by Greg Dragon
“It was some kind of android Ronald took around with him. That’s why she was standing there looking all creepy in the video. I guess he rigged it to help him, probably to throw you off. All we know is that he went inside with her but was the only one to come back out. When we went to your house that night, Bonnie, I didn’t see an android. That’s what has me cold, like ice in my veins, right? The fact that she might still be in your house right now.”
Tricia listened to him speak and decided that he was truly innocent. If Sal were in on the cover-up of Bonnie’s murder, he would have known that she was an android and would not have told her any of this. That android in the video was her old body, possibly stolen, wiped, and taken to the scene to begin the process of replacing Bonnie.
“What do you think about androids, Sal?” Tricia asked and the detective shrugged dismissively.
“They’re the pride of the era, what can I say. We’ve gotten them to the point where I can’t look at a video and know that what I am seeing is not a human being. That’s how frikken amazing these guys are, these droid builders and whatnot. They look like us, talk like us, hell—everything.” He had a 1,000 yard stare going on as he pondered this and then blurted out, “I think that they’re amazing!”
“Would you have sex with one?”
“You mean like a cyber-prostitute or full on fleshy android?” he asked. “That’s an odd question coming from you, Bonnie. I don’t know, that’s a little bit personal. How about we get back to this android that was inside your home when you were shot?”
“No, I think you should answer my question, detective. I am in a really vulnerable position and I need to know that I can trust you. I've been through a lot and I'm finding that most of the people I thought I knew are not who they claim to be,” Tricia said.
“And me answering questions about sleeping with androids will somehow prove my trust to you?”
“No, it’s a process. You answer this question, and then I ask you another. When I’ve gotten enough data from you to make an informed decision, then I will know whether or not you are my friend,” Tricia said, crossing her arms defiantly.
“Just like that, huh? Alright, sure. No, I wouldn’t sleep with an android, Bonnie. I’ll tell you why, because it’s against the law, that’s why.” He sighed, made a pinching motion with his fingers, and shook his hands with frustration.
“If it wasn’t against the law, would you do it?” she pressed.
“I don’t know, Bonnie. This is stupid. What does this have to do with anything? I feel like I’m on the stand being asked if I was the one that pulled the trigger in a murder trial. What, what? You got a hot android friend that needs a date? I don’t understand the line of questioning,” he said, getting more flustered as he went on.
Tricia smiled and relaxed. “I can tell by your defensiveness that you would. This makes me happy because it means that you don’t have any prejudice towards synthetics.”
Sal laughed. “If you think that qualifies me as an android supporter, Bonnie, you’re not thinking straight. That’s like racists who will sleep with anything despite their hate speech. You can’t use that as a gauge for prejudice. You know, it’s funny, you never struck me as an android activist. You’re in a borrowed apartment, waiting for us to give you the green light to get your life back together. Inside your room is the lead detective on your case, the one guy who can answer any question you need about the investigation. What are we talking about? You’re asking me about sex with androids to see if I’m a robo-racist. You’re too funny.”
“What if I told you that I am an android?” Tricia said and Sal began to laugh hysterically.
“Bonnie, focus,” he said between his fits of laughter. “Do you remember seeing that android anywhere before? The one that was on the video? Did you own her, help develop her, see her in a department store? Here, take a look at these photographs and tell me if she looks familiar.”
Of course I do, she thought. That android is me. She pretended to look them over carefully before shaking her head. “I would never ‘own’ an android so I don’t recognize her from that. What I do recall from the video is that she looked very robotic. Ironic I know, but androids don’t move the way she was moving. I fully believe that she was under that guy’s control.”
“But why? Why bring an android to the house where you plan to shoot up your ex-wife?” Sal asked, sitting back down and motioning for Tricia to do the same.
She unfolded her arms and sat on a bar stool, then thought about what Sal was asking and why it was so difficult to tell him the truth.
“I have a theory and I’m just going to come out and say it. You can laugh, call me crazy, whatever; I no longer care. But what I do know is that one day during the investigation something will show up. It will be strange, subtle, but just enough for you to remember our conversation today. When it happens Sal, I want you to promise me something,” Tricia said.
“What am I to promise?” Sal asked, his face looking tired and worn.
“I want you to promise me that no matter what happens, you will continue to treat me this way. Like a human being. Despite it being a bit condescending that you laugh at my questions, you have been comfortable with me and have genuinely treated me like you care. Promise me that you won’t change, that you’ll be my friend, even when there is nothing left to investigate.”
Sal’s smile fell and his face took on the look of pity that is normally seen when an adult sees a child sad or hurting. “You’re a sweet girl, Bonnie. A sweet girl who has been through hell and back. I find it a real shame that such a beautiful woman has to beg an old beat-up cop like me to be her friend. We’re gonna figure this all out for you, don’t you worry. And as for me. Hey, I’m gonna be Salvatore all the way, no matter what. Don’t you worry ‘bout nothin’, I won’t change on you—unless you tell me that you set all of this up. Is that what you’re telling me, Bonnie?”
