by Roger Elwood
“Move. And move fast. We’re leaving tonight. I’ll go out and pack up the car. Then I’ll come back. The three of us blow down to Red Hook. To Charlie’s place. He’ll hide us out.”
“The—three of us?”
“Sure. Junior’s coming along. That’s what I promised him, didn't I, Junior?”
“Yes, yes. You told me you would take me with you. Out into the world.” The mechanical syllabification did not accent the robot’s inner excitement.
“Duke, you can’t—”
“Relax, baby. I’ve got great plans for Junior.”
“But I’m afraid!”
“You? Scared? What’s the matter, Lola, losing your grip?”
“He frightens me. He killed the Professor.”
“Listen, Lola,” whispered the gunman. “He’s mine, get me? My stooge. A mechanical stooge. Good, eh?”
The rasping chuckle filled the hollow room. Girl and robot waited for Duke to resume speaking.
“Junior wouldn’t hurt you, Lola. He’s my friend, and he knows you’re with me.” Duke turned to the silver monster. “You wouldn’t hurt Lola, would you, Junior? Remember what I told you. You like Lola, don’t you?”
“Yes. Oh, yes. I like Lola. She’s pretty.”
“See?” Duke grinned. “Junior’s growing up. He’s a big boy now. Thinks you’re pretty. Just a wolf in steel clothing, isn’t that right, Junior?”
“She’s pretty,” burred the robot.
“All right. It’s settled then. I’ll get the car. Lola, you go upstairs. You know where the safe is. Put on your gloves and see that you don’t miss anything. Then lock the doors and windows. Leave a note for the milkman and the butcher. Something safe. About going away for a couple weeks, eh? Make it snappy—I’ll be back.”
True to his words, Duke returned in an hour with the shiny convertible. They left by the back entrance. Lola carried a black satchel. She moved with almost hysterical haste, trying not to glance at the hideous gleaming figure that stalked behind her with a metallic clanking noise.
Duke brought up the rear. He ushered them into the car.
“Sit here, Junior.”
“What is this?”
“A car. I’ll tell you about it later. Now do like I told you, Junior. Lie back in the seat so nobody will see you.”
“Where are we going, Duke?"
“Out into the world, Junior. Into the big time.” Duke turned to Lola. “Here we go, baby,” he said.
The convertible drove away from the silent house. Out through the alley they moved on a weird journey—kidnapping a robot.
Fat Charlie stared at Duke. His lower lip wobbled and quivered. A bead of perspiration ran down his chin and settled in the creases of his neck.
“Jeez,” he whispered. “You gotta be careful, Duke. You gotta.”
Duke laughed. “Getting shaky?” he suggested.
“Yeah. I gotta admit it. I’m plenty shaky about all this,” croaked Fat Charlie. He gazed at Duke earnestly.
“You brought that thing here three weeks ago. I never bargained for that. The robot’s hot, Duke. We gotta get rid of it.”
“Quit blubbering and listen to me.” The thin gunman leaned back and lit a cigarette.
“To begin with, nobody’s peeped about the Professor. The law’s looking for Lola, that’s all. And not for a murder rap either—just for questioning. Nobody knows about any robot. So we’re clear there.”
“Yeah. But look what you done since then.”
“What have I done? I sent Junior out on that payroll job, didn’t I? It was pie for him. He knew when the guards would come to the factory with the car. I cased the job. So what happened? The guards got the dough from the payroll clerk. I drove up, let Junior out, and he walked into the factory office.
“Sure they shot at him. But bullets don’t hurt a steel body. Junior’s clever. I’ve taught him a lot. You should have seen those guards when they got a look at Junior! And then, the way they stood there after shooting at him!
“He took them one after the other, just like that. A couple squeezes and all four were out cold. Then he got the clerk. The clerk was pressing the alarm, but I’d cut the wires. Junior pressed the clerk for a while.
“That was that. Junior walked out with the payroll. The guards and the clerk had swell funerals. The law had another swell mystery. And we have the cash and stand in the clear. What’s wrong with that setup, Charlie?”
