Chapter 6: An unexpected twist and confronted feelings
"Cybertronics company, Good evening, how can I help you?" a dull feminine voice asked over the phone.
"Good evening" Veronica said hurriedly "We have a damaged DA unit, and we were wondering if we could take him to repair, it's an emergency!"
"Well...it's very late, miss, but our overnight team is available until 4 o'clock in the morning" the operator said "If you can come right now, it would be-" the operator's voice was cut by Veronica's exclamation.
"Sure! We're on our way" she said, and talked to Monica, who was frozen, besides her... "Come on, we have to hurry"
Monica said nothing as they walked to the street and entered to Monica's car, joined by Teddy.
"Will David be alright?" the furry Supertoy asked.
"Yes, Teddy, he will be" Veronica said. Monica looked at her.
"How can you be so sure?" she asked, and the girl frowned.
"I don't know...I just put all my hope in it" she answered "When you really want something to happen, and you wish for it with all your might, it may happen"
"You really love him, don't you" Monica asked.
"Yes, Mrs. Swinton, I really do" Veronica answered, and Monica started the engine. Then they drove away.
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Some miles away from there, a man was in an office, drinking a cup of steamy coffee. He was holding a picture in his hand, where he could see a brown-haired woman, a brown-haired teenage boy and (this caught his attention) a blond-haired, blue-eyed little boy holding a bear in his arms. He stared at the picture, then frowned and put it away.
"Wonder what happened to him" he thought as he stared at his cup of coffee. In spite of himself, he had some feelings for David, but his practical self didn't let him feel them.
Suddenly, the door opened, showing a brown-haired man coming in.
"Hey Henry, what's up?" he asked.
"Bored as always, Hal" Henry answered with rolling eyes "I hate this overnight shift...nothing else but sitting in a chair, drinking cups and cups of coffee and some doughnuts..." he added. Although he was an accountant executive and he wasn't part of the Maintenance/Customer Assistance Department, he was saving some accounting data in Hal's PC, because all the offices in his department were closed to be cleansed that night.
"Neh, nothing interesting happens at these hours" Hal said.
"Well, what are you expecting? It's a robot factory" Henry said, and Hal chuckled.
"Yeah, it's not a cop station, where you can get good stuff even at nights"
"You say you wanna be a cop?" Henry asked surprised.
"No, no, I never said that!" Hal laughed "It's just that I'm so bored here...I wish something interesting would happen, to break the ice, ya know"
"That makes two of us" Henry smiled, and a woman rushed into the office, startling both men "Margaret, what's wrong?" Henry asked.
"We got a case here" she answered "A woman called for a Mecha fixation. It's a DA model, the one we recently shipped" she added, and Hal smiled.
"At last...some work!" he said, and both men stood up.
"You're right, pal" Henry said, patting Hal's shoulder "A DA model...but the only one we shipped is...no...it can't be...!" he thought as they followed Margaret.
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Monica and Veronica didn't talk much during the ride. But when Veronica looked at Monica, she noticed her eyes were full of tears...
"Mrs. Swinton, do you want me to drive?" she asked "It may be dangerous for you, you shouldn't-"
"NO!" Monica bellowed, then she softened her tone "I just...I need to drive...please, let me"
Veronica sighed and nodded reluctantly, and held David's tiny body tightly against her own, while caressing his soft hair.
"He looks so real...it's like he's sleeping right now" she thought, and cleared some locks off his forehead, to kiss it "Don't worry, sweetie...we'll take you to a doctor, and you will be alright" she whispered into his ear, although he couldn't hear her words.
Monica looked at Veronica's loving gesture to David, and remembered the time when she kissed his forehead when she tucked him into Martin's bed. She kept driving, but her tears didn't let her see the road very clearly...
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"Monica must have been really mad at you" Hal said, as they waited to be called "After you told her to leave that Mecha-child..."
