Servo 31:2
Servo 31:2
“I’m going with you,” Otto said as he tucked in his shirt. We’d spent the better part of the previous night installing the radio in Dad’s head. It worked, but was going to be questionable at that range.“Is that a good idea?” I replied. “You’re an outsider; you don’t have an I.D. chip.”“Make up a story for me.”“What kind of story?”He folded his arms. “Well, can you tell them we’re here to apply for school?”“Mmmm.” I pondered his line of thought. “That might work. Kind of thin though.”“Well, what other logical and legal reason would an outsider have for being here?”“I’ve been using the ‘we’re visiting family’ rouse for the time being.”“How about visiting family and applying to some schools?”“Fine,” I grumbled. “Let’s get going.”“Can you show me the bot collection center? I wanna see how they’re processed.”“It’s several blocks the other direction.”“The air will do me good. My brain is fried from all the work the last couple of days. And I want to make sure Suz and I won’t draw any suspicion.” “Okay.” We left the hotel and immediately saw three battle bots eyeing us. My mind began to piece together a reasonable story that might keep them off our tails. As we walked down the sidewalk, one approached. “Stop citizens.”Otto and I complied. “We’re going to the store,” I said, pointing. “The electronics shop. My tablet isn’t working right.”“Present your arms for I.D. scan.”I held up my arm. “This is Otto, he’s from the Outer States. He’s here visiting family and we’re both applying to the Bryn Mawr Bio-Technical College.”The bot scanned my chip. “Jonah Blackburn, temporary citizen.” Then it turned to Otto. “Present your arm for I.D. scan.”Otto looked at me, a hint of terror in his eyes. I gestured to him. He held out his arm. “I don’t have a chip; I’m visiting from the Outer States.”The bot attempted to scan him. “No I.D. chip found. State your full name and place of current residence.”“Umm, my name is Otto Arkman—.”I cut him off. “Otto Arkmanning. His name is Otto Arkmanning.” I gave him a quick wink. Otto returned with a slight nod. “Yes, my name is Otto Arkmanning. And we’re staying at the hotel right back there.”The bot stood silent for a few moments. I could only speculate that it was accessing the data base looking for an Otto Arkmanning. It wouldn’t find one. Had Otto used his real name, the bot would have discovered he’d spent time in the detention center. That would surely have drawn suspicion and caused us trouble. “Duration of stay, Otto Arkmanning,” the bot demanded.“Uh, maybe a few more days.”“If you plan to stay longer, you must register at the nearest civilian immigration station.”“Oh, yes, right. I think we’ll be leaving fairly soon. If we get into Bryn Mawr, we’ll make sure to register.”“Carry on.”“Thank you,” Otto said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.We continued to the electronics shop. The same man was at the counter. “Hello, back again?” he said.“Yes.”“Did the radios work?”“Yes. Installed one last night. Wish it had a longer range.”He rested his elbows on the counter. “Sorry, that’s all I had. Need something else?”“A small wireless camera if you have one.”“Might as well be asking for the world.”“So you don’t have any?”“Not any on the shelves. The Ministry of Enforcement won’t allow any cameras to be sold.”“Why not? We used to be able to buy them quite easily.”He leaned close to me. “You know why.”“I was hoping to have both audio and visual feeds.”The man looked at Otto. “Who’s your friend?”“This is Otto, he’s from the Outer States. He has skills in robotics.”He lifted and arm, stretching out a hand. “I’m Curtis.”We took turns shaking his hand. “I’m Jonah,” I said, giving him a firm grasp. “Your father, was he Thomas Blackburn?”“Umm, yeah.”“I did some research after you left. Like to know who I’m dealing with.”“My father was murdered, I’m sure of it.”“No doubt in my mind. He probably knew too much.”“He wants to find his murderer.”“Your mostly dead Dad wants to find out who killed him? Kid, now you’re speaking garbage.”“Mostly?”“Yeah, yesterday you said your dad was mostly dead. Now what is he?”I looked at Otto for some sort of reassurance, but found none. “Umm, well, he’s a bot now.”“You took a bot and are calling it your dad? Ridiculous!”“No, he really is my dad.” I growled under my breath in frustration. The last thing I wanted was someone else knowing about our secret. But he seemed to be interested and in favor of our plan, so I had to confess. “I took all the memory sticks of my dad’s work and loaded them into an old bot. Somehow, after a lightning storm, the bot came to life. He’s got my dad’s personality, his knowledge, and intuition.”“It’s just a bot!” He uttered a deep belly laugh.“No, he’s not,” Otto defended. “It’s his dad, I swear. I helped get parts for the bot, but it’s not just an old service unit. It’s Thomas Blackburn.”“You really expect me to believe that? You’re just kids.”“Do you know where I can get a camera?” I said, trying to bring the conversation back to task.“Nowhere. There aren’t any…But I might be able to help you.”“How?”“I’d like to meet that bot of yours.”“Out of the question!”