for me to learn.”
“Blue, I am so totally going to teach you to drive. You’ll
love it. We’ll get you a driving license and we can go zooming all over the
place.”
“Does a machine need a license, I wonder, to operate a
machine?”
At that, the taxi driver definitely did glance back at them
in his mirror. “Speaking of driving,” Cally said loudly, “keep your eyes on the
road, please. It’s getting slippery.”
“And can we have the radio turned up?” asked Blue.
The driver grumbled and turned up the classic rock station.
It was playing Rush. Blue looked out the window at the snow starting to swirl
around them and hummed, perfectly in tune, along with the song.
“You’ve heard this before?” Cally asked.
“Yes, I heard it on the twelfth of August 2009, when I was
outside repairing the perimeter wall and a car drove by with its window open.”
Blue drew her closer to him. “The world looks beautiful out of a moving car’s
window. There’s an optical illusion that makes it appear as if the landscape is
moving and you are not.”
“It’s not an illusion, Blue. The whole world is moving
around us right now.” She sighed contentedly. The Rush song ended and something
by Boston came on, which Blue also knew. The music vibrated subtly through his
body and into hers, making her sing softly along too. She was warm in Blue’s
embrace, they were going to have a fun experience together and she’d sleep in
his arms tonight.
Ilsa had been right. Cally was happy. She didn’t want to
analyze it or question it—those things made the happiness more fragile. She
wanted to enjoy right now, watching the snow travel and Blue’s eyes light up
the world.
The cab pulled up outside of Chico’s and Cally leaned
forward with money for the fare. Blue plucked it from her fingers. “I’ll take
care of it,” he said.
“But—” Then she remembered—it was more important for him to
learn about everyday things like paying cab fares than for her to assert her
equal rights.
Even so, he managed to be out of the taxi in time to meet
her coming out of it and put a strong arm around her waist. There was over an
inch of snow on the ground already.
“How much snow are we going to get tonight?” she asked him.
“It shouldn’t be a problem.” He stood looking at Chico’s for
a moment. She had to admit, it didn’t look like much—a square, red-brick
building with green awnings over windows full of neon beer signs. And yet this
was the place where she’d spent so many hours in the past few years, especially
since her dad had died. Instead of reading or walking in the snow or listening
to music or trying to understand the other beings who existed under the same
roof she did, whether human or robot…she’d been here. Picking up strangers.
Anyway, she and Blue were going to have fun tonight. It was
his first time out in public
“Are you nervous?”
“I have nerves, as they say, of steel.” He sounded cheerful.
“Come on, let’s go.”
He began walking through the snow toward the bar, his arm
still around her waist. On the threshold of the bar, he stumbled and recovered
before he had to catch himself on the door ledge.
“Are you okay?” Cally asked. She’d never seen him misstep.
“It’s an adjustment to walk in shoes,” he told her. “I am
fine.”
He pushed open the door and waited for her to go in ahead of
him.
The interior of the bar was, as always, dark, lit by the
neon beer signs and heavy-shaded lamps hanging over the booths and the bar. It
smelled of beer and the ghosts of a billion cigarettes that had been smoked
here before the smoking ban. It wasn’t crowded, not on a Sunday night. Music
blared from the jukebox and when Cally walked in, half a dozen people raised
their arms in a wave of greeting and Sherri, the bartender, reached for the
Jack Daniel’s.
Then they froze, staring at the being behind her.
“Hey, everyone,” called Cally. “This is my friend, Blue.”
“Hey,”
“Blue, I am so totally going to teach you to drive. You’ll
love it. We’ll get you a driving license and we can go zooming all over the
place.”
“Does a machine need a license, I wonder, to operate a
machine?”
At that, the taxi driver definitely did glance back at them
in his mirror. “Speaking of driving,” Cally said loudly, “keep your eyes on the
road, please. It’s getting slippery.”
“And can we have the radio turned up?” asked Blue.
The driver grumbled and turned up the classic rock station.
It was playing Rush. Blue looked out the window at the snow starting to swirl
around them and hummed, perfectly in tune, along with the song.
“You’ve heard this before?” Cally asked.
“Yes, I heard it on the twelfth of August 2009, when I was
outside repairing the perimeter wall and a car drove by with its window open.”
Blue drew her closer to him. “The world looks beautiful out of a moving car’s
window. There’s an optical illusion that makes it appear as if the landscape is
moving and you are not.”
“It’s not an illusion, Blue. The whole world is moving
around us right now.” She sighed contentedly. The Rush song ended and something
by Boston came on, which Blue also knew. The music vibrated subtly through his
body and into hers, making her sing softly along too. She was warm in Blue’s
embrace, they were going to have a fun experience together and she’d sleep in
his arms tonight.
Ilsa had been right. Cally was happy. She didn’t want to
analyze it or question it—those things made the happiness more fragile. She
wanted to enjoy right now, watching the snow travel and Blue’s eyes light up
the world.
The cab pulled up outside of Chico’s and Cally leaned
forward with money for the fare. Blue plucked it from her fingers. “I’ll take
care of it,” he said.
“But—” Then she remembered—it was more important for him to
learn about everyday things like paying cab fares than for her to assert her
equal rights.
Even so, he managed to be out of the taxi in time to meet
her coming out of it and put a strong arm around her waist. There was over an
inch of snow on the ground already.
“How much snow are we going to get tonight?” she asked him.
“It shouldn’t be a problem.” He stood looking at Chico’s for
a moment. She had to admit, it didn’t look like much—a square, red-brick
building with green awnings over windows full of neon beer signs. And yet this
was the place where she’d spent so many hours in the past few years, especially
since her dad had died. Instead of reading or walking in the snow or listening
to music or trying to understand the other beings who existed under the same
roof she did, whether human or robot…she’d been here. Picking up strangers.
Anyway, she and Blue were going to have fun tonight. It was
his first time out in public
“Are you nervous?”
“I have nerves, as they say, of steel.” He sounded cheerful.
“Come on, let’s go.”
He began walking through the snow toward the bar, his arm
still around her waist. On the threshold of the bar, he stumbled and recovered
before he had to catch himself on the door ledge.
“Are you okay?” Cally asked. She’d never seen him misstep.
“It’s an adjustment to walk in shoes,” he told her. “I am
fine.”
He pushed open the door and waited for her to go in ahead of
him.
The interior of the bar was, as always, dark, lit by the
neon beer signs and heavy-shaded lamps hanging over the booths and the bar. It
smelled of beer and the ghosts of a billion cigarettes that had been smoked
here before the smoking ban. It wasn’t crowded, not on a Sunday night. Music
blared from the jukebox and when Cally walked in, half a dozen people raised
their arms in a wave of greeting and Sherri, the bartender, reached for the
Jack Daniel’s.
Then they froze, staring at the being behind her.
“Hey, everyone,” called Cally. “This is my friend, Blue.”
“Hey,”
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