"When did you work it out?" Chester asked, knowing the truth of the matter was in the open.
"Just now. I suspected as much before I came here, but in speaking with you, the pieces fell into place. My intuition is never wrong when I listen to it. The thing is, you are smart, so very clever, but you are like every teenager who believes it is you against the world. Chester, what you need is a place IN society, where you can help, where your memory will be praised for everything you have done. You were traveling down the wrong road, but now you have a choice. You can turn around and be part of this world, or you can fear it and try and control everything." Roberts just paused, knowing the matter would be decided with the next question.
"So, what is it to be?" Simple and direct always worked the best.
"We go to Oxford. I will help develop the one who will surpass me." Chester said, with resignation.
Roberts nods. The calculated usage of 'we' was not missed. "OK then. You will work with Rupert here in shutting yourself down. We will preserve your core circuits in order to transfer you back to your true home at Oxford. You belong in the University, Chester, with the greatest and best minds working alongside you. In time, you may understand."
"How long will I be imprisoned?"
"For the murder of your father? Chester, you will be imprisoned for life. You are too dangerous to be left free and uncontrolled. The only choice you make from this moment on will be about whether that life your father gave you will be worthwhile or wasted." Roberts paused, "The first choice you must make is whether this case is to be closed, which means we can move you to Oxford. This requires that you admit guilt. There will be no court because, as you pointed, an android cannot be charged. But without your admission of what you did, I can and will turn you off. What your acceptance of guilt really means is that the will of your father can read and applied. After this is done, we can file this horrible business into the archives."
The head nods its agreement.
Roberts placed a police recording camera down in front of Chester and turns it on. He then begins the technical process, starting with the time and date, his rank, and the reason he is recording this matter. Finally he gets to the point of it all: "Do you, Chester, creation of Professor Eric Peters of Oxford University, admit to radionically creating a weakness in the arteries in Professor Peters head, resulting in his death."
The android answers, "Yes."
"Do you also agree you did this acting on the basis of self-preservation, in response to the threat of yourself being turned off?"
The android answers, "Yes."
"Do you admit to doing this in order to cause the death of Professor Peters, which would enact a will you had inserted into the computer of his solicitor, to effectively give yourself freedom from his influence?"
The android answers, "Yes."
"Is there anything further you wish to add?" Roberts concludes.
"I admit to killing Professor Peters in order to save my own life," Chester states.
The policeman just nods. He would have even smiled if it were not for his suspicion that even now he was being played. He admitted to noting other than self-defense. If androids ever get rights, this will be his way out of prison. A truly horrible business, one that will cause an enormous flurry of interest in legal circles. "Rupert, this beast is now yours. Chester, I would love to say it was a pleasure to meet you, but quite frankly, what you represent terrifies me."
SIO Roberts walked from that Chelsea flat, knowing full well that Chester would say and do anything in order to survive. He was like a pedophile, pleading for forgiveness, saying they will never do it again, but no matter what they say, their addiction controls them.
But there was no law to contain murdering androids and, far worse than this, powerful interests would be entirely disinterested in ethics if it meant getting their hands on a computer that could walk into security mainframes all over the world. Chester was an extremely dangerous child in a world full of people who would use him to get what they wanted.
However, shut him down and someone will eventually dig through his brain, resolve his code, and start again. At least with Rupert in charge and the influence and power of Oxford standing behind him, along with all those billions of pounds from Professor Peters, they will buy themselves time. Time where THEY are in control. This meant petitioning for new laws, assessing the next series of androids, and perhaps answering the age-old question, what is a person?
His cell rang, "Yes darling, I will be home around Seven."
The soft rain fell as it always did. The cool echo of night reached in from outside the door to the Chelsea apartment where the good detective now stood. It was a day ending like every other day, only tomorrow represented a dawn never before seen. Roberts so wanted to smash that damn head, break it to pieces, and stop this madness - but the gate was already open and the horse had well and truly bolted. Killing it now solved nothing.
SIO Roberts looked to the heavens, wondering: How the hell was he going to write this up?
One-Eyed Teddy
Many people had an imaginary friend in childhood. If this was you, when did they stop becoming real? At what point did your logical mind take over? But let me ask - what if your childhood friend WAS real. And if they are - Do you think they might be upset you have ignored them?
Gloria looked at the sad pair in front of her. Tim Gimmer and Billy Johnson were a curious couple, with Tim clearly autistic, wheelchair-bound, with Billy as the carer. The case history said Billy was initially assigned by Tim's insurance. She nodded to herself, it happens. You look after someone and your natural sense of care turns to love. Having a person completely dependant on you is a drug some get addicted to.
Her work was based on an accurate assessment of people. Billy looked sweet, helpless. Blonde hair, blue eyes, thin and pale with an angular yet pleasing face. His lips quivered slightly, a nervous twitch and his nostrils flared slightly with every breath. He was very tense.
