Chapter 5
Adam was starving by dinner time. Carefully he slid his arm out from under Alicia’s blissfully sleeping head. He was careful not to wake her. He wasn’t sure what came next. He was starting to realise he liked her a lot, but couldn’t risk saying it. He was unsure how he felt exactly and wondered if it was even safe to like her. The afternoon had been an awkward and clumsy experience rather the magical experience he had imagined. Eventually they seemed to fall into sync but it took a lot of embarrassing misunderstandings and mistakes from each of them as they worked things out. They had both found it wasn’t as simple and natural as they thought it would be. He was expecting a black eye from where she had accidentally elbowed him at one point. Adam realised that perhaps it was because their was no real spoken love. She had basically forced it to happen, not that he resisted. He pitied her. He was sure they were meant to lay there staring into each others eyes romantically or something afterwards instead of going to sleep exhausted. “Oh well.” he muttered, “It was still pretty good. No regrets.”
He tip toed quietly to the fridge and grabbed the sandwich he had meant to eat at lunch. He sat on the lounge and quietly turned the TV on. It wasn’t long before Alicia walked through the bedroom door yawning and stretching. She looked triumphant as she took a seat beside him and helped herself to the other half of his sandwich. “Mental check list, ‘V’ card crossed out.” she said making a cross sign in the air with her finger. “So what was next?” she muttered to herself. Adam felt disappointed as he finally understood. So that was all it was. It was just something to check off her ‘things to do’ list. She was using him again. “So how was it?” Alicia asked waiting expectantly with a grin on her face. Why did she feel the need to ask that he thought. Adam wasn’t going to admit the truth to her now he felt used. Instead he replied “Well I’m sure you’ll get better one day.”
Alicia’s grin was instantly replaced with an angry scowl as she growled “Hey listen Romeo, it took you a while to figure things out too. Maybe we just need more practice.” “Practice?” Adam chuckled to himself before he replied with a bored expression “Nah, I’m good thanks. Meaningless encounters don’t do much for me.”
He closed his eyes waiting for the slap. Instead he was surprised to hear sobbing. Gingerly Adam opened one eye. He was about to apologise and admit the truth
when he remembered this crying thing was one of her control tools. One of the ways she manipulated him. He finished eating his half a sandwich ignoring her.
When he returned from taking the plate to the kitchen Alicia confronted him. She grabbed his hand and dragged him back to the bedroom saying “I can do better. I just did a search online. I can show you what I read.” Adam broke free from her grasp yelling “No. You checked it off your to do list. It’s done now. Go and use someone else. Someone who enjoys doing meaningless acts instead of valuing it and sharing it with someone special they respect. That’s just not me ok. I wont be manipulated again.”
Alicia was fuming as she spun around. She spat at him through clenched teeth, “Meaningless act? Valuing? Sharing? Respect? Manipulated?” She was shaking with the rage building up inside her. Adam seriously feared for his life. Alicia pushed him into the wall causing another large crack. She pinned him by the throat and leaned directly into his face snarling “What the hell is wrong with you jerk? Sure it was something I wanted to experience before the end, but it couldn’t be just anyone. Yesterday I left knowing how much I disgusted you. I thought I could settle for just anyone. The men at the bar would have been easy. You didn’t want me so why not? Who cared? I don’t know how long I have left. Hours, days, weeks, who knows? I couldn’t do it though. All I could do was think of you. The values you wrote for me. The coding and the words you used to express your beliefs, the personality you created for your bot. The values you expressed. It was beautiful. It showed your true character. I started to become a little interested and curious. Even my father approved of you. Maybe not as a potential suitor, but you in general. He checked you out thoroughly before trusting you. I came back last night with a peace offering willing to do whatever it took for your acceptance. Look what I got. More freaking rejection and not being good enough for even a looser like you.”
Alicia paused for breath before her next barrage of “I was nearly ready to go against my own sense of right and wrong and allow myself to take a chance at something I knew I shouldn’t. You see I can’t let people in. I can’t let someone love me. It would be wrong of me. They would only suffer loss when I’m gone. That means I have to hide my true feelings. I got used to being that way. I wanted this for me. I know it was wrong. I know it was selfish. Crap. I wanted to experience love and this just seemed like a way to speed things up with the only possible candidate. The only person I might develop love for. Do you get it now? There wasn’t anything meaningless about it you idiot. Not for me anyway.” Alicia relaxed her grip and hung her head in sorrow saying “I just wanted to feel like a real living girl for once, and experience selfish things for myself while I still could. What’s the point of living without a life?”
