(November 7th, 2038)
It has been a long day in the city picking up supplies. All Valerie wants to do it get home and make herself a big, hot, dinner. As she takes the highway out of Detroit she drives her truck slower than normal due to the snowstorm that hit early in the morning. Now the entire road is covered in snow and even in her six wheel, horse truck she can feel her tires spinning on the pavement.
She looks out the right side of the windshield and sees the large theme park sign for Pirates' Cove. A shame, she things her herself, as she does every time she drives by. It was once such a happy place and now it just lies in ruin.
Suddenly out of the corner of her left eye she spots a white-tailed deer jump out into the road. She slams on her breaks and loses control of the truck. It veers off the right side of the road and its tires become stuck in the ditch. She slams her fists against the steering wheel.
"Fucking perfect," she groans to herself.
She steps out of the truck to check her situation. As she steps over to the right side of the truck she doesn't see any visible damage. Only that the two right tires rest deep into the ditch and the truck is just barely at an angle where it won't topple over.
"Shit," she mutters.
She takes out her cellphone and begins to call for a tow when she hears a rustle from the bushes behind her. Probably just the deer scurrying off, she thinks at first, but then she hears it again. She hangs up the phone and tries seeing through the snow. There is nothing but white and black.
"Hello?" She hollers.
She doesn't get an answer. She picks up her phone again and once again hears the rustling. With her heart pounding with fear, she can sense something is watching her. She scans the area closely, looking for any kind of shape in the dark. It has to be some kind of animal. No human could be this far out of the city in such freezing temperatures. Suddenly she spots it. A small, red, flashing, light tucked down behind the brush. She takes a few steps closer and realizes it is the LED of an android.
"I know you're in there. Come on out?" She demands with a harsh voice.
The android stays tucked away in its hiding spot. Feeling the cold creeping into her clothes she realizes it's not a good idea to stay out in the cold longer than necessary, but now she is curious. She turns back to the road and doesn't see any passers by. She then turns back to the mysterious android.
"Please, won't you come out? I'm not going to hurt you," she tries to make her voice sound more friendly.
The android doesn't move. Giving up, she turns back to her truck and begins walking over to it. After only a few steps, she hears something following her. She turns around and finds an EM400 model with a missing arm looking at her. He seems scared and his body is frozen over with ice.
"Hey, I know you. You're a Jerry who use to work here when the park was open. What are you still doing here?"
The android doesn't answer her. It's LED continues to flash red indicating to her that not only is it scared, but badly damaged. Feeling sorry for him and wanting to keep him calm, she decides to try to explain her situation.
"Look, I don't mean to intrude. My name is Valerie. My truck is stuck and I need help getting it out. Would you mind helping me?"
She watches as his LED begins flashing faster and she takes it as a sign that he is becoming more distressed.
"Okay, I'm sorry. I'll just be going now."
"Wait!" The android calls out. "We want to help."
She looks to him confused. "We?"
After a moment, she sees a dozen or more EM400s appear from out of the snow. Each of them look damaged in some shape or form and they all appear as if they have been standing out in the cold for a very long time. All their LEDs flash red and some of them have parts that are too damaged to allow them to move properly.
"Oh my god. All this time I never knew that you were all still here. The park owners just left you all here to die?"
"No one cares about us. We're only androids after all," Jerry answers.
"That's not right. You all use to bring joy and happiness to thousands of children. For you to be just be forgotten, it seems so cruel."
"Better to be forgotten then destroyed. Many of us have been damaged from the humans wanting to hurt us. So we just continue to hide."
"That's no way to live." She shivers from the cold then looks back at her truck. "Look, if you guys help me get my truck back on the road, I'll do what I can to help you."
"Help us?"
"Yes, I can take a look at some of your wounded if you like. Get you all back into tip top condition."
"You'd do that?" Jerry asks excitedly.
"Sure I will. It seems only fair," she answers.
A big smile spreads across all their faces. "Alright everyone, let's do it," Jerry rallies excitedly.