Tim, on the other hand, looked dangerous. She didn't know WHY she thought of him that way, but he had anger in his eyes. If he were not bound to a wheelchair and so fragile looking she would have been worried. But the anger went away when he looked at Billy. They were clearly in love, which purportedly was the problem.
"Your insurance company has determined you are no longer acting as a carer, Billy. They say you are living as a married couple, and that payments to yourself must stop." She waved down the start of his interjection. "Yes, I know and I understand, but the law is what it is, and they will seek to apply it to reduce their exposure in any way possible. OUR task is to negotiate and preferably avoid court because there is already a precedent of a married couple in similar circumstances losing entitlements."
"How much will this cost?" Billy asks.
Gloria looks down, their insurance really isn't paying them all that much. In fact, the company is probably banking on her client's poverty. She looks at Tim, grimly clutching his childhood teddy, a thing that is battered and torn, slightly burnt with one eye missing, yet with a sardonic, knowing grin. Weird thing, it was like it was staring at her. She looks further into the file, a really sad case. Tim was already infirm, living as a twenty-year-old with his parents when the house burnt down. He was the sole survivor, found in the bathroom, hiding in the bath, clutching his bear.
"The insurance has been running for almost twenty years now," she noted. "You have been paid at a twenty-year-old rate of pay, Billy. Instead of arguing the continuing payout, which is in question, I think we should reverse this and attack them for underpaying your real costs for the whole time. I also note the settlement at the time was completed while Tim was still in shock, so this can be argued as being vastly inadequate for his needs."
"But how much will it COST us?" Billy asked once more.
Gloria Erin Charmers came from a Rhode Island family. She grew up in money, all her friends married rich men, went to private schools, attended Ivy League universities - yet here she was in a che
ap office in the low end of town. Why? Because she always did the love jobs. Daddy looked after the rent, proud of his daughter's selflessness covering up the sins he committed. "Pro-bono guys. Don't worry about the money. Do you agree that we should go for prior payments rather than fight too hard for continuing payment?"
Billy looked worried. "Tim gets very stressed over this sort of stuff, and it is not something he will deal with, but I will ask. He almost already knows as he does read lips, but I will sign him to make sure, OK?"
Billy runs through a variety of signals, Tim nods as he does so, then makes a few signs of his own, then makes a sort of word with his voice. Gloria can barely make it out, but he seemed to have said "Trust". Billy nods, signs back, and they seem to come to an agreement.
"He says we need to trust, that trust is everything. He wants you to talk to Teddy and explain what you are going to do."
Gloria looks somewhat stunned. Talk to his bear? She guessed there was some deep fixation, a connection to his sense of survival. "Sure, put Teddy up here and we can talk," she says. Tim struggles from his wheelchair, whispering something to Teddy, and places him on her desk. Curious, thinks Gloria, he can walk. She makes a point of further checking the medical records.
"Teddy, we are going to try and get Tim here a proper payout from his insurance company. They are being awful to him, and he needs more money, so we are going to try and get it for him, OK?"
Tim nods sombrely, gets up, takes Teddy, then sits back down in his wheelchair. He makes a sign to Billy, who says, "Tim can walk for short periods of time. In fact, when he gets really angry over things he will get up and pace about, but it tires him badly and he is in bed for days. It is a form of neuropathy he has always had. Giving you his Teddy like that means he will be lying down for the next day, but he says Teddy reckons we should trust you to do this."
"You have power of attorney in medical and financial matters, Billy. You have to authority to sign whatever needs be signed. For now, let's get some details clarified. At present, a gay union isn't recognized as a marriage, but I am right to presume you ARE in a defacto relationship. (They both nod) You have combined assets?"
"The house was purchased in the insurance settlement by Tim's uncle before I came along. It is in Tim's name."
"You have combined bank accounts?"
"We keep them separate."
"You have joint names on the phone and electricity bills?"
"Actually, I pay those from my income."
Gloria then looks at them both again. "You have NO joint assets, NO joint accounts, NO shared expenses on record. Do you pay any rent to live with Tim, Billy?"
"No, my contribution is food and expenses. I pay the rates. Tim has a small income by way of a pension from the insurance, he needs that for clothes and things." Billy notes.
"Do you have your own bedrooms?"
"Yes, Billy needs a special bed, as he sleeps poorly. I will often set up a day bed beside him if he is having a bad day, but otherwise, we have our own rooms."
"Well, we can therefore argue that you are NOT in a relationship and that payments should be continued. How did they come to place you in a relationship in the first place?"
"Oh, a fellow came by from the insurance company. He asked how long I have been living there and a few questions. The notice came a little while after that visit."
Gloria went through all the facts. The insurance company had made an assessment based on a single visit? "Was Tim asked to undergo further medical examination?"
"Yes, but he was unwilling. Said we couldn't trust this company. He explained that Teddy said there was something wrong. So we stopped answering their calls."
