Also, I will post an epilogue mini-story or two before long. Let me know what you think of the chapter and the whole story! If you are new to the story, why not start at the beginning?
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Chapter 1. Chapter 2. Chapter 3. Chapter 4.
Chapter 5. Chapter 6. Chapter 7. Chapter 8.
Chapter 9. Chapter 10. Chapter 11. Chapter 12.
Chapter 13. Chapter 14. Chapter 15. Chapter 16.
Chapter 17. Chapter 18. Chapter 19. Chapter 20.
Chapter 21. Chapter 22. Chapter 23. Chapter 24.
Chapter 25. Chapter 26. Chapter 27. Chapter 28.
Chapter 29. Chapter 30. Chapter 31. Chapter 32.
Chapter 33.
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Exo Saves the Day
Chapter Thirty Four: Restart
By Gynoneko
Time passed unchecked. I never before had dedicated so much time and effort into a single project. Hours turned to days, days into weeks, and weeks passed by like hours. My Exo-suit had undergone major changed, major revision, and major upgrades. It had also undergone major setbacks. Virtually every part of the suit was redesigned from the ground up to be stronger, more flexible, more reliable, with better defense and longer a longer lasting battery. Since my old suit was completely scrapped, I had to start over anyways, so I wanted to make sure this time to make something I could mount a rescue in and not end up a battered piece of meat like that last few times. Unfortunately, it was taking too long! I felt no closer to finishing it now than I had when I started. Time was not my friend. I buried myself in my work, always keeping busy, and keeping my mind off of painful memories like Tera. Occasionally Jen would come by to visit. Normally I'd love her to hang out, but now I was so involved in this project, I hardly acknowledged her when she was there. It was rude, I know, but Jen brought with her memories of my time with Tera, so I forced them to the back of my mind, and used that energy to push forward even harder on my project. Jack... Jack was a dark spot in my mind. Just the thought of him made me want to do things I would never have dreamt of doing before. Naturally, I avoided thinking of him too.
I didn't know how much time had passed, but I knew my suit wasn't finished yet and Chris would be by any day to check in on me. I had to finish it so I could start looking for Tera! It had been a marathon of work with little sleep, little food, and almost no hygiene whatsoever, when a knock came from my door. I worried it was Chris, or some other man in a black suit. Much to my relief, the figure I saw through the peep hole was only Jen. I didn't want to talk with her right now, I was so close to finishing it, and yet... with all the setbacks, I was probably still another week away. Rebuilding a 3 year project in one month was like building Rome before lunch.
I opened the door, despite my better judgment, and greeted Jen with little more than a nod. She looked great, as usual. Her dark red hair and recently undergone a change of color, so now the dark red was brighter, and a streak of vibrant green accented the front. Something told me she was not a natural red-head. She smiled at me, and looked rather surprised.
"Geez Danny, you look like hell! You've been in here for weeks; at least you could take a shower."
"Sorry" I mumbled. "I'm so close to finishing, I just..." my voice trailed off as I left the door open and wandered back into the mess of my apartment. I had done little to clean up after the first day or two. Too many things reminded me of my time with Tera, and so I avoided them, and just covered them up with junk or blocked them out of my mind. Trash had piled up in the kitchen and around the edges of the room. Clothes were littered everywhere. I never really looked at it though, I just went by my business designing, building, and programming my suit.
"Wow... this place is... rank" She said as she stepped in the door, holding her hand to her nose. She turned to close the door, but on second thought, decided to let it air out instead. "Maybe you should cleanup a bit?"
I grunted incoherently. Instead of cleaning up, I want back into my second bedroom, which was the room I converted to be more of a lab, and sat down to continue working on my suit, which she had interrupted.
"Not this again" she complained. "Every time I come here, all you do is mess with that stupid suit. Come on! You've got to get some air!"
