Scratching her side boob, Kali Loklear yawned and stumbled into the brightly lit kitchen. She squinted at the morning sunlight, and her nostrils prickled at the sharp tang of percolating coffee.
At least it was warm. Not that her toes would have been cold, she was wearing her favourite socks, and the HeatMe was up full blast.
She shuffled past her father pausing to kiss his temple. Dark hair peppered with silver tickled her nose. He patted her hip affectionately, eyes glued to his TalkMe, and the news feed scrolling across the screen.
Kali’s voice was rough with sleep when she croaked, “Sunshine, Papa.”
Coffee cup to his lips, Creighton’s olive eyes flicked up. The cut of his strong jaw softened. The laughter lines carved into his cheeks, and the charming wrinkles creasing the corners of his eyes relaxed as he gifted his daughter with the gentlest of looks. A familial caress tinged with wonder that showed he thought his child a miracle.
“Sunshine, princess. What mischief are you plotting to give me gray hairs with today?”
Hopping onto the stool, Kali laid her diamond-shaped face on the cool surface. She tucked her fisted hands into her stomach. “Mischief? Me?” She snorted. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I’ll be watching HoloVids and eating leftover dumplings.”
Creighton allowed his gaze to lift to his daughter’s face again. “Do you want me to call your father in here?”
“No,” she muttered and slouched into herself, concaving her stomach and arching her back. Kali sat up. Smiling brightly, she attempted to look motivated when what she wanted to do was curl up on the island and use her father’s arm as a pillow. “Today is going to be spent trolling the IntraWave, applying for employment and eating the bountiful tray of fruit you see before you.”
“Stellar girl.” Creighton took a sip of the liquid sloshing in his transparent mug. Sucking a breath through his teeth at the bitterness, he flicked the tip of his finger across the screen of his TalkMe. He frowned at what he read, muttering about inflation or some such.
Kali grabbed an open box of cereal and grimaced as she shook it. As soon as she touched the box, it turned her favourite shade of green, and an advertisement for the latest MiniComUni design flashed up.
Creighton caught the advert. “You need a new ComUni?”
“I was browsing the other day with Max. He wanted my opinion, my unit is standard.”
“I created breakfast for you. Check the FeedMe.”
She wiggled happily in her seat. “Yum.” Sliding off her stool, she padded around to give him a goodly smacking kiss on the cheek.
Kali all but danced to the machine to find a trio of golden dumplings on a pristine ceramic plate.
Her father spoiled her. She threw an adoring look over her shoulder.
From the CoolIt, she grabbed a jar of chocolate spread and a jug of juice already created in the MakeIt, which was great. She hated fiddling with the settings; she never got ingredients amalgamated in the MakeIt tasting good.
Creighton managed a veritable art form when he created meals.
She picked up the knife thoughtfully left on the side for her. Dipping the dumplings straight into the jar would have been her next move, but her father would blow bosons if she did that in front of him.
She used her hip to close the CoolIt door, and her foot to flip the FeedMe closed.
Apprehension tingled. She set the stuff down to open the doors twice more. Hugging the food to her chest, she returned to the island in the middle of the room. Dumping it all, she brought the juice jug to her lips.
“Glass,” Creighton ordered without raising his eyes from his screen.
She ignored him and puckered to swig and swallow.
“Kali.”
She peeked over the rim of the jug. The disapproval was clear to see. “Howl,” she called. “Please can....”
“Stars above, do not use that FetchMe.”
She gave Creighton an exasperated look. “His name’s Howl, Papa.”
“I’m used to calling him that. His ears are damn sensitive. The moment you even whisper his name, even if you don’t actually want to summon him, he comes running. I hate that.”
On cue, the Loklear’s FetchMe came scuttling around the corner on energised mechanical legs, eager for attention. He skidded to a stop at the threshold of the kitchen, sleek head swinging between Creighton and Kali.
His tail whipped side to side in excitement.
The latest design in biogenetic robotics, the FetchMe was designed with the characteristics and physical attributes of a living organism. Having the cognitive ability of a young adult, Howl was cloned and grown within a biomechanical womb from stockpiled animal DNA.
The companions were cyborgs considered indispensable to HiCaste families, and recognised as honorary members.
