The Girl With Acrylic Eyes

by Greg Krojac

  4

  Coppélia proved very popular with the rest of the team during the following couple of days, always willing to fetch the coffees and perform other small errands. She was learning how the office functioned, not exactly an exciting activity but a necessary one. She didn’t complain once. For her part, she appeared to be pleased to be spending her days on her feet, and not on her back, her knees, or astride strange naked men and women.

  On the third day, Karen decided that it was time to take Coppélia out in the field with the unit. She knew it was a risk, but she couldn’t leave the android alone back at the office. Sure, she could have locked her in a storage cupboard somewhere, but Coppélia’s hyper-realistic appearance and personality didn’t allow that solution to sit well with her. Coppélia had said that she was invisible to street surveillance cameras – now they would find out if she was correct.

  The team had received an anonymous tip off that a suspected kindbot had been spotted in a private dwelling on the other side of the city. The informant wasn’t sure if what he had seen was an android or a human child, but he did know that the suspect lived alone and had never been seen in the company of a child before. If the young boy was a relative, then where was the parent or guardian? One would at least have expected to see another adult at the house or someone who had been with the boy on his arrival. But nobody had seen the boy arrive either. The anonymous caller had said that he looked like he was nine or ten years old – too young to be wandering around by himself.

  CCTV footage of the foyer of the apartment building was examined remotely and showed no sign of a boy’s arrival, so Karen decided that a follow up call was necessary. Three hoppers were scrambled, and flew to the target residence, arriving within a matter of minutes from the time that the briefing had finished. Detective Sergeant Georgina Hunt, a 25 year old jiu-jitsu black belt, and Detective Sergeant Adam Baker, a 25 year old newlywed, went round the back of the building to cut off any escape route. Karen, Rachel, Toby, Luke, and Coppélia would enter the building from the front. DS Amelia Walker, additionally trained in SVU liaison, would also be on hand, in case there was a real human child involved.

  PopID had identified the apartment’s occupant as Dr William Russell, a registered psychotherapist licensed to use kindbot therapy on his patients. However, kindbot treatment was only permissible at registered psychiatric premises and Dr Russell should certainly not have one at home.

  Rachel pressed the buzzer on the video-com.

  “This is the NewMet City Police. May we come in please?”

  The friendly male voice of a security-bot answered.

  “Please identify yourself using the retina-scanner to the right of the video-com.”

  Once the PopId central database had confirmed Rachel’s identity, the magnets keeping the door locked were released and the four police officers and the android entered the building. The security-bot smiled at his visitors.

  “Hello, my name is Charles. How may I help you?”

  Karen showed her police badge, not at all fazed that the security-bot was the spitting image of the android at her apartment building. Nor should she have been; after all, there were only six design choices available.

  “We’re here to see Dr Russell. Can you point us in the right direction for his apartment?”

  Without warning, the android lurched towards the group, arms extended out wide, forcing them into a corner. A tungsten mesh shot out from the security-bot’s right sleeve, enveloping the four police officers and preventing them from escaping. Although her arm movement was severely restricted by the netting that caged them, Karen managed to manoeuvre her arm just enough to dial a secret code on her fingertips. A computer system would identify her, record her GPS coordinates, and deactivate the nearest security-bot, which, in this case, would be Charles 74593. That was what was supposed to happen. However, the android remained active and the five police officers were still trapped. Coppélia appeared to be bemused by the scene she was watching.

  “Would you like me to help, Karen? I’m here only as an observer, aren’t I?”

  Remembering that Coppélia wasn’t human, Karen resisted the urge to give a sarcastic response – it would have probably been wasted on the android – and nodded her head.

  “Yes please, Coppélia. Please help us.”

