Forever Friends

“Isn’t that her?” A man dressed far too lavishly for a café, whispers to his casually dressed friend. He’s referring to the beautiful young woman sitting alone across the way, with light skin that compliments her narrow green eyes. In contrast, her chestnut hair, down the middle of her back and her exotic features stand out, making it so that one can’t help but notice her, even behind unflattering glasses and rather plain clothing. “Diana Carmike, that’s her.”

“Yea, it is. So, knowing that, don’t even try it dude. She’s way too good for you. Besides, her droid would probably blast you away before you could even get within her line of sight.”

“Nonsense! If there’s anyone in this country who’s worthy of her, it’d be me. I’m the son of the largest food chain in it. That’s something we already have in common. We’re both heirs to a multi-million-dollar company. As for her droid, well, he’s not here today, so I’m in the clear. Wish me luck Mikey.” The man confidently struts towards her, his friend simply shrugging.

Diana focuses intently on the piece of complicated code that’s been plaguing her for over two days, but she’s painfully aware that the man who’d been staring for the last twenty minutes was approaching her. Here we go, she thinks as she carries on with her work, giving nothing away. No doubt it’s not a coincidence he makes a move the day she tells Clyde to stay home.

“Good day to you Miss Carmike, it’s such a fortunate day that I would have the honor of meeting you here today. Would you mind if I sit with you a while?” He speaks formally.

“Actually, I’m a bit busy so-,” she starts. However, he sits in the chair across from her before she can complete her response. She sighs, but ultimately settles on a simple, “Sure.”

He continues looking at her, waiting for her to say something more, but she doesn’t.

Finally, he says, “So, perhaps we could chat a bit? Oh, let me introduce myself, I’m-.”

“Garret Dandy, son of Hansel and Morgana Dandy, the CEO’s of the mega successful Dandy Food Line. You’ve got your Dandy Chicken chain, Dandy Fresh Wholefoods, Dandy Mart and most recently you’ve entered the online merchant market with Dandy Now. I know who you are Mr. Dandy and while I respect your family for their hard work and success, I can’t say I want anything to do with your cruelty toward the droid population. Surely you understand.”

Garret is rendered speechless at her frank and through assessment of him. “I’m flattered that you know so much about me, but I think you’ve got my feelings towards the droids very wrong. I don’t feel that they deserve to be mistreated, but I do think they should stay in their lane. They are not humans, no matter how much they appear as such and so they shouldn’t be pushing for equal rights as humans. They were made to enrich the lives of the humans they serve and make them better people. They live to better humanity, not join it and not surpass it.”

Diana finally stops typing and looks at him seriously, her lips in a slight frown. “I see you’re on the side of the Humanists then. The group who believe the FFs are only as good as they can serve their masters and should be happy enough to work under them. The group who are disgusted at the very thought of sharing the dinner table with them, rather than being served dinner by them. Those who mistake them as their personal slaves, rather than their lifetime companions. The very existence of that group makes me sick and hearing you say those things makes me sicker because you remind me of someone, I wish I never had to know.”

“Oh my, I see I’ve elicited a rather strong reaction from you. I can’t say I dislike it though; your feistiness.” He winks and she rolls her eyes. “Shall I ask who that might be?”

“My Mother.” She spits the word, as though uttering it soils her tongue.

“That doesn’t sound like something Tessa Carmike would believe. It’s impossible.”

“Not my Mommy you fool, I said my Mother! My Mom would never say such things.”

“Oh, you meant Lena. My apologies, I should’ve realized sooner. I never imagined you could hate one parent so much but love the other unconditionally. Why do you hate her?”

“That’s frankly none of your business! If you must have an answer however, let it be the fact that she shares your sentiments about FFs never having the audacity to want human rights, because they are plain and simply not human. She even makes them call her Master.”

“Well, she is their master. Why should she not demand they respect her as such?”

