Mechanical (20 page)

“About a fifteen minute walk,” Jessica
panted.

“We should head there.”

“Yeah,” Michael agreed as he dodged a lady
and her dog. The sooner we get out of here the better.”

Jessica led the way. We stayed in the crowd
for as long as possible, exiting the market on the other side and
then heading towards their house.

After about ten minutes of urgent
half-jogging, half-walking, we finally made it to their front
door.

“Mom?” Jessica called upon entering.

There was no reply so we went farther in and
headed towards the kitchen, Michael and Jessica near hysterical
panic over what had happened. I was just about to open my mouth and
try to do my best to explain this bizarre situation, when I entered
the kitchen and saw a figure out of the corner of my eye.

But it wasn’t Jessica’s mom. In the center of
the room, standing there watching us with his stern, cold eyes, was
a creator.

Chapter Forty

The creator smiled eerily as Jessica shrieked
and jumped back.

Michael started to run towards the living
room and Jessica and I followed, but another creator stood blocking
the doorway.

“Where you going?” he asked derisively, his
eyes glimmering.

“Leave us alone,” I spat. “Or at least them,”
I gestured to Michael and Jessica.

The creator only smiled at me. “Drew, Drew,
Drew,” he trilled, shaking his head. “Don’t you want to be
perfect?”

“No!” I nearly shouted.

His mocking air faltered and for a moment he
looked truly taken aback. “Why not?”

“Because I’m
not
perfect, and I never
was.”

His eyes narrowed as if I were insulting him
and not myself. I glanced over the two creators. I could probably
take them down in a few seconds. My mind raced over the steps I
would take, the time, the precision.

The creator spoke again as if reading my
thoughts. “Don’t get any ideas. We have androids outside who are a
better match for you. No getting away again this time.” He smiled,
regaining his composure.

My heart sank a little but, I wasn’t ready to
give up—not yet. I knew I didn’t stand a chance against several
androids, especially with Michael and Jessica in tow.

But I didn’t see them now and I had to take
the chance. It was now or never because defeat was something I
wasn’t ready to face. I lunged for the creator blocking the doorway
to the living room, shoving him over and knocking the breath out of
him while he lay on the floor fighting to inhale.

Michael, Jessica and I shot past him into the
living room and were out the back door before the other creator had
a chance to reach us. We sprinted across their lawn and into the
trees at the far end of their backyard. We raced through the brush
and slowly the thinned outcrop of trees became dense. The area was
leading into a forest, large enough, I'd hoped, to conceal us for
as long as we needed.

We plunged into the woods, running blindly
through the trees and bushes, hearing the brush unsettle beneath
our feet as we dashed through. It was completely quiet except for
the sounds of our breathing, disturbing the tranquility of whatever
had been before us. But all of a sudden we heard shouts, far away
shouts, telling me that we had made it farther from the house than
I had thought. I heard voices calling to one another and I knew
instantly that they were sending androids after us.

I started to run faster, but slowed a little
when I realized Jessica and Michael were having a hard time keeping
up. My breath was starting to come in gasps and my eyes were
starting to blur. Suddenly Jessica stopped, gasping and coughing
from running so hard. We all paused to catch our breath, while
Jessica sat down.

“What
was
that?” she cried. “Are they
trying to kill you?” She was close to tears and I couldn’t blame
her.

“In a way,” I admitted. I opened my mouth to
proclaim their plans of shutting me off before I realized that it
wasn’t like I was talking to Yvonne or Jeremy ... this girl was
human. I stood there for a moment, my mouth partly open while
Jessica’s frightened expression turned puzzled.

“They want to shut me off,” I eventually
whispered, desperately trying to find some gentler way to put it,
but not finding one.

Jessica looked blankly back at me.

I glanced over at Michael. He knew what I
was, but not everything about my mission. Actually, the more I
thought about it, his knowledge barely skimmed the surface of my
existence. He gave me a look that I guessed was trying to be
encouraging, but it only made my stomach knot.

“Jessica ... I need to tell you something,” I
said, glancing nervously at the forest behind us, praying that the
androids wouldn’t come too soon.

