Marlene and I had organised a date, we were going out for coffee, and I was very excited, although I hated coffee. Hopefully, they'd have hot chocolate, I could drink that. I was wearing a floral dress, and I'd put on some makeup, as well as curling my hair. I went to the living room, where Caesar was sitting.
“Well, I'm ready,” I said and he turned and looked at me.
“Oh my, you look wonderful,” Caesar said.
“Thank you.” I smiled.
“I'll drive you there and pick you up.”
“Thanks, that would be great.”
Caesar didn't have to give me a lift, since my car could drive itself, like the majority of cars. I went out and got into the car with Caesar, and he started driving to the destination.
“Are you excited for your date?”
“Yep, I'm also a bit nervous,” I replied.
“You have nothing to worry about, you're amazing. If Marlene can't see that, then it's her loss.”
“Aww, thank you.” I smiled.
“But, I'm sure it'll be fine.”
“Yeah, it probably will be.”
“I'll stay in the area in case there are any issues,” Caesar said.
“Uh, like what?” I frowned.
“Well, it could be as minor as you not enjoying the date, or something more serious, like a crazy shooter.”
“That's a good idea, but I'm really hoping nothing bad will happen. Though, we're in America, and I hear about horrible things happening all the time.” I sighed.
It was awful hearing about shootings so often, or robots killing people, even hearing about people being mugged was scary. There were crimes at home in England, but it was extremely rare to hear about someone being shot, since only the police were allowed guns. Robots also very rarely killed people. I'd definitely feel safer if I was still in Cambridge, but having Caesar around was worth the stress.
“Sorry, I shouldn't be making you worry before your date,” Caesar said.
“It's alright, I'm glad you'll be near in case anything happens.”
“I'll make sure I'm in a place where I can see you, but I won't be in the building. I wouldn't want to distract you or anything.”
“Great, you're like my bodyguard.” I giggled.
“I am like one, your safety is one of my priorities.”
“What are your other priorities?
“Your happiness, staying alive and my own happiness,” he replied.
“Those seem like good priorities, I'd say mine are pretty much the same.”
“Are there any that you'd add?”
“Family, friends, fun and love.”
“Those are great additions.” Caesar smiled.
He parked the car, and there were a lot of buildings around us. “Have fun.”
“Thanks, I'll see you later,” I replied, then got out of the car.
Thankfully, Caesar had parked near the coffee shop, so I wasn't lost looking for it, and I didn't have to walk far. It seemed a lot harder to get a parking space in LA, probably because it was a big city. It also took much longer to get from one place to the next because of all the traffic — it sometimes took me an hour or longer to get to work.
I went into the coffee shop and there were some people inside, but it wasn't packed, which was good. I hated being in places that were too noisy, it was much harder to talk and listen to someone in those environments. Marlene was sitting at a small round table, so I went over to her.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hi, I hope you don't mind that I already got my drink.”
“Oh no, that's fine.”
“Do you know what you want to get? I can help you decide.”
“Well, I don't like coffee, so I'm hoping there's hot chocolate,” I replied.
“Oh yeah, there should be.” She nodded. “I'll come with you to order.”
“Thanks.” I went up to the counter with Marlene.
“Hi, what can I get for you?” The young white woman asked.
“Is there hot chocolate?” I asked.
“Yep, do you want cream and marshmallows with it?”
“Yes please,” I replied.
It didn't take long for the woman to make the hot chocolate. I paid for it, then went back to the table and sat with Marlene.
“How's work going?” Marlene asked.
“It's pretty good. I've just realised, I don't know your job.”
“Oh, I'm working in retail, but I'm trying to get into politics,” she replied.
“I used to work in retail, it was so boring.” I sighed.
“I don't mind it, it's just customers who bother me.” Marlene rolled her eyes.
“Thankfully, I didn't have to deal with too many rude ones.”
“You're lucky.”
The worst I'd dealt with in retail was someone telling me I shouldn't be doing my job because I'd given them the wrong change. I wasn't the best at maths.
I sipped my hot chocolate and it tasted great.
“Oh, you have a moustache now.” Marlene giggled.
“Yeah, it always happens when I drink hot chocolate with whipped cream. I'll wipe it once I'm finished. Otherwise, I'll be wiping my mouth every time I take a drink.”
“Yeah, not much point in wiping it now.”
“So, why do you want to get into politics?”
“I think I'd be good at it, and I'd like to have a say in how the country is run.”
“Well, good luck. I'd have no idea how to go about getting into it,” I said.
“Thanks.”
“Is there anything you'd want to change?”
“I'd definitely try to get rid of robots, or at least make it illegal to have any robots in public,” Marlene replied.
“Seriously?” My eyes widened.
This was very disappointing, Marlene seemed to hate robots, and I certainly couldn't date someone like her. If I was going to date someone, they had to like robots, especially since Caesar was living with me.
“I find robots scary and I don't trust them. They'll all betray humans the first chance they get.”
“But, there are a lot of free robots who don't harm humans and live peacefully with them,” I said.
“Well, I don't trust any robots, free or not. They all want to take over and we need to stop them. If we don't, we'll all end up dead.”
