The Android Chronicles Book One: The Android Defense

by Marling Sloan

  “Vienna!” Mandelie said. “Why are you in Vienna?”

  “I need to do something important here,” Luke said. “You don’t have to worry. Trust me. I’ll come back as soon as I can.”

  “Okay, but-”

  “Trust me,” Luke said. He shut off his communication console.

  It was early evening when a huge and broad Rolls Royce more impressive than any other to be found in the world left the gates of Schoenbrunn Palace, on its way to the Musikverein. A car filled with Imperial Guards followed the Rolls Royce.

  Inside the car, Dabya looked extremely beautiful in a long dark blue dress, a shimmering silk wrap around her shoulders, and opera gloves. Her pale blond hair was tied in a knot behind her head. Immense diamonds dangled from her ears.

  Luke sat beside her, wearing a dark tuxedo and white tails.

  “Do you like your room?” Dabya said, regarding him closely.

  “Very much,” Luke said.

  “You look like a royal in those clothes,” Dabya said. “They fit you well.”

  Luke smiled but said nothing.

  “I am just endlessly fascinated by you,” Dabya said. “You look so human. But I’m sure people say that to you all the time.”

  “Often,” Luke said.

  “My information tells me that you’re romantically involved with a girl in America,” Dabya said. “I recently broke off my engagement to a longtime suitor. The press was convinced that we were going to marry.”

  She sighed.

  “I find myself a bit disillusioned by things, now.”

  “You shouldn’t,” Luke said. “You’re beautiful. Intelligent. You have the best human qualities.”

  Dabya smiled at him.

  “I take great pleasure in your company,” she said.

  Chapter 4.

  The Musikverein was otherwise known in Vienna as the Golden Hall. It seated nearly two thousand people inside. Outside its façade was dominated by white columns built into its walls and made in the Greek style. Inside, its majestic room held rows of red chairs facing a full orchestra seat with golden organ pipes stretching to the roof of the hall. The walls were set with private box seats for the wealthy and privileged.

  Luke and Dabya were escorted by the Musikverin‘s general manager to one of those private box seats, as two of Dabya’s guards including Nikolaus took up arms outside of the room.

  Dabya pulled up her skirts as she sat in one of the plush red chairs in the box. Luke took the chair beside her.

  “Excuse me, Princess,” a man with an access card hanging around his neck said, appearing out of nowhere. He was carrying a camera. “May I take your picture for the Vienna Times?”

  “You may,” Dabya said. She put her arm through Luke’s and leaned closer to him. The photographer snapped a picture of them both, and slipped away.

  “Now the press will wonder if I am romantically involved with you,” Dabya said, with a slight laugh. “But I couldn’t possibly take that picture by myself.”

  A dark-shirted waiter came into the box and offered them drinks from his tray slung around his neck.

  “Cognac?”

  “Yes, thank you,” Dabya said. “Two glasses, please.” The waiter gave them two glasses and left discreetly.

  Luke scanned the audience below them and noticed that several bodyguards were in attendance among them, stealthily glancing in Dabya’s direction from time to time.

  “It must be hard, living in the light of attention all the time,” he said.

  “I’ve lived in that light since I was born,” Dabya said. “I suppose I should be used to it. But modern technology has made the light even harsher and more brutal.”

  The theatre darkened.

  Madrick Castleshank and Gustaf Jorg, his former engineer, had become unwilling travel partners. They were on the run from the authorities in America, who were slowly drawing nearer to identifying them as being connected to the chaos in the android circus.

  The power dynamics between them had been curtly hammered out by Gustaf Jorg the morning they had arrived at Victoria Station in Great Britain.

  “You work for me now,” Gustaf said. “You do what I say. Here in the Old World I am abundantly more esteemed and connected than you are.”

  “I’ve traveled Europe extensively,” Madrick said, sounding sulky.

  “Traveled, yes,” Gustaf said. “Like an ignominious tourist, no doubt, drawing your inspiration for that hideous building of yours in New York City.”

