Chapter 10

Of all the things that he could have told me, I never even suspected that to be even in contention. I started to completely and flat-out assume that this was some sort of twisted, sick joke. How can a robot have DNA? “Wh… How…?” I couldn’t even talk, too stunned to think.

I saw tears streaking his face. “Travis, please say something. Are you mad? Hurt? Happy? I-I need any kind of emotional response from you in order to proceed. You’ve blanked yourself to me. I-I… I can’t read your state right now.”

I gulped. I stared into his eyes as I felt an emotion rise to the surface that felt horrible. It burned within me as it fought to the last inside my mind. It pushed all other thoughts aside and demanded that I acknowledge that it existed, that it had a right to be. My heart tried valiantly to tell me that this was just a misunderstanding, but those pleas paled to the might that was this new emotion.

Betrayal.

I never felt such an intense, painful emotion. And it wasn’t even just Riley that betrayed me. It seems as if my very parents betrayed me, forced my first time with anyone to be… sullied. I was used for a purpose that wasn’t revealed to me as of yet. And it made me feel… dirty. Slutty. And combined with a fresh jag of remembering Jesse with a collar around his neck almost was too much for me. I felt the walls of the vent pressing into me tightly.

“Tr-Travis?” Riley tried again. Slowly I pulled my hand from his. His breathing hitched.

“I… I-I need… to be alone right now.”

“But Tr–”

“Go away!” I shouted, my voice echoing all around us. “Have all I ever been to you was just a walking penis?! That I’m defined by my sex organs?!” My anger merged with that sense of betrayal and poured out of me like a searing wind. “How dare both you and my parents assume that I couldn’t be trusted with even a fraction of the truth! That this all was some sort of master plan to get my parents to have grandkids! Just… go! Leave me alone!”

With tears pouring from his face, Riley just nodded once and turned around. He faded from sight shortly after, not even attempting to defend what happened between us and the meddling my parents had in my life. First they designed Riley to be my boyfriend, my life partner and now, even from the dance with death wherever they are, still thought I was a mere child to them. I’m just about fourteen, damn it! I should have some say in my life at this point, some input without things playing out for me!

I brooded the rest of the way to the orphanage, no thoughts of Riley crossing my mind since he left my side. Even with my anger slightly clouding my thinking, I managed to push the grate out of the way and slip into the room. The first thing I noticed was how quiet the room was, giving off an eerie vibe. Dozens of boys ranging from as young as six and as old as eighteen lay on beds, their eyes all open and unmoving. I needed to get the control device fast and get out. And I needed to find Jesse, to make sure he was safe.

The first thing I found in the room sat upon the front desk facing the main doors. There was a fine layer of dust on it, not having been used since the collars became a means to an end. What that end was still wasn’t clear to anyone. Sure we all knew the matron and Shelby used them to subdue and placate the kids, but… what if they had something far worse in mind for them? I shuddered at the thought and pushed it to the side – I needed to work on my task.

I picked up the broken collar, it having been shorted out somehow. I felt fear and trepidation even just touching the frazzled device. Even with those feelings I took it in case it was needed. Maybe it would be helpful to analyze a real device and not try to guess based on replicator plans. I moved around the room and scanned each bed for my brother as I worked further and further towards what I guessed to be the matron’s office with no luck. I sighed and focused on the main task at hand. If the control device had to be anywhere it’d be there.

I entered the space and saw nothing of note right away. Blank walls stared back at me and it instantly made me think of the boys all the same way lying out in the other room. Bleak, featureless. I shook my head again as I tried to find the purpose of my visit. As much as I wanted to find my brother, right now it was more important to ensure his safety by taking control of all the kids with the device.

I scoured her desk and seemed to come up empty-handed. My search moved me to the night stand next to her bed. At first I saw nothing but I heard a small click when I bumped into something that I thought was a part of the piece of furniture. I glanced around and saw above her headboard a small opening appeared. A box sat within. I carefully picked it up and pulled it to me. With trembling hands I opened the box.

The device lay inside.

“Who the hell are you?!”

The shrill voice startled me and almost made me lose the control device. I caught it in the air and spun around. Staring at me with hateful, evil eyes was the matron. Her long, stringy hair sat limply on her shoulders. She took a step towards me menacingly and a few of her joints cracked and popped with the motion. I quickly studied the device in my hand and saw that it was thought-controlled. I pressed it to my forehead.

Come into the office and subdue, but not hurt or kill, the matron.