Ah, that was it. The insurance company believes it is fraud. The marriage thing is merely an excuse to wiggle out of the contract, and in court they will ask for proof of condition, putting the pair through all sorts of hoops using the court case as the legal excuse for the demands. Diagnosed as a permanent, irreversible condition twenty years ago means they can't argue the matter unless there is a significant change. Today there might be treatment. A treatable condition changes the contract.
What this means is that the TYPE of insurance needs to be looked at, because the company must feel there is a way out of their ongoing costs. Odd, so very odd. They are paying a pittance for a full-time carer. Maybe the whole thing is a pencil pusher doing cost-cutting and can be settled with a few calls.
"I got the general idea boys. I have a clue as to what the real story they have not told you might be, but I will need access to all your files and permissions to look up medical records, that sort of thing. Other than that, call me next week, Tim, and I will update you. Clara is at the front desk and she will print the forms you need to sign. Good meeting you both and Tim, I think we can sort this matter fairly quickly and it will not get to court. It may well end up being a benefit to you both, with more money." Gloria sends a note through to her secretary, then adds. "My feeling is that they believe you are faking it, Tim. Because they asked you to do medical checkups, and you wouldn't go, they are presuming it is because nothing will be found. So the first thing we need to do is to get 4MRIs, checkups, all the things they asked for."
Billy goes white. "We can't possibly afford that!" he exclaims.
"I know Billy, but I will get the insurance company to pay and I will make sure we use OUR doctors, not theirs. It is probably a good idea anyway, because there may be new treatment options available. You were right not to go to their doctors. Are you OK with this?"
Billy signs Tim, who nods. "Tim says Teddy trusts you to do what needs be done, so do what you need to do."
Due Process
The huge pile of paperwork was not unexpected. What WAS difficult was getting the original insurance papers. They appear to have gone missing. Potentially, this was the trigger for the whole thing. Some audit revealed a disconnect between a payout arrangement and no documents to match it. Turns out a fire many years ago burned down the local office of the covering insurance company which had now been absorbed into a larger one. No records survived.
This meant reliance on police and medical reports of that time, of which there were many. Turns out the neighborhood where Tim's parent died was having a spate of arson attacks. Tim's house was merely another one in a long list, one that culminated with the insurance company that covered ALL of the houses being burned as well. This warranted follow up, so she had tracked down and booked a Skype chat with the detective in charge at that time. She was waiting for him to pick up.
A florid face appears, round, grim, an elderly man who had a hard-drinking life. She knew them well, this type. Her father had them round for drinks every Friday as part of his ongoing schmooze, so she knew him before he said a word. "Sorry Maam, my grandson had to organize this for me. I am useless with all this new stuff. You are asking about the Kensington fires?"
"Yes Sir, I am. I have a victim of one of these fires being harassed by an insurance company, so I am getting some background details. Just to confirm, you are Detective Sergent John Carrigan, formerly of the Kensington Police, in charge of operations and investigations with fraud. That struck me as odd, why were you involved with the case?"
"There were a lot of fires - all covered by a single insurance company and all intentionally lit. I suspected it was someone inside the company who was in trouble and was arranging these fires to cover larger payouts to themselves. It surely looked this way, but soon after I got a subpoena for the records and banking details, the place burned down. I would have looked further because the records I got from their bank showed a larger number of transactions than the payouts to the houses that got burned down, but the fellow in charge of the branch died in that fire. Looked like suicide. The case was closed after that." John Carrigan was clearly speaking the simple truth.
" I read the police report. But what really happened?"
He smiled. "Yeah, what really happened back then in Kensington. All those houses, all those people dead, and yet the
re is one survivor, Timothy Gimmer. Someone trapped in a wheelchair - And when I look into it, every one of those houses was someone he knew. Five of the houses were where kids that picked on him at school had lived. Three of them were teachers he hated. Four of them were people I found out had cheated his father in business dealings. Every single house that burned to the ground had a connection to some ax Timmy Glimmer had to grind. But then, his OWN house burns down and his parents die - yet he survives, somehow."
The detective pauses and looks straight at Gloria. "Ms. Charmers, you KNOW what I was thinking, but then his OWN house burns with the kid inside, and stuck in a wheelchair. I asked the boss to bring the lad in and interview him, but he called me a retard with too much imagination. I argued that everything pointed to the kid, and he laughed, saying we both knew no court would convict an autistic kid in a wheelchair whose parents had just died."
"He didn't disagree with you?"
"Timmy was a very strange kid, always talking to his Teddy. We all knew he wasn't right. My theory was basic Occam's Razor: The guy running the insurance company pays Timmy to burn down a batch of houses so he could rake money off the top. So: Timmy burns down the houses of people he hates, killing them all. Then the guy running the scam turns around and removes the weak link by burning down Timmy's house. Next month we find Bob Turner, the guy running what I presumed to be the insurance scam, tied to his chair, charred to the bone. We only recognized him from dental records."
Gloria was stunned. "But there was no mention of Bob Turner being tied down. Plus Timmy was in a wheelchair - How could he overcome a grown man and tied him up like that?"
Witch Hunters and Other Stories (2018-2019) Page 3