  Madrick looked irate. But he said nothing.

  “Where are we going?” he said.

  “I’ve contacted a friend of mine who lives in Luxembourg,” Gustaf said. “We will lie low at her residence until I’ve reached out to all of my associates and colleagues. But neither you nor I will breathe a word of our predicament. You understand? I am simply reestablishing myself in Europe, and you are my employee. My assistant.”

  Madrick pushed his cowboy hat low over his face to hide his thunderous eyes.

  “How did you enjoy the music?” Dabya said.

  She and Luke were walking outside of the concert hall, in the elegant and ancient square surrounding it. Though the hour was somewhat late, there were still many people enjoying the square, many of them linking arms with each other for a nighttime stroll.

  Nikolaus and four Imperial guards were surreptitiously tailing them, but Dabya took no notice of them and Luke also put them from his mind.

  “It was indescribably magnificent,” he said. “I keep a running list of human activities that I enjoy. I will certainly be adding the Vienna symphony to that one.”

  Dabya smiled.

  “I’m glad to hear it.”

  She had her glove-encased arm tucked in Luke’s, and Luke’s jacket over her shoulders.

  “I am glad you are an android who appreciates music,” she said. “Music, I feel, is one of the things that shows humanity in its best light. I speak of older music of course. You must be less inclined to look down on us when you are listening to our music, am I right?”

  “Look down on you?” Luke said.

  “You can be frank with me, Luke,” Dabya said. “Your great intelligence must secretly also make you feel as though androids are superior to humans. What is your honest opinion of humanity? Please tell me.”

  Luke did not say anything for a moment. Dabya’s question had thrown into light the persisting question of his existence. Of course he was programmed to assist humans with the gifts of his innumerable abilities, but did he feel humility towards them as well? Or arrogance? No, not arrogance, just a knowledge of which was the more superior being. In a moment he realized the lurking truth behind all of his interactions with human beings.

  “I think I do feel androids are superior,” he said. “I think in the end, my loyalty lies with them, not with humans, though I was created by one.”

  “But you are involved with a human girl, aren’t you?” Dabya said, watching him closely. “Where does she fall into all of this?”

  Chapter 5.

  Mandelie lay in her bed, unable to fall asleep. She was trying not to think of Luke and what he could possibly be doing in Vienna, but she was unsuccessful in blocking the thought from her mind. She wondered if she could try to send him a message, but she decided against it. He had clearly seemed wrapped up in his mysterious task, and wanted no communication with her for the time being.

  She reached out and touched the space in the bed where he had been lying only a few days before. Then she got up and went to her living room.

  She sank down on her couch and turned on her television. Many of the news reports were still buzzing over Damian Foster’s miraculous recovery. Mandelie ignored them and settled on a rerun of a movie instead.

  She was red-eyed and slightly bleary from her lack of sleep the next morning when she went into the lab and saw Trista, Brigite, and Jake all gathered behind the computer at the reception desk, their gazes fixed on the screen.

  “More Koala Cam?” Mandelie s
aid, preparing to join them.

  Jake bodily threw himself across the screen.

  “No, it’s … don’t look, Mands.”

  “What’s going on?” Mandelie said with a confused look.

  She pulled Jake off the computer screen and looked at it.

  It showed a media photograph of an extraordinarily beautiful girl, sitting in a theater box seat, her arm tucked into the arm of a handsome personage who was undoubtedly Luke.

  “If it makes you feel any better, Mandelie, I’ve already sent a very angry message to Luke,” Brigite said. “It was all in CAPS letters.”

  “Princess Dabya enjoys a night out with her new paramour,” Mandelie read the caption.

  She rubbed her face.

  “Am I dreaming?”

  “It’s probably just gossip, Mandelie,” Trista said, but she did not sound convincing. “Luke would never go behind your back like that.”

  “Wow, look at the jewels that girl’s wearing,” Jake said.

  “Jake! Not helping,” Brigite said.

