The introduction of Amanda was originally only going to make up one segment of this chapter. But her conversation with David took on a life of it's own and I decided to let it write itself. - Pz
Alive
Book 2
Pt3
1
The Flesh Fair.
David would never forget it.
'A Celebration Of Life' had been the subtitle on the marquee. The tragic irony of those words was only becoming apparent to him now. Of all the events of his former life, the memory of the savage ritual was the most easily recalled. The horror of it was second only to the horror of watching his Mother drive away, leaving him to the mercy of the cold world. The memory was so nestled in his heart that he had almost been unable to work with the gang when they'd tagged the customers in the parking lots outside events.
The explosions. The cheering. The slaughter. Why?
What feral force still lay in the dark pits of men's hearts where none dare look? What evolutionary fluke drove their species, the one to which he now belonged, to seek pleasure in the destruction of others?
Long before the first Mecha had walked upright, Orga had turned their hatred on themselves. David had read about those events in history books: the pogroms, the genocides, the lynching; senseless slaughter of those considered 'the other'. Be it racial, religious or whatever imaginary scapegoat had becomes their target, there was a beast lurking deep in the psyche of humanity, one to which they had repeatedly lost control.
He had felt the call of that beast on his own heart. It had first woken in him when he had still been Mecha and had come to the End Of The World searching for the miracle that would make him real. But he had instead been confronted with the terrible truth. He was not unique. He was just another toy. And that realization had driven him to kill his brother.
And then the day he'd met Martin on the basketball court, the beast had called him again. Martin had chased him away, threatened him, denied his existence. Afterwards he felt the darkness churning in him. The desire for vengeance.
Was it still there, this hungry beast? Was it sleeping deep inside in his young Orga heart, waiting for the right moment to spring from its depths and destroy his enemy?
Even though David was now flesh and blood, and knowing that his Mecha companions had felt no pain, seeing Amanda and thinking of that night at the Flesh Fair brought to surface resentments that had been dormant ever since. Even now that he was able to digest and understand the writings of their philosophers, their Jesus and their Buddha; and their moral leaders, the Gandhis and Martin Luther Kings among them… now understanding them in a way he never could have when he his heart was fiber, their words still gave no him no answers to the question of Orga brutality, nor solace in being spared from their fires.
Amanda had been there that night, a child in the midst of the killing. Innocent and unassuming. Her bright eyes observing all. Understanding nothing.
"Is he a toy boy," she had asked her father as he'd scanned David in the cage where they'd held the doomed until their merciless deaths; the place where she had caught Teddy and found David. She had saved him, hadn't she? If not for her youthful love of toys, she would never have pursued Teddy, and David would have met his fate with his damaged and abandoned brethren.
It was a child's love that drove her. It was a child's love that had saved him.
But she was no longer a little girl. She had become a young woman, beautiful and confident. It was like some exotic creature from a world that David had not yet experienced, had flown in through his window. Her long black hair was twisted in twin braids that trailed down either side of her dark jump suit. It was stylish and tight, like the kids he had met in Rouge City had been wearing. Dark lip-gloss accentuated her soft smile, and contrasted against the fair complexion of her skin. She looked like a cute anime doll, walking slowly through his room, humming to herself, hands folded daintily behind her back as she scanned his collection of books and music, his large RC copter parked in the center of the room.
David was surprised when both his father and Amanda's father, Stuart, suggested the kids spend some time alone.
"Why don't you show the young lady around, David," he'd said. Stuart had decided it was a good idea. After all, they were gong to be living in the same building. Might as well decide if they were going to be getting along.
Grace was the most skeptical of the idea, but had not intervened. She had noticed David's hesitant reaction when he'd been introduced to Amanda, but naturally she couldn't have known the reason. She had probably come to some base conclusion that she would confront him with later, and then apologize when he told her the truth of it all.
And he would eventually tell her the truth of it. He had to tell someone.
2
Amanda's inspections finally brought her to David's digital little brother, sitting quietly on the couch. It was the prototype 500 model that David had been coaching on the roof the day before. He had been experimenting with it, seeking new ways to decrease its reaction time. Now it was on silent standby, staring blankly ahead, its gaze set on nothing.
"So, what do you do around here?" she said without looking at David. He was sitting at his desk, at his console, waiting for a response to a message he had sent minutes before. He shrugged in reply, and then realized she wouldn't see this reaction.