Kali’s first FetchMe was a gift from her parents when she was a baby, an adorable wolfhound called Fluffy who died of old age. Left to choose the breed of the FetchMe this time, Kali had been tempted to get a felid breed like her best friend Max, but in memory of Fluffy, she got an Arctic wolf instead.
Howl was loyal to the family and programmed to protect them from danger. His intelligence was considerably higher than most FetchMe borgs because Kali didn’t see the point of creating such a beautifully intelligent creature to dumb it down to just look pretty. Wolves were naturally intellectual creatures, and by adding lines of genetic coding, the FetchMe had become a friend, confidant, guardian, and genuine member of the Loklear family.
Most importantly to Kali, he had the ability to control certain household functions.
She trained Howl to be able to open cupboards and bring her things the moment she realised he was canny enough, and only recently had her parents figured that out.
And they gave her hell about it.
Reading Creighton’s adrenaline levels to determine him unapproachable, Howl sat at Kali’s feet.
Obsidian eyes with gold slits stared lovingly.
Dropping to her knees to give him a hug, she let his silken muzzle rub her neck. His off-white coat was satiny smooth, and smelt like cotton, as it had been coded to. Kali purposefully allowed him to keep his sharp teeth because giving him a mouth full of blunt herbivore canines felt cruel. In essence, he was a wolf, and loved to hunt. Curbing those urges detracted the primal essence of what he was.
Rikard Loklear had been hesitant to allow her a full wolf breed because the animal fell in the high-risk category. Wolves and predatory big cats malfunctioned more often than any other kind of borg. Their animal sides overrode the genetic suppressants keeping them docile, and there had been occurrences of attacks on humans. By keeping Howl’s hunting and tracking instincts, Kali had removed those suppressants, relying on Howl’s connection to the family to keep him in line. Regardless of logical argument, when Kali had seen him freshly birthed as a puppy, covered in embryonic fluid and the metal alloy enhancements showing through his thin, hairless skin, she’d known he had to be hers. Howl would never hurt her. He loved Kali as much as she loved him, and that bond was the reason Rikard relented.
Howl’s genetic makeup remained unaltered; sparing him a painful process that Kali feared would take more than natural instinct. He would lose his soul. Kali believed steadfastly that FetchMe had souls. They were alive no matter what convoluted arguments scientists used to push twisted legislation, demanding the Alliance allow horrific experiments on discarded companions.
Rumbling low in his throat, Howl nuzzled her, and pushed forward until she fell onto her butt. Kali laughed and gave him a decent rub, enjoying his heavy body. Howl was large for a wolf, and came up to Kali’s waist when she stood. On hind legs, he easily rested his fore paws on her shoulders, as tall as her.
Kali popped a kiss on Howl’s pink nose before jumping up.
“To get a glass I have to travel all the way to the cabinet behind you,” she said to Creighton eventually.
She omitted from the petulant statement she’d have to open another cupboard door, and that she really didn’t want to.
Creighton’s gaze remained steady on hers. He wasn’t budging. “The journey to the glass cabinet is littered with peril, but I insist you get a glass.”
Kali made a show of marching past him.
Sensing her unease, Howl followed, but with a hand gesture, he backed off. He lay by the window, head on his forepaws, stunning eyes tracking her closely.
“Papa, would you like a fresh coffee?”
The last time she made coffee the machine had exploded a little bit. Her parents – who may as well be jacked into IV drips of the stuff – had mourned as if she’d murdered a family member until a new one was installed.
Creighton winced at the suggestion. “No, thank you. This cup is standard.” He glanced at his watch. “Can you hurry your father up? Make sure he comes now and not five minutes from now.”
Nodding distractedly, Kali focused, and opened the cabinet to get that damn glass. She quickly closed the door. Her hand remained on the handle. She took a tentative step back, visualizing letting the handle go, but her damn hand remained on the handle, tightened even. She willed herself to let go, to ignore the need to open it again, but the pressure built until strangulation would have been kinder. Closing her eyes on a sigh, she opened the cabinet door and closed it. Again, she fought the urge, but no. She opened the door again and closed it. After that third time, the tension eased, and she was able to let go.
