JNE-99 Ch. 02

"Astounding, Holmes!" I said, chuckling.

"I assumed you were using a service, but when you said 'the two of us', I figured the robot lived here. So, do I get to meet him?"

"Her."

"Really? What's her model?"

I really didn't want to talk about Jenny, but it seemed rude not to. "JNE-99," I said. "Alpha Female."

Mitch raised an eyebrow. "Damn, they must be paying you a lot more than me!"

"It was a screw-up at the factory," I said. "They were supposed to send an older model. Actually, they've been harassing me about that."

"Well, they have to try, but they don't have a leg to stand on. One call from a lawyer on your behalf and they'll probably stop. So, where is she?"

I swallowed hard, but my alcohol-befuddled mind couldn't think up a good enough excuse to refuse the introduction. "I'll get her," I said.

I left Mitch in the living room and went through the kitchen to the utility closet, a lump rising in my throat. I almost knocked on the door, but checked my action and just walked in. The lights came on as I entered.

I cleared my throat. "Um, Jenny?" I said.

"Sandi? Can I help you?"

Jenny stepped into the light. She looked exactly as she had the last time I had seen her, except that she was wearing the black one-piece outfit she had arrived in from the factory. For a moment, I wanted to take her in my arms and kiss her lips, but I held firmly back.

"We have a guest," I said simply. "He wants to meet you."

"I am pleased to meet him," Jenny said.

"Come on, then." I motioned for her to follow me out. Just before we left the room, I turned back to her. "Listen, Jenny - I don't want him to know about our personal relationship. Not the way it was before, and not the difficulties we're having now. Is that understood?"

"Of course, Sandi," Jenny replied. "Such matters are private. I know that."

"Good," I muttered, and led her out.

Mitch smiled as we came out into the living room. "JNE-99, I presume?" he asked, looking Jenny over.

"That is my designation," Jenny said. "My given name is Jenny."

"What a shocker," Mitch grinned. He shook her offered hand. "Sandi, this is really an incredible machine. I don't think I've ever seen a more lifelike robot. If it weren't for the eyes, I'd probably never have guessed she wasn't human."

"Well, I've worked with her on her responses to stimuli," I said, trying to keep the tension out of my voice. "Showed her a lot of movies, that kind of thing."

Mitch raised an eyebrow. "Showed her movies? I never thought of that! I did my doctoral thesis on the programming of robots to give them more lifelike responses, but I never would have considered something so simple!"

"Sandi has often told me of her wishes that I be more human in my responses," Jenny said. "Naturally, I must follow her wishes."

"A noble calling," Mitch said. "Well, Sandi, if you don't mind, I'm pretty tired. I think I'd like to take my leave."

"It was a pleasure meeting you, Mitch," Jenny said.

"I'll walk you out," I offered. Jenny headed back into the kitchen as I showed Mitch to the door.

For a moment, he glanced back over his shoulder. "Hmm... have you ever taken her to work before?" he asked.

"No!" I said. "I mean, that's against the rules, isn't it?"

"Where'd you get that idea?" Mitch asked. "Half the robots there are personal ones. Anyway, I can't help but feel like I've seen her before."

“Lorraine has one like her at work.”

“Nah, that’s the NDA designation. It lacks some of the subtleties, like that little bump in the bridge of the nose and the freckle above the lower lip. The skin coloring is different too. Believe me, when you’re in the field these things stand out like black and white.”

I shrugged. “Maybe you’ve seen another like Jenny, then," I said. "She's not the only JNE-99 around."

"Pretty close. That's a brand-spanking-new model. It's only been in production for a year, and if memory serves only about a dozen have been made. That's one of the reasons I was so keen to see her. What you've got there is probably the most advanced humanoid robot in production."

I blinked. "Really? I mean, I knew she was better than the one I ordered, but I had no idea she was that valuable."

"Well, I'd definitely recommend you get a good lawyer. Androids probably took a big loss when they let her go to you. They won’t give her up easily."