Surprisingly, I heard commotion coming from behind the witch. She glanced behind her and swiveled back to me. “I’ll kill you for ruining my plans!” She tried to lunge for me but a small hand stopped her enough for other stronger hands to grab a hold of her. It took little time for the myriad of hands to tie her to a post in her office. I glanced at the faces that surrounded me passively. None of them I recognized right away. I slumped a bit before I thought I could try something else.

Jesse Hartwell, come to me.

I held my breath the moment the sea of bodies parted and my shell of a brother stepped forward. Fumbling with the device, I wasn’t sure if I could safely remove the collars or even deactivate them without triggering the detonation portion. As the anguish ripped through me, I commanded the others to watch the matron while I told Jesse to come with me. I wanted him close by. He had to stay near me to try and ease the pain I felt growing in my heart. Now that I had both my brother and the control device, the betrayal I felt from my parents struck my heart anew. Riley played his part in that betrayal too.

I tried my best not to think about it as I climbed back into the grate, Jesse following blindly behind me. The urge to rip off the collar from around his neck was strong, very strong. But I wasn’t quite sure what would happen if I just physically removed it, nor did I know if he had one of the newer versions that might burn him to death or at the very least disfigure him permanently. Either way I didn’t want to risk it so I left it be. I just hope that Jesse can forgive me if he is aware but just not in control of his body. For his sake, I hope the new collar – if he has it – suppresses him into an unconscious state so he won’t have the trauma from this whole ordeal.

I arrived back in the medical bay to find the main doors open and Hanson, Winchester, and Dawson missing from the room. Presumably to go arrest Shelby before he can do any more harm. I almost left, wanting to head down to Julian’s quarters to have his help in analyzing the collars for safe removal but I saw the doctor’s comm panel active with a stored message. I played it.

“Travis, if you’re seeing this, then you were successful and freed us to take care of the station. We hope for the children’s sake that you have the control device – it’s crucial to our plan that you do. In case someone else is listening to this, we won’t divulge that plan, but suffice it to say you’re on your own in trying to remove the collars.” The face of Dawson looked kindly back at me. “I know you’re a smart boy and that you’ll be able to draft some help in that endeavor. Good luck and we’ll all see you soon.” The message terminated but then the panel turned back on and another face appeared once Dawson’s faded away.

Riley.

For a moment, I didn’t want to hear what he had to say. But as much as I wanted to leave, to help my brother out, something held me to the spot. Maybe some part of me had to hear him out, just to see if, just maybe, I was wrong about him. I wanted to be. I really did – even with the bitter taste of deceit still in my mouth I hoped this message might wash that taste away.

“Travis. Please, whatever you do, don’t ignore this message. After you hear me out, I’ll accept whatever judgement you come to. All I ask is that you give me this chance to explain a few things as best as I can.” Riley shifted around on the monitor, looking just as nervous as he did when he told me… told me that I was to be a father. “You see,” he continued when his nerves came back, “it never was my intention to hurt you. I mean that. But, given a few things I found out just by studying your DNA, we all assumed that this would be… a joyous occasion. I saw the markers that denote empathy, compassion, and even patience – the hallmarks of being a great parent. Sure, you’re only thirteen, almost fourteen, but there was a time when that was the norm – being a parent at that age.” Riley stopped talking for a second, shook his head, and stared straight into my eyes. “Travis, please. Give me another chance to redeem myself to you. I’m sorry. And… if I can find a way, I’ll change my programming so that I only heed to your wishes. You mean that much to me. I hate this rift between us. I love you and if you can forgive me, I want you back.”

I stood there, only slightly moved by what he said. The remnants of my anger sparked a bit but not as hotly as they did earlier. I knew I still loved him too, but was I ready to forgive him so soon? About lying and covering up his ability to become pregnant, bearing my child… My child. That actually would take more thought. Would I want this baby to grow up in only Riley’s presence? Did I want to be a father so soon?

Julian studied the collar around Jesse’s neck intensely as I poured over the replicator specs I managed to snag before leaving the doc’s office – I think they left them for me to find as it was rather easy. Both of us had been at it for at least an hour; I couldn’t track down just how the collar might erupt with its energy supply to cause the burns while Julian couldn’t find a safe way to disengage the release. Julian seemed just as distracted as I felt but I didn’t want to press the issue – I really dreaded the moment he asked me where Riley was.

“I think we need to take a break here,” Julian said as he sat down in a nearby chair. “I just can’t seem to focus right now.”