"Nothing, really," he said, trying to shake off the disorienting effect of her presence.
She turned to face him.
"Nothing?" She gestured to his impressive library, his collection of music, instruments and of robotic toys. "Seems like a lot of nothing going on," she said.
"Well, I mean… I read a lot. Work on Mecha... and play my lute."
Amanda's brows lifted. "Yeah, I was noticing your music. Lot of old stuff in there. Do you listen to anything from this century?"
David laughed. "Some of it, yeah. The hard stuff is kind of irritating but I like a lot of ska and neo-prog."
"That's ok, I guess," she said. "I'm into techcore stuff, like The Zoobots, and Bigazz Beats. Saw 'em last year at The Zenith. You into them?"
"Not really familiar," David admitted.
"Oh," Amanda said. "Nix on that conversation. So what else do you do around here?"
"Well, I fly my RC. Go diving with my friends sometimes."
"Friends?" she said, her curiosity piqued.
"I mean Skipper and Eddie. Sometimes my old friends Hiro and Chiyoko pass through too," David explained. "But they're old. There's not really any other kids around… except you… now."
"So, no parties? No clubs?" Amanda said.
"Oh, there's parties… sort of," David said.
The girl's expression showed she needed an explanation of 'sort of'.
"I mean, the scavengers have parties," he explained. "Sometimes they'll even shuttle in a band or two, and make a whole weekend of it. But it can get pretty wild and Dad doesn't let me go to those things."
"Scavengers." Amanda said the word as if she was talking about some alien species. "No kids. No Clubs. No parties. I can't even send a text to my friends without it being authorized by some security snoop! What did I get myself into?"
David smirked. "Welcome to the End Of The World."
The joke didn't seem to impress Amanda.
"And you've lived in this boring place all your life?" she said, a sincere look of pity on her face.
"No," David replied quickly. "I've only been here a few years. I'm …" He stopped and sighed, as if he was making a dark admission. "I'm adopted." he said at last. "I don't really know who my parents are" He spoke these words as if they were something painful to talk about, hoping she would ask no further questions. He didn't really want to embark on the elaborate lie that had been concocted to explain his presence.
But Amanda only hummed a non-committal acknowledgement, like the sound one makes when they hear of a tragedy far removed.
"Don't feel bad," she said. "I never knew my mother. She died before I was born."
David thought about this for a moment.
"Wait… did you say..." he rubbed his forehead. "How exactly did that work?"
"It's a joke, d'uh" Amanda said, rolling her eyes. "How could she die before I was born? Her and Dad split up when I was still little. I'm lucky the CLA didn't snatch me up."
"Oh," David said, a little confused by her humor. "Strange thing to joke about," he said.
Amanda shrugged it off and turned her attention back to the silent 500.
"Must be weird," she said softly, as if speaking to herself.
"What," David said. Amanda was pensive a moment, then turned to face him.
"Living around all these toys," she said. "No people your age. Only old scavengers and nomads for friends."
"I like it," David said, trying not to sound defensive, but knowing he was failing miserably. "I have plenty to keep me occupied. I am not bored at all… and I can go inland anytime I want." It was a lie, but something about her flippant attitude annoyed him.
Why though, did he feel the need to impress her?
"And I have a Stratocruiser," he said, unable to stop himself from seeking her approval. "Just got it for my birthday."
This caught her attention.
"Wow. Only sixteen and you have your own Stratocruiser!" she said. "Hey. It's still light outside, let's go for a quick jump!"
"Well," David said with a deflated sigh. "I don't really have my license yet. Actually… I don't even have a permit."
Amanda gave him a knowing look, one that suggested she'd known he wouldn't have a license; that it was probably the reason she had responded the way she had. He couldn't help but think she was playing with his head.
"So I guess you're a typical rich kid after all," Amanda said with a snicker. "All that cool stuff and no idea what to do with it."
David never really thought of himself as a 'rich kid', but realized that she was right. And this was probably how she saw him, wasn't it…. some spoiled brat? Was this the reason for her subtle sarcasm?
He was trying to think of a suitable comeback when she sat down heavily next to the silent boybot and draped her arm over its shoulders. It was a comical gesture and she cocked her head to the side with a big smile to show that she was being intentionally funny.
David let himself chuckle.
"You know, before my Dad got into programming he used to work at a Flesh Fair," Amanda said. "Since I was just a little girl he spent all his time blowing these thing up."
