"Hey."
He threw another handful of pebbles against Amy's bedroom window.
"Hey, wake up, you stupid girl!"
He couldn't yell too loud because then everyone in town would wake up and, and toast him or something. He was supposed to be locked in the lab at night so he didn't get out and destroy things. Just like an ancient Earth monster.
He threw another handful of pebbles. Nothing happened.
"To heck with this," said Lore. He went around to the front door and hacked through the security codes. It was childishly simple. He stepped through the door into the livingroom and flicked on the lights.
Nothing happened.
"What do you have to do to wake this girl up?"
He knew, of course, where the bedroom was. So he went there, and she was curled up in the bed with her head pillowed on one arm, sound asleep.
Lore went over to the bed and shook her by the shoulder. "Hey, wake up."
She sat straight up in bed and said in a frightened voice, "Who--!"
"It's me," said Lore, crouching down so the moonlight could shine on his face.
She relaxed. "Oh. Lore. What do you want?"
"I wanted to see you. I brought you something. Turn on the lights."
She pressed the button and the lights came up.
Lore sat down on the bed as if he owned the place. "Hey, I don't know what it takes to wake you up. I stood and threw pebbles at your window for at least five minutes. I broke into your house and you didn't wake up. I only hope that your security system has an alarm or something because otherwise they could run off with every single thing and you'd never wake up."
"You broke into the house?"
"Sure," said Lore nonchalantly. "I overrode the security codes at the door. Easy as pie. If you want I can reprogram them so they're harder to break into."
Amy sighed and rolled her eyes. "No wonder they think you're a public menace, Lore."
"Yeah, well, I didn't come here to argue with you. I came here because I wanted to show you something." Lore pulled the brown wrapping off the portrait he had brought with him.
Amy gasped and her eyes went wide. "You did this?"
"Sure. There's my name, written down in the corner. Why? Don't you believe machines can paint?"
"No. It's just that I've never seen anything this good outside a museum." She blushed. "You painted me?"
"I couldn't think of anything else to paint. I painted a picture of your old clock, too, so don't get too self-important."
She punched his arm. "Oh, I know perfectly well that you like that clock just as much as you like me."
Lore snickered, then abruptly straightened his face out. "Anyway, I brought this over because I wanted you to keep this for me. The old man has no idea of privacy as far as I'm concerned. I'm just his project. And if he saw that I painted a picture of you I'd have a lot of explaining to do, and I really don't like explaining things. It gets on my neural network."
"Sure, I'll keep it." She took it reverently, touching it with fingertips. "Wow, Lore. This is incredible."
"Don't show it to anyone. I don't want to be run out of here."
"Don't worry. I'll just look at it myself. All the time. This is wonderful, Lore."
"Yeah. When I leave I'll take it, and you, with me." He stood up.
"You leaving?" said Amy.
"Well, yeah," said Lore, puzzled.
She shifted a little so that the covers slid down, and he saw that she was wearing nothing underneath them. She tilted her chin down and looked up at him through her lashes.
"You sure?" she purred.
"Wellllllll," said Lore, shaking his head and smirking. "You are one bad girl." He turned up one corner of his mouth. "Then again, I'm a bad android. Sure, I'll stay."
She smiled, a sultry little smile.
"Good," she said silkily.
She was asleep again, her arms wrapped around his shoulders. Lore, his face in her hair, decided that she smelled nice. Kind of like…peppermint. When she woke up he would have to ask her about it.
He gently disentangled himself from her and slid out of bed, softly so he would not wake her, and dressed. Then he went into the livingroom and looked around to find something he could take apart. The computer console presented itself to him. By the time she came out, four in the morning, yawning and rubbing her eyes, he was well into its isolinear guts.
When she yelled at him he banged his head in pulling it out of there. He turned around and glared at her. "What is it!"
"Lore! You've taken my computer apart!"
"I know that." Lore rolled his eyes. Humans. They made the dumbest remarks.
"Put it back together!" said Amy.
"Yeah, but I want to see everything about it. The old man only has the newest models. This, this is really old. It has—"
"Lore. Put it back together. Now."
"No," he said snidely. "I want to look it over. When I'm done, then I'll put it back together."
She put her head in her hands. "You're going to get in so much trouble. You're going to get us both in big-time trouble."