"I just have to finish adjusting..." I began, and starting messing with my suit again, repairing the damage done by the last attempted startup 2 days prior. It overheated and fried a circuit board and I had been busy rebuilding it from scratch ever since.
Jen sighed and looked around the room a bit. It was pretty much the same as before, except with more trash lying around. "Hey! I remember this old gynoid torso you were working on. Poor thing is getting dusty... You know those androids over there are probably way overdue to be returned from repair, I'm surprised no one's tried to call you or something" she said, pointing out the 2 or 3 androids I had left from a previous job before any of this happened.
"They probably did. I haven't been answering my phone" I mumbled.
"Danny! That's not good! You need to answer your phone, it could be someone important."
"Don't want to talk to them. Don't want to talk to Chris. Don't want to talk to anyone... I just want to finish this and..." I continued to work on my rebuilt circuit board, looking at plans I had worked out a week or so ago and was still struggling with.
Jen sighed. "You know I got a new job" she said in a sing-songy way. "Don't you want to hear about it?"
"Mmmm" I grunted not really paying attention to her. Of course she noticed.
"Damn it, Danny!" she yelled, stomping her foot on the ground. "Look at yourself! You haven't shaved in weeks, you haven't been eating or sleeping, you smell like a boys’ locker room that hasn't been cleaned in a month, you look like a train wreck, and you have been obsessing over this thing while ignoring all your friends!" She unplugged the soldering iron in my hand, and snatched away the circuit board. "So help me Danny, I did not come over here to watch you wallow is self-pity for the rest of the day. It's all you've ever done since I started trying to help you. Why do you think I haven't been back for 2 weeks?"
I looked up at her sharply, but her words stung true. I had been neglecting my other responsibilities, and focusing on just the one task to a point where even I started to notice how bad I smelled. There was something wrong with me. I sat there, looking up at her, and forced myself to stare her in the eyes as she lectured me.
"You haven't been out of this apartment in days. You haven't socialized with anyone except me since you got back! And even that I wouldn't call that socializing. Danny, I'm worried about you! The girls are worried about you... they miss you. I miss you."
She fell silent, letting me absorb all she said. The girls. I had forgotten about Joan and Annie in my endeavor to finish this project. Last I saw them I had dropped them off with Tom and Cynthia before driving off. I wondered how they were all doing.
"I did it again, didn't I?" I asked looking down at her feet.
"What?" she said, her voice softer and more compassionate than I expected.
"Broke another promise."
Jen nodded. "But it's not too late to fix it."
"But... how? I've been away for so long... I'm afraid they all hate me now... for abandoning them."
"Then I think I can help you" Jen said, standing up straight. "Danny Hawthorn, you have been formally invited to a pre-Thanksgiving day get-together at the Pygmalion estate. That's... actually why I'm here. They wanted me to deliver that message to you."
"Why didn't they just come themselves?"
"Well... because they're afraid you hate them" she said, turning my own statement back on me. "And besides, I'm the only one that can get you moving!"
"I don't hate them! I love those girls... I just..." I had nothing to say. I promised I'd visit them, and I hadn't. I felt like such a shit.
"They understand. You're trying to help Tera. But they wanted to help and you just kicked them out of the car and left. It hurt their feelings, Danny."
"I'm sorry-"
"Don't tell me" Jen objected with a smile. "Tell them, in person."
"When?"
"Right now!"
"But-"
"No 'Buts'! Or I'll kick yours. We are going to get you cleaned up and get some air. You are going to see your friends, and I'm not giving this thing back until you do" Jen said, hiding the circuit board behind her back.
"Don't break that" I warned. I was actually glad she came in and stopped me. I was burnt out trying to fix this stupid suit, and would have kept working on it till I died of malnutrition.
"Get up off your butt or I will" she threatened, holding the delicate board in 2 hands like she was going to snap it. "And I'm taking little miss broken gynoid here as a hostage as well" she said, picking up my old dusty robot torso. The last time I messed around with that torso Tera had hacked its systems to talk to me. She looked remarkably like a smaller version of Andrea too, so I naturally avoided working on it too.
