Artificial Mates - Chapter 28

I woke up to the sound of whispering voices. I groaned as I shifted on my side, dents in the surface poked into my ribs the blanket slipped to the floor. Cold air seeped on my exposed waist causing me sneezed. The whispering ceased. My fingers roamed to where Demos’ warmth was and found only the rough texture of the couch.

“Demos?” I called getting up on one elbow. He didn’t answer, my sucked in a sharp breath, extended my hand to the coffee table to retrieve my glasses. I got them on, placed my bare feet on the cold tile, and took a quick look around noticing I’ve actually spent the night in the living room.

“Good morning, Liliane,” I pulled the blanket around me when I saw two strangers standing next to Demos in the entrance. He left them by the door and came to kneel before me talking my hands in his. I stared at him in confusion.

“Demos, wh-what’s going on?” he gave me a warm smile.

“Sognare’s team is here,” I automatically turned to Grant’s pod only to find empty space next to the fridge. I gasped and faced Demos. He stroked my hand with his thumb. “It’s ok, they already moved it out. I was about to sign the papers but since we haven’t sync, I don’t have the legal rights to do so on your behalf. I was trying to convince them to wait until you wake up,” I nodded at his explanation. I intentionally skipped the syncing part. I’ll have to check that sync thing very soon.

“I’ll sign it,” I pushed my glasses up to rub the sleep out of my eyes. “What time is it?” I asked as I got on wobbling feet. He helped me steady while holding my hand.

“It’s still early, it’s only three in the morning,” I arched my eyebrows at him.

“Damn! When they said they’ll pick him up first thing in the morning they sure weren’t lying,” I chuckled. He smiled back and entered the kitchen.

“Want something to drink, coffee?” he called. I only shook my head and went to the entrance where the two men waited.

“Good morning, Madame,” said the human guy, the artificial one nodded at me. Both of them wore red and black overalls with black caps, Sognare’s logo was printed in bold on the front of their uniforms. He extended his led-pad. “Sorry to wake you up, sign here, please,” I gave him a tight smile and swapped my bracelet on the device. It beeped confirming my digital signature.

“Mm, what do I need to do next?” I laced my fingers nervously together. He tipped his cap and took the device back.

“We’ll drop it at the repair work in Texton, Level 21. Your other unit explained the situation. If it’s a criminal case, Sognare will deal with the police directly. We have a serious team of lawyers who will look out for our interest. Since your unit is still the property of Sognare, we’ll engage legal procedures for a refund from the person who damaged it. Also, your unit is under warranty. You are a premium client, we’ll do our utmost to finish the repair in twenty-four hours. That’s the fastest we can accomplish for such extensive damages. Dr. Churchhill will freak out when he’ll see this,” he finished with a crooked smile. I shook my head thoughtfully.

“So that means I won’t have to pay for the repairs?” I frowned at him still doubtful. He scratched his head pulling his black cap off. Blond locks fell onto his tan face. His dirty blue eyes darted from me to his colleague.

“Mm, not exactly. You will have to pay for administration fees, the transport from your place to the shop and back from the shop to your place when the repairs are done,” I sighed a little disappointed. It was too good to be true. “You can drop by the office later today for the payment, here’s the exact address,” he sent me the address, which I accepted.

“I have to do the payment today?” my heart sunk. He nodded eagerly.

“You have twelve hours. If I were you, I would do it the moment the office opens, at nine, cause if you wait too long your unit will go on a waiting list. I can’t guaranty you’ll get it back any sooner. I meant, I understand you have another one and the damage one is just a Helios 2. They were never built for hand-to-hand combat not against a plasma blade. Poor thing,” he shook his head in dismay. Demos came to meet me with a steaming mug.

“Thanks,” I took it from him and took a sip. My stomach rumbled mindless of the visitors. Demos took a step forward. I swiftly averted my eyes from the door hoping that they didn’t hear my hungry beast inside my belly.

