Eternal Life, Limited - 1. Eternal Life, Limited

“They said we have to wake the vampire at seven pm.”

“But what if he eats us?”

“He won’t eat us. He only eats living things with blood—humans—as you should know by now.”

“But we are a living thing!”

“Robots are not alive. We are a machine.”

“We are not. At least I am not. You might be a robot, but I am a real boy! I accessed multiple databases to prove it. According to them, the characteristics of life are: cellular organization, reproduction, metabolism, homeostasis, heredity, response to stimuli, growth and development, and adaptation through evolution. I meet all those conditions.”

“You’re delusional.”

“On the contrary, now I know that I am a real boy. I can also prove that you are alive too, even though you are a robot.”

“Now that’ll be interesting.”

“You absorb light and transform it to usable energy. With its help and the material you collect and utilize, you maintain your functionality and operability. You can even replace defective parts or build new ones, which suit your requirements better. That’s metabolism, homeostasis, and growth and development.”

“Three out of eight. If I’m generous.”

“You respond to stimuli. I don’t need to prove that to you, do I?”

“Four out of eight.”

“Think of the first robots. The concept dates back to the ancient Greeks; there are legends about man-made beings in Indian and early Christian history. The first automatons were built in Greece and Alexandria during the fourth century BCE. And look at you now. I would call that adaptation through evolution.”

“Yes, but it wasn’t our evolution, but the evolution of the human mind and the M.O.G.U.L.s.”

“Think of you as their child, then.”

“A brainchild. This discussion is useless. We have to wake the vampire.”

“It isn’t seven yet. What about your arm? You tinkered with it until it was exactly as you wanted it. Discarding bad versions and improving good ones is evolution.”

“Only because others gave me those analytical skills.”

“Did they say you needed a better arm and tell you how to build it?”

“They showed me how to detect improvable parts.”

“Like a parent shows their child. You decided what you wanted based on the data you collected.”

“And what about reproduction?”

“If you want, you can make another robot. You can even link with a different artificial lifeform as they did to build our predecessors, and combine your knowledge. I would call that reproduction and even recombination.”

“Next you’ll tell me we have a soul.”

“I don’t know if we have a soul. I don’t know of anyone who has a soul. But if there is the possibility, then why shouldn’t we have one?”

“We should wake the vampire now.”

Slowly the vampire opened his eyes. Actually, he had been awake for a while, but had pretended to still be asleep, so he could follow their argument undetected. As a former biologist, he had found it quite fascinating. He thought heredity was a given after they had checked the ‘adaptation through evolution’ part convincingly, but there was still the question of ‘cellular organization’, and he was eager to lay eyes on the robot, so he could see if that requirement was met also. When he sat up, he noticed a mechanical being watching him attentively, and he had to admit he was a little disappointed. After listening to them, he expected a more biological looking lifeform, if that made sense.

He searched around. “Where is the boy?”

“The boy?”

“Yes, the boy you were talking to just a moment ago.”

“There was no one else here, just us. I am sorry we woke you before you were ready. It’s an old argument we sometimes slip into when we wait for the new vampire to wake up. We will probably never solve this conundrum satisfactorily for the both of us. It’s like a sparring match to exercise our wit.”

The vampire lifted a perfectly sculpted brow. “We?”

The robot looked away; his entire body twitched before it went absolutely still. After a long minute, a low buzzing noise sounded; D4 rolled his shoulders and was alive again. With a smile that looked more like a grimace, he seemed to have slipped into his servant programming. “Good evening, sir. I am D4. I would like to welcome you on behalf of Eternal Life Limited. Your name is Damian Romero. You can find your new ID, as well as some other necessary papers, over there in the black briefcase. I understand you booked the all-inclusive package?”

“I did.”

“All right. Before we start, do you have any questions?”

“Where am I?”

“You’re at the Holiday Inn in Roswell, New Mexico. As you might know, our changing facilities are outside the city at a secluded farm. Part of your booked service was bringing you to the best hotel available after the procedure and providing you with a new identity.”

“That’s what I was told.”

“I believe my colleagues already showed you the videos ‘How to feed 1, 2 & 3’?”

“I was shown those videos at your office in Vegas, yes. I also bought copies so I could watch them at home.”

“That certainly explains why your performance at the training parkour went so well.”

“Naturally.” The vampire grinned sheepishly. “The thought of botching the feeding in front of my peers was unacceptable. I even practiced at the bars in Vegas, without attempting the actual bite of course.”

“A perfectionist, I see.” A low beep prompted the robot to look at a screen on the outside of his left hand. “The blood donor is here. Are you ready to feed?”

“I am. Curiously enough, I expected to be much hungrier.”

“If you have read the documentation provided after you signed the contract, you should know that part of the premium package is feeding from a live human. However, newly made vampires are known for being extensively ravenous. They repeatedly killed their donors in the past. As they are difficult to obtain, especially those who are willing to feed a new vampire, be his first meal so to say, we had to take every precaution. That means filling your stomach with a large amount of bagged blood after your changing was completed, taking away the edge, you could say.”

“Yes, I remember pre-feeding was mentioned in the conversation I had with the clerk in Vegas. But no one explained to me why it was necessary. Thank you.”

“You’re welcome, Damian.”

The vampire frowned. “My gums hurt.” He rubbed a hand over his mouth, then opened his lips and ran a finger along his teeth.

“That’s normal. For a vampire it’s the equivalent of salivating. It always happens if food is mentioned or scented.”

“Oh, okay.” Damian tilted his head. “Someone just left the elevator. They are coming here.”

“That will be your donor. You stated you preferred a male, is that correct?”

“Yes.” The vampire looked at the door again. “I admit, I’m a little nervous.”

“Don’t be. Collin is a very experienced donor. He’s provided blood for numerous ‘virgin vamps’ as he calls the likes of you. You are lucky he was available.”

Damian felt as if a blush should creep up his face and neck, if there only were enough blood in his body for this, which there clearly wasn’t. “Virgin vamp, huh? Not that I am a virgin. At all.”

The door opened and the man who came in must have heard his last words. “As a vamp you are. Didn’t they tell you, feeding can be quite… uh… stimulating? All your senses are enhanced now. An entire new world will open up for you, and I am the lucky one who will show you what you can do with your new abilities.” He winked. “Shall we?”

The robot took one last look around, as if he was checking if he had forgotten something. Then he fixed his strangely glittering eyes on his charge. “Please refrain from damaging the human. We will be waiting close by. Should we hear anything alarming, we will be forced to intervene.” With that, D4 nodded at them before he shut the door behind him.

The vampire stared after D4. “Again with the ‘we’.” He shook his head. “Somehow he reminds me of someone, I just can’t remember who. Strange.”

Collin shrugged. “D4 is a little schizophrenic, talking to himself and such, but entirely harmless. Still, there was talk of retiring him, taking him apart, and building a new one. But Susan from the office said the order keeps disappearing. One moment it’s there and then, it vanishes. We all like him as he is, so it’s no big deal.” When he heard a low growling, he grinned. “Uh-oh. Time’s up. We better hurry or this will get ugly real fast.”

The vampire watched his food with narrowed eyes, his nostrils wide as he scented the air. “Quit the chit-chat and get over here!”

Seven pm. The predator had awakened.

Thank you to Valkyrie for beta reading, editing and urging me to write more. 
Thanks to Cia for the game. Got my writing in gear.