“You’re fooling with dynamite.”
“I don’t like that attitude, Charlie.” Duke spoke softly, slowly.
“You’re strictly small time, Charlie. That’s why you’re running a crummy roadhouse and a cheap hide out racket.
“Can’t you understand that we’ve got a gold mine here? A steel servant? The perfect criminal, Charlie—ready to do perfect crimes whenever I say the word. Junior can’t be killed by bullets. Junior doesn’t worry about the cops or anything like that. He doesn’t have any nerves. He doesn’t get tired, never sleeps. He doesn’t even want a cut of the swag. Whatever I tell him, he believes. And he obeys.
“I’ve lined up lots of jobs for the future. We’ll hide out here. I’ll case the jobs, then send Junior out and let him go to work. You and Lola and I are gonna be rich.”
Fat Charlie’s mouth quivered for a moment. He gulped and tugged at his collar. His voice came hoarsely.
“No, Duke.”
“What you mean, no?”
“Count me out. It’s too dangerous. You’ll have to lam out of here with Lola and the robot. I’m getting jumpy over all this. The law is apt to pounce down any day here.”
“So that’s it, eh?”
“Partly.” Fat Charlie stared earnestly at Duke. His gaze shattered against the stony glint of Duke’s grey eyes.
“You ain’t got no heart at all, Duke,” he croaked. “You can plan anything in cold blood, can’t you? Well, I’m different. You’ve gotta understand that. I got nerves. And I can’t stand thinking about what that robot does. I can’t stand the robot either. The way it looks at you with that godawful iron face. That grin. And the way it clanks around in its room. Clanking up and down all night, when a guy’s trying to sleep, just clanking and clanking—there it is now!”
There was a metallic hammering, but it came from the hall outside. The ancient floors creaked beneath the iron tread as the metal monstrosity lumbered into the room.
Fat Charlie whirled and stared in undisguised repulsion.
Duke raised his hand.
“Hello, Junior,” he said.
“Hello, Duke.”
“I been talking to Charlie, Junior.”
“Yes, Duke?”
“He doesn’t like to have us stay here, Junior. He wants to throw us out.”
“He does?”
“You know what I think, Junior?”
“What?”
“I think Charlie’s yellow.”
“Yellow, Duke?”
“That’s right. You know what we do with guys that turn yellow, don’t you, Junior?”
“Yes. You told me.”
“Maybe you’d like to tell Charlie.”
“Tell him what we do with guys that turn yellow?”
“Yes.”
“We rub them out.”
“You see, Charlie?” said Duke, softly. “He learns fast, doesn’t he? Quick on the uptake, Junior is. He knows all about it. He knows what to do with yellow rats.”
Fat Charlie wobbled to his feet.
“Wait a minute, Duke,” he pleaded. “Can’t you take a rib? I was only kidding, Duke. I didn’t mean it. You can see I didn’t. I’m your friend, Duke. I’m hiding you out. Why, I could have turned stoolie weeks ago and put the heat on you if I wasn’t protecting you. But I’m your friend. You can stay here as long as you want. Forever.”
“Sing it, Charlie,” said Duke. “Sing it louder and funnier.” He turned to the robot. “Well, Junior? Do you think he’s yellow?”
“I think he’s yellow.”
“T
hen maybe you’d better—”
Fat Charlie got the knife out of his sleeve with remarkable speed. It blinded Duke with its shining glare as the fat man balanced it on his thumb and drew his arm back to hurl it at Duke’s throat.
Junior’s arm went back, too. Then it came down. The steel fist crashed against Charlie’s bald skull.
Crimson blood spurted as the fat man slumped to the floor.
It was pretty slick. Duke thought so, and Junior thought so—because Duke commanded him to believe it.
But Lola didn’t like it.
“You can’t do this to me,” she whispered, huddling closer to Duke in the darkness of her room. “I won’t stay here with that monster, I tell you!”
“I’ll only be gone a day,” Duke answered. “There’s nothing to worry about. The roadhouse downstairs is closed. Nobody will bother you.”