"That's ridiculous," said Lore, sticking his head back into the computer. "You have a back door. I'll just run out there into the woods. If anyone asks I'll have been there the whole time. See? No big deal." He pulled another chip out of the computer and held it up to the light. "Man, where did you get this stuff? From a museum?"
"It's from my parents."
"This must be at least ten years old."
"Lore, ten years is not all that much."
"Longer than I've been around," he said.
Amy, deciding that making a racket about the computer was a lost cause, came and sat down on the sofa. "That reminds me. How old are you supposed to be, Lore?"
"I think around thirty. Ooh." He tugged and held up a blocky piece of equipment. "Look. This is the quantum regulator. I've never seen one of this make before."
"It's just old, Lore. Nothing special. Just old."
"Well, still." He turned it over and over in his hand, his eyes bright, flicking back and forth. "Listen, I won't be leaving for a while. Why don't you go back to bed, Amy. I understand that mere mortals need their sleep."
"Sure," said Amy, yawning.
She could hear him dismantling her computer as she stepped into her bedroom.
When she came out at seven the computer had been put back together and Lore was sitting crosslegged in the middle of the room taking apart an antique table lamp. As she came into the room he looked up.
"Oh," he said. "I'm done with the computer. I reconfigured it so that it will run four times as fast. I don't think you know much about computers, Amy."
"I don't."
"Well, that explains it. You take such awful care of it. I couldn't understand it."
"Well," said Amy calmly, "I guess you'll just have to teach me."
"Yeah." He put his hands behind his head and smirked at her. "You going to give me coffee again this morning, or do I only get that on mornings-after?"
"This is a morning after," she said. "Sure you can have coffee, if you want it. You can have breakfast, too."
"No, coffee will be fine." He looked into the top of the lamp. "How old is this? It still has an Edison bulb! Does it work?"
"I don't know. I don't have anything to plug it into."
"I'd love to find out." He tapped the bulb with one gold-white finger, his yellow eyes intent, unblinking. "I bet the old man'd have a converter somewhere around. I wish I could borrow this."
"I think we've found your true calling, Lore," said Amy, laughing. "Mechanics."
He smirked at her. "Yes, well. Like to like, baby."
He made sure to double through the woods in case anyone was watching. He came out right by Ray Dylan's place. Ray was in his yard, digging in the garden. As Lore made his way through the brush Ray looked up and said snidely, "Well, well. If it isn't the local troublemaker."
"Shut up, Human," said Lore. "Why don't you mind your own business."
But Ray didn't. "So, how you doing these days, Toaster? I hear Mr. Stowe's pretty mad at you."
"Don't call me Toaster," said Lore in an ugly voice.
"Yeah," said Ray, "I hear he's going to have you thrown off the planet. Good riddance, too. Nobody needs a walking toaster in the neighborhood."
"Don't call me Toaster!" screamed Lore, enraged.
Ray smiled a hostile, nasty smile at the sight of the android's anger. "Why don't you get out of here," he said, "Toaster."
And he spat at Lore.
Lore's face twisted in a snarl. In an instant he had vaulted over the fence and had grabbed the man, one hand around his wrist, the other around his neck.
Ray gagged, his face purpling. Lore held him up in the air and shook him. "You call me names, you—"
"Lore!"
He turned. Soong was standing in the street.
"Put him down!"
Lore grinned horribly at the choking man at the end of his arm. "Hear that, Ray? He thinks I should put you down. Do you know what I think? I think I should crunch your little neck. I think I should bash your face in."
"Lore!" For one of the few times in his life Soong's voice was full of steel. "You put him down now or I'll have you dismantled!"
Lore's face worked as he stared at Soong. Soong stared back.
"Fine," muttered Lore. He let go and Ray dropped on the ground and lay there gasping. Lore leaned over him.
"You call me names again," he said, in a low vicious voice, "and I'll come back. And this time I will bash that ugly face in."
And he spun on his heel and stalked out of the garden.
"You physically threatened him," shouted Soong. His normally pale face was red with rage. "You broke his wrist—"
"I should've broken his neck!" Lore screamed back. "He's always tormenting me! He follows me down the street calling me names! He spits on me!"
"You can't kill everyone who calls you names, Lore! That's life!"
Lore sneered. "Yeah, you should know, shouldn't you—Often Wrong!"
"Lore!"
"All right!" said Juliana, clapping her hands sharply together. She had been watching the two of them shout at each other for at least fifteen minutes. "All right! Calm down, the two of you."