“Anything you want to share with me?” I asked him. I still paged through the specs, hoping to glean something of note. “I mean, I totally understand if you don’t–”

Suddenly he was back on his feet. “I’m just so… afraid that I’m going to hurt your brother if I do the slightest thing wrong! And… I-I can’t…” I lifted my head. Julian swallowed as he looked at me. I saw a bit of apprehension on his face mixed with some guilt.

“You like him… don’t you?” I said quietly. “You don’t want to hurt him because you actually like my brother.”

Julian turned away. “Maybe I-I do. But I know you brought him to me so we can figure out these collars and get it off him. But like I said… I’m just too scared to accidentally hurt him.”

“Julian.” He turned to me. “It’s okay. I get it. And just so you know, I’m okay with it if Jesse also agrees. But first, we need to save him so you can find out. Okay? I can’t speak for him but I’d like to think that a bit of pain is worth the effort to get him back to normal.”

Julian shook his head. “Okay. Okay, I think I can do this. Thanks Travis.” Julian picked up a scanner and started analyzing the collar again. “By the way… where’s Riley?”

I froze. I dreaded the question and knew it was coming the moment we got off of talking about Julian and Jesse. What should I tell him? The truth? Or try and make something up, like he’s just busy elsewhere? I knew I had to offer the truth – maybe he could help me with my dilemma. I sighed as I told him what happened between us, trying to keep as neutral a tone as possible. Julian kept on working having traded the scanner for a lateral arc spanner.

“I think you were a little hard on him, Trav,” he said as he used his tool to carefully pick at the collar. “I mean, look at it from his point of view. There he is, trying to tell you that he couldn’t really help it and come clean to you and you just tell him to fuck off.” The sound of metal scraping against metal stopped as Julian looked at me. “If I knew you weren’t confused and hurt a little bit right now, I’d tell you to fuck off and go find him right now and apologize for being an asshole.”

“Me?! I’m the asshole?!” I shouted. “How can you say that?!”

“Look. For as much as he appears to be and acts like a human, he’s not. He’s bound by algorithms and subroutines and just raw data sometimes. For as close as we made him to be a human, he still answers to the binary system at his deepest coding – True or False. Yes or No. If our parents programmed him to obey them over you in certain situations, then he has to. Deep down, you have to remember that he is a robot.”

I cursed. Julian was right. And I hated that he was right. As much as I kept wanting to believe Riley was a human, I knew that he wasn’t. I kept expecting him to behave just like a human would when in some cases he just couldn’t. Him being pregnant is an obvious sign that something’s a bit different than it should be. I rubbed my eyes as my brain digested all of this and sighed. “Shit.”

“Shit is right,” Julian said with some subtle venom to his voice. “I’d think you would treat him better than you have lately. If I wasn’t too busy right now I’d probably punch you for your actions!” He tore his hands away from my brother’s neck. Something about my behavior towards Riley was bugging him deeply and I just didn’t know why.

“Jules? Why are you getting angry about this?” I asked gently, not wanting to anger Julian further. “I mean… it’s not like–” Julian’s intense glare cut me off. And I mulled over why he might cut me off.

Oh shit.

“Yes, it’s exactly like that!” he shouted as he threw the spanner into the wall. I could see him trying to calm down with little success. “I… I can’t tell you about it. I can’t talk about it. Riley will have to fill you in.” His voice lurched a bit but I couldn’t tell if he was upset or still angry with me. “Go… go and find him. Make things right between you two. I’ll keep Jess here and try to get him free from the collar.”

I wanted to say that my looking over the blueprints would yield results, but if I had to be truthful, I knew that if Riley were here, he’d be faster at it than either of us. So without a word, I begrudgingly stood up and started to leave. But then Julian’s comm panel lit up. Both of us turned to it, seeing someone shrouded in darkness, aiming some kind of remote at… at…

At Riley.

“Travis, come alone to D level, Section Twenty-Three. You have ten minutes to get here. Bring the control device and the boy, otherwise your friend here will find his circuitry scrambled beyond saving.” The panel went dead. I tried to figure out who was talking, but there was some kind of audio modulation to the sound, deepening the person’s voice. Even so, I swore I recognized it a little.

“Give me three more minutes before you leave. I might… be able to help Jesse.”

“B-But… that guy’s got Riley!” I shouted. As much as I wanted to free Jesse from his ordeal, I also needed to free Riley. In that moment, I totally realized I had been a jerk to him. He tried to balance being true to me while also submitting to the will of his programming. And now I had the choice: lose both my brother and boyfriend – and robo-father of my child – or save Jesse while sacrificing Riley. I felt all my anger, my confusion, my doubt leave me. I had to save Riley. Almost at any cost. I just needed more time, of which I couldn’t get!

