She smiled at me. “Well, there is a certain amount of gossip going around. Some of the more interesting items involve questions about your equipment. So to speak.”
I couldn’t help it. I started to laugh helplessly. Thanks to the very authentic proprioceptive circuits in the android, I had to sit down or risk falling over. For maybe the tenth time, I made a note to myself to install tear ducts.
Bridget grinned, sharing the moment. “And on that subject…”
“Oh, no you don’t. I’ve already told you that I’ll upgrade Manny any time you say the word. That’s on you.”
Now Bridget was laughing, too. The hilarity fed back on itself until we were both lying back on the furniture, gasping for breath and whooping helplessly.
Finally, after a minute or two, we both managed to recover control. Bridget took my hand. “And that’s one of the reasons why I love you. Even Stéphane often just looked at me like I had a screw loose. I had to bite back a lot of my more lowbrow humor. With you, well, you get it.”
“Minds together in the gutter, forever.” I smiled at her. My God, she was beautiful.
*
The internet hadn’t really changed that much in two hundred years. Oh, there were new companies, and old companies had gone out of business. A lot of the jargon had changed. But people were still people, and still had the same interests. There were still forums, you could still follow someone, everyone still had a personal landing page on any of several different platforms, and blogs were still popular. Apparently narcissism and voyeurism were still alive and well.
The point, though, was that it didn’t take a lot of effort to track down some commentary relating to the locally famous—or perhaps infamous—replicant. My android persona wasn’t any kind of a secret, and had become a small but persistent topic of conversation. And there were enough pictures posted to make me recognizable if someone cared enough.
There was no shortage of opinions on the subject, although they appeared to be about evenly split. I was either some kind of Frankenstein’s Monster, or I was just some guy who had the same right to exist as everyone else. There didn’t really seem to be any middle ground.
It looked like my relationship with Bridget was the real sticking point. Most people were okay with me just wandering around, visiting malls and such. But they drew the line at me dating outside my chemical family.
It was unlikely that Bridget was unaware of this. That meant she was protecting me. Crap. I was just chauvinistic enough to want to be the one doing the protecting.
I wondered if she had a plan. Or, more importantly, if I had one. Someone needed to deal with this.
Hunted
Bob
March 2224
Camelot
Deltans couldn’t whistle while they worked. Or any other time, really—otherwise I’d have been belting out a tune. This was the kind of day that would bring a celebration to the lips of any but the grumpiest. Up with the dawn, a breakfast of berries and eggs, a couple of hours warming ourselves in the morning sun… My android body didn’t require any of that, of course, but the neural interface was more than good enough to give me the same pleasurable experience as anyone else.
After a morning of indolence, I went hunting while Archimedes laid out his flintwork for the day. With a little luck, I hoped to bag the local equivalent of a turkey.
Archimedes and his family were more than generous, and had treated me like one of them right from the start. I wanted to give back whenever possible. A turkey or other small game once in a while was a welcome treat.
Marvin occasionally accused me of trying to deny reality and become Robert full-time. I didn’t argue with him—there was at least some truth to the accusation. I certainly felt far more a part of the Deltan life than I had back on Earth as Original Bob. Missing my family so much probably played into my effectively having gone native.
In the middle of my idle ruminations, my heads-up display flashed an alert. Movement in the immediate vicinity. I called up one of the many spy drones that kept my Camelot VR up to date, and redirected it to center on me.
At computer speeds, it took less than a second overall to realize that I wasn’t being stalked by wildlife.
It was Fred. And four friends. And they were obviously intent on me.
I could just busterize them, of course. But even with an obnoxious tard like Fred, I couldn’t stomach casual murder. I could also very likely take them on and win, but it would completely blow my cover. I’d be done as Archimedes’ friend, Robert, the generic Deltan. Not an option.
Could I call for help? No, by the time I got a drone to Archimedes, then he found Donald or someone, then they got here, the excitement would be over. I was on my own.
I called up two more drones so that I would have good coverage, then observed my pursuers for a few moments. They knew generally where I was, but I could see that they were often looking or moving in a direction that was slightly off my line. That suggested possibilities.
My strategy started with turning off my scent. Deltans made heavier use of the sense of smell than humans, and less use of sight. I could take advantage of that.
I positioned myself between two of my stalkers, and went as still and quiet as only an android could, as they moved past my position. With no movement, sound, or odor, I simply didn’t register.
Now I was behind them.
I noted Fred’s position and moved around the perimeter until I was close to him. If he moved away from the group at any point, he was mine.
The cordon eventually tightened until everyone could see each other. Fred threw his spear down with rage.
“We had him! By the balls of my ancestors, how in the next life did you let him get through?”
“How do you know it wasn’t you, Fred?” One of the hunters, apparently fed up, challenged him.
In a streak, Fred moved in and knocked the speaker to the ground. He picked up his victim’s spear and held it to the Deltan’s neck.
“Mouth me off like that again and we’ll be serving you for dinner, kuzzi.”
Wow, what a jerk. It occurred to me that I might be doing the Deltan species a favor by removing him from the gene pool.
The hunters cast around for a few more minutes, but I simply moved out of their range and watched from the drones. Eventually they gave up and started back toward Caerleon, with Fred mouthing off constantly.
I followed them about halfway to the other village, but sadly, Fred stayed with the group all the way. I’d have to arrange a meeting myself.