How to Date an Android

How to Date an Android Chapter 17 Part A (revised!)

She shuts the door to her car and its security device activates automatically, locking it up and as usual looking sharp in a skirt that's short enough to sell sexy but not so short it says slutty. She waves quickly, while moving towards me where I'm on the front porch that isn't totally visible from the street. What I like about old places is some like this one have those old wrap around porches that are sort of big and comfortable enough to look like they could even lure some people glued to their couches.

She's also patient with me as I hobble with her towards the front door going really slowly.

"Hey Jack!" she calls out cheerfully.

I waved in return.

"Easy does it Jack. You don't have to rush just because I'm here," she said patiently.

"I hope you brought good news," I said without looking her in the eyes yet.

That's very cool. A human wouldn't have said something nice I think.

Eventually we make it inside, but I'm breathing a bit hard. It's not easy to hobble around on hand canes.

"Let's just sit down first. We need to talk this out," she said.

"Oh? What does that mean?" I countered.

She waits a bit for us to get closer to where we sit down.

"Well I suppose you are going to tell me a bunch of stuff I don't want to hear," I said.

"Do you want me to bring you anything first before we start?" Barbara asked.

I know that would normally be my line, but she's sympathetic to my current issues and wants to help out.

"No, I'm good," I said.

"OK, fine." But then she raised an eyebrow, "are you sure?"

"I'm sure."

I was just a bit tired. Going over what I needed to get had worn me out. I had pushed it too hard while I was outside.

"The police haven't found anything yet. Nor have our own investigators. We basically have a whole shipment of androids missing," she confided. To say she looks upset is an understatement.

A whole shipment?

"Are you sure? How could there be like nothing? They have to have some clues right?" I exclaimed.

"I'm so sorry Jack. It looks like it was a pro job. They have almost nothing to go on. I'm really sorry Jack. I'll be here for you though," she said.

"I'm surprised you are having what looks like an emotional reaction," I noted, bringing attention to it.

"This isn't emulating emotions anymore Jack. We're very worried. I am worried for you feeling bad too but it also affects us directly. If they can take one of us then they can take any number of us. We find it quite distressing," she said.

"Yes. That sounds about right." I said.

"Also... I didn't realize before how human police seem to take a long time. Its different when you are a victim and see that they aren't catching anyone yet," she frowned.

"You sound almost human. And what do you mean by us? You mean the company or ...?"

"I mean all androids and the company Jack. Ants need other ants to survive, so do sheep, bees, and of course humans are herd animals too," she said. "Such a thing happening like this is ..." she keeps shaking her head.

"It's awful for me too. What I do?" I pleaded.

"I'm afraid she's lost Jack. She's gone. You will have to move on, but I'm sorry I'm the one to have to say it."

"But we can find her. You have ways of tracking her," I protested.

She shook her head again. "I'm afraid that's no good either. We tried that. They've been disabled. We believe some of her circuits and others were purposefully removed just so that they wouldn't be able to track her."

"Shit."

"Shit is right Jack. We tried everything. We did absolutely everything we could to try to recover each of them. Whoever did it was really thorough and organized. I'm afraid there's no way we can recover her. We have to build you a new android instead," she said.

That sucked.

I think I was trying not to cry. After who doesn't want their stuff stolen? And when it's something that's living...that's also true. It wasn't just about a companion either. With this injury I really needed the help.

"You need to get another android Jack. Put in a replacement order. The one that we had made for you isn't going to work out," she said.

OK. That was what I had been hoping to confirm. So now its for sure.

"So she was ...completed when she was stolen?" I asked. It felt worse hearing that.

I could feel Barbara's hand on my shoulder. "Sorry Jack, but it's true. She had been completed. They were doing the first inspection and AI cycling runs when it was happening; all with her in deep sleep."

"What's deep sleep?" I asked.

"It's a sort of state similar to like being 'off' but still having our systems running. We rarely ever use deep sleep because its kind of vulnerable in some ways. That's when she was taken."

"And you sure? There's no other way to get her back?" I pleaded.

"I'm sorry. I checked everything many times. That's why it took so long. I didn't want to disappoint you. Please don't be mad at us," she said.

"I'm not mad...but...it feels pretty rotten," I said.

"Jack we need to get your android figured out today. We'll have to order a new one. Also with how things are now I don't want to wait. Anything could happen. And I don't like you living alone with all the crime going up," Barbara said.

"Yeah I agree with you," I said, catching my breath. But it felt like buying a new dog before the old one was dead...only they weren't dogs.

Man I felt so awful. I think I partly had gotten some heat exhaustion of some kind. It was pretty hot out this time of year.

"I don't think you realize how much instability is happening and rapidly growing. You need to be ready for it, as much as getting ready for your new adopted companion," Barbara said. She couldn't see the stockpile already started that I'd ordered. So it's natural she'd say something like that. It was like she was breaking this to me like I knew nothing. It still was like I knew nothing though, because I was still in the 'suspecting it' but not a hundred percent sure phase.

"Oh?" I was curious what she was going to say.

"The company I work for, Mellifera has rules about me saying anything that might cause a panic Jack. At least while working for them, but what I see and don't see on the news has a lot of people scared. I hope you can make a lot of plans to protect your ability to survive."

"I bet. There's something wrong with the news too. Some stories that should be there aren't, which happen to be very big stories," I said.

"Something big is happening in some of the places back east but we aren't getting the full picture. There's some kind of news censorship going on," I added.

She nodded, "you're right. Since you already know about it then I can talk freely since it isn't something I'd 'told you' and that you'd found out for yourself." Still, even while being serious she was very calm and collected.

"OK, where are you going with this?" I asked, curious what she's going to suggest.

"I think you need to pick an android fast. You need to maintain a certain standard of living to ensure your survival. It will be a check mate solution against you if you have no one to care for you. That's why you need to do this fast," she added.

"So what do you make of it? How much time do we have?" I asked her pointedly.

She was smart. Probably smarter than most scientists and engineers, I bet.

I could use her estimate to figure out what to do next...

Continued in Part B