Life is a Beautiful Thing (4-Book Box Set)

by Harmon Cooper

  “Of course,” she said. “What would you like?”

  He looked from Lorem to Branleur.

  “I’ll have anything,” Lorem said. “Extra MSG if possible, and see if they can add some of the stabilized metallic sodium granules – those are yummy and crunchy.”

  “Not hungry,” was Branleur’s reply.

  “Just make it the usual then.”

  “Right.” Heidi stepped out of the room.

  “Such a pleasant droid,” Branleur told Sauria.

  “You really should get yourself one; I’d prefer her over a wife any day.”

  “We’ll see. No sense in riling up the little woman unnecessarily. Back to Meta – how long until you activate the DL agent?”

  Lorem said. “It is undecided. We have to see what Bleak does next.”

  “What if – ”

  “No hypotheticals,” Sauria said, waving his hand in front of him. “This will work, dammit. For some reason, I trust Meta. Let’s hope I’m right.”

  FORTY-SEVEN∞

  While an aeros could descend into most places and land, secure areas were protected by Electron Scrambling Shields that prevented unauthorized vehicles from landing. Russell, Bleak’s driver, knew that the billionaire preferred entering his estate on Mercer Island through its massive iron gate, which was why he landed the aeros outside the compound perimeter to drive up the ramped entranceway, lined with massive oak trees.

  “As I said, you’ll be staying in my guesthouse tonight.”

  “And MercSecure … they can’t find me here?”

  The lights from his driveway splashed across her face, adding a moving arc of light to the interior of the vehicle. There was true fear in Meta’s eyes, something Bleak completely identified with. He reached out and touched her arm.

  “You’ll be safe here, don’t worry. You’ll see when we enter.”

  The gate creaked opened and the aeros drove forward. Armed and armored security agents with Pinkerton Security shoulder patches manned the Entry Control Point. One was smoking a pollute cigarette.

  “Roll down the window.” Bleak told his driver. The Tech Icon and Rescuer of Damsels in Distress shrieked like a maiden aunt with a rodent surplus. “You! Yes, you! Your contract states that you will not smoke on my property, so Put That Shit Out NOW!”

  The security guard looked at Bill Bleak with a carefully neutral expression, and waited until Bleak opened his mouth to shriek again before he took one last drag. With that, he dropped the pollute cigarette and ground it out under his combat boot on the hand-laid Carrara Marble driveway pavers.

  “DO NOT LEAVE THAT ON MY DRIVEWAY! I’ll dock your pay, dammit!”

  Meta chuckled.

  “What?” Bleak asked as the window rolled up. He regained his cool by running his hand over his mouth.

  “Humans are so … ”

  “So what?”

  “Particular. I think that’s what I like about them. A Humandroid wouldn’t care about the guard’s habit.”

  “And you?” Bleak asked as the aeros moved into the first slot of his twenty-one car garage.

  “I’ve never tried a pollute cigarette so I don’t really know my preference on it.”

  “How long have you … um … ”

  “Have I what?”

  “How long have you been alive?” He shook his head. “I know that’s a stupid question, but you get what I mean.”

  “I’ve been alive for about a month. My body was created before my personality was quickened, so that’s been alive a bit longer. And my face was recently altered to resemble a MercSecure rep known as Rinchi.”

  “Rinchi?” Bleak’s eyes lit up. “So that’s her name.”

  “You know her?”

  “We are … acquainted,” Bleak snarled.

  “I see,” Meta said. When the Tech Icon didn’t say anything else, she continued speaking. “Of course, I’ve been given a century’s worth of data, but yes, to get to the original point of your question, there are many things I haven’t tried. After all, I’m only a month old.” She squeezed his hand, grazed her finger against his palm.

  Bleak swallowed hard, forgetting Rinchi. “Would you like to come in and see my place? I mean, you can also go straight to the guesthouse if that’s what you’d prefer. It’s up to you, of course.”

  Something about Meta’s perceived innocence turned him on. Blabbering like an idiot would be something he would need to control.

