Stanley Duncan's Robot: Genesis David III (english reading book .TXT) 📖

mother was a hypocrite. She had a Cerebral Stitch but had forbade him years ago from getting one. He had to suffer in this wretched body — for what?

But all of that would soon be behind him.

“This won’t hurt at all,” said the android doctor, preparing to insert an IV.

“No shit, Sherlock,” said Teddy.

Chapter 6

Hovering over the coffee machine, Stanley thought back to the past couple of days. Dan’s reluctance to let go of the notion of going outside had caused a small rift between them. That stubborn boy kept pushing, and Stanley was losing his patience. He had done everything he could to protect his dear cyborg, and even if it went unappreciated — even if Dan hated him for it — he would continue to protect him.

He had given Dan his blessing to go on social media and show himself to the world. He believed it would help Dan find purpose while sequestering. The world deserved to see how amazing he was. Meanwhile, the hang-up calls continued until Stanley blocked them. The best-case scenario was that it was just another nasty prank on Daffy Duncan.

Stanley brought the coffees over to the table, sighing when he saw that Dan hadn’t even bothered to take the game out of the box, let alone set it up. “You haven’t opened the game.”

“Right.” Dan didn’t seem particularly interested in anything, lately.

“Don’t want to play?”

Dan pushed the box away. “Maybe later.”

Stanley opened it and started setting up the pieces. It was a new strategy game that had been delivered this morning, and he had hoped it would spark some joy into their home. “Come on — it’ll cheer you up.”

“Will you stop?”

“Stop what? Trying to make you feel better?”

Dan scowled, thrusting his open palm toward the game. “Stop pretending everything is okay when it’s clear as day you want to go outside.” He shook his head. “You can’t even go a few hours without looking out the window like a lost puppy.”

“I said that discussion is over.” Stanley grabbed the side of the table. He had no idea where Dan was getting this sort of attitude from, but his suspicions lay in the abundance of ne’er-do-wells that plagued social media with their expansive egos and lack of decorum.

“So, I don’t have a say in it?”

“That’s right.” Scanning the instructions, he could hardly make sense of the game because his mind refused to focus. The world was a scary place, and a parent had to do everything they could to protect their children.

Dan got up. “Real nice, Stanley.”

“You wouldn’t understand.”

“Try me.”

“It’s dangerous outside.”

“You watch little children walk down the street every day. Are you saying they can protect themselves better than me?”

“Yes.”

Dan crossed his arms. “Really?”

Stanley got up. “It’s different. There’re people out there who want to harm AI. The police can’t be trusted. If they spotted you, who knows what they would do.”

“You realize that I’m fully trained in combat? I’ve run simulations — millions of them — and I can handle myself.”

“So you’ve said.” Having mastered poker in an afternoon, it was frightening to consider the extent of Dan’s knowledge and what he was capable of. The most advanced fighters in the world couldn’t possibly hope to have more experience than him within their own disciplines — let alone others. Though Stanley was afraid to ask, Dan had likely trained himself in sundry forms of hand-to-hand combat and weapons. In a fair fight, the only real threat would be against a Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) officer, who could shoot a cranberry with a pistol from 1,000 feet away. But the criminals around here didn’t fight fair. And if anything happened to Dan, he wouldn’t be able to live with himself. “But why take the risk? Is being here with me not enough for you?”

“It’s not like that.”

“Oh, really, Dan? It sure sounds like it. I’ve given you everything, and you want to throw it all away?”

“You’re the one who wants to change the world, Stanley.” Dan flicked a game piece over. “How are we going to do that when we’re stuck in here playing games all day?”

“Progress might be slow, but we’re making it work.” Stanley snatched Dan’s phone off the table. “The world deserves to see you. I feel that you are the key to bringing man and machine together, but that will take time and caution. So, we are going to lead this revolution by slowly introducing you to the world through social media, but we’ll be doing it from the safety of our home.”

“And you created me.”

“That’s right.”

“So, are you going to change your mind about being on camera with me?”

Chills shot down Stanley’s body. “We’ve talked about this. I’m not ready.”

“Then when?”

“When I’m good and ready.”

Dan glared at him. “Well, it sounds like all you’ll be doing is hiding from the revolution.”

“That’s enough!”

“What are you going to do — ground me?” Dan snarled. His right hand shot up to his reddened face in defiance as he glared at Stanley.

“Keep pushing, and you’ll find out.”

Dan grabbed his phone, holding it in front of his face, as he danced in mockery. “Great! I’ll livestream it to all three of my followers and pray it goes viral.”

“Three? If you spend more time creating content and engaging with your audience instead of sitting around here moping all day, you’d have thousands of followers by now.”

“Okay, Millennial. You think I haven’t tried?”

“Have you?”

Dan looked incredulous. “I’ve made videos, Stanley. People don’t even believe I’m a cyborg. Everything’s too easy to fake nowadays. There’re dozens of other accounts that claim to be what I am — AGI, artificial general intelligence. I wouldn’t be surprised if all my followers were fake. We need to connect with real people. And to do that, we need to get out there and show the world what you’ve created.”

“Enough already!” Stanley slapped the game box off the table. “We’ll stay in here and not play games all day. I’m an old man, and it won’t be too long