by David Poland
Jackson’s eyes looked about the ceiling for an escape hatch. He found none. “Well, just a little now and then,” he answered and started to laugh. “Hey dude, it’s been a good week. I’ll see ya Monday.” Jackson then headed for the cashier’s window furthest away.
“OK Tommy-tom,” she said as she guided him to the nearest window. “Let’s see what you made on your first week.”
“Sometimes I don’t know about that Jackson guy,” said Tommy shaking his head. “I didn’t think you’d be here, but then you must come here every Friday.”
“No, I actually never come here,” she answered, “I let them deposit my check directly into my bank account. I came here today to see you get your first paycheck. I’m here for you Tommy-tom.”
On the way home, the bus was nearly full. Tommy sat next to his sister and she explained all the deductions on his pay stub. He had asked for his pay in cash. He couldn’t remember ever having this much money in his wallet.
“So what are you planning to do tomorrow?” she asked.
“I thought I’d go over to the motorcycle shop and see how much they cost and if the electronic brain want’s to come, he can tell me how long it’ll take me to save up for one.”
“I’m sure Carl would love to go out with you, but he’s going to be playing chess in the school tournament both Saturday and Sunday.”
“How about you, Angie dear? We can have lunch at the Solar King on the other side of town.”
“I’d love to Tommy-tom, but after dinner I’m going out of town for a weekend conference on ways to preserve ethnic diversity.”
After dinner, Tommy carried his sister’s suitcase outside for her and waited with her until her bus came. This was perfect, she was now gone for all of Saturday and most of Sunday.
He went back inside the house. The provider robot was down for the night taking a battery charge and the domestic robot was cleaning the kitchen. “Hey Demy, where’s the electronic brain?”
“Your brother, Carl is in his room working on his new chess opening. Did you know he will compete tomorrow and Sunday?”
“Yeah, Angie told me about it outside. He didn’t say a single word about it at dinner. I guess I should just leave him alone.”
“From what I’ve read about chess players,” said Demy, “that would be the best thing to do. Would you like to sit and talk? With you and Angie both working and Carl at school, there is no one here at home for me to talk to during the day.” The robot’s tone of voice was clear and human, and very friendly.
“Oh man, that would be nice Demy, but I’m starting to feel tired. I think I’ll hit the sack early. Are you going to stay up all night, or are you going to go down for a charge?”
“Yes, I will go down in twelve minutes. I need six hours of charge.”
“OK, see you in the morning.” Tommy walked off to his room more awake than ever. He looked at his watch. If that thing needs twelve minutes, I’ll give it fifteen. As he walked, he could see the light coming out under Carl’s door. He walked by quietly and opened his own door without a sound.
Inside his room, he checked his watch. Over the years he had collected what he thought were the very best tools. He really didn’t know much about tools, but he knew how to use what he had. He had collected several pairs of pliers, an assortment of screwdrivers, and several wrenches. He also had a small crowbar, a crescent wrench and a carpenter’s hammer. Now scheming, he narrowed his eyes. Once Demy is down, he thought, I’ll go fix my motorcycle.
Tommy could hear Demy open the door to its cradle and step inside for a charge. He let just a couple of minutes go by. The garage floor was four steps lower than the floor of the flat. Standing on the landing, he closed the door before he turned on the light. He kept his tools in a waist pack that he was wearing.
The motorcycle was heavy. Even without its front wheel and seat, he knew it weighed much more than a hundred pounds. It was so heavy that it was just about all he and Jackson could do to lift it together. Rather than try to lift it, or even move it, he decided to start taking it apart. Among his amazing collection of junk, he had a fairly clean five-gallon bucket and an old packing blanket. He turned the bucket over for a seat and folded the blanket up for a cushion. Without fully understanding how to remove the engine, he decided to remove one of the larger nuts. There were several nuts the same size and they all were coated with layers of corrosion. None of his wrenches fit them, so he adjusted the crescent wrench to the size. With his first pull the wrench slipped free rounding the shoulders of the nut slightly as it turned. He had plenty of room to work, so he used a pair of pliers to tighten the crescent wrench as tight as he could. The wrench stayed in place, but he couldn’t make it move. He grabbed his hammer next, and started tapping the wrench handle trying to break the nut free.