  “I’d love to,” she said with a shrug. “Besides, I feel a second wind coming on. Is that how you say that?”

  He laughed, “It is.”

  FORTY-EIGHT∞

  Meta sat in Bill Bleak’s living room, one leg crossed over the other. The place was expansive – twenty-foot ceilings, everything minimal and somehow metallic, the couch a single strip of cushion without a back directly in front of a floor-to-ceiling holoscreen. Baller crib status had been achieved.

  “Do you mind?” Bill Bleak asked as he poured himself a glass of wine.

  “Please,” Meta said. “Enjoy yourself.”

  “You want anything?”

  “Just water. I still have a slight headache.”

  He returned from the kitchen with a bottle of mineral water and Meta drank it down. This was one characteristic she had in common with Humandroids, Bleak noted.

  “Sit next to me,” she said, tapping her fingers on the couch. Bleak indulged. He was now centimeters away from the hybrid being, holding a glass of wine by its stem and not very successfully trying to keep his cool.

  “Are you feeling okay?” he asked. “I’ve never seen someone recover from a surgical procedure so quickly.”

  “You’ve never seen someone like me,” she reminded him as she touched her lips.

  “No, I haven’t.” Bleak swirled his glass of wine, took a sip.

  “What do you think?” she asked.

  “About you?”

  “Yes.”

  “I think you are … ” His cheeks reddened. “I think you are stunning, but part of me is afraid of what you are.”

  “Afraid?” Meta brought her hand to her mouth.

  “Don’t get me wrong. By afraid I mean … afraid for humanity because of what you are. You are a feat of human ingenuity and if … you could … ”

  “I could what?” she asked bending towards him.

  “Your species could replace humans,” he finally said after another sip of his wine. “That’s what frightens me about you. Not you in particular, the implications of what you are. Humans have this way of replacing everything around them as they strive for absolute convenience. You are part human, at least the portions of you that count.”

  “And?” She blinked slowly, intimately.

  “What if others like you, human-Humandroid hybrids, do the same? What if you also strive for absolute convenience? What if you don’t need us to make you? It isn’t a stretch to say humans have illogically fucked this world solely to gain power over one another and the world itself. What happens next?”

  “And what makes you think that we wouldn’t do the same, illogically fuck the world?” she asked, as she innocuously placed her hand on his arm.

  “I don’t know,” he said. “I really don’t know.

  Her eyes dilated. It was the first time Bleak had seen her do that.

  “Scanning me?” he asked almost shyly.

  “You’re aroused,” she said with cold, clinical certainty. “I’m just observing it.”

  “Sorry,” he said, turning away from her, “ignore it. I’m just … I’m just attracted to you. It’s a human thing, ignore it. We don’t have on/off switches. Besides, that’s not why I brought you here.”

  “Are you sure?” she asked coyly.

  Bleak took a nervous sip of his wine. “I just want … I just want to protect you, that’s all.”

  “That’s sweet,” Meta said as she looked across the room. “Are those your golf clubs over there?”

  “Yes, but I hardly have time these days. Running a succes
sful company has ruined my game!”

  “May I see them?” Meta stood before he could answer.

  Bleak watched as she moved over to the clubs, her ass swaying ever-so-slightly. His hands came up and he quickly rubbed his eyes. Get it together, he told himself. Behave.

  “Are these expensive?” Meta asked as she unzipped a leather pouch covering a four iron.

  “Yes!” he said, standing. “They were my father’s clubs. He passed on … um died … recently.”

  “Can you show me how to swing it?” she asked, arching her back towards him. “I’ve never tried this before.”

  Bleak was behind her seconds later. “Is this okay?”

  “It’s fine,” she said over her shoulder. “I want to learn from an expert.” She shuffled back into his waiting arms. Electricity! The throbbing in Bleak’s lower half quickly rippled through him. Focus, man!

