Expedition Westward

  ***

  Some distance ahead of her, Dr. Che ambled along the sidewalk deep in melancholy thought – right hand jammed into a coat pocket, left one gripping the assault rifle. A breeze tugged at his lab coat. It was not particularly strong but enough to kick up the parched, barren ground into an irksome miasma. He wore wraparound glasses to protect his eyes from the flying particles.

  Today’s escape from the clutches of Colonel Reyes had been exhilarating, and the beat down of that vandal punk had supplied a welcome release of bottled-up frustration. But now that things had calmed, the old ennui had come back and was perching on his shoulder like a vulture.

  What was the purpose of his empty life? To hear Dr. Rackenfauz tell it, he was still a young man with his whole future ahead of him. But what was that exactly? More loneliness and disappointment, more mediocrities – like that colonel guy – trying to suppress his creative impulses?

  And the exotic beauty who’d been the love of his life – gone to another man. Doubtless she was dead by now, and only her image, carried on by the robot Estrella, remained.

  But what an image! A perfect, ageless replica of the original woman. Anatomically correct in every detail, and with a warm, loving heart.

  Does she love me, though?

  Her physical attraction to him was obvious, though he could not tell if anything more was behind it. Her attachment to the Winston robot was also obvious, and he’d seen the way she’d ogled the men on the road today.

  It wasn’t supposed to be like this. If only he’d stayed in Mech City for her activation! Why did those sons of bitches at the RDI have to interfere? She was to have been imprinted, from the very beginning, to love and desire only Jerry Che. Now her sexuality was generalized, thrown out into the world for anybody to pick up.

  So, why had he left Mech City at that crucial time? He’d told himself all that stuff about his obligation to his colleagues on the west coast and blah, blah. But the real reason he’d left was because he was scared of what would happen once Estrella was activated. He simply couldn’t bear the thought of her not accepting him. And if she did – what then? How could he possibly measure up to a creature of such absolute perfection?

  He’d told himself that he’d be coming back, but that was a lie. He didn’t expect to survive the plague. Then Edgar’s vaccines had come and he’d lived on while everyone else at the RDC died off.

  So many times he’d regretted using those vaccines.

  And then Edgar himself came with news that Estrella still existed, that a whole robot community survived in Mech City. Che had wanted to go there immediately, but by that time the Space Invaders were in town and made it clear that they didn’t want him to leave.

  He could have snuck away, of course – there was always some damned excuse!

  Strolling through the dream-like surroundings, he could imagine he was in another place and time – fifteen years ago, on the other side of the world. In his mind, he was the 19-year-old prodigy again, finishing up the robotics science graduate program at the University of Seoul ...