"Well, she wasn't exactly angry" Henry said "But she was really sad, and she blames herself for dumping it. But she hasn't slept since the last time she saw it, and it worries me...she's gotten really weak"
"Can't blame her, buddy" Hal said "As far as I've heard, those kids look so real anybody could get easily attached to them"
"You think?" Henry asked suspiciously.
"At least, that's what it seems" Hal said, as they drank their last cup of coffee, waiting to fix the Mecha they'd see that night.
"Wonder how'd end up here" Henry thought as he drank the coffee.
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"And he cried so much, he begged me not to leave him, and when he said he'd become real to me..." Monica said, her eyes full of tears "I almost backed away then"
They were really close to Cybertronics, it was just a mile away.
"Look, don't blame yourself" Veronica said "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to hit on you, but I was so angry at that moment that-"
"I can't blame you for hating me" Monica said "You're right for hating such a horrible person like me...a horrible mother" she added. Her heart was aching horribly, and she wiped her tears.
"Don't say that..." Veronica said compassionately.
"It's true...I'm a BAD MOTHER! If I had cared about David, he wouldn't be in danger...it was for me...ALWAYS ME!" Monica cried; no matter how much she wiped her tears, they kept coming to her eyes, and didn't let her see the road...
"Oh, God...WATCH OUT!!" Veronica screamed, and Monica looked in front of her...a truck was in front of the car, about to hit them!
"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!" they yelled, and the truck hit them, right in the car pole...
"Mrs. Swinton...are you okay?" Veronica asked, when she opened her eyes. Her arms hurt a lot and were bleeding because she had pieces of torn glass; she'd used her body to protect David and Teddy.
"Mommy" Teddy jumped from Veronica's lap "Is Mommy okay?" he asked.
"Dunno, Teddy...lemme see" she answered, and she finally saw Monica's unconscious body "Oh, dear...this is serious..." she added when she saw Monica's body. Unlike hers, Monica's body was bleeding all over, and her head had hit against the steering wheel. No matter how much Veronica shook her, she never aroused. Veronica panicked a lot, but tried to find a solution. "Teddy, we have to call the 911 or go to Cybertronics to get help...does she have a mobile phone or something?" she asked, and Teddy showed her where Monica kept her mobile phone. Veronica took it and dialed the 911 "Hello? This is an emergency...a car wreck, 1 victim...please, bring an ambulance, hurry!"
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The ambulance finally arrived, and took them to Cybertronics' Medical Pavilion, a huge clinic really close to the offices. As they carried Monica in a bed to the emergency room, the Mecha-doctors and the real ones were walking all around, plus the Mecha-nurses. The place was full and it seemed to be a busy night. It was an emergency room, after all.
"Will she be okay?" she asked the doctor.
"She's deadly hurt, miss Adams" he answered "We'll do our best, but I can't assure anything"
"Please...save her" she begged, and the doctor patted her shoulder to calm her down.
"We'll try" he said.
"Teddy, you'll stay here with Mrs. Swinton, I'll go take David to be fixed" Veronica said
"No, Veronica" Teddy said reluctantly, a frown appeared in his cream-coloured furry face "I want to see he's safe"
"Teddy, she has to be with somebody she knows, and David has to be fixed immediately. Don't worry, it'll be for an hour or so" she assured him "We'll meet here later"
"Will he be alright?" Teddy asked, worried about David; although he looked like a boy, Teddy's system scanned him as a machine, just as himself.
After leaving Monica with the doctors, Veronica took David to the offices, to get him fixed.
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"Excuse me, sir" Veronica asked to a security guard in the offices "Could you tell me where the repair section is?"
"Yes, miss. Go to the 3rd floor, 4th door on your left" he answered "Then ask for Mr. Henry Swinton and Hal Peters...wait, isn't that the Mecha-Child our company built recently?" he asked when he saw David's unconscious body in her arms.
"Ehhh yes...I...his mother is ill in the hospital pavilion. She couldn't bring him here, so I had to do it" she tried to explain.
"Well, let's hope it's not the one that got lost some days ago" he warned "Dr. Hobby is desperate looking for him, he says it's unique. We've planned to ship thousands of models now, we have some of them already built, but Dr. Hobby disagreed with the idea"
"I see...thanks, sir" she said, and took the elevator.