“If he’s real like you say he is, then I could find it in my heart to get you a camera.”I felt like I’d been socked in the gut. This had to be wrong. How could I trust a guy I’d only just met? Curtiss seemed genuine; he’d given me the radios, but that might have been a ploy to bust us with a modified bot. How could I pull this off?“Excuse us for a moment,” I said, grabbing Otto by the arm and leading him outside. “Help!”“With what?”“What should I do?”“You think it’s a good idea to go showing off your dad to a bunch of people?”“No, but I really wanna have that camera.”Otto walked in a small circle. “Gimme a minute to think.”I scanned the area while he contemplated. Two battle bots watched us from their positions on the street corners. “All right, I got it. We get your dad to a neutral location—like a few blocks away from the hotel and then let Curtis meet him. But you tell your dad to act like a service bot until he’s sure Curtis isn’t one of the bad guys.”“You think that’ll work?”“Maybe, maybe not. But we have little to work with right now.”“True. Okay, we’ll go with that. I only hope Dad agrees to this.”We went inside and I approached Curtis. “Meet us behind the grocery store at ten p.m. — and be alone.”“Fine. If he’s what you say he is, I’ll have the camera here tomorrow for you.”“Deal.”“I know you’re being protective, but I am on your side.”With a single nod, we exited the shop.“Now on to the collection center,” Otto said. “Which way?”“North.”He held a finger in the air as if trying to figure out which direction. I turned left and led the way. Since we carried no merchandise, the battle bots ignored us as we walked quite a distance to the center. Upon reaching it, Otto crossed the street to a deli. “We can watch from in here.”“I am kind of hungry.”“Do they actually have real food?”“Umm, probably not.”“Yuck.”“I miss grandma’s bacon.”“You have some money?”“Yes.” I removed the tablet from my pack. “A few hundred left.”“Pity it’s for fake food.”“I just keep reminding myself that we’ll be home soon.”Otto opened the door, holding it for me. “Can’t take much more of this.”When we entered, we were greeted with a surprise behind the deli case glass: real meats! My eyes almost wanted to pop out of my head. I approached the counter. “Is this all real?”The lady behind the counter wagged a finger at me. “Shhh, don’t you go blabbing.”“But they’re real? How did you get them?”“We have a source in the Outer States.”Behind me, Otto groaned with pleasure. “Oh, yes!”“How come you’re in business? Why hasn’t the Ministry of Nutrition shut you down?”“Those idiots always announce their inspections. When they come, we just switch the good stuff out for the approved and utterly tasteless varieties.”“I want a large turkey, ham, roast beef, and cheese sandwich with everything on it!” Otto announced. “And a soda if you have any.”The woman chuckled. “You sound like you haven’t had anything to eat in weeks.”“Truthfully, I haven’t. This poor excuse for food is killing me.”“And you’re not from here, are you?”“No, Ma’am. I’m from the Outer States.”“So what are you doing here?”“Umm, I came with my girlfriend. She’s from here.”“Are you staying?”“No, hoping to leave soon.”“Good, you’ll be safer out there.” She opened the deli case and took out an armload of meats and cheeses. I watched with wonder as she created some of the biggest sandwiches I’d ever seen. Each one had to be a foot long and nearly half a foot tall. My mouth watered at the thought of sinking my teeth into the giant delicacy. She slid over a tray piled high with sandwiches, chips, and two cans of soda. “There ya go, boys. That’ll be twelve dollars.”I looked at her in shock. “That’s all?”“Call it the lunch special. And since the battle bots have been around, business has taken a nosedive. I need any profits I can get right now.”“I have plenty of money, I can pay.”“No, that’s okay. You look like good boys. Twelve is fine.”I took out my tablet, aimed it at the price point interface, and paid for lunch. Of course I felt pretty bad about things and left her a fifteen dollar tip. Our lunch specials should have cost twelve dollars each. We sat down at the table by the window and promptly devoured lunch. I felt so much better after having a real meal for once. Otto had quite a bit more color to his face after eating. “That was so good!” he said, wiping some mayonnaise from his cheek. “Yeah, it was. Can’t wait to get home.”“Me neither.”Across the street we observed a bot being brought in. A male worker came out to the vehicle, which was driven by a woman. He opened the door and retrieved the bot, walking it into the building. The car drove off. We watched as the man put the bot against one wall, lining it up with the others, and switched it off.“Oh no!” I said. “They turned it off.”“I expected that. How are we gonna get around that problem?”“Maybe we can see if Dad can go into a power save mode and trick them into thinking he’s turned off.”“That might work.”“I hope he can do that. Can’t risk turning him off, he might not be Dad when he comes back on.”“That wouldn’t be good.”“Come on, we need to get back and do more work.”