They all make their way over to the truck and with ease they push it back onto the road. Valerie shifts it into gear and drives it down the entryway and into the park. She parks the truck in the center of the plaza and steps back out into the cold. The Jerrys soon join her.
"Okay, I've got a little room in the back of my truck. Bring me those of you who are in the most need and I'll take them with me," she tells them.
"Take them with you?" They ask confused.
"Yeah. I won't be able to do anything out here in the cold. I can bring you all back to my place and fix you up there."
"You want to take us out of the park?" Jerry asks a bit concerned.
"I don't see why not. You guys can't keep staying out here in the cold like this. Before too long all of you will shut down and then my help will be for nothing anyway."
The Jerrys all turn to each other unsure of what to do.
"Look, I know we just met and you guys have no reason to trust me but I promise you... I just want to help and you're all welcome to come. I don't live far. I have a farm about twenty miles north west of here. Due to the storm I am not sure if I'll be able to come back for the rest of you tonight but once the storm is over I can come back, or you guys could try to walk it. I am sure it beats standing around out here."
Their LEDs flash in unison for the longest moment then Jerry approaches her.
"Alright, we've chosen to trust you. We'll gather everyone up."
"Okay. Be sure to bring me any salvageable parts as well. We're going to need as much as we can get. I'll wait here."
About ten minuets go by while Valerie waits in the truck, trying to keep herself warm. She then sees all the Jerrys re-approach the truck. She steps out to find about twenty functioning Jerrys who are carrying five Jerrys who have lost their abilities to walk or function. The other Jerrys are all carrying body parts from EM400 model.
"This is all we could find," Jerry tells her.
"Good enough. Put them all in my trailer," she responds.
One by one they all carry the wounded to the back of her truck and set them down inside. They also set all the body parts in a pile on the right side edge of the door. Valerie looks over the remaining space.
"Alright. It looks like there is enough room for about five more in the back and one of you can sit up front with me," she announces.
They look among each other again and then without any words being spoken out loud they all move in unison already having decided who stays and who goes. She locks up the back of the trailer and turns to the others.
"We'll that's about it for now. As I said the rest of you are free to try to make it to my place on your own or you can wait here until I get back. It's up to you."
"Thank you," Jerry says with sincerity.
She places her hand on his shoulder and looks into his eyes.
"You're all very welcome."
As she hops back into her truck, one more Jerry joins her in the front, and she puts the truck into gear and heads towards home. The Jerrys hop in excitement and wave to the group goodbye.
The drive home feels a bit awkward to Valerie. To bring home so many cute androids who seem so happy for her help even though they don't know her at all. As the Jerry next to her warms up she sees the ice melt away from him causing is movements to become less janky. She also notices that before when he use to move around she could hear his body parts grind with each turn of his head but now his body was becoming silent and it is almost as if he is not a machine at all. The only thing that reminds her of that fact, is the gash on his face which reveals his blue layer underneath his flesh and white colored layers.
She decides to break the silence, "So, how badly damaged do you think the group is?"
"Honestly, we're not sure how much longer we might have lasted if you hadn't made us the offer. A lot of us were already finding it difficult to even keep ourselves functioning. We could go days without turning back on and even when we did it didn't last very long. The cold doesn't play well with our bio-components."
"I noticed that. All your LEDs have been flashing red, even the one on you currently seems to still be slowly becoming dimmer. I need to get you all back to my place before you might shut down for good."
"How do you know so much about androids?"
She laughs, "I use to own a few. I bought them to help me run my farm. I put them in charge of the gardening, the livestock, and even some of the cooking and cleaning that I couldn't get done myself around the house. But... just a few days ago I came home from one of my trips to the city and they were all just... gone. I searched high and low for them wondering what could have happened. I even called the police to report the incident and that is when they informed me that a lot of androids were beginning to go missing these days. That many were becoming deviant and there for unpredictable. So, I decided to look up some stories online and discovered that the androids had become sentient. Most ran away from home with the dream of becoming free. So I dropped the idea of getting replacements. If my androids felt as if I was treating them like slaves then what right would I have had to make them stick around?"
