Artificial Mates - Chapter 57

We waved mom goodbye as she drifted to sleep after taking her meds. I slowly climbed down the stairs where Grant and Thomas waited in the living room. Dad lay soundlessly asleep on the worn-out couch. Grant grabbed my bag on the way out, Thomas held the door for us with a frown.

“Are you sure you have to go so soon. I mean, I wanted to introduce you to my wife and son. At least, come drink a coffee of some tea at my place. It’s not far,” he insisted. I shook my head refusing to stay a minute longer. I was tired and could feel it in my body and heavy eyelids. All I wanted was to get in bed with the warmth of Grant and Demos next to me.

-Me too, but…

“I’m afraid we have to take a detour to the nearest E3 Socket,” announced Grant with a grimace. I gave a peek at him.

“What’s wrong?”

“I’ve used too much energy with your mom, you and your dad. I have only one hour of autonomy,” he turned to my brother who nodded at him. He scratched his short dark hair.

“I’m not much of a tech guy but I believe they have one in the only supermarket near the station. We have very few artificials in our village. They are some old models. It’s not common, I didn’t even know you were one. I mean, it’s so expensive to add those implants,” he smiled at me.

“Yeah, I have a brain wave connector. I got it while they were doing their beta testing. They paid good money and back then I was broke and jobless. It sounded like a good thing,” I said.

“How does it works?” I waved my bracelet at him.

“The bracelet displays quick navigations. But mostly everything is displayed in front of me in permanence like a game console of some sort. It takes some time to adjust to the parasite imagery in front of me,” I smiled. He nodded as he looked away.

“It’s amazing how advanced life is in the big city,” he laughed. Silence fell around us. We were outside in the overgrown lane. Thomas quickly looked up like snapped from his daydream.

“My house is over there, come,” he gestured to the front gate. Grant dragged me along against my will.

“Grant please, I don’t want to go,” I pleaded.

“Sorry Princess, just a short while. I don’t want you to carry me around when we get back,” he gave me a tight smile. I held on his arm and leaned closer so that my brother wouldn’t hear us.

“Can’t we like, call Demos or something,” he shook his head.

-Demos is dealing with something right now. He is busy with his work.

Thomas led the way to a little slope, it wasn’t the same road we took to get to the house. I sighed and gave a last look at the decrepit house. My childhood house. The one I thought I’ll never see again.

“Is it ok to just leave her there?” I eyed the window of my old room. It seemed like a shadow stood behind the planks blocking the window. My mind was playing tricks on me. I quickly looked away to see Thomas shaking his head.

“Nothing is going to happen,” he chuckled. In this village there no much crime,” he gestured to the sugarcane fields. I remembered that back when I was ten the last factory closed down and people were furious that so many of them lost their jobs.

“And with the artificial patrol roaming in the neighborhood. Truly, you can rest assured,” Thomas’ words snapped me from my trip down memory lane. We walked further in silence then took a sharp turn to the right towards the main road. A few colorful houses clung together in the foreground with the stores we spotted earlier behind them. Thomas jogged to the nearest bright yellow gate and disappeared inside.

“Do you really need to recharge?” I frowned at Grant. I was ridiculous, still, I hope he changed his mind. He just smiled back. Thomas cut in before I could argue.

“Guys,” he waved. “Come, let me introduce you, Neena, my wife,” next to him stood a short and smiling woman with a cute face. She was holding an infant in her arms. “And this is Benjamin,” he gestured to the sleeping child. I greeted Neena and took a peek at the kid. He looked nothing like my brother. He had the same mate skin and brown hair as her.

“How cute,” said Grant as he reached to touch him.

“Don’t!” shouted Thomas. Both Grant and I turned to look at him. He had that panic expression on his face. Grant retrieved his hand.

“What’s wrong? You let everyone hold Benji,” asked Neena. Thomas gave her a nervous laugh.

“It’s ok,” I got close to Grant and slipped my hand into his. “Let’s get inside, cause we have to leave soon,” Grant nodded and followed inside. The front door opened on a white living room with purple couches. Neena sat on one of then with little Benji while Thomas went off to get us drinks. Grant paused in front of the two-seater. I sat down and patted the cushion beside me.

“What’s wrong?” I asked. He carefully lowered himself next to me. Neena and I watched him with rose eyebrows. Grant gave up a beaming grin.

“Not all furniture is fitted for artificials,” he turned to me. Right! I tend to forget that part. Neena gave us a nervous smile.

“Thomas kinda quickly told me you were… a… how do I say it without being rude?” her eyes darted from Grant and back to her baby, sitting on her lap.

“Artificial is good enough,” answered Grant as he straightened up. Neena nodded and faced me.

“So, tell me how did it all happen. Are you married? I mean, how does that even work?” she gestured towards me. I frowned at her. I felt a little intrusive to ask that kind of question to someone I meet for the first time. Even though she’s my sister-in-law. Who I didn’t know existed some days ago. I cleared my throat, I just wanted to get over with this.

“There a famous company called Sognare. They offer custom companions, fitted to fulfill your specific means. In short, you order your mate,” she burst out into uncontrollable laughed. Thomas came back four tall glasses of ice tea.

