Android X: The Complete Series Page 22

  “We can rule them out, then,” Shortcut said. “Where did he go to school?”

  “The United Earth Alliance University of Robotics,” Brielle said factually.

  X nodded. “Makes sense. That’s where his career started. I bet we’re guaranteed to find an android stationed there. Rest up, Shortcut. I’ve got work to do.”

  “But what’s your plan?” Shortcut asked. “Even if you kill the android, that won’t get us anywhere.”

  “Who said anything about killing?” X asked.

  “So what are you going to do?” Shortcut asked again.

  X waved as he left. “Rest up. Don’t throw your career away. I’ll be waiting for you.”

  “You can’t leave me here,” Shortcut said, trying to get out of bed.

  Brielle stopped him, “You’re not going anywhere. You have a decision to make first.”

  X left the room. Through the door, Shortcut saw him stop. Craig was standing in the shadows, staring. X nodded to him, but Craig turned his head. X shrugged and walked away.

  Shortcut woke up in the middle of the night to a gentle slap on his face. It was Frantz, his enhancement doctor.

  “Frantz?” Shortcut asked groggily.

  “Just came to check on my patient,” Frantz said. He wore a badge on his waist that bore a different doctor’s face—it had been lifted. Frantz’s wild red hair was dark in the shadows, and he grinned.

  “You’re too late,” Shortcut said. “They already found my enhancements. I need your help.”

  “I can’t help you,” Frantz said.

  “What do you mean you can’t help me? You created the enhancements. Can’t you reverse the effects?”

  “I told you what the effects were when you signed up. Twenty times. So don’t put this on me.”

  “Why are you so spooked?” Shortcut asked. “Why are you hiding?”

  “Sorry about the attorney thing,” Frantz said. “You can’t be too careful. I’ve got a bunch of UEA agents knocking on my doors, now.”

  “I had nothing to do with it!” Shortcut cried.

  “Obviously, captain genius. I know you didn’t snitch me out. Not what I expected, though.”

  “You thought I was going to snitch on you? Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

  “I’m kidding. I appreciate it.”

  “How do you know I didn’t say anything?”

  “I have my sources,” Frantz said. “Anyway, I just came to say goodbye.”

  Shortcut’s stomach felt like it was disintegrating. “What do you mean ‘goodbye’?”

  “If I stick around much longer, I’m going to end up in jail. Amanda can’t protect me forever. I’ve got to leave the UEA, Shortcut. I’m taking a risk even coming here and seeing you.”

  “What am I going to do about enhancements?” Shortcut asked. “What about maintenance?”

  “I don’t know. Maybe it wouldn’t kill you to be normal for a change.”

  “Can’t you recommend someone?”

  “All of my contacts are under investigation. You’re really on your own, man.”

  Shortcut cursed.

  Frantz reached into his pocket and handed Shortcut several white boxes. “These are the last lenses I have left. They should last you a few months. You can use any black market lens with my enhancements. Good luck finding them, though. I hear a crackdown is coming.”

  “Thanks,” Shortcut said. “But that’s not much consolation.”

  “Want to know the funniest thing about all of this?” Frantz asked. “I saved your life. The UEA goes on and on about how unapproved enhancements can kill you. But I bet the doctor didn’t mention how my nanobots found and killed your cancer seven times, did he?”

  “He dismissed it.”

  “I’m curing fucking cancer and I’m facing life in prison. Modern politics.”

  He shook Shortcut’s hand. “You were a serious pain in the ass, but you were a fun pain in the ass. Nobody unlocked the potential of my upgrades quite like you, so thanks for that.”

  Shortcut held onto Frantz’s hand. “Wait, no insult?”

  “No, Shortcut. I was giving you a sincere compliment. Do you know what that is? It’ll probably be the last one you ever get.”

  “Ha. Ha. So what do I do about my cancer?”

  “I can only delay it. I can’t make it go away. Just keep getting your nanos enhanced. That should help.” Frantz walked over to the door. “What are you going to do? You know, about Crenshaw?”

  Shortcut’s eyes widened. “What do you know about her?”

  “I ran across her in the virtual black market yesterday. Not very friendly at all.”

  “I thought the network was down.”

  “The black market? Yeah, right. Not even Crenshaw could do that.”

  “What was she looking for?”

  “She was testing out avatars. I saw her just as she changed. Luckily she didn’t see me.”

  “Avatars?”

  “Yep.”

  “What’s she doing on the black market?”

  “Don’t know. And I don’t want to know since the UEA is no longer my home. But go ahead and give my name to the doctors. By the time they find my house, I’ll be long gone. Sounds like you’ve got a mission to do. Don’t let me stop you. Anyway, nice knowing you, buddy.”

  Frantz turned to leave, but Craig entered, holding a cup of coffee.

  “You must be the overnight doctor,” Craig said. “How’s Tobias doing?”

  The question took Frantz off guard. “He’s better,” he said, shaking Craig’s hand. “This is none of my business, but from one redhead to another, perhaps you shouldn’t be so hard on him.”

  Craig was about to respond when Frantz squeezed out of the room and started down the hall without looking back.

