| |
Malak considered his new assignment to be simple. All he had to do was to locate the rogue sophont and then dispose of it. Although their strength would likely be a match for one another, Malak had the advantage of having military-grade combat knowledge embedded in his programming. Whatever this rogue android was, it was almost certainly a civilian grade unit and wouldn’t be able to overpower an android such as Malak.
The robot assassin headed first to the square where Sylas had been seen by Constantine. Leaning against a wall, hands in pockets and chewing gum, it attracted no undue attention – the square was full of unemployed humans who also spent hours people-watching. Malak gained no enjoyment from chewing the gum – the activity neither pleased nor displeased him – but it helped him blend in. Images of potential candidates, a total of thirty-one passers-by, were run against PopID, the Population Identification Database, and each was subsequently eliminated from Malak’s suspect list. He watched and waited until 22:00 hours and then made his way to the local energy conversion centre; the target would surely have to top up its quantum batteries somewhere.
After waiting all night and observing dozens of sophonts arrive, recharge their batteries, and then leave – none of whom who matched the target’s description – Malak was forced to acknowledge that the sophont must be either like himself, requiring less frequent recharging, or that it had a private recharging facility somewhere.
This was going to be more difficult than he had anticipated.
Another forty-eight hours of searching gave no more success than the first day and Malak resigned himself to the need for a fresh approach, deciding to socially interact with humans – a practice he found relatively distasteful but sometimes necessary. As unpleasant as the experience would undoubtedly be, he would mix with humans at locations where they gathered for social entertainment.
There were three pubs in the vicinity of ‘banana-skin’ square. Malak had never been inside a pub before so he spent the following evening sat at a table in a corner of ‘The World’s End’ pub, studying human interaction. Humans were curious creatures – it was difficult to pin down exactly what was the correct behaviour to display. Alcohol appeared to affect different people in different ways; some were loud to the point of becoming aggressive, but others seemed to feel more affection towards their associates with each drink consumed. It was all very confusing.
A couple of humans sitting on stools at the bar were particularly drunk and extremely vocal in voicing their opinions about sophonts. Malak moved from his table and stood alongside them at the bar. Against his nature, he decided to be polite.
“Excuse me. I couldn’t help hearing that you have a grievance against sophonts.”
Zach turned around on his stool.
“Yeah, I do. Fuck the metalheads taking our jobs. If they were human, they’d probably take our women too.”
Cain wasn’t to be left out.
“They probably do. Who knows what our wives get up to when we’re not around? Shagging metalheads probably.”
Zach wavered unsteadily on his stool as he rambled on and Cain grabbed his arm to stop him from falling. Zach’s eyes screwed up as if he were about to burst into tears.
“Mine fucked off when I lost my job. I lost my job to a fucking metalhead and lost my missus too.”
He sighed deeply.
“I miss my Angie.”
Cain embraced his friend.
“You’ll never be alone, Zach. You’ll always have me.”
Zach dabbed crocodile tears from his eyes.
“I know, but I can’t shag you, mate.”
He looked at his friend.
“Can I?”
The thought didn’t appeal to Cain.
“Sorry, mate. If I was gay, you could shag me in a heartbeat, every day of the week and twice on Sundays, but you’re not my type. Not enough boobs and too many balls. But thanks for the compliment.”
Zach reached out and grabbed the edge of the bar to steady himself.
“Suppose I’ll have to pay for a sex-bot if I want to get laid now. Ironic, eh? Having to shag a robot?”
The two burst out laughing and Zach nearly tumbled off his stool, only to be saved by the restraining hand of Malak.
“Be careful that you don’t hurt yourself.”
Zach patted Malak on the shoulder.
“Cheers, mate. I can’t afford a doctor. Though, with my luck, it’d be a metalhead doctor anyway.”
He squinted at the android.
“Who are you, then? Haven’t seen you around here before.”
“I am Malak. I am just passing through.”
“That a foreign name?”
“Something like that.”
Cain stretched his hand out to shake Malak’s hand, but reached too far and plunged headfirst off his seat. Dumped unceremoniously on the floor he struggled to stand up before succeeding. He shook Malak’s hand vigorously.
“What d’you think of metalheads, Malak?”
The android stretched his neck.
“I cannot stand them.”
Zach put his own hand forward.
“Correct answer. Put it there, Malak. Put it there.”
Zach continued to pontificate.
“You know what’s worse, mate?”
“What is worse?”
“My best mate – not Cain here, obviously – one of our other best mates turned out to be a fucking metalhead.”
This caught Malak’s attention.
“Really?”
“Yeah. We were going to have a bit of fun on the way back to the pub –”
Cain corrected his friend.
“From the pub, Zach. We was going home from the pub.”
“Oh yeah. From the pub. Anyway, there was this metalhead going around in circles, like it had something wrong with it. So me and Cain thought we’d have some fun. Started pushing it around, like. Only Sylas wouldn’t join in. I thought maybe he was just being a wimp, but then he grabbed me and lifted me up with one hand.”
Cain nodded furiously.
“He did. Honest. I saw it with my own eyes. And Zach’s a fat fucker too. Weighs a ton.”
Zach glared at his friend.
“I don’t weigh a ton. I’m a little overweight, that’s all.”
Cain apologised and Zach continued telling his story.
“Anyway. No human could’ve lifted me up with one hand like that. He had to be a sophont. But they’re not supposed to be able to hurt humans. There’s definitely something odd about him. I’ve still got the mark on my neck. Look.”
He lifted his chin up to show Malak the red marks that were still visible days after the incident.
“See?”
Malak looked closely at the man’s neck, feigning interest.
“It looks bad.”
Zach winced.
“It is bad. Still fucking hurts.”
The android stretched his neck again.
“I think we ought to teach the metalhead a lesson. Do you know where he lives?”
Zach wasn’t sure if that was such a good idea.
“Two of us aren’t a match for him.”
Malak dismissed this as nonsense.
“Perhaps, but three may be. In fact, I am sure three will be.”
Cain was full of Dutch courage and needed to let off some steam.
“Come on, Zach. The three of us should be able to take him.”
Zach didn’t need much convincing.
“OK. Let’s do it, then. Let’s teach Sylas a lesson he’ll never forget.”