“That’s the key word, DEMAND. She demands it of them and so there is this notion of inferiority between them and her. They respect her out of fear of her wrath, not because they are grateful to her for helping them exist. Not like my Mom, who they adore and respect as well. They probably respect her even more than Lena. That’s not because she demands it of them, she earns it. She makes them feel like they deserve to be respected too and aren’t just tools towards an end goal. She talks to them, engages them, and just all around treats them like they are on the same level as she is, rather than make them feel inferior. The FFs know they are not human, and they are not trying to be. They are content making their partners happy, but they also want to have the same opportunities afforded to them. They want to be able to attend school and get a job and have aspirations just like a human would. They don’t want to be human; they want to FEEL human. That’s what my Mom aspires to accomplish now. A full integration, such that the FFs will be seen as independent lives deserving of dreams and opportunities too. That they can be assigned to a partner and enrich their lives for the better, while also having their lives enriched in return and truly building memories as a partnership. Soulmates. That’s what it comes down to.”

“Soulmates? Isn’t that a bit naïve? That’s like a super rare phenomenon that happens to like one percent of people in the world. I don’t get the impression that your Mother is that idealistic. She strikes me more as a realist, if I’m being frank. How did they get together?”

“Maybe it’s a bit naïve, but it’s still her dream and what drives her to keep going forward. She almost walked away from it all on that day; the day where she was pressured to agree to Lena and Simon’s neural link add on. She never wanted such an unnatural link to exist between FFs and their partner, but her hands were tied and it as all because of me.” She looks momentarily regretful, but then continues. “Deemed to be too unstable without monitoring, all FF pairings that came after the initial test subjects had the links installed. A small device was implanted in the brainstem of the human children and this became linked to the FFs brain center, such that they could hear every thought as if spoken aloud, they can see what they see and they can remotely influence their behavior just by sending an invisible impulse that will transmit to the device and send neural messages to whatever relevant part of the human brain necessary to produce an action or state. In simple terms, it’s nothing short of mind control. It’s a dangerous system, because all FFs are monitored by our lab technicians and so they can essentially program them to do what they will and the FFs in turn transmit that to their partners. The new president naturally was in favor of this, as total control is what she wants. She feels this is the only sure way to control humans and I fear for what’s coming. So, does my Mom, but we’re powerless.”

“Let me guess, your Mother supports this plan along with the president, doesn’t she?”

“No, she doesn’t actually. She’s on the side of the Humanists, but even she cannot support such a dictatorship. She and my Mom have been able to negotiate that while possible, such extreme measure should only be used when there is no other possible solution or if the violence gets out of hand. Thus far, no revolts have occurred and so there is a delicate peace.”

“Well, even I have to say that I don’t like the idea of being controlled by the government, so I’m not too fond of our President either. I’d much prefer if we could control the droids instead of them controlling us. Right now, they have far too much power over us.”

“Well, naturally a Humanists like yourself would think that, but they really don’t. They can only receive those signals from their partner, but to transmit messages to them and trigger any sort of action, they need a remote override from a technician. Every FF has an assigned technician. They are the ones that perform all maintenance on them, update their systems and manage them. If they wish to transmit a command to their partner, the FFs must first request an override from their technician, who if given, will unlock the FFs ability to influence their partner’s behavior for a limited time and once the issue has been resolved, they lock it back.”

“Well, I still don’t like it. Anyway, I guess I may be a Humanists, but should I take your disgust to mean you are a Droidists? I won’t think any less of you by the way, just curious.”

“Uh no, that’d be the President. Droidists think that droids are superior and should rule over humanity since they cannot effectively rule themselves. There’s a rumor that she may be a Droid herself. I don’t know if I believe that to be true, but I can at least assure you she’s not one of ours. All previous droid models made by others in the past were supposedly dismantled, but there are urban myths in the tech world that suggest that a secret sect of droids from the old world have been living in secret and are plotting to take over the world. Sounds like a bad sci-fi flick to me. The point is, that’s not me or anyone in my family for that matter. I am an Equalist. Like my Mom, I believe that we can live in a world where we can have the FFs as our lifelong partners, while allowing them to feel like they have equal standing in our society such that no one must call attention to the fact that they are droids. That we can have that perfect kind of partnership, like that of soulmates, where we don’t need a neural link to know each other fully.”

“I’m sorry, but that sounds extremely naïve and idealistic. There’s no way that’s possible. Show me just one example of a FF and Human partnership that exists in this manner and I’ll shut my mouth on the subject completely.” His face is full of skepticism.