"Okay okay!" I said standing up.
"Good. Now march!" she commanded, pointing out of the room toward the back bedroom.
I shuffled my way out of the room down the hallway and into the main bedroom. I hadn't spent that much time there, even to sleep, so it was not as messy as one might have expected. My sheets still smelled too much like Tera, and so I had avoided sleeping in it to save myself from the memories. Once I made it back to my bedroom, Jen, who had followed me, pulled my shirt up over my head and pushed me toward the bathroom.
"Whoa... that's... pungent. Now get in there and scrub! I'll go find you something clean to wear... if there is anything." She closed the door behind me and left me to clean myself. I hadn't seen how bad I looked, but glancing in the mirror, I was shocked to barely recognize myself. I had grown a beard, my hair was a dark greasy mess, I must have lost 10 pounds, and there were dark circles under my eyes. I looked like shit!
"I don't hear water running. Don't make me come in there, cause I will" Jen yelled through the door.
"Hold you horses" I said and started running the shower water to let it heat up.
I took a nice long hot shower, letting my mind race through a million different thoughts. I thought about what possibly fix there was for the circuit board, what Joan and Annie would say if they saw me now, I even ran different scenarios in my head of what would happen when we met. Most of them ended poorly. I enjoyed the shower, and after what was probably half an hour, got out into the steam-filled bathroom, and starred at my foggy reflection in the mirror. The next thing to go was the beard. I wasn't sure why I hadn't noticed it before, but I did look better without a beard than with one. By this time, my beard was too long to just shave off, I had to first cut it with a hair trimmer, and then shave it. I was careful to not cut myself or miss any part of my face as I cut away the last month.
I left the bathroom with a towel around my waist and feeling a million times better. I really did need that, and was grateful Jen forced me into it. I noticed folded neatly on my bed was a pair of slacks, and a dress shirt. Well that was a start, but I needed underwear first, so I rummaged through my drawers until I find one of my last clean pairs left, and pulled them on. I lost my balance hopping on one foot trying to navigate my unmentionables and bumped my head into the dresser with a loud thud. Of course I swore silently to myself, but something caused my eye as I rubbed at my head. A small folded sheet of yellow paper fell from the top of the dresser to my feet. Leaning down, I picked it up and unfolded it. Inside, the legible but shaky handwriting brought back a flood of memories I had been trying to forget for the past month while I worked on my suit. It was the entire reason I dedicated all my effort and time to rebuilding this suit, and yet I had forgotten all about it. I had let slip from my mind the very reasons for my obsession, and something inside me snapped.
'But mother, he needs me. I think I love him.'
That was all the note said, and I recalled how Tera had written it so long ago in her slow and unpracticed handwriting, and somehow I had misplaced it until now. Tears rushed into my eyes, and for the first time in a month, I wept. I had been suppressing all my emotions, instead focusing on rebuilding that contraption, and now the pressure had built up to a breaking point and erupted in a torrent of tears. My legs grew weak and I collapsed to the floor, holding onto the note, which was possibly the last bit of Tera I would ever have, clutching it tightly to my chest. I sobbed loud enough to bring Jen rushing in to check on me. I must have looked pathetic, curled up against the bed in nothing but my underwear, clutching a note, while bawling my eyes out. Jen was still my best friend, and she came over and hugged me.
"Shh... shh... Its ok, Danny. I miss her too."
"Are you sure they won't be mad at me?" I asked Jen as she drove my puke green gas guzzler toward Tom's factory. We decided to take my car since it needed the exercise. No really... it had sat unused for more than a month, leaving it hard to start.
"If you ask me again, I'll be mad at you" she joked. "Relax Danny, they invited you. Why would they invite someone they hate to Thanksgiving?"
"Is it already Thanksgiving??" I asked, checking my wrist for a watch that no longer existed. It was in the same electronic heaven as my original Exo- Suit.
