The Midnight Men and Other Stories by Lee Moan Read Free Book Online Page A

hands. “She’s gone, isn’t she? Gloria, I mean? She’s definitely terminated?”
    I closed my eyes, trying to give in to the pleasure Kathy’s fingers sent through my body. “Yes,” I said. “She’s definitely terminated.”
    “Good,” she said. “Now all you have to do is call the RSA in the morning, tell them that Gloria was acting crazy all night and drove off with your car. They’ll find her body eventually and see that the inhibitor chip was missing, put the whole thing down as a ‘technical malfunction’. Then you’re free,” Kathy told me. “We’re free.”
    She slipped her arms over my shoulders and pressed her firm, warm body against my back. My heart quickened, and in the silence, I could hear hers beating faster, too. There were no motors whirring here. Just two hearts of flesh and blood beating as one.
    That had to be worth a Mercedes-Benz.
    “You’re right,” I said, falling into Kathy’s embrace. “We’re free.”
    ***
    It was the smell of cooking that brought me from my sleep. It had been a good, sound sleep, the kind of sleep I’d been aching for during the last year of my life.
    As I rolled over, I discovered that I was alone in bed. The sounds and smells of cooking which drifted to me from the kitchen downstairs filled me with euphoria. I was free now, and the woman I had found was not only good in bed, she also loved to cook.
    Lucky, lucky me.
    I looked around for my bathrobe, but the only one I could find was an old one of Gloria’s. It was a white frilly thing, but I thought Kathy might get a kick out of seeing me in it, so I put it on. As I descended the stairs, I became lost in an explosion of my favourite smells: fried mushrooms, grilled bacon and scrambled eggs.
    “Honey,” I sang, “this really is the first day of the rest of our lives!”
    I stopped short in the kitchen doorway. The woman hunched over the electric cooker was wearing my bathrobe, but it was not Kathy. When she turned, a shout of shock and revulsion escaped me.
    The unholy apparition was barely recognisable as the Gloria I had known. Most of her skin was gone, burnt off like so much wax. Her inner wiring was exposed. Her left leg was badly mangled, and as she started towards me she dragged it along behind her like a ball and chain.
    God, the irony just doesn’t quit.
    After much scraping and clanking, Gloria stopped and focused her naked electronic left eye on me. The skin and facial muscles on the right side of her face were melted into a gruesome mask. I found it hard to look her in the face, but I managed it.
    “David,” she said, her once-human voice now sounding like gears grinding together. “I’m finding it very hard not to be angry with you right now.”
    I took a hesitant step towards her.
    “Gloria, I thought you were—”
    “Dead?” she hissed. “Well, I suppose I should be after what you did to me.” She dragged herself one step closer. “But, I’m prepared to forgive you, David. One last time.” She held up a wooden spoon with a mouthful of scrambled eggs heaped on it. “I even made your favourite breakfast, just to show you how much I want us to get over this.”
    I shook my head vigorously, trying to clear my head of this aberration.
    “Jesus, Gloria! What does it take to get the message through? I don’t love you! I never did! Can’t you understand that?”
    Gloria cocked her head at a funny angle. “But you promised to look after me, David. I was your responsibility, wasn’t I? For life. Not something to be tossed away when you found someone better. That was the agreement. Can’t you understand that?”
    An involuntarily laugh escaped from me. “This is absurd! Gloria, you’re a replicant.”
    “So?” she cried. “I still loved you, David.”
    “No you didn’t,” I told her. “You were programmed to love me. For better or worse, for richer or poorer, you had to love me, Gloria. It was part of the agreement.”
    She stepped up to me, her squat, metal nose