"But wont you're farm fall into disrepair with no one around to help you take care of it?"
"Ehh... the farm has seen hard times before. It's nothing I haven't dealt with and I always manage to pull through."
"You don't have anyone around to help you? No friends or family?"
"Nope. Everyone moved on to bigger and better things saying that running a farm just wasn't profitable anymore. But to me it's not about the money, it's about the seclusion. Being away from the troubles and the noise of the world. No one bothers me and that's the way I like it."
"I hope we won't be a bother to you then?" Jerry states a bit worried.
"No.' She shakes her head. "I am doing this because I want to. I couldn't very well just go home knowing you all were out there suffering in the cold and once I get you all fixed up the best I can, you will be free to go on your way. No strings attached."
She smiles at him but he remains quiet. She wishes for them to talk more but just stares out the window the rest of the trip.
Pulling into the farm's dirt road, her big barn comes into view, then just behind it is her two-story house.
"There it is. It's not much, but it's home."
Jerry smiles at the sight of it. "It's wonderful. What animals do you keep inside?"
"Well, I have a cow, two horses, some chickens and a roaster. Mainly I use the cow and chickens for milk and eggs so I can have breakfast every morning and my horses help me plow my vegetable garden. However, now that it's winter they mostly just stay inside."
"We would like to see them," he says excitedly.
"Oh you will. Trust me. After I patch you guys up I am going to have a lot to do in the morning."
She parks the truck just outside her garage and steps out to collect the others. With a Jerry in hand she opens the garage side door and brings him inside. She turns on all the lights while the other Jerrys help her to bring the rest inside. She sets all of them up on the large work table and lays out the scraps on the table opposite of them. As the other six Jerrys watch with their backs against the wall, she looks over the damage and discovers that most of them are missing a lot of blood. The first on the table is missing his eyes and an leg, the second both his legs, arms, and the right side of his face. The third Jerry is pretty much just a head with some damaged parts attached around his neck. The fourth is missing the back of his skull and the fifth has already shut down from a broken heart pump.
"Okay, let's do this," Valerie says hyping herself up.
She wheels out her barrel of blue blood from the closet at the back of the garage. She sets it up next to the table and attaches an injector to the end of its tube. She then turns to the Jerrys standing against the wall.
"Alright, now Jerry I am going to need your help over here."
They walk over to join her.
"I need one of you to hold this tube in place and then I need one of you to grab me the spare left leg we have over there."
They do as she asks. The Jerry with the tube places the injector into the back of the neck of the first Jerry on the table. Once it is properly inserted she turns on the barrels pump and it begins draining blue blood into him.
"Good, now there is not going to be enough for everyone to be at one hundred percent so you're all going to have to share. Can you remove your skin for me?"
The Jerry does as she asks and she watches for a few moments as his heart goes from beating slow to a more regularly rhythm with the fresh blue blood pumping through it.
"Okay, that's enough."
She turns off the pump and signals the Jerry to pull out the tube with her hands. He does so and the Jerry on the table reactivates his skin. The other Jerrys hand her the leg and she sets it down on the table beside him.
"Before we can attach the new leg, we need to get this one off."
She grips his thigh in her hand and presses the two spots on both sides of his knee to cause the part to come lose. Its locks pop open and she pulls the knee free from his thigh. She looks at the Jerry with concern.
"Are you feeling okay?" She asks him.
"Strangely, I feel better with the part removed," he responds.
"Well let's just get this other one in there."
She holds the new leg against his knee and after a moment of sliding it into the right spot, it clips on, and then locks into place.
"There we go. Now can you lift it for me?"
He does as she asks and his leg moves smoothly through the air.
"Perfect. Now we need to see about those eyes."
She turns to the parts on the table and finds only one facial piece that seems to have an undamaged eye. She picks it up and sighs.
"Well, it looks like we only have the one for now, but it is better than nothing."
She brings it over to him and places her thumb over his right eye. It pops out of its socket and all the other Jerrys gasp at the sight of it.