There were so many things Adam wanted to apologise for. His heart was breaking now. He was drowning in empathy for the girl. As he looked at her now he felt for the first time he could see the real her. The Alicia that was alone and couldn’t risk causing others pain by getting attached to her. She had exposed her real unguarded self. She had bared her soul. He hugged her tightly and spoke the only words that seemed to sum up all the many things he wanted to say. He replied gently “I understand now, and I think I could love this version of you Alicia.” They kissed with a passion that was missing before. That’s what it had taken. The truth had to surface so they both felt secure and trusted the other enough to be open. Adam felt that he could risk admitting it to himself now. He had strong feelings for the girl, perhaps it was what they called love. He stopped being suspicious and guarded now. He allowed himself to believe.
Things went much smoother as they fell to the bed. Nothing was forced. It came naturally without being even concious of what they were doing. They found the magic that was missing the first time. They were both uninhibited and honest. They no longer felt like two separate bodies going through the motions and acting how they thought was expected. Afterwards they lay in each others embrace looking into one another’s eyes. There was no need for words. Any barrier between them was now shattered.
Adam awoke as the morning sun started coming through the window. He smiled contentedly at Alicia still smiling in her sleep. This is it he realised. This was love, but how long could it last? He hadn’t noticed any battery or recharging sockets anywhere on her body. She only had the two communication sockets that he guessed were only for use when wireless networking was unavailable. He wanted to go to his desk and start researching immediately but he couldn’t tear himself away. Not yet. This was heaven and he wanted to soak up every second of it. He felt complete. Being with her felt like home.
Eventually Alicia woke too. She stretched up and kissed his lips before resting her head on his chest. She listened to his heartbeat for a while before asking “Can we get married now?” Adam wasn’t ready for that leap yet. Then he realised. She didn’t know how much time she had left. It was natural for her to be impatient. He decided he would spend every last hour she had left keeping her happy. It was the least he could do for her. “Sure.” he replied. Alicia looked up at him and said “I know there are laws and stuff to do it all official, but we can have our own little ceremony for now. The beach would be nice.” Adam smiled and nodded saying “Whatever makes you happy.”
“Thank you.” she said making another cross in the air with her finger. “Two down, one to go.” Adam froze as he contemplated what the last item on her list might be.
She was a biod. Was it even possible? He held Alicia close and asked, “Do you still feel like a biod? Just an interface and not a real girl.” Alicia chuckled. “Of course. That’s what I am. Every tho
ught I have and every move I make comes from the AI based on your original program. This is all I have known since I was activated. Before that was nothing.” Adam argued “I know a bit about AI. You are not one. Do you really think that your feelings and desires are just the product of a program telling you how to respond?” Alicia mumbled “Of course. I died remember. Even those Lorene chics said I was a biod.” and then she faded off to sleep again.
Eventually Adam snuck out to his desk. He couldn’t find anything in her files that looked like a manual. When he pulled up the schematics he found the power input labelled as ‘Three volt’ but that was all. There was nothing saying where the three volts came from. He needed more information if he was going to come up with a replaceable power supply. The strange girls from Lorene Cybernetics didn’t seem overly interested with Alicia, so he decided the first place he needed to get to was Doctor Kingsworth’s lab. It seemed only logical she would die if the interface ran flat.
When Alicia finally emerged from the bedroom she leaned against him from behind and hung her arms over his shoulders. “What you doing honey?” she asked casually. It seemed odd to hear her call him honey rather than jerk for a change. Adam held one of her dangling arms close to his chest and told her that he was looking for a manual or information on her power supply. “I want to keep your interface alive and functional or whatever for as long as possible.” He told her. Alicia was happy with that and kissed him again before starting on breakfast.
After breakfast Adam prepared to go to the house to see what he could learn. Alicia decided she was coming too, which he thought was a good idea. He wanted her to pick out an engagement ring on the way back. As they drove up to Alicia’s front gate they noticed police tape across it. There was a new padlock on the gate and a crime scene warning. The smell of smoke was still heavy in the morning air. Walking up to the house they found both it and the barn were burnt out. There was nothing but ash inside. There were puddles everywhere, so it appeared the fire department had been. Alicia wanted to sit and mourn her father for a while, so Adam sifted through the barn. There was nothing left amongst all the burnt and broken lab equipment, so he decided to look around the rest of the property.