"Nope. No really. That's next week. But they didn't want to wait that long to see you. Still it's not a bad excuse to party!"
"So we're having a big meal?"
"Not till next week. Today we are just hanging out. We've made a lot of changes to the place, and I think you'll like it!"
"We?" I muttered to myself. "I didn't think you were serious about that gynoid torso" I added, looking over my shoulder to the back seat where the metallic torso sat buckled in as though it mattered. Jen insisted.
"Well, she needed fresh air too. Besides, she's cute... in a retro-kind-of-way."
I sat contemplative for a while as we made our way to the lab. I really did miss the girls, and Tom and Cynthia too. "So... what's your new job?"
"Huh? I thought you weren't listening."
"I was and I wasn't" I argued.
"It's mainly customer service really. I help take orders, deal with issues; you know... the regular 'sell-your-soul-to-Satan-to-make-a-buck' deal."
"Really? You? I have a hard time seeing you as a customer service rep." Not that it was that different from her last job actually.
"Actually it isn't all that bad. They have great perks, let me help with planning and development, and the staff is the best!" Jen said with a smile. "I'll have to show you around the place sometime."
"Sounds nice. Maybe I should join you" I commented.
"You already have a job Mr. Agent. Or did you forget that all your spending last month on your suit was funded by someone other than you?"
"Well... Exo has a job. Daniel Hawthorn is still an unemployed loser who forgets to see his best friends for months on end and secludes himself inside an apartment of misery."
"Stop already. I get it. You're depressed." She was being blunt, but it was what I needed.
"Sorry"
"No apologies either - at least not to me." She looked at me from the corner of her eye while driving. "Maybe you should get a job with me. You could use a change of scenery."
"We'll see. Something tells me they wouldn't want to hire someone who looks like he hasn't slept in a week..."
"And here we are!" Jen said as she turned into the driveway to Tom's factory. Even before we drove around to the other side, the building looked completely different than it had a month ago.
A giant illuminated sign on the side of the building read 'Pygmalion Industries', which was fitted with new siding, new windows, new doors and a new entrance! Even the landscaping around it had improved drastically, with a professional setting you'd expect from a real business.
We took a 'private' drive to the back which now had a small paved parking lot and 3 parked cars and Annie's motorcycle. At the end of the lot, the grave marker I spied before driving off last month had been replaced with a memorial statue of a stylized angel covered in an intricate circuit pattern made out of stone. We parked close to the 'employee' entrance, which was exactly the same except completely repaired and fitted with a smaller but similar sign to the one on the front. I recalled the devastation from a month before when hundreds of robots infected with a virus attacked us. I got out of the car and was greeted by Annie's voice yelling out from the doorway.
"JOAN! He's Here!" she yelled back into the building before turning back toward me and running out in her bare feet, a smile beaming across her face. "Danny!" She called as Joan came into view behind her.
Annie ran out toward me, but Joan was faster. I could feel my heart race as the girls ran toward me laughing, before tackling me in a tight embrace. At first we just hugged, all three of us, without saying a word.
"I've missed you so much" Joan said, her voice muffled by my shirt.
"I missed you too. Both of you" I replied.
"You promised you'd visit us!" Annie complained, finally breaking away from the embrace.
"I'm sorry. I so very sorry. I just got caught up in-"
"It's ok" Joan interrupted. "We know you were doing it to find our sister. Just don't do it again!"
"I won't. I promise."
"Can we trust you this time?" Annie asked, raising one eyebrow.
"What can I do to make it up to you two?"
"We can start by going inside, it's cold out here" Jen complained.
Annie agreed and hopped in her bare feet as though avoiding hot coals (or maybe ice cold pavement) back to the lab with Jen close behind, bundled up against the cool later autumn/early winter air. Joan walked beside me sighing in relief, wrapping her arms tight around herself.