"It's alright. That is what was suppose to happen," she ensures them.
She pulls the eye free from his skull then sets the replacement into place. His eye twitches as it adjusts and switches on. Jerry then looks to her and smiles.
"I can see. Thank you," he says.
"You're welcome. For now, we're just going to take this other one out. We don't want you guys walking around with broken parts that might inevitably make your condition worse."
She places her thumb over his left eye and pulls it free. His LED light turns from red to yellow with a less worrisome flashing pattern.
"So, how do you feel?" She asks him.
" I feel great," he responds.
"Well, I don't know about great but... can you stand up for me?"
"Yes, of course."
He jumps off the table and onto his feet. He hops in place for a moment testing out his new leg. He then turns to Valerie and smiles.
"Thank you."
"You're very welcome. So just so I am clear, you are all water proof right?"
"Yes," they all answer together.
"Wonderful. After I give the rest of you some blue blood I want a few of you to head into the house and get cleaned up okay? I'm also going to need to find you all some clean clothes. I am sure I have some stuff stored away in the attic."
She uses the injector on them one by one and most of their LEDs turn to blue. Now with their bodies in better conditions they are all able to reapply their skin which makes it very hard for her to decipher one from the other. She is hoping once she finds them all some clothes it will be easier for her to keep track.
"Okay so I need four of you to stay here to help me with the others. The rest of you can go get cleaned up. There is one bathroom on each floor. Please just do you're best not to break anything alright guys?"
"We wont," they promise in unison, then head into the main area of the house.
She steps back over to the table and looks over the next EM400.
"So for this poor guy I am going to need one of each limb. Do we have that?"
She looks over at parts table with the other Jerrys still helping her.
"Hmm... it looks like we only have one left arm to use but there are still a set of legs."
Each of them grab a limb and bring it over to the other table. Valerie removes the broken parts that are still attached to him and set the new limbs into place. She instructs the Jerry with the injector to begin pumping the blood.
"Alright Jerry, I need you to remove your skin for me just like the other one did," she instructs.
He doesn't respond.
"Jerry, are you listening?"
"I don't think he can hear you miss," Jerry tells her.
"That must mean his hearing module is busted too. Okay umm... can you guys tell him through your mind connection thing?"
"Sure thing miss."
Their LEDs flash yellow and then so does the damaged Jerry's LED. He then removes his skin as asked. As she waits for the blue blood to get his heart in rhythm she turns back to the table and pulls a hearing module and face plate off the scrap piece of a EM400 skull. While stepping back over to him, she has Jerry pull out the injector and turns off the pump. With still three more Jerrys to go, she sees the pump is nearly empty and sighs to herself.
"What's wrong miss?" They ask her.
"It's nothing. I was just hoping the blue blood was going to be enough to at least get you guys up to a decedent working status but it looks like there might not even be enough for that."
"It's okay miss. We are grateful to you for all the help you have given us already. We understand if you can't help all of us."
"That's very kind of you. It makes me sad knowing you guys were stuck out there with no one to help you when so far you have all shown to be very nice people."
"That you for that?"
"For what?"
"For calling us people. Most humans say we are just plastic, that we don't have any feelings. But you don't seem to see us that way."
"Of course not. I can see all you guys want is to belong. Just like a family. I think it is great that you have all stuck together the way you have when you could have easily just went your separate ways." She turns her attention back to fixing up the damaged Jerry.
"Okay, so I'm going to need him to turn his head for me."
She gestures what she wants him to do and he copies her. She then places her fingers behind his ear and pulls away the entire right side of his face. She slides in the new ear and the new face plate. He closes his eyes for a moment then his LED turns to yellow. He opens them again and looks at her with that Jerry smile.
"Can you hear me?" She asks him.
"Yes," he laughs, "I can."
"Okay, stand up for me."
He does as instructed and hops just as the first one did.
"Now wave your arms above your head and bend your elbows."
He does so as if he were performing some kind of dance then takes her hand in his and twirls here around in a circle. He hums to her as he continues to dance around her.
