David Ring III - Stanley Duncan's Robot

Shannon choked on her water. “You got clobbered by a clowder?”

“Two of us died trying to stop them.”

Shannon stared down at her feet, cheeks pressing into her eyes as if to hide away her shame. “I’m sorry.”

Evan caressed her head. “How soon can you get Brutus operational?”

“Within the week.”

“Make it so,” said Evan. “If you aren’t competent enough to handle this task, I’ll find someone who is.”

“What about those fearsome felines?” asked Shannon. She was drunk and couldn’t stop herself.

“I have a feeling that everything is going to work itself out,” said Evan.

“People are going to get hurt,” she said.

“That happens in war.” Evan glanced at Cratos. “But I know we’ll do everything in our power to minimize civilian casualties.”

“Of course.”

Evan twirled his phone between his fingers. “Fortunately, despite the small setback, everything is still going according to my plan. It’s only a matter of time before we are rid of the abominations for good.”

Dan’s movements went from good to flawless. His intellect exploded, and his behavior changed radically.

Stanley broadcast his achievement through Morse Code, using a straight key.

“What’s that beeping?” asked Dan.

Stanley brought the device into the living room and explained that he was sending out messages. “Using short and long sounds, you can send and decode messages. No matter the medium, if you can send out binary pulses, you can transmit data.”

Dan ran his fingers across it, quickly becoming adept at using it. Within a minute, he’d sent a message. “But this tech is, like, a million years old. It’s primitive compared to a video livestream.”

Stanley twitched, floored at how quickly Dan had picked it up. Using his hands, he clapped the message, “Amazing.”

“Thank you,” replied Dan in tongue clicks.

Stanley wrapped his arms around Dan. Squeezing him with love, he started to think of what message he could tap out against his back. But as he did, he wondered when he had learned Morse Code and why he still used it. No matter how hard he tried, he could not remember. He became so bothered by it that he needed to quickly abandon the thought and the continuation of the game by Dan, whose noises had lost their playfulness and become overwhelming. Sitting in the chair by the window, Stanley watched the cars speed by.

“Why don’t we go outside?” asked Dan.

The words stunned Stanley. It was the worst thing he could have said.

Heavy breaths fogged up the windowpane, obscuring the outside world. Stanley stared into the glass cloud, hoping the question would likewise disappear and be forgotten.

Dan picked up a chair from the dining room and placed it next to Stanley’s. Mounting it in reverse, he rested his arms on top of the chair’s back. Calm eyes pierced into Stanley.

“What!” barked Stanley, his own anger startling him. The recent changes in Dan had been challenging, but none of them had been so precarious. Didn’t Dan know how dangerous it was?

“Let’s go outside.” The words escaped Dan’s lips so gently.

Stanley turned toward the traffic in front of the complex, the familiar buzzing modulating his mood like soft AI music playing in a psychiatrist’s office. Dan had no clue how cruel the outside world could be. He was better off here, away from the cold chill of Marshfield’s gales and glances. “Let’s not.”

“Why not? We haven’t been outside since I arrived.”

“For good reason,” snarled Stanley. “It’s not safe out there.”

“In broad daylight? We’ll be fine.”

Stanley made no reply.

“Tell me you don’t want to go out, and I’ll drop it.”

Stanley wanted to be left alone. With furled lips, he shook his head as he stared through the window, the circular patch of fog almost completely faded. His nose poured across his face as if it were a melting candle. A fiery memory, frozen in time, seared him through and through. For two decades, he had been haunted by how cruel people had been. Stanley’s arrogance and carelessness had cost someone their life, and every vile glance since then reminded him of it. And these people were even worse to machine life. With Stanley, they stopped at words and glances. But for the cyborgs and androids, they perpetrated horrendous acts of violence. Beating them to death, setting them on fire — Dan wanted him to be okay with it?

“Hey,” Dan whispered, placing his hand on Stanley’s shoulder.

Stanley slapped it off. Jumping to his feet, his heart fiercely beating against his rib cage, he shot Dan a challenging look. He knew what was best for Dan. Cyborgs had been targeted for hate crimes — violent, disgustingly horrible crimes. The idea of Dan ever being targeted disgusted him. “Why do you have to make this so difficult?”

“Me — being difficult? I’m trying to help you.”

“If you want to help, then don’t ask me about going outside.”

“Is that what you really want?”

“Yes! And as far as I’m concerned, we’re never going outside. It’s just not safe.”

Unabated, Dan stared at him with a radiant smile that lit up his entire face like the morning sun.

Stanley spun around, unable to hold the stare any longer without collapsing into some unavoidable conclusion that he would soon regret. No — here, inside the condo, they were safe. They could continue to sequester themselves. Ordering food online. Talking. Watching movies. Playing games. This was safer.

He could invite Glenda over again. Dan would appreciate that. A dinner party — she could even bring her cats. That way, Dan would be safe. He had to keep him safe.

The phone rang.

“Leticia, who is calling?”

“Unknown,” she said.

“Of course,” Stanley muttered. When the ringing persisted, he had her mute it. Seconds later, it rang again. This time, he had Leticia connect them.

“Stanley Duncan?” said a raspy voice.

Something about the voice of the man on the other end of the line bothered Stanley. He switched from speaker to a headset. “Yes?”

“I’m going to need you to modify a program you created.”

“Sorry, but I’m not available at the moment. Furthermore, I don’t appreciate you calling me at my home. I have a business website and email for a reason.”

“This isn’t a request.”

“I’m hanging up.”

“I have your address. I’d hate to have to come over and discuss this in person.” The man rattled off Stanley’s home address.

Stanley twitched. Dan came over and stood near him, a look of concern on his face. Stanley shooed him away impatiently. “What sort of changes do you need?”

“You are to modify Brutus’s sentry mode, overriding all safety restrictions and conditional fail-safes.”

“Are you kidding me? Do you realize how dangerous that is?”

“Furthermore, update it with active zones and targets based on facial identification.”

Stanley covered the microphone with his hand. “And turn it into an assassin? You’re out of your mind.”

“You have forty-eight hours to create a public repository, seven days to finish it all. Fail, and there will be consequences.”

The line went dead. Stanley’s vision focused on Dan’s concerned eyes. Something terrible was coming.

“Happy Birthday,” said Maple, her small robotic body offering the best semblance of a smile that it could. In her tiny hands was a beautifully decorated cake, black and white laces, with two strawberries.