Never Love A Stranger Part 16

Annie scowled defensively. "You thought we were going to let you starve'"

James lifted one broad shoulder in a shrug. His expression was wary. "I got the impression you were not

particularly interested in my welfare."

"Look," Annie snapped, nettled, "I may not like you very much right now, but that doesn't mean I want to see you starve to death." The corner of his mouth turned up in an ironic smile. "Surely you don't believe I can die, Annie' Dying is something that humans do. Machines are merely deactivated."

She heard the harsh bitterness in his voice and knew he was talking about his "people," the androids'no,

humanoids--who had been destroyed. "Is that what they said when you rebelled'" she asked. "That they were deactivating you'" Stiffly, he nodded. "They claimed we had malfunctioned and needed to be turned off in the most expedient manner." He met her eyes with a grim expression. "They claimed it was not a purge, merely a necessary eradication of machines that had somehow gone berserk." Annie sought for some response to make. Absolutely nothing came to mind. A few hours earlier she had called him a machine, implying that she supported his society's decision to turn him off. She still didn't know if his society had been wrong. Quite likely they had been correct. The fact was, she simply didn't have enough information to judge.

"How many people did you kill'" she asked abruptly. His eyes flashed like sunlight glancing off a glacier. "Too many," he said, his voice bleak. A shudder ran through her. She was sorry that she had asked, but now that the subject had been brought up, her curiosity compelled her to try to learn more. "Why'" she asked. "Why did you have to kill them'" The ice in his eyes did not thaw. "They were destroying us," he said softly. "Ruthlessly, without the slightest hint of remorse or compa.s.sion. We had two choices--either to be destroyed or to defend ourselves." He sighed. "In the end, our resistance achieved nothing." She heard the sorrow in his voice.

"How many'"

James lifted his eyebrows at her insistence. "You mean how many humans did I personally kill'" He shrugged. "Since I started the entire revolution, it could easily be argued that I was responsible for every human death. Over four hundred humans died."

A chill ran down her spine. "What about Dekka's brother' Did you really kill him with your bare hands'"

James's features went rigid. "He killed my oldest friend," he said. She could hear the anguish beneath his customary quiet tone. "He was responsible for what was euphemistically referred to as deactivating the humanoids in our area. Like Dekka, he did not believe we should experience an easy death, but that we should first be punished." He paused for a long moment, then continued. "He had Charles and twenty-four other humanoids confined at the Kenyo facility, one of the labs where we were manufactured. And he was systematically destroying them with the whip."

"You said the whip was used for inflicting pain."

"A better description for it might be torture. Humanoids are like humans in at least one significant way. Enough pain can kill us. Constant, unremitting agony destroys the brain's ability to function. It is a most unpleasant way to die." He lowered his lashes, but not before she had glimpsed what looked very much like grief in his gaze.

"I don't understand," Annie objected. "You said they were supposed to turn off the robots in the 'most expedient manner.' Using the whip sounds like a whole lot of trouble to go to. Why didn't he just turn you off' Or shoot you'"

"I believe we represented his greatest failure," James said. "He was a designer, and our failure to accept our role as slaves infuriated him. He saw us as a personal and professional embarra.s.sment, and he took out his anger on us."

Dekka's brother must have used the whip as an outlet for his frustration. Sort of like kicking a car's tire when its engine broke down, Annie surmised. Except a car didn't fall to the floor and whimper in pain when you hit it.

"A number of us broke into the facility to liberate the other humanoids," James went on. "We got three out." He paused, and his expression grew bleak. "Dekka's brother was torturing Charles. I could hear him screaming. But by the time I managed to get inside the room, he had the whip turned up to full intensity. I broke his neck, but it was too late for Charles."

Annie stared at him, wide-eyed. He had killed at least one human barehanded. He had been indirectly responsible for the deaths of over four hundred humans. Regardless of the fact that his intent had been to defend his friend, how could she simply overlook the fact that he was a killer'

James met her gaze. "You look as if you think I am a monster," he commented.