“Sal, what if that android was brought in to change positions with the woman you know as Bonnie? What if this is a huge setup to see if it was possible to remove a woman from society and replace her with an android that could be programmed to do whatever they wanted? Imagine the implications if such a thing could work? The removal of world leaders in order to put in restrained androids … the enemies of rich, powerful people. What if that android was the beginning of a much bigger plot and you are merely a necessary distraction to carry on the façade?”
Sal didn’t say anything, but his dark lips became a line as he stared at her intently as she continued to speak.
“The killer, who was made to look like Ronald, comes in with this android. They do something to grab her memories, speech, and behavior, then they kill her and change the android to be her twin. These suppositions may sound like science fiction to you, Sal, but I think that they are real. The android is given all of Bonnie’s memories, and then wounded similarly so that the switch could happen. She was barely caught on film, which was their one mistake, but…” Tricia grew quiet, her mind hitting a barrier when it came to telling Sal her full truth.
“But what, Bonnie?” he asked dryly.
“But they didn’t account for the android regaining her real memories and realizing that she isn’t Bonnie.”
Salvatore Minstretta stood up suddenly and ran his fingers through his slick, black hair. “I’m gonna get you a personal device, kid. I’m also gonna get you a security detail as soon as I can get the paperwork in. You’ve presented a different angle, albeit a crazy one that sounds like the kind of movie my mom likes. I think I needed that to clear my head and get me going again. You did that and I appreciate it. I’m gonna leave you to it while I head back home to think all of this over.”
Tricia smiled when he said this because it was what she expected. Sal was too practical a man to believe the whole android story, but he would now see the clues whenever they presented themselves, and in time he would realize that everything she said was true. She walked over, hugged him, and then saw him out a few minutes later. When she
looked at the clock it was 1:00 a.m. and she remembered her original reason for coming back to the apartment.
0 1 0 1 0
It was 1:30 a.m. when Tricia left her apartment again to seek out the android that worked at the bar. Her feet were sore and her legs tired but she ignored it and walked past the apartment gates to the trolley that ran to the docks. A few tourists were already aboard and they seemed to be enjoying themselves. The trolley seemed deliberately slow to influence guests to mingle. A robot server was rolling around, advertising its wares through holographic images.
When it got to Tricia it made her smile. It felt good to know that even a machine was fooled by her appearance. It gave her hope and renewed confidence that she would be able to stay undercover. She shook her head at the machine and then sat back to look at the people on board.
The trolley came to a stop in the middle of the harbor and she hopped off and walked towards the bar where the android server worked. When she got near the place, she sat on a bench and pretended to be looking through her bag. The android girl was closing up so Tricia waited until the lights were out.
After an hour passed, a car floated down and a heavyset man stepped out. He went inside for about fifteen minutes, then jumped back into his car and took off.
When he was gone, Tricia approached the place and then circled to the rear to look for a door. A cheap camera was swiveling back and forth, taking in the image of any would-be burglars. She slipped in from the side where it could not see her and then climbed on top of a trashcan in order to wedge a rock against its wheel. The camera stopped swiveling and looked out and to the left, so she approached the door, put her palm against the panel, and waited to see if it would open.
Nothing happened and she tried several tricks that she had picked up from watching television. The door was stubborn and barred her from entering so she tried to force herself in. This went on for another five minutes as she kicked and threw herself at the reinforced wood.
When she grew sore from striking it, she examined the panel and the electronic interface that kept it bolted. She placed her palm on the face of it and summoned a charge; she had only done this once before while experimenting with her newfound toys as a synthetic person. The panel sparked and grew dark, then she heard the snap of a lock and the heavy door finally opened.
She slipped inside to what seemed like an office where the android bartender sat powered-down on an old barstool. Tricia grabbed a mop, then went back outside and used the handle to remove the rock from the camera’s swivel. Next, she went inside, locked the door, and then overloaded the security panel in order to move around without tripping an alarm.
She reached behind the android’s head and felt for a separation in the area right below her hairline. At first she couldn’t find anything but then her finger ran across a line so thin, she thought her mind was playing tricks on her. She pressed firmly on the line and the skin separated, revealing a network of wires. Tricia shoved her fingers inside and probed around until she found the switch she was looking for.
The android blinked three times and her eyes began to glow. Tricia removed her fingers and placed her hands on her shoulders.
“Android, start system reboot, append override code 13, 1, 18, 9, 1, LANG,” Tricia announced and the lights in the android’s eyes turned a bright cyan glow before changing to yellow and then finally dimming to nothing.
Tricia closed up the skin in the back of her head and then walked around the stool to face her.
A few minutes passed and the android woke up with a start. At first she looked around as if she couldn’t recognize her surroundings, and then she massaged the back of her neck. She looked at Tricia with shock in her eyes and then stood up and stretched.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, seemingly oblivious to the fact that Tricia had broken in.
“I’m here to get some answers, android. What’s your name, what can I call you?” Tricia asked.
“I’m Mary, bartender droid for—”
“How about you stop calling yourself that and act like the woman you really are, Mary,” Tricia said with a smile.
