The Non-Standard Man Ch. 12

Jason came to the bedroom door.

"Ready to go?" he said.

"Yes," I said.

"Andrew, can you start the jeep for me so it will be warm for Evaline." He held out the keys to him.

"Yes, of course." Andrew left and Jason turned to me.

"How sure of you of this plan of yours?"

"It's going to work."

"You're used to bullshitting clients, aren't you?"

"I'm a lawyer."

He thought this over for a couple seconds.

"For what it's worth, I'm glad he's in good hands. Evaline, I've misjudged you. I talked to Andrew last night while you slept and he told me about his time with you. You've been very kind to Andrew. He's gotten much better treatment at your hands than anyone else."

"It's not hard. Andrew is special."

"He is. And he deserves a good home. You see, Andy, there, well, I consider him my brother."

"Yes, Andrew said the same thing about you."

"We grew up together, though in different ways. While he was physically bigger for much of my life, cognitively, we grew at the same rate. Mother used my development as a template."

I tried my best not to react. Poor kid, he was as much a test subject as Andrew.

"Oh, Jason," I said. "That's-"

"I know, awful. I'm not sure who got the worst of it, Andy or me. Some of the things my mother did to Andy were just plain cruel. And I got to watch it, each and every day."

"I'm sure Andrew doesn't think of it that way. He speaks of your mother with reverence."

"Well, we tend to that with our mothers, don't we? But me, all I saw was that my brother suffered. So that's why I convinced Mother to let Andrew go with you. She's not happy about it; so don't fuck up, Evaline. We can't afford to lose him now."

"I don't intend to fuck up. I can't lose Andrew either."

#

We started at dusk. After several turns on a country road, we got on the highway heading to Washington. The canvas roof of the Jeep provided poor insulation against the cold. Andrew sat next to me, in the back seat, and covered me with blankets. I leaned against his shoulder and he kissed the top of my head.

"That's nice, " I said.

"I want to make things nice for you," said Andrew.

"You do that all the time," I said.

"I wonder if I can make things nicer now," he said.

"What do you mean," I said, but I felt his fingers slide between my legs.

"Andrew, you don't have-"

"Ssh, Evaline," he said quietly. "Soon we'll be separated for a while and I want you to show you how special you are. You told me that sometimes the pleasing comes from pleasing your partner. It would feel good to please you."

Under the blankets, he unzipped my slacks, and fingered my mound. I leaned back and sighed.

"Does that feel good, Evaline?"

"Mmm."

"You've opened up new worlds for me, Evaline," he whispered. "To please you is not a task anymore. It's a reason to be. Before, I existed. Now I am."

"Oh, Andrew."

His fingers burrowed into my bush, seeking my clit. He massaged the area around it sending tiny sparks of pleasure through my body. I wriggled against his fingers willing him to press harder. He did more than that. With his thumb and Index finger he pinched the flesh on either side of my clit together hard.

I took a deep breath, as my back arched. Juices ran from my pussy in delicious anticipation.

"Ssh, Evaline," Andrew whispered. "Don't move."

He pushed his hand in more and found the soft folds between my legs. I got wetter as Andrew curled his fingers and pushed inside. I stifled a moan trying not to clue Jason In our illicit activity. It drove me insane to not to move while Andrew worked me over with his hand.

Andrew put two fingers inside me, playing with the delicious area just inside my slit. My ass tightened enjoying his fingers twisting and turning in my pussy. God. It felt so good. Now my pussy was molten and dripping, and my breathing sped up. My clit throbbed as he plunged in and out of me. I shivered from corralling so much sensation by remaining still. I needed to cum, and I pushed my eager twat onto Andrew's fingers. Over his questing digits I jerked and spasmed. He moved faster, this time cupping my clit with his hand. Between the fingers in my slit, and the palming of clit, my heat climbed. I burst apart impaled on two of his fingers. I couldn't help but take a loud and sharp Intake of breath.

"Everything okay, back there?" said Jason.

"Jason," said Andrew, "pay attention to the road."

#

I took a deep breath.

We stood on the sidewalk in front of the Third District Police Headquarters in Washington. I choose this one carefully. It was the closest to my condo, though admittedly not that close, and it was small in size. I hope that meant that the police weren't as militant as at the larger stations, but one couldn't be sure. It was gamble, as everything I was about to do was.

"You two going to be okay?" Jason asked as he let us off.

