I, Android: A Different Model

by Heather Killough-Walden

  Daniel scanned the area with a very thorough gaze. There was a hard set to his jaw, and his left hand flexed and un-flexed where it gripped his weapon. An aura of danger radiated from him, darker and sharper than usual.

  Daniel was the only IRM-667 android. He had been a gift from Nicholas Byron to a famous artist by the name of Jonathan Montgomery. Gifting Daniel to Montgomery was supposedly the last thing Nicholas ever did before he spontaneously sold all of his shares and quit FutureGen. I was unclear on why he’d quit… we had never had a chance to talk about it. Before a few days ago, I hadn’t seen him or his brother in more than a decade.

  In any case, Daniel was both a mystery and a welcome companion to the aging Jonathan. Jonathan Montgomery was a world renowned artist in his late seventies, but money can’t buy you everything, and Jonathan had been growing old alone in his massive mansion. When Daniel joined him, he not only gained a guardian, he gained a friend. The famous artist in time became Daniel’s mentor. And now, for all intents and purposes Jonathan was as much a father to Daniel as Jack was to Lucas.

  Jonathan Montgomery was seriously loaded. In a fortunate twist starkly dissimilar to the usual starving artist story, the art community had been good to Montgomery. He could afford to own a private, heavily protected residence in Pittsburgh even though the city had been evacuated. And because of his love for Daniel, he was sympathetic to the android revolution.

  Covertly, money often found its way into Prometheus’s hands. The charge for funding the rebellion was no less than treason. But we knew it was Jonathan. And we knew he couldn’t have cared less about the danger. He was old anyway. At least, that’s what he would have said.

  Sometimes he stayed in Prometheus with us. When he did, he would come with his “flesh and blood” son, Logan, who claimed he possessed not a single creative bone in his body.

  Logan Montgomery seemed to have a quieter mind than his father. He didn’t express himself as much and preferred the absolute and lonesome peace of the skies to the chaos on the ground. Up there, he did his work as a private pilot instructor and sometimes a freight pilot.

  On the rare occasion the two Montgomery’s visited, Jonathan would teach me a little on the piano or let me lose against him in chess – every time – but mostly, we sat together and watched classics on Prometheus’s make-shift movie screens. He was a big fan of the “embattled princess,” which he admitted he likened me to. So it was usually something like Star Wars, featuring Princess Leia, or even Xena, Warrior Princess that we settled down to watch together. In the case of the latter, Sonia would join us in the viewing room. She was a big fan of Xena too.

  And when she joined us, Logan would join us. Because he was a big fan of Sonia.

  We had fun together. It had been forever since I’d seen them.

  Jonathan had “raised” Daniel to understand that peace was paramount. Together, they’d studied the teachings of Buddha and the history of Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr.. And most days, Daniel was the man Jonathan knew him to be deep down in his soul. He did what Cole Byron apparently couldn’t do – and used his words.

  As I stared at Daniel’s tall, strong form and the gun in his hand, I wondered when Jonathan would visit again, or if he would even know where to visit. Prometheus had been destroyed. And Daniel’s need for retribution was palpable. When he glanced in my direction, there was a look in Daniel’s striking bi-colored eyes that I’d never seen before. It was stony and cold. The duo-colored rings had a hardness to them, a determined and icy resoluteness.

  I wasn’t sure Jonathan would like what I was seeing in Daniel at that moment.

  At a hand signal from their leader, the team moved toward a heavily wooded copse of evergreen trees at the center of the vast expanse of courtyard. The copse stood at the half-way point. We made it, paused in the cover afforded by the trees, and were preparing to shoot the remaining length up ahead when endorphins suddenly flooded my body, killing all of my pain within seconds. I felt instantly high.

  I knew enough about medicine to recognize this wasn’t the medicine kicking in. It hadn’t had time yet, and it didn’t work in this manner anyway. Besides… I recognized this feeling. The same sensation had come over me in the helicopter when Zero delved into my mind in order to calm me down.

  “Oh no,” I whispered as my body grew deliciously, portentously weak and my arm slipped away from Luke’s neck to slide down his strong back. I hadn’t even thought to erect the thick metal wall in my thoughts that kept the enemy out. It just hadn’t occurred to me.

