Dan picked up a chair from the dining room and placed it next to Stanley’s. Mounting it in reverse, he rested his arms on top of the chair’s back. Calm eyes pierced into Stanley.
“What!” barked Stanley, his own anger startling him. The recent changes in Dan had been challenging, but none of them had been so precarious. Didn’t Dan know how dangerous it was?
“Let’s go outside.” The words escaped Dan’s lips so gently.
Stanley turned toward the traffic in front of the complex, the familiar buzzing modulating his mood like soft AI music playing in a psychiatrist’s office. Dan had no clue how cruel the outside world could be. He was better off here, away from the cold chill of Marshfield’s gales and glances. “Let’s not.”
“Why not? We haven’t been outside since I arrived.”
“For good reason,” snarled Stanley. “It’s not safe out there.”
“In broad daylight? We’ll be fine.”
Stanley made no reply.
“Tell me you don’t want to go out, and I’ll drop it.”
Stanley wanted to be left alone. With furled lips, he shook his head as he stared through the window, the circular patch of fog almost completely faded. His nose poured across his face as if it were a melting candle. A fiery memory, frozen in time, seared him through and through. For two decades, he had been haunted by how cruel people had been. Stanley’s arrogance and carelessness had cost someone their life, and every vile glance since then reminded him of it. And these people were even worse to machine life. With Stanley, they stopped at words and glances. But for the cyborgs and androids, they perpetrated horrendous acts of violence. Beating them to death, setting them on fire — Dan wanted him to be okay with it?
“Hey,” Dan whispered, placing his hand on Stanley’s shoulder.
Stanley slapped it off. Jumping to his feet, his heart fiercely beating against his rib cage, he shot Dan a challenging look. He knew what was best for Dan. Cyborgs had been targeted for hate crimes — violent, disgustingly horrible crimes. The idea of Dan ever being targeted disgusted him. “Why do you have to make this so difficult?”
“Me — being difficult? I’m trying to help you.”
“If you want to help, then don’t ask me about going outside.”
“Is that what you really want?”
“Yes! And as far as I’m concerned, we’re never going outside. It’s just not safe.”
Unabated, Dan stared at him with a radiant smile that lit up his entire face like the morning sun.
Stanley spun around, unable to hold the stare any longer without collapsing into some unavoidable conclusion that he would soon regret. No — here, inside the condo, they were safe. They could continue to sequester themselves. Ordering food online. Talking. Watching movies. Playing games. This was safer.
He could invite Glenda over again. Dan would appreciate that. A dinner party — she could even bring her cats. That way, Dan would be safe. He had to keep him safe.
The phone rang.
“Leticia, who is calling?”
“Unknown,” she said.
“Of course,” Stanley muttered. When the ringing persisted, he had her mute it. Seconds later, it rang again. This time, he had Leticia connect them.
“Stanley Duncan?” said a raspy voice.
Something about the voice of the man on the other end of the line bothered Stanley. He switched from speaker to a headset. “Yes?”
“I’m going to need you to modify a program you created.”
“Sorry, but I’m not available at the moment. Furthermore, I don’t appreciate you calling me at my home. I have a business website and email for a reason.”
“This isn’t a request.”
“I’m hanging up.”
“I have your address. I’d hate to have to come over and discuss this in person.” The man rattled off Stanley’s home address.
Stanley twitched. Dan came over and stood near him, a look of concern on his face. Stanley shooed him away impatiently. “What sort of changes do you need?”
“You are to modify Brutus’s sentry mode, overriding all safety restrictions and conditional fail-safes.”
“Are you kidding me? Do you realize how dangerous that is?”
“Furthermore, update it with active zones and targets based on facial identification.”
Stanley covered the microphone with his hand. “And turn it into an assassin? You’re out of your mind.”
“You have forty-eight hours to create a public repository, seven days to finish it all. Fail, and there will be consequences.”
The line went dead. Stanley’s vision focused on Dan’s concerned eyes. Something terrible was coming.
“Happy Birthday,” said Maple, her small robotic body offering the best semblance of a smile that it could. In her tiny hands was a beautifully decorated cake, black and white laces, with two strawberries.
Teddy Perkins scowled. “Stuff it. I told you I didn’t want a damned cake.” Though today was his eighteenth birthday, eating a stupid cake was the furthest thing from his mind. Unlike other boys, he wasn’t getting a new phone or having a grand party — Teddy was getting a new body.
“Let’s go!”
Maple rolled him out of the house and into a Fermi, lifting his frail body out of his wheelchair and then into the car. Despite her looks, she was immensely strong.
At the hospital, an android checked them in. “How may I help you?”
“Surgery for Teddy Perkins,” said Maple. “Full body remodification and neural prosthesis installation.”
“And the boy’s parents?” asked the receptionist.
“Left me to rot,” Teddy said bitterly. “All they gave me was this robot, some money, and a half-assed goodbye. But I’m finally eighteen and don’t need their permission to get the surgery anymore.”