No, we weren't going to be okay. We were in for a rough time.

"Yes," I said.

"I trust Evaline," said Andrew.

He gave Andrew a wry smile. "I know you do, buddy. Good luck."

Jason drove off after I gave him Betty's phone number. When he was out of Washington he'd call her.

"Okay, Andrew, walk five paces behind me, and whatever happens, keep your hands to your side, or if they command it, put them in the air." Then I thought better of my instructions, "Or whatever else they command."

"Understood. I will be as non-threatening as possible."

"Even if they do something that seems like it will harm me."

Andrew hesitated.

"Andrew?"

"Yes, Evaline. I will do as you say."

"Good."

With that I moved forward and opened the door to the station. To the right was glass window with a bored policewoman viewing television on a pad. She was watching my story play again on the news.

"Hello," I said.

The officer didn't move her head, but put her hand up indicating I should wait.

"Excuse me. I'm Evaline Shipley and there is a warrant for my arrest."

The officer looked at me not comprehending, then looked to her pad, and then to me again.

"Holy shit!" she said. She pressed something on her desk, and in a minute the sounds of feet pounding filled the halls.

"Don't move. Hands up!" another officer shouted.

Andrew and I both put our hands in the air.

Another officer came forward and shoved me into the wall.

"Don't hurt her," said Andrew. "She's pregnant!"

"Shut up, you," said another. She then slammed her hand into Andrew's jaw. Big mistake. You don't bang your hand against a titanium skeleton without ill affects. Andrew just stood there, while the officer howled.

"Idiot," said another. "Take five, Andrew," she said.

Andrew did nothing.

"What the fuck?" the officer said, drawing her weapon.

"Listen," I said, trying not to struggle against the rough treatment, my cheek against the wall. "Just take him to lock-up. He'll wait quietly."

The officer at my back cuffed my wrists, which considering I was in a police station, voluntarily giving myself up, was ludicrous.

"What's his safe phrase?" she growled.

"He doesn't have one, not anymore," I lied. I wanted Andrew to be awake and aware for whatever happened. He would be better able to defend himself if things got really out-of-hand. That is what I told him to do when I woke this morning in the jeep.

"All right you," she said, jerking me away from the wall. "Let's get you to booking."

"What about him?" said another officer.

"Put him in lock-up and keep an eye on him."

#

The commander of the little police station looked none too pleased to see me. She gave me a hard look.

"You really are pregnant," she said as if she couldn't believe it. They gave me a test, along with their other less gentle ministrations.

"Yeah," I said.

"Your husband's?"

"Not that it's any of your business, but yes."

"So why do you have a pleasure 'bot?"

"Again, that's in the none of your business category."

She hissed through her teeth.

"How did that robot become sentient?"

I wanted to throw a wisecrack in her face. I had sat for hours in a cell and was cranky. I resisted the urge.

"I've asked for my lawyer. I have not given up my rights. You can't question me."

"Bitch," she said. "Half of Washington is in a panic. Even now there are people outside the precinct calling to destroy the robot."

"Are you telling me you can't handle this situation, Commander? It seems that you are causing your own problems. No one would know we are here unless someone from your precinct leaked the story."

She slammed her hand down on the table and then wInced.

"Your robot won't talk either."

"I told him not to, to wait for our lawyer. You have called her, right?"

"He keeps asking about you though."

"I expect he would."

The door to the Interrogation room opened.

"It's okay, Commander," said the woman. I recognized her. She was one of the two RIB agents who came to my office. "I'll take it from here."

#

"Agent Greene," I said, putting on the most fake a smile I could muster. "Where's your partner, Agent Pataski?" I spoke so brightly you'd think we were meeting at the country club.

Greene glared at me. "I'm the one asking questions here," saId Greene.

"You can ask whatever questions you like, but I won't answer them. I've asked for my lawyer. I have not given up my rights. You cannot question me."

Greene slammed her hand on the table.

"That's how you are going to play this?"

I sighed. As much as I wanted to reply 'I'm not playing,' which I wasn't, that would be answering a question. That would open me to another barrage of questions I had no wish to answer.

"On advice of my counsel, I decline to answer."

"You're in a world of shit here, Shipley."

"I dare you to say that ten times fast."

Her face turned a marvelous shade of red.

"Shut up!"

"What is it? Talk or shut up? I'm getting mixed signals from you."

