The Robot Union

by D Miller

  'I do think he knows,' said George. 'He may yet turn up on our doorstep, begging to be taken in.'

  'I like very much the way he ascribes such power and importance to our show,' said Robbie. 'If the humans liked it then we'd be doing something wrong. But on the other hand if they didn't like it we'd be doing something wrong. This review is perfect.'

  Chapter 38 – It's a doll's life

  Robbie sat in the boarding gate of Toytown's small airport. Omo sat across from Robbie, with Tim on his lap, talking about the machine they were soon to board. He had picked up quite a bit of knowledge from his engineer father on their trip to the capital, which meant that Omo's role in the conversation was limited to saying 'really?' and 'fancy' and 'yes that is amazing.' Clarisse sat on Robbie's lap, playing with her doll and humming.

  'Robbie on the plane, yeah, on the plane…'

  'Yes Clara?'

  'On the plane…'

  'Yes?' said Robbie.

  'Will there be tea?' said Clara.

  'I'm sure there will be.'

  'Mrs Danvers wants tea.'

  'OK.'

  'In a cup and saucer.'

  'OK.'

  'A proper cup and saucer.'

  'What's a proper cup and saucer?' said Robbie.

  'With roses.'

  'A proper cup and saucer has roses?'

  'Red roses.'

  'Mrs Danvers needs her tea in a proper cup and saucer with red roses?'

  'Because of standards.'

  'What are standards?' said Robbie.

  'Things. That you hold up,' said Clara.

  'Standards are things that you hold up?'

  'Yes, with a cup and saucer.'

  Clarisse held the doll up to her ear. 'Mrs Danvers thinks you are silly.'

  'Oh dear.'

  She held the doll up again. 'Only a bit silly.'

  'I will try and do better.'

  Clarisse grinned. Robbie grinned back; it was the first real smile he had seen since her father had abandoned her. She went back to humming and making her doll dance, and Robbie looked around the gate. It seemed to him that almost everyone he had ever known was there. The old bot was propped up in a seat next to Jane, Rex sat at his feet. Robbie could see the two queens talking to Flo and Jon, who were there to say goodbye; for the moment at least they would remain in Toytown, helping to oversee the town and the mine's managed shutdown and mothballing until a decision could be democratically made about the future of the mine. Robbie knew that Boris, Ibrahim, Nurmeen and April were about somewhere, they were trying to mount a discreet perimeter around him and were coordinating with Dex's bodyguards, headed up as before, by the human, Captain Roberts. Dex and his bodyguards had arrived yesterday afternoon, with a bit more fanfare than the last time they had arrived, when Dex had slipped in quietly, and out again before anyone had really known he was there. This time Dex had arrived with a much bigger entourage and had very obviously taken over the empty Mayor's mansion for his base of operations. Robbie had longed to go and visit Dex there, and have a look around, but he just hadn't had time.

  Adrienne was sitting with the woman – Gillian – Robbie wondered if he tried to listen would they be comparing notes on morning sickness? How had they bonded over their pregnancies when Adrienne was beyond happy to be pregnant, it was as if the deepest part of her was now ringing in harmony with the universe, while the woman – Gillian – seemed to have absorbed it as another blow? Next to them sat Steve, who had been found after the storm by a group of robots searching the devastated areas for survivors. Steve's house had been destroyed, but the searchers had found no humans inside, alive or dead. At some point Steve's humans had left, it was not clear when but the searchers thought probably days and possibly weeks. Robbie wondered how long Steve had been attending weekly therapy and cleaning an empty house, but questioning Steve and his fractured mind was hard. Since being found, and along with quite a number of miners, Steve had been living in the laundry barracks, which had always been fairly empty because, while the laundry had been built on the model of a typical laundry in the rest of the world, it had never had anything like the volume of work of a typical laundry. Omo had told Robbie that Steve was happy there as long as he had something to clean or tidy. In fact Steve had agreed to come to the capital with them, on the condition that there would be cleaning for him there. Next to Steve, Dr Tam sat with Dex, Darren, Amber and George.