  The gynoid stepped forward and grasped the security-bot under its armpits, lifting it bodily out of the way. Knowing that the android would simply attempt to round up the police officers again, she restrained it with her left hand whilst twisting its lower right leg until the limb separated from the knee joint. She couldn’t harm a human, but there was nothing to stop her from immobilizing a fellow android in such a fashion. She then ripped open enough of the netting so that the group were able to release themselves from their impromptu prison but, once free, Karen’s team could only stand silent, mouths gaping. Toby broke the silence but said nothing that could help the situation.

  “What the fuck? I mean what the actual fuck?”

  Karen gathered up the rest of the discarded netting and threw it into a corner of the foyer.

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll explain back at the station. In the meantime, we’ve got to have a chat with Dr Russell.”

  The disabled android was hopping around on one leg, clearly agitated.

  “You can’t go up there. Dr Russell wouldn’t like it.”

  Toby walked over to the security-bot and poked it in the chest, watching his finger alternate between the android’s chest and its navel, as Charles 74593 bounced up and down on his one good leg.

  “Listen, Tigger. We’re going to pay Dr Russell a visit, whether you like it or not.”

  He nodded in the direction of Coppélia.

  “Or would you like my friend to rip off your other leg?”

  The android quickly searched its response database for the correct response. It shook its head.

  “No thank you. Please continue. Apartment 4012.”

  After a high velocity, twenty second elevator journey, the group arrived outside the apartment of Dr William Russell. The reception that they’d received at the hands of the security-bot in the lobby had exhausted Karen’s stock of good manners and she was in no mood to be polite,

  “Well, the reaction of the security-bot in the lobby gives me reasonable suspicion that there may be a crime in progress inside this apartment. We’re going in. Could you open the door for us please, Coppélia?”

  The android did as she was asked and turned the handle a full 360 degree circle, rendering the locking magnets useless. Karen called out as they entered the apartment through the now open door.

  “Dr Russell? Dr William Russell? It’s the police, the NM City PD. We want to talk to you.”

  An embarrassed voice answered her from the bedroom.

  “You can’t come in. I’m busy. Can you come back later? Or make an appointment at my office?”

  “It’s not that kind of chat. We need to speak with you now, sir.”

  The team walked into the bedroom to see the rear view of an overweight bald man in his fifties, standing stark naked in front of them, himself facing a young blond-haired boy of about nine years of age, who was wearing only underpants. The Detective Inspector hoped that the boy wasn’t real.

  “Is the boy–?”

  Dr Russell turned round to face the police officers, cupping his naked genitalia in his hands.

  “Is the boy an android? Yes, of course, I’m not a pervert.”

  It was too early in the day to be presented with such an unwholesome vision so Karen told the doctor to at least put on some underwear. Toby found a pair of boxer shorts in a drawer in the bedroom and threw them to the doctor.

  “Here, put these on.”

  Dr Russell did so, and everybody else relaxed a little.

  Karen nodded to Amelia, who took a barcode reader from her pocket and pointed it behind the little boy’s ear.

  “It’s ok. He’s not real.”

  A sense of relief
wafted around the room. It wasn’t always the case but on this occasion, a human hadn’t been abused. The psychotherapist continued.

  “It’s all right. I’m a practising anti-paedophilia psychotherapist. The droid is licensed.”

  Toby tutted.

  “The droid is licensed for your offices. What’s it doing here, at your home?”

  Dr Russell stuttered nervously.

  “R-R-Research?”

  Toby tilted his head and gave the doctor a knowing look.

  “Really? Research? Do you really reckon that’ll fly?”

  The doctor hung his head in shame.

  “Apparently not. What am I looking at?”

  Karen didn’t need to consult any databases.

  “Using an unlicensed kindbot, a two hundred thousand dollar fine and/or two years in prison.”

  Dr Russell’s face whitened.

  “But it is licensed.”

  “Not for personal use it’s not. As soon as you took it out of your office the licence became invalid. And that’s just the beginning. You’ll be struck off the Medical Register for life, and be placed on the Sex Offender Register, also for life. If you’re lucky you may even be deemed suitable for anti-paedophilia therapy. That’ll be fun for you – you might even know the therapist.”

