Caesar let go of me and he was frowning, probably because my heart was beating faster than normal.
“I don't sense any medical conditions. Do you know why your heartbeat sped up?” Caesar asked.
I couldn't lie to Caesar because he would know if I was lying, but I certainly wasn't going to tell him the truth because it would be too embarrassing.
“It's nothing to worry about.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I'm fine.” I nodded.
“Alright, but please visit a doctor if this keeps happening randomly,” Caesar said.
“You really don't need to worry.”
“I'll trust your judgement. Anyway, I don't detect anything wrong with your health.”
“Well, that's good to know.” I smiled.
****
Caesar and I were at work, and we hadn't had any calls, so we were working on the murder case. It was very difficult, since there weren't many leads, but we'd been looking for new models who'd been reported missing.
A man walked over to our desk, he was white and had short curly brown hair. He looked quite young, and he was slim. “Hey, robot, get me some coffee.” The man put his mug on our desk.
“His name is Caesar, not robot, and he isn't your assistant or anything,” I said.
“It'll do what I tell it to.” He glared at us.
“No, I only have to obey Amelia,” Caesar replied.
“You shut your fucking machine mouth!” The man yelled, punching the table.
“We're working on an important case, so you need to leave us alone,” I said.
“Captain Ford won't be happy if she finds out that you've been harassing Amelia and Caesar,” Val said.
“I have work I need to do, you two stay out of my way.” He finally left us alone.
“I swear, there are so many people here who hate robots.” I sighed.
“Well, not everyone around here is so vocal about it. It's mainly Jacob and that guy, Harley, who have outbursts like that,” Val replied.
“We'll just avoid them as much as possible.”
“Yes, we should do that.” Caesar nodded. “Oh, we're getting called out to a protest that has turned violent.”
“Oh, this could be tense.” I sighed.
“Good luck,” Val said.
“Thank you.”
I left with Caesar, and we got into a van in case anyone needed to be arrested. He started driving to wherever the protest was being held. None of the robot protests in Cambridge had ever turned violent — I'd always been there as an observer, but they were always peaceful.
“Your heartbeat is elevated again, are you worried?” Caesar asked.
“Yep, I've never really dealt with a violent protest before. Everything was much more peaceful in Cambridge, so it's all new to me.”
“You're going to be fine, police are already there, so we'll have help. Anyway, I won't let anyone get near you.”
It made me feel a bit better, especially knowing how strong and smart Caesar was — he could even predict people's actions.
“I can't believe how little experience I have with crimes. Maybe they should've got someone more experienced.” I sighed.
“I wouldn't want to work with anyone but you. You may not have as much experience as others, but you're trying your best, and you're doing a good job. You're also the only person who I've met so far who fully likes robots,” Caesar said.
“Thank you, I suppose you're right. I'd hate it if someone like Jacob was dealing with these crimes.”
Jacob or Harley, and probably the others in the station would treat Caesar as their slave, and they wouldn't respect him at all. Without me, Caesar's life would most likely be awful.
“Yes, that wouldn't be good.”
We arrived at the protest, which was going on outside a shopping centre. The police were pulling humans and robots apart, and creating a barrier between the two sides. Caesar and I got out of the car, and both sides were shouting at each other. It seemed like the robots had been protesting peacefully, but the humans had arrived and started attacking — that was what often happened at these protests, I'd seen it in the news all the time.
“I'll arrest the robots, you arrest the humans. If you need any help, I'll be there in a second,” Caesar said.
“Alright.” I nodded.
It was odd that Caesar had taken charge, but he was probably doing it because a robot could easily overpower me.
He broke up a fight between a man and a male robot, so I arrested the man, while he arrested the robot. I'd been informed that we were taking the robots, and the other police would be transporting the humans. I brought the man over to another van and put him in. The two of us arrested anyone who was fighting, and the crowd quickly dispersed, most likely because they didn't want to be arrested. Thankfully, everything had gone well, with neither of us getting injured. We'd arrested twelve humans and seven robots; the robots were clearly less violent than the humans. People really annoyed me sometimes, and it made me think that sometimes the world would be better without humans.
We got back into the van; unfortunately, we had to bring the robots in to be reprogrammed. I hated it, since the robots were only defending themselves, they could've easily killed any humans at the protest.
“I hate that we have to bring these robots in.” I sighed.