  And now it was too late. Zero was taking hold of me from the inside. Again.

  He was here.

  Lucas turned his head to face me, his expression starkly concerned. His beautiful gray eyes darkened from quartz crystal to steel and searched mine urgently. “Samantha, what is it?”

  But it was too late.

  “Fuck!” Jack spat suddenly. My heart sank at the sound of the expletive because I knew damn well what it meant. On cue, the bright beams of military-grade flashlights and the red lines of laser scopes poured into the area as if we’d suddenly stepped into a disco tech. The lasers scored my companions with dozens of horrifying red dots, marking their bodies as targets.

  At the same time, we heard the sound of vehicles colliding violently in the near distance. Crunching metal, shattering glass, skidding tires. The noise came from the same direction we’d been running – the parking lot where Nicholas was supposed to be waiting for us with the getaway vehicle.

  Oh no, no, no….

  “Move out now!” ordered Daniel.

  Android arms gripped both Jack and Lex on the shoulders to shove them down toward the ground as Lucas slid ahead of them into the shadows of the thick copse of trees and knelt down in a protected area of foliage cover. The world erupted into chaos and my friends instantly scattered, reacting with the kind of speed that only trained rebel androids could affect.

  Daniel, Sonia, Shawn, and Cole split off from the rest of us, plunging head-long into the danger and darkness. Lucas, Lex, Jack, and Matt stayed behind in the foliage cover.

  Lucas gracefully managed to crouch while keeping me on his knees and bending his body over mine. Jack, Matt, and Lex crouched around us in a tight circle. Only now did I realize every one of them was wearing black or some other equally dark color. They blended in with the shadowed surroundings, especially when viewed from behind. Gathered around me and Lucas, they basically presented a tight ring of darkness that camouflaged our presence.

  They’d been preparing for this. I supposed it made sense. They’d had thirty hours to organize, and somehow they’d known it would be night when they executed their plan. They’d most likely scoped out this very copse of trees, and arranged for the escape route to head straight through them.

  I bit my lip to keep from speaking. I had nothing at all of value to add to this scenario, not yet anyway, and anything I said until I did might only serve to distract the more immediately useful members of Prometheus. This was especially true given Zero had infiltrated my mind.

  Despite the plethora of missions I’d been on over the last year, and despite Zero’s influence over my body, I had to admit I found myself absolutely terrified in that moment. I was injured. I’d just had surgery. We were probably surrounded. I had no idea what that crashing sound had been, but if I’d had to take an educated guess, I would say it had been two large Vector Fifteen vehicles smashing Nicholas’s van between them to smithereens.

  God… is he okay? I wondered desperately.

  And I couldn’t stop thinking about Saxon, I couldn’t stop wondering who else had been killed at Prometheus, and I even couldn’t stop fearing for Grace back at Zero’s mansion. It might not make sense to a lot of people, but there it was. For me it all added up to one end game. The ones I considered the good guys were in the losing position right now, and one very evil, shrewd, and brutal enemy was currently ruling the winning side.

  “Lucas, retreat to the hospital! We’re outnumbered;
get her to safety!” Daniel shouted from somewhere in the darkness up ahead.

  But something about the order was wrong. I could have sworn he’d run in the opposite direction from where his voice was emanating. And why would he shout the order and risk alerting Zero’s men? Why not just communicate telepathically with the other android members of Prometheus as he always had?

  Just as Lucas prepared to stand back up and his EED flashed with what I knew was his struggle with contradictory orders, I put my hand on his shoulder to stay him. “Don’t do it, Lucas. That isn’t Daniel. It’s Zero.”

  Lucas stiffened against me and went very, very still. His dark gaze narrowed, then hardened into cold steel. I didn’t like that look on him.

  Luke’s EED turned red, and his gaze left mine to scan the area around us. Like all androids, he could see perfectly well in the dark, which was why the cover of the trees was necessary. The downside of that was that if other androids couldn’t see in past the pine and juniper needles, then Prometheus’s androids couldn’t see out through them.

