bursting into laughter.
Jayden joined him. “That’s so awesome, Robert!” he said between laughs, holding his stomach.
Shelly screwed up her nose, and Jayden imagined that if she had skin on her face, she would have worn an adorable grin like a young child. She then started giggling the way a two-year-old would. The giggling became louder, continuing to roll out until it appeared as though she wouldn’t stop.
“Damn it! She’s hit a glitch.” Robert reached down and turned her off at the back of the neck.
“Such a shame, man.” Aaron sounded disappointed. “It’s so close to being finished.” He patted him on the back sympathetically.
“Yeah! That means missing more dining room breaks.” Robert looked depressed by the thought.
“Why’s that? Can’t you do it during tech lessons?” It was brilliant work. Jayden couldn’t understand why it wasn’t part of his assessment.
“I would, but Niles has been keeping me really busy working on all the Sanctum stuff, and he gets me to help him all the time during tech lessons. He doesn’t give me a break.” Robert sounded agitated.
“I can hear you,” called a singsong voice from the video tech room behind Robert.
Robert rolled his eyes.
“Oh, hey, Niles. I think boy genius here is getting cranky ’cause he doesn’t have time to finish his robot,” Aaron called. “Can’t you give him a break?”
“Really?” Niles entered the room with two open-palmed hands on each side of his face, feigning shock. “He has things in here that are way more important than working on getting some robot going.” He placed his hands on his hips. “Especially when someone decides to break one of Scarlet’s screens.” He gave Eva a disapproving look.
“It was an accident!” Eva shrugged her shoulder with her palms up. “She was messing with me and playing scary games after I had been watching a scary movie.”
“Oh. Blaming the computer, are we? Ha, ha. Nice one.” He rolled his eyes. “Like I haven’t heard that before. In any case, it gave me more work to do, especially with all those damaged surrogates. That means that Robert is needed more too.”
Aaron lifted his eyebrows as though questioning his seriousness. When Niles’s expression didn’t change, he looked at Robert. “I guess this is what you get for being too darn good at technical stuff.” He gave him a playful pat on the back. “Good luck with that! Maybe if you start getting out of bed at the same time I do, you can finish it.”
Robert screwed up his nose. It was well known that he loved his sleep. “I’m starting to think I may have to.”
“Come on. It’s time to pack it up, and besides, you look like you need some outside time. Perfect timing for you, as it’s time for agriculture with Charlie.” Aaron helped him up from his seat.
~~~~~
THEY FOUND CHARLIE outside his garden shed, which looked like a small mountain. He was busy hammering a nail into a wooden toolbox.
The eight puppies weren’t so little anymore. They had grown to their full size over the year, but their puppy behavior remained, and they were tumbling over eac
h other, play-fighting.
Barney, Jayden and Aaron’s enormous Saint Bernard puppy, spotted them arriving in the distance and took off to greet them. He knocked Charlie’s elbow halfway through hammering a nail, shifting his perfect positioning and causing him to hit his fingers with the hammer.
“Oh, you stupid dog, Barney! You big goof!” Charlie yelled, throwing in a few other choice words that weren’t meant for the students’ ears. “What in the bloomin’ heck has gotten into you? You klutz, you!”
He continued yelling insults at the dog until he saw that Eva’s brown Labrador had run in the same direction. A horrified look crossed his face when he saw Jayden, Aaron, Eva, and Robert greeting the dogs affectionately and patting them while giggling at Charlie’s choice of obscene words.
“Oh, damn! You four have caught me again,” he said, distress filling his face while still holding his throbbing fingers. “Please don’t tell Avando. He would be so mad.”
“Oh, Charlie,” Aaron said. “How long have I known you, and how many times have I caught you using language Avando doesn’t allow? I still haven’t told him. You should trust me by now.” Aaron feigned hurt.
“I know, I know. You’re right,” Charlie said. “Avando is a great man. I just hate to see him disappointed by something I continually do wrong ’cause of my quick temper.” He ran his palms down his brown T-shirt and faded blue jeans, brushing at the dirty patches as though this action would remove the stains.
