Stanley Duncan's Robot: Genesis by David III (korean ebook reader .txt) 📕

“You’re pathetic!” Tossing the giant weapon to the side, Brad grabbed him by the throat, lifted him off the ground, and smashed him onto the floor.

Teddy slashed at his arm, but Brad grabbed his wrist and twisted it.

Pinning him to the ground, Brad kicked away the knife. “I didn’t recognize you without the wheelchair.”

Frustration overloaded Teddy’s circuitry as he stared at the blood trickling from the small cut on Brad’s arm and then at his own mangled wrist, wondering how Brad was so strong. “You’ve never recognized me.”

“Why would I? You’re nothing to me, just the son of a whore.” Brad stomped on his leg.

Teddy screamed. Human bones would have already snapped in half. But Teddy’s tough body resisted the force, cursing him with more brutal attacks.

Brad cuffed him to a radiator. “I’m surprised you can feel pain, you damn abomination.”

“Been feeling it all my life, asshole. All because of you.”

“Get it through your thick skull — I’m not your father.”

“Look in the fucking mirror, you giant moron!”

Brad looked dumbstruck.

Teddy filled with anger as he stared at him. The resemblance was impossible to ignore. They both had a small, round nose, short, straight teeth, and thin, furrowed eyebrows that emphasized their narrow, vindictive eyes. Brad’s neck was much larger, which made his head seem bigger. Their large ears curved outward, and the lobules connected at the jawbone.

“You’re going to pay for what you did to Officer Michaels,” said Brad. “He was a good man.”

Teddy jerked his hands around but couldn’t free himself. “No matter what you do to me, I’m coming after you. I won’t stop until you’re dead.”

Brad cackled. “No, you’re going to rot in Marshfield’s Coliseum with the other toasters.” He walked away.

“Come back and fight me!” screamed Teddy, his cuffed hands clanking against the radiator. This wasn’t how things were supposed to be. Brad should not have had the upper hand.

The cuffs banged and clanged against the radiator, which didn’t budge. The carving knife lay on the floor beyond reach. Pulling as hard as he could, he watched the synthetic flesh rip off of his wrist. His biomechanical body was too strong to break. “Maple!”

She sauntered downstairs. “Teddy, you’re injured. Shall I call an ambulance?”

“Break this damn chain!”

Maple returned with a hammer.

The air crackled, and flames burst from the blowtorch in Brad’s hand. “Stop! I’m Sergeant Brad Jenkins of the Marshfield Police Department.”

Maple froze.

“Free me, you idiot.”

“I’m sorry, Teddy. I must comply with all police mandates. My …” Her words slowed.

Brad removed his hand from the back of her head. “No one to save you now, cripple.”

Teddy felt the heat of the blowtorch from several feet away, but there was nothing he could do. Maple had betrayed him in his greatest moment of need.

Insanity spilled across Brad’s face. “Time to purge your sins.”

Dan sat next to Stanley, his posture perfect, hands on his knees, and a bloody Band-Aid on his ear. “We’re safe now.”

“Thank you.”

“So how would you begin to initialize these Peacekeepers?” Dan seemed to have read his mind.

“I want to start by setting up advanced machine life, like you, at the supermarket. Show everyone that they can rely on AI for security just as they do for their coffee or firefighting. I’ll make sure the androids have the right tools to defend themselves if and when Evan strikes.”

“Which he might never do.”

“Be real, Dan. They’ve already attacked both of us. We could have died.”

“What did we do to them to deserve this?”

Stanley shrugged. “Nothing.”

“The androids at the supermarket are ancient. Why do you want to start with them?”

“Because Frank knows people,” continued Stanley. “They trust him. Once they see and understand the benefit of these Peacekeepers, the people of Marshfield would want to help. I could create a simple patch that anyone could apply to their android.”

“Simple for you means near-impossible for most people.”

“I’m not going to ask them to program for years. Just a few lines of code to migrate the cloud APIs to their individual AI.”

“Something even Glenda could do.” Dan chuckled.

Stanley nodded. He hadn’t seen her in a while, and he wondered how she was doing. It’d be nice to have her over for a meal again. “The Peacekeepers will be only a small part of it. Once we can set up a network of AI to protect us, we can start a campaign against the police. Public media, social media — everything. Let them know that it is their job which is going to be replaced next.”

“You’d be pulling the bull by its tail, baiting the police to do something about the androids.”

“Right.”

“Stanley, you’re inviting violence.”

“You’re the one who said that this path wasn’t easy. Conflict was unavoidable.”

A soothing gong sound emanated from the oven; the potato skins were ready. Dan took them out and put them on the counter. Steam wafted toward his frowning face. “So, we do this, and then what? File a lawsuit after Evan burns the building down?”

“The androids would be able to defend themselves,” said Stanley.

“But you would be giving life to them only to wage war. What sort of life is that?”

Stanley didn’t have an answer.

Dan brought the potato skins over on a dish and prepared some tea. It steeped while they sat in silence for a long while.

Stanley sipped the tea — cold. He gobbled down half of the potato skins. “I want you to start wearing the watch or carrying a different weapon. You need to protect yourself.”

“You wear the watch, Stanley. I don’t need it. I’m a weapon. I can protect myself.” Dan’s voice was serious.

Stanley sighed. He couldn’t understand why Dan was being so stubborn. “Do you realize how worried I get when you go out on your own?”

“What more do you want?” Dan’s face reddened. “I’m not going to carry a gun. I’m not an assassin. I’m not trying to kill or intimidate people. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone — if possible. Man, machine; flesh, metal.”

In those words,