She stared at me, unable to believe that I was that much of a smart ass. But she didn't know the real Evaline Shipley, and I was just getting started.

"And just what is in your craw, Agent Greene? It can't be very pretty because I see wrinkles forming around your eyes."

"I thought you said you wouldn't talk."

"No, I said I wouldn't answer questions. I can ask as many as I like."

Her eyes narrowed as she realized I wasn't her usual prey.

"You bought a pleasure 'bot serial number XB109856."

I sat there in my chair, my lawyer's brain saying "Objection. Asked and answered."

"From Peck's."

I said nothing.

"Did you know he was sentient before you bought him?"

That was an interesting question. Did they know, or just was suspicious that Cicily planted Andrew at Peck's for me to buy. Just who was she investigating, me? Or Androdyne? Now that was a tantalizing wrinkle.

"Tell me, agent, does the RIB think that Cicily Well's death was just a little too convenient?"

I saw her swallow. Yes. She was suspicious of Cicily Well's death.

"What do you know about that?"

I shrugged my shoulders. "On advice of counsel, I decline to answer any questions."

"Goddamn you, Shipley! You're just are a rich bitch, aren't you? You'll do anything to protect your wealthy friends."

I sighed. It really was a shame. Greene and I were on the same side. She was just some poor cog in the government wheel, subject to the mechanizations of the rich and powerful as I was. And she didn't like it. Greene breathed with the fire to take a few of those people down a peg or two. I did too, but I couldn't tell her anything. I needed every bit of the information I had as weapons in my own fight. No, we couldn't join forces and brandish our figurative swords together. It would only mean my imprIsonment If I gave her anythIng to work with.

"On advice of counsel, I decline to answer any questions."

#

Shuttled out of the police station through a back door, the RIB agents were about to load me into square truck with no windows. I saw Andrew brought to a similar truck emblazoned with the emblem of the RIB. They cuffed his hands in behind him, which was silly since he could tear through the cuffs.

"Evaline! Evaline!" he called. "Are you okay?"

"Yes, Andrew. Don't worry about me."

Another RIB agent shoved him forward into the van.

"Hey," I said. "Go easy with my Andrew. He's my property."

I got a shove of my own.

"He's not your property anymore," Greene sneered. "We've confiscated him."

#

They moved me from holding facility to holding facility, keeping me at each one for hours at a time. In between stops, agents Greene and Pataski questioned me, making threats, especially against my unborn child.

"You'll be declared unfit. We'll take the child."

Good thing I was a lawyer because otherwise I'd be frightened. I understood now why people would make half-assed confessions. Me? There was nothing I wanted to confess. All I wanted was to get in front of a judge.

I worried about Andrew though. I had no Idea where he was, what he was going through. Best-case scenario, he was sitting, waiting, in a cell. Worst case, they destroyed him already. In between were horrible options. In my imagination Andrew was a test subject in a government lab, tortured by "protocols" to determine how he became sentient.

During my time alone, I thought over the sentience issue. It took a long time for Andrew to achieve sentience, and it had to be done according to "established protocols." I wondered just how sentient the previous robots were. Were they really self-aware, or just incredibly intelligent, snapped to a heightened state of existence by torture? There were intelligent humans all over the place that just didn't understand the consequences of their actions. Thinking that brought up questions in my mind, in particular this one.

What was the line between existence and self-awareness?

My mind flipped over to the old science fiction classicDune. One faction, the Bene Gesserit, defined a person as human by being able control their reactions to events and situations with thought instead of instinct. Was this the definition of sentience? Because it seemed to me that the old out-of-control "sentient" robots were reacting Instead of thinking.

Programming is a delicate thing. Lines and lines of code tumbled on each other giving commands, sometimes, conflicting commands.

"I can't leave her behind. I love her, " Andrew said.

"Something wrong In your programming, buddy?" Jason asked.

Don't we all feel that way, when the world tips and we are undone by love?

"You've opened up new worlds for me, Evaline," Andrew said. "To please you is not a task anymore. It's a reason to be. Before, I existed. Now I am."

Cicily didn't design Andrew to love, but the jumble of Andrew's programming made It possible. With Andrew her life's work I suspected that Cicily wouldn't to gIve up Andrew without a fight. I'd give her one. That is, once I got out of this mess.

When all is said and done, I had to make sure Andrew was safe. Such a beautiful creature did not deserve to be destroyed. Or treated like a slave.