  Toby pointed at the kindbot.

  “Think yourself lucky it isn’t real. Prisoners don’t take kindly to people who mess about with real kids. You should think yourself lucky.”

  Dr Russell put the rest of his clothes on while Toby deactivated the kindbot and tucked it under his arm, before heading down to the hoppers. Charles had stopped hopping about on one leg, his gyroscopic balancing software having kicked in and compensated for the sudden reduction in limbs, thus allowing him to keep vertical effortlessly. If he’d been human he would have collapsed from exhaustion by now but, being an android, he could keep going for hours. The droid waved at the doctor.

  “I’m sorry Dr Russell. I did my best. But they broke me.”

  Dr Russell smiled.

  “It’s alright Charles. I know. But it was wrong of me to involve you. I should never have had you reprogrammed.”

  He turned to Karen.

  “What will happen to him?”

  “He’ll do better than you. He’ll be picked up, reprogrammed, and get a new leg.”

  Outside, Georgina and Adam were waiting by the cars. Toby tossed the motionless kindbot to Adam who opened his vehicle’s tailgate and placed it into the rear luggage space. Luke ushered Dr Russell into the luggage space of Rachel’s hopper and handcuffed him to a specially designed bracket attached to the vehicle’s chassis. Sitting awkwardly, the doctor looked less than happy with his circumstances. Karen was in a hurry to get back to the office but Coppélia was hanging back for some reason, looking at something on the ground by the entrance to the building. Karen joined her android friend.

  “What have you found?”

  “This tortoise. He’s on his back and can’t right himself.”

  Coppélia crouched down and picked up the stricken reptile. She turned it the correct way up and lifted it so that she could look into its eyes,

  “He seems happier now he’s not upside-down.”

  She looked around and spotted an area of foliage near the corner of the building and placed the animal on the ground, addressing it like a long lost family pet.

  “I don’t know what type of person would put you on your back, but you’re okay now. I’m going to put you in the shade, near some plants so you can have a snack if you’re hungry. Hopefully, your owner will find you.”

  In the lead car with Karen, on their way back to the office, Toby couldn’t hold back any more.

  “Boss, about what happened back there –.”

  Karen cut him off mid-sentence. She knew what he was going to ask.

  “I’ll tell you when we get back to HQ, Toby.”

  5

  Karen hadn’t intended to reveal the truth about Coppélia so soon, but her hand had been forced by the incident at Dr Russell’s apartment building. No human being could have ripped off an android’s leg one-handed. The whole team had a good idea of what their boss was going to say and they were glad to at last be part of the loop. They realised that Rachel already knew – she’d been with the DI when she and Coppélia first showed up at the office and had gone straight into Karen’s office with the two of them.

  Toby wasn’t surprised when Luke slid his chair across alongside him, resigned to the fact that he was about to receive the full payload of Luke’s theories.

  “Toby.”

  “Yes, Luke.”

  “She’s a droid isn’t she?”

  “Looks like it, Luke.”

  “I mean, no human can rip a security-bot’s leg off one-handed. Not even Georgina, and she’s a black belt.”

  “I suppose so.”

  Luke had got halfway back to his own desk when he suddenly reversed direction and appeared alongside the Detective Sergeant again.

  “She’s not a normal android though, is she?”

  “I doubt it.”

  “I mean, cleaner-bots, security-bots, they don’t look like her. They don’t, do they?”

  Toby knew what was coming, but there was no point in trying to deter Luke from saying it. He knew the way Luke’s mind worked.

  “No, they don’t normally look like her.”

  Luke seemed very pleased with himself.

  “She’s smoking hot, and there’s only one kind of droid where looks matter. She’s a sexbot, isn’t she?”

  “Probably, Luke. Probably.”

  Karen, Rachel, and Coppélia had been ensconced in the DI’s office for twenty minutes. Suddenly the door opened and the three of them came out and stood before the rest of the team. Now was the moment of truth. Karen cleared her throat.