Giving up on his appearance, he looked at the students slowly approaching for the lesson and smiled. His weathered face creased deeply in the corners of his mouth.
“Welcome, students. Today, we are doing dog training and at the same time looking after the Jacobs. So gather your dogs, and let’s head over the hill to the Jacob sheep paddock.”
“Ari!” The call sounded out over the noise of the students. Jessica approached the group and hooked her arm in Aaron’s. “It’s about time we got to be together again.” She tilted her head toward his shoulder and affectionately rested it there for a short moment.
Eva shook her head.
“Where did you run off to before? I know it wasn’t very comfortable to have Taylor around, but your bird got rid of him for you.” Jessica smiled, and Aaron mimicked her.
“We went to find Robert.” His eyes were full of adoration as he looked at her. “He was missing from the dining room, which is out of character for him.”
“Yes, it is.” She turned and smiled sweetly at Robert. “What were you doing, Robert?”
Robert looked coyly back at her. “Oh, nothing much. Just some technical stuff.”
“Seriously, Robert?” Jayden said, amazed at how his friend downplayed his work. He then turned to Jessica and said, “Don’t listen to him. He was working on something epic. I saw him starting to plan it the day I arrived and didn’t think he would be able to pull it off, but he is.”
“Oh. What would that be, Robert?” she asked, watching him blush at the attention from her.
“Oh, it really isn’t anything that special.” Robert’s ears turned redder.
Jayden groaned. “You’re annoying, Robert!” He turned to Jessica. “He’s frickin’ made a little robot that looks just like a two- to three-year-old human. It’s amazing!”
“Really? A robot that looks like a little kid?” She touched Robert’s arm and asked, “Can I see it?” She smiled sweetly, and her blue eyes shone.
“Well, it’s not quite finished yet. It’s still experiencing glitches,” Robert said, the frustration sounding in his voice.
“Yeah. The glitch is that it called me a diva.” Eva crossed her arms. “You need to fix that, Robert.”
“Really?” Jessica looked at Robert, saw his smirk, and caught on to what had happened. “Did you seriously program the robot to call Eva a diva?”
Robert, proud of his achievement, smiled and nodded.
“Oh, Robert! That’s priceless! That’s so clever!” she squealed.
“Oh, yeah.” Eva’s voice was snappy. She then imitated Jessica’s voice and repeated, “That’s so clever!” She included a mock giggle then stormed off, calling her and Robert’s furry friend with her to the front of the group. “Come on, Bessie!” The chocolate Labrador followed her, wagging her tail and oblivious to Eva’s annoyance.
Jessica turned to Robert and laughed. “Wow. You really got her knickers in a knot, didn’t you?”
He shrugged as they continued arm in arm, with Aaron on one side and Robert on the other side of Jessica.
Jayden was walking alongside Aaron and keeping an eye on Barney when something barged him roughly aside. Startled, he searched for the cause and saw the back of Damian’s head. He stood slightly higher than Robert and Aaron as he glared down at them.
“I would take your hands off Jess if I were you.” His voice was threatening as he spoke to the two boys.
Aaron was in the blissful state of having Jess’s attention, and his reactions were slow as he turned to see who was hissing at him. A look of annoyance crossed his face as Damian shoved his way in between him and Jayden. Declan followed behind, and the whole scene disrupted his bliss.
“What’s your problem, Damian?” The annoyance carried through Aaron’s voice.
“My problem is that you and Roly over there need to take your hands off Jess,” Damian sneered.
“Why?” Aaron asked showing innocence. “Are you trying to lay claims on Jess too?”
“No, you idiot. I am not interested in Jess. But I do have a problem with you touching my friend’s stuff.”
“Stuff!” Jessica squeaked, glaring at Damian.
“All right then, property,” Damian corrected, looking as though he realized that Taylor wouldn’t be happy with him calling Jess stuff, either.
