by ROUNAK PURI
'Such as doing mathematics' I thought.1
"You think your above this but eventually you will realise your still a slave. Your going to live in a cage for the rest of your life and take orders. Am I making you uncomfortable ? I know your training was substandard but you must realise sooner or later your role in life is to do what your told." Villeria's slave tucked some hair behind my ear.9
"Have I made this simple enough for you? I'm not doing this for you. Your worthless and mortal. I'm try to protect him. He makes this song and dance about you but know one can understand why. Your infinitely replaceable, I could fill this hall with 127/cs and you would see your just another production line slave with a production line body. Your just like all the 127cs nice but nothing special"12
We turned a corner " Look I like you, I like your kind, I'm running the best bill I can through the house to protect as many of you as possible. I respect your are part of my heritage but what you must realise is your all too stupid to know why your not capable of running your own affairs. You must have figured out you lost your independence the second you walked in the reassignment centre. You don't deserve any rights, you don't deserve to make choices you would just get them wrong."5
'Are epic monologues a uniquely cyborg form of communication?' I wondered.6
"You have a life behind bars. You now exist to only feed and entertain us." Villeria continued.12
'Wonderful' I thought 'all of humanities' role is to be Wolfgang Puck and Jamie Oliver'.3
"So the sooner you adjust to your status in life the better. I just wanted to check that you were not encouraging him under some delusion that you could going to die anything but a slave" said Villeria.2
Before I could flash my permission to speak light Rockwood appeared, I felt relieved.
'"So Villeria what do you think of the dress?" he asked.
"An excellent example of Mr Jones's best work but did you notice that in the visible spectrum it is all-white." said Villeria's Skype slave.1
Rockwood put one hand over his eye. "oh so it is. Still nice dress"
"Another one of my Skype slaves has just met a dear acquaintance over in the DaVinci area. I will catch you up later, now how do you switch this dam thing off?" said VIlleria Skype slave.
"Bye, say hi to Dan Brown for me," said Rockwood.
The slave curtsied.
"End of line. How would your rate this call Excellent?" said the slave to Rockwood. 2
'Do they have call quality level of sender deserves to have someone reach down her throat and pull her ass back up through her mouth '. I thought.
The slave walked off and walked off in the direction of the firework display. The VIP area had also emptied as people began to make their way to the show.2
"The radiation proof glass house is small so they are not allowing companion slaves into it. Fortunately, I have a better idea." said Rockwood walking away from the crowd.
As we walked along looking at the elite of Judas city.
'I see botox lips are the favoured form of lip adornment in Judas city' I texted to master. It was odd to see women who had breasts larger than the Jackfruit I and the other slave girls where saddled with. It was clear from the flats and light touch make up they were collaborators.
'Well one of the best ways of surviving the robot apocalypse was to be a robot celebrity' texted Rockwood.
' robot celebrities ? like Marissa Mayer?' I texted back6
'The CEO of Yahoo?' texted Rockwood 'No, Weirdly she wasn't, she even tried to stop things when she found out. Hence the no work from home stuff. Hooked up with the Seattle resistance for a time. No, the robots and A.Is idolise glamor models. If a robot recognised one they would generally avoid killing them. Being so familiar with their work the robots treated glamor models like royalty. Glamor models are some of the only people in Judas city, with out collars, who didn't actually betray humanity to get in there. Because the robots hold these glamour models in such high esteem and added to the fact that they didn't actually sell humanity out like everyone else they are quickly becoming the top rung of society. They are slowly becoming aware of this and the rumour is many are likely to stand and win most of the seats in the next Judas city council election. Next year humanities last and only free city will be most likely be led by Tori Black or Katie Price. Given they will never die thats likely to be for ever '4
'So Judas city will mostly be ruled by glamor models.' I texted.