“I-I have to go!” I shouted at Julian who was attaching something to the collar frantically. Julian stepped back from Jesse and nodded slightly. “Julian… I-I don’t know what to do!”

“I have a plan. Just trust me on this. Leave him like this for as long as you can, but if you think Jesse is in danger just press this device. I think it’ll neutralize the device.”

“What’s that gonna do?!” I grabbed my brother’s wrist and started dragging him towards the door. Julian stopped me.

I had my brother next to me as I nearly dragged him towards the section we were told. I knew I’d be cutting it close but I didn’t have much choice. And as I rounded the corner into Section Twenty-Three, I saw Riley standing in the light with another person about my height shrouded still by darkness.

“Release him!” I shouted at the concealed person.

“My, my… I didn’t think you’d make it in time. Cutting it a little close, aren’t we Travis?” I heard his voice and instantly I froze. I couldn’t even begin to think. “Another few seconds and Riley would’ve been turned into a very oddly shaped door stop. I almost thought you didn’t care about him. Not like I saw from you the other day.”

I tried to speak, but it almost didn’t work for me. “K… Kevin? Why are you doing this? What did any of us ever do to you?”

He emerged from the shadows, standing taller than Riley. “Nothing really, honestly. Just a pair of brothers that had reality shoved into your hands far too early. And of course, here I am, shoving some more down your throat. But it’s necessary.”

“How?” I asked. “Why?”

Kevin rubbed his eyes and I saw that he looked ragged. Worn down. “Travis, I’m tired. I’m tired of all the bullshit. The hypocrisy. Here I am, a sixteen-year-old kid, running his own version of an orphanage with little to no resources or outside help. And it doesn’t help that I had a vilgilate running around with the name of Zane, undermining everything I tried to do!”

“Then… why didn’t you send him away?” I asked. “You should’ve known that everyone didn’t like him.”

“That’s the problem, Travis. No matter how much of a headache that boy caused me, no matter how much he destroyed everything I tried to do… I love him. So, I couldn’t send him away. And things never got better. So… I’m attempting to fix it all… here and now.”

“What are you getting at?” Kevin didn’t say anything, just looked back to the shadows. I followed his gaze and saw a few others standing where he did. But then as the first couple stepped out into the light, I nearly screamed. They had collars on their necks. But then Scooter stepped out, also wearing one.

So did Zane.

“K-Kevin, what the hell?!” I shouted. “You just said you loved Zane! So why collar him?!” As much as I hated the boy, I still couldn’t stand the sight of seeing that medallion surrounding his neck.

“You don’t understand, Travis!” Kevin suddenly shouted, his voice echoing around us in the empty corridor. “You just don’t get it! I tried to fight the matron, I really did. I never wanted this to happen to any of the kids under me! But… but, like I said… I’m tired. I just… I just don’t care anymore. And I have a deal.”

“A deal?!”

“That’s right, a deal. I made a deal with the devil himself – Shelby.” He walked around his cadre of collared boys and Riley who remained eerily silent all this time. “He came to me just after I gave you this bot here. Told me he could let me be a kid again, as long as I gave up everyone under me to him for collaring. At first, I resisted. But then, I just… didn’t care any longer. Not about any of them, even Zane. So… eventually I agreed.”

“You… you son of a bitch!” I shouted, vehement that someone like Kevin could just… give up like that. “Do you know what kind of hell you just submitted them to?!”

“I do and I don’t care anymore. I only called you down here because, for some reason, I still care about what you think.” He had a sad-looking smile on his face. “You can never really forget your first boyfriend, can you? Even if it was short-lived.”

“Kevin, what you’re doing… it’s wrong. You should know that. If you didn’t want to be in charge any longer, why didn’t you just promote Zane up? I mean…” I didn’t feel the need to continue.

Kevin snorted. “Right, like they’d follow him around. I wouldn’t give him three days before he destroyed everything I did for all these kids!”

“Well,” I said swallowing some of my emotion. “He didn’t even get the chance, as you did it all in one day.”

“I knew you wouldn’t understand me, Travis, but I had to try.” Kevin stood next to Riley and grabbed his arm, pointing his device at him. “Send your brother over here, now. Or I press this button here and destroy your boyfriend. I have a delivery to make.”

Riley finally spoke. “Travis… don’t do it. It’s not worth it.”

