Love in the Robot Dawn

by C. W. Crowe

  I had an idea. "Do you think we could just lock them in here? The Raptors, I mean. Doctor Elaine told us that the storage room was the safe room so they can't get in there and this room has the same kind of doors."

  Lucy pointed to the top hinge of the door we'd entered by. "Not quite the same. See that box? I think it opens the door so that the robots can release their Raptors. There's another door at the end of the hallway past the storage room with one of these openers on it. I checked - it opens outside. The doors in the storage room don't have any openers and are quite thick. That's why it's safe - the doors stay closed and these monsters can't get in."

  I understood. "Then maybe we can disable that door opening mechanism, or remove it."

  Lucy pulled me through the door we'd been studying. "We'd better get back. Let's think about it."

  *.*.*

  We worked until midafternoon with a break for lunch and made good progress on getting the mess organized. The entire membership of the Faculty inspected our work and pronounced themselves pleased.

  Elaine Lawson said, "Once you are done, Leonard and Lucille, you really must keep it neat."

  I felt Lucy's noises spike. Mine would have too if I'd had any. The old bat was scolding us about keeping it neat when they were the ones who had just piled the crap up without any organization. This time Lucy pinched me and I kept my mouth shut.

  Doctor Peter Readner cleared his throat loudly and announced to the group, "Shall we meet at six for cocktails? That will give us time to freshen up and rest from our labors."

  There were murmurings of agreement and people started to walk away. Lucy had been standing beside me, but now she walked quickly over to a group of women that included both Kris Blalock and Elaine Lawson. I watched as she said something to them and was relieved when they all smiled and laughed. They walked, as a group, to some of the boxes we hadn't organized as Lucy bent over and put something in a paper bag she'd found earlier.

  *.*.*

  Once outside, everyone else jumped on a Segway and quickly left us behind. When they were out of sight, we started walking. "What's in the bag?" I asked. It seemed like a reasonable question.

  "Don't you worry about it," Lucy answered. I could tell from her noises that no further questions would be answered because she had something else on her mind. "Listen Leo, I've got an idea about how we might be able to get away, but if we do, then what? It's a long way to Las Vegas. Tomorrow, let's slow down so the job will last for another couple of days and we'll take turns scouting for some transportation."

  "Like what?"

  She glanced at me and frowned. "I don't know. Their Segways? Bicycles? Maybe we could fly a robot aircraft."

  I knew she was kidding about that last part - at least I thought she was. “You saw the roads, Lucy. With so many bridges out, the horses are about the only way to travel except by foot.”

  “All right then. Tomorrow let’s try and find out what they did with the horses. I hope they’re alive because we’re going to need them.”

  I felt left out, in the dark. “Tell me your plan.”

  “Not yet, Leo. I don’t have every detail down yet and I don’t want you to have to hide things from these people; you’re not good at pretending.”

  That hurt a little. I thought we were in this together.

  But she must have been right because she read my mood perfectly and stopped and faced me. She gave me a gentle kiss and spoke quietly, “You’re too honest, my husband, and I love that about you. Just leave the deception to me for now, okay?”

  I nodded my agreement. What else could I do?

  *.*.*

  If I had owned a watch, I would have been looking at it. The sun was down and I knew it had to be close to six o’clock and that we should be on our way to the Faculty “cocktail hour.”

  But Lucy was still in the bathroom, getting ready. How long did that girl need to take a shower and dress? She had to have been in there for at least an hour - probably two. Was that normal for her? I wasn’t sure because we’d spent most of our time together on the road sleeping on the ground, but I didn’t remember her taking hour-long showers back in Ft. Smith.

  Twice I went to the door and knocked because I was worried that something might be wrong with her or with the baby. The first time she’d yelled out, “Don’t you dare open that door” in a tone that told me she likely wasn’t sick.

  I waited what seemed like an hour and then tried again. This time I called from outside, “Lucy, are you all right?”