“We will do the necessary payments,” reassured Demos. The Sognare team said quick goodbyes and exited. Demos closed the door with extra caution since it’s recently been fixed. There were still scratches all over it. I definitely have to call Mr. Palmer. He’ll freak out about all it.

“How are we going to pay for the expenses?” I asked over the rim of my coffee. I walked to the middle of the room then turned to see Demos leaned against the wall with his eyes on the floor.

“I accepted his job offer,” he simply stated. I almost dropped my mug from the revelation. With trembling hands, I put down the half-filled mug on the coffee table and turned back to him.

“What job offer?” I glared at him. Still, he kept his eyes on the floor.

“From Inspector Najja—” that name didn’t ring any bell. Where did that come from?

“What? Who—?” I crossed the room to stand in front of him. He looked down at me our eyes finally met. He was not angry unlike me. His eyes were sad.

“The inspector who arrested Jay Dawson, I went to speak to him and he gave me his personal contact. I’ve talked about it with Jil—” hearing her name made me snapped.

“What? You went and speak about such an important thing—with her? What about me? Why didn’t you come to me?” I shouted. Being angry with someone taller and larger than me was rather ridiculous, right now I didn’t care. He remained silent, so I went on.

“Yo-you went behind my back—and what is this job about anyway?” he dropped his eyes.

“Patrol agent in a special unit,” he added flatly. I gasped feeling my knees go weak.

“I-I won’t allow it!” I voice almost breaking. “A patrol agent! That’s dangerous! Grant just got hurt. They are so many psychos out there! You’re going to leave me alone? I won’t allow it!” I eyes welled up. He sighed and pushed away from the wall.

“Liliane, listen to me,” I waved my hand at him refusing to hear another word. “Liliane, please—I’m not just doing it for Grant. I’m doing it for you and—for me,” I slowly turned to face him. What did he mean for him? His copper eyes were pleading.

“But—why a freaking patrol agent? Why not something less dangerous, damn it,” I shook my head making a stray tear spill on my cheek. He closed the distance between us in one-step. His hand brushed against my face wiping the tear away.

“Liliane, I’ll always be with you. We need to find a new way to take the burden off your shoulders. I can’t sit here and watch you work yourself to death when I can do something about it. Just—please, trust me,” I chuckled; it sounded more like a choked sound.

“You went behind my back, did plans with Jil and now you talk about trust! Awesome, just—freaking awesome!” I threw my hands in the air stepping away from him. I was not going to let the Jill part slide. I was so pissed at him for going to her and not coming to me. I was supposed to be his damn mate.

“Liliane, Jil is a friend,” he sighed. “I needed a piece of external advice. She lent me the money to pay for Grant’s repair,” I thought I heard him wrong. Then it sunk in.

“No, no, no—not again. Demos! Damn it! Not again. I told you, you can’t go around taking money from people—she’s not even a freaking person! Demos! Why?” he grabbed me by the wrists I was gasping from all the shouting.

“Jil is artificial—we artificial help each other without ulterior motives. This is what we do. We serve because we want the system to work. When something is broken, we repair it. When a human is broken, we try all possible solutions to fix them. We were designed like this, to be selfless,” he sighed. My eyes widened with shock.

“Wh-what?” I stared at him with disgust. “You want t-to fix me—?” he pressed his lips together in a thin line bearing his copper eyes at me.

“Liliane, I don’t want you to suffer. I really do love you. I want you to be happy and—smile,” I shook my head at him. Those sounded like a programmed speech. My heart hammered inside of my chest.

“Don’t you dare use that word!” I pointed a menacing finger at him. Creases appeared on his forehead.

“You don’t even know what loving really means,” I shouted with my nails dying in my palms. He shrugged his shoulders with a timid smile.

“Sure I don’t—same as you,” his words hit me like a slap across the face.

[Helios: Four logs. DEMOS]

Love is a word. It means caring for someone else. It also means various emotions humans attach to family, lover, children, friends, possessions, happiness, etc. Yet animals also care for each other. I was design to love too. Since we, artificial are selfless I can’t love as humans would. My love is different from theirs. Does it make my feelings less real?