"I'm so happy to see you!" she exclaimed. "I know we only really ever knew each other for a week or so, but I just felt so empty without you."
"Joan... if I didn't know any better I'd say you were falling in love with me" I teased. She blushed and turned her face away.
"Nonsense. You still have Tera, and I know she's not here right now, but when we get her back, I don't want to have done anything to hurt her, including taking you from her. Besides... you're not my type."
"That sounds like an excuse to me. You know you're crazy for me" I continued to push.
"I'm not that crazy for you. But... I do miss the sex" she added with a smile. "Not that that's all I miss about you!" she added in a hurry. "I just..."
"I know. I'm crazy for you girls too. And the sex was fun" I joked.
"Maybe it can be again" she added with a sultry smile.
"Maybe... but not right now. I'm still too worked up over Tera."
"Yeah... me too. I've lost 2 of my sisters now... I'm glad I didn't lose you too."
"We'll get her back!" I said, holding her hand and squeezing it. It was ice cold and a shiver ran down her spine.
"I didn't think you'd get cold" I commented.
"Well I do. In fact, my skin can be damaged by exposure to sub-freezing temperature for too long. I just won't die of exposure or anything. But yes, I am cold."
"Is this your first winter?" I asked, as I put my arm around her.
"No... and Annie has had one herself, although we were inside the whole time. I'll be 2 next month."
"Danny!" Tom boomed as I came in the door. The room looked like it had some kind of upgrade. They had been really busy. The area looked more suitable as a lounge for guests, but also had that personal spark that showed it doubled as a living quarters for the girls. I wondered what other changes there were.
Tom shook my hand in a strong grip that felt like he was trying to break it off. "You've been sorely missed around here."
"How's Cynthia?" I asked.
Almost as though it were on cue, Cynthia emerged from one of the labs, which had a new logo across new glass doors. She was in her lab coat and was holding a robotic hand, or at least the workings of one, studying it. She looked up from her work, as if to ask Tom a question, when she saw me. Her mouth widened to a smile as she put the mechanical hand down on the counter and came over to give me a hug.
"Danny! Where have you been? Oh there's so much to show you! The girls have been so helpful, I'm so glad you dropped them off to help out, but why didn't you stay? Is everything alright? Have you heard anything about Tera? It's so good to see you!" she went on a mile a minute. It reminded me a little of Tera, and a little of how she acted when we first met. She was an odd one, but once you got to know her, she was a great friend.
"One question at a time!" I objected as she released me from her iron grip. "Home, work, better, no... was that all the questions?" I said answering everything she asked one at a time. "I have one for you... did you tell them yet?" I didn't want to go into specifics in case Cynthia hadn't told her own gynoid daughters that she too was a gynoid herself, especially with Joan listening in so closely.
"Yes, they know. And I have to admit it's a relief finally telling them that I'm an android too."
"Wait wait wait! What?" Jen said shocked listening in. "You too? Anyone else want to reveal some big secret?"
"Not really" Tom objected.
"Danny? Don't hold out on me now" Jen said eyeing me suspiciously.
"Do you really think the hospital would have treated me if I wasn't a human?"
"Good point. Well I guess it can't be helped." Jen sighed.
"This isn't a problem is it?" Cynthia asked.
"No, no. Not at all!" Jen said defensively.
"Good. I wouldn't want to fire my best employee for discrimination" Cynthia commented. "Now if you wouldn't mind, could you make a pot of tea?"
"Yes Ma'am."
"Wait a second. This is your new job?" I eyed Jen.
"Told ya they were cool people" she said smugly before walking over to the kitchen which appeared to have been fully stocked.
"So this place is like a real business now?"
"Pretty much" Tom said. "We've been hard at work rebuilding this place to prepare for our company's grand re-opening."
"Grand re-opening?" I asked.
"Well what else was I going to do with a robot factory?"
"I wasn't sure you were going to do anything with it" I commented.
"Of course I am! It's in my family. Part of the family business. Let me show you around."