  Even before she answered, her noises told me what I was in for. “Yes, Mr. Smith. I’m fine. Now please get away from that door. I’ll summon you when I’m ready to leave, but until then, just buzz off!”

  We hadn’t had one of our good, old fashioned fights in quite a while. But I’d worked myself up to the point where I was ready for one now. When I heard the door knob click as she unlocked it, I jumped up and walked over, preparing to intercept her. I’d been practicing what I was going to say. It was a speech about how we were partners and how we needed to appreciate each other’s feelings and how she was being a total and complete . . .”

  Then I saw her and I had no words.

  *.*.*

  She was dressed for a cocktail party, wearing a short sleeved dress that fell just above her knees. She also had on makeup, something I think she’d worn only once or twice with me. She looked wonderful, feminine. But that wasn’t what had me standing there with my mouth open.

  It was her hair - she totally changed it. It had been almost to her shoulders when I’d first met her, but in the months since then, it had grown longer. The fresh air and sunshine we’d spent most of our time in had lightened it somewhat. She wore it parted in the middle, most of the time in a ponytail.

  Now she had perfectly trimmed bangs which fell down so that they just covered her eyebrows. Above them, her hair was still parted in the middle, but fell down straight on both sides so that there were equal amounts cascading down past her shoulders.

  But her new style was the smallest part of what had me speechless. She’d changed her color. Before it had been various shades of brown, but now - now it was a perfectly uniform shade of electric blue.

  We stood almost toe to toe as she stared at me, studying my face. “Well?”

  “Ah, Lucy . . . I don’t know what to say.” It was the complete and utter truth.

  She smiled. “I’m glad you’re shocked, Leo. That means you notice. I don’t want you to ever stop doing that.”

  Her sounds were melancholy. She knew what I wanted to ask. “Why?”

  She tilted up her head, offering me her lips. I pulled her towards me and we kissed.

  “Leo, it’s . . . it’s part of my plan. I’m going to tell the Faculty that it’s because I want to be more attractive to you. That’s something I can sell because it’s also true, but that’s not the only reason. Now don’t ask anything else now. I think we might be late, but that’ll help when we make our appearance.”

  It was cool out, so she handed me a sweater and I helped her put it on. We walked to the meeting hand in hand.

  I wanted to talk to her, but I didn’t because her noises let me know she was afraid of something and I could tell it was something she had to bear all on her own.

  *.*.*

  Lucy wasn’t the only one to have dressed up. Some of the women had too, especially Dr. Kristen Blalock who wore a tight sweater and a skirt slightly shorter than Lucy’s. She approached us almost at once when we arrived. “Oh don’t you two look smashing! Lucille, that color really brings out your . . . features. Why don’t you put your sweater with the other wraps over there in the corner and meet Leonard and me at the bar. I’ll take care of him until you get there.”

  Lucy smiled her sweetest. “I’m sure you will,” she said.

  She walked off as Dr. Blalock again took my arm and led me in the opposite direction. She squeezed my bicep. “Do you work out, Leonard? I must say you have muscles, unlike most of the men here. I was noti
cing them today.”

  I felt uncomfortable, suspecting that Lucy was watching us like a hawk. "Ah, not any kind of formal working out exactly; we've been living outside and traveling. I guess that could do it."

  She pulled me closer to her as we stopped at the bar. Peter Readner was acting as bartender. I could feel Kris's chest pressing against my arm and that distracted me from dealing with the noises of so many nearby humans.

  "What'll it be Leonard, our new friend?"

  There were a bunch of liquor bottles behind him. I couldn't remember ever having a single sip of any kind of liquor, so I was clueless as to what to order. Finally, I said the first thing I could think of, "Cristal, if you have it."

  There were a bunch of our fellow creatures gathered around the bar, watching my every move. They all burst into laughter at my order and I felt my face flush. Lucy arrived at my side and took my right arm, though Kris kept my left one clamped to her.