“What’s so funny?” he asked as he set two drinks on the table in the middle of the room. I didn’t laugh one bit, Grant smiled politely.

“I was asking how they met,” she explained. Thomas handed me one glass and turned to Grant with a second.

“Sorry, I don’t drink,” said Grant with a nod. Thomas took a second to register and turned away with the glass. He lingered near the table probably confused that Grant didn’t accept it. Then he faced Grant again with the glass.

“There’s no alcohol in it, Just, ice tea,” Grant shook his head slowly.

“Artificial don’t consume food or drinks. I run on E3 energy,” Thomas just stared at him.

“Honey! Just leave the guy alone,” laughed Neena. “Sorry, we do not use that all that,” she waved at her husband. This was getting ridiculous. I knew it was a small village, still, it was rapidly turning into a cheap rom-com. Insert generic laughter here.

“Well, that’s convenient. What can you do? Like tricks and stuff, right?” Thomas leaned forward in his seat. Grant tilted his head to the side. I sounded offensive even to my ears. Like he was some circus pet.

“I help Liliane manage her house and recently offences my service in a local treatment center,” I didn’t know how Grant remained so calm. Me, on the other side, was about to snap.

-It’s ok, Liliane. We’ll go very soon.

“Do you cook and do chores? I would love to get one like this. Benji is terrible at night. I could use some help,” she glared at Thomas who averted his eyes while laughing.

“Is it expensive?” inquired Thomas. So it shifted from having a name to being ‘it’. Grant rose his hand then turned to face him.

“I can recommend a more basic model if you only want a maid to her your wife. You won’t have to speak to ‘it’ at all. It’s called a robot,” his tone was light but firm. “We artificial, are made for interaction,” clearly Grant wasn’t enjoying the conversation. Both of them laughed then they quickly sipped on their drinks. The conversation shifted our classmates which I don’t recall much of. Grant kept quiet with a soft smile.

“Mm, I always thought you ran away. Well, that’s was the rumor running around in the village. Mom and Dad kept avoiding the subject like the plague,” Thomas set his empty glass on the table. I swirled my beverage around in the half-filled glass.

“How did you know then?” I didn’t look up from the spinning golden liquid.

“Well, even since you didn’t come back from your trip, mom was… moody. I remembered that she used to be strict with us. When you were gone, she became overprotective with me. I didn’t understand back then. I just thought she was annoying and wouldn’t let me go play with my friends. Then one day she collapsed,” he paused and lowered his eyes. “The doctor said it was fatigue. When I went off to college, I noticed that she was getting thinner and paler,” he shook his head. Neena patted his hand and he responded with a weak smile.

“I should have asked her why. I should have done something sooner,” he sighed. I got to my feet and placed my half-drunk tea on the table. Both our host looked up in surprise.

“I was happy to see you, unfortunately, I have a train to catch and Grant need an E3 socket,” I gave Neena a quick peck on the cheek and shook Thomas’ hand. “It was a pleasure,” Grant tugged behind me and greeted them. they both stared at us as we awkwardly walked to the door. Brother stood next to his wife watching us as we walked away from their house.

“That was a bit unsettling,” commented Grant. I laughed releasing the tension that had built up.

“Are you kidding me? I’m never coming back here that’s for sure,” I gave his a sideglance.

“It kind of went well,” he nodded.

“What do you think of my family so far?” I was a little shock to admit he was right. I thought I was going to crumble to pieces.

“Artificial can’t judge humans,” he narrowed his eyes at me.

“Cut the artificial crap! I want your honest opinion,” I slapped his arm. He slowed down his pace and gave a quick look over his shoulder as if to check if someone would eardrop. How cute.

“When I touched your mother, I felt great sadness. It broke my heart. However, your father was the opposite. There was anger, hate, and fear. Thomas is a nice man, a curious one. I like him,” he finished.

“What about his fear of artificial?” I added referring to that moment he stopped Grant from touching his kid.

“He’s a father Liliane. It’s only natural to protect your offspring from the unknown,” what was he talking about? Thomas was being rude. Why did he make a saint out of everyone?

-You asked for my honest opinion, right?

“You’re too nice! I still hate them and don’t want to see them ever again,” I picked up the pace. I wanted to get out of here as fast as I could. At the end of the road, we turned to the left tall grass with a field of wildflowers stretch on both sides. The Stores was a couple of minutes of walk away.

“Liliane!” called Grant behind me. When I peeked at him, I found Grant standing in the middle of the flowers with his arms outspread smiling at the sun.

“What do you think you’re doing?” I snapped.

“I’ve dreamt of this field! The one with the little girl in the summer dress,” I just stared at him. What was he talking about? My feet slowly dragged me next to him. This place was oddly familiar. However, I couldn’t recall any specific memory attached to it.

“There it is!” shouted a young boy on the small dirt path we were on previously. He was wearing a pair of used cut-off jeans and a sleeveless dirty white t-shirt. Two more teenagers joined him, a slim one and a tall one. Both had thick sticks in their hands.

“It’s the fake! Kill the fake!” shouted the boy. Grant stepped in front of me.

“Stay calm,” whispered Grant.