  “She’s right, Luke,” whispered Jack. “Daniel wouldn’t have given the order out loud, and he wouldn’t give that order either way.” He shook his gray-haired head.

  From the darkness beside me, Matt agreed. “He’d expect us to stick to the plan. We’re still on course.”

  “Zero can mimic voices,” I whispered. “Like Daniel.”

  Jack ran a hand through his wiry hair and said, “Fuck, this is fucked up. Zero can mimic voices…” he repeated, as if trying to digest it.

  “I can also mimic voices, Captain,” said Lucas with far too much dead calm for my tastes. His tone matched the cold metal of his eyes. “It stands to reason that being an advanced model, IRM-1000 can do it… and most likely much more.”

  “Whatever you do,” I told them quickly, “don’t talk about the plan with me. Zero is in my head.”

  I fully expected IRM-1000 to punish me for that warning. After all, he’d probably infiltrated me with the sole intent of having a front row seat to Prometheus’s plans so that he could remain one step ahead of us.

  I expected everything from my pain suddenly returning as Zero withdrew his influence over my endorphins, to maybe a wash of panic that would send me into an anxiety attack and distract everyone around me. But nothing of either sort occurred. In fact, Zero didn’t even say anything. Most confusing of all, I felt no anger from him.

  I had no idea what to make of it.

  Around me, Matt, Jack, Lex, and Lucas all stared at me from their crouched positions beneath the evergreen copse. I was ashamed; I felt like they were disappointed in me. I’d allowed the enemy to gain a very real and personal foothold. He was in my damned brain.

  I looked up at Lucas since he was the closest, holding me against him as he was. “I’m so sorry,” I whispered. Please forgive me, I mentally added.

  But Luke’s metal eyes went from hard to confused. “Samantha, what are you sorry for?” he asked, seeming genuinely perplexed as to why I would apologize.

  But before I could respond, Zero’s soldiers fired again. Another few rounds echoed in the night and struck around the copse of trees, forcing us all into ducking silence. They were all high or wide however, missing us by a longshot. The poor plant life on the other hand lost more of its thick, hard skin. Zero’s soldiers were at least managing to thin the foliage out a little.

  The sound and damage meant Zero’s men were firing live rounds. These were not tranquilizer bullets. He was playing for keeps right now. But why? I thought hard until it hit me: He wants to make them sweat. He wants to keep them here.

  All we had to do was get to the parking lot, and he was determined not to allow that. Using real bullets was a great deterrent. And in the meantime, Zero and his men were no doubt moving in, closing around us like a fist.

  If all we have to do is get to the parking lot… then there must be a vehicle there we can use. Of course! We could use Vector Fifteen’s vehicles! Ours might be out of commission, but Zero wouldn’t have made the trip without a viable escape plan of his own.

  Parked vehicles were impossible to hotwire and steal these days. Approximately a decade before, vehicular locks had been internationally changed by law to allow only for DNA matches combined with passwords, just like the cuffs Zero had placed on me earlier, and just like a lot of technological devices. That shift and the switch to the electric highways had caused a major decline in theft.

  Our van might have been destroyed, and it was impossible to hot wire Zero’s vehicles even if they were in the parking lot. But it was still possible to hijack a vehicle while the owner was still in it. That unpleasantness would always be a simple matter of overtaking the driver and slipping behind the wheel. I had every confidence any of our men could handle it.

  I opened my mouth to share my thoughts with Lucas and the others when Jack’s hand suddenly slid across my left cheek, palming me gently and turning my face toward him.

  “Hey,” he said firmly. His intelligent eyes searched mine, his brow furrowed. “For fuck’s sake, Sam, don’t you dare be sorry for any of this.” He shook his head adamantly, his expression torn between seriously perplexed and royally pissed. “My God, if anyone’s sorry it’s me. I let that bastard take you from us. You were poisoned.” He swallowed hard, and I watched his throat working before he continued. “He fucking broke your bones. And then you almost – ” He broke off suddenly, and he looked away.

  “Jack,” I said, placing my hand over his and squeezing to draw his attention back, “Look at me. I’m fine,” I shook my head. “I’m alive. I did not die. I’m here with you now, and I’m going to heal fast.”