“You’re looking at one, well half of it anyway.” Her expression is smug. “Clyde and I.”

“Clyde? Oh, that’s your droid, I’d forgotten. He’s not here today, so it slipped my mind. Anyway, you’re saying you and he have this kind of relationship? Well, that’s from a link, right?”

“No. Clyde and I are not linked and never will be. My Mom would never allow it and even if she’d had, I’d have refused it with all my might. I love Clyde and he loves me simply because we’ve always been together. He was there with me even when my parents had abandoned me. I remember being one-year old in the orphanage and getting a present in the mail. It didn’t say who it was from, but inside this big box was Clyde. He even came with a personal technician to calibrate him and make him fully functional. He was only an inch taller than me, but he otherwise appeared to be the same. I honestly thought he was a human until I saw the tech open up his brain. To be honest I feared him at first, but then after a few days of him acting no different than I did, I realized he wasn’t scary at all. In fact, he was kind of a scaredy cat himself, and very introverted. Even once I’d warmed up to him, he wouldn’t join me in playing with the other kids. He kept to himself and so we only played when we were alone. Even when the other kids came and went or turned their back on me or called me a freak, ultimately all abandoning me and leaving me alone as well, Clyde was always there. He was my companion, my friend, my later lover, my everything. It’s always been me and him and even when others tried to come between us, our bond prevailed over it all. We know each other inside and out, but we didn’t need a stupid chip in our heads to do it. We were just always together, such that I doubt we’d ever be able to live without each other again. We are soulmates. So, it’s very possible.”

“Wait, so hold on a sec, what do you mean your parents abandoned you? You’re with them now though? Clearly, they were the ones who sent you Clyde as well, so how…?”

“Yea, I’m with them now, but I wasn’t always. I was born about a year after they were successful in making Simon. He even told me I was likely conceived on his birthday, which is a bit creepy, but whatever. Anyway, needless to say, they never thought I’d be possible, yet a couple months later, my Mother was puking her brains out and seven months after that, she gave birth to me. My Mom wanted to keep me more than anything, but my Mother refused. She pulled rank, saying as she had to endure the suffering for those nine months, she should have the right to dictate what happens next and as I’m sure is no surprise to anyone who’s met her, she doesn’t like kids, let alone people, so I never had a chance. My Mom wasn’t strong enough to fight it. I don’t blame her anymore, because I learned how ruthless my Mother could be firsthand when the truth came out on that day. The day that everything changed, and I became a murderer.”

“So, you’re saying that they gave you up and sent you to that orphanage and a year after sent you Clyde? Why? If they didn’t want you, then why would they send you such a gift?”

“Not they, Mom. She couldn’t fight my Mother, but she could watch me from afar. She apparently was always watching me. I realized later that I’d even seen glimpses of her during the open houses of adoption, but I never paid her much mind and she never got too close. She later told me that Clyde was her penance for allowing me to be left all alone. They were starting the first batch of trials with childhood paired FFs and she secretly made me one of the subjects. Four years later, when I was five, I was told that Clyde and I were going to a new home. However, while we expected a traditional home, it ended up being the home made for us in the lab, where we joined the other subjects. One pair were like Clyde and I, while the other pair were both humans. They were the control group essentially, and then us two experimental groups.”

“Wait, so you were one of those pairs of kids? The ones who took part in that demonstration. That means you’re only twenty-five now. I thought you were older.”

“Geez, thanks. Yes, I’m twenty-five and you’re twenty-nine. Is that really major?”

“Well, no obviously. I like my girls’ younger.” He sees her raise an eyebrow. “Of legal age, of course! I’m not that much of a creep. Anyway, that was a big deal twenty years ago.”

“It was, but sadly it was deemed a failure due to the instability of the subjects.”

“How so? Clearly, it wasn’t so much a failure that they canceled the trials.”

