1
"Look, I know but I have insurance for this. You cannot deny a replacement model" Barbera Harkness argued, her hands on her hips as the Sim Rep looked at the damaged model lying on the floor of the bathroom.
Blue liquid pooled around the body and the sightless eyes were like those of a shark completely black as clearly the model had tried to power save when it realized it was failing to survive. It had backed up with the last of it's power.
It looked like a human with little to no redeeming features. Simply… bland. Blonde hair, eyes had been the usual Sim green when on and blue when charging but now… well… black for fucked-up, I guess. It was dressed in a pair of green scrubs and white shoes. It looked like a typical nurse in a busy hospital.
Owen knelt by the medical aid model and tapped the spot behind the ear to open the cavity that held the memory chip, removing it and rising to face her "Look lady. This is the third one your son has trashed and I am sure insurance covers replacement… but not continually. There will be some push back on a third one and I know it will be a bloody mission to get them to agree on another one without it being a second-hand model or a factory second. You have no idea how squirrely our tech are about handing one of these over, they are kinda attached to them. To have one damaged is like… a death to them. Now three?"
"I don't care what you have to do Mister Harper…"
"Doctor. I am a fucking doctor".
"Doctor Harper, my son needs a medical aid, you will provide one for him as per the terms of his contract and the obligations of this company… your company… my son's company" she said with a finality, watching as the men in white overalls started to try and lift the remains of the Sim onto a trolley for transport. "It does say Harkness on my bloody House Plate!"
A limb fell off.
"Oh, for fucksake" she said, flapping a hand "They are making it worse."
"It's another write off madam, can't get much worse than that" Owen replied, turning to storm off and leave the woman to watch her son's mess get clearer away.
As per usual.
.
.
Toshiko muttered under her breath as she pulled up the memories on the Sim's card and the screens sprang to life. There, for all the world to see was Gray Harkness in full meltdown, the crutch in his hand being used to bludgeon the Sim as it meekly tried to defend itself without making contact with him.
She glanced at the wall above the screens that had the bold writing so all could see.
Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics . The laws are as follows
A robot may not injure a human being or allow a human to come to harm.
A robot must obey orders, unless they conflict with law number one.
A robot must protect its own existence, as long as those actions do not conflict with either the first or second law.
She sighed as she watched the poor Sim allow itself to die in order for Gray to calm down and finally as it started to blink in and out of existence the man started to cry, a softly whispered 'sorry' the last thing recorded before black screen.
"So. This was number two?"
"Number three" she corrected, turning to look at Jack Harkness, his face one of concern as he watched the rewind to his little brother's whispered lament for his anger.
"And the doctors still say this is going to work. They still had faith that he was making progress with a Sim there as comfort. Fuck me, I would have just gotten him a support animal if I knew he was going to act like this" he slumped into a chair. "The cost would have been the same."
"Right. And when he beat that to death?" Owen asked form behind him.
"Fuck off Owen."
"Yeah, well… unfortunately I have to. I now have to go into the bowels of Hades to tell them another of their 'children' got smashed" he even made air quotes around the word as he grimaced "you know they are attached to each unit they create. Fuck. I will not enjoy this. Really… he's your brother and this is your family business, you should be the one to see grown arsed people weeping over a bloody toaster!"
"They are not toasters" Toshiko swung to glare at her husband, reminding him too late that she was one of those who helped create and maintain these androids "Each is unique in it's own way. This will take us time to unravel and rebuild into another one. Unless he wants a model with no previous info on him. Even then, only one of the seconds would do now… the time and care needed is… impossible in the timeframe."
"With his condition, he needs one that has the medical training and memories intact" Owen argued back.
"And that means it will know he killed the last three. Each death recorded, I can't lock that out. You know that. They are scared of him!" Toshiko was on the verge of yelling now.
"It's just a machine!"
"Stop it. Just… go make nice and see what we can get. I don't know… I will take a factory second at this rate, anything" Jack waved a hand as he dismissed them, walking from the room to his inner office so he could rest his head in his hands.
After all, he felt responsible for Gray's accident all those years ago when they were kids, something his mother continually reminded him of and now, after all this time trying to crate a medical device that might actually be of service, he was once again thwarted by Gray's lack of impulse control.
It had been a decade since that day, Gray just a mere 12 years old to Jack's 21. God, it had all happened so fast, it had all gone wrong. It wasn't fair.
IF it was anyone's fault, it was Grandfather's. He created this company… this monster.
Monsters.
Droids.
Sims.
Whatever you wanted to call them, the death of his father meant Jack inherited everything… whether he liked it or not.
Inheriting Gray was like a curse that kept on rounding up for another slap in the face.