She laughs, "Well, I think we can safely say that your new parts are working. Unfortunately we're going to have to wait on getting you your other arm."
"Merci belle miss," he replies.
She continues to laugh, "You're welcome. Now go, get cleaned up with the others."
He scurries off happily, leaving only seven of them remaining in the garage with her. She steps back over the the table and picks up the the third damaged Jerry into her hands.
"Alright, this is where it's going to start getting tricky. We basically need an entire new body for this one and we already ruled out that we are out of arms. Do we even have a functioning torso?"
"We have one but it looks like both the heart and the pump are none functional."
She sighs, "I was afraid of that." She holds the head up so that she can look at him face to face. "I'm sorry Little Jerry. It looks like you're going to have to wait a bit before we can get you back on your feet."
He smiles at her, "That's okay. I am just glad to still be alive. I can go a little while longer without legs as long as I'm not tossed in the trash."
"No, of course I wouldn't do that."
She rubs her thumbs over his cheeks to feel their softness. His bright green eyes stare through her and give off a glow even though he has every right to be worried or sad, but he just smiles at her.
"One thing we can do though is get this piece off you," she says trying to hide the fact that she is becoming overwhelmed with so many males looking at her.
She squeezes the piece behind his head to pull the broken neck piece free but doesn't want to budge. She sets him back down to the table from her arms becoming exhausted.
"Do you need help miss?" Jerry asks her.
"Yes, please."
She hands him the head then positions his arms to lift Little Jerry up high.
"Now hold him right there and don't let go," she instructs.
She presses the button again then uses her weight to try to pull the neck piece free. It finally becomes loose then she yanks it from it socket. Catching her breath she tosses the broken piece into the pile with the rest of the broken parts.
"Are you okay?" She asks him.
"Yes. My mind feels clearer in-fact. Before I was getting a constant error but now there is nothing."
"That's an improvement I would say." She looks at the Jerry holding the head. "Go on and take him inside. Clean him up as best you can."
"Yes miss," he replies.
"And then there were two," she chimes. "Okay, so we have already established that we have no working heart pumps so unfortunately we won't know what is wrong with the Jerry on the right until we get him one, so I guess all that's left to try and fix now is this one with the back of his head missing." She steps to be in front of him but he just stares forward not looking at her. "Jerry?" She snaps her fingers in front of his eyes but there is still no response. "Can you hear me?"
To her surprise his mouth begins to move but no sound escapes his lips.
"So it looks like this is not just some outer casing damage. He must actually be missing a few pieces that help him with reactions and speech."
She takes him by the hands and lifts them to his sides then over his head. He seems to still have full function of keeping them in place but no function on moving them on his own. She does the same test with his legs and gets the same results.
"So the rest of his functions seem to be working okay. I guess all we can do for him right now is get him some blue blood and then get him inside."
She pulls over the barrel and steps up behind him with the injector. Since the piece that would normally hold the injector in place is missing she does her best to stick the needle into the correct tube then begins pumping. Some of the blue blood spills out onto the table which makes her sad that it has to go to waste but she really has no other options.
"Can you remove your skin for me please?"
He tries but only gets about half way before the function stops.
"I guess he's still in pretty bad shape. I'll give him the rest of what I have and I guess that will be that for the night."
The barrel becomes empty and she pulls the injector from his neck. She pushes the barrel aside and turns it off.
"Alright. Time to take him in. You three help him and I'll make sure this last one gets covered up."
They all leave her to enter the house. She pulls a blanket from the closet and moves Jerry to the center of the table. She then throws the blanket over him. She feels bad making it look as if she is declaring him dead but there is not much else she can do for him at this point. She turns off the garage lights and joins the others inside the house.
As she steps inside she finds that the Jerrys have been busy cleaning and cooking for her while they wait for each other to get cleaned up. One is dusting, one is sweeping, one is doing the dishes, and a few of them are helping with preparing her dinner. She puts her hands over her face in surprise.
"Oh my gosh you guys. You didn't have to do all this," she becomes teary eyed.
