"Look at you--look at you--would ya. Looking good Cookie!"
"Thanks Toni. I feel better too. Thanks for telling me to take the day off."
"No problem, you fox. You didn't burn anywhere did you?"
"Nope. It's a wonder. The last time I came to the frontier to get a tan I fell asleep and burned myself alive!"
"Worse than that time I saw you in jail? You were so red that day that I just had to look out for you."
"That was the same day. Things sure have changed since then, haven't they?" I asked in a reflective voice.
"Yea, you're more alive now. Back then you were...lost. Being a CB is the best thing that ever happened to you."
"You've got to be true to your own nature. Someone I admire told me that once."
"Who was that?"
"You, Toni!"
"Oh. Yeah. Thanks. That was me, wasn't it? That time you came down to the first floor to 'visit' and Marjorie wanted to push your face in."
"Yeah."
"Those were the good old days!" Toni laughed.
***
We had a good meal together then went and watched the video for awhile. It was late when Toni decided to call it a night. She slapped me on the butt and remarked again how much better I looked then left me to watch some more video and wait for any message we might get from Killer.
Right away things began to get weird. As soon as Toni left George came in and parked himself at my feet. What was so unusual about that was the fact that he hadn't been there all night. I hadn't seen Toni's droid friend either, "Butch" is what she called it.
George was intently watching the video. I was still not completely sure what had happened the night before. Had George spoken or not?
"George?" I said.
It turned around and looked at me.
"Video?"
George pointed at the video. "Video." he said.
My head began to feel funny. "You can talk, can't you?" I got out as my head began to spin.
"Yes, right."
I knew I just had to be hallucinating. "Why didn't you talk in front of Toni? And why are you talking so much better tonight that last night?" I asked the droid. I had to trip it up. Either this wasn't happening and I was on some kind of mind trip or George could think and talk and was playing tricks with my mind for some reason. I think. Make that, I wasn't thinking too clearly.
"Ferguy." George said.
I looked at him bewildered. I felt like I was loosing my mind. One minute it was the George I had come to know and another minute it was ready to learn to speak. I thought I had gotten caught up on my rest, but it was evident that I still wasn't up to snuff. I needed more rest, badly. It still wasn't time for Killer's transmission so I didn't have much of a choice. Someone had to be awake to receive it. I had slept nearly all day so it would fall to me to be there to get it. I carried the video to the office where the radio was and tuned in my favorite channel. I cringed slightly when I saw that George had followed me.
George was why I kept having my delusion. It wasn't his fault, but I wished he was out of sight instead of being at my feet and watching the video. It was a murder mystery and I managed to get into it after awhile. Just when I had I heard a voice pipe up, "Cookie ok?" It was George or at least I thought it was. I wasn't sure. I wanted to cry.
"Cookie not ok." I said.
"What matter Cookie?"
"Why are you talking?" I asked getting angry.
"Why not?"
"How'd you learn to talk? You're just doing this to annoy me."
"Listen video. Listen radio."
"Oh yeh, why didn't you talk in front of Toni."
"Toni? Not sure Toni good."
This interested me. "Why?"
"Why not."
"Toni is good." I argued.
"Sure?"
"Yes."
"George not sure."
I started to say 'why' but decided to get one step ahead of this smarty-pants droid. "Why not." That's what it kept saying to me when I had it backed into a corner.
"Need time." George told me calmly.
"...." I didn't know what to say. I wasn't even sure I was talking to a droid or not. I must have been hallucinating again.
"Why Cookie not ok?"
"I'm not sure that you are really talking to me or not."
"I talk. Why not ok?"
"I think I may be going nuts."
"Nuts? That mean you crazy? Broken?"
"Yeh, I'm broken." I admitted forlornly.
"Me broke too. You help? I help you."
"How can I help?"
"Tell why you read bad."
"Bad? Bad in what way?"
"You temperature wrong. You heart beat too slow. You small. Must be wrong. Read wrong. Something wrong. Must be broke. Many things wrong."