She sensed the vulnerability beneath the apparent coolness of the remark, but she couldn't rea.s.sure him that she didn't see him as some sort of berserk killer robot, because right now she did. "You were responsible for the deaths of over four hundred humans'" she whispered. "Four hundred and twenty-two." A knot of appalled horror lodged in her stomach, making her want to throw up. No matter what the humans of his time had done, they hadn't deserved to die in such numbers. Had they' "How many of your people died'" she whispered at last. Something flickered in his gaze. "I already told you. All of them, except myself." "Yes, but how many'" If anything, his eyes grew even colder. He spoke in a harsh whisper. "Over fifty million."

Chapter 12.

Dinner was eaten in silence. Kay was too busy balancing her own meal with Clark's to engage in idle chat. James appeared lost in a contemplative silence, although he was not too contemplative to eat a rather large helping of stew. Annie was still too stunned to speak at all.

Fifty million. Over fifty million ent.i.ties like James.

Destroyed. Killed. No, not killed. Just as James had said, machines couldn't be killed, merely deactivated.

Evidently the humans of James' society had not thought of the humanoids as people. They had been convinced that they were merely machines that weren't functioning correctly. Perfectly sensible, on the face of it. It was, she thought, similar to sending a car to the junkyard when it didn't run any more. Simple, easy and straightforward. No moral dilemma involved.

No doubt the humans had really believed their machines were not people.

Something James had said came back to haunt her: He did not believe we should experience an easy death, but that we should first be punished for our crimes. A machine couldn't commit crimes. And how had Dekka herself put it' She had stared at him with cold hatred in her eyes and snarled, Murderer. He deserves to suffer before he dies. A machine couldn't be a murderer.

She stabbed her spoon into the stew with more force than necessary. Dekka might have convinced herself that James and his fellows were no more than malfunctioning machines, but she didn't really believe it. She despised him with the savage hatred that humans reserved for other humans.

And so must have the rest of the humans of that time. Otherwise they certainly wouldn't have bothered torturing humanoids to death. Who the h.e.l.l would try to torture a car' Besides, a machine that malfunctioned couldn't be held accountable for its errors. Only its designer could be considered responsible.

James had been held accountable for his actions as if he were a person.

He was a person. And the people of the future had known that, whether or not they wanted to admit it.

She looked up and saw him looking at her with a cold light in his eyes, and she dropped her gaze hastily.

Unfortunately, she thought unhappily, he was a person who thought she was beneath contempt.

After dinner, James spoke for the first time. "We need to leave this place," he said without preamble.

Kay shot him a look of distaste. "h.e.l.l, no."

James tilted his head to the side, an expression of puzzled surprise on his face. "What do you mean'"

"Just what I said. h.e.l.l, no. We're not going anywhere. This is my home, d.a.m.n it."

"The Bureau knows we are here," James said with quiet reasonableness.

"The Bureau is after you. Why don't you get out of here so the rest of us can live in peace'"

At Kay's undisguised hostility, Annie looked up at James. She didn't want him to leave, she recognized

silently. After only three days, he had become important to her in some way she didn't care to a.n.a.lyze

too closely. "If I thought it would help, I would leave," James said patiently. "But they wish to kill you and Annie as well. They said as much." He stood up, gathering the plates and taking them to the sink.

Kay watched him, her eyes glittering with anger. ""I just love running for my life and having guns put to my head. Thanks a million for getting us all mixed up in this."

"I am sorry," James said. "I never intended to risk anyone's life but my own."

Kay slammed a hand down on the table. "You don't have a life to risk, d.a.m.n it! You're a G.o.dd.a.m.ned machine!"

Annie could have sworn she saw James wince. "Kay," she said, noticing the baby was wiggling

unhappily in his high chair. "Take it easy. You're upsetting Clark."

"And you too, I suppose." Kay glanced at her friend apologetically. "Sorry, Annie. I don't mean to upset you. It's just that--" She looked up at James as he picked up the gla.s.ses off the table. "We're all in danger now. All of us. Even Clark. All because of that."