They both turned to look at her, and once again she thought the resemblance between them uncanny—their identical furious expressions, the way they both stood stiff, one leg slightly forward, their fists clenched at their sides.
"Why don't you stay out of this, Mom!" said Lore.
"Yes, Juliana, stay out of it," said Soong. His normally mild face was taut with anger. "This is between Lore and me."
"And Will Stowes is always after me," Lore went back to ranting. "He provokes me just to get a reaction out of me so he can feel justified in trying to throw me out of the colony. He's a prejudiced, pompous pig! They all are!"
"That's exactly the point, Lore! They want a reaction out of you. If you don't react they'll stop doing it."
"How should you know? You're the one who came here under an assumed name! You're the one who gets all purple-cheeked when people call you names! How's that not giving people a reaction?"
"Lore—" said Juliana.
Lore yelled right over top her. "You were the one who punched Simon Trent when he started making fun of the mess you made at Daystrom!"
"Lore! That is enough," shouted Soong.
"Why? Are you afraid to be exposed for a hypocrite—"
"Lore," said Juliana, and somehow her cold, calm voice cut through all the male screaming. "I want you to go to your room and calm down. Now."
Lore pointed a finger at Soong. "What about him?"
"He's going to go to his room as well." She grabbed her husband by the arm. "Come on." She dragged him out of the room.
Lore stomped up to his room, making each step as loud as possible, and slammed himself down at his computer console to hack into other people's systems.
A week later Soong began his work on a new android.
Lore sat sullenly in a corner of the lab and watched Soong and Juliana put together this new android, this new android which Soong called "Data". A younger brother, said Soong. Ha, ha. Lore could have laughed. He knew very well that this new android was a replacement for him. He'd been made perfect—completely human—and the old man didn't like it so he was making a less perfect android. Lore knew very well what was going on.
He'd been sneaking out whenever he could to see Amy, who told him that he could come in the daytime if he was careful not to be seen. And he'd told her all the old man's plans for this new android.
"What should I think?" he'd yelled. "The new android is identical to me in every way except it doesn't have emotions. What should I think?"
And Amy had said, "Well, maybe it won't have to turn out too badly, Lore. Just wait. And for crying out loud try not to lose your head."
He knew she was still upset with him for choking Ray Dylan half to death. Well, who cared anyway? The human had deserved everything he'd got, and more.
The problem was, Will Stowes was making a big deal of it, and Lore had heard through reading the computerized colony bulletin that if he did one more thing he'd be thrown out of the colony before you could say "Bob." So right now he was trying to play it safe; looking for an angle. He was on parole, as it were.
And this was unfortunate, because right now he wanted to smash something. Or somebody. He didn't care which. He was so blanking mad over being replaced he could just choke the old man to death. He didn't know why he didn't do it. Some weird Human thing programmed into him, maybe.
Soong and Juliana had been slaving over this, this replacement, for weeks. Now they were nearly ready to activate it—him, Lore supposed.
"How are the input polarizers?" asked Soong. He was in front of the table on which the new android lay.
Juliana, over at the control, answered, "Consistent contact with the input polarizers."
"Good," said Soong, and actually cackled. Like a mad scientist, Lore thought sulkily.
He said, "Hey, Dad."
"Not now, Lore. It's time to wake your little brother up." Soong reached down and pressed the activation button. It was located in the android's lower right back. Lore had one in the same spot. The sight made him realize that if he was ever in big trouble he'd better keep his back to the wall, literally.
The new android's golden eyes snapped open.
"Hello, Data," said Soong, leaning over him. "Welcome to life."
Lore laughed sarcastically in his corner. "Such as it is."
"Shut up, Lore. Data? Can you blink for me?"
Slowly the new android's eyelids lowered, then came back up. His face twitched as his pseudomuscles adjusted to activation. In his golden eyes was something very like alarm.
"Data? Can you sit up?"
Long metallic fingers twitched and the new android's arms contracted jerkily as he struggled to push himself up. Soong guided him up with a hand on his back.
"Good, good," he said. "Now let's see if you can stand."
He hauled his big 100-kilogram baby to its feet. The android teetered precariously, his eyes darting from side to side. His mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out.
"Walk, Data," said Soong.
One foot lifted a centimeter off the ground and repositioned itself.
And Data slowly fell over.
Lore burst into derisive laughter, slapping his forehead. "Wow, good going, Data!"