  Craig sat in the chair next to Shortcut’s bed. The moon shone brightly in the sky outside, casting gentle white light across the room.

  “Mom would have been proud,” Shortcut said. “Despite what you say, she would have supported me.”

  It was a moment before Craig responded. “I know.”

  “She believed in me. She didn’t care what I did as long as I was happy.”

  Craig sipped his coffee. “This lifestyle is a choice,” he said. “Not a career.”

  “Everything is so binary with you.”

  “Life is binary.”

  “No, it’s not. Ask an android.”

  “Look, if you want to go on deadly missions with androids, so be it. But it wouldn’t kill you to come home every once in a while.”

  “After our last conversation, I didn’t think I was welcome.”

  “I shouldn’t have said the things I did. Your mother’s death was still on my mind, son. I don’t imagine you meant the things you said, either.”

  “I didn’t.”

  “The business is doing well. We had record profit last year.”

  “Nice.”

  “You might think robots are old-fashioned, but tell the people of the badlands that. Sometimes simplicity is good.”

  “I’m glad things are going well.”

  “Yeah.”

  Silence fell between them. “The doctors said they’re going to release you soon,” Craig said. “Someone named Fahrens called. The Council gave direct orders to release you in the morning. You must be pretty important.”

  “I’m in the special forces.”

  “What are you going to do about the health risks from the enhancements, Tobias?”

  “I-I don’t know yet.”

  “I know a guy in the badlands.”

  “Yeah, and let him open my skull with a chisel? No way.”

  Craig stood and buttoned his coat. “You’re going to be all right. I obviously can’t convince you to come home with me. So, good luck. If you survive, give me a call sometime. I’d like to hear how you’re doing.”

  “Thanks. I’ll call.”

  Shortcut saw his reflection in the glass, and he decided to push his health out of his mind
for now. He didn’t know what he would do when the time came to take action, but strangely, it didn’t bother him now.

  Craig extended his arms, and they hugged long and hard.

  Chapter 14

  X stalked the streets of the financial district, making his way toward the university and thinking about the Android Paradox. The area was abandoned, with only an occasional parked car resting on the side of the street.

  If two androids of equal intelligence hunt each other, who wins? It was Dr. Crenshaw’s puzzling paradox, and he had already dealt with it several times.

  But Crenshaw’s androids weren’t as intelligent as him. They were scum. From the UEA siege with mercenary murders to Xadrian and Xu’s silly babbling, there didn’t seem like there was much intelligence to go around.

  He thought about the paradox again. If two androids of equal intelligence hunt each other, who wins?

  He passed a jewelry shop; the windows were dark, but he detected strange sounds coming from inside. No voices, so it was a single intruder. The footstep patterns were spaced evenly apart within a few milliseconds of each other—android—and they were quickening, coming toward him.

  He took cover in the shadow of the shop’s roof, activating his guns.

  Who wins? The luckiest one.

  Glass shattered as an android with a ski jacket and curly hair burst through the window, carrying a sack of jewelry.

  X grabbed him before the glass hit the ground. He opened the android’s skull and fired several shots inside, then watched as the android fell limp on the sidewalk, thick smoke rising from his head.

  Not much intelligence to go around.

  He picked up the sack of jewelry and shook his head. Rings and diamonds jangled inside. “Now what could you possibly need jewelry for?”

  He hurled the jewelry sack into the shop, where it landed on the counter next to the payment panel. The inside of the shop was wrecked; shelves hung crooked from the walls and all of the displays were broken.

  The network was still down, so X couldn’t call the police to come secure the location. He stepped back, trying to figure out a way to protect the property. He settled on a parked flying minivan across the street. He pried the driver’s side window down, hopped in and used a UEA access code to commandeer the car. He drove through the broken storefront window, then backed up and parallel parked in front of it. The width and height of the car prevented anyone from climbing over or under. He checked the door to the shop. It was still locked.

  Whoever the shop owner was, hopefully they would appreciate that they didn’t at least lose their livelihood.

  He stood over the dead android and looked at him with disdain, then walked off.

  Either I’ve got sheer luck or I’m just smarter. I’ll bet on both.

  He thought of Jeanette Crenshaw as he scanned the streets again. He couldn’t get the early images of her out of his mind: how beautiful she had been, how doting she had been on Dr. Crenshaw. What had happened that made her snap? Who had set her off?

  He wished he had his full memories. Surely the answer was there. If he knew what had caused Jeanette’s evil, maybe that would be the key to stopping her. But he also knew that he couldn’t ask the Council. He had asked for his memories before, and they had dismissed him and made him feel small, telling him that the mission at hand was more important.

  He wondered when it would ever be a good time to request his memories. Perhaps he would just have to wait for retirement, like Ballixter did. But that was way in the future, and it seemed like a long time to wait for his identity, even for an android.

  He continued for twenty blocks in deep thought until he came to the outskirts of the university village. He passed a convenience store with a front door knocked off its hinges.

  He entered. Plastic utensils cracked under his feet and he kicked them away with the toe of his shoe. The place smelled like packaged food that had just been opened—fresh, processed, and immediate. The destruction pattern was indicative of android—it started at the front counter, moved to the payment panel and worked its way around the store in a counterclockwise fashion, from the broken glass cases that held food to the overturned displays of potato chips and hot dogs.