“We could let them go, say they overpowered us,” Caesar replied.
“I would, but we haven't had any success with catching robots so far. We dealt with that guy harming a robot, but we haven't found the robot who murdered that man. I don't want it to seem like we're siding with robots, or that we're incompetent.”
I wished we could let these poor robots be free, but we hadn't brought in any robots so far. I hated it, but we had to get these robots reprogrammed.
“Yes, you're right. Maybe next time we'll be able to let the robot go,” Caesar said.
“I hope so.”
“Don't feel too bad, these robots will get a new life.”
“I don't know, it feels like their whole being will get wiped out. It's better than destroying them, I guess.” I shrugged.
“See, look on the bright side.”
We got to the building where robots were made, reprogrammed and fixed. There was one in most cities around the world, but the there was only one in the UK, which was in London. I got out of the car and helped Caesar bring the robots into the building. I went to the desk and there was a young Asian woman with long brown hair.
“Hello, how may I help you?” She asked.
“I'm detective Green, I have seven robots who were arrested and need to be reprogrammed,” I replied.
“I'll call people to deal with it.” She called people, then they came down after a few minutes, and took the robots from us.
Caesar and I left the building, then went back to the police station. I hated that we'd handed over those robots, I'd feel bad about it for a while.
We went back to trying to figure out how to find the killer — it was so much harder with no DNA and very little evidence.
“Have you heard of those secret places where free robots and human supporters meet?” Caesar asked.
“Uh, I think I heard about them a few years ago on the news.”
“I'll try to find one nearby for us to go to, the killer might go to one of those places.”
“Oh, that's a good idea.”
I looked into missing robots who'd been reported, while Caesar tried to find the places where free robots and humans met up. Soon, our shift was over, so Caesar started driving us home.
“Did you find one of those secret places?” I asked.
“Yes, we can check it out tomorrow if you'd like.”
“Yep, that would be good. Hopefully, it'll give us more leads. But, we can't let them know that we're in the police,” I said.
“I don't know if I'll fit in, I'm not a free robot.” Caesar shook his head.
“It might be alright, but if it isn't, I'll just say that I was trying to find out how to free you.”
“That's a good cover, but what if they can actually change my programming?”
“I'll just have to let them. We're friends, so I believe that if you were free, not much would change. But, I'm hoping they'll just leave us alone,” I replied.
“If not much would change, then why do you hope they'll leave us alone?” Caesar asked.
“I'd just be worried that people would find out if you became a free robot. I'd hate it if you became free, and then they reprogrammed you.” I sighed.
“Well, if I become free, we'll just have to hide it.”
“Definitely.”
Once we got home, Caesar made me tomato pasta for dinner, and it tasted perfect. I often did the cooking, but Caesar offered to do it all the time, and I was tired, so I let him.
“I sense that you're still feeling bad, is it because of those robots?” Caesar asked.
“Yeah, we took away their whole lives, their freedom, their memories, almost everything.” I sighed.
“Well, I have an idea to cheer you up.” He smiled.
“What is it?”
“I'm going to get past the part you're stuck on in that game you've been playing.”
I'd been playing a rollercoaster game where I had to shoot monsters, but I'd gotten stuck on a bit. I must've tried to beat the monster at least ten times, but nothing was working.
“That would be great.”
Caesar put the game on, and the sofa acted as the cart, while the floor was the rails of the rollercoaster. It was crazy how real it felt. He started the level that I was on, and it went back to where I was stuck. Thankfully, the levels had checkpoints, so I never had to restart the level.
Caesar shot the giant green monster furiously, his reactions were a hundred times faster than mine. The monster threw rocks at us, and Caesar ducked and dodged out of the way, then continued shooting the monster. Bats came flying at us, and he managed to kill them all. It took another minute, then Caesar defeated the monster.
“You got past it, you're the best!” I hugged Caesar.
“You're welcome.” He smiled.
“I love that you can get past bits that I'm stuck on. Before, I would've kept trying or given up on the game. Now, I don't have to worry, you can just play games for me.”
“I'm happy to do that, I enjoy video games, and I like making you happy.”
“Wow, you're so sweet,” I said.
We played the game for a while, with Caesar doing any parts that I got stuck on. Caesar warmed my heart, he was just so sweet and caring. My life was much better with him in it.