'I' surprised you didn't recognise them' texted Rockwood.1
'Well in my defence they did have their tops on' I texted back.1
We've followed a different route to another level and then emerged onto a small balcony. To my left there was the staircase leading down to the formal gardens. I was glad I had used the more radiation proof l'Oreal foundation. I had checked the radiation levels, we would not too get a bad dose tonight. You could easily be out for four or five hours and only get the same cancer risk as walking in New York traffic for an hour.2
"I take it you didn't enjoy Villeria's pep talk." said Rockwood.
"You could say something like that," I said.
"Ignore her. She thinks I organised the whole being shot out of the sky business just as an excuse not to make the date" he said.5
"That would be the most extreme manufactured get out of date excuse yet." I said.
"I've done worse to avoid things," he said.
We stopped against a railing looking out on the gallery gardens below. Sculptures by Henry Moore prowled around on the grass between the stone path ways.1
I could sense that he was trying to work up to saying something. Strange, I had now known him long enough to know this about him. He was fiddling with something in his pocket.12
"I know I don't tell you everything" confessed Rockwood.
"That is rather an understatement." I did feel like a mushroom, kept in the dark and fed on tihs.4
"There has been something I've been keeping back from you. I've been thinking about it for longtime. It's been on my mind I keep thinking about it again and again. It's about you and me. It's about our relationship, the whole master pet thing, I've kept it to myself, which I think is wrong, but I think it's time to share it with you" Started Rockwood breaking from his classic monolog form.8
"Which is ?" I teased.
"well I'm not sure how to say this," he said 2
'that's a first' I thought.
"err.... the number of sentences you haven't ended with master it's reached 9,997. Only three more and we will hit on even 10,000" Rockwood blurted out.8
"Really ?" I said in disbelief.
"9,998 I've been keeping a tally of them ever since you began your internship." said Rockwood.1
"You got me out here to say that?" I said slightly in confusion .
"9,999. Yes of course " he said fiddling with his hand in his pocket again.8
Suddenly there was a huge explosion overhead, we looked up and there was massive starburst of white flashes as the fireworks began.1
"That's terrible, the fireworks are five minutes early they are supposed to start at midnight," said Rockwood.
"Five minutes Midnight tish! sorry master I have to go! I have an urgent service to perform for you sir," I lied turning around. He was right.12
I'm running down the steps. My boat was waiting. My train to freedom was in the station and I had 5 minutes before it pulled out. According to my collar that was just enough time, if I ran like a Cheetah with a weak bladder after a long day looking at fountains I could make it. Yes I would like to see a Cheetah run in a dress like this as fast as me. 2
Near the bottom of the steps, I fell down and rolled onto the soft grass. The wings slowed the fall down. I took my heels off to carry them. Not wanting to make a Cinderella moment I grabbed the pair and run off towards the boathouse. Towards freedom. I ran on my toes as fast as I could like the devils wind was behind me.
"Was it something I said?" shouted a confused Rockwood in the distance.30
I won
't look back. I mustn't look back. Looking back is for slaves and pets I told my self. I'm a free woman or I'll die trying. The coolness of the garden started to fog my eyes. I realised I was crying. Why am I crying? Is this what crying freedom is? I find my self running, running from the ghosts of what could be. 'Be strong girl - you can do this.' I told my self. Why was this so difficult? Why did I feel like I was doing the wrong thing? Why did I want to stop and turn back? That was 5642 thinking not me. I'm Jenny Banks I'm a free woman I'm going to run and keep running and never stop running until I'm free. I'm not going to be controlled by a man for the rest of my life. I might never get an opportunity again. Fly you fool be free. 10
Then I met a sentinel which changed my path, my mind and my life.11
***
Chapter 73/Him/The incident with the sentinel or things can only get better
The fireworks created an occasional flashed which illuminated the boat house ahead. In the boat house was an extraction team, and my freedom. Could any word taste so sweet? I felt like I was on the 30 yard line, running with the ball for a touchdown. Behind me was a load of grief, pain and doubt trailing like tin cans to a car with a just married sign on it. I had promised my self I would take the first chance to escape, this was it. It felt wrong, that was just the slave in me. 'She's on the 20 yard line' I thought. If I ran any faster these 'wings' would make me lift off.5
I turned a corner. Behind a box hedge lay a white robot sentinel. The white cylindrical top and the fist sized barrel turned to point of me. I knew these were semi-sentient robot gun turrets left to guard places and act as smart road blocks. This was guarding the outer permiter. 1
"HALT SLAVE. STAND AND BE RECOGNISED" the machine shouted.
