Steam rose from the water around here, that’s how polluted it got the closer you went to the city. It saw me before I saw it, I know that much. It was robotic, but had something terrifyingly human about it. It scanned me from way back, I could tell by the way it walked, with trepidation, the range they had these days. The range they had could spot anything. It adjusted its gait to a friendly stupor as it rose to the flat of the hill, dust circling around its feet, the pink and blue neon of a city well passed, still blurry off in the dark navy horizon. It greeted me with the company music then an eerily real hello sir. I didn’t answer, I just kept looking at the floating blue and pink of the city, a light that seemed to hang above it constantly. I could see it in the corner of me eye, changing its lubricant, the smell sweet. I could hear the exonis advert as the case opened to change its coolant.
Then the whisper of exonis when the cooling port closed. I looked back at the city, it looked ghostly. I scratched a cut on me arm from yesterday. It tried to make small talk, was the journey comfortable today sir, it said in that voice, that voice that made me shiver. You talk a lot for a Chinese model, I said. Lord no sir, it replied, I’m not a Chinese model, I’m Tokyo built and raised. And you sir, were where you built? I wasn’t built, I replied sharply, I was born.
My deepest apologies sir for any offence caused, I just scanned the area from a distance and detected metal movement through your silhouette, there was definitely no breach of privacy standards intended.
It’s an implant, I said, it blew off in the war, I got a metal one, alloy they said, there’s a gel in it, it feels real, except in the morning, sometimes I can’t feel me fingertips.
The war sir, I’m deeply sorry for your trouble.
Yeah, I replied. Well it was courtesy of one of your boys handy work, those 8R54 models have some firepower.
I’m sure they do sir, but I’m not a Chinese model, I was built and raised in Tokyo. A silence filled the space for a moment. Yeah, you told me, I replied. I heard the exonis music once more, And I could see it taking out metal disks from a sliding contraption that extended from it’s chest. It closed and whispered exonis.
Travelling alone sir?
I am, I said. Would you like some company on your journey sir? I didn’t reply. It went back to whatever it was doing with it’s metal plates. I looked at the city again, then spat up a glob of dark phlegm, it’s the city, the closer you got the worse you felt. I looked back at it, it was faceless, just bare circuits where its face should have been, two bulbous eye glanced back at me as if embarrassed. Then it placed one of the metal disks over where its face once was. Exonis whispered once more. Can you knock that fucking thing off, I said. It lifted its head and looked back at me with a new, somehow kinder more empathetic face. It placed its old face, back with the other disks, then slid them back in the compartment of it’s chest. Exonis whispered as it closed, Jesus Christ, can you not switch that off.
Unfortunately I can’t sir, under the regulation of the Japanese bi product and Tokyo.
Yeah I know, I cut in, built and raised in Tokyo and all that crap. There was silence again.
And you sir? Where are you from sir, if it isn’t too much trouble in asking.
I’m from the West, I said, where the rain is pure, not like this dump. Of course sir, it mumbled in agreement, it’s volume perfectly timed for the rhythm of the conversation. These new models got closer to the real thing every year. I could sense it scanning me, even if I didn’t hear the click they used to have when they did it years ago. I lit a cigarette, the Chinese ones, it tasted awful at first, but beggars can’t be choosers, but when the nicotine finally kicked in it was OK. And it was quiet, and I looked back at the blue and pink neon that always seems to float over the city. And the silence was beautiful, you could almost be in the middle of nowhere if it wasn’t for some distant rattle of an engine on some forgotten industrial estate.
Sir?
What is it now I said, Jesus Christ doesn’t your model ever shut up.
My apologise sir for interrupting your cigarette and thoughtful contemplation, but my scan shows that the small cut on your right arm is infected. Would you mind if I treated it with a medical disinfectant?
Scanned me did you? It didn’t reply. I looked at my arm, the scratch was looking bigger, redder and nastier. OK, I said, it took out a tiny disinfectant kit, which slipped out of a metal clip from its knee, then rattled its way over.
Don’t try any funny business, I said, I’m not sure what you mean sir, it replied.
It began to clean the cut, then dressed it with lightning quick with it’s long metal fingers. An exonis whisper echoed gently as it closed the small box back into it’s knee. I sighed. Thanks, I said. He looked at me, would you be interested in me accompanying you to your next destination sir? I took a last drag from my cigarette, then ran my foot over it, the ash left a black streak in the dusty ground. OK, I said, but it’s along distance, maybe two days, I’m going to the sierra, in the northern province. He took out a disk from his chest and slipped on a face that gave a distinct impression of what looked like determination. The exonis advert whispered as the discs slid back into his chest. I didn’t complain, what’s your name by the way, I asked.
Why I’m 11PATX5i sir. And you sir, what is your name?
We’ll call you Paddy, I replied.
DoubleSpeak 