The Android Chronicles Book One: The Android Defense (29 page)

Dabya was powdering her face
in her bedroom when she heard her phone ring. She picked it up and
answered. Only her most trusted confidantes knew her private line,
the others had to go through her secretary.

“Hello?”

“Good evening, Your
Highness,” the voice on the other end said. “It is
Pierre.”

“How are you, Pierre?” Dabya
said. Pierre Alsouvi was a noted robotic engineer in Spain, he was
also the undersecretary of the Society of the Future.

“Very well. I just wished to
inform you that the pear tree has bloomed, and the grocers will
harvest it a Monday from today, in the Grand Theatre de Geneve in
Geneva.”

“I am delighted to hear it,”
Dabya said. “I will be present to see the blooming pear
tree.”

“I am happy to hear it. Good
night.”

Dabya hung up the phone and
began brushing her long pale blond hair.

Luke was carefully closing
the windows of his room to keep out the cold night when he heard
his communication console alert him to a new message.

He sat down on a chair and
accessed it, expecting it to be from Mandelie though she had not
sent him any messages since they had spoken on the
phone.

It was from
Brigite.

LUKE WHAT ARE YOU DOING WE
SAW THE PICTURE OF YOU AND THAT PRINCESS. MANDELIE’S VERY UPSET AND
I AM FURIOUS WITH YOU. IF YOU WERE HERE RIGHT NOW I’D TAKE ONE OF
MY SHOES AND THROW IT AT YOUR HEAD.

Luke raised his eyebrows.
Though his face was inscrutable, he was unsettled at the
message.

He picked up his phone and
dialed.

Mandelie picked up after a
few rings.

“Hello?”

“It’s me,” Luke
said.

“I know,” Mandelie said. She
sounded tired and gloomy.

“It’s not what you think,”
Luke said. “Dabya is just a friend. She is giving me information
necessary for what I am doing here in Vienna.”

“I’m tired of not knowing
what’s going on, Luke,” Mandelie said. “Don’t you trust me enough
to tell me what you’re doing? I thought we were more than that. You
just left. You didn’t even tell me you were leaving.”

“I can’t tell you all the
details,” Luke said. “If you know everything, you might be in
danger.”

“Thanks a lot,” Mandelie
said. “But somehow that doesn’t make me feel better.”

The communication console
turned off.

Luke slammed his fist down
on the bed. His face was frustrated, for once not
inscrutable.

He heard a soft knock on his
door.

“Come in,” he
said.

The door opened and Dabya
came in, looking resplendent in her silk nightgown, her hair
falling loose around her face.

“I am sorry to disturb you,”
she said. “But I just received a call from the Society of the
Future. They have chosen the next president. I am attending the
ceremony in a few days.”

“Good,” Luke
said.

Dabya drifted to him and sat
down beside him on his bed.

“Are you
alright?”

Luke shook his
head.

“I am not programmed to feel
much emotion,” he said. “But somehow I feel it anyway.”

“You’re unique,” Dabya said,
putting her hand on his shoulder. “You’re not like other
androids.”

She looked into his face and
then kissed him.

Luke broke off the kiss
after a few seconds. He took her hands and held them.

“You’re a beautiful human,
Dabya,” he said. “But I can’t be involved with you. I’m
sorry.”

“No,” Dabya said, her face
crimson. “I’m the one who’s sorry. That was extremely presumptive
of me. Please forgive me.”

Luke placed his hand on the
side of her face.

“I wish to be on close terms
with you while I am here,” he said. “Terms of
friendship.”

“Of course,” Dabya said. She
rose.

“I will see you in the
morning. Good night.”

Chapter 6.

Not in a mood to be her
usual assisting self, Mandelie spent her time behind the reception
desk of the lab the next morning, watching Jake alternate his time
between Koala cam, Grand Theft Auto, and even answering the phone
once in a while.

“He told you it wasn’t what
you thought, right, Mands?” Jake said at one point, looking at her
with sympathy.

“That’s what he said,”
Mandelie said.

“I think you should trust
him,” Jake said. “Luke’s a good guy. He’s a good
android.”

“That’s right,” Mandelie
said. “He’s an android. How can I even be sure he feels for me the
same way that I do for him? How can I even be sure he feels
anything at all?”

“He’s not a robot,” Jake
said.

“But at some point there’s
got to be a difference in the way we both look at things, right?”
Mandelie said. “It can’t be denied. Maybe now’s the time that I
need to face that fact and face whatever it’s going to
do.”

“I think … maybe you’re just
saying these things because you’re upset,” Jake said, looking
around for Brigite or Trista in a panic. “Maybe you should ask
Trista or Brigite. I’m not really good at talking about these
things.”

“If he doesn’t trust me,
maybe I can’t trust him,” Mandelie said.

Jake looked up in relief
when the door of the lab opened. Damian Foster came in, looking
like his confident, composed self in a dark blue shirt and
trousers.

“Hey, Damian,” Mandelie
said, slightly surprised.

“Hey,” Damian said. He took
off his sunglasses.

“Can I speak to you outside
for a moment, Mandelie?”

“Um … sure,” Mandelie said.
She got up and joined Damian outside the laboratory.

He handed her an
envelope.

“I wanted to bring this in
person, out of my extreme gratitude to your father,” he said. “It’s
an invitation to an Adventis party. I’d love it if you and your dad
could come.”

“Thanks,” Mandelie said,
taking the envelope. “But I’m pretty sure my dad won’t go. He hates
parties because he always ends up dancing and he dies from
embarrassment afterwards.”

Damian smiled.

“Well, okay, then. What
about you? I’d like you to come.”