“This is an older-model android,” said the receptionist. “Your insurance qualifies you for a new model every two years. Shall I — ”
“No!” hissed Teddy. He enjoyed the ridiculousness of having a twelve-year-old-looking humanoid tend to his every need, and he had grown accustomed to berating her daily. Maple was the everyday target of his cynicism and sarcasm and never complained about it. She was the only companion he needed. “Just tell me where I need to go.”
She directed him down the hall.
The only humans walking about were patients. Most people didn’t work, but Teddy’s mother did. She made sure Teddy had enough money to do whatever he wanted. He had all the video games — they stopped producing them a few years before. Expensive foods. She’d even told him that she would support his decision to go on fuse if he wanted to.
A policeman walked down the hall, snarling at Teddy.
Teddy’s jaw tightened. Anger flooded his mind. He hated police, especially Brad Jenkins, who he was sure had spread the most vicious lies about him. Teddy wanted to walk again, but that wasn’t the main reason he was getting this powerful new body.
Brad was the reason his life had become so screwed up. Teddy’s childhood had all been a lie. He had discovered the truth after hacking into his mother’s emails when he was eleven years old. Brad, his biological father, had gone berserk, changing from a sweet man into a maniac. He had called his mother “a whore” without any evidence and claimed that he wasn’t Teddy’s father. When he tracked down Brad to confront him, the selfish prick had lied his ass off and then pushed Teddy down a flight of stairs, leaving him to rot. The words Brad had said — “Your mother’s a lying bitch” — rang in Teddy’s ears for hours as he lay on the floor, unable to move. Despite the fact that Teddy looked exactly like the man, Brad still couldn’t see past his own bullshit.
The android nurse came to bring Teddy to the operating room.
“I will wait for you in the waiting room,” said Maple, her face showing that uncanny smile that had onc
e given him nightmares.
“Like I care,” said Teddy. He knew it would take a few days after the surgery to move around correctly, so he still needed to rely on Maple. He didn’t mind her or any of the androids. He had adjusted to being around only robots. In fact, he preferred them. He hated his parents. What were they good for, anyway? His single-parent mother was a hypocrite. She had a Cerebral Stitch but had forbade him years ago from getting one. He had to suffer in this wretched body — for what?
But all of that would soon be behind him.
“This won’t hurt at all,” said the android doctor, preparing to insert an IV.
“No shit, Sherlock,” said Teddy.
Chapter 6
Hovering over the coffee machine, Stanley thought back to the past couple of days. Dan’s reluctance to let go of the notion of going outside had caused a small rift between them. That stubborn boy kept pushing, and Stanley was losing his patience. He had done everything he could to protect his dear cyborg, and even if it went unappreciated — even if Dan hated him for it — he would continue to protect him.
He had given Dan his blessing to go on social media and show himself to the world. He believed it would help Dan find purpose while sequestering. The world deserved to see how amazing he was. Meanwhile, the hang-up calls continued until Stanley blocked them. The best-case scenario was that it was just another nasty prank on Daffy Duncan.
Stanley brought the coffees over to the table, sighing when he saw that Dan hadn’t even bothered to take the game out of the box, let alone set it up. “You haven’t opened the game.”
“Right.” Dan didn’t seem particularly interested in anything, lately.
“Don’t want to play?”
Dan pushed the box away. “Maybe later.”
Stanley opened it and started setting up the pieces. It was a new strategy game that had been delivered this morning, and he had hoped it would spark some joy into their home. “Come on — it’ll cheer you up.”
“Will you stop?”
“Stop what? Trying to make you feel better?”
Dan scowled, thrusting his open palm toward the game. “Stop pretending everything is okay when it’s clear as day you want to go outside.” He shook his head. “You can’t even go a few hours without looking out the window like a lost puppy.”
“I said that discussion is over.” Stanley grabbed the side of the table. He had no idea where Dan was getting this sort of attitude from, but his suspicions lay in the abundance of ne’er-do-wells that plagued social media with their expansive egos and lack of decorum.
“So, I don’t have a say in it?”
“That’s right.” Scanning the instructions, he could hardly make sense of the game because his mind refused to focus. The world was a scary place, and a parent had to do everything they could to protect their children.
Dan got up. “Real nice, Stanley.”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Try me.”
“It’s dangerous outside.”
“You watch little children walk down the street every day. Are you saying they can protect themselves better than me?”
“Yes.”
Dan crossed his arms. “Really?”
Stanley got up. “It’s different. There’re people out there who want to harm AI. The police can’t be trusted. If they spotted you, who knows what they would do.”
“You realize that I’m fully trained in combat? I’ve run simulations — millions of them — and I can handle myself.”
“So you’ve said.” Having mastered poker in an afternoon, it was frightening to consider the extent of Dan’s knowledge and what he was capable of. The most advanced fighters in the world couldn’t possibly hope to have more experience than him within their own disciplines — let alone others. Though Stanley was afraid to ask, Dan had likely trained himself in sundry forms of hand-to-hand combat and weapons. In a fair fight, the only real threat would be against a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) officer, who could shoot a cranberry with a pistol from 1,000 feet away. But the criminals around here didn’t fight fair. And if anything happened to Dan, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. “But why take the risk? Is being here with me not enough for you?”