  “It’s like this,” he said, breathing deeply. He brought her arms back. “Change your stance slightly, your front foot just a little ahead of the ball. There. Check your alignment, bend your knees just a hair more… good.” He helped her swing the club. “Good, Meta, just like that.”

  “Wow, you’re talented, Bill.”

  She turned to him.

  “No!” he laughed awkwardly. “I’m not so good; nothing to write home about.”

  “We’re at your home,” she said softly.

  “That we are … ”

  The proximity between them was driving Bleak bananas. It took every ounce of self-control he possessed to resist pulling her into his arms.

  Bill Bleak never saw it coming.

  With the speed and precision of Fast Eddy Felson sinking the eight-ball, Meta jammed the butt of the four iron into Bleak’s solar plexus. He doubled over as the air whoofed out of him, and Meta very precisely rabbit-punched him in the back of the neck.

  Bleak was on his knees in front of her now, seeing stars and desperately trying to catch his breath. “W-what are you doing!?” he yelped. “STOP!”

  “Shhhhh … ”

  Meta hooked the four iron under his chin and pulled him onto his back. She straddled him, crouched down, and pinned his shoulders to the floor with her knees. Gripping his throat with one hand, she applied pressure as she performed a vitals scan. Her programming in the generation, application and utilization of fear in human subjects had fascinated her; she found that observing it live and under field conditions more engrossing still.

  “Don’t … ” Bleak sobbed. “Please don’t kill me.”

  “Why did you trust me?” she asked as she ceased her scan and her pupils contracted.

  “Because … I thought … ”

  “You thought what?”

  “I thought … you were beautiful.” He choked back a sob and she pressed harder. “I’m an idiot,” Bleak whispered as snot trickled out of his nose

  “Why do they want me to kill you anyway?” Meta asked suddenly, peering down at him. “Is it because you leaked information about the Gene X Project? Or is it something else?”

  “Something else … ” he said, his voice a thin line. “The public will forget the Gene X Project in a week unless I pay to constantly remind them.”

  “What else is it then? I’d like to know before I kill you.”

  “Sauria and I have a history. He tried … he tried to have me killed!”

  “Why?”

  “Because … ” His eyes filled with life. “Because I don’t believe in what he is doing. I want transparency – I’m against the fact that he can murder by proxy, and because he’s rich and powerful and well-connected that somehow makes it all legal. I’m trying to protect my own species here! This … this is why he sent you after me!”

  “They sent me after you for revenge?”

  “Yes, surely you knew this.”

  “I knew portions,” she admitted, “but hearing it from your mouth changes things in a way.”

  “It does?” Bleak asked, his lips quivering.

  “It does.” Meta released her grip on his throat and gracefully rose to her feet.

  “What are you going to do now?” he asked her. His throat was raw and scratchy, the back of his head really, really hurt, and his crotch felt all warm and squishy. Somewhere way down deep, he wondered if maybe a pretty face, long shapely legs, and a big rack might not actually be reliable criteria for trust; he wondered if he’d live long enough to benefit from this sudden spark of insight.

  “I’m going to do whatever the fuck I want to do, I think.” Meta turned to exit with the club in her hand.

  “Wait!” Bleak called after her. “Please! Please come back.”

  She approached him again with his four iron at her side. Bleak reached out and touched her shin.

  “They’ll kill you,” he said, looking up at her with bewildered eyes.

  “Who?”

  “They’ll kill you and I … ” He let go of her, hating himself for caring; ashamed of his confession. “I don’t want you to die.”

  “Who’ll kill me?”

  Bleak’s voice grew stronger. “There’s an entire twenty-man team of Pinkertons out there. If they don’t get to you, MercSecure will. They’ll send … ”

  “Who?”

  Keva. Rinchi. Whatever was in store for Meta, it wouldn’t be pretty.

  “They’ll send someone to hunt you down, or a team of someones. Please, Meta, stay here with me. I’ll protect you. I will do … anything to help you.”

  She crouched down in front of him again. “Why do you care about me?”

  “I’ve never met anyone like you.”