“I’m going with you,” Otto said as he tucked in his shirt. We’d spent the better part of the previous night installing the radio in Dad’s head. It worked, but was going to be questionable at that range.“Is that a good idea?” I replied. “You’re an outsider; you don’t have an I.D. chip.”“Make up a story for me.”“What kind of story?”He folded his arms. “Well, can you tell them we’re here to apply for school?”“Mmmm.” I pondered his line of thought. “That might work. Kind of thin though.”“Well, what other logical and legal reason would an outsider have for being here?”“I’ve been using the ‘we’re visiting family’ rouse for the time being.”“How about visiting family and applying to some schools?”“Fine,” I grumbled. “Let’s get going.”“Can you show me the bot collection center? I wanna see how they’re processed.”“It’s several blocks the other direction.”“The air will do me good. My brain is fried from all the work the last couple of days. And I want to make sure Suz and I won’t draw any suspicion.” “Okay.” We left the hotel and immediately saw three battle bots eyeing us. My mind began to piece together a reasonable story that might keep them off our tails. As we walked down the sidewalk, one approached. “Stop citizens.”Otto and I complied. “We’re going to the store,” I said, pointing. “The electronics shop. My tablet isn’t working right.”“Present your arms for I.D. scan.”I held up my arm. “This is Otto, he’s from the Outer States. He’s here visiting family and we’re both applying to the Bryn Mawr Bio-Technical College.”The bot scanned my chip. “Jonah Blackburn, temporary citizen.” Then it turned to Otto. “Present your arm for I.D. scan.”Otto looked at me, a hint of terror in his eyes. I gestured to him. He held out his arm. “I don’t have a chip; I’m visiting from the Outer States.”The bot attempted to scan him. “No I.D. chip found. State your full name and place of current residence.”“Umm, my name is Otto Arkman—.”I cut him off. “Otto Arkmanning. His name is Otto Arkmanning.” I gave him a quick wink. Otto returned with a slight nod. “Yes, my name is Otto Arkmanning. And we’re staying at the hotel right back there.”The bot stood silent for a few moments. I could only speculate that it was accessing the data base looking for an Otto Arkmanning. It wouldn’t find one. Had Otto used his real name, the bot would have discovered he’d spent time in the detention center. That would surely have drawn suspicion and caused us trouble. “Duration of stay, Otto Arkmanning,” the bot demanded.“Uh, maybe a few more days.”“If you plan to stay longer, you must register at the nearest civilian immigration station.”“Oh, yes, right. I think we’ll be leaving fairly soon. If we get into Bryn Mawr, we’ll make sure to register.”“Carry on.”“Thank you,” Otto said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.We continued to the electronics shop. The same man was at the counter. “Hello, back again?” he said.“Yes.”“Did the radios work?”“Yes. Installed one last night. Wish it had a longer range.”He rested his elbows on the counter. “Sorry, that’s all I had. Need something else?”“A small wireless camera if you have one.”“Might as well be asking for the world.”“So you don’t have any?”“Not any on the shelves. The Ministry of Enforcement won’t allow any cameras to be sold.”“Why not? We used to be able to buy them quite easily.”He leaned close to me. “You know why.”“I was hoping to have both audio and visual feeds.”The man looked at Otto. “Who’s your friend?”“This is Otto, he’s from the Outer States. He has skills in robotics.”He lifted and arm, stretching out a hand. “I’m Curtis.”We took turns shaking his hand. “I’m Jonah,” I said, giving him a firm grasp. “Your father, was he Thomas Blackburn?”“Umm, yeah.”“I did some research after you left. Like to know who I’m dealing with.”“My father was murdered, I’m sure of it.”“No doubt in my mind. He probably knew too much.”“He wants to find his murderer.”“Your mostly dead Dad wants to find out who killed him? Kid, now you’re speaking garbage.”“Mostly?”“Yeah, yesterday you said your dad was mostly dead. Now what is he?”I looked at Otto for some sort of reassurance, but found none. “Umm, well, he’s a bot now.”“You took a bot and are calling it your dad? Ridiculous!”“No, he really is my dad.” I growled under my breath in frustration. The last thing I wanted was someone else knowing about our secret. But he seemed to be interested and in favor of our plan, so I had to confess. “I took all the memory sticks of my dad’s work and loaded them into an old bot. Somehow, after a lightning storm, the bot came to life. He’s got my dad’s personality, his knowledge, and intuition.”“It’s just a bot!” He uttered a deep belly laugh.“No, he’s not,” Otto defended. “It’s his dad, I swear. I helped get parts for the bot, but it’s not just an old service unit. It’s Thomas Blackburn.”“You really expect me to believe that? You’re just kids.”“Do you know where I can get a camera?” I said, trying to bring the conversation back to task.“Nowhere. There aren’t any…But I might be able to help you.”“How?”“I’d like to meet that bot of yours.”“Out of the question!”