  “As you’ve probably guessed, Coppélia isn’t a journalist.”

  Adam grinned.

  “Yeah. Well, ripping that Charles’s leg off must have been a bit of a dead giveaway, ma’am. I only wish I’d seen it.”

  Luke laughed.

  “You missed a treat. She was awesome.”

  Karen continued.

  “Anyway. The truth is that Coppélia is actually a gynoid.”

  Luke, who was still next to Toby nudged the DS with his elbow.

  “Told you. Had to be, looking like that. She’s a sexbot.”

  He’d tried to whisper, but Karen had excellent hearing.

  “That’ll be enough, Luke.”

  Luke slid back to his own desk.

  “Sorry, ma’am.”

  Karen continued.

  “ But, she isn’t your common or garden android. She’s a prototype. Very different from the G21 models that we’re used to.”

  Amelia raised a hand.

  “In what way, ma’am?”

  “Well, she seems to be made of much tougher materials than regular androids and is obviously much stronger physically. But it goes much further than that. I know it sounds crazy, but Coppélia appears to feel things. She seems to be able to make choices, but not as a result of any predetermined program. She’s making her own choices.”

  A murmur travelled around the room.

  “Rachel and I were asked to interview a potential rape victim at NewMet City SVU. One of their DIs wasn’t convinced that the alleged victim was human, so he asked us to go over there and check her out – which we did. To our surprise, we ascertained that Coppélia was indeed an android.”

  Karen knew that Rachel wouldn’t mind her glossing over the exact details of the confirmation.

  Toby was concerned about practicalities.

  “Two questions ma’am. Why have we not returned her to her owner, and what are we going to do with her?”

  “We don’t know who exactly she belongs to.”

  “Have we any leads, ma’am?”

  Understandably, Toby had assumed that an investigation into Coppélia’s ownership was already underway. He imagined that that was
what the conversations between Karen and Rachel had been about. Karen saw no reason to let him think otherwise.

  “Nope. Nothing useful yet.”

  “So what’s going to happen to her?”

  Karen glanced at Coppélia, who seemed disinterested in what was going on. She trusted the Detective Inspector.

  “I haven’t decided yet. But, it’s got to be right for Coppélia too.”

  6

  Vismay had turned up at Karen’s apartment unexpectedly, hoping to give her a surprise, but he was the one who was surprised. Karen wasn’t alone. Well, she was kind of alone – there were no other humans in her apartment – but she had a guest staying with her. He’d arrived at her apartment building with a bunch of flowers, for no other reason than he wanted to give her flowers. He hadn’t done anything wrong, it wasn’t her birthday, and he wasn’t looking for her to do him a favour. He just thought it would be a nice gesture. Plus, he hadn’t seen her socially for a few days – not since she’d left the SVU offices with the android.

  The first that Karen knew of Vismay’s arrival was when Charles, the security-bot, had called her to advise her that there was a Mr Rajan who wanted to see her.

  It really wasn’t a good time.

  “Charles, could you please tell Mr Rajan that I’ll call him later.”

  The security-bot delivered the message, but Vismay was worried about the flowers. Charles relayed his concern.

  “Miss Chambers. Mr Rajan has something he wishes to give you.”

  Karen hoped it wasn’t flowers. She liked looking at flowers but thought that they were a waste of money as a gift, as they didn’t last long.

  “Can he leave whatever it is with you, Charles? What is it?”

  The security-bot accessed his botanical database.

  “An aesthetically arranged sample of Rosa Caninae, Tulipa Gesneriana, and Lilium Bulbiferum.”

  Karen sighed.

  “Roses, tulips, and lilies. A bunch of flowers.”

  Vismay wasn’t privy to even one side of the conversation as the security-bot didn’t need to speak his words out loud, his side of the conversation being transmitted directly from his CPU to Karen’s implant. He was getting anxious.