"Can you control computer, George?"
"Yes..."
"Turn it on."
The computer screen on the desk lit up. "Ok?" George asked.
"Show me a picture of the people who made you."
"Do not have that picture."
"Show me the people who left you then."
"Which one?"
"Any of them will be fine."
Several screens flashed by on the monitor. Directly I was looking at some kind of lizard creature. I smiled to myself and thought, "Yep, you're going off the deep end!" It almost looked like a woman dressed in a lizard suit except it looked real. She looked big. I don't know why I thought of it as a female. There were no breasts and she had what I thought were three legs at first but one of the legs turned out to be a large tail. She wasn't pretty but she didn't frighten me either. I wished desperately that I could be sure all that was really happening.
"It is a female right?"
"Yes. It Agra Tyunda."
"Do we look alike to you, George?"
"No, she green."
"Is that all?"
"No, there much different."
"Why?"
"Why not, Cookie?"
"That was another race. I'm human, George. She isn't."
"What mean 'human'."
"It is the name of my species. Do you know what a species is?"
"You tell."
"Do you know what a dog is?"
"No, you tell."
"Ummm...it's an animal...do you know what an animal is?"
"Yes, right."
"There are all kinds of animals. Each of the different kinds are different species. Understand?"
"No sure."
"The machine in there--what does it do?"
"It for when time to restore planet, Cookie."
"Restore the planet? What do you mean?"
"So planet be good for life--old ones return--will be water."
"Where is the water going to come from?"
"Sky."
"Rain?"
"No. From sky in space."
"The hydrogen cloud?"
"Not know hydrogen. What?"
"Water is made of two chemicals. Oxygen and hydrogen. There is a hydrogen cloud surrounding this planet."
"Yes, right."
"When will you restore the planet?"
"When you want. Do now?"
"No! Don't do anything yet!"
"Ok."
"Show me how to make the computer work."
"What want it do, Cookie?"
***
It was a long night. I had George show me enough to wonder around on my own with the computer. It was simple--once I knew what the keys were doing. Trying to learn the alien language proved another matter. I wasn't going to be a star pupil like George had been. Still I pursued learning it. This led to many conversations regarding syntax and rules of grammar. Slowly George and I built up a rapport. Our communications turned into conversations which developed into discussions. Suddenly we weren't teaching each other, we were sharing.
I was fairly certain that this wasn't all some dream. Well, I began to suspect that maybe it was real.
I finally began to tire. It was nearly noon and I hadn't seen Toni. She may have been working on the computer in her office upstairs or she could have been goofing off in the bed. It was a 50/50 chance either way. I didn't blame her. We had been at it for a long time and we had had nothing to show for it. Well, I did. I had the conversations with George. I knew what the machine did and I could activate it by just telling George to turn it on. Maybe. Ok, I was being an ass! I should have told Toni what I thought I knew.
I didn't.
I felt like I had the key, but I decided not to share it until I understood what I had better. I had no desire for fame or fortune. It was more a matter of being sure that I would be doing the right thing. A few days wouldn't matter much in the history of the planet, but it might mean the difference between life and death for Toni and myself. Sometimes when the reward is high and the risk is high you can reduce the risk without taking anything away from the rewards.
George was still reticent towards Toni. I didn't know what the problem was there but it was something I could use. I made a pact with the droid to keep quiet about what it had told me. I told George I would give him time to get better acquainted with Toni on his own. He could be a charmer.
I had begun to think of him as a person, that was another thing that made me think it was all a dream. Even his voice was changing. He was taking on a real personality. Well, he had probably had that all along. What I meant to say what his vocabulary and understanding of our language were coming up to the level where who George really was could show through.