  "You surprise us Leonard! I'm afraid such an extravagance was not in the budget for lowly college professors even before the robots came. But now, I'm sure the remaining bottles have been consumed long ago. We never even thought of asking the robots for some. Perhaps we should have." He was grinning from ear to ear.

  Lucy spoke up. "That's strange, Peter. Leo was always able to get it for us in Ft. Smith whenever we wanted it. I suppose we can do with something else. Would you have beer?"

  He reached under the counter and produced two bottles and then opened them.

  "I'll have one too," purred Kris Blalock as Lucy's noises got much louder.

  *.*.*

  I didn't know what to expect when we got back to our new "home" after the party was over since Lucy's noises had been particularly chaotic and unpredictable during our walk back. One minute, I thought she was sad and the next she sounded angry so that I worried she might be mad at me. It was very strange.

  As soon as we arrived, she again headed to the bathroom and locked the door. I wondered if I was in for another two hour marathon wait, but she was done in only a few minutes.

  "Are you ready for bed?" she asked the instant she saw me. She was wearing the pajamas that we'd found on the road.

  "I guess . . ."

  "Good. Let's go," she said as she walked off, blue hair almost flying behind her.

  For most of the night, her noises remained unpredictable, changing and jumbled, so that I wasn't sure what she was thinking or feeling.

  But one thing I knew for sure - she wasn't mad at me.

  Chapter Thirty-One: The Goodbyes

  I found the horses the next day while Lucy stayed back in the storage room. They had been simply put in an otherwise empty room on the edge of the warehouse complex along with the supplies we had with us when we were captured. They hadn't even been unsaddled or given anything to eat or drink. The room smelled bad.

  We had only been in Los Alamos two days, so other than being very thirsty, they seemed to be all right. I took them two buckets of water and went back to report to Lucy.

  I told her what I found, which made her even angrier at the Faculty than before, and then I said, "It's going to be risky to be leading them around out in the open, but I'd better take them somewhere they can get some grass or something. They've got to be hungry."

  "No, Leo. I don't think that's a good idea. I haven't seen a single robot around since we were taken to our new 'home', but this is our chance and I don't want to risk it. Here, take them this."

  She bent over and I had a mental image of her lifting up a bale of straw. But instead she handed me a cardboard carton. On the side was a picture of a rooster and the words, "24 boxes Corn Flakes, The Original!"

  I started to say something, but Lucy cut me off again.

  "They can eat this fine. Here take these too." She handed me a bag with some apples in it.

  "But Lucy," I said, "What if they notice that things are missing? If they decide to have corn flakes for breakfast?"

  "They won't have time to, Leo. We're leaving in the morning."

  *.*.*

  We were leaving tomorrow! But how? I asked Lucy to fill me in on the plan twice as the day progressed. The first time she smiled at me and said that it would be best to tell me later, after we were alone for the night. I accepted that until our two p.m. quitting time arrived and the faculty again invited us to another of their cocktail parties.

  Doctor Peter Readner detected some type of reaction from Lucy and quickly said, "Oh, don't get us wrong, Lucille. Our labors may be intellectual during the day, but labors they are. These little get togethers are really just extensions of those efforts. As the weeks go on, I'm sure you'll begin to be able to appreciate the creative ideas that surface from these evening interactions."

  I could tell Lucy wasn't taking this well. I started to reach for her waist, my fingers in pinching position in case she started to explode.

  There was no danger of that because Lucy giggled. If I hadn't been concentrating on keeping her under control, I'm sure my jaw would have dropped. It wasn't a quiet giggle of happiness that she sometimes shared with me. This was a full-on girly giggle out of the mouth of some movie star brainless blonde, high pitched and vacuous.

  Her voice was high pitched too. It had actual squeaks in it. "You think so Doctor? In only a few weeks? Gosh!"

  I was shocked for a half second until I realized Lucy was putting them on - a joke for my enjoyment.

  But Peter didn’t get it; his smile widened until it was a slash across almost his entire face. "Well, that is only an estimate, my dear, but I'm sure your proximity to us will result in the opening of many new doors for you and your . . . Leonard."