Intent on hitting the wrench and not his hand, Tommy didn’t hear Paycheck come through the door and down the steps. Taking a break from what he was doing, he saw Paycheck’s shadow and looked around in a panic.
Paycheck waved with his left hand as though to say hello. “That one looks very tight, may I help you remove it?” Paycheck spoke with his usual friendly, no-nonsense voice.
“Oh man, you want me to die of a heart attack? Don’t do that! You sneak up on me like that and I’ll be dead on the floor. Why aren’t you getting yourself a battery charge?”
“I heard the tapping of your hammer and thought I better see what was making that noise. Part of my job is to look after my family. May I help you with the motorcycle?”
“This here isn’t a motorcycle,” said Tommy. “This is a piece of modern art, and I’m a artist.”
“That’s wonderful Tommy, I had no idea. Of course, I’m a provider class robot. If you would think of me as your apprentice, I will do my best to help you in your artistic endeavors.”
Tommy knew Paycheck was probably strong enough to lift the motorcycle without any help. He considered the robot. It had never occurred to him to get the robot’s help. He looked up on the landing and saw the robot had closed the door before it came down. “You got pretty strong hands. You think you can work on my bike without breaking it?”
“You have seen me help Demy in the kitchen. I can pick up an egg without breaking it.” Tommy didn’t answer. The robot continued, “At this time of night you are usually in your room. If this work is so important, that it breaks your routine, then it is my duty to help you.”
“Hey man, you think you can help me without telling Angie or Demy about what we’re doin’?
“Why would we not tell them?” asked the robot.
“I want to make it a surprise.”
“I know Demy will be delighted with a surprise, but I recall Angie saying derogatory things about motorcycles and your modern art really is reminiscent of a motorcycle.”
“You just leave Angie dear to me. Do you think you can keep the secret?”
“Yes, of course,” said Paycheck. The robot used the phrase ‘of course’ to reassure Tommy that it meant the word ‘yes’ but it never understood exactly why this phrase was so reassuring.
“Is it possible,” asked Tommy, “that you want to work on my motor, I mean my modern art, because you’re sick and tired of fixin’ broken bricks?”
“Robots don’t get sick and tired, but I try to never miss a chance to do something new.”
“Well then just say it!”
“Just say what?” asked the robot.
“I want to help you because that looks like one really cool machine.”
“I want to help you,” said the robot,” because that looks like one really cool machine.”
“Why didn’t you say so,” said Tommy. “Your hands are really strong. Try to loosen the nut with your fingers.”
The robot knelt down and took hold of the nut between its thumb and first finger. Tommy held the frame. The robot put enough force on it that it started to move the whole motorcycle, but it didn’t break loose. “The corrosion has fused this nut to the threaded stud,�
�� said the robot. “We cannot remove it with force.”
“You mean you can’t do it with your fingers. Try it again with the crescent wrench.” Tommy handed him the wrench and grabbed hold of the frame again. The robot applied force slowly at first then stopped. “Why’d you stop?”
“I could feel the wrench starting to bend in my hand. We need to spray it with a penetrating liquid that can soak into the threads and loosen the fusing corrosion.”
“Yeah, well I got no penetrating liquids. So now what do we do?”
Paycheck stood up. “It’s getting late, why don’t you go to bed, and I’ll go over to my robot shop and get some of the right liquid. When I come back, I’ll spray it on all the nuts on this part of the bike, before I turn in to complete my charge cycle. If they soak all night, we might get them off in the morning.”
Tommy almost smiled. “That’s a plan, man. I mean that’s a real plan. Now don’t go get yourself lost out there in the middle of the night.”
“That’s a very thoughtful warning,” said the robot, “but as you may recall, I have walked that path many times.”