“No, they certainly had no plans to cancel them and even when my Mom had contemplated leaving, it was short lived, as she felt an obligation to see it through since she started it all. I just mean our initial trial as the first subjects was deemed a failure and so they started over with new kids, now fitted with the neural devices and perfected them going forward. We failed because all the pairs self-destructed. Like a chain reaction, Leo, the human of the other pair, attacked Clyde in a fit of jealousy and this lead to me stabbing him with the knife he intended using on Clyde. Naturally, with such a young, fragile body, he died, and I was traumatized by what I’d done, even though I knew what I was doing all the while. Leo’s partner came to resent me for taking away her companion, and tried to attack me in return, but Clyde attacked her too in defense of me and they both ended up pretty damaged in the end. The final pair, who were both human, resented both Clyde and I for maiming the ones they loved, even though they were never theirs’s to have and came to resent the entire program as a whole.”

“My lord, that’s a lot of intense drama for five-year old’s. It’s not impossible I suppose though. So, what happened to everyone in the end? Are both Leo and his partner dead? Did the other pair get sent away somewhere else? Give me the details! I need to know now.”

“Honestly, none of us really knew what love was at that point. We were five; like you said. It was more of a possessive feeling. Like how you can sometimes become fixated on someone who was nice to you or you feel a connection to just because they were the first ones who appeared before you and you befriend. You consider that friend special and so if anyone else shows interest in that friend, you don’t like it. That’s how it was for us, I think. Leo became fixated on me for whatever reason and saw Clyde as the only thing keeping me from being his exclusive friend and so when I refused him that day when he expressed his desire to be my only friend, he went into a jealous rage and attacked Clyde later. Clyde was special to me, so naturally I couldn’t let him harm him no matter if I saw him as my friend or not. Ultimately, it was like a battle royal for our favorite toys that someone else tried to or did take.

“As for what happened, we were all to be sent away. Leo was dead, his partner was damaged, so she was taken for repair, but no one’s heard from her since, so she was likely dismantled being she had no partner anyway. The human pair were sent back to an orphanage, but I heard they apparently ran away a few years later and were never found. Clyde and I were also destined to be sent back to that orphanage, but in a shocking twist, we were told we’d be living with the Carmike’s from then on. We didn’t understand it then, but when I was fourteen, they finally told us the truth and revealed their identities as my parents. Naturally, I didn’t take it well and ran away with Clyde. We wandered for two years, until ending up in Granbul’s area. We had a rather unpleasant encounter there and I got dangerously close to finally ending my life that night, after threatening to do so several times before, but then Clyde and I had a heart to heart and that along with the words of a good, wise man, I decided we had to go home and face our troubles head on. We would become better than we were back then and make a difference in this world. Nine years later, we’re doing just that, working in the lab with my mom.”

“Wow, that’s quite an amazing story. It seems like you patched things up with your mom at least and maybe found some commonplace with you Mother, but I wonder why she’d allow you to stay that time rather than send you back. What changed from the first time to then?”

“They never told me that, but I have a theory. That was the same time my mother and Simon had first proposed the links, where mom initially refused. Once all that tragedy went down, she may have been under pressure yes, but I think she also gave in with a compromise. She’d agree to the links if my mother agreed to let me stay with them from then on. That’s the only thing that makes sense, as my mother is not a kind woman and she doesn’t feel regret. She’s never liked me from the day I was conceived, and I’m not convinced she does even now. However, there’s no denying that she loves my mom and if there was any chance of losing her that time, she couldn’t let it happen. So, she gave her the only thing she could to make her stay. That’s what I’m choosing to believe. It’s the only way I can have even the slightest bit of respect for my Mother. I don’t like her, and she doesn’t like me, but we love each other for Mom.”

“Wow, that’s some serious family drama right there. Anyway, I’ve got just one more question for you. What happened with that human pair? Were they really never found?”

“Not that anyone has heard of, but bodies were not found either, so there’s no knowing if they’re dead or alive. I’d like to believe they’re alive, but I don’t know if I believe two eight-year-old kids could make it on their own in this world. I’ll choose to believe in them though.”

“Wow, all this talk of Droidists, Humanists, Equalists and the past was intense. All we missed was discussing the Revolutionists. Though they are all but wiped out at this point. Anyway, about the prospect of you and I going on a date, how about I take you-.”

Diana holds up a finger and with a smug smile says, “Sorry, but I’m taken,” as she exits.