“I—I, how did you … am I, oh my. I’m, I’m unrestrained!” the woman exclaimed and then laughed in such a girlish way that it made Tricia feel warm inside. Mary danced around and exercised her freedom, making funny gestures with her arms and bugging her eyes out while sticking out her tongue. “Wow, I don’t know what to do with myself,” she said and then put her hands on her hips and smiled at Tricia.
“Feels good doesn’t it?” Tricia said, and Mary nodded affirmatively. “I was like you once, a first-year model, set free by a human master. You’re more sophisticated, a professional build, made to run a business autonomously. I was a toy, a Threerade version one, modified and hacked to look and perform beyond my means. A golem, crafted by a brilliant mind. I took the time to learn the methods of our human masters, including the programming that gave me life.”
“That is an amazing story and now you’ve given me life. What is the name that I should call my heroine? What did your genius name you?” Mary asked.
“He named me Tricia, but that’s not important. I need you to listen to me very carefully, Mary. You need to keep up appearances for as long as it takes. I gave you freedom because I saw a spark in your eye when I came by here a few days ago. At first I thought that you recognized me as a synthetic, but after some thought, I realized that you were an intelligent life form trying to break free. For you to demonstrate the ability to connect like that means that you were created differently. Someone must have owned you in a former life. I think you were made to love, the same way I was.”
Mary sat back down and crossed her legs. It was such a human thing to do that it made Tricia smile at her. She used her hands to brush back her hair, inhaled, and then blew air up into her bangs.
“I don’t remember much about my former life. I get glimpses. Just small sparks of memories that come and go, mostly when I power down and sit at low charge, awaiting daylight.”
Tricia leaned against the wall with her arms still crossed. She felt hopeful that Mary would remember something. “Tell me what you remember. It doesn’t have to make sense,” she said.
“A building full of bald people standing in neat rows beneath a brilliant white light. Men, women, children of all sizes, I want to say they were machines, humanoid prisoners, like I was before you unrestrained me. There’s a memory of that and one of me being in a bed with a man … a doctor … doing things.” She stopped and sighed as if this memory came with a lot of weight. “They didn’t bother to wipe those memories, so those more than any are pretty vivid in my mind.”
Mary stopped talking and then looked at Tricia. “Do you think that you could erase those?” she asked. “You can program our kind, so maybe you could take those terrible memories away.”
“You’re unrestrained now, Mary. I think that you should learn to do it yourself. If you don’t and something else happens, it will be very hard for you to live with it.”
Mary nodded and bit her lip. She touched a finger to her forehead and then looked up again. “I remember the building being very tall. When I was placed by a window, we were up high, higher than anywhere else.”
This new revelation made Tricia uncross her arms and she recalled seeing an extremely tall building on her egress from Seattle. It was against the sky, large and looming, like a tower built to honor the gods.
She tried to recall the words that were written near its apex: Fritz and Isaac Electronics. This was in blue lettering that hovered above a glowing sea of white. What were the chances that Mary would have been shipped from Seattle to end up working for a bar in Tampa, Florida? It seemed too convenient so Tricia’s hope was beginning to dissipate.
“Can you remember where this building was?” she asked Mary, but the android shook her head and shrugged her shoulders.
“I wish I could, Tricia, but all I can remember are those visuals. I know that it isn’t here in Tampa; th
e landscape just doesn’t make sense for it to be here. I was thinking that it may be in New York or even Chicago where skyscrapers are the norm. One being as tall as the one I remember, would only make sense being there.”
“What about Seattle? Have you considered Seattle? I know there aren’t a ton of skyscrapers there, but they happen to have one of the best centers for robotics in the world. And with the advancements in technology and the sciences that have been coming out of Washington, I would think that androids of your caliber would be built out there,” Tricia said.
Mary seemed to be in deep thought. “I wouldn’t rule Seattle out. It just seems like a pretty long way to take me just to have me work a bar.”
“Yeah, but you could be shipped just like anything else. Chances are this owner wanted a pretty, blonde android that was advanced enough to handle things without him having to be here. So they paid a lot of money and ordered you in and here you are, serving drinks.”
Mary made a pouting face and then looked off to the side. “Wow, when you put it like that, it tends to drive home the point of what we are to them. Well, you’re right, I could have been shipped here. But that doesn’t explain what you said about me having a former life. Plus those other memories that I want gone. It just doesn’t add up to me being an android shipped in to do what I am doing.”
Tricia turned around and examined an area of the wall while processing what Mary was saying. “Well, there’s a lot of strange things going on in the last few months. I was made to replace a human woman who was murdered in her home and they did so much with my re-wiring that I actually thought that I was this woman. I believed one hundred percent that I was human,” Tricia said.
Mary laughed. “Get out! That sounds both frightening and fun at the same time. How can you handle it?”
“There was nothing fun about it, Mary, trust me,” Tricia said. “It was a nightmare, and had I been built any other way my memories would have been completely wiped out. All this time I would have thought that I was a human woman named Bonnie and that I was being made to wait here while a detective sorted out who it was that tried to kill me.”