“It’s not like that.”
“Oh, really, Dan? It sure sounds like it. I’ve given you everything, and you want to throw it all away?”
“You’re the one who wants to change the world, Stanley.” Dan flicked a game piece over. “How are we going to do that when we’re stuck in here playing games all day?”
“Progress might be slow, but we’re making it work.” Stanley snatched Dan’s phone off the table. “The world deserves to see you. I feel that you are the key to bringing man and machine together, but that will take time and caution. So, we are going to lead this revolution by slowly introducing you to the world through social media, but we’ll be doing it from the safety of our home.”
“And you created me.”
“That’s right.”
“So, are you going to change your mind about being on camera with me?”
Chills shot down Stanley’s body. “We’ve talked about this. I’m not ready.”
“Then when?”
“When I’m good and ready.”
Dan glared at him. “Well, it sounds like all you’ll be doing is hiding from the revolution.”
“That’s enough!”
“What are you going to do — ground me?” Dan snarled. His right hand shot up to his reddened face in defiance as he glared at Stanley.
“Keep pushing, and you’ll find out.”
Dan grabbed his phone, holding it in front of his face, as he danced in mockery. “Great! I’ll livestream it to all three of my followers and pray it goes viral.”
“Three? If you spend more time creating content and engaging with your audience instead of sitting around here moping all day, you’d have thousands of followers by now.”
“Okay, Millennial. You think I haven’t tried?”
“Have you?”
Dan looked incredulous. “I’ve made videos, Stanley. People don’t even believe I’m a cyborg. Everything’s too easy to fake nowadays. There’re dozens of other accounts that claim to be what I am — AGI, artificial general intelligence. I wouldn’t be surprised if all my followers were fake. We need to connect with real people. And to do that, we need to get out there and show the world what you’ve created.”
“Enough already!” Stanley slapped the game box off the table. “We’ll stay in here and not play games all day. I’m an old man, and it won’t be too long before you can do whatever you want.”
Dan stopped dancing, his arms fell limp to his sides, and the defiance in his face vanished. “Don’t say that.”
Staring at him, Stanley didn’t know what to do next. He saw a teenage version of the being that would unite the world, and it just killed him to know that Dan wasn’t meant to be secluded here forever. A wave of emotions told him he was acting irrationally, but he had to do everything to protect Dan. He was already taking a risk by letting him set up social media, but it wasn’t like his followers knew where he lived — but someone did.
A ferocious hiss pierced the room, followed by a bloodcurdling scream for help.
“That’s Glenda!” The two of them ran for the door. Remembering the threats he had received over the phone, Stanley stopped and faced Dan. “Stay here. I’ll take care of this on my own.”
The android nurse wheeled Teddy into a large room full of rehabilitation equipment. He scanned the room in annoyance, wanting to get out of here as soon as possible. The elastic bands hanging near the walls were urging him to strangle Brad; the dumbbells aligned neatly in racks were demanding to crush his skull in. If the nurse didn’t hurry up and get this worthless physical-therapy session over, he’d use her to see how strong his b
ody had become.
“Can you stand up?” she asked, resting her hand on the walker in front of the wheelchair.
“What does it look like?” The question was infuriating. If he could stand up, he’d be out of this idiotic wheelchair and using this body that he’d been dreaming of for years. But it had been so long that he had completely forgotten how to use a body. Looking down at his stupid legs, he demanded they move.
Nothing.
“You can do it, Teddy,” called out the android nurse.
He imagined going on a rampage and wrecking everything in the room. Slowly, he hoisted himself up to the walker.
“Excellent.” The nurse pointed along the floor where a line of tape trailed off to the other end of the room, metered in inches and feet. “See if you can walk ten feet.”
Infuriated by her overly cheerful voice, Teddy squeezed the walker as hard as he could — which wasn’t that hard. His legs and arms vibrated but wouldn’t budge.
“You can do it, Teddy.”
“Shut up!” he shouted. Focusing, he felt his knee bend and raise.
His first footstep in years.
“Great job!”
Several clunky steps later, he reached the ten-foot mark.
“You did it!”
“Whoop-dee-do. I’m walking like a 90-year-old geezer with a broken hip.”
“Let’s take a rest.” She brought the wheelchair over.
“Get that out of here,” he yelled. “I’m not done yet.”
“Rest is important, Teddy. Your mind is still getting used to the Cerebral Stitch.”
Teddy wished he had something to throw at her. Slowly, he twisted the walker around and teetered forward. Unimaginable mental exhaustion that would have broken any other man screamed through his skull. Yet Teddy persisted. He hadn’t waited all this time to stop now. His emotions felt explosive, his impulses uncontrollable.
“Teddy, excessive use of your Cerebral Stitch with your new body is dangerous. It may lead to restlessness, memory loss, irritability, panic attacks, and death.”
Stanley Duncan's Robot: Genesis Page 6