Chapter 2 – The Delivery
Pulling on a button-up blouse as she prepared for work, Sariah winced at the pain she felt in her upper arms. A short-sleeve shirt was not an option today; otherwise, someone might see the bruises and start asking questions. She wanted to sort through things first in her mind before having to face the questioning she knew would come from her co-workers if they saw the bruised skin. And besides that, it was embarrassing. Her first boyfriend in over four years and he’d turned out to be some obsessive psycho – just my luck, she thought to herself.
She grabbed a yogurt smoothie out of the refrigerator on her way out the door. Proceeding to her car, she settled into the back seat for the thirty-minute drive to work.
“Good morning. Where shall I take you today, Sariah?” the car’s navigation software asked as she opened up her laptop and began logging in to read through her email.
“Work, please.”
“Yes, of course. We will arrive at Nomel Robotics in approximately twenty-nine minutes and fifteen seconds,” the software responded compliantly.
Sariah pulled up the local police department on the screen and soon the face of a cheerful young woman appeared. “Garden City Police Department, how may I direct your call?” she queried.
“Yes, I need to report an assault...”
* * * * *
By the time Sariah arrived at work, she had finished the police report, forwarded a copy to her lawyer, and scheduled a phone conference with said lawyer for her lunch break. With Jasmine’s encouragement, she had decided not to wait until Jerry did something even more violent than he already had before pursuing legal options. She had felt a sense of shame as she attached the photos of the bruises on her arms, and then chided herself for feeling that way. Why should I be ashamed? He’s the one with the problem. After the assault, she was certain she could get a restraining order against Jerry. She still couldn’t believe this was happening.
“We have arrived at your destination,” the navigation system dutifully informed her.
She went through the motions at work, finishing up a few software modification tests for various projects and attending one meeting. When noon finally came, she closed the door to her small office before placing the call to her lawyer, not wanting anyone else to hear about what was going on. She dialed the number, and the receptionist at his office patched her right through.
“Sariah, I received the report,” her lawyer began. “I’m so sorry to hear about this. How are you holding up?”
“I’m doing o.k., considering,” she replied.
“Well, the restraining order won’t be a problem,” he continued, “but I’m sad to say that it won’t likely deter the young man from continuing his bad behavior. In most cases like this, the offender continues to pursue inappropriate contact. I would suggest you pick up some mace and keep it with you whenever you go out. Unfortunately, what happened in the parking lot will likely not be the last time he attempts to coerce you back into a relationship with him.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of, Tom. I mean, he seemed really off-balance when he confronted me in the parking lot. Isn’t there anything else I can do?”
“Well, you could hire a bodyguard – but that can be prohibitively expensive. Of course, applying for a gun or Taser permit is always an option. That takes between two and six months, depending on which route you choose – assuming you pass the background check. You don’t already have a permit, do you?”
“No.”
“Too bad. You could start carrying a walking stick or something like that when you go outside... Look, I don’t mean to sound glib about this – it’s a horrible situation for you, I know. The simple truth of the matter is that the law is on the side of the bad guy in this situation. It’ll take more than a few bruises on your arms before we can put this guy behind bars. We can do it eventually, but in the interim, you need to be careful.”
“What you mean is that we’re going to need to wait until he violates the restraining order.”
“Not just that. He’ll need to break some additional laws, either by vandalizing your property or assaulting you again before we can convince a prosecutor to take the case.”
“You’re kidding me, right?!”
“Unfortunately, no, I’m not. I wish I had better news for you, Sariah.”
* * * * *
The rest of the day was a blur. A rush request came in to make some updates to the traffic drones that the company produced, and Sariah’s team was busy for the remainder of the afternoon completing the changes. She had almost forgotten that she was supposed to pick up the DB45 unit for in-home testing when the appointment reminder popped up on her computer.
“I’d completely forgotten about that,” she said out loud.
After shutting down her computer for the day, she headed downstairs to the R&D Assembly Department with a smile on her face. After months of development, she was finally going to get a chance to test the final product. It was a nice pick-me-up considering the day she had just had.
She signed into the Assembly Department via the retinal scanner and waited in the reception room until one of the technicians came down to escort her back to the assembly area. The young man who came to pick her up handed her a hard hat to wear when he entered the room.
“Hi, I’m Jake, the guy who emailed you yesterday.”
“Hello, Jake. I’m sooo excited to finally be picking up the DB45.”
“Yeah, it’s a real piece of work. Hard to tell it’s not a real person when it’s powered up. She’s right through here.”
Jake led Sariah through double swinging doors and into a cavernous warehouse space where numerous products were being assembled by at least a dozen teams. The two of them walked along a path that was outlined on each side in bright yellow tape, leading straight through the center of the room and towards the back of the warehouse. Once there, they went through another door that led into a hallway with an eight-foot ceiling, white tiled floor, and bright fluorescent lighting. The walls were white and spotless. The whole setting reminded Sariah more of a hospital than a robot assembly facility.
At the end of the hallway, they entered what appeared to be a locker room. Jake stopped and took a pair of shoe covers off of the wall for himself, and handed another pair to Sariah.
“Here, take one of these gowns and a cap, too. We’ve assembled her now, so there isn’t much risk of contaminating the parts, but rules are rules.”
After they had their shoe covers, caps, and gowns on, they went through a second doorway and down another hallway.
“She’s in room twelve – last door on the right,” he said, pointing at the number above the room.
When Sariah entered the room, she saw the DB45 seated on a chair. She was stunning to behold – her facial features were so lifelike. She was dressed in a simple grey two-piece smock and was in the powered-down seated rest position, with her hands resting palms down on her thighs, facing straight ahead, her eyes closed. Sariah walked up to the robot and began examining the incredible facial detail, touching the skin and feeling the hair.
“Amazing,” she said under her breath.
“You’ll have to give her some verbal commands to bring her up out of rest mode,” Jake instructed. “I have a list of the commands over here.” He went over to a desk in the corner of the room and picked up a packet of papers.
“I know,” Sariah replied. “I programmed most of the commands myself.”
“Really? Cool. I mean, I didn’t know what your background was. They just told me that you would be testing her,” said Jake.
“It’s o.k.,” Sariah replied, still entranced with how thoroughly human the robot appeared. She stepped back a few steps and spoke to the robot. “DB45, initiate primary user bonding sequence.”
The robot’s eyes opened, and she stood up, looking straight at Sariah. “Am I looking at the primary user?” she asked in a melodiously pleasing voice.
“Yes, you are,” Sariah responded.
“Please state your first and last name,” the robot continued.
“Sariah Delphi.”
“Voice recognition analysis completed and functional. Please remain still while I initiate facial recognition protocol.”
Sariah continued looking straight at the robot as a light shone out of its right eye, moving up and down Sariah’s face.
“Facial recognition protocol complete. How would you prefer that I address you?”
“Just call me Sariah.”
“Certainly, I will call you Sariah. And what would you prefer to call me?”
Sariah put her hand over her mouth momentarily. “Oh no, I completely forgot to pick out a name for you.”
“Would you like me to suggest a name based upon a randomized selection from the top twenty-five female baby names from the last calendar year?”
“O.k. Please suggest a name,” Sariah replied.
“Does the name ‘Janet’ meet with your approval?”
Sariah smiled. “Yes, ‘Janet’ will be just fine. Nice to meet you, Janet.”
“Nice to meet you, too, Sariah.”