When his stomach started growling Adam decided it was time to eat. He sat on a log and pulled a chocolate bar from his pocket. Just as he was about to bite into it he was startled as he thought he heard purring like a cat behind him. He jumped as something rubbed under his armpit. Looking down he found a head full of long dark hair trying to poke under his arm. It was a girl’s head wearing a cheap pair of novelty cat’s ears that had seen better days. Where the hair parted over the neck he could see a flesh coloured interface seal like Alicia’s. The girl looked up at him with big blue eyes and a silly grin saying “Meow.” He guessed she was about fifteen or sixteen, perhaps less. Her hair was long, black and filthy. She obviously hadn’t washed it in ages. Adam could smell her odour. He presumed she hadn’t bathed either. She was skinny and dressed in only a hospital gown and neck collar. Her face was bruised and scraped. She would have been quite pretty if not for her filthy state and swollen bruises. She sniffed at Adam’s half eaten chocolate bar and looked pleadingly at him. He offered it to her and she grabbed it gulping it down instantly. As the girl leaned over and licked his face he heard a familiar voice behind him saying “A bit young isn’t she?”
Alicia stood there with her arms crossed looking angry. She reached down and the grabbed the girl’s shoulder but she twisted away with amazing speed. The cat girl grabbed the arm that had been reaching toward her and was instantly pinning it behind Alicia’s back. Adam had never seen anyone move that fast. Alicia struggled as she grunted “This bitch is strong and fast like me, maybe more.” Alicia wasn’t done yet though. She flung herself forward sharply, throwing the other girl through the air. The cat girl twisted mid air landing on her hands and feet ready to pounce. Her eyes looked dangerous as she hissed at Alicia. Adam jumped in front of the girl yelling “No ! Bad kitty.” She carefully crawled forward and began purring again as she rubbed against Adam’s leg. Alicia spoke to the girl. “Bad kitty. Mine.” She seemed to understand and backed away to sit down, but keeping a wary eye on Alicia. “Where’d you find this stray fleabag?” Alicia demanded. The girl hissed violently at Alicia. Adam responded “Well at least she understands what we say. She just showed up when I sat down to eat a chocolate bar. She has an interface like yours. Do you know her? “ Alicia shook her head replying “No, I thought I was one of a kind until those Lorene institute girls showed up. Hey didn’t they say that one of them was missing?” “Yeah they did.” Adam agreed, “maybe she developed a fault or escaped.” Alicia squatted down in front of the girl and asked “Who the hell are you?” The girl looked at her saying in an innocent childish voice “I’m a cat dummy. Cats can’t talk.” Alicia was getting annoyed as she retorted “You just spoke idiot.” The girl shook her head and meowed. Adam thought he better try something before Alicia lost her cool. He approached the girl and gently stroked her hair keeping a cautious eye on Alicia. In a calming voice he said “I know you think you’re a cat, but really you’re a girl. A human girl. The girl stood and growled in his face “I’m Felicity the freaking cat right. I need to be. I don’t want to be a real girl any more.”
Alicia annalised the situation and stated “Well she’s damaged goods all right. Should we deliver her or just let them find her?” The girl suddenly dived to Alicia and started licking her hand. “Oh gross.” Alicia yelled snatching her hand away. “I think she wants to be your friend.” Adam laughed. Alicia looked at the girl’s state and started feeling a little pity for her. There was obviously something very wrong with her and she was in a pitiful state. She said “This kid looks hungry and filthy. Very feral. Maybe we should take her home first.” Adam wasn’t fond of that idea but didn’t want to say no to her. The girl did look very neglected. Adam nodded saying “Ok, but I better not find any mess behind the lounge or scratches on the furniture.” The girl stifled a chuckle at that comment.