“That doesn’t frighten me,” Lola said. “It’s being with that thing. I’ve got the horrors thinking about it.”
“Well, I’ve got to go and get the tickets,” Duke argued. “I’ve got to make reservations and cash these big bills. Then we’re set. Tomorrow night I’ll come back, sneak you out of the house, and we’ll be off. Mexico City next stop. I’ve made connections for passports and everything. In forty-eight hours we’ll be out of this mess.”
“What about Junior?”
“My silver stooge?” Duke chuckled. “I’ll fix him before we leave. It’s a pity I can’t send him out on his own. He’s got a swell education. He could be one of the best yeggs in the business. And why not? Look who his teacher was!”
Duke laughed. The girl shuddered in his arms.
“What are you going to do with him?” she persisted.
“Simple. He’ll do whatever I say, won’t he? When I get back, just before we leave, I’ll lock him in the furnace. Then I’ll set fire to this joint. Destroy the evidence, see? The law will think Charlie got caught in the flames, get me? There won’t be anything left. And if they ever poke around the ruins and find Junior in the furnace, he ought to be melted down pretty good.”
“Isn’t there another way? Couldn’t you get rid of him now, before you leave?”
“I wish I could, for your sake, baby. I know how you feel. But what can I do? I’ve tried to figure all the angles. You can’t shoot him or poison him or drown him or chop him down with an axe. Where could you blow him up in private? Of. course, I might open Hm up and see what makes him tick, but Junior wouldn’t let me play such a dirty trick on him. He’s smart, Junior is. Got what you call a criminal mind. Just a big crook—like me.”
Again Duke laughed, in harsh arrogance.
“Keep your chin up, Lola. Junior wouldn’t hurt you. He likes you. I’ve been teaching him to like you. He thinks you’re pretty.”
“That’s what frightens me, Duke. The way he looks at me. Follows me around in the hall. Like a dog.”
“Like a wolf you mean. Ha! That’s a good one! Junior’s really growing up. He’s stuck on you, Lola!”
“Duke—don’t talk like that. You make me feel—ooh, horrible inside!”
Duke raised his head and stared into the darkness, a curious half-smile playing about his lips.
“Funny,” he mused. “You know, I bet the old Professor would have liked to stick around and watched me educate Junior. That was his theory, wasn’t it? The robot had a blank chemical brain. Simple as a baby’s. He was gonna educate it like a child and bring it up right. Then I took over and really completed the job. But it would have tickled the old Professor to see how fast Junior’s been catching on. He’s like a man already. Smart? That robot’s got most men beat a mile. He’s almost as smart as I am. But not quite—he’ll find that out after I tell him to step into the furnace.”
Lola rose and raced to the door. She flung it open, revealing an empty hallway, and gasped with relief.
“I was afraid he might be listening,” she whispered.
“Not a chance,” Duke told her. “I’ve got him down in the cellar, putting the dirt over Charlie.”
He grasped Lola’s shoulders and kissed her swiftly, savagely. “Now keep your chin up, baby. I’ll leave. Be back tomorrow about eight. You be ready to leave then and we’ll clear out of here.”
“I can’t let you go,” whispered Lola, frantically.
“You must. We’ve gone through with everything this far. All you must do is keep a grip on yourself for twenty-four hours more. And there’s one thing I’ve got to ask you to do.”
“Anything, Duke. Anything you say.”
“Be nice to Junior while I’m gone.”
“Oooh—Duke—”
“You said you’d do anything, didn’t you? Well, that you must do. Be nice to Junior. Then he won’t suspect what's going on. You’ve gotta be nice to him, Lola! Don’t show that you’re afraid. He likes you, but if he gets wrong ideas, he’s dangerous. So be nice to Junior.”
Abruptly, Duke turned and strode through the doorway. His footsteps clattered on the stairs. The outer door slammed below. The sound of a starting motor drifted up from the roadhouse yard.
Then, silence.
Lola stood in the darkness, trembling with sudden horror, as she waited for the moment when she would be nice to the metallic Junior.
It wasn’t so bad. Not half as bad as she’d feared it might be.