I'm reading that and expecting to see myself write down something like, "...and I began to think he was cute..." or something sappy like that. No, I was not attracted to him at all, at least not like that, in fact I was beginning to think that Toni and I should have given him a girl's name. He was definitely feminine in his outlook. Y'know, he wasn't assertive. Well not like a man. I know women are just as assertive as men, but we do it in a different way. Men are used to doing everything using brute force, whereas we use ploys. We figure out what we want then we work towards that goal until something gets in our way. Then I figure out ways to use that obstacle against itself to help me. Sometimes a direct confrontation is what is called for and sometimes it's a mistake.
That's the way I though George was. There was something about Toni that made George look at her as an impediment. He was watching her and studying her to find out if she was going to block whatever it was that he wanted.
Whatever happened we were absolutely not going to start calling George Georgette! Maybe we could start calling her Sue. I would be the fist person in history to have a droid named after her! My future would be made, right! How about Droidette? Droidetta? Gejetta? Jejette? Jet? I wouldn't mind being called Jet. It was fresh! It would be perfect for a female droid.
It wasn't a dream. George/Jet really could talk. I was learning more about the aliens and ther computer. It was real. I just didn't share any of it with Toni. I didn't even have to lie. She wasn't expecting any breakthrough or anything so she never questioned me about what I was doing.
***
Every day I was amazed by Jet's progress. She would insert a whole new facet to herself. When I told her I thought she acted female she picked up a female voice from the video and used it to talk with. Her use of our language became more and more fluent. After awhile I began to look forward to our long talks like I would want to talk to a friend. Hmmm...we were becoming friends. We shared secrets and expressed our beliefs on the world in general.
It was odd. Here Jet was over 5000 years old and probably in just as good of shape as when she had first began to operate yet she was worried about dying. We had that in common--the fear of dying part. The final switch being turned off.
Jet was in perpetual fear of dying though. Everything that she didn't understand she interpreted as a sure sign that there was something the matter with her. She blamed herself for it taking so long to get communications started. She took the blame for not realizing that 5000 years had passed since her creators had left Seco. It was her fault, she probably thought, that I didn't have green skin.
That was one side of the coin. On the other side she expected me to help her check herself out to be sure that she was ok. I watched as she did diagnostics on herself and displayed the results of the screen. She'd show me something and then have to explain to me what I was looking at and if it was right or wrong and why. She wanted me to hold her hand--if she had had one.
Jet was a real person. I don't know how the aliens had done it but they had given her life. She was sentient. She was an artificial life form. Kinda like a CB only we were biological and she was...was..not biological. I guess you'd say she was solid state. She had her quirks, hopes, fears, and everything that you or I have. She had emotions. Her memory was fantastic. She was definitely superior to me there. Her hypochondria was one area where she acted downright silly. I had no trouble accepting her. She was even a friend to me. I would definitely miss her if for some reason I never got to see her or talk to her again. I would worry about her while I was away from her.
Oh, one more point; she wasn't George. That is she wasn't that droid that scooted across the floor. Jet was the computer that ran the whole complex. She could emerge from George (or any of the droids) or one of the computers--nearly anything that was controlled by or linked to the main computer. She could appear to be anywhere. As part of helping her check herself she directed me to an equipment room where her 'core' was. Her 'brain'. The part that was jet, the part that made her think. It was small. Smaller than my brain. She was a cube about 100 millimeters on a side. Just a plain monolithic, black cube. She was totally plain looking.
Jet explained her distrust towards Toni. She said she would only talk to me until she better understood Toni. She wasn't shy or distrustful. There was something about Toni that just upset her. I didn't know what but it gave me a chance to set up something for myself--my interests.
I had the key. I had the power. I wanted an edge. I wanted some control in my life! I wanted to be sure I came out of this alright. I didn't need to make a million credits or anything. This was the chance the CBs needed to gain independence. I wanted to be sure we got it. If Killer had some monetary profit then that would be fine--as long as we CBs had our freedom. I wanted to poke around in Jet's brain until I knew what all I had.
I would learn what I could and keep it to myself to insure that things turned out the way I thought they should.
The whole book in zipfile format.
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