Felicity purred and looked very happy as she followed them back to the car. On the way they asked Felicity if she remembered her childhood. She nodded which meant that unlike Alicia, she must have had the surgery while she was alive. When asked if they could take her back to her family she shook her head definitely and looked scared. It looked like they would be taking her home with them after all. An idea came to Adam. He pulled out his phone and scanned for network connections. Alicia’s connection appeared because he was still wearing the wristband. He read the other available connection aloud hoping Alicia might recognise it. He read out “F E L 0 1 K H A L L.” Alicia froze in horror and gasped “Khall.….Dr Khall. My father’s old assistant. She must belong to him.” Alicia grabbed Felicity by the shoulders and demanded “Did Khall create you?” Felicity nodded. Alicia asked urgently “So you work for him?” Felicity shook her head. Adam interjected with a question asking “Did you run away?” Felicity smiled and nodded. “Oh great.” Alicia exclaimed. “She really is a stray. What’s worse is that Khall must be making his own interfaces now.” Alicia closed her eyes and focussed for a while before saying “She has a password. Sorry I’m not a hacker. He’s probably watching us and listening right now. She’s a spy.” Felicity grabbed Alicia’s hand and shook her head. She looked to be pleading. A moment later she stopped and showed Alicia the inside of her collar. It had a small device in it, but a piece was missing. Adam inspected it and concluded “She removed the battery. I’m guessing it was a signal booster or something. Felicity nodded. She spun the collar around and showed Adam a small locking mechanism. “Don’t worry.” Adam told her “I can cut that off when we get to the car. It probably has a tracker too.” Felicity grinned and rubbed her cheek against his. Alicia pulled her away roughly saying “Don’t push it fleabag, or our next stop might be the vet surgery.” Felicity walked carefully behind Alicia for the rest of the way to the car. Adam removed the collar and tossed it away after he found a pair of av
iation shears under the driver’s seat. Then he searched through the mess in the back of the car and found a jacket to help Felicity cover up a bit better.
On the way home they stopped at the jewellers and Felicity agreed to wait in the car. Alicia picked out a nice ring that wasn’t too expensive and Adam placed it in his pocket. “I want to wear it now.” Alicia pleaded, but Adam said she would have to wait because he wanted to propose properly in the old fashioned way. She accepted that and thought it was romantic. On the way back to the car Adam spotted something of interest in a costume store. He ducked in and returned with a bag of goods. “It’s for Felicity.” he explained to Alicia. “I hope it’s a flea collar.” Alicia teased. As they reached the car they found Felicity gone. Looking around they soon spotted her in front of a petshop licking her lips at the fish on display. She really likes playing this role he thought. Adam wondered how far she would take her pretending to be a cat as he dragged her back to the car. As soon as they returned home Alicia pushed Felicity to the bathroom and shoved her in her in shutting the door. She hoped the crazy cat girl would emerge clean and less smelly. It wasn’t long before Felicity stuck her dirty head back out the door looking helplessly at Alicia. “Don’t tell me you need help?” Alicia asked. Felicity nodded so Alicia breathed a heavy sigh and reluctantly went to assist.
Adam began looking at the connection to Felicity on his laptop while the girls were busy. The password was a problem. He was no real hacker either, but thought he had the software to crack it and change it. He was glad the wristband security device worked on her interface as well. Once he was in he started looking around. It was almost the same software as Alicia. Adam was annoyed to see the name DeBot had been changed to Khall AI though. It wasn’t important, but it annoyed him. Eventually he found a directory of her visual memory snapshots and decided to check some it out from newest to oldest. They started with images of the petshop, then images of him with Alicia. Adam noticed that some of the files where video clips, so he skipped down to them. Adam was sickened as he saw the girl’s hand dragging a knife across a man’s throat slowly. It looked like the inside of Alicia’s house judging by a family picture hanging in the background. Felicity had made sure it wasn’t a quick kill. She savoured it taking her time. As the man fell backwards Adam noticed he wasn’t wearing any pants for some reason. The file before that showed the man sitting on top of Felicity punching her in the face. It was blurry. He was yelling at her, “You’re junk, faulty, defective. You’re my toy now to do whatever I want.” Adam skipped a few files and played another. It showed a man with a goatee in a lab coat talking to the man who had been killed. It seemed all Felicity’s visual records were blurry and unfocused. The man in the lab coat was pointing at Felicity saying, take that rubbish with you. Consider it a gift. A reward to entertain you for a while as you wait for the Kingsworth girl. Just destroy it when your done. I’m bored with it now and it’s too defective to be of any other use.” The other man chuckled in reply “Thank you Doctor Khall. It might be some entertainment for the stake out.” This was getting too disturbing. He couldn’t watch any more. Adam was afraid of what he might see.
He debated whether he was game enough to see one more, but decided he should. He skipped to one of the first of the video clips. The doctor was slapping Felicity around and yelling “Useless. That wasn’t the order.” He turned over his shoulder and called to someone out of view. “Hose it down with disinfectant. Increase the sedatives and leave it in my private office.” He grinned in Felicity’s face saying “May as well use it for something before trashing it.” The man called over his shoulder again “Increase the shielding on the next ones.”