“If he’s real like you say he is, then I could find it in my heart to get you a camera.”I felt like I’d been socked in the gut. This had to be wrong. How could I trust a guy I’d only just met? Curtiss seemed genuine; he’d given me the radios, but that might have been a ploy to bust us with a modified bot. How could I pull this off?“Excuse us for a moment,” I said, grabbing Otto by the arm and leading him outside. “Help!”“With what?”“What should I do?”“You think it’s a good idea to go showing off your dad to a bunch of people?”“No, but I really wanna have that camera.”Otto walked in a small circle. “Gimme a minute to think.”I scanned the area while he contemplated. Two battle bots watched us from their positions on the street corners. “All right, I got it. We get your dad to a neutral location—like a few blocks away from the hotel and then let Curtis meet him. But you tell your dad to act like a service bot until he’s sure Curtis isn’t one of the bad guys.”“You think that’ll work?”“Maybe, maybe not. But we have little to work with right now.”“True. Okay, we’ll go with that. I only hope Dad agrees to this.”We went inside and I approached Curtis. “Meet us behind the grocery store at ten p.m. — and be alone.”“Fine. If he’s what you say he is, I’ll have the camera here tomorrow for you.”“Deal.”“I know you’re being protective, but I am on your side.”With a single nod, we exited the shop.“Now on to the collection center,” Otto said. “Which way?”“North.”He held a finger in the air as if trying to figure out which direction. I turned left and led the way. Since we carried no merchandise, the battle bots ignored us as we walked quite a distance to the center. Upon reaching it, Otto crossed the street to a deli. “We can watch from in here.”“I am kind of hungry.”“Do they actually have real food?”“Umm, probably not.”“Yuck.”“I miss grandma’s bacon.”“You have some money?”“Yes.” I removed the tablet from my pack. “A few hundred left.”“Pity it’s for fake food.”“I just keep reminding myself that we’ll be home soon.”Otto opened the door, holding it for me. “Can’t take much more of this.”When we entered, we were greeted with a surprise behind the deli case glass: real meats! My eyes almost wanted to pop out of my head. I approached the counter. “Is this all real?”The lady behind the counter wagged a finger at me. “Shhh, don’t you go blabbing.”“But they’re real? How did you get them?”“We have a source in the Outer States.”Behind me, Otto groaned with pleasure. “Oh, yes!”“How come you’re in business? Why hasn’t the Ministry of Nutrition shut you down?”“Those idiots always announce their inspections. When they come, we just switch the good stuff out for the approved and utterly tasteless varieties.”“I want a large turkey, ham, roast beef, and cheese sandwich with everything on it!” Otto announced. “And a soda if you have any.”The woman chuckled. “You sound like you haven’t had anything to eat in weeks.”“Truthfully, I haven’t. This poor excuse for food is killing me.”“And you’re not from here, are you?”“No, Ma’am. I’m from the Outer States.”“So what are you doing here?”“Umm, I came with my girlfriend. She’s from here.”“Are you staying?”“No, hoping to leave soon.”“Good, you’ll be safer out there.” She opened the deli case and took out an armload of meats and cheeses. I watched with wonder as she created some of the biggest sandwiches I’d ever seen. Each one had to be a foot long and nearly half a foot tall. My mouth watered at the thought of sinking my teeth into the giant delicacy. She slid over a tray piled high with sandwiches, chips, and two cans of soda. “There ya go, boys. That’ll be twelve dollars.”I looked at her in shock. “That’s all?”“Call it the lunch special. And since the battle bots have been around, business has taken a nosedive. I need any profits I can get right now.”“I have plenty of money, I can pay.”“No, that’s okay. You look like good boys. Twelve is fine.”I took out my tablet, aimed it at the price point interface, and paid for lunch. Of course I felt pretty bad about things and left her a fifteen dollar tip. Our lunch specials should have cost twelve dollars each. We sat down at the table by the window and promptly devoured lunch. I felt so much better after having a real meal for once. Otto had quite a bit more color to his face after eating. “That was so good!” he said, wiping some mayonnaise from his cheek. “Yeah, it was. Can’t wait to get home.”“Me neither.”Across the street we observed a bot being brought in. A male worker came out to the vehicle, which was driven by a woman. He opened the door and retrieved the bot, walking it into the building. The car drove off. We watched as the man put the bot against one wall, lining it up with the others, and switched it off.“Oh no!” I said. “They turned it off.”“I expected that. How are we gonna get around that problem?”“Maybe we can see if Dad can go into a power save mode and trick them into thinking he’s turned off.”“That might work.”“I hope he can do that. Can’t risk turning him off, he might not be Dad when he comes back on.”“That wouldn’t be good.”“Come on, we need to get back and do more work.”
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