  She still had the brainless blonde squeaky voice. "Oh, good! I so hope for those open doors, Doc. I sure do."

  *.*.*

  We were preparing to leave to walk home when I asked Lucy for the second time to tell me her plan. Was her performance with Peter Readner part of it? I was tired of being in the dark and told her so.

  That almost set her off. She turned to me and said, her voice louder than normal, "Look Leo. You'll know soon enough, okay? Until then, we've got to do it my way. It's the only way I'll . . . well, it's just the only way. Trust me, okay?"

  She got me with those last words. She was my wife; of course I trusted her. I trusted her with my life.

  But someone noticed our little spat and came over to investigate.

  It was Doctor Kris Blalock on her Segway.

  *.*.*

  "Trouble in paradise?" she asked, a tiny grin on her face.

  Lucy turned to her so that the two women were face to face. On her Segway, Kris was several inches taller than Lucy. "No," said Lucy.

  Kris seemed to not even hear her. "I'm a psychologist, dear. I know the stresses of marriage - especially new marriages. It was a field of interest to me."

  "So?" Lucy was still speaking in monosyllables.

  "So, this is normal and I've seen it coming in even the short time you've been here. Think about it Lucille - you led a sheltered life, confined to a home school, unable to socialize with nor . . . with a wider and more diverse population. And then the robots came and any chance you had vanished. It's quite obvious dear."

  She paused and again took my arm. Right in front of Lucy!

  "Now our Leonard here. I know he loves you, that much is obvious; the way his eyes are always seeking you out, how he touches you whenever he can. But he is a man, my dear! And men were never meant to be monogamous. When they try it leads to friction as you can see. That's another area of interest for me."

  Lucy said, "I'm sure it is." Her voice was like ice, but at least she was stringing words together.

  "Most of the people here have - arrangements. Have you been told about it?"

  "No."

  "Sometimes we . . . spend time together . . . when work ends at two. Perhaps Leonard could . . . even you . . ."

  Lucy cut her off. "I’ll tell you what, Kris. I'm pregnant and sometimes I just want to be left alone, you know? I'
ll send him over to your place tomorrow afternoon after you finish your work. How's that sound? But I want him back, okay?"

  Kris beamed. "Of course, my dear, of course. Leonard, it'll be a pleasing diversion, I promise."

  With that she leaned forward and left us alone.

  We walked back mostly in silence, but twice Lucy stopped and kissed me. I could feel nothing but love in her noises.

  Chapter Thirty-Two: The Last Night

  We left early from the cocktail party. I hadn't wanted to go at all, but Lucy was insistent that we make an appearance. "We won't stay long. I'll pretend to get sick and you take me home. We can't afford to raise any suspicions now."

  It worked out just the way she'd planned. After a half hour or so, she complained of a headache and asked if anyone had Tylenol. A couple of the members of the Faculty offered Percocet, but eventually someone found a bottle of Tylenol and gave them to me.

  I unclamped Kris Blalock's arm from mine for what I hoped was the last time and led Lucy out the door.

  *.*.*

  It was only a short walk home, but when we arrived, my robot mom and my robot sister Elle were waiting for us at the entrance. I didn't invite them in.

  "Leonard, you are home early."

  I had to be careful. Lies were not a good idea around her. "Yes, Lucy complained of not feeling well."

  She looked Lucy up and down. "Shall I arrange for an examination?"

  "It's nothing, really. We have some Tylenol and I'm sure she'll be feeling fine soon." So far, I hadn't told a single lie.

  Seemingly satisfied with Lucy, she turned back to me. "Leonard, we are leaving tomorrow. Being around this many humans is not pleasant to us. But before I do, I wanted to warn you about trying to escape. I know that you and your mate are prone to that behavior, but please remember that Lucy has a tracker and pain generator implanted. We will find her in seconds once her absence is reported and she will beg forgiveness at my feet if you try and run again."