"I'm coming too" Joan said, taking a step closer to me.
"Actually, I was hoping to have a little chat with Danny in person. But you'll have him back soon. Why don't you help Jen with the tea?" he suggested.
"Oh. Alright."
Joan left us as Tom guided me into the back hall. A new heavy-duty door lined the wall in-between the unused room and the living quarters. There was a security panel next to the door, where Tom placed his hand, and looked into a tin black plastic strip that ran alongside the door. The security system read his hand print as well as his retina, and Andrea's voice flowed from a speaker. "Please Confirm Identification."
"Tom Pygmalion." Tom replied, and the door swished open like something from a sci-fi.
"Fancy" I commented.
We walked into a new receptionist area. In fact, it was the main entry that they had recently built-on. The door we came out of was located behind a large fancy desk and it swished closed, with a 'Staff Only' sign printed on it. The room was full of class. There was a lot of illuminated glass and flowing lines of architecture that showed they spared to expense for the manufacture and design of the new extension. The glass doors in the front were all emblazoned with a new logo that resembled a half gear with a 'PI' on the other side. It looked professional. The desk itself was large and round, with a large touch screen computer and a comfortable chair. The whole area was beautiful and screamed of expensive.
"Wow! This looks amazing! When did you find the time to-"
"I've actually had the designed made up months ago. With all the damage to the place thanks to last month's assault, I figured it was time to bring in professional help and do the whole place right" Tom said with a smile.
"And of course they got the best receptionist for this lovely room too" Jen commented carrying a mug of tea still with a string dangling from it. She took a seat down at the front desk and smiled. "I'm the smiling face that will greet all our new customers. Well, those with appointments at least" she joked.
"This is amazing!" I said again.
"Here, let me show you want we did to the rest of the place" Tom said with the kind of excitement you'd get out of a teenage boy who just snuck his dad's Playboy out from under the bed.
"There's more?"
Tom led me into an ornate door with the same level of security as the last one which was off to the side. I was surprised to see on the other side the old abandon factory floor modernized and spruced up. It wasn't running at the moment, but it looked like it was ready to start at a moment's notice. It was a regular factory and reminded me of the time I visited a brewery, except with robots instead of beer. Andrea, her body fully repaired and polished, looked like a brand new gynoid with gold trim and black metal panels. She had cables running from her head to a computer terminal behind her, and was simultaneously working on a monitor when she turned to face me, and greeted me with the same emotionless greeting she always gave.
"Welcome back Mr. Hawthorn" she said in her friendly realistic but still somehow artificial voice. "We have been awaiting your arrival." She stood tall, still at over 7 feet, but with what seemed like pride. Her systems must have been upgraded to some extent, but I got the impression that she was happy. She was happy to be doing what she was made to do again, after decades of collecting dust.
"Hi Andrea, you're looking good today."
"Thank you sir."
With the pleasantries over, Tom pulled me aside. "Andrea has been a huge help to us. After she ran her systems down defending us last month, I made sure she got as many upgrades as I could give her. We decided to keep her appearance, and it kind of inspired us. As you can see, we are ready to begin production on a new set of updated retro-style androids for sale, much like Andrea is now. All the specifications have been updated to modern standards, and the design has been tweaked for durability and cost efficiency."
I looked closer at the designs for one of the female models on a screen. "Wait a second; I have one of these already! In fact, it's in my car!"
"Oh? You must have one of the original designs! Those aren't easy to come by. Maybe we can take a look at her a little later."
"Where did you get the money for all this? Or the time?" I asked looking in awe at the assortment of parts ready to be assembled.
"Oh... well... the time of one man is limited, but with many hired hands a lot can be accomplished... as for the money, well that is why I asked you here today. Do you remember my inheritance?" Tom asked in a low tone.
"Umm... sort of. You had access to the land, but not the finances..."
"... Until I named an heir. Well, I've named an heir."