When she left, the security guard took his speakerphone.
"Hello, Dr. Hobby's office?" he said "I think we found what you've been looking for...a boy with blond hair, blue eyes, just as you said. A young woman brought him here, and she's going to the offices now" he added, and the speakerphone fuzzed a bit, before letting out a muffled reply.
"What...?" a masculine voice said.
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"So David is the first model...the one they've been looking for..." she thought in the elevator "But what will they do when they find him? Will they hurt him?" she added worriedly, and she looked at David "No, David...I won't let them hurt you. We'll get you fixed and if your mom doesn't want you..." she said, and kissed his cheek.
Veronica got out of the elevator and looked for the office...it wasn't too hard to find. When she arrived, she knocked on the door...
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"I wonder which Mecha will I repair" Hal asked.
"Maybe a Lover-Mecha?, they've been here very often..." Henry suggested "But Margaret said it's a DA model, the most recent one"
"A DA?" Hal asked, he wasn't very familiar with Cybertronics' newest model "I wish it was a female Lover-Mecha..."
"Yeah, right...you'll repair it and who knows what will you do later" Henry joked as he went to the bathroom.
"I wish!" Hal laughed as they heard a knock on the door "Lemme see who it is" he said and opened the door, where he saw a young woman with a little boy in her arms "Good evening, miss..." he tried to say, when he saw the boy in her arms "Eh, look, I don't want to sound rude, but...the kindergarten is 2 blocks away from here and-"
"This is the Mecha I told you about" she cut him off "He needs help, c'mon!"
"Oh, dear...when I said he looked real, I wasn't joking" he thought, as they put him on a couch.
"What is it, Hal?" Henry asked as he got out of the bathroom, but when he saw the tiny body in the couch, he shocked. "No..wait...it can't be...David?!" he asked.
"Do you know him?" Veronica said.
"Well...yes" Henry said "Where did you find it?"
"It? Did he just call him 'it'? Oh, hell..." she thought, slightly upset by Henry's impersonal tone, then she answered "I found him on the road, his mom left him there"
"Henry, isn't that the child your wife had for some days?" Hal asked.
"What, did you have a boy like David?" Veronica asked, when she saw the badge on Henry's desk 'Henry Swinton, accounting executive' and said "So...you're Mrs. Swinton's husband"
"Do you know my wife?" he asked, surprised, and she nodded "Hal, would you leave us alone for a moment? Take David to the repairing room, please" he said, and Hal nodded and left the room with David in his arms. Then he turned to Veronica. "So... how did you know David?" he asked, and she told him everything that happened since she found him in the road.
"I found David and he told me she was his mom...when I took him back, Monica told me everything" she said, and threw him a serious, yet angry glare "And I guess you're the one who told her to dump David"
"Well-" he tried to explain.
"Why did you do it?" she asked.
"We had another son...he was ill and Monica felt so alone...I guessed David would be a temporary company...until Martin was alright"
"So you took him as a toy, an unusual comfort for the lonely soul and the sadness Mrs. Swinton had" she said "That's not very ethical of you" a frown appeared on her young pale face.
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Not too far from there, in a white room, a bunch of scientists were around a table, looking at the prostrated little body on it. Those were part of the Cybertronics staff, who were in charge of repairing David.
"Plug in the blue cable...yes, the one on the gyroscope" one of them said "No, no, not in there! Be careful, you may break it"
"Yeah, yeah, right...this little guy gets in too much trouble...last time he came because he ate spinach, and we had to clean him up, but it took a lot of time! Wonder what happened now" the other one rolled his eyes, as he did as he was told "There, it's done. What next?"
"Open his skull and put his memory cube in there" the first one said.
The other one opened David's mouth, put his finger into it and pressed the button. David's face opened to reveal his metallic parts, and the opening where his memory cube had to be placed in. The tech put in the memory cube, and closed David's face, his blank-looking eyes went back to be his sparkling blue ones.