"Shut up, Lore," said Soong. "You were no better at first."
"That I doubt."
"You were worse," said Juliana, folding her arms in front of her chest. "You weren't even sitting up when you fell over."
Lore leered at her. "Yeah, I'm sure." He looked over at Soong, who was braced to haul the heavy android back to his feet. "Need any help there, Dad?"
"Sure, if you want."
Lore went over and without any trouble at all yanked the other android to his feet. For a moment he was tempted to damage him somehow, but then he looked into Data's wide, innocent yellow eyes and realized that he didn't want to. It was his own face, looking back at him. Who knew, Data might turn out to have very interesting possibilities.
"Hey, Data," he said. "Nice to meet you."
And he smirked at him.
One corner of Data's mouth twitched in an attempt at a smile. Wide guileless eyes looked at Lore.
Lore pinched his mouth up. Hey, he thought, who knows. I may like having a little brother.
"So I have a little brother now." Lore held up an isolinear chip from a piece of equipment he had stolen out of the old man's lab. "He looks exactly like me."
"Does he act like you?" asked Amy, watching him work on the equipment.
"I don't know. Right now he doesn't act like much of anything. The old man's still trying to get him to walk. And talk. And not fall over."
Amy giggled.
"Yeah, he's really crummy at motor skills right now." Lore picked up the laserdriver and started reconfiguring the chip. "The old man has this little ritual with him. He's trying to get him to pat his head. And right now the best my poor dumb little brother can do is wave his hand in the air—that is, if he even gets his arm up in the first place. Right now he's in the lab, deactivated."
"And you're not jealous anymore?"
"I don't know." Lore was forgetting to blink again, Amy noticed. He always did that if he was concentrating on something. "For all I know he may turn out to be on my side. I shouldn't knock him until I try him."
Amy sighed. "I hear Ray's still mad at you."
"He's annoyed because he's afraid of me. And well he should be. If he tries calling me names again I'll stomp him into the ground."
Amy sighed again. She did that a lot around him. "I wish you wouldn't be so violent, Lore."
"Why not? Everyone around here is stupid. If they're going to play dirty then so will I." Lore slammed the driver down onto the carpet beside him.
"But there's a difference, Lore. It's not a fair match. You're much stronger and smarter than everyone else around here."
"Right! It's survival of the fittest, isn't it? The creed of the human race. The weak get pushed to the wall. Well, hang on, baby, I'm about to do some pushing."
"Lore, you're not even human."
"Oh, please. Not that line again," he sneered.
She put a hand on his shoulder. "Please, Lore. I don't want to fight with you. I just want you behave responsibly."
"Sorry. That word isn't in my vocabulary." He turned to look at her and saw her worried expression.
"Hey!" he said, his eyes wide, mouth stretched in a smile, hands up. "Hey, don't look that way. Fine. If you want I'll try to behave better. But don't expect miracles or anything. If people continue treating me badly they shouldn't be surprised if they get what they dish out."
His whole face was hard, his mouth twisted at the corners.
"Lore," said Amy softly, "what are you planning?"
He put a finger to her lips. "Don't worry, sweetheart. It won't ever hurt you, I promise."
"Hey, Data."
The new android looked up at him, his eyes wide. He looked so innocent, Lore thought with a touch of disgust. Had he ever looked that way?
"How's life coming?"
Data's eyebrows snapped up and silent alarm filled his eyes.
"How are you functioning?"
The other android's lips moved. His eyebrows contracted down in an expression of concentration. "I—am functioning—within normal p—p—"
"Parameters?"
The eyebrows went up again, accompanied by a jerky dip of the head that was evidently meant as a nod.
It was still strange to hear his own voice coming out of someone else's mouth—someone else who looked exactly like him, furthermore.
"That's good," said Lore. He crouched down, smirking. "I'm glad you're coming along. Because once you get socially adjusted I'm going to do great things with you."
The corners of Data's mouth curved up in a smile.
"Heh," said Lore. "Yes. Smart boy. How'd you like that, Data? Getting off this rock? Going out into space? Seeing the stars? Would you like that?"
Data's eyes, if possible, got even wider. He nodded his jerky nod again.
"Good!" said Lore, smirking at him. "Maybe if we both told the old man he'd listen to us."
Data cocked his head to one side in a puzzled expression.
"Wait," Lore told him. "Just you wait."