  He followed a trail of cracked tile to the back of the store and found a doorway that led to a narrow stairwell. He crept up the stairs silently, his guns ready.

  He reached a landing and a door with an access panel hanging from the wall next to it. He slipped through the partially open door and entered a storeroom full of dry goods. An elevator that transported the goods down into the store below was set into the wall on the other side of the door. The stocking drones lay crippled on the floor, sparking from a recent blow. The food and supplies were undisturbed, except for a crate of food that seemed to be missing from the middle of the cluster.

  In the back of the room was a beaded curtain, and behind it was a small apartment with a desk, bed, and a kitchen. Maybe the owner of the store lived here. A curio rested against the wall. All of its windows were shattered, revealing android parts inside—collector’s items. He picked up a dusty circuit board and ran his hands over the jagged surface. He flipped it over and saw the name of the maker: Crenshaw Industries, 2273.

  The board had been manufactured around the same time X was born, but it was broken, and its technology nothing like X’s. It must have been for a drone or a service industry android. No wonder the intruder had left it.

  X wondered what the thief had taken from the curio.

  He felt a breeze, and spying the broken window, he climbed out onto a fire escape that spiraled around the building and onto the roof. He landed on the roof, then knelt and studied the gravel that covered it—there were small footsteps going across the roof. The android either hadn’t been careful or wanted X to follow him. The footsteps stopped at the edge of the roof. He looked across the alleyway to the next roof, but saw no footsteps. His algorithm chip buzzed, and he jumped back just before the android slashed his way onto the roof from below.

  The android landed on the ground with a sword. He was tall and muscular and he ran at X, baring his teeth.

  Finally, someone with an iota of intelligence.

  X sidestepped, tripped the android, and flipped him over, knocking the sword out of his hand. The android rolled upright and they went back and forth, trading and parrying blows, surging forward and stumbling back.

  The android made a tactical error and threw a punch at X’s face. X grabbed the android’s arm, hyperextended it, and ripped it off with a forceful pull. The android fell to the ground sparking.

  I will not be defeated.

  A shattered crate of food lay on the ground next to X. He opened it, revealing canned goods: beans, fruit, vegetables.

  So you were after food. Crenshaw must be hungry.

  He remembered the sack of jewelry the other android had taken.

  And wanting to look fashionable.

  He put the lid on the crate and carried it back to the store. Then he climbed out onto the fire escape and slid down to the ground. He was on a street full of fraternities and sororities, tall, stately row houses made of brick and shiny steel.

  A group of students rushed out of a fraternity house and ran past him.

  “Don’t go in there, man!” one of the students cried. “There’s an android in there and he’s pissed off.”

  “Thanks for the tip,” X said, starting toward the building.

  The frat house looked like every other frat house he had ever seen. Every wall was a different color, and the shabby-chic furniture looked comfortable. A grand staircase with curled balusters took up the foyer. Two android students were at the bottom, trading shots with a giant blue robot with triangular eyes and buck teeth.

  X had never seen anything like this robot before. He threw a chaise at the robot, striking it in the head and knocking it back.

  The android students looked at X. They wore backpacks and sweaters. From the way their guns smoked, X could tell they hadn’t
learned the basic principles of gunplay yet.

  “You UEA?” one of the androids asked.

  X activated his guns and fired at the robot, blowing it up.

  “All right!” the android cried. “Nice work!”

  “What was that thing?” X asked.

  “One of our experiments,” the first android said. “This is the Android Brotherhood, the android engineering fraternity. Making androids and robots is our thing. That bot was an homage to old school robotics. Crenshaw’s android reprogrammed it to attack us. I had no idea anyone could do that.”

  “Where is the android?” X asked.

  “The president’s office,” the second android said, nudging the smoking blue robot with his foot. “Upstairs. That’s where we last saw him.”

  X saluted the androids, then started down the long, carpeted hallway. He scanned the area and confirmed that it was clear of human and android students.

  It didn’t seem like Crenshaw’s androids were on murder sprees this time. Not like the first round of androids. They were searching for something. They were looking for information.

  He came to a large office and didn’t have time to think any further. He heard ripping, scratching, thumping. The door was open, and Xadrian was inside, destroying the office.

  “Where is it?” the android asked, flipping the desk over. “Where IS IT?”

  “Where’s what?” X asked.

  “You wouldn’t know,” Xadrian said. “You don’t know anything about your past anyway, you idiot.”

  X shot him in the shoulder. The android fell over, his joint sparking.

  “What was that for?” Xadrian yelled.

  “Who’s the idiot now?”

  Xadrian rushed at X, but X grabbed him in a chokehold and jammed him against the wall. “Talk.”

  “No.”

  X squeezed the android’s neck, applying pressure, and the android tensed up and held out his hands.

  “Okay, okay …”

  X let go and Xadrian fell, clutching his neck. “Mama wasn’t kidding. You are fierce, brother.”

  X fired a shot into the wall, grazing Xadrian’s cheek.

  “Who do you think used to work here?” Xadrian asked.