"I'll think about it. Thanks, Mitch."

"For what?"

"For giving me another chance. For showing me a good time, and for being such a gentleman."

Mitch smiled. "It's my pleasure," he said, and left the apartment.

For a long moment, I stood at the door. I thought about Jenny, and whether I should try to resume our friendship if not our romance. I thought about Mitch, and whether I wanted to pursue what he was obviously inviting. In the end, I just went to bed.

* * * * *

A knock at my door the next morning was almost entirely unwelcome, seeing as I’d managed to oversleep slightly and I had only minutes to spare as it was. Checking the screen at the side of the door to see who it was didn’t improve my mood any.

“What do you want?” I called through the door.

“Ms. Greene, this is Stan Duncan with Androids –”

“I know that. We have nothing further to discuss.”

“Ms. Greene, please understand that we would prefer to resolve this without having to go through all the bother and expense of a court case. Your purchase contract with our company clearly indicates the purchase of a model JND-99 Alpha Male –”

“A mistake which I tried to correct from moment one. Your customer service department insisted that I keep this robot against my will, and that I would have to pay further in order to have a brain-swap. I have decided not to invest any more money and will keep the robot I have, as it is. If you had wanted to take this one back, you should have done so at that time.”

“Our customer service department was not aware of the extent of the error.”

“In other words,” I said tightly, “it was my problem, not yours. Now that it’s your problem you expect me to bend over backwards for you.”

“We expect you to allow us to legally reclaim our property and accept that which you paid for in the first place. I have a JND-99 Alpha Male robot here with me. We can conduct the transfer easily enough.”

I whipped the door open in a fury. “Duncan, you and your robot can kiss my –”

Before I could finish my thought, Duncan’s hand jabbed toward me, a paralyzer in his fist. I twisted out of the way automatically, and he stumbled into the apartment.

“Jenny!” I yelled, falling to one side as a result of my unplanned and unbalanced move. Duncan was off the floor quickly, and lunged toward me once again.

I had felt a paralyzer before, though, and I had no wish to undergo such an experience again. I kicked wildly at Duncan and caught his extended arm. The device dropped from his fingers and discharged uselessly into the carpet. Immediately he dove after it, and I rolled out of the way in order to get to my feet.

Where the hell was Jenny??

I ducked back behind the sofa to put a barrier between myself and Duncan, and saw that Jenny was involved in a struggle of her own. Duncan hadn’t been kidding about having a robot with him, a male model a foot and a half than Jenny and twice as wide in the shoulders. Even I could tell that this was no “Alpha Male”; this was a military-grade guardroid, fully capable of bending Jenny into a cube of scrap metal and silicone. My heart stopped short when I realized he had her in his grip and held her helplessly off the ground, where she continued struggling to no avail.

Suddenly Duncan was leaping across the sofa toward me, his paralyzer charged and sparking. Once again I ducked out of the way, but too late to avoid catching his shoulder in my midriff. I had tensed for the blow, but it still knocked the wind out of me and dropped me to the floor.

My hand touched something solid and heavy.

Without thinking, I swung whatever it was at Duncan’s head, cracking him hard across the skull. The object shattered, and a red splash erupted from where he had been hit. For a horrifying moment I thought it was blood, but then realized that I had hit him with a bottle of red wine.

Before I knew what was happening, I was swept aside by something that felt like a truck with hands. Duncan’s robot loomed over me like a monster, his eyes red and glaring. I cringed away, holding red-stained hands before my face in a hopelessly futile gesture.

Then Jenny leaped over me and struck the robot in the chest with both feet.

The impact bounced her in the other direction, knocking her to the ground while the other, more massive robot merely stumbled backward. I knew that attacking the guardroid would be like trying to stop a tank with my bare hands, and that Jenny had no hope of overpowering it by herself. She couldn’t protect me. I was going to die.

Then the guardroid leaped over me and seized Jenny by one arm.