She looked at me with fearful expectancy, her
eyes rounded, anxiety written all over them.

I hesitated, but then reminded myself that I
didn’t have time to beat around the bush and that whatever
Jessica’s reaction was, she deserved to know. I ran my fingers
through my hair, combing through the knots and pulling it out of my
face. “I’m an android,” I said simply, forcing myself to look her
in the face. “Those people were my creators. I was designed for a
mission to observe people and bring them to the Institution. I kind
of ... rebelled and now they want to shut me off.” I said it
quickly, the nutshell version, and hoping they wouldn’t freak out,
but knowing deep down that was a crazy wish.

Jessica’s fearful expression morphed into
something more like shock and terror, like Michael’s had when he
had found out. I forced myself to look back at her, to not look
away or stutter some inconsequential excuse. This is what I was and
there was no use trying to explain it. Michael looked equally
surprised, like my newest declaration had only confirmed my earlier
talk with him.

“Uh ...” Jessica started, “any other time I
would have said you were joking , but after what we’ve been
through, I can’t think of any reason why you’d be kidding me right
now,” she said slowly.

“It’s true,” I answered.

Jessica didn’t reply. She just sat there
staring ahead of her. I couldn’t help but notice the way she
wrapped her arms around herself and twisted slightly away. It was
as if she couldn’t stand the thought of me being so close to her,
almost touching her. Me ... an android, a machine.

Suddenly I heard a twig crack and twisted in
the direction of the noise. Only then did I realize I couldn’t hear
the voices or footsteps of the creators anymore. Had they gone a
different way? My heart pounded as dread slowly seeped through me.
I saw a dark shape out of the corner of my eye, but when I turned
nothing was there. Adrenaline pumped through my veins and I hoped
it had only been my imagination, but deep down I knew someone was
there.

“Drew?” Michael asked, noticing my
uncertainty. “You okay?”

“I heard something,” I said quickly.

Just then, a figure stepped out into the
clearing, her expression smug, eyes glinting. I started to pull
Jessica to her feet to run, but the figure’s voice stopped me.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Yvonne’s
syrupy voice called.

I turned stiffly around, meeting her gaze.
She smiled at me, both hands on her hips while worry and dread
raced throughout my body and seemed to engulf me. Yvonne could turn
me in if she wanted. Or she could save our lives. It was all up to
her.

“Don’t worry.” She smiled, dangling something
up in the air. “They’re at least a few miles from here by now.”

I frowned slowly. “What’s that?”

“A tracking device. For you.”

“Me?” I asked numbly.

She nodded. “Didn’t you know? We all have
one,” she stated matter-of-factly as if this were common
knowledge.

Jessica was now standing beside me, glaring
at Yvonne. Apparently, she recognized her as the one who had
“stolen” Michael from me. I was surprised to see her in such a
defensive mood, considering what I’d just revealed to her.

“I just happen to be in charge of yours. You
see, there are
so
many androids and there’s a lot of
maintenance that has to do with these little things,” Yvonne
explained, as if her job of keeping track of mine was the burden of
a lifetime. “So they assign some of us to be in charge of a handful
or so. Those of us they trust, of course.” She laughed, but her
smile didn’t meet her eyes. “They told me to get you. I sent them
off in the other direction because I wanted to talk.”

I relaxed a little knowing that they were far
away searching for us, but was still tense knowing that Yvonne was
in control here. Not a good combination...

“I wanted to tell you something that I’ve
been
trying
to tell you for some time now.” She gave me a
look and I remembered all the times I had snubbed her at the
Institution.

“Go on,” I said, trying to be polite. I knew
I was walking on fragile ground.

“Well, like I had said before, this should
interest you a great deal.” She looked at me, her smile gone,
replaced by seriousness. “I saw what it meant to you to be able to
have a soul,” she stated, sounding almost human for a moment;
something Yvonne would rather die than be to called. “I saw how
badly you wanted it. I mean, I already had my suspicions about what
the creators were doing, but when I looked into it, I found out a
lot ...” She paused. “Quite frankly,
I
didn’t care at all,
but I thought you might.” She rolled her eyes. “Those people we
bring in, they’re brought in to become one of us.”

