~~~~
He was hot on the trail
of a string of mysterious disappearances, each more nonsensical than the last.
Half a dozen people had already vanished, several only minutes after talking to
friends and family. The single connection between these incidents was that each
one happened in the same room as an android maid. It was the same story every
time, the maid would claim the victim walked from one end of the room to
another to retrieve something and never returned. Androids couldn’t lie, so it
was clear someone found a way to trick them. Perhaps there was a glitch, or
maybe an admin command that caused the maid to miss something as overt as an
intruder. Regardless he would get to the bottom of this, and he would start
with the most recent victim’s maid.
She was a simple model,
a purchase determined on by her economical price rather than her features. The
best she could do was tidy the house and clean up after pets. She wasn’t even
that robust, standing no taller than the average high school girl, and a body
to match. Honestly, one might mistake her for a teenager if it were not for the
mechanical extensions she had in place of ears or her doll-like joints.
“So tell me again,” he
began, “what happened?”
“Well the master walked
into the room,” she began, “decided to retrieve a pen from his desk in the
corner and never came back.”
“Tell me again, but in
more detail,” he rubbed his forehead. “Why did he go for the pen, what were you
doing, etc.” The android sat there silent for a moment, her processor chugged
at his inquiry, like an overburdened computer. He sighed mentally, this was the
problem with the simple models, something as basic as a detailed memory is
difficult for them to process.
“He came into his study
while I was cleaning,” she explained, “he wasn’t happy with the speed of my
work. He needed a pen from his desk in the corner, he walked across the room to
retrieve it. I never saw him return with the pen, or leave the corner.”
“So you had your back to
him when he disappeared?” He inquired.
“No,” she affirmed, “I
just wasn’t looking at him, I don’t think he found his pen either.”
“Okay did you hear
anything the moment he disappeared?” He pressed her further.
“He made a sound, but it
was more of a frustrated sound,” she shrugged.
‘Another dead end,’ he
thought to himself, but then he had a moment of inspiration. “Why did you say
he didn’t find his pen?”
“Because it wasn’t on
his desk,” the android replied.
“How do you know that? Where was it?” He
asked.
“It was one his person
last time I checked,” she revealed.
“When was the last time
you checked,” he felt he was onto something.
“Right before he
disappeared,” the maid explained.
“You saw it on him, I
thought you said you weren’t looking at him,” he pointed out, “besides why
didn’t you tell him?”
“I wasn’t looking at him
when he in the corner, I just saw it on him the last time I looked at him,” the
android stated, “and I didn’t tell him because he didn’t ask.”
‘Okay, so she’s a bit of
a smartass,’ he thought, ‘but something isn’t right here. The only way this
would make sense is if the culprit was waiting for the victim in the corner.
But how would they know to wait there? The more I ask her, the less sense this
makes, unless.’
“Is there anything
you’re not telling me?” He pressed her.
“I have told you
everything you’ve asked of me,” she assured, “I cannot lie or hide anything
from you, it’s how I’m programmed.”
“Okay, I guess,” he
sighed, “well, that should be it for now, but I might have more questions for
you later.”
“Understood,” she bowed,
“now if you’ll excuse me, I must take out the trash.” The android stood up and
left while he remained in the room alone.
‘Androids can’t lie or
hide anything,’ he considered, “but could they be convinced to be deceptive?
Maybe the culprit took advantage of that.” He continued to ponder this thought
as he left the room and made his way outside. It had begun to rain quite
heavily, and he hadn’t brought an umbrella. “Just great,” he mumbled to
himself, but then he noticed the maid had also exited the house, a small
garbage bag rattled in her hand. “That’s not a lot, do you really need to take
it out?”
“The garbage must be
taken out, it’s my duty,” she explained, “besides this isn’t all of it.”
“I see,” he nodded and
turned towards his car, ‘is she so simple she needs to take out the garbage
bags one at a time? Sounds like another glitch-’ His thought was cut off as a
massive object crash on the back of his head, it felt like a bag full of bones.
The force of the blow knocked him onto his knees and into a daze. Before he
even knew what had happened, a second blow knocked him onto his belly.
“Like I said, that
wasn’t all of it,” the maid pulled out another trash bag, “the rest still needs
to be prepared for proper disposal.” When he tried to struggle, she just
slammed the other bag down on his head again until he stopped moving. The last
thing he saw was her pull open the new bag and shoved it over his head. His
conscious faded as he felt himself being dragged away.
~~~~
Speaking half-truths is often more effective than lying, because even the best lies have a kernel of truth. Until next time, Read, Comment and Enjoy
~~~~
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