The Nightingale's Song - Part 10

[ButchyBoy]

Cricket lay on a table, eyes closed, her young teenage looking face seemingly at peace. Most of her clothes had been stripped away, leaving her clad only in a matching pink lace bra and panties. Her synthetic skin was smooth and cool to the touch. A large gap in her belly revealed mostly burned out wiring and circuit boards. Harry Lang was by her side, watching over her, his face full of concern for his android friend. Bill Decker was there too. Examining the robot girl more closely was the woman the trio had encountered earlier that evenng : one Dr. Betty Stevens. She was a rather plain looking dark haired woman, dressed in overalls, and looking like she should be working under the hood of a car. As it turned out, Betty was once a bot tech in the employ of GlobalCon. But she had a major flaw that never sat well with her bossess: she cared. She treated every android that went through her station the way any good doctor would treat a patient; making sure they were in prime condition, and giving them lots of tender, loving care. She soon got tired of seeing the abuse many of them were put through, and worst of all, she hated stripping perfectly good droids of their memories and feelings. Looking into their eyes and having them always smile back trustinly, never aware of the fate that awaited them once they were switched off. She left her position at GlobalCon, and soon learned the price that was paid for those that did so; No friends, no family, no money. Were it not for her connections with one Carl Throckhammer, whom she used to work closely with, Dr. Stevens surely would have lost custody of her only child, little April. But even Throckhammer's pull seemed to have its limits. With what tools of her own she managed to smuggle away, she spents her days doing odd jobs for anyone in Old Chicago who could pay. She aslo did her best to rescue abandoned droids, and give them new hope as they secretly lived among the people of this shanty "Christmas Town" most of them working as cooks, teachers, even a few actors and actresses, providing entertainment. Thanks to Betty's work and silence, the droids blended in with the humans here, and rarely got the attention of the cops.

[ButchyBoy]

"Well, Mr. Lang, as bad as it looks, she's actually pretty lucky." Betty stated as she removed the burned out boards from inside little Cricket. "Those winter clothes she was wearing seemed to have absored a lot of the shock. Her main CPU and memory don't look like they were damaged much. I can replace the rest with spares I have here." Betty suddenly felt a tug on her jeans. "Mommy" a little voice spoke. It was April. "Miss Cwicket be all wight??", she asked. "Yes April, she'll be good as new in the morning" her mom assured her. "Now you go with Uncle Bill. It's bedtime." "Awwwwwwww.....me no tiwrd" she protested. Decker took his cue and lifted the little girl up onto his sholders. "Come on lil missy. I'll get ya some cookies and milk, tuck ya in and you can see miss Cricket bright and early tomorrow." April thought about it for a moment. "Pwomise??" Betty smiled at her daughter. "Cross my heart" April smiled back, "Okays. Ni ni mommy.....Ni ni miss Cwicket. Wake up soon" Cricket couldn't answer back. She just lied there looking like Sleeping Beauty. With Decker and little April gone, Betty got to work putting Cricket's innards back together. Harry spoke up for the first time in a while, "Now I know why you seemed so facinated with Cricket earlier tonight." "Yes" Betty replied, "She's an amazing girl. How did you come by her Mr. Lang?" Harry related the story of how they met. How like Betty, he couldn't just throw her out like so much garbage. How he went to the trouble of faking owership papers. "She's just become......such a part of my life. I know she's a machine but......sometimes......" Betty finished his sentence, "She's seems all too human." "Yeah.....she sure does." Harry turned his thoughts to the woman fixing his partner. "What about you Doc? How did you and your daughter end up.....here?" Betty just sighed. It had been a long journey for both mother and daughter indeed.

[ButchyBoy]

"Well, after I'd had my fill of mighty GlobalCon," Betty said with disgust in her voice, "I found living in New Chicago impossible. Not that I wanted to stay mind you. But every other door outside the dome was slammed in my face as well. My family even stopped speaking to me. Guess even mom and dad had a price. Anyway, I was able to secure an apartment here in Old Chicago, with rent paid for by one Mr. Throckhammer but suddenly the rent checks stopped coming." "Yeah", Harry said, "Dear Mr. Throckhammer seems to have a knack for just vanishing into thin air." Betty continued, reparing little Cricket all the while. "Well, I found myself with an eviction notice, and that's when I met your friend Bill Decker. He brough me here to the shelter. It's not much, but the old guy's actually made this into a pretty good home." "Yeah", Harry said, "Good old Bill couls always make the best out of almost nothing." Betty looked down at Cricket's damaged systems then up at Harry, "You used 'Bot Wizard' didn't you?....Poor girl." Harry suddenly cringed. "Ah.......'Bot Wizard' bad?" "Yeah", Betty replied, "It's for people too damn cheap to go to a real Bot Tech." Now Harry was getting a bit bristtled. "Well, excuse me, but given the alternative was to turn her into scrap, I think I did a pretty damn good job with her!" Betty just smiled. He really did care for her. This Lang fellow just became ok in her book. "Not bad Mr. Lang, not bad. Now sit back and let the expert drive for a while." Harry sat back as she finished. An hour went by before Betty spoke again. "Well, I've done all I can." "And?" Harry asked, "she gonna pull through." "Mr. Lang, one of two things will happen when I toggle this activation switch. One; she'll boot up and be good as new. Or two.........she'll fry up beyond repair!"

[ButchyBoy]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
More to come soon.........we're very near the end.