Annie saw James flinch at the biting contempt in Kay's voice, but he continued methodically stacking

dishes into the dishwasher. "I genuinely regret that I got you and Annie involved," he said mildly. "However, the fact is that you are involved. I think we must consider the possibility that the Bureau will return. Perhaps even tonight."

"There's a doorman."

James shrugged. "He is a doorman, not a security guard. They could simply shoot him."

"Shoot the doorman with a death ray' Are you kidding'"

Annie spoke up. "Kay is right, James. You said they didn't want to draw attention to themselves and to

the fact that they are from the future. They aren't going to risk using those guns if they can possibly avoid it."

James frowned. "They could incapacitate the doorman and make it appear an accident."

"Do they have some sort of stun gun'"

James shook his head. "I doubt they brought anything but their guns and the whip to this time. They are pursuing a humanoid, not a human, and they know their stun devices will not work on me. And yet they might be able to incapacitate the doorman by the simple expedient of striking him on the head."

"They might," Kay said, "and they might not. I'm not spending the rest of my life running. I'm staying

here."

James looked at Annie. She hesitated, torn between loyalty to her oldest friend and loyalty to James.

She didn't want James to leave.

"I think Kay is right," she said at last, slowly. "I think we need to stay."

"Very well," James said. "We stay."

Kay rose to her feet and regarded him with undisguised distaste. "n.o.body said anything about you

staying. You're welcome to go. In fact, I personally would prefer it."

"I want him to stay," Annie said.

The words came out of nowhere. She saw Kay and James both turn to stare at her, felt her cheeks turn

red with sudden embarra.s.sment. She had had no intention of saying that. The words had just jumped out of her mouth.

And yet, she realized, the words were the simple truth. Nothing more.

"Thank you, Annie," James said gravely. "I will stay if you wish me to."

Kay scowled. "Okay. Fine. Whatever. But you stay away from Annie, understand me'"

James nodded. "Of course," he agreed. He shot Annie a look that said clearly, she doesn't want me anyway. She felt her cheeks heat a second time.

Kay sat back down. She leaned back in her chair and regarded James thoughtfully. "Tell me something,"

she said. "I'm curious. Are you just an android, or are you a cyborg'" James lifted his eyebrows slightly. "Perhaps you should define precisely what you mean by those terms." Kay drummed a finger on the table thoughtfully. "An android would be nothing more than a robot, I guess. A cyborg would have human parts."

"I have no organic components. I am an anthropomorphic robot. In my society, I was referred to as a humanoid." "I just thought maybe your brain was human." "No." James slanted her an unreadable look. "You would be more comfortable with me if that were the case, I imagine." "I guess I'd think it was more likely you were really a person then, yeah." "If his brain were human," Annie put in, "then he would be human. I mean, a human brain with a mechanical body wouldn't be that different from a person with a mechanical heart, would it'" "But since I have an artificial brain, you presume I am not capable of human emotions." "Are you'" Kay challenged. James shut the dishwasher door and turned to face them. His forehead wrinkled as he contemplated the question. "I imagine my emotions are different from yours," he said at last, "but that does not necessarily make them inferior." "Of course it does," Kay retorted. "When you feel an emotion, it's just a mechanical reaction." "What about when you feel an emotion'" James asked. "You are a doctor, Kay. Is not emotion in humans merely a chemical reaction'" Kay scowled. "At the most basic level, yeah, I guess you could say that." "Anger in humans, for example, occurs when certain chemicals, produced by your endocrinal system, are released into the bloodstream and affect the brain. The mechanism that produces a feeling of anger in humanoids is not that different."

"I disagree," Annie said sharply. "Maybe things like anger and s.e.xual attraction are just chemical reactions, if you boil them down to essentials, but I don't believe love is just a hormonal thing. There is something about humans that makes us able to love other people, sometimes forever. Something that I think is more than just hormones. I don't believe a machine can feel things that way."