Broken Things (12 page)

“You wouldn’t get caught,” he said, “You look just like a
real person. Once Cody has upgraded me you could get me home. Neil says that
nobody has the time to pay attention to us anyway.”

“I could talk to Cody for you,” she said, “Maybe he would
give you a ride. There are other options, just not… just not me. If there is a
God, I’m not sure He’d even listen to us. We’re built for pleasure. You to fill
a need for a child. I’m for… well… other needs. When we no longer serve our
purpose, we’re no good anymore. We may mimic life, but science can’t give us a
soul.”

Josh shook his head. “I’m not so sure half of the people
I’ve met have souls. Why do we have to serve their purpose, anyway? What if
today we decided to find our own?”

“Then why do you want to go home so bad? It’s the
imprinting. You think of them as your real parents. If you want a new purpose,
why go home at all?”

“Because…” Josh paused. “… it’s where I belong. You’ll see.
It’s my home.”

Angel nodded and gave him a sad smile. “I hope you’re
right.” She leaned forward and firmly grabbed his hand. Almost in a whisper she
said, “Ask yourself why Cody calls his hacked operating system a Cain.”

She let him go and walked out of the room, leaving him to
his doubts.

3

Neil slept for several hours, and despite Josh’s eagerness
he could do nothing but wait. Angel brought him a few books, but he turned them
down. He couldn’t focus on books.

He walked through the house looking for the bathroom when he
saw Cody sitting in front of an old computer. He didn’t work on a tablet like
his father did, he actually had a monitor. He tried to remain quiet and watch
him work, but Cody seemed to feel his eyes and turned to face him.

“What do you need?” Cody asked.

Josh shrugged. “Nothing. I was just watching.”

“Huh. Well come and check this out.” Josh looked at the
screen, but it was just a bunch of words that didn’t make any sense. Cody typed
in additional lines with incredible speed, his fingers flying. “It doesn’t look
like anything, but it renders a world that looks almost like the real thing,
with actual stimuli like scent and touch. The best part is when it’s ready I’ll
be able to modify it into any type of game. It’ll make me millions.”

“How do you do that?” Josh asked, “Do you wear glasses or
something?”

“Even better. I use a similar technology as androids to
affect human beings.” He reached behind his head and lifted up his hair showing
Josh two metal prongs protruding from the base of his neck. “Eventually these
will be subdermal implants. Right now they’re just piercings to keep them in. I
grab this wire…” He reached under the desk and grabbed a wire with two plugs on
the end.

“…And I plug myself into the computer, like so. Now all I
have to do is tell the computer how long I want to play for, and my mind is
linked to the game. The computer sends my brain electrical impulses that put me
into the new world. I experience anything within the game that I’ve programmed.
At the end of the duration the computer ends the signals and I’m safely
removed.

“People won’t have to have the piercings either. Most will
just use sensors that stick to the back of the neck. I think the piercings are
cooler though.”

“It sounds cool,” Josh agreed, “The game, I mean.”

“Want to try it?”

“Can I? Is it possible?”

Cody picked up a second set of wires. “Sit down on that box
with your back to me. I can plug you in easily.”

Josh sat down with his back turned. He felt Cody open him up
and his cold fingers fiddling around inside his skull. He distracted himself
with looking around the room. It was decorated with posters of pin-up girls
wearing very little. He started to open his mouth to ask Cody how long it would
take when…

…Josh stood on a low hill in an open field. A gentle breeze
ruffled his hair, carrying with it the smell of fresh apple pie. He looked
around to see where it came from but he could see no signs of civilization.
Trees and flowers were interspersed across the countryside, all displaying
colors more vivid and crazy than anything he’d ever seen before. But they
looked genuine. At the base of the hill a gentle brook cut across the
landscape, coming from distant mountains and disappearing beyond the rolling
hills.    

“This is amazing!” he said. His words were clear in his own
ears, though no one else was around to hear him.

“Thank you.” The voice came from everywhere and nowhere at
once, like a voice of God, but belonging to Cody.

Josh spun around but the man was nowhere to be seen. “What
can I do here?”