It doesn’t want me, I thought.It wants her!

I launched to me feet, no longer thinking rationally about how foolish it was to take on the monster android by myself. With a flying tackle, I hit the machine behind the knees and instantly felt my shoulder pop out of its joint. The impact barely registered with the powerful machine, but somehow it was enough for Jenny to break free.

She gave the thing a hard shove with her own shoulder.

I realized suddenly that Jenny’s initial attack had resulted in her rebounding toward the picture window, and though made of “shatterproof” plexiglass, it hadn’t been tested with the weight of a full-size guardroid. The window cracked wide open with the impact of the heavy machine, and it tumbled outside.

With my good arm, I reached desperately for Jenny and caught her by the ankle. My other shoulder nearly dislocated as well as a sudden jerk lifted me off the floor and pulled me toward the open window, but I refused to let go. The irresistible force yanked me halfway outside, and then suddenly released. I watched the body of the killer robot tumble almost half a mile to the water below.

Jenny hung head-down in my grip.

“Let go, Sandi,” she said in a profoundly calm voice. “Your life is in danger.”

“I won’t let you go!” My chest felt like it was on fire, and I struggled for breath.

“Sandi, you must let go. My weight is too great for you to safely support. You will fall.”

“No.” I gritted my teeth and held on.

“Sandi, if you don’t release me, I will be forced to injure your hand in order that you will be unable to hold on to me. I don’t want to do that.”

“If you fall,” I grunted, “I’m going after you.”

“That does not make sense.”

The pain in both my arms and my chest was becoming overwhelming. I kept myself conscious through an effort of will. “Since when… was you and me… about making sense? Damn you Jenny, I love you and I’m not going to let you fall!”

“I love you too, Sandi.”

“Then don’t you leave me! Please, Jenny, don’t die!”

“I cannot die, Sandi. I am not human.”

“YES… YOU… ARE!!”

With all the strength I had left, I pulled. The last thing I saw before I blacked out was a pair of beautiful, iridescent green eyes.

* * * * *

I woke up in an unfamiliar room. “Wha-” I exclaimed.

“Just relax,” said a familiar voice.

I looked at him. “Mitch? What are you doing here?”

“It’s okay, you’re all right. I got there at the same time the cops did.” He smirked. “I was going to ask you out to lunch.”

“Jenny? Where’s Jenny?”

“I’m here, Sandi,” she said.

I turned and there she was. I felt an overwhelming flood of relief.

“She’s refused to leave your side,” Mitch said. “The cops were going to deactivate her, but I wouldn’t let them. I hope you don’t mind, I told them I was your boyfriend. They said Jenny could go with you to the hospital as long as I kept an eye on her.”

“Hospital?” I looked around. I was in a hospital room. “Why…”

“Three broken ribs, punctured lung, a dislocated shoulder, and a concussion. Next time you feel like taking on a fully-armored guardroid, you might want to consider using something a little heavier than a ’48 Burgundy.”

“The man you struck will recover,” Jenny said.

I refrained from telling her that I really couldn’t give a crap. “Are you all right, Jenny?” I asked.

“I will also recover,” she said with a smile.

I furrowed my brow, and looked at her more closely. With a shock of horror I realized that her left arm was missing just below the shoulder. As I watched, Mitch took a steel and chrome skeletal arm and attached it to the stump, snapping the joints together with a small tool.

“Her arm went down with the other robot,” Mitch explained. “This is the only replacement I had; eventually, you can get one that matches better.” He shook his head. “She must have pulled it off by force to get out of that thing’s grip. I’ve never heard of a robot doing anything like that. You must have given her some damn strong orders to protect you.”

“She’s not a robot,” I said quietly, as I reached for the steel fingers of her newly installed left arm. I felt the cold metal close gently over my hand, looked up into her glowing, inhuman eyes.

“She’s my Jenny.”

THE END
(for now)

I hope you have enjoyed this story. I welcome feedback of all kinds!

- Gystex