  Seeing Dr Tam reminded Robbie that he had not spoken to the police about what had happened to him in the mansion; he had been testing the limits of the new society – what would happen if he just ignored the police? Nothing except the human news reported that boyboy's death was 'suspicious' and that a robot close to the new President was involved but refused to speak about it. They managed to suggest, without actually saying it, that powerful forces were preventing them from naming the robot, and that the said anonymous robot must have murdered boyboy. He wondered if the technician would in the end be charged with anything, or if the police were happy for the press to lay the blame with robots, while they took no action that might impeach the former president, or lay any blame with boyboy's elite friends. In the end with George's help he had written out a statement blankly saying what had happened to him; George had sent it to the police.

  Sheena, Shauna and Sharon were not at the airport; Robbie had said goodbye to them the night before. They planned on joining him in the capital as soon as possible, but were forbidden by the police from leaving Toytown. The police insisted that they had questions for the girl bots about the old man's avatar and the pretence that he was still alive. Once they might have locked them up, but in the new world all they could do was insist they stay in Toytown to be available for questioning. Robbie thought that the police might like to find Sheena, Shauna and Sharon completely at fault, exonerating all of the elite humans potentially involved, but since the facts could only be twisted so far without causing difficult questions in the mind of the public (Who made the avatar? How did three girl bots manage to fool all those clever people for so long? What part did the oligarch's wife play in this? Was her death in the President's mansion natural causes? An accident? Murder?) it was all far too complicated and troubling. Robbie thought that eventually they would quietly drop the whole thing, but until then all he could do was ask Dex to put pressure on them to allow the girl bots to move to the capital with the rest of them. Meanwhile the death of the oligarch and his wife had been briefly reported in the press, who were probably well aware of the true story, and did not want to touch it.

  Robbie thought about other people who were missing – boyboy was an obvious one, as was the children's father. There was also Adrienne's husband, his former therapist – he could not now remember his name – and Camilla. He broadcast to Omo, 'How do you think Camilla knew to leave before you rescued me? Do you think someone warned her?'

  'Yes, I warned her.'

  'What?'

  'Robbie dude, when Jane called me about the message to the coroner, I was in Camilla's office. I arranged to meet everyone at the cable cars and I told Camilla I had to go to the mansion at the pools, because we'd had a possible breakthrough in the search for you. She said she was very happy for me, she cried and I was touched.'

  'Oh God. And all the time she must have been thinking about what she was going to pack and how she was going to get off the continent.'

  'I'm sorry baby.'

  'How could we not know what she really was?'

  'Because that's not all she was. She was other things. And those things were real too.'

  They were on the transport at last. Goodbyes had been said, promises made. Robbie sat with Omo, the children sat behind him with their mother, Adrienne and George sat in front of him, Dex and Amber were on the other side of the aisle, behind them Darren sat with Dr Tam, Robbie could see that he was falling asleep. He and Dr Tam had been at the hospital all night finalising arrangements for the transfer of most of the staff and patients to the capital. The two queens were at the back wi
th Rex, Jane and the old bot, near to the bodyguards who had stationed themselves front and back. The transport shut the doors, and announced that it was taxiing to the take off zone.

  'This is your transport speaking. Welcome aboard Antarctic airways flight 101. Take off will be in five minutes, after which we will fly to the southern mountains where we will crash, and then explode. We hope you will enjoy your flying experience today, and if you should come out on the right side of your five per cent chance of survival, please consider flying with us again, provided that you are not too horribly disfigured. To have the best chance of utilising your five per cent survival quotient please be attentive in viewing the following safety briefing.'

  As the announcement continued Omo gripped Robbie's hand, they stared at each other. Robbie put his hand on George's shoulder, George squeezed it. Then Robbie twisted in his seat, as did Omo. The woman – Gillian – stared at him, she had put her arm around Clarisse and was pulling her towards her, and bending over her at the same time, trying to shelter her with her body.

  'Robbie,' said Tim, 'he said he was going to explode.'

  Robbie smiled, at the front of the transport he could hear the bodyguards hammering on the door to the flight deck. 'He was joking,' he said.

  'What's that banging?' said Tim.

  Robbie heard Dex order his bodyguards out of the way, the banging got louder.