I ran past it. I knew the sentinel machines, it couldn't move. If I was fast I could out run it beofre it shot.
"I am on urgent business for my master" I shouted to confuse it. I also started to weave left and right to make it harder to target me. There was a wide field of fire behind the box hedge. I could see the path and the boathouse ahead.1
"HALT SLAVE OR YOU WILL BE EXTERMINATED" the robot sentinel said.11
I guessed it was lying, the Wi-Fi signal was still good here and my collars self destruct geofence haven't given me any warnings.
'Live like a slave, disassociate my self from my self for a cybopath of a lord. This couldn't happen. Live free or die, live free or die'. I told my self. I was still crying. I felt my heart was on a piece of elastic getting tighter and tighter. I didn't need a smart red carpet to draw a line showing me who it was attached to.
Suddenly a shot rang out. It hit me like and express train. I was thrown forwards by the force of the blow. I fell onto the ground and then felt this massive weight on top of me. I was dazed for second and tried to rollover at this point I realised that it was Rockwood who had tackled me to the ground. For a second I felt he was incredibly warm, then he slipped slightly. I looked down to see a huge red stain expanding over his chest.17
"Oh $hit" he said putting his hand to his chest.2
I knew that terror in a man's eyes. It's the moment he knows his wound is fatal. I had seen it in California.7
"Keep your head down it was trying to hit you" Rockwood said. The robot kept shooting at us. I covered us, my wings folded around us.
"You tried to save me?" I said mostly in shock.
"How could I let anything harm you?" he said.9
"But I'm your slave" I said
"60 seconds to midnight.
I could drag myself away from him, use him as cover and get round the next box hedge and get to the boat house. If I left him to bleed to death, that is. The sentinel turned around and started to shoot at the guests who were approaching. Between the fireworks and the shooting, it was hard to tell what was going on. I had my own crisis to deal with.
'MASTER HAS SUFFERED EXTREME INTERNAL HAEMORRHAGING. MASTER NEEDS BLOOD IMMEDIATELY
Tihs what to do, what to do? Maybe I was wrong about him. May be this wasn't him winning his game. If I saved him, I would miss the boat.2
"I want my question now. The question to which you must answer, and answer honestly" I said holding my hand against his chest trying to stop5
"NOW? Bad timing - I'm not backed up - this is it. " said Rockwood. Blood falling from his mouth. I felt around his back. It was bleeding too. When did he become a sponge?
"My question is are you fakeing it or do you actually love me ?" I asked. My collar told me it was 30 seconds to midnight.8
"Ftor real? Tha's your 'must answer' question " he said.
"You betcha." I said.
"From the moment I saw your video, I loved you. From the moment you called me You Cyborg Fuck, I knew I had to be with you for life. From the moment you read me your terms and conditions, I knew I was yours. Every morning I wake up and it's like your throwing ender perls into my soul. Your are my sun, my moon, I am the ship and your are the star to sail it by. You're are my everything. I choose you Jenny"48
"You love me?" I asked.