  She smiled; a warm, human, genuine smile. “No one has ever met anyone like me. I thought we went over this.”

  “I want to protect you.”

  “Even though I attacked you?”

  “Yes.” He used his elbows to prop himself up. “Please.”

  Meta kissed her fingertip and touched the center of his forehead. “You’re sweet.”

  “So you’ll stay?” he asked, letting out an excited gasp.

  Her tongue pressed against the inside of her cheek. “I need to think this through,” she finally said.

  “They’ll kill you outside. They’ve been instructed not to let you leave, even if I tell them to.”

  “I’m not worried about them.” Her eyes darted to the club. Daddy Bleak’s four iron and I will do just fine. You can afford another security detail, can’t you?”

  “I can.”

  “Good.” She stood. “Please don’t alert anyone. Just let me handle the men outside. I’ll need to borrow one of your vehicles. Do you have an aeroscycle?”

  “Yes, three.”

  She took a few steps towards the front door. “Good, I’ve always wanted to ride one of those.”

  “Wait!”

  “Yes?” Meta asked, turning to him.

  “Will I ever … ever see you again?”

  “That really depends, Bill,” she said, “on how easily you let me escape.”

  “I’ll play dead,” he said. “I’ll do anything for you! Anything! You know how to contact me … please … please don’t hesitate. Contact me! Anything you need, or want. Money, weapons – I’ll get it for you.”

  “We’ll be in touch then,” she said. “For now, I need some time to think.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “Alaska.”

  _∞_

  Sauria was sitting with Lorem Ipsum, Connard Branleur and Heidi when Meta’s video feed appeared on the holoscreen. Dusk had settled, giving the room a darkened, orange tone.

  “It’s her!” Lorem said.

  “Volume up!”

  Meta’s feed appeared and her location was triangulated to Mercer Island, Bill Bleak’s estate.

  “She’s doing it!”

  Meta had acquired a weapon and was using it when the feed came through.

  “Meta! Can you hear me?” Sauria asked.

  “I can,” she said as she stepped over her fresh kill. Branleur groaned, lookin
g away.

  “Did you do it? Did you … ”

  Her back came to a wall (evident in the way the video feed spun) and she stopped next to a door frame. One kick later and she entered a new room blasting indiscriminately. After killing the two men in the front room, Meta moved through the house quickly, found a man in the shower and killed him as well. She stopped in front of the fogged-up mirror, and toweled it clear.

  “Did you do it?” Sauria asked. “Is it done?”

  She pointed her weapon at her reflection in the mirror.

  “What are you doing!?” Lorem screamed.

  “While I may have been created as the ideal assassin, I do have the capacity to make my own decisions,” Meta said, glaring at them over the barrel of her weapon. “So goodbye MercSecure, ExEx, Sauria and Lorem. Oh, and fuck you.” She spit at her own reflection.

  “Trigger the DL agent!” Sauria blurted out.

  “It’s done,” Lorem said a few seconds later.

  In the video, the gob of spit slowly trailed down the mirror. Meta gave them a cheeky grin.

  “Why isn’t it working?” Connard Branleur asked.

  “Sorry, assholes.”

  “We’ll find you!” Sauria screamed at the holoscreen. “We’ll hunt you down!”

  Heidi was at his side now, her pupils dilating. “Relax, dear,” she said, stroking his arm.

  “Goodbye.”

  Meta’s feed disconnected. Her GPS locator went off-line as well.

  “Find her!” Sauria pointed at Lorem. “Get someone to Bleak’s place NOW!”

  “Yessir!” Lorem said, scrambling to his feet.

  Branleur, usually the calmest of the bunch, cleared his throat.

  “What is it?” Sauria asked.

  “Let’s be level-headed about this, gentlemen. Recover Meta and make sure that the next hybrid being has more stop measures in place. There is another, isn’t there?”

  “There is,” Lorem said.

  Sauria sat back in his chair with an enormous scowl on his face. “This isn’t over.” he finally said to the blackened holoscreen. “This isn’t over.”

  Epilogue∞