“Argh!” Jessica grunted, annoyed.
“What? Has Taylor made you into his guard dog now that he and Ben have changed to classes in their age group?” Aaron asked.
Robert nudged Aaron in the ribs, sniggering over him calling Damian a guard dog.
“I’ll deal with you later, Roly.” Damian sneered at Robert. “I’m not so worried about you. As if you’d have a chance with Jess, anyway.”
“Oh, seriously, Damian. Robert has a lot going for him.” Jessica squeezed Robert’s arm affectionately while she reprimanded Damian. “I am not Taylor’s ‘stuff’ or ‘property,’ anyway. When are you boys going to realize that?”
“Yeah, Damian!” Aaron put on a superior voice.
Damian moved to give Aaron a slap across the side of his head. Aaron dodged it with his quick reflexes, and he sniggered at Damian’s slowness. This only caused Damian to become more agitated, and he pulled himself up taller, using his height to tower over Aaron.
Out of nowhere, Charlie reached over and grabbed Damian’s ear. He pulled Damian toward him and twisted it a little to get the message across. “Now, there will be none of that in my class,” he said with authority. “Just ’cause you kids are wandering around outside for a bit and not sitting in chairs behind desks doesn’t mean that you can use this class to have your fights.” He pulled Damian away from Aaron, Jessica, and Robert and over to the other side of the walking group, and Declan followed. Charlie continued, “If I see any more antics from you, I will personally kick you up the butt. Now, get!” Charlie indicated for the boys to get to the farthest part of the group, an instruction they wisely followed.
Once the class had arrived at the Jacob sheep paddock, Charlie had the owners of the border collies work on teaching them to round up the sheep. One of the owners was Jessica, and Aaron watched her from the corner of his eye with adoration in his eyes. She seemed to have a way with the dogs, teaching them tricks as though she had been doing it all her life. She surprised them more when she put her fingers up to her lips and whistled excruciatingly loudly, calling her dog from a long distance. Aaron’s jaw dropped in shock and admiration, and Jessica caught him watching. She smiled timidly, shrugged, and waved at him.
�
��That’s my kinda girl,” Aaron said breathlessly.
- Chapter Five -
What Lies Beneath?
Jayden and Aaron geared up in the surrogate controls.
Jayden was back to climbing up and down trees in his surrogate and hiding in peculiar places, observing the students of all ages and what they were doing. In the meantime, Aaron had returned to operating Brendan and mixing in with his age group of the fourteen-year-olds, Liam, Dryden and Hayley.
“You seem to be back to normal today, Brendan.” Hayley’s stare was intense. “Are you over your brain sickness?”
“Yeah,” Dryden agreed. “You’ve been acting really weird.”
“At one stage there, we thought you were going to be in big trouble. Especially when you hacked into all of our computers and made them do a moon at all of us in the class,” Liam said. “It’s good to have you back.”
Aaron had no idea what they were talking about. It was his first time operating Brendan since the simulator catastrophe a week ago. He would have to try to find out who had taken over his role when he was recovering. Clearly, Hayley, Dryden, and Liam noticed the difference. He was going to have to get them to forget about how this other Brendan acted, although he wasn’t confident that it would be possible. He’d seemed to act entirely out of character.
They walked together to the science room, ready for their lesson on chemistry. When the group arrived, they were the first ones there. Liam tried to open the door to the lab, but the handle wouldn’t turn, as it was locked. It was not unusual. They often locked up the chemistry room to protect the equipment and chemicals from ending up in the wrong hands. A noise sounded from inside the room.
“I wonder what that is?” Hayley tried to peek through the covered window.
The other three also tried to peek through the closed blinds to see who was in the lab.
“I can’t see anything, can you?” Dryden peered over the others.
Hayley and Liam shook their heads as Brendan concentrated on the tiny gap he’d found in the secured blinds. Unknown to the others, Aaron had turned up his audio dial so that he could hear better, at the same time zooming in with his vision to see through the tiny hole. He loved those features about the surrogate.