“I didn’t say you could talk!” Kevin shouted at Riley. “One more word from you and I’ll liquefy your circuits!”

“No! D-Don’t, please!” I begged. “I love him!”

“You have ten seconds to send Jesse towards me with your control device or you can say good-bye to Riley!”

“Wait!” I shouted. I didn’t want to do it, but I felt I had no other choice. “O-Okay… Okay, here.” I put my hands on his shoulders and gently pushed him towards Kevin. Slowly, my brother walked over towards him, control device in hand. “Wh-What do you mean you have a ‘delivery’ to make?”

Kevin smirked a bit. “Oh, you see Shelby actually had a plan for all the collared kids. And it makes sense now that he told me it. Let’s just say that I had some… outside benefactors.”

“They’re the ones that crippled the human race as it is!” I shouted as Jesse stood between us now, understanding what he meant. “Why help them out at all?!”

“They’ve been helping me out all this time on F level, just covertly,” Kevin said. “Power cells. A few credits here and there. And this was to be my payment for all that help. For me keeping them all alive and healthy.” Jesse stood in front of Kevin now. “Thanks for your help Travis. And now, to make sure you don’t interfere any longer… it’s time for one last choice: collar or death.”

“Jesse, now!”

His collar fell off at his feet.

“You son of a bitch!” my brother shouted as he drove his fist into Kevin’s stomach. The surprise of the attack caused my former friend and boyfriend to drop the device that held Riley back. In one swift motion, Riley destroyed the device with a pulse of energy from his hand. But before Riley could help Jesse, Kevin recovered from the punch and seized Jesse, a knife suddenly at his throat.

“Wrong move, boy,” Kevin hissed. “Are you that willing to die?”

“I’d rather die as I am than as some… some twisted puppet!” Jesse shouted bravely.

Riley tried to advance towards Kevin. He tightened his grip. “Nope. One more step and I’ll slice his neck!” Kevin turned to me and, for the first time, I saw maniacal condescension in his eyes. Something inside of him had snapped. This once great kid had succumbed to too much pressure. And no one even saw it coming. Not even me.

A noise behind Kevin startled us all and the teen swiveled to face the sound, distracted just as Julian figured he’d be. Riley used the moment to pull Jesse from Kevin’s grasp safely. Kevin for his part slashed at the air where my brother just stood and managed to catch an arm – I couldn’t tell if he got Jesse or Riley. Either way, the reaction it caused in me made me shout out and rush towards both of them out of concern. But Kevin spun on his heels and blocked off my path to them. I glanced at the knife he brandished.

It dripped with blood.

“Looks like you’re not the great big brother Jesse deserves if you let someone like me hurt him!” He laughed some more. “Look at you, the great Travis Hartwell, famed convict and sewer rat surviving off scraps frozen in fear and all it took was a small blade coated in his brother’s blood!” His laughing stopped. “I might have cared what happened to you a few days ago but now… you’re in my way. And now, you die!”

He lunged at me, knife thrust forward. I managed to dodge the blade with a backstep of my own and kicked the knife from his hands. I tried to get away, having no desire to really hurt Kevin but he had other ideas. He grabbed my shirt as he regained his footing and drove a fist home into my stomach. The air momentarily knocked out of me, I drove my own fist into the side of his head, disorienting him enough to break free of his grip. But again he lunged, this time seizing my left arm. I slipped out of his grip and took his arm in my hands as I flipped him over onto the deck plating. He tried to get up but stopped.

Julian stood over him, a laser pistol shoved into his face.

“You… you bastard,” Julian said at Kevin. “W-We all trusted you! Believed in you!”

Kevin huffed with a malicious grin on his face. “Your point?”

“How could you do it? Were you promised money? Power?” I could see Julian’s trigger finger twitch some. He really wanted to pull it but he held back. Maybe he didn’t want to have blood on his hands and I didn’t blame him. Before any sort of answer could come from Kevin, the floor lurched underneath us all, knocking us all to the ground. The lights in the section dimmed enough for all of us to lose vision for a few seconds. But as light levels evened out again there was one person missing.

Kevin.

“Bastard got away!” Julian shouted, kicking the floor after he stood up. “If I expected treachery from anyone on the Krew, I’d have guessed it to be Zane and not Kevin. Damn it…”

“Speaking of…” I said as I glanced over at the stoic nature of both Scooter and Zane. “As much as I want to say it’s an improvement at seeing Zane like this, it still isn’t right. We need to set them free too. And once that’s done, we need to set about freeing all the kids.”