All she had to do was smile at Junior and let him follow her around.
Carefully suppressing her shudders, Lola prepared breakfast the next morning and then went about her packing.
The robot followed her upstairs, clanking and creaking.
“Oil me,” Lola heard him say.
That was the worst moment. But she had to go through with it.
“Can’t you wait until Duke gets back tonight?” she asked, striving to keep her voice from breaking. “He always oils you.”
“I want you to oil me, Lola,” persisted Junior.
“All right.”
She got the oilcan with the long spout and if her fingers trembled as she performed the office, Junior didn’t notice it.
The robot gazed at her with his immobile countenance. No human emotion etched itself on the implacable steel, and no human emotion altered the mechanical tones of the harsh voice.
“I like to have you oil me, Lola,” said Junior.
Lola bent her head to avoid looking at him. If she had to look in a mirror and realize that this nightmare tableau was real, she would have fainted. Oiling a living mechanical monster! A monster that said, “I like to have you oil me, Lola!”
After that she couldn’t finish packing for a long while. She had to sit down. Junior, who never sat down except by command, stood silently and regarded her with gleaming eye-lenses. She was conscious of the robot’s scrutiny.
“Where are we going when we leave here, Lola?” he asked.
“Far away,” she said, forcing her voice out to keep the quaver from it.
“That will be nice,” said Junior. “I don’t like it here. I want to see things. Cities and mountains and deserts. I would like to ride a roller coaster, too.”
“Roller coaster?” Lola was really startled. “Where did you ever hear of a roller coaster?”
“I read about it in a book.”
“Oh.”
Lola gulped. She had forgotten that this monstrosity could read, too. And think. Ti ink like a man.
“Will Duke take me on a roller-coaster?” he asked.
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Lola.”
“Yes."
“You like Duke?”
“Why—certainly."
“You like me?”
“Oh—why—you know I do, Junior.”
The robot was silent. Lola felt a tremor run through her body.
“Who do you like best, Lola? Me or Duke?”
Lola gulped. Something forced the reply from her. “I like you,” she said, “But I love Duke.”
“Love.” The robot nodded gravely.
“You know what l
ove is, Junior?”
“Yes. I read about it in books. Man and woman. Love.”
Lola breathed a little easier.
“Lola.”
“Yes?”
“Do you think anyone will ever fall in love with me?”
Lola wanted to laugh, or cry. Most of all, she wanted to scream. But she had to answer.
“Maybe,” she lied.
“But I’m different. You know that. I’m a robot. Do you think that makes a difference?”
“Women don’t really care about such things when they fall in love, Junior," she improvised. “As long as a woman believes that her lover is the smartest and the strongest, that’s all that matters.”
“Oh.” The robot started for the door.
“Where are you going?”
“To wait for Duke. He said he would come back today.”
Lola smiled furtively as the robot clanked down the hallway stairs.
That was over with. Thinking back, she’d handled things rather well. In a few hours Duke would return. And then—goodbye, Junior!
Poor Junior. Just a silver stooge with a man’s brain. He wanted love, the poor fish! Well—he was playing with fire and he’d be burned soon enough.
Lola began to hum. She scampered downstairs and locked up, wearing her gloves to avoid leaving any telltale fingerprints.
It was almost dark when she returned to her room to pack. She snapped on the light and changed her clothes.
Junior was still downstairs, patiently waiting for Duke to arrive.
Lola completed her preparations and sank wearily onto the bed. She must take a rest. Her eyes closed.
Waiting was too much of a strain. She hated to think of what she had gone through with the robot. That mechanical monster with its man-brain, the hateful, burring voice, and Steely stare—how could she ever forget the way it asked, “Do you think anyone will ever fall in love with me?”
Lola tried to blot out recollection. Just a little while now and Duke would be here. He’d get rid of Junior. Meanwhile she had to rest, rest…
Lola sat up and blinked at the light. She heard footsteps on the stairs.
“Duke!” she called.
Then she heard the clanking in the hallway and her heart skipped a beat.
The door opened very quickly and the robot stalked in.
“Duke!” she screamed.