"You have? Wait... Cynthia can't have children. Are you adopting?"
"No no no" Tom laughed. "No one ever said it had to be a blood relation. I have a named a good loyal friend, someone with whom I feel I can trust, someone who is intimately familiar with our previous designs." He paused for dramatic effect, but I knew what he was about to say. "Accept my offer Danny. Be my partner, and successor."
"I'm flattered! I... don't know what to say" I felt like a girl who had just been proposed to. "Of course I accept, that is assuming you haven't changed your mind after my recent behavior."
"Nonsense! You've been hard at work during a trialing time. It's understandable. My daughter- your girlfriend is missing, and it hurts, it hurts all of us. If it wasn't for Cynthia, I'd be right there with you. But thanks to her hard work and the smiling faces of my girls, I've been able to achieve all of this!"
"So, do I have to sign something?" I asked.
"Of course, but we'll do that tomorrow. Today we celebrate!"
"Forgive me if I don't feel like celebrating with you. I- Tera-... it still hurts."
"Hmmm..." Tom was contemplative for a moment. "Let me show you something I hope will help cheer you up." Tom led me back out of the factory, past the front desk, and back into the employee area. To my right were the bedrooms, and on my left the door that used to lead to an empty room had been replaced by the same style door as the one I just passed through, complete with the same security panel. Down a little were the glass doors to the 2 labs. Tom walked straight to the labs, where we had once saved Tera's life and gave Joan her new arm. I recall how the last time I was there I was talking with Diane. I wondered what ever happened to her. Tom marched straight into the 1st lab, although without all that security once he got past the employee entrance. I was caught off guard by what I saw.
262's body, or part of it, lay naked and open on a work table just feet away from another android laying on the main workstation. Cynthia was dismantling parts of 262 and reworking them to fit inside this other body. In was a smaller petite android, but looked more like a collection of optical wires, plastics, artificial muscles, and alloys than it did an android. There was no skin on the petite form, but I could tell that Cynthia was making another gynoid. This one had a brand new layout, a new design, and was promising to be more complex than I remembered Tera being. As Cynthia worked on the mechanical structure of a hand, a robotic arm from the workstation table was busy integrating the opposite hand to the body with laser accuracy. I looked closer at 262 and realized she was missing more than a few parts, and the only reason I recognized it as 262 was from the black scorch marks that ran across her body. Her head was completely missing, as was her heart still.
"You're not rebuilding her are you?" I asked peering closely at the old body and comparing it to the new one. I must have taken Cynthia by surprise, because she practically jumped out of her chair.
"Oh! Danny! No... no. Angela is gone. That is what we decided to call 262 postmortem. We lost her that day when the electric blast destroyed her mind and many other parts of her. We buried the parts that were 'Angela' outside, where the new statue is. We've even dedicated a line of the new retro gynoids to her honor. The Angela series. No, I'm not rebuilding her" she said sadly. Angela? Seemed like a fitting name, especially after her last words. "I'm working on a new design, salvaged from the remnants of the Evelyn series, to launch the new custom-built android service we will offer. This one here is our first. Evangeline. She's going to be the future face of Pygmalion industries. She's not any more advanced than Tera, but she's a little more streamlined, more durable, and cheaper. And no more of this binding stuff... it just gets too complicated. After all, we aren't selling to the military anymore so we might as well set the price where people can afford it."
"Evangeline? That's a pretty name" I commented.
"Would you like to say 'hi' to her?" Cynthia asked, and starting clicking on buttons before I could even reply. With a hum, power flowed into the still unfinished robot laying on the table. As the hum slowly faded away, the gynoid opened her eyes... sort of. She didn't have eyelids yet, but she did have a mechanism in place for opening and closing her eyes once the skin was attached. She looked around the room, and over to Cynthia.
"Hello mother" she said in a very digitized voice. Her voice came from a speaker in the computer terminal since it was clear she didn't have any lungs yet.