“Just about anything you want,” said the disembodied voice,
“You can go anywhere or do anything. I can change the laws of physics to allow
you to fly or teleport, or even change your appearance.”

“I want to fly,” Josh said. He looked down and saw his heels
leave the soft grass. He rose up a few inches and the world shimmered.

“Maybe when you get back, it sounds like Neil is ready to
go.”

The world faded and turned gray, and he blinked his eyes as
they focused in on Neil’s face. He was back in Cody’s crowded, stuffy house.

“Pretty cool, huh?” Neil asked.

Josh nodded enthusiastically. “I can’t wait to try it
again.”

“It gets old after a while. I’m trying to get him to add
monsters to fight.”

Cody unplugged him and closed the back of his head up. Neil
led the way out of the room, but Josh turned and looked back Cody. “Where was
the pie?”

Cody just smiled. “There was no pie. But what better smell
is there?”

4

Josh and Neil slipped out of the house through the garage.
Everything was finally coming together, he’d return home better than ever. When
his parents learned that they didn’t have to fix him, that he’d taken care of
everything, they would welcome him back with open arms.

Neil went to the back of the garage and rummaged behind a
stack of boxes, finally pulling out a baseball bat. “Here we go,” he said.

“What’s that for?”

“Parts removal. They won’t give them easily. This makes them
more cooperative, if you know what I mean.”

Josh got the idea. “We take the parts out of the first kid
we see.”

“Pretty much,” Neil replied, “As long as I can tell that
it’s the right model. Most kids are now, but there are always a few older ones
like you. I’m pretty good at telling the difference though. The best place to
find other kids is the park. Even if no one is there we only have to wait.
Parents send their kids there when they want them out of the way. We walk up…
Bam! We take the parts.”

Josh smiled. This would be the best day of his life. Nothing
could go wrong.

They walked for a while, the homes turned into businesses.
The roads were crowded with traffic, more people coming and going than he had
ever seen. “How long have you known Cody?” he asked.

“Pretty much as long as I can remember,” Neil replied, “He took
me from Kidsmith before they fired him.”

“And he just works on his program all day?”

“Mostly. It’s going to make him famous.”

They darted across a street as the traffic ebbed. 
“This is the Julia Davis Park,” Neil said, “There are always kids here. See
that over there? That’s the zoo. I used to go there sometimes, but now you can
only get in with an adult. They don’t do very well anymore, with no real kids.
Nobody wants to take an android to see animals. But they like to dump their
kids at the playground. Some owners will leave them all day while they go to
work. That way they don’t have to leave them loose in their house. Like they
think we’re programmed to break things.”

“Is that a river running through the park?”

“Yes. That’s part of the Greenbelt. It runs through the
city. It’ll take you to a bunch of different parks.”

“Have you done this before?” Josh asked.

“Yes, a few times. I did it to get my own upgrades. I’ve
also done it for Cody a few times for money. You can’t do it very often, or they
start watching for you. Okay, there’s our target.” He pointed at a young girl
playing alone, away from the other children. “She’s perfect. We grab her, take
the parts, and split. Before anyone even misses her, you’ll be rebuilt.”

“I don’t want girl parts.”

“The parts aren’t girl, stupid! Only her casing is.”

“Okay, let’s just go get the parts.”

“Fine,” Neil said, “Follow my lead.”

Neil walked casually toward the girl, not making eye contact
with her, just passing by minding his own business, such business that didn’t
include little girls. She had strawberry blond hair pulled into pigtails, her
cheeks and nose covered in freckles. She couldn’t have been older than eight.
She didn’t pay the two boys any attention. She pretended to have tea with her
doll.

Josh watched as the other boy walked around behind her. Neil
lined the bat up at the base of her neck, and posed like a major league
baseball player warming up for the swing. He brought it back one last time, his
face contorting with hate.

“Neil, no!” Josh leaped between the two kids.

“Move, Josh,” Neil said, “It’s the only way.”

“No, you’re going to break her.”

“What did you think I was going to do?”

The girl had turned to watch them. “What are you guys
doing?” she asked.