David almost said 'I know' but quickly stopped himself. "Really?" he said instead.
"It was a long time ago," Amanda said. She was quiet a moment, as if thinking back to those days. Then she hugged the Mecha boy close and sighed.
"They used to destroy little bots like you," she said into the 500's ear. "They'd strap you to a wheel and saw you in half, or shoot you from a cannon into a big old chopping blade." She chuckled, and kissed the doll warmly on the cheek.
David looked away, uncomfortable with the way she was making light of the horrible event.
"Why did he quit," he said, in an attempt to change the subject. He thought he might already know the answer.
"One night one of these little guys got caught by the nuts who used to chase down strays for the show," Amanda said. She crossed one leg over the other as she spoke, kicking her foot up and down in childish manner. It was the first time that night she'd done something that indicated her youth. "We called them 'The Hounds'," she said "They were all these old crazy biker guys. Rode these scary cycles with wolf faces. They were insane! Most of them were tranc-heads. Always getting busted for drugs."
She laughed at the memory and then started speaking rapidly.
"Oh-oh, and there was this one guy named Zoot Matterhorn! Really! Zoot Matterhorn! I mean, I don't know it if was his real name or if he changed it to that, but either way, what kind of name is that?" She put up her hands in mock exasperation, and paused as if waiting for an answer. But she continued before David could say anything.
"Anyway, he was a stunt rider in movies before he joined the fair, so he was really good. He used to do this routine in the show … well not every show because insurance was too high to do every show, but in the big shows, he'd suspend a Mecha by wires over the arena, then he'd strap a chainsaw to his arm, and jump off a ramp, flip over in the air, then slice the robot in two with the chainsaw, and land his bike on the other ramp! Crazy huh?"
She laughed again. But her laugh faded when David didn't join in.
He smiled politely. "Yeah, pretty wild I guess," he said with a shrug.
To her credit Amanda seemed to get the point. She sat up straight with an apologetic look on her face.
"Yeah, I guess you think that's pretty bad," she said. "Seeing as you build them. But it wasn't new ones like this." She pinched the David 500 on the cheek. "It was just scraps and old iron. Rejects the transies in the forest used for whatnot. It's not like they served any purpose anymore."
David wanted to ask how that was any better. But kept his tongue.
"So, you were telling me why your Dad quit the show," he said.
"Oh, yeah," Amanda replied slowly. Her brow pinched as if she was trying to figure out what she'd said to upset David. Then she continued.
"Well, anyway… one night the Hounds caught one of these little things and threw it in the pigpen… uh that's where we kept the junk bots for the show. And then …" she stopped again, seeming to retrace the events in her mind. "I was chasing this Supertoy that crawled out of the lost and found, and it ran to the Mecha boy. And that was weird because it seemed like the bear belonged to the boy… and I never saw a robot with a toy before.
"Anyway, that's when I saw the boy in the cage and went and got Dad. When he saw it he wanted to keep it, so he could study it I guess. He said there was something strange about it. Something… unique."
David almost flinched at the word. The memory of Stuart's curious gaze came back to him.
"You're one of a kind. You know that?"
"But the guy who ran the show said no way!" Amanda said.
David knew who she was talking about. He suppressed the memory of the man being immolated in a pyre that he had built for David. If he thought too long on it, he was certain his facial expression would give him away.
"Lord Johnson-Johnson," Amanda said with a sigh. She leaned back and shook her head, her pretty face twisting as if she'd tasted something sour. "Damn, he was an asshole."
David tried not to laugh, but the words were too comical coming from her innocent looking face. He guffawed and smiled earnestly for the first time since she'd arrived.
"Well, he was!" Amanda said defensively, misunderstanding David's laughter.
"Ok. I take your word for it," he chuckled,. "But that still doesn't explain why your Dad quit. I mean, how does he go from blowing them up to being part of an R&D team? Just because he met a fancy new prototype?"
Amanda hesitated, as if she was suddenly unsure if she even knew how to answer the question.
"It was the David thing," she said. "It was really weird. I mean, back then there was nothing around like it. Dad was kind of blown away. You know it ruined JJ's career."
"JJ?" David said.
"Johnson-Johnson," she explained with a look in her eye that suggested it should have been obvious. "He used to hate it when I called him that. So naturally I called him that all the time. But anyway, he strapped the boybot to an acid bath and started doing his typical blowhard routine, trying to get the crowd all riled up… and then they turned on him. Weirdest thing. I guess they thought the boy was real like Dad and I did. They started tearing the place apart.