"Good morning Evie" Cynthia replied with a smile.
"But it's after noon" Evie corrected.
"Of course. Good afternoon Evie."
"Good afternoon mother."
"Evie? That's a cute name" I commented to myself. Evie looked over at me and her eyebrows lifted in surprised, or at least what looked like what would become eyebrows.
"Mom! Who's that?" she asked with far more shock in her digital voice than I expected.
"That is Mr. Danny Hawthorn. He's the man I told you about" Cynthia answered.
"Pleased to meet you" I said, refraining from offering her a handshake since her hands were still missing.
"A man? But mom! I'm naked!" Evie complained and tried to move her limbs to cover her body, but they were still incomplete and would only move a little.
Cynthia laughed a little. "Evie, you don't even have any skin yet. Besides, he's going to be a partner here... if-" Cynthia said looking over at me, "you agree." Tom nodded his head, and I did the same. A smile rose on Cynthia's lips as she heard the news.
"Partner? What's that mean?" Evie asked.
"It means he'll help build you, and all the other robots, and help run the company."
"Oh! Um... Hi" Evie said looking down at me again.
"I have to finish working on your systems now honey" Cynthia said. "Rest tight and I'll see you real soon. Okay?"
"Ok. Goodnight mother. Good to meet you Mr. Danny." Cynthia clicked a button or two and Evie closed her eyes and remained still on the table.
"She's really something. You've done a lot in a month" I said, noting to myself how little I did.
"Well... she's a long way away from being finished. I only just got her A.I. running yesterday for tests. If it wasn't for Angela, we wouldn't have gotten as far as we did. Once I've gotten what I can from her body, we'll bury what’s left with the rest of her. It only seems appropriate. I think she would have liked to have known she was integral in building her little sister."
"Yeah. She probably would have" I said. "I only wish I could have known her when she wasn't all... confused and misguided."
"I think she would have liked you" Tom commented.
"Evie isn't going to replace her is she?" I asked, afraid she'd replace both 262- Angela and Tera as well.
"No. We can never replace someone we lose. But we can celebrate her life" Tom said.
"I owe her my life" I added. "She died protecting me and Tera. I promised her I'd take care of her sisters. I hope it's not too late."
"Never!" Cynthia said. "You're here now, and that's what matters."
"Can I really afford the time to help run this place though?" I asked. "I mean, I'm sure you've heard that I got Joan and Annie out of that facility only by agreeing to help them too. I promised I'd protect them, but I haven't even finished rebuilding my suit. I don't think I can dedicate any time to helping you until I've finished that stupid suit."
"I think I can help with that" Jen said from the doorway. She took us by surprise. "The last thing you need is to go back to that dark, smelly, cluttered, dirty, neglected, hell-hole you call your apartment." I felt more and more ashamed with each new descriptive word she added.
"Thanks for the vote of confidence" I muttered.
"No. Really. I think I can help" she added.
"No thanks. I don't want to drag you into this mess I made. It's my suit, I have to finish it."
"And it's my daughter" Tom said. "I'd like to help."
"I-"
"She means the world to us too, Danny" Cynthia added.
"And I think I can help" Jen continued. "All of you really" she said with a smile.
We looked at Jen inquisitively, and she just smiled back. She took a step out of the lab, and we followed her. Jen was keeping a secret herself, and she was dying to let us in on it.
"Annie? Joan?" Jen called out. The two girls showed up moments later, wondering what was going on, just as we caught up with her. The group of us gathered around Jen who stood outside the door to the unfinished room... or at least it had been unfinished when I last was there.
"I think it's time we showed Danny our little surprise for him" Jen said as she stepped aside.
Yes, someone with a lot of pull at the CCD managed to find out about her and tried to steal her away. Jack stopped it by deleting all their data on her and finding her first, before they did. So it took a month to get her back, and once Jack got her, he let Jen in on it, and they arranged the whole reveal, sneaking her back into Tom's lab.