I had a lot of work ahead of me.

#

It took a couple days before Betty and Roger found me. Though the RIB agents treated me none to gently, at least they let me get a shower and eight hours of sleep a night. If I wasn't pregnant, I had no Idea how long they'd keep me awake to get a confession out of me. They transferred me again on the third day. This time however, they transported me to different kind of building other than the plain brick-buildings that served as my prisons. It was grey granite, the Federal Court house.

Yes!

They led me inside, my hands, legs shackled as if I was a violent criminal. With those and my orange prison uniform I could only Image how guilty I looked.

They brought me into the courtroom. I looked at the crowd in the gallery. Every space was filled. There was a lot of chattering among the denizens there, but the noise stopped when I entered the courtroom. I gave a small smile to Betty, and Roger, who stood at the defendant's table as I was brought to them.

The judge barely looked up from her docket.

Evaline Shipley, you've been charged with Section 2049 of the federal penal code, harboring a sentient robot. How does the defendant plead?

"Not guilty, your honor," said Betty.

"Recommendations as to bail."

I looked at the prosecutor. I'd never met her. We ran in much different circles, and shopped at much different stores, considering her suit was a knock off one of my favorite designers. Great, she'll hate me for being richer and more influential.

"Your honor, Ms. Shipley knowingly harbored a dangerous sentient robot for several weeks, failing to turn him in as the law requires. We request a million dollars bail."

"Your honor," said Betty, "Ms. Shipley is a respected member of the bar, is not a flight risk, and has a spotless record. She is also pregnant. We request ROR."

"Your honor, I'd like to point out that Ms. Shipley disappeared for several days in the company of the robot, who attacked two federal officers."

"Who," said Betty, "drew their weapons on his owner while she was paying her respects in a cemetery, your honor. The robot saw the need to protect her."

"Enough," said the judge. "This could go on for another hour. Bail is set at a half-million dollars."

She hit her gavel, and I was led off. It took a couple hours for them to process me out.

My clothes magically reappeared, and so at least I looked like myself when they released me. Roger and Betty were waiting.

"Evie," said Roger with concern written on his face. "How are you doing?"

"Fine, fine. Have you heard anything about Andrew?"

Betty screwed up her face. "We have a court date tomorrow morning for the disposition of property. But we've got a fight of it. Not only has the government petitioned to take control of Andrew, Androdyne filed a petition to reclaim their property."

I laughed. "I already told Cicily how that was going to go."

"You mean, Sinta, right?" said Betty.

"No, Cicily. Oh Betty, these people have dug shit so deep the government Is going to go ballistic."

The media milled along with a crowd of people on the sidewalks as we came out of the courthouse. As they soon as the saw me, the press rushed up, while the others were held back behind police lines. The media I didn't mind so much. It was the others that scared me. Carrying signs that said, "robot lover" and "don't fuck robots" they seemed truly angry. They chanted something I couldn't quite catch.

Roger and Betty tried their best to shield me from the media, but the reporters were persistent. With Roger and Betty on either side, they walked me toward the car waiting on the curb. But a short blonde woman stepped in and shoved a microphone In my face.

"Ms. Shipley, It Is true that your baby Is a robot baby?"

What the hell?

"The child is mine and my husband's," I growled. "Where do you get your ridiculous information?"

"Evaline, dear. Let's go," urged Roger taking my elbow.

"When did you know he was sentient? Did he ever pose a danger to you?" She edged closer to me.

Roger took a few steps to her trying to place himself between the reporter and me.

"Listen here—"

But that's as far as he got. A crack sounded, people screamed and ducked, and Roger fell to the ground.

"Roger!" I yelled falling on my knees next to him.

"Oh god," screamed Betty. "Get an ambulance here! A man's been shot!"

"Fuck!" he said rolling to his side gripping his left shoulder. "That hurts."

Everything moved In slow motion. A dull roar filled my ears as my heart beat furiously. Roger rolled back and forth, groaning while I tried to get him to be still so I could see his injuries. The crowd surged around us, and the police pushed them back. Media ringed us trying to get pictures of poor Roger on the ground, and I heard Betty yelling at them to move away. It seemed It took forever before the ambulance came, but once the paramedics arrived, they pushed me out of the way. I watched helplessly as they assessed his condition and then loaded him on a gurney. They wouldn't let me go with him in the ambulance.