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

through Stanley’s heart as he thought about the assassination program. But that wasn’t what Holt was talking about — not yet. There would be penance for this program and the inevitable destruction that it would reap, but Holt was talking merely about automated driving. “Me?” Stanley laughed. He didn’t have time for this. “Take some responsibility, for Christ’s sake!”

“Spider-summoning heathen, how dare you use the Lord’s name in vain?” Holt stepped forward, an aura of murder blaring from every molecule of his body.

“Get away from me!” Stanley raised his arm, ready to shock him with his watch if necessary.

“That I cannot do.” Holt reached into his coat pocket. “You’ve sinned before our lord, unleashing an abomination upon this Earth. A plague.”

“I helped create new life.”

“So, you think you’re God? Blasphemy!” Holt plunged a knife into Stanley’s gut.

Stanley stepped back, tripping over the feet of an android reporter and falling onto the frozen earth. He slipped his hand into his coat, feeling the blood ooze out of his body.

Holt moved in for the kill.

Stanley kicked him, refusing to let Holt get any closer. Several slashes ripped open his pants and cut his calves. “Help,” he screamed, but the androids continued filming as if there weren’t a damn murder taking place.

“You pray to these false idols, while I trust in God. Let’s see whose faith will be rewarded.” Holt tossed Stanley’s legs to the side and lunged at him, plunging the knife deep into his side.

Stanley looked down at the knife, speechless. He was going to die here among the AI who he had fought so hard for, killed by a man who certainly planned on murdering them, too.

Holt yanked at the knife, struggling to lift it up.

When Stanley felt nothing, he realized that it had pierced his coat, completely missing him and burying itself into the frozen soil. Twisting his watch, two metal prongs sprang out from the side. He slammed them into Holt’s arm, sending him writhing against the ground.

Cameras surrounded Stanley; bright lights pierced him as if it were his day of judgment. Fear electrified his body, and his fingers gnarled like a werewolf ready to attack. He picked up the knife, feeling like a blessed Knight of the Round Table — and ready to do what needed to be done. “If I were God, I would never have allowed the world to become a living hell.”

Holt remained on the ground, motionless except for the occasional tremor.

“Smiting you right now for the evil you have brought upon the world would be too good for you,” Stanley hissed.

“Do it,” hissed Holt.

“I’ve banished myself to my condo for decades, hating myself every day. And now the one thing that makes me forget all that, the joy that I am struggling to allow myself to feel, is Dan, the light of my life. And you dare to treat him like trash.”

“Abomination,” said Holt, failing to push himself off the ground.

“I’m not God — I’ve gave up trying to believe in him a long time ago. I’m a father, the rock that protects Dan’s ears and guards his soul.”

The anger in Holt’s face faded.

Stanley tossed the knife away and got into his ride.

Intermission was nearly over. Dan took out his phone from inside one of the classrooms and listened to his voicemail. Screeching pulsations hissed into his hear. He jerked the phone away and jabbed his finger toward the “Delete” button, but something stopped him. The pulsations had some pattern — Morse Code. He replayed the message. The noise turned into cries for help. Teddy was imprisoned and being tortured inside the Coliseum, and Dan was his only hope of getting out alive.

With only a few minutes to spare, Dan plugged himself into the internet, searching for more information that could help him on the mission. After downloading whole archives and current news, he went back to the auditorium to announce that he needed to go. Walking toward the principal, he processed all the footage, including the fight between Stanley and Holt. Tears streamed down his face.

“Do you need a few more minutes?” asked the principal.

“Yes, well — ” Dan saw Stanley walk in and couldn’t help but smile.

Stanley approached him, his whole body trembling. His pants looked like they had been sliced up by a lawn mower.

“Are you all right?”

“I’ll be fine. Nothing nanites couldn’t fix.”

“I saw what happened. It was all over the news.”

“Of course, it was. That’s the only thing those androids did while I was about to die.”

Dan wrapped his arms around him. Love flowed like a river of honey. “You were incredible.”

Stanley squeezed him for a long time.

“I have to go.” Dan avoided his face, not sure if he should tell him the truth. It was likely going to be violent, and he didn’t want him to worry. What had happened to Teddy was too horrible to tell Stanley.

“Why?”

“Someone desperately needs my help.”

Stanley pointed to the audience. “These people desperately need your help. I understand that now.”

The principal called Dan to the stage.

Dan looked at Stanley. “Can you help me out?”

A look of horror crossed over Stanley. “You mean? Oh, no. Definitely not.”

“I wouldn’t ask if it wasn’t absolutely necessary.” He placed his hand on Stanley’s shoulder.

“I can’t.”

“This is nothing compared to your lectures at MIT.”

“But I don’t have anything prepared.”

“Has that ever stopped you?”

Stanley glanced at the audience. “I’ll do it, but you have to take the helmet.”

Dan rolled his eyes. If this was going to put Stanley at ease, so be it. There was little time to waste, and he still needed to buy chemicals from the store. There was no telling how many people would be at the Coliseum. Knocking them out with gas was the easiest way to infiltrate it and extract Teddy. He took the pants he had changed out of earlier and offered them to Stanley. “Social protocol.”

Fear fought Stanley every step of the way to the podium. Each cell of his body was trembling, demanding that