Then came the usual feeling of shame and embarrassment for her inability to control her baser urges, a senseless need to repeat certain actions in sets of three.
She slid the tumbler onto the tabletop and caught Creighton studying her.
“Sure,” she mumbled in answer to his earlier request.
Kali always felt like a disappointment. For all the hard work Creighton put into helping her get past her condition, she never made any real progress. He never judged and was never negative. His unwavering support made it worse somehow. Too loyal to understand his daughter was a nutcase.
Swiftly following the self-pity was relief he would never give up, and wouldn’t turn from her because she was different. Her father cared how she saw herself and worked tirelessly to understand the issue. In the meantime, he pushed, and gave her the strength to fight it. If he hadn’t shown such determination in her childhood, Kali would be worse than she was, barely able to function.
As she walked past, she acknowledged what he’d done by touching his hand. He grabbed it, and brought it up to press a comforting kiss on it.
Kali adored him.
With a wiggle of her fingers to summon Howl, she stepped out the kitchen into the brightly lit passageway that ran the length of their domicile. She passed more arches leading to the central room, guest quarters, utility units, and bedrooms.
There were few doors in the Loklear house because of Kali’s compulsive disorder. Whenever she had to open a door of any kind she had to repeat the action before she was able to move on with her life. Tragic. That was not the only tic Kali had. New ones appeared and disappeared as she grew and developed, but the doors were the most disruptive. It was controllable at home. Her parents remodelled the house, and she was not constantly facing barriers to enter rooms. Nevertheless, they wanted her to come to terms with what affected her, and put everyday things behind cupboard doors, like normal people. If she tried avoidance, her parents gently but firmly pushed her in the right direction. Kali had been getting around the discomfort by allowing Howl to grab most of stuff for her. After being caught red handed using the FetchMe, they’d berated her on becoming dependant on the borg, and watched her more carefully.
As she walked the length of her home, Kali took in her lush surroundings and acknowledged she was privileged. She had phenomenal parents, and lived on Earth ContinentOne, the birthplace of the Alliance where the mantra was OEOP; one earth one people.
Treaty10 was passed in the late twentieth century. Manufacturers were forced to limit the technological upgrades to both people and land as long as it remained an economically viable option. For people with less credit in the bank, limiting themselves to old Earth technology simply wasn’t cost effective, and households that fell in the LoEco sectors lived in high-rise domiciles not detached habitats. If Kali remembered her history correctly, two super powers had actually resisted the treaty when first inaugurated. Pressure had been applied, and the detached countries acquiesced, rejoining the rest of the world under the Alliance. The land was divided into quadrants, and adhered to Treaty10 barely a century after declaring independence. Despite the political turnabout, the economy and standard of living deteriorated exponentially. Those quadrants were now survival colonies, living on the ragged edge of existence, barren. The land had been stripped to make way for the machines. Once the machines were destroyed there was nothing left. Most people emigrated. The hardcore stayed. Because of its greenery, brick, and mortar structures, clean streets, and low crime rate, Quadrant2 on Earth had become the place to live for all HiCaste families with credit to spare because it was on Earth ContinentOne. Despite the global radioactive desolation caused by world war five, Earth remained the most stable of the planets, and most able to support Human life. Not that those who lived on the new planets humanity had colonized had much of a choice. Space was limited on Earth. Unless you won the Lotto, you had to fly to an out post and make the most of what you’d been allotted. The alternate option was to move to the OutRim, wastelands supported by synthesized oxygen and food, and riddled with pockets of deadly radiation. There were SafeZones, but if you lived in the OutRim on a permanent basis, it was a matter of time before you suffered radiation poisoning. The solution? Get on a shuttle and move off Home World. Politicians and celebrities preferred Quadrant1, the bustling capital city of Earth. Kali’s family unit preferred a domicile to a single floor dwelling, no matter how luxurious the dwelling was. The second quadrant was perfect. Her parents believed it was good enough for them to live as their ancestors did, without machines supporting every facet of their existence.
Safely cocooned within a family of wealth, and the highest of HiEco class, Kali had everything, and was kept safely away from the dregs of society.
Kali walked the hallway to Rickard’s study. Her hand brushed the smooth white wall.
Her parents were the greatest in the universe.