Marlene seemed set in her ways, and I completely disagreed with her — it would be impossible for me to date someone like her. There were some things that if I didn't agree with the person on, then it would never work. I couldn't date someone who was against abortion, or someone who was racist, sexist or homophobic — there were some views that I would just never accept.
I had to get out of here, there was no point in wasting my time with her. I'd have to text Caesar and tell him to call me with a work emergency.
“I don't know about that,” I said.
“Oh, trust me,” Marlene replied.
I quickly texted Caesar, and got a phone call within a minute.
“Hello,” I said.
“Hey, Amelia, there's an emergency at work, you need to come right away,” Caesar replied.
“Alright, I'll be there soon.” I hung up.
“Is everything okay?” Marlene asked.
“I'm really sorry, a work emergency has come up. I have to go.”
“That's no problem, we can do this another time.”
“Bye,” I said, then rushed out of the shop with my hot chocolate.
I walked to the car and got in, and Caesar started driving away. “What happened?” He frowned.
“Unfortunately, she hates robots. I should've looked her up or something.” I sighed.
“It's alright, it's hard to know whether or not someone likes robots,” Caesar replied.
“I think I need to ask their opinion on robots before I go on a date.”
“That's probably a good idea.”
“It's unfortunate, I really liked Marlene.”
“I don't know what it actually feels like, but I'm sure it's disappointing.”
“It definitely is, I suppose it's like loving the first season of a show, then the second season is different and it's rubbish.”
“Oh, I've had that happen, it sucks,” Caesar said.
“Yep. At least there are plenty of people in the world.”
It would be much easier to date Caesar, since I knew pretty much everything about him. There was no way he was a criminal, and he certainly didn't hate robots. He accepted people as they were.
“And robots,” he said.
“I suppose, but I don't know if they're interested in humans, and it would be very difficult to date one. I'd hate having to keep it a secret,” I replied.
“That's true, but you shouldn't care about any of that if you fall in love.”
“Well, yeah. It would be very new to me, since I've never dated a robot, and I don't know anyone who's dated one.”
“It's good to be outside your comfort zone from time to time.”
“Oh, I don't like doing that.” I laughed. “But I guess I'd consider dating a robot.”
“That's good,” he replied.
I went home with Caesar and relaxed for the rest of the day, which was pleasant.
****
Caesar and I had gone to the secret place where robots and humans met; we hoped it would lead us to the robot who'd killed the man. It was nice to be out of the station because I didn't like most of the people I worked with — they all hated robots.
“Do you think the killer is here?” I asked.
“I'm not sure, there are four new models in the area. I haven't seen their faces yet,” Caesar replied.
“Then, let's walk around, and you look at them.”
“That's just what I was thinking.”
I walked around the large warehouse with Caesar, but he hadn't found the killer yet. We didn't even know if the robot was here, but we'd heard that he came here sometimes. Although, no one knew that he was a killer.
“Do you think we're safe here?” I frowned.
“I'm not sure, if the killer only went after people who hated robots, then we'd be fine, but he tried to kill a woman who liked robots.”
“Yeah, it's worrying.” I sighed.
Suddenly, someone screamed; I looked in the direction of the noise, and there was a man dressed in black, and he'd squished someone's head. It was disgusting, there was blood all over the place.
Everyone was running away and screaming. This had to be the robot killer, and he was right in front of us.
“We have to get him!” I exclaimed.
The robot grabbed another person and squashed their head — it was the most horrific thing I'd ever seen, and the sound of crunching bones was horrible. Caesar ran towards the psycho, but he dodged out of the way and ran past Caesar. The killer was headed right for me. I quickly grabbed my gun and started shooting at the robot, unfortunately he dodged easily. This was the problem with making robots so advanced.
Caesar launched a table at the robot, which knocked him over, and I shot the robot's leg. Somehow, he got up, looking infuriated, and he ran at me again. My heart was racing, as I was shooting at the monstrous robot. He got to me and forcefully grabbed the gun out of my hands.
“Stop! I love robots, I'm not the bad guy!” I exclaimed, hoping he wouldn't kill me.
“I don't care, I hate humans! You're all despicable!” He grabbed my head and started squeezing.
The pain was unbearable, it was far worse than a migraine, and my head was pounding.
Caesar grabbed the psycho and pushed him to the ground. I had to sit down because my head was so sore and I was dizzy; this was the worst pain I'd ever felt in my life.
The killer got up and he tried to punch Caesar, but he dodged. Then Caesar kicked the robot's bad leg, and he ripped it off. The psycho hopped away, and instead of going after him, Caesar knelt beside me.
“Go after him,” I said.
“No, I need to look after you,” Caesar replied.
“You can't let him get away.”
“I'll catch him another time. You have a fractured skull.”
“Oh my, what?” My eyes widened.
It was disgusting to think that there was a fracture in my skull, it made me feel even worse.
“I have to get you to the hospital. From what I can see, it isn't serious, but I want you to get it checked out,” Caesar said.
“I can get an ambulance, you go after him.”
“No, I'm not leaving you… Anyway, he'll be long gone by now.”
“Alright,” I replied.
I was exhausted and traumatised from everything that had happened, and thinking of my head being so seriously injured grossed me out. My eyes slowly closed and everything went black.