M.A.I.D.S. [season 2]

Episode 2: What Women Want

The others followed.  Monroe took the nurse instead of Sotiria, as he was far stronger than the Synthia.  Within moments they were peeling out of the hospital parking lot.  Pandora’s fast thinking and violence of action kept them ahead of the hospital guards.  I only hope my luck will last, she thought.

“So if you’re planning on FIST agents to be at the airport,” Adam began as the group sped along the highway, “how are we going to avoid them?”  The nurse was awake now, its perfect eyes wide with terror.

“We are not going to avoid them,” Pandora said.  “We are going to drive straight into the airport, get into our plane, and head to Norway just as fast as we can.  Uh-oh, it's awake!”  Pandora hauled off and punched the Synthia, knocking it unconscious again.  She then commanded Sotiria to pull the vehicle over.

“What was that for?” Adam asked his Synthia.

“The nurse heard where we are going.  Of course, we’re not going to Norway, but that should buy us a little time," Pandora's strength failed her for a moment and she stumbled.  Adam caught her, but he also caught on to her plan.

"Clever girl," he said.  "Sotiria, be a dear and set the auto-pilot on this car to keep it on-course for the airport.  Monroe, would you kindly procure us a new vehicle?”  Adam opened the trunk of the car and gently helped Pandora into her battle-armor while his orders were being carried out.  The beautiful pink armor was smeared in brownish-red blood down the back from where Pandora had sustained her grievous wound.  Once Adam had gotten the last of their gear out of the trunk, the vehicle's auto-pilot kicked in and it sped off at a slightly-faster-than-necessary speed toward the airport.

“Will this do?” Monroe asked the others.  Adam had been preoccupied with Pandora and hadn’t seen Monroe’s handiwork until just now.  The big man had commandeered a limousine.

“Oh yes, we'll blend in nicely in that,” Adam said.  He couldn’t help but laugh.  He and Monroe quickly set about binding and gagging the limousine’s driver (a short, stocky Synthia) and lone occupant (a tall, too-thin man).  Sotiria took the wheel and the others rode in comfort (except for the original occupants, who shared the trunk).

“That was fast thinking, my love,” Adam complimented Pandora.  She removed her helmet and Adam saw she was as pink in the face as her armor.  He gave her a quick kiss.

“So we have a decoy headin’ to the airport.  Where we gonna go instead?”

“That’s a good question, Monroe,” Adam replied.  Both men looked at Pandora.

“Thessaloniki,” replied Pandora.  She pulled up a map on her personal computer gauntlet, then switched the display to a hologram to show the others.  “It’s a fair drive, but not too far.  FIST is less likely to stop this vehicle than a normal car, which was fast thinking on Monroe’s part.  From this airport we can get to Istanbul, and from there to Mumbai.”

“Outstanding,” Adam said.  “FIST will be able to trace our path, but they’ll probably be in Oslo before they figure out they’ve been duped.”

“Precisely,” replied Pandora with a smile.  She turned off the hologram and sighed.  We are safe…for now.

“Why’d ya take the time to put your armor on?” Monroe asked, suddenly nervous.

“I could not be sure if FIST was already on their way to the hospital,” Pandora said.  “That, and Sotiria is still armed.  Even though I am Sotiria’s owner, that Synthia is not thinking like me yet.”

“Yet?” Monroe raised an eyebrow.

“Oh, Sotiria is thinking.  Just not like me.  I believe that will come with time.  The main point is that I have a Synthia who thinks, even if it is just about how strange I am and how this is not the way Synthias are supposed to behave.  Thought is thought.”

“I’m ever so glad you didn’t have this problem,” Adam said.

“I’m much less Synthia than Woman,” Pandora said with a wink.  Even Monroe chuckled.

“Not that I’ve ever met a woman, but I can say you are at that.  Shi’t, if all Synthias thought like you, the world would be…” he trailed off with a thoughtful countenance.  Pandora leaned forward in her seat.

“What would the world be?” she asked sweetly.

“Well, it’d be different,” the warrior replied.  “Men an’ women would have to be like in the old vids and stories.  You know.  Romancin’ and stuff.  Shi’t, I only know how to romance men, I dunno what I’d do with a woman.”

“Wouldn’t you just do the same thing?” asked Pandora.

“Well, I guess.  It’s just…well, women is different.  I mean, they went extinct, right, and now I own three Synthias.  They're in my condo, each hotter than the last.  But they’s just stuff, you know?  Not a one of them has a thought in its head.  Now, I’ve dated men—that’s what’s natural today, ya know?—and men think.  Men have feelings.  You gotta respect that.  Some men are big and tough, like me,” Monroe flexed his massive arms for emphasis, “and you gotta romance ‘em different than you would a man like Adam.”  Monroe and Adam shared a gaze for a moment, but Pandora interrupted it.

“So why would dating a woman be different?  Sotiria and I are very different, and I’m certain that trying to romance my Synthia would be a different task than romancing me.”

Monroe coughed at the mention of Sotiria.  “Well, Sotiria ain’t thinkin’ like you yet.  Sotiria is an ‘it’ and not a ‘she.’”

“What if Sotiria was a woman, like me?” Pandora asked.

“Well, then,” Monroe’s brow furrowed in thought.  Pandora sat back in her seat and eyed the man.  The existence of Synthias took a huge burden off of mankind, allowing men like Monroe to pursue a variety of interests.  Monroe wasn’t just an expert soldier; he was a world-class power-lifter, an accomplished wrestler, a well-known sculptor, and had penned several respected essays on World War III as it affected relations between the various North and South American countries.   If he had been alive a century ago, thought Pandora, he would likely be all brawn and no brains.

“You know, I don’t know the first thing ‘bout women,” Monroe admitted.  “I was never much a fan of them older movies, not like my boy here.  I betcha Adam would do better with a woman than I would.”

“I do not believe that we are so different, especially in modern society,” responded Pandora coyly.  “My research has shown few differences between the psychologies of postwar man and prewar woman.”

“So wait, you saying that because women died out that, what, men changed and took their place?” Monroe didn’t seem to like the idea.

“Well...something like that,” Pandora agreed.  “Centuries ago, men and women occupied different roles in society.  For the most part, women were not equal to men.  As time progressed and society evolved, women gained more rights until, some time before M.A.I.D.S. struck, men and women were equal in every sense.  The only difference is that we look better naked than you do.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Adam said, helping himself to the limousine’s mini-bar.

“I think I understand you better now,” Monroe said slowly.  “You want to see women given the same rights that they had before M.A.I.D.S.  You want there to be men and women together, right?”

“Just so,” Pandora said.  Her heart beat faster because she saw that Monroe, a man fully a part of modern, woman-free society, understood.  “I do not care if men and men get together, or consensual polygamous marriages, or whatever.  What I want to see is Woman fully reinstated into society like they were before M.A.I.D.S.  I want there to be the option of men and women persuing relationships, just as they did before World War III.  I want Woman to have freedom, and I want Man to have options.”

“Well, fuck me next Tuesday,” Monroe said.  “Adam, you best be gettin’ me one of these." 

Before Adam laugh at Monroe's jest, Robobot sprung into action.  The small robot extended its tiny, multi-segmented arms to open the mini-fridge, retrieve a beer, and hand it to Monroe.  For a long moment nobody spoke.

“So…when are you gonna explain this lil’ guy to me?” Monroe asked.  Pandora parted her lips to speak but Monroe held up a giant hand.  “No, I think you’ve blown my mind enough for one car ride.  But if you could tell it to open my beer, that’d be just dandy!”