David looked around the room with a look of confusion and wonder. One of the techs approached him.
"Are you okay, boy?" the tech asked, and he nodded.
"Where am I?" he asked, and he remembered something "Mommy? Where's my mommy? Could you tell me where she is?"
"Your mommy? Oh, you're talking about the young lady who brought you here...she's on the office 102...wait, where are you-" the tech couldn't complete the question because David ran out of the room.
"Children" they sighed.
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"Look, miss..." Henry said, but she interrupted him.
"Veronica. Veronica Adams...that's your son Martin, isn't it?" she said, as she looked at the picture Henry had in his desk: Monica and Martin in a soccer game. By the date on the picture, it was very recent. But where was David? She didn't see him in the picture. "I take it you didn't care about David at all" she added.
"Veronica, he's a robot"
"He's a child" she retorted "Maybe he wasn't made like us, but he's still a child! Now I brought David back, and his brain fell out. We brought him here, and..." she told him about the accident, causing him to worry, but she calmed him down "She's at the hospital, with the doctors. She'll be fine, I hope... Why didn't you think twice when you told Mrs. Swinton to dump him? Or should I ask why did you want to dump him, in the first place?"
"As you saw, we already have a son" Henry explained, and told her everything about Martin's illness and what happened when he recovered, the rivalry between David and Martin, and how he finally told Monica to leave David "She told me it was normal for kids to compete between each other, but David made some strange things that left me confused. Trying to drown Martin was the last drop. I couldn't bear with it anymore, so I told Monica to bring him back here"
"To be destroyed, right?" she said "Is that the way you would treat Martin? Would you dump him if he did something wrong? I guess you wouldn't"
"Martin is my son" Henry said, defiantly.
"David is also YOUR son, in some way, even if he's not made of flesh and blood" she walked around the room "And just because you now had Martin, you tried to dump David, as if he were a toy, or a piece of garbage...something you couldn't use anymore"
"Hey, hey, chill out" he said, trying to calm her down "I never said that...I just wanted to make Monica happy for a little while, when Martin was ill"
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David ran through the halls until he stumbled and fell in the floor, because he bumped in someone else.
"I'm very sorry, sir" he said politely, but when he looked up, he found a tall, pale-skinned, grey-haired man in his 50s (that was more like grey-blonde hair), looking at him with an expression of true wonder, which was reflected in David's eyes "Who are you? I recognize you somehow" he said, dully.
"David...remember me?" the man asked. David's face went blank as he looked at the man, who was staring at him with interest. He made a gesture to him, as if telling him to enter in an office. David's reluctance appeared when he shook his head, but it didn't seem to work. But, somehow, he WANTED to join that man, because he had seen him before...when they entered the dim, empty office, the man told David to sit down in a chair, and he did. As his blue eyes wandered around the place, he found a badge on the man's desk that said 'Dr. Allen Hobby, robot department'. The man smiled at him, and David's surprise came in a thin whisper.
"You...I saw you when I was born...you're..."
"I'm your designer, David...your creator" Dr. Hobby answered "An that, by all accounts, makes me your father" he smiled, and David's jaw almost dropped.
"No...my mommy...I just have my mommy!" he almost shouted "Just her! You can't-"
"David, you're an early model I just created, a prototype" Dr. Hobby explained "You were meant to fulfill a great human need: to give and receive love"
"I love my mommy, but she...I don't know..." David said, cocking his head to the right "My brain is falling out"
"You think you love her, because you were programmed to love her and only her" Dr. Hobby said "But that opens a gap in our minds...can we love a person because we want, or due to frequent contact, from being around that person all the time?" he added, thoughtfully "David...did you love your mommy...because you GOT USED to stay around her all the time? Because she was the most important part of your world...your life?" he asked, but the boy didn't answer "Do you have any idea of what you've given us? You've opened a Pandora box for us...for our human race...you got us close to God. God created us as humans...that makes him almighty. But we created robots...human-like robots as you, so we might be close to God. We might be almighty as well"
David didn't pay attention to Dr. Hobby's philosophical words; his silicon mind was wandering around other surroundings...