  “Sorry,” Jake said. “I’m just pointing it out. I don’t like this any more than you guys do.”

  “She’s an actual princess?” Mandelie said. “For real?”

  She tore herself away from the screen. Trista attempted to follow her.

  “No,” Mandelie said, over her shoulder. “I need to be alone for a little bit.”

  They all heard the door shut loudly behind her.

  Jake shook his head in bewildered disgust at the computer screen.

  “Luke, man, what are you doing?”

  “I don’t really want to know,” Carlie said. She had walked into Damian’s bedroom to find him looking at photos of supermodels and famous actresses he had tacked up on his wall.

  He was now standing back, looking at them intently. Carlie’s entrance made him look around, but before he had said anything she had headed him off.

  “I’m choosing my date for the Adventis party, Carlie,” Damian said.

  “That’s a relief. I thought you were turning into a serial killer.”

  “I’ve gotta make a splash at this thing. I was thinking Jessica Alba, but she’s married, right? I’m leaning towards Kate Upton now.”

  “I’m not even going to pretend that I’m a part of this,” Carlie said. “I am going to change the subject and tell you that I booked the Four Seasons for the party. The invitations have all gone out.”

  “Great, great,” Damian said, only half paying attention. “Do you think you could get a hold of Kate Upton’s people and ask if she’s available?”

  “To be your fake date?”

  “To make an appearance at the event of the year on the arm of a miraculously unparalyzed tech tycoon. She’s not going to turn it down. Make sure you word it that way.”

  “Understood,” Carlie said. “Please take all the photos down from your wall. It makes your bedroom look like a creepy stakeout den.”

  Damian grinned.

  Dabya was powdering her face in her bedroom when she heard her phone ring. She picked it up and answered. Only her most trusted confidantes knew her private line, the others had to go through her secretary.

  “Hello?”

  “Good evening, Your Highness,” the voice on the other end said. “It is Pierre.”

  “How are you, Pierre?” Dabya said. Pierre Alsouvi was a noted robotic engineer in Spain, he was also the undersecretary of the Society of the Future.

  “Very well. I just wished to inform you that the pear tree has bloomed, and the grocers will harvest it a Monday from today, in the Grand Theatre de Geneve in Geneva.”

  “I am delighted to hear it,” Dabya said. “I will be present to see the blooming pear tree.”

  “I am happy to hear it. Good night.”

  Dabya hung up the phone and began brushing her long pale blond hair.

  Luke was carefully closing the windows of his room to keep out the cold night when he heard his communication console alert him to a new message.

  He sat down on a chair and accessed it, expecting it to be from Mandelie though she had not sent him any messages since they had spoken on the phone.

  It was from Brigite.

  LUKE WHAT ARE YOU DOING WE SAW THE PICTURE OF YOU AND THAT PRINCESS. MANDELIE’S VERY UPSET AND I AM FURIOUS WITH YOU. IF YOU WERE HERE RIGHT NOW I’D TAKE ONE OF MY SHOES AND THROW IT AT YOUR HEAD.

  Luke raised his eyebrows. Though his face was inscrutable, he was unsettled at the message.

  He picked up his phone and dialed.

  Mandelie picked up after a few rings.

  “Hello?”

  “It’s me,” Luke said.

  “I know,” Mandelie said. She sounded tired and gloomy.

  “It’s not what you think,” Luke said. “Dabya is just a friend. She is giving me information necessary for what I am doing here in Vienna.”

  “I’m tired of not knowing what’s going on, Luke,” Mandelie said. “Don’t you trust me enough to tell me what you’re doing? I thought we were more than that. You just left. You didn’t even tell me you were leaving.”

  “I can’t tell you all the details,” Luke said. “If you know everything, you might be in danger.”

  “Thanks a lot,” Mandelie said. “But somehow that doesn’t make me feel better.”

  The communication console turned off.

  Luke slammed his fist down on the bed. His face was frustrated, for once not inscrutable.

  He heard a soft knock on his door.

