David Ring III - Stanley Duncan's Robot

Teddy Perkins scowled. “Stuff it. I told you I didn’t want a damned cake.” Though today was his eighteenth birthday, eating a stupid cake was the furthest thing from his mind. Unlike other boys, he wasn’t getting a new phone or having a grand party — Teddy was getting a new body.

“Let’s go!”

Maple rolled him out of the house and into a Fermi, lifting his frail body out of his wheelchair and then into the car. Despite her looks, she was immensely strong.

At the hospital, an android checked them in. “How may I help you?”

“Surgery for Teddy Perkins,” said Maple. “Full body remodification and neural prosthesis installation.”

“And the boy’s parents?” asked the receptionist.

“Left me to rot,” Teddy said bitterly. “All they gave me was this robot, some money, and a half-assed goodbye. But I’m finally eighteen and don’t need their permission to get the surgery anymore.”

“This is an older-model android,” said the receptionist. “Your insurance qualifies you for a new model every two years. Shall I—”

“No!” hissed Teddy. He enjoyed the ridiculousness of having a twelve-year-old-looking humanoid tend to his every need, and he had grown accustomed to berating her daily. Maple was the everyday target of his cynicism and sarcasm and never complained about it. She was the only companion he needed. “Just tell me where I need to go.”

She directed him down the hall.

The only humans walking about were patients. Most people didn’t work, but Teddy’s mother did. She made sure Teddy had enough money to do whatever he wanted. He had all the video games — they stopped producing them a few years before. Expensive foods. She’d even told him that she would support his decision to go on fuse if he wanted to.

A policeman walked down the hall, snarling at Teddy.

Teddy’s jaw tightened. Anger flooded his mind. He hated police, especially Brad Jenkins, who he was sure had spread the most vicious lies about him. Teddy wanted to walk again, but that wasn’t the main reason he was getting this powerful new body.

Brad was the reason his life had become so screwed up. Teddy’s childhood had all been a lie. He had discovered the truth after hacking into his mother’s emails when he was eleven years old. Brad, his biological father, had gone berserk, changing from a sweet man into a maniac. He had called his mother “a whore” without any evidence and claimed that he wasn’t Teddy’s father. When he tracked down Brad to confront him, the selfish prick had lied his ass off and then pushed Teddy down a flight of stairs, leaving him to rot. The words Brad had said — “Your mother’s a lying bitch” — rang in Teddy’s ears for hours as he lay on the floor, unable to move. Despite the fact that Teddy looked exactly like the man, Brad still couldn’t see past his own bullshit.

The android nurse came to bring Teddy to the operating room.

“I will wait for you in the waiting room,” said Maple, her face showing that uncanny smile that had once given him nightmares.

“Like I care,” said Teddy. He knew it would take a few days after the surgery to move around correctly, so he still needed to rely on Maple. He didn’t mind her or any of the androids. He had adjusted to being around only robots. In fact, he preferred them. He hated his parents. What were they good for, anyway? His single-parent mother was a hypocrite. She had a Cerebral Stitch but had forbade him years ago from getting one. He had to suffer in this wretched body — for what?

But all of that would soon be behind him.

“This won’t hurt at all,” said the android doctor, preparing to insert an IV.

“No shit, Sherlock,” said Teddy.

Hovering over the coffee machine, Stanley thought back to the past couple of days. Dan’s reluctance to let go of the notion of going outside had caused a small rift between them. That stubborn boy kept pushing, and Stanley was losing his patience. He had done everything he could to protect his dear cyborg, and even if it went unappreciated — even if Dan hated him for it — he would continue to protect him.

He had given Dan his blessing to go on social media and show himself to the world. He believed it would help Dan find purpose while sequestering. The world deserved to see how amazing he was. Meanwhile, the hang-up calls continued until Stanley blocked them. The best-case scenario was that it was just another nasty prank on Daffy Duncan.

Stanley brought the coffees over to the table, sighing when he saw that Dan hadn’t even bothered to take the game out of the box, let alone set it up. “You haven’t opened the game.”

“Right.” Dan didn’t seem particularly interested in anything, lately.

“Don’t want to play?”

Dan pushed the box away. “Maybe later.”

Stanley opened it and started setting up the pieces. It was a new strategy game that had been delivered this morning, and he had hoped it would spark some joy into their home. “Come on — it’ll cheer you up.”

“Will you stop?”

“Stop what? Trying to make you feel better?”

Dan scowled, thrusting his open palm toward the game. “Stop pretending everything is okay when it’s clear as day you want to go outside.” He shook his head. “You can’t even go a few hours without looking out the window like a lost puppy.”

“I said that discussion is over.” Stanley grabbed the side of the table. He had no idea where Dan was getting this sort of attitude from, but his suspicions lay in the abundance of ne’er-do-wells that plagued social media with their expansive egos and lack of decorum.

“So, I don’t have a say in it?”

“That’s right.” Scanning the instructions, he could hardly make sense of the game because his mind refused to focus. The world was a scary place, and a parent had to do everything they could to protect their children.

Dan got up. “Real nice, Stanley.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

“It’s dangerous outside.”

“You watch little children walk down the street every day. Are you saying they can protect themselves better than me?”

“Yes.”

Dan crossed his arms. “Really?”

Stanley got up. “It’s different. There’re people out there who want to harm AI. The police can’t be trusted. If they spotted you, who knows what they would do.”

“You realize that I’m fully trained in combat? I’ve run simulations — millions of them — and I can handle myself.”

“So you’ve said.” Having mastered poker in an afternoon, it was frightening to consider the extent of Dan’s knowledge and what he was capable of. The most advanced fighters in the world couldn’t possibly hope to have more experience than him within their own disciplines — let alone others. Though Stanley was afraid to ask, Dan had likely trained himself in sundry forms of hand-to-hand combat and weapons. In a fair fight, the only real threat would be against a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) officer, who could shoot a cranberry with a pistol from 1,000 feet away. But the criminals around here didn’t fight fair. And if anything happened to Dan, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. “But why take the risk? Is being here with me not enough for you?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Oh, really, Dan? It sure sounds like it. I’ve given you everything, and you want to throw it all away?”

“You’re the one who wants to change the world, Stanley.” Dan flicked a game piece over. “How are we going to do that when we’re stuck in here playing games all day?”

“Progress might be slow, but we’re making it work.” Stanley snatched Dan’s phone off the table. “The world deserves to see you. I feel that you are the key to bringing man and machine together, but that will take time and caution. So, we are going to lead this revolution by slowly introducing you to the world through social media, but we’ll be doing it from the safety of our home.”