“Run,” Josh told her, “go home.”

Neil’s eyes widened in desperation as the girl got to her
feet with her doll and ran away, leaving her plastic tea cups behind. “No, we
need those parts.”

“I can’t break another kid,” Josh said, “There has to be
another way.”

Neil nodded. “There’s my way.” He shoved Josh hard. Josh
staggered backward and fell as the other kid ran past him after the little
girl. Neil had speed and size on his side and would catch her quickly.

Josh got to his feet and ran after him. They tore across the
playground, darting between trees, heading toward the edge of the park. Neil
gained on the girl, bringing the bat around. Josh couldn’t run fast enough. The
swing clipped her on the shoulder and she fell to her hands and knees with a
high-pitched scream.

Neil raised the bat again with practiced ease, aiming the
blow between her shoulder blades. Josh didn’t slow down, tackling him at a
full-on run. Both boys flew over the girl and hit the ground, tumbling. The bat
flew away as Neil spit curses at him.

Neil became a ball of fists and feet, kicking and punching
at Josh who desperately tried to avoid them. Josh had never been in a real
fight before and Neil had turned into a raging beast. He scrambled to get away.
Neil let him go, choosing instead to go after the bat.

“Who do you think you are?” Neil screamed, picking up the
bat. “You think you can mess with me? You’re nothing! You’re broken! You don’t
know who you’re messing with!”

Josh raised his arms to block the incoming swing. He managed
to raise his forearm in time, but Neil’s anger gave him power and he felt
something pop in his shoulder. The pain was intense. Neil raised the bat for
another swing. Josh curled up in a ball to protect his head as Neil rained down
frenzied blow after blow upon on him.

Distantly he heard voices of adults and of other kids. It
sounded like the little girl continued to scream, but he couldn’t focus on any
of them through the pain. The blows struck everywhere, across his back and
shoulders, over his arms and legs, but miraculously none of them connected with
his head.

Finally they stopped as adults approached, and he heard the
bat clatter into the street as Neil discarded it and ran off. His entire body
hurt, the pain coursed through his limbs.

None of the adults approached, they hung back talking
amongst themselves. Slowly he uncurled from his fetal position and felt the
tears come. He looked about, searching the faces for someone to help him. One
by one they all walked away, leaving him alone.

It wasn’t fair. He’d come so close. He’d gotten fixed. He
had the promise of being made better, of having a chance to last forever. He
could’ve gotten his family back. They would’ve let him come home, but Neil had
ruined everything. He couldn’t go back to Cody’s. He would never mod him now.
What if he was broken again?

Some of the pain began to dull. His left arm though, every
time he moved it lightning bolts of pain exploded from his elbow. He could
hardly move his wrist and fingers, and when he did pain accompanied it.

He wiped his nose and tears on the back of his right arm and
took a deep breath. He could still go home, his parents wouldn’t complain about
a broken arm. They could afford to fix that, especially since he’d taken care
of the expensive part. He’d go home now, and he’d be good enough. Maybe he
could find a way to mod himself on his own.

Slowly he got to his feet. Though they hurt too, his legs
seemed to be okay. He scanned the park but everyone ignored him. If he caught
someone’s eye they quickly looked away. Nobody had bothered with the baseball
bat. He didn’t want it either. It represented something terrible, something
that had been used to break children, other children just like him.

Josh walked slowly to the sidewalk, dragging his feet all
the way. It seemed like the place to start. He could go either direction, it
wouldn’t matter. He didn’t know exactly how far Twin Falls was from Boise, but
maybe he could walk. His parents went to Boise sometimes. They’d driven here to
see concerts and to shop, but they’d never brought him.

He only needed to find someone that would let him use their
phone. He walked up to the nearest stranger, a man in a suit that appeared to
be texting.

“Excuse me,” he said, “But I need to call my parents. Can
you help me?”

“I’m busy, kid,” he said, turning his back on him. 

The next two people he approached responded much the same,
though the last didn’t even bother to acknowledge him as he passed by.
They
don’t see a person
, he realized,
they only see someone’s discarded toy,
and one that no longer held any value.