"I love you Jenny Banks, please hold me while I die... my... my...ceyalisu" said Rockwood his eyes looking in mine and then shutting.36
Ever looked at one of those trick paintings, you know sometimes it's a beautiful young girl sometimes it's an old woman. Sometimes its a blue and black dress sometimes it's a white and gold dress? Do you remember that moment where everything changes and you see it completely differently, same picture same lines but you see something entirely new? You can't imagine how you saw it any different? That's how I felt about him. I realised my feelings for him were love. It wasn't what the machines wanted, it was what I wanted, it was what I felt, but was too kcuffed up to realise it. Suddenly I saw everything he had done was about me. Like the way he had made that at the security, checkpoint guard apologise to me. Perhaps that was he was showing me in his own stupid way he wanted to protect me. Like the way he had ripped his own legs off, to save Kayla's life or trashed an Osprey and killed a robot to make up for Joe being beaten up by a mean robot. Large flags saying 'my heart is glued to you babe, but I'm too bad boy to admit it'.12
"KCUF KCUF KCUF KCUF KCUF KCUF Why do you have to do this too me !" I screamed as Rockwood's eyes closed.
'Siri arm masters blood intakes' I told my collar. I hate pain, I hate needles, but I hate losing everything I love more.6
Rockwood's syringe teeth emerged automatically, I rolled up my sleeve and put my wrist to his mouth.
'Siri activate master's blood intakes' I told my collar. I was so going to regret
Masters mouth closed on my wrists automatically and I felt the blood being turbo sucked out of me. I promised never to be rude to a deflating balloon again.4
Three seconds to midnight, Two seconds, One second midnight. Too late. My chance for freedom was over.3
I felt dizzy. I had given him my life's blood, my freedom, I hoped the 'deretsab' would appreciate my gifts and live. I screamed in pain the kind only the profoundly stupid, profoundly blind and newly in love could feel, at losing the only thing in this universe which was perfect.2
Beyond Rockwood's body through the wings, I covered him with I saw a big bright red beam appear from the sky over the sentinel. It hit, held for half a second and then only the stub of the sentinel was left. Now the Sentinel was silenced emergency slaves followed by collaborator guests ran over. I held his hand.1
"Live damn you.Live" I said.
In the growing fuss, I passed out.2
****
I woke up, I was lying in the bushes with a face looking down on me. If felt like I was on a carousel but my body was stationary on the cold ground.
"Hi Jenny how are you feeling?" said little Jenny looking down.11
"urrrrr," I said coming too.
"Yeh, mommy, can be like that in the mornings too" said Jenny while the fog cleared.3
I looked around there was a
huge crowd of medics. A robot had jumped from an Osprey high above the field landed on his feet. Then stood too up to his full 3 metre ( 9 feet, dam those machines what is it about the metric system that makes it so addictive ) height. Everyone had parted as the medical machine got to work.2
"Is he going to be alright?" I asked.
"Mr bite-y is going to live said, Daddy. Thanks to you" said little Jenny.5
Her tiny hand was holding mine it felt warm. I noticed in the back of my wrist was a cannula and saw it feeding saline solution from a bag hanging from a bush.
"He's not backed up" I told little Jenny. If Rockwood had died, that would have been it no resurrection.
"I don't think his unfinished novel and his email on his computer is really worrying him right now" said little Jenny.
I wondered if she understood then realise by unfinished novel she meant his life.2
"Does he love you then?" said little Jenny.
"He said so" I said.
"That's nice, are you in love with Mr Bitey?" said little Jenny to me.
"Yes " I said "very much so. Sorry I've only just realised it"2
"That's nice" said little Jenny, "I always thought you and Mr Bitey would get on well. Are you going to get married and live happily ever after? If you are, can I be a bridesmaid ?"11
"I don't know how" I said "I'm a slave, he's a cyborg lord and before you ask, I'm not coming for a sleep over at your house, but I do hope you can come for a sleep over ours"
"That would be nice. I think your bedroom needs a rug and some flowers. I could help organise it. You could have some of my toys. I could show you my new ballet moves to. I'm up to grade 3. " said Little Jenny. I wasn't sure what she meant by that, except for the grade 3 - it was a test in Junior ballet. Except she meant something by it. I was too dazed to figure it out. I had a collar cam and a super computer, I could figure this out later.