Chapter 2 – Rebels #6
“Oooh…” Lennox grinned in amusement. “Did your cold robot heart catch fire when you saw her?” he teased.
“Hey, she’s human,” he added unsympathetically when Jack didn’t respond.
“And you’re just a bloody tin can. Apart from the fact that nobody could ever replace her dead Will, she’s hardly going to fall in love with a robot when she’s got through her grief, but with a real bloke with a functioning dick who can give her more children.
Human women want a family and they want to grow old with their husbands.
Two things that a robot can’t offer them. ”
“He doesn’t have to,” countered Jack with a touch of annoyance. “First of all, the world is hideously overpopulated and secondly, Marci already has two boys by Will who urgently need a father more than she needs a man. And thirdly, in fifty years, she’ll still be as pretty as she is today.”
“Well, it sounds like you’ve really got it bad and you’ve clearly planned everything,” said Lennox in an amused tone; he believed that robots couldn’t develop any genuine human emotions, just facsimiles of them – depictions of human emotions that didn’t actually go deep enough to do justice to the human original.
Jack knew better, but it was a waste of time trying to explain it to Lennox.
“You know you’re skating on pretty thin ice there, don’t you? From what I know of Will, he wasn’t exactly keen on you robots, and his involuntary trip to the hybrid store won’t have changed that. I can’t imagine his wife has a different opinion.”
“Will is dead,” responded Jack drily, getting himself a beer as his energy level was dropping and his temperature had spiked.
“And apart from the fact that he – robot or not – was my friend, I will certainly not force Marci to start anything with me. And I don’t have to, either.
I’ll have plenty of opportunities to convince her that robots are superior to human men in nearly all respects.
” Jack knew very well that he was far from being just a tin can.
One hundred and twenty kilos of genetically replicated muscle mass on a two-metre-tall flexible ceramic skeleton that was almost identical to a human frame, but with bones that were practically unbreakable.
With complex internal organs and painstakingly designed blood and nerve pathways, perfectly complemented with lab-generated muscles and tendons and covered in skin that was, at least visually, virtually indistinguishable from human skin.
Even his hair grew like a human’s, apart from his armpit and pubic hair, which had been omitted for hygiene reasons.
What hadn’t been omitted was a sophisticated brain designed down to the last synapse that was far superior to a human brain in terms of logic and responsiveness.
It also had areas that could be expanded depending on how the robot was going to be deployed.
Cathrin had fitted Jack with all the options so that he could feel and react like a human man.
He would be eternally grateful to her for that, even if he already knew that he might have to pay a high price for it.
“Does Marci know of your intentions yet?” asked Lennox, rolling his eyes. “She seems to have really got your artificial hormones flowing. And how exactly are you going to get her into bed? Invite her to a candlelit dinner? Sing her a song?” he laughed loudly.
“Do you think she’d like that?” asked Jack, looking slightly uncertain. He’d never really thought about the best way to impress Marci.
“No,” replied Lennox firmly. “Believe me, that kind of woman is only impressed if you play the macho card and give her a good time as soon as possible. Mechanically speaking, you’ve probably got an advantage there over a real man, but do you really think she’ll forget when you’re sticking it in her that you’re just a machine?
No, my friend,” he chuckled without pity, “believe me, you’ve drawn the short straw with that one. ”
Jack found it hard to restrain his anger, battling against his potential for excessive violence that still ruled him despite his integrated peace chip.
Previously, he’d been grateful to his makers at MacIntyre LLC for that; in battle, it had enabled him to galvanise additional energy to not only beat the enemy but completely destroy them.
Cathrin didn’t think it was right to completely scale back this ability as he was still intended to serve as a fighter in her organisation.
Fortunately, Lennox didn’t notice him clenching his fists under the table and deciding that the impulse to rip his human colleague’s head off should probably count as forbidden.
Instead, he took another sip of beer, trying to look as relaxed as possible, and smiled impassively.
“I don’t have to try to do anything, Lennox,” he announced, triumph clear in his voice. “Marci wants me to stay close to her and the children. So that’s exactly what I’ll do.”
Lennox almost choked on his drink and coughed. “Well, it’ll be exciting to see how long that lasts. Particularly when she finds out that you can’t fulfil your potential as a replacement father because you spend most of your time on dangerous missions.”
“She’ll understand,” muttered Jack. Lennox gave a faint smile. “Don’t think that human women are as easy to manage as robots. Quite the opposite. They are anything but predictable.”
“Do you feel strong enough to see Will?” asked Jack cautiously after he and Marci had dropped the two boys off at the base’s school the following morning.
It was a mixture of school and occupational therapy for children and teenagers to help prepare them as gently as possible for a life underground.
As they headed to Cathrin’s office, Jack couldn’t help but notice how quiet Marci was beside him.
She was pale and had dark shadows under her eyes, and her expression was so empty and sad that Jack just wanted to put his arms around her and give her some of his energy.
The last twenty-four hours had simply been too much for her.
She was not only grieving for Will and the circumstances under which he died; she was also worried about her future and that of her children.
Jack had been there when Willie Junior had screamed the place down after they’d left them with the carers.
Even though the men and women were incredibly kind to the boys and gave them everything they needed, it had still been particularly hard for Marci to leave Willie.
In contrast to Logan, who found everything on the base exciting, his little brother was as clingy as a baby, but Marci could hardly take the children with her if she wanted to see Will’s body one last time.
“I need to say goodbye to Will,” she explained bravely, as if to reassure herself that she was not going to break down. “Until I see him, I can’t believe that he’s really dead.”
“I know it’s no great comfort to you,” said Jack cautiously, “but I will always be here for you and the children and protect you as much as I possibly can. I promised Will that, and I’m happy to do it.”
“That’s good of you,” she responded quietly, looking slightly quizzically at him.
He wished he could have made himself smaller, as his menacing figure was clearly preventing her from seeking shelter in his arms. Lennox was right.
As a robot with genetically engineered muscle mass, close-cropped hair and a selection of QR code tattoos that contained technical instructions in case of emergency, he was definitely not the kind of life partner a woman like Marci could want.
When she hesitated for a moment outside the secure communications room where Cathrin was waiting for her, he placed his large hard lightly on her back and guided her gently inside.
“Good morning, Marci.” Cathrin Porter greeted her with a cryptic smile that was no doubt intended to be encouraging. Marci sat down hesitantly in the comfortable, white chair that Cathrin offered her and her expression immediately turned serious. “How are the boys? Were you able to get some sleep?”
Marci gave a barely perceptible nod and sat stiffly as if preparing to flee at any moment, terrified at the thought of being confronted with Will’s remains.
Jack seemed to sense her fear and took up a protective stance behind the chair as if wanting to shield her from what was about to follow.
But he couldn’t; nobody could save her from the feelings that would inevitably overcome her when she was confronted with the unfathomable.
The screen that stretched across almost the whole wall produced realistic 3D animations with a simple command and gave viewers the feeling of being part of the events shown on it. It would surely make her pain even more unbearable.
“Are you ready to learn more about Will’s fate?
” asked Cathrin with a touch of compassion in her voice.
It sounded almost innocuous. She had probably seen many terrible things and, unlike Marci, was perhaps slightly immune to it all.
Despite that, she was clearly making an effort to show concern for Marci’s situation.
“Yes,” replied Marci bravely. “I want to know what happened to my husband and I want to say goodbye to him personally. If I don’t, I’ll never find any peace.”