The next morning, Dax left his home early to have breakfast with his old friend Ted. Dax’s family had gone to his wife’s parent’s house for the week and he was baching it. The air was so clean that he could actually smell the blossoming trees as he rode along. He knew that Ted’s wife was also out of town and this would be the best opportunity to talk to Ted away from the security network that so thoughtfully monitored everything said in the city.
Ted had the classical music radio station playing and once inside, Dax could smell the breakfast coming from the kitchen. The kitchen table was not set. As Dax watched, Ted took off his com-link watch and put it on a folded towel near the sink. Dax did the same thing with his com-link and as Ted began putting their breakfast on a tray, Dax washed his hands. After drying his hands, he did not put his watch back on, but rather walked down the hallway.
Dax opened the door to a storage room – a room that was originally intended for a small bedroom – and sat down at a card table set up in the middle of the room. Ted followed him into the room and put their breakfast on the table. After the door was closed, Dax asked, “Where is your provider robot?”
“He’s driving my wife over to see her Mother.”
Dax though the reply was amusing. “You mean ‘it’ is driving the car for your wife.”
“Oh yeah, that’s what I mean.” Ted seemed a bit irritated by being corrected. “You know my robot was one of the three that tried to stop that police spider when it was trying to kill you.”
Dax hadn’t meant to irritate his friend. “You’re right, ‘he’ is a good old robot and I’ll bet ‘he’ is a first class chauffeur too.”
Ted had become rather thoughtful, “Of course, having him out of the house removes one more set of ears.”
The provider class robots were very good, but they could hear everything and they were all hooked up to Homeland Care. This wasn’t the first time Ted and Dax had stepped into the storage room for a conversation. When they were quiet, they could hear the music in the other rooms. Then they both relaxed and started to eat.
“Do you really think Homeland Care can’t hear us in here?” asked Dax.
“I don’t know for sure,” answered Ted, “but all the microphones I do know about are listening to the music.” That was about the best Ted could do and so he forgot about HC and started to eat his oatmeal pancakes.
“I heard rumors that Homeland Maintenance was going to take over the WPA. Is there any truth to that?” asked Dax.
“I hope not, but I heard the same thing. The rumor making the rounds inside the department is that HC already has control, and they leaked the rumor to test loyalty in the ranks. Somebody on the top, so they say, is working to do away with two levels of management.”
Dax cleared his throat. “Have you ever met the people at the top level of the WPA?”
“No,” said Ted, “and that’s a real good question. Have you ever met anyone at the highest levels of Homeland Security?” Ted didn’t wait for an answer. “Nobody talks about it, but we are all wondering if the computers have taken over the top positions.”
Dax took a slow drink. “You still make a great cup of coffee. Does it really mean anything if data processing is running the show? I mean if they do a good job, what difference does it make?”
“Oh I don’t know Daxy old boy, but I don’t like it. I feel like the city’s a time bomb just ticking away. Surely there are enough good people to run the show. Your recent experience with that malfunctioning police spider is enough to start real riots like the automation riots of ten years ago. The problem is, nobody remembers a citizen’s group approving the new police spiders. That design just appeared one-day from out of nowhere. I don’t think humans designed it.”
“But, they stopped it,” said Dax. “A police helicopter stopped it before it did any real damage. Tommy and I just got back in my transport and we drove away.”
“Speaking of Tommy, did you know he moved his motorcycle out of the WPA shop building?”
“No, I wasn’t keeping up, but that’s good. Now the auditors won’t have any chance to take it away from him. Do you know where he took it?”
“No,” said Ted, “but he and his partner Jackson made a delivery for me and stopped at the old gas station on Kervran Avenue. I’ll bet they left it at the gas station on the way to the delivery.”
“Are they in trouble for using the delivery truck that way if they find out from a computer audit?” asked Dax.
“No. I already wrote it up as constructive use of surplus capacity. The computers like to hear about that sort of thing. Remember, Tommy is already the registered owner of salvage designated for artistic reconstruction.”