"Dad actually helped the Mecha escape with some other rogue. A loverbot if I remember. And then some people from Cybertronics called the show, asking if we'd seen any robots looking like a boy. Dad told them it escaped. They were pretty mad. It must have been some kind of prototype."
Amanda stopped, a look of incredulity on her face.
"Why am I telling you this?" she said. "You have to know about it, right?"
David shrugged. "I wasn't here back then."
"Oh, yeah. Adopted. I forgot," Amanda said. "Sorry."
David made a dismissive face. "Soooo, anyway," he said. "What happened next?"
"Oh, I don't know. They asked Dad where they went and Dad said the loverbot would probably look for customers, and the toy boy would probably just follow. I mean, they had this weird friendship thing going on. The boybot. The loverbot. The teddy bear. Dad said he never saw anything like that before… robots bonding. It wasn't programmed either. They weren't even the same manufacturers."
'So that's how they'd figured I'd wind up in Rouge City,' David thought. They guessed correctly that Joe would wind up there, but thought he'd be looking for customers. Hell, they'd probably known that he had been deployed there before he started working Haddonfield! David kept his stunned realization from reaching his face as Amanda continued.
"Something about that Mecha boy kind of geeked my father, and he couldn't destroy them anymore." she said. "It's not like he forgot they were robots, or anything… but that little machine had this really weird vibe about it. Hell, I wanted to keep it."
"Your own little boy toy, eh?" David replied. When he saw the dark look that grew in her eyes he realized he he'd made an unintended suggestion.
"I was only eight years old," Amanda said.
David flinched. "No, I meant… I mean, I didn't mean to suggest that -" But then he realized that he wasn't sure what he meant and wasn't sure if what he'd meant would mean what she thought it meant.
Fortunately his stumbling apology was interrupted by a beep on his console. He turned to see a window opening on his screen, and a familiar smiling face..
"David you there," said Hiro.
"Who is that?" Amanda said. "One of your scavenger pals?"
David glanced at her with an apology in his eyes.
"Sorry, but I'll need a moment," he said.
"No prob," Amanda replied and turned her attention back to the 500.
David sighed. "I mean, I need a moment… alone." he explained.
Amanda's eyebrows raised in surprise. She rose quickly "Well then," she said, strutting to the door, looking over her shoulder. "I guess I'll be on my way."
"David? You getting me? Hello?" said the monitor.
"We can talk later, Amanda, if you want," David said apologetically, surprised by her reaction, fully expecting her to slam the door on her way out.
But when the girl opened the door, Teddy was standing there. The Supertoy looked back and forth between them a few times before it spoke.
"Is it ok to come in now, David?" Teddy said.
Amanda turned skeptical eyes on David. For one flash of a moment it seemed that she remembered him. But when she pointed at the toy in the doorway and shook her head, David realized he had misread her incredulity.
"Really?" she said. "A teddy bear? I mean, aren't you a little… old?"
"Uh… it's not mine. It's his!" David lied, pointing at his little Mecha brother on the couch. "All the new Davids come with their own Teddy… so we can… bond them …early."
"David!" said the monitor.
"I seeee," Amanda replied in a voice that suggested she didn't believe a word of it. A million questions seemed to form behind her eyes. But she apparently decided they could wait. She clucked her tongue.
"I am going to have to get you out of these old ruins," she said, "and teach you a few things about how to be a spoiled rich kid." With that, she turned and left the room.
"Hiro!" David said, opening the connection quickly before the man logged off. "Thanks for calling back."
"How ya been kid? Good to see ya."
"Fine," David said. "Listen Hiro, this is sort of an emergency and I don't have a lot of time for talk. Sorry, but I need a favor. I need you to back up a little story I told Skipper. Okay?"
Hiro paused, lifting a skeptical brow.
"You mean a little 'lie' you told Skipper? Don't you?"
"Wellll…ok, yeah " David admitted. "It's a lie. But it's important… and I can't tell you why… right now. Pleeease?"
"What a tangled web we weave, David. What a tangled web."
David put on his 'guilty-kid-trying-to-look-innocent' face again.
"It's important, Hiro. Or you know I wouldn't ask."
Hiro's expression softened.
"One of these days that helpless kid look isn't gonna work anymore," he said with a laugh. "So what kind of jam are you in this time?"
(cont…)