  “Come in,” he said.

  The door opened and Dabya came in, looking resplendent in her silk nightgown, her hair falling loose around her face.

  “I am sorry to disturb you,” she said. “But I just received a call from the Society of the Future. They have chosen the next president. I am attending the ceremony in a few days.”

  “Good,” Luke said.

  Dabya drifted to him and sat down beside him on his bed.

  “Are you alright?”

  Luke shook his head.

  “I am not programmed to feel much emotion,” he said. “But somehow I feel it anyway.”

  “You’re unique,” Dabya said, putting her hand on his shoulder. “You’re not like other androids.”

  She looked into his face and then kissed him.

  Luke broke off the kiss after a few seconds. He took her hands and held them.

  “You’re a beautiful human, Dabya,” he said. “But I can’t be involved with you. I’m sorry.”

  “No,” Dabya said, her face crimson. “I’m the one who’s sorry. That was extremely presumptive of me. Please forgive me.”

  Luke placed his hand on the side of her face.

  “I wish to be on close terms with you while I am here,” he said. “Terms of friendship.”

  “Of course,” Dabya said. She rose.

  “I will see you in the morning. Good night.”

  Chapter 6.

  Not in a mood to be her usual assisting self, Mandelie spent her time behind the reception desk of the lab the next morning, watching Jake alternate his time between Koala cam, Grand Theft Auto, and even answering the phone once in a while.

  “He told you it wasn’t what you thought, right, Mands?” Jake said at one point, looking at her with sympathy.

  “That’s what he said,” Mandelie said.

  “I think you should trust him,” Jake said. “Luke’s a good guy. He’s a good android.”

  “That’s right,” Mandelie said. “He’s an android. How can I even be sure he feels for me the same way that I do for him? How can I even be sure he feels anything at all?”

  “He’s not a robot,” Jake said.

  “But at some point there’s got to be a difference in the way we both look at things, right?” Mandelie said. “It can’t be denied. Maybe now’s the time that I need to face that fact and face whatever it’s going to do.”

  “I think … maybe you’re just saying these things because you’re upset,” Jake said, looking around for Brigi
te or Trista in a panic. “Maybe you should ask Trista or Brigite. I’m not really good at talking about these things.”

  “If he doesn’t trust me, maybe I can’t trust him,” Mandelie said.

  Jake looked up in relief when the door of the lab opened. Damian Foster came in, looking like his confident, composed self in a dark blue shirt and trousers.

  “Hey, Damian,” Mandelie said, slightly surprised.

  “Hey,” Damian said. He took off his sunglasses.

  “Can I speak to you outside for a moment, Mandelie?”

  “Um … sure,” Mandelie said. She got up and joined Damian outside the laboratory.

  He handed her an envelope.

  “I wanted to bring this in person, out of my extreme gratitude to your father,” he said. “It’s an invitation to an Adventis party. I’d love it if you and your dad could come.”

  “Thanks,” Mandelie said, taking the envelope. “But I’m pretty sure my dad won’t go. He hates parties because he always ends up dancing and he dies from embarrassment afterwards.”

  Damian smiled.

  “Well, okay, then. What about you? I’d like you to come.”

  Mandelie bit her lip. She looked away from him.

  “What’s wrong?” Damian said. “You seem upset.”

  “It’s just …” Mandelie said. “It’s personal stuff. Whatever.”

  “Rocky times with Luke?” Damian said.

  “He went to Europe and he didn’t even tell me he was leaving,” Mandelie said, unsure of how the words were spilling from her.

  “That’s rough,” Damian said. He seemed lost in thought.

  “I need a date for the party,” he said. “Do you want to go as my date?”

  Mandelie stared at him.

  “As … your … date?”

  “If you don’t want to do it, just say no,” Damian said. “I don’t think my ego can take another bruising from you.”

  “I’ll go,” Mandelie said. Her mind flashed back to the picture of Luke and Dabya. “I’ll go with you to the party, Damian. I’d be happy to.”