Mandelie bit her lip. She
looked away from him.

“What’s wrong?” Damian said.
“You seem upset.”

“It’s just …” Mandelie said.
“It’s personal stuff. Whatever.”

“Rocky times with Luke?”
Damian said.

“He went to Europe and he
didn’t even tell me he was leaving,” Mandelie said, unsure of how
the words were spilling from her.

“That’s rough,” Damian said.
He seemed lost in thought.

“I need a date for the
party,” he said. “Do you want to go as my date?”

Mandelie stared at
him.

“As … your …
date?”

“If you don’t want to do it,
just say no,” Damian said. “I don’t think my ego can take another
bruising from you.”

“I’ll go,” Mandelie said.
Her mind flashed back to the picture of Luke and Dabya. “I’ll go
with you to the party, Damian. I’d be happy to.”

Damian looked shocked, but
also delighted.

“Wow. I have to admit I
wasn’t expecting that, but I’m thrilled,” he said. “I’ll make sure
you have a good time. Don’t worry.”

He smiled at her and put his
sunglasses back on. He walked back to his car and drove
away.

Mandelie felt a twinge of
conscience, but stifled it.

Accompanied by her
bodyguards, Dabya took her seat in the palatial hall of the Grand
Theatre de Geneve. All around her the most distinguished
technicians and engineers in the world were gathered, eager to
discover the next president of the Society of the
Future.

Dabya looked cool and
elegant in her jacket and silk dress, but inwardly her heart was
thumping wildly.

Pierre Alsouvi rose from his
chair and walked to the lectern set up in front of the hall. He was
wearing a dark suit and white shirt.

“Thank you all for coming,”
he said. “Despite the difficulties the Society of the Future has
faced in the previous year, we are stronger than ever. We are
united in our vision and our purpose, and nothing will stop our
forward progress. The world does not know it yet, but its
inevitable future belongs to us and to androids. The Society of the
Future will continue to flourish until we are obliged to rule the
world, as masters of android technology.”

The people before him broke
out into applause. Pierre Alsouvi waited for the applause to finish
before he spoke.

“And now it is my honor to
present to you the next president of our Society, the man who will
undoubtedly lead us to the future with his great accomplishments in
android technology and his intuitive knowledge of android ways …
Gustaf Jorg!”

Chapter 7.

“The Society has made a
mistake,” Luke said.

It was his first reaction
when Dabya had come into his room immediately after returning from
her trip and informed him of Gustaf Jorg’s appointment.

Dabya looked
surprised.

“What do you mean?” she
said.

“Gustaf Jorg is a fanatic,”
Luke said. “He will take the Society in murderous new directions
that Cargio Lataun only skimmed. Is this the way that the Society
is determined to go?”

Dabya looked a little
ruffled.

“The Society is an honorable
one, Luke,” she said. “I have told you before that Lataun was a
mistake.”

“Open your eyes, Dabya,”
Luke said. “You think your society is a noble one seeking to
improve the future. You think that they are going to fix the
mistakes they made. Don’t you ever think of the possibility that
the Society of the Future is an anarchical one, or on its way to
becoming one? That it could possibly cause the deaths and
destructions of humans as well as androids in huge numbers while
building its dream future?”

“I don’t agree at all with
you,” Dabya said, flushing. “We are a great Society. And now we
have a great leader who will lead us in the right
direction.”

Luke took her hand and held
it tightly.

“Dabya. You refuse to see
what is threatening to fall on all of us. You should leave the
Society. For your own good.”

Dabya pulled her hand away
from him.

“You’re being unreasonable,
Luke,” she said. “I assure you the Society is above reproach.
Despite its past errors.”

Mandelie was almost tempted
to change her mind about going to the Adventis party with Damian,
but she tried not to think about it. She put on a sparkling party
dress and pulled her hair back into a low bun.

She jumped when her cell
phone rang.

“I’m outside your
apartment,” Damian said. “Come out whenever you’re
ready.”

“I’m ready now,” Mandelie
said, but she doubted it.

She hung up and locked her
door behind her.

As she walked out of her
apartment building she saw Damian waiting outside of a sleek black
Maserati. He was wearing an expensive tailored suit, a dark dress
shirt and black tie. He looked very much like a movie
star.

He whistled when he saw
her.

“Look at you,” he
said.

“I’m a little worried I’m
underdressed,” Mandelie said, as he opened the door for her. “Are
there going to be a lot of cameras there?”

“Oh, definitely,” Damian
said, getting into the driver’s seat and starting the engine.
“Hordes of paparazzi, just the way I like my events. But you look
beautiful. I wouldn’t change a thing.”

Mandelie leaned back against
the leather seat as the Maserati roared away.

Chapter 8.

The Four Seasons hotel in
Malibu had been staked out for what Carlie had arranged to be the
“party of the year.” A huge banner that read ADVENTIS TECHNOLOGIES
hung across the front of the hotel, and a red carpet led into the
entrance. A horde of photographers waited on either side of the
carpet, snapping pictures of everyone going into the
hotel.

They erupted into a frenzy
when Damian’s Maserati pulled up alongside the curb and Damian got
out. He adjusted the lapels on his jacket and then opened the door
for Mandelie.

He took her hand and helped
her out. Mandelie was nearly blinded by the explosion of lights
that met her as the photographers snapped pictures of her and
Damian and shouted comments and questions at them.

“Great to see you, Mr.
Foster! You’re looking great!”

“Who’s your
date?”

“Great to see you guys,”
Damian said.

He put his arm around
Mandelie’s waist and led her into the hotel.

Mandelie was relieved once
they were inside.