"Mommy...did I really love you...?" he thought "Did you really love me...? Or did you just got used to me? I can't understand" he added, sadly, as Dr. Hobby gently patted his shoulder.
"David...do you want to know your other fathers and mothers?" he asked "The team is anxious to talk to you...wait here, I'll gather them up" he added, and left the room.
David stood up, and walked through the room. When he approached Dr. Hobby's desk, he found a picture where Dr. Hobby was with a little boy in a soccer uniform...by the body language and the similarities he could guess it was Dr. Hobby and his son, but that pale skin...that blond hair...those blue eyes...that sweet smile...were so identical to his own...
"No...it can't be..." he said, with a hand on his mouth "That boy can't be me! I'm the only one in this world! There's never been someone like me before! NEVER!" he shouted as he walked to the right hall, and there he found something that shocked him...a bunch of Davids, maybe a hundred, stood in front of him.
"This is me?" he asked "This is what I've been before? Will I become like this again?" he added, as he saw them... all dressed alike in white outfits (like the one he first used), all looking alike, all staring blankly to the front...
And he understood.
He was only a robot, a product to console childless couples, something to be sold, used and then destroyed...all his shocking anger came at his earnest, and he took a lamp; smashing all the other Davids, breaking their faces, peeling off their clothes, breaking all the computers and ripping all the papers he found in the desk. The poor David was so angry...he couldn't stand it anymore...
"I'm not a robot! I'm real! I'm David! I'm the only one, and I'll always be!" he yelled as he kicked the head of one of the other Davids...
When his fury decreased, he looked around the room...all the mess he had caused. He covered his face with his hands.
"What have I done?" he asked "Dr. Hobby...mommy...Veronica...forgive me" he whispered, as he ran off the room, leaving that havoc atmosphere behind...
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"I'll repeat it...you just thought of David as a toy...a goddamn toy!" she exclaimed, when she heard the door open, and there was a little figure she knew too well "David? Are you okay, sweetie?" she asked, as she reached out to him and gave him a hug. He started crying "Honey, what's wrong?"
"Veronica, I...where's my mommy?" he asked innocently "Why isn't she here?" he added, but Veronica hesitated a little in telling him about the accident.
"David, we brought you here in the car, but a truck passed by, and...your mom, well, she..."
"She...what?" he asked.
"She's seriously hurt, David." she told him "I took her to the hospital"
"What?" he said "Take me to her...please, Veronica...take me there" he begged clinging to her desperately, and she took him out, joined by Henry.
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"Dr. Longchamp...Dr. Sanders...Emergency room.. Immediately" the voice on the speakerphone said.
Veronica, David and Henry had arrived to the Cybertronics Medical Pavilion, and were looking for Monica. Veronica told them everything about the accident, but looking at David's worried face, she tried to calm them down and reassure them she would be okay.
"Excuse me, miss" Veronica asked a nurse walking by "Could you tell me where Mrs. Monica Swinton is?"
"Emergency Room, door 2" she answered, and they walked away.
"Room 1...2...here, we found it" Henry said, and they entered. Monica was in a bed, a doctor besides her. They approached the doctor and Henry asked "Dr. Sanders, how's she doing?" The doctor shook his head.
"She's very delicate now...she received a string impact in her head, and all the pieces of glass in her entire body made her bleed internally" he answered "Dr. Longchamp and I doing our best...but she's not responding"
Henry's face showed a sad expression and David did as well. He approached Monica's bed and took her hand.
"Mommy..." he said, when he saw Monica's eyes open, and she looked at him.
"David...Henry..." she tried to say, she was too weak now...
Veronica stood back, looking at the scene...although she hoped Monica would be okay, she had her doubts...
"Please, God...save her..." she thought "For David..." she added, as she looked at the little boy, a sad look on his face...
Author's Note: I guess I'm gonna write a few more chapters...2 more, and it's done. Keep an eye on this fic, and don't forget to leave a review!