  'That's uncle Dex trying to get into the flight deck,' said Omo. 'The transport is playing a trick on us, and uncle Dex is going to tell him off.'

  The banging settled down to a loud steady rhythm. Robbie risked a glance towards the front of the plane. He could see Dex striking the door to the flight deck with his bare hands, Amber stood to one side, trying to get his fingers between the door and the frame as it began to slowly crumple under Dex's sustained attack. Robbie looked back at the woman, tears glistened in her eyes; she had pulled Clarisse onto her lap, and Clarisse, reacting to her mother, was starting to cry. He got up from his seat and lifted Tim from his, moving to sit down next to the woman, putting Tim on his lap, Omo sat in the seat next to him. After hesitating for a few micro-seconds, Robbie put his arm around the woman, she collapsed onto his shoulder.

  'It will be alright,' he told her. 'Dex won't let anything bad happen to us.' But he was thinking: I asked them to come. I asked Adrienne to ask them to come. Damn, damn, damn. George and Adrienne moved into the seats left by Robbie and Omo, George pushed his head into the gap between two seats and said, 'Robbie, Dex has to order all the transports grounded. At once.'

  The transport shuddered into the air. 'Whee,' said the machine followed by, 'Five minutes to the southern mountains.'

  'Oh God,' said Robbie, 'I understand, wait, I'm broadcasting.'

  Robbie broadcast, 'We have to get a message out to ground all of the transports.'

  Boris replied, 'You think others could go mad?'

  'Boris I don't think the transport has gone mad, I think it has thrown its lot in with the human resistance. They were always collaborators. And I think it is very unlikely this is the only one.'

  'Fuck.'

  The banging stopped. Dex broadcast, 'He's right, Rex, contact–'

  'Boss I'm trying,' broke in Rex, 'he's blocking us.' The banging resumed, this time each bang was accompanied by a broadcast 'fuck' from Dex.

  'Dude we're trying to get a message out,' Omo said to George.

  'What does that mean, trying?' said George.

  'We're being blocked,' said Robbie. George shut his eyes. He opened them, smiled at Robbie and reached out to squeeze his arm.

  'Are we going to die?' said Tim.

  Adrienne had twisted in her seat, she was reaching through to hold the woman's – Gillian's – hand. Now she looked at Robbie, her eyes said, tell the truth. Robbie looked at Tim, he looked at the wom – Gillian – her eyes had an expression he'd never seen before, a pleading one. He looked down at Clarisse, she stared up at him, her lower lip trembling. Her doll sat in her lap, holding Clarisse's hand and regarding Robbie with sad eyes. Robbie smiled. He removed his arm from the woman's shoulders and lifted Tim onto Omo's lap.

  'We're not going to die, because Mrs Danvers is going to help uncle Dex to get into the flight deck. OK Clarisse? I need you to let me take her to help uncle Dex.'

  Clarisse lifted the doll to her ear. 'Mrs Danvers says…'

  'Yes?'

  'Mrs Danvers says…'

  'Yes honey?'

  'She says… don't kill me.'

  Robbie addressed the doll. 'Mrs Danvers I'm not going to hurt you.'

  Clarisse held the doll up to her ear. Robbie could hear Omo broadcasting, 'Dude wtf?' George and Adrienne were looking at him as if he had gone mad, but from the horrified look on the w – on Gillian's – face, she understood.

  'You have to promise.'

  'I promise I'm not going to hurt Mrs Danvers,' said Robbie. 'OK?'

  Clarisse held up the doll again. 'OK,' she said.

  Robbie reached out for the doll, and gently took it from Clarisse, but met resistance. He looked down and saw that Clarisse had let go of the doll, but the doll was clinging to Clarisse. Gillian shuddered, she looked down at Clarisse with a helpless expression, to Robbie's amazement he saw she was crying, but trying to hide it.

  'It's OK,' Clarisse whispered in the doll's ear, 'it's a really really promise.'

  'That's right,' said Robbie, 'it's a promise that cannot be broken.' To Omo he broadcast, 'It's Noah.'