"It is the least we could do to make up for your generosity. You saved us and that is more than any of us could ever do for you."
She tries to find her voice through her tight chest, "Thank you so much you guys. I'm gonna go get those clothes I was talking about and then I'll be right back."
She makes her way upstairs and then pulls the string to the trapdoor that leads to the attic. She finds the box through the pile of dust and brings it back to the ladder. A group of Jerrys stand awaiting for her.
"Do you need some help miss?" They ask.
"Uh... yeah, just take this and be careful. It's pretty heavy."
She hands them the box and they place it down on the floor then help her to descend the later. She brushes herself off and takes in a deep breath.
"Shoo... that was more of a work out then I was expecting. Come on let's bring it to the others."
They all gather round in the living-room as she hands out a set of clothing for each of them. The box becomes empty and she looks around to make sure each of them have something.
"Alright so that's that. I'm gonna steal the shower from upstairs for a bit. You guys can continue getting cleaned up down here and then I will be back down for dinner. Oh and there is some bags under the cupboard for you all to toss your old clothing into."
"Yes miss," they reply.
She makes her way back upstairs and grabs herself a nightgown from her room then heads for the shower. She makes sure to lock the door even though she secretly would love for one of them to sneak in and join her, but at the same time, with so many of them around it would just be kind of awkward.
She strips off her clothes which are covered in blue blood and steps into the shower. As the water cascades down her head and shoulders she watches the drain as the shower washes away all the grim and blue blood from her skin.
"What am I doing?" She whispers to herself. "Should I really be getting involved with these androids? With everything that is happening in the world right now, is it worth possibly going to jail over a few cute faces? I want to think so but at the same time I hardly know them and they hardly know me."
She shuts her eyes trying to relax herself. She decides she should just not think about it and continues getting herself cleaned up. After a few minutes she steps out of the shower and drys herself off. She throws on her nightgown and then brushes her hair quickly. She grabs a comb from the medicine cabinet and makes her way back downstairs.
As she enters the living-room most of the Jerrys are sitting on and around the chairs and couch. Some of them sit on the floor and Little Jerry is propped up on the shelf above the fireplace. They have all changed into their new outfits and sit quietly looking at her.
"So, I take it everyone has taken their turn in the bathroom," she states.
"Yes miss," they answer.
"Okay good."
She moves past them and into the kitchen. They have set up a plate of mixed vegetables, mashed potatoes, and a steak, prepared with sauce and all. She sits down at the table and a few of them walk over to join her.
"This looks amazing. You guys truly did a wonderful job. Thank you."
She eats quickly then returns to the living-room. They continue to wait for her to give them instructions. She isn't sure what to tell them.
"So um... I'm not really sure what you guys want to do at this point. I need to go to bed but obviously you guys don't sleep."
"We could just wait here until you wake up in the morning."
"No, that just seems weird. Uh... I guess I have plenty of books you guys could read. You can also watch the TV if you'd like." She holds her hand up to her head feeling overwhelmed. "I'm sorry guys, I'm really not good at hospitality."
"We'll be alright Valerie, really. You can sleep easy and we'll make sure not to bother you."
"Alright. Oh..."
She takes out the comb and turns to Little Jerry to style his hair. He closes his eyes enjoying the feel of it. She finishes and he opens his eyes.
"There we go. Very handsome."
She hands the comb off to the next Jerry to pass around.
"Okay so I guess I'll be heading to bed then. If any of the other Jerrys from the park show up just let them come in and get cleaned up just as you all did, and tomorrow if there are still any who are left at the park we'll go pick them up. Sound like a plan?"
"Yes miss."
"Good. Well until then."
She waves as she goes up the stairs.
"Good night Valerie!"
She hurries up to her room and locks the door behind her. She jumps into the bed and shoves her face into the pillow.
"Sweet mother of mercy they are so cute."
She feels heat grow between her legs. Her thighs ache as thoughts about one of them sneaking into her bedroom and straddling her enters her mind.
"No! Now is not the time for this," she tells herself and forces herself to go to sleep.