  But Jack was already shaken up by his own personal PTSD. He was destabilized. Though he nodded, and tried to do so with some measure of resoluteness, I could tell by his eyes that he’d been brushed by those cold fingers of regret and loss. They were the same ruthless, icy fingers that used to see him sliding a single bullet into his revolver and giving it a spin of deadly chance.

  His hand trembled underneath mine. Damn it, I thought helplessly.

  What a fortuitous fragility is human grief.

  It was the voice I had been dreading.

  I froze beneath its rolling embrace as more of his mental words wrapped around me like silk from the freezer.

  I don’t even have to do anything, Dandelion. Your beloved captain will throw sand in Prometheus’s cogs all on his own.

  “Fuck,” I said aloud, deciding then and there that the best defense was a good offense. “Jack, listen to me.” I pulled his hand away from my face and squeezed it hard enough that he blinked from the momentary pain. “Zero wants us trapped here, and think about it – there has to be a reason or that, right? He doesn’t want us to make it to the parking lot. Our van is probably S.O.L., but Zero has to have transportation. There must be a vehicle there that we can use to escape!”

  Jack blinked again, and now I could see that new, clear depth in his eyes that told me he was pulling himself back together.

  Luke’s EED began flashing. Lucas and the other androids looked down, and Matt touched his temple. He closed his eyes in concentration. I recognized the pattern; they were communicating with Daniel.

  A few seconds later, Matt lowered his hand as Lucas looked back up, catching my eyes. A warning passed between us. Then Lucas shifted so fast, I was dazed by his speed when he easily lowered my entire body safely to the ground with one arm while using his other to pull the gun from under his jacket at his back.

  As Matt and Lex leapt to their feet and spun around, Lucas rose to his full height and raised his right arm.

  All three androids aimed their weapons in the same direction and pulled their triggers as one. The shots rang out in the night, loud and startling.

  “Shit!” Jack exclaimed under his breath, ducking even lower to half cover me with his body as he watched the super-humans do their dirty work.

  The sound of lead striking metal and plastic filled the area. I knew
that sound. Android biocomponents were splintering or shattering. I caught the slightly sweet scent of singed thorium, reminding me of my bike’s spilled antifreeze on a scorching summer day.

  I felt a spike of anger in my mind – and I almost smiled. Because I knew it was Zero’s anger, which meant that Prometheus had just managed to hit Vector Fifteen where it hurt.

  Luke’s EED flared again and there was the same brief pause. Then all three moved at once, took aim in another direction, and simultaneously fired their weapons. More of the same deadly cacophony filled the courtyard, alerting us that they’d hit their marks.

  Suddenly I felt a new, harsh, and decidedly unpleasant sensation in my chest. It stole my breath for a second before I looked down, fully expecting to see blood gushing from a bullet wound. I was certain I’d been shot.

  But there was nothing there.

  A second later however, the pain from my broken arm and abdomen returned in a dreadful wash, and the merciful high that I’d admittedly taken for granted was unwillingly torn away. I knew what that meant; Zero was no longer in my thoughts. Though I couldn’t help hating the return of the pain, I knew what it meant. I did two things in quick succession.

  The first thing I did was immediately erect that thick, metal wall in my mind that would keep Zero out of it. The second thing I did was lean forward and whisper to Lucas. “Now, Lucas. Help me up and make a break for it. Zero is injured. We need to move now.”

  He didn’t waste any time. With more mind-boggling speed, he put away his gun, scooped me up, gripped me tightly to his chest, and spun toward the parking lot. The others were on the same page, and they joined us in our sudden dash across what was left of our route to freedom.

  As we approached the last two buildings between the courtyard and the parking lot, shadowy figures emerged from the sidelines to join our party. I recognized their profiles. It was Daniel and the rest of Prometheus.

  They took the lead, plunging headlong into the gap.

  No one else took any shots at us. I heard no orders shouted, felt no one in my head, and nothing stood in our way as we followed Daniel into the darkness between the last two buildings before erupting from the other side like bats out of hell.