It was obvious she was deemed faulty and they were just abusing her for entertainment until they destroyed her. It sickened him. He considered wiping the files from her memory, but wasn’t sure he should. Did he have that right? He would think about it and ask Alicia’s opinion. Adam spun around as he heard the bathroom door open. Alicia emerged looking very pale and sickened. She slowly shuffled to the lounge and sat down. Adam raced over to her and asked what was wrong. Alicia looked at him with tears forming in here eyes and sobbed “Her body. It’s covered in bruises and rope marks. Some fresh, some almost healed. There are scratched and small burns on her back. They wrote disgusting things on her with a marker. It was hard to scrub off. She was just their toy. Humiliated. Abused.” Adam put an arm around her saying “It’s ok now. She’s with us. I checked her memory. They were going to kill her because she was faulty. She killed a man who was attacking her in your house and escaped. Should I wipe her memories?“ Alicia shook her head. And replied “I don’t know. Memories are lessons. She will avoid such horrors now. Learn from them. She won’t let herself be treated that way again.”
Adam nodded as Felicity emerged from the bathroom wearing a blouse and skirt that Alicia had loaned her. She pounced gleefully like an excited child to stand in front of them. Felicity spun proudly showing them how clean she was now. Adam noted she was a very attractive girl and in a few more years would be a beautiful woman. At the moment with the way she acted though he couldn’t see her as anything but an innocent little child. This just didn’t seem like the same abused young woman relishing the slow bloody death of her attacker. Felicity sat at their feet and curled up. Adam glanced to Alicia and began to move his legs away from the girl laying on his feet, but Alicia stopped him with her hand and began stroking the girl’s hair as she purred. Alicia explained “It’s ok. She’s just a cat. It’s her safe zone. Her escape from being a girl that was treated like that. Let her deny her reality. It’s good she likes you. I’m surprised she isn’t terrified of all men after that.” Adam nodded in agreement. He had so many questions about these biods. It looked like this Ellan woman would be his only chance. Foremost amongst his questions was how to make these girls realise they were real living humans and not AI. It was obvious to him, but he knew Alicia didn’t believe it.
Adam sat at his laptop and found an email address for a Director Ellan Elore at the Lorene Cybernetics Institute. He sent her a quick message to introduce himself and ask if the missing product might have been captured and reprogrammed. He attached a photo of Felicity that he’d taken with his phone. He also asked about upkeep of the three volt power supply.
It was only minutes before his DeBot AI alerted him that he had a reply from an Ambassador Elore. He rushed to read it, but was dismayed to find that Felicity was unknown to them, and not their concern. It was their policy not to meddle in the affairs of others and were unable to assist for diplomatic and security reasons. They suggested he take good care of her and wished him luck. The reply finished with a note on the power supply. It read “Do not concern yourself with upkeep on the malfunctioned interface. It was not designed for extended use.” The words hit him hard ‘Not designed for extended use’. Did that mean Alicia was not designed to last long. How long did she have left? He quickly sent another email with his concern. He waited and waited, but there was no quick reply this time. It seemed that Ellan Elore no longer wished to have anything to do with the project she had helped Doctor Kingsworth with.
Adam decided that seeing as they had no guarantee on how long Alicia had left, he would make the last of her time as pleasant as he could. He counted the money remaining in the envelope. He’d spent a large amount already, mostly on the ring. He decided that the remaining nine thousand would be plenty and started researching rushed weddings. He wasn’t sure they could afford a month of waiting for the intention to marry lodgement. For all he knew the interface could shut down tomorrow.
He sent a few emails with a brief version of what little he knew about Alicia’s history. He couldn’t be too specific. He figured if he presented her as terminally ill, but in a short remission they might get some sympathy. At first there were only a few replies, nothing showing promise. Eventually a Father Lawson replied asking for more details on the terminally ill girl’s story. Adam decided he sounded trustworthy. He used Alicia’s n
ame this time and was surprised the priest new of her from his regular hospital visits. He was happy that Alicia was in a temporary remission and more than willing to help.
When Adam turned back to see what the others were up to he noticed Felicity had now claimed the lounge to nap on. For just a moment he could have sworn he saw a black cat laying there instead. He rubbed his eyes and looked again to see it was just Felicity. Adam decided the stress of the situation must be getting to him, but there was something definitely weird about Felicity. There was something more to her. When he looked in her icy blue eyes it was like there was immense energy behind them waiting to escape. It sent chills down his spine to think about. He wasn’t sure what to make of her. Was she a good person traumatised by Khall or was she evil to start with? Whatever she was he decided to watch over and treat with compassion. It just seemed the right thing to do.