Dax started laughing. “So from now on, we must remember that Tommy is an artist.”
“Exactly.”
“You know,” said Dax, “I remember Kervran Avenue when I was a kid. Back in those days it had five gas stations. For old time sake, I think I’ll go visit the one last survivor.”
Tommy woke up with a start. He had slept fitfully dreaming that Paycheck had carried his motorcycle to the robotics shop and turned it in. He put on his bathrobe and went down the hall barefoot. Opening the door to the garage, he saw Paycheck spraying something on the frozen nuts on his motorcycle. The dream had been nonsense. He closed the door and walked on down. “I thought you were going to spray it last night when you came back?”
“I did,” said Paycheck, “but when I tried to loosen them this morning they were all still frozen tight. So I thought I’d spray them again before breakfast.”
“Did you tell those guys at the shop about my motorcycle?”
“Not a soul,” answered Paycheck. “If we want to make it a surprise for Demy and Angie, it’s best not to tell anyone. I believe that’s the way you wanted me to proceed?”
“Right on,” said Tommy. “You gonna stay in here?”
“No, I promised to look at the kitchen sink for Demy. It’s starting to drain slowly again. May I ask a question?”
“Sure, man, what’s up?”
“Why do you want this thing? You have talked about riding a motorcycle for years. Why don’t we go out and find a good used electric one? If you save your money, by the time they let you get your driver’s license you’ll have enough to buy a good one and if you get an electric one, you won’t have to buy any gasoline.”
“Oh man, you don’t understand. The electric ones don’t make enough noise to scare a cockroach. Those things were built for people that are afraid of their own shadow and that ain’t me.”
“Demy and I have made a very serious effort to keep cockroaches out of our flat. There are no cockroaches here to scare.”
“Good job, Paycheck but that’s not my point. Do you have to go to work today?”
“No, if you like, I can help you after your breakfast.”
“Why not now?” said Tommy. “Let’s do
it now.”
“The chemical I sprayed on it needs to work on it for awhile. We should give it at least an hour.”
Tommy went back to his bedroom, dressed and came out for breakfast just as Carl came out of his room. “Hey, you’re lookin’ pretty good champ,” said Tommy. “You gonna knock’em dead?”
Carl smiled. “I’m sure gonna try, bro.” Then with a bit of drama, “I’ve got a new opening, something they’ve never seen.”
“Right on, right on. Kill’em dead.”
Demy came in with breakfast. “Tommy, would you like the same thing that Carl is having for breakfast?”
“Sure enough Demy, baby. I’ll eat what the champ eats.” Demy set a shallow bowl in front Carl first, and then one in front of Tommy. Tommy’s energetic enthusiasm declined into dietary remorse. The shallow bowl was full of a dark brown rice. Atop the rice were four cold Norwegian sardines. The sardines were swimming in olive oil. When Tommy turned one with his fork, he could smell their full fishy odor. “Carl, have you lost your brain? Cold fish on rice for breakfast is not a normal thing. Is this some kind of Japanese torture? Are they making you do it for the tournament?”
Carl had started eating with great pleasure. “Hey, bro, what you don’t know is that Bobby Fischer ate cold Norwegian fish before he played Boris Spassky. Bobby Fischer ate pure food and beat old Spassky out of the world chess championship.”
“Oh man, I don’t need to eat no canned fish to ride a motorcycle. You need to get yourself a new hobby.”
“Try it bro, just give it a try.”
Tommy looked up at Demy and whispered, “Who is Bobby Fischer?”
Demy put a finger to its lips as though it was a big secret.
“Try it, bro,” repeated Carl. “Just give it a try.”
With great reluctance, Tommy sampled the brown rice. It was still warm and it was very good.
Carl could read his big brother’s face like a book. “Now try the fish.”
Tommy couldn’t hide his pleasure. He actually liked it. “Oh man, Demy where’s my coffee. You gots to wash this stuff down. Now listen, I’ll eat this stuff for the champ here, but no more, and don’t tell nobody I did it.”