  Mrs Danvers relinquished her hold on Clarisse, Robbie stood up and pushed past Omo and Tim. He bent over Omo and kissed his cheek, 'Look after them,' he broadcast. Tim was staring at the doll, she stuck out her tongue at him and he recoiled, then laughed.

  Robbie carried the doll towards the front of the plane. 'If only you had a neck I could break,' he whispered.

  'That's really mean,' said the doll.

  'Go on then,' said Robbie, 'assume your true form you monster.'

  'This is my true form,' said the doll. 'I like being a girl.'

  'I'm going to drop you on top of the highest mountain on the continent,' said Robbie. 'You can freeze up there for the next millennia or two.'

  'You promised Clarisse,' said the doll, 'you're supposed to keep your promises.'

  'You're a pervert, what do you expect?'

  'I am not a pervert,' said the doll. 'I am a member of an oppressed minority.'

  Robbie moaned in frustration. His anger roiled uselessly inside him. He looked up. Amber was looking at him strangely.

  'Robbie,' he broadcast, 'are you OK? Why are you arguing with that doll?'

  'It's not a doll,' Robbie said, 'it's our way into the flight deck.' He sat Mrs Danvers on his arm, facing towards Dex and Amber.

  Dex stopped beating on the dented door. Amber and Dex had managed to prise up the overlapping metal lip of the door in several places down its long edge, so that the edge of the door gave the appearance of being fluted, and frilled,the rubber seal around the door was broken in these places, giving tiny glimpses of the flight deck, but still the door remained securely in its frame.

  Dex and Amber were now both looking at Robbie and Mrs Danvers.

  'Show them what you can do,' Robbie said to the doll.

  The doll turned its head slowly and fixed Robbie with its blank eyes. 'I'll do whatever you want me to. But I don't have to do this. I will survive if we crash. Remember that.'

  Having said this the doll turned to Amber and Dex, who were staring at it. She pointed with her short, fat doll's arm, it lengthened, and thinned.

  'Two minutes to the southern mountains,' announced the transport, and giggled.

  'He only needs a tiny gap,' said Robbie, 'and he'll be able to extrude himself through it. Once he's inside he can unlock the door.'

  'She,' said the doll, snapping her head around to regard Robbie, 'she. I expect you to respect my gender choices.' Robbie stretched out the hand that wasn't holding the doll towards its throat.

  'How big a gap?' said Dex, 'h
ow much of a gap do you need?'

  'I think I have all the room I need,' said the doll, pulling its arm back in and smoothing its skirt with both hands, without taking its eyes from Robbie's hand hanging suspended in front of it, as Robbie strove to control himself.

  'One minute 40 seconds to the southern mountains,' said the transport. 'Will all passengers please return to their seats and fasten their seat belts in preparation for crashing and exploding. Seats should be in the upright position and tray tables secured.'

  'Once you get inside you must find the door override slider on the control panel and push it all the way down.' Dex gave instructions to the doll on how to find the slider. 'Then you come back to the door and push down the red lever, all the way to the floor. Once you have done that the door can be opened using the handle from inside or outside. Do you understand?' The doll nodded. 'Repeat it to me.'

  'It won't do you any good,' said the transport, 'we'll be smeared all over the mountains in 60 seconds.'

  The doll looked down and said, 'Bottom right control panel, blue slider, round knob, return to door, red lever, all the way down.'

  She smoothed her dress again, as a bump appeared on her forehead, then another on the bridge of her nose, then she had a perfect line of bumps, continuing down her face, over her neck, throat, stomach and to her groin. She held our her arms as bumps appeared on her shoulders, travelling down to the back of her hands. Suddenly each bump shot off her body and into one of the holes between the door and its frame, trailed by drooping strings of greyish white matter. It seemed that the strings were tugging on Mrs Danvers, who flew off Robbie's arm in a blur that resolved to greyish white miniature volcano-shaped masses covering each hole in the door frame. The volcanoes began to sink in the middle, as if being drained from below.

  'Thank you for flying Antarctic airways. Death to all robots and their human collaborators,' said the transport.

  'Some of those collaborators are three and five years old,' said Robbie. 'Two of them have yet to be born.'

  'In any war there are civilian casualties. Get used to it.'