KETTY'S SUBDIVISION Wattys2017

Chapter 19-Part IV

He stood there, a little self-conscious. His shirt was open a few buttons, and the light caught something hanging on his neck. He held it out for her to see.

"My sister gave this to me before she left. It was a message for my father, time locked until now. I thought I would share it with you."

"What's in it?" She felt stupid but wasn't about to admit it. To do that would mean reliving her parent's death and the loss she hadn't dealt with yet. It was a path she was unwilling to venture down, not now, possibly ever.

Without warning, a small hologram of Astrid appeared on the floor. "Dad, I just wanted to thank you for all your support, but this is goodbye for me. I've enlisted in the military and will be pursuing my career as a master pilot after a short stint on an experimental ship. Beyond that, I will no longer be helping you with the problems you left behind in Jar-sedan. You and Mr. Mc'kee will have to fight your secret robot war on your own, it's not my problem. But I love you and will always treasure the freedom you have given me to be who I am."

Ketty looked at Kato. "Do you have any idea what she is talking about?"

"No, I'm a foster child, remember? That must have been before my time."

"I always wondered what my parents did before we moved to Karabellum," said Ketty. "My dad was evasive on the subject and I only remembered my early childhood."

"Kato," came Astrid's voice. "You sneaky little inbred brat, I know somehow you will tap into this message. You're too smart not to, so this is for you." Now her hands were on her hips, the tiny little projection of his sister in the past looked mad. "If I could, I would come out there and wrap my hands around your scrawny neck." Ketty snickered a cute little laugh and Kato looked at her in surprise.

The hologram continued. "I know you pretend to hate the little baby Ketty who lives next door, but our families grew up together on Bar-clay-tagrina. Our parents and her parents were best friends and they had a lot of relatives. Her Uncle Cranston, and Blizzard were the premier robot engineers of this century, but they weren't nice people. Every family has bad apples, and they eradicated the First Law of Robotics in their research and development. They were creating bots without morals. Do you understand the implications Kato? They ruined it for everyone. Our society's worst nightmare came true and now were living with the consequences. I may seem like an ungrateful you know what, but I stand for something and I will fight. You do the same. I know who you are, below the angry child Kato, you are a man of valor." Her image disappeared and the small chip at the end of his necklace turned to smoke and vanished.

They sat on the bed and stared at each other in silence. He found it hard to breath sitting next to her and he wondered if she felt the same way. Her face turned a light shade of crimson and she said, "Don't look at me that way."

"What? I was just wondering what you're thinking."

"I think I don't have time for that right now." She felt flushed and her world was spinning out of control, but she was unwilling to give in to her emotions. "Not now, Kato," she brushed her hand against his chest for the briefest of moments, then pulled away. "I remember when a man saved me in the field from some crazy robots. That was my Uncle Blizzard." Then it dawned on her. "My dad wiped my mind."

Just then an ear splitting scream came from down the hall. "Uncle, uncle, I give up Purline!" They came around the corner to see Boondock with his arms and legs twisted up behind his back and Purline's foot planted firmly on his neck. Boondocks face was smashed into the floor in the most pathetic grimace, as if he was in tremendous pain. "Help me Mistress, he's hurting me."

"That will teach you to mess with me," said Purline releasing Boondock and wiping his hands together in mock victory. Then he put his arm around Boondock and said, "Shall we go play chess now?"

Ketty realized life was too short to waste and she missed being a kid so she punched Kato in the arm and said, "Race you to the bridge."

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