The memory of the boy on the operating table
came rushing back to me and suddenly things started to click, to
fall into the only logical places they could be. He had been there
to be turned into one of us ... not to be used as a template. My
mind was whirling with dozens of thoughts, but all of a sudden,
something hit me. If they were once humans and now they were
mechanical...

“They’re turned mechanical, just like us. So
that means, at one time or another, we were just like them.” Yvonne
stopped for a moment, watching my expression with the same
amusement a cat might have watching its prey die.

We had been one of them? The words swirled
through my head like weighted feathers, light and airy before
crashing down to earth with unquestionable reality. I felt like I
had just been knocked off my feet. I had been human? The thought
was absolutely staggering. But did that mean ...? I looked up at
Yvonne and I knew she could probably read the hope in my
expression. And she was enjoying every minute of it. Not the fact
that my dreams were coming true, the fact that everything I had
hoped for was already mine, but just the control of it all. She
liked watching my reactions and having power over them.

“Yes, Drew,” she affirmed, like she was
talking to a child. “You do have a soul.”

Chapter Forty-One

I had a soul. The phrase entered my head and
embedded itself into my thoughts, my mind, my being. All of a
sudden I felt ... I wasn’t sure what I felt exactly, all I knew was
that I felt like
more
. More than just a tangle of mechanical
parts, more than an empty shell. I was a person. I had a soul. I
must’ve smiled because Yvonne laughed. “Goodness, Drew, it’s not
like you just won a million dollars,” she drawled. “You don’t have
to look so happy.”

I just stood there, her words running over me
like water. I didn’t care what she thought. I didn’t care.

“But, anyway, Drew,” Yvonne went on. “There’s
still a major problem.” She said it like it was no problem to her,
just a situation to be manipulated. “
You
are being
hunted.”

I was instantly pulled back to reality. The
creators were chasing me. Yvonne could turn me in. I gave her my
full attention. “But ... it’s because of what I did, right?” I
asked her. “The whole, setting people free thing?”

Yvonne nodded.

“How did they find out?” I wanted to know,
although I knew it probably hadn’t been that hard.

“I turned you in,” Yvonne said simply, no
hint of shame or guilt in her voice. “It goes along with the whole
‘they trust me’ thing,” she explained with a wink and an expression
of feigned remorse.

I wasn’t surprised. Knowing how much Yvonne
had changed and where her interests had shifted, it wasn’t a shock
to know she had chosen power over me.

“How could you do that?” Michael demanded
angrily. “Isn’t she your friend?”

“Shut up!” Yvonne snapped at him, her eyes
blazing. Apparently, she hadn’t gotten over the rejection. “But,
anyway, Drew,” Yvonne pronounced, composing herself and flipping a
piece of hair out of her eyes, “I haven’t told you the best part.
What your whole mission is about. The big picture.” She talked like
I was a three year-old, leaning towards me and smiling a fake
smile; the way you do to a child you don’t really want to be
associating with.

“What is it, Yvonne?” I asked, starting to
get a little irritated.

“As you know,” she said. “We’re perfect. And
so are the vast amounts of newcomers that are being taken to the
various Institutions.”

Various
Institutions? That was news to
me. I had thought there was only the one.

“But why are they doing that?” I asked her,
angry all over again at what they had done.

“To create a perfect world,” Yvonne stated
matter-of-factly. “It’s kind of obvious if you think about it.”

My mind balked. Perfect world?

“But listen,” Yvonne whispered, lowering her
voice, even though there was no one for miles around. “I don’t
exactly agree with them. I like being perfect. I like being one of
a few
select
perfect. But if everyone’s perfect, then no one
is special. Get my gist?” I nodded. I could see the glint of
scheming in her eyes.

“But the creators ... they’re
not
perfect.” She smiled as if this was funny. “We’re better than them,
Drew. Don’t you see?
We
could change the world, not them. We
could have that power.” Her voice hung in the air, lust clinging to
every word, entangling itself too deep within her statement to be
removed.