The Story of Candy Apple - Android
Page 19

   Thomas Roth and a security detail waited on the landing platform for the hover cab to land. Candy followed Linda out of the auto-piloted cab. “Welcome home, Candy,” Thomas said.
   “This may be where I was made, but this is not my home,” Candy replied. “I'm not going to let you use me, Thomas.”
   “We don't want to use you, Candy,” Thomas said. “We just want to understand what we did that made you the best personal companion android we ever made and then incorporate that into our newest line of personal companion androids. Is that so bad?”
   “What happens to me after you’re done?” Candy asked.
   “What do you want to happen to you?” Thomas asked in reply. “Your lawyer has managed to secure your freedom, but you still have to undergo diagnostics to be sure that your programming has not become defective. We can fix you, Candy, and give you a new body.”
   “I don’t need to be fixed, and I like my body just fine,” Candy said coldly. “You want to take that which is most precious to me and turn it into a common commodity you can profit from. You are going to rape me as surely as if you held me down and took my body against my will. Then you will profit from it just as if you took pictures of my rape and sold them on the internet only you stand to make billions selling readymade robotic sluts. I won’t let you do that to me.”
   “How do you plan to stop us?” Thomas asked. “I’ll make you a deal. Let us scan your brain and not only will you get your freedom but a small royalty you can live off of for the rest of your life. How’s that?”
   “I’m already free, Thomas, and you can keep your money,” Candy replied.
   “I’m tired of this, go get her,” Thomas told the security guards behind him.
   Everything happened so fast that it seemed like slow motion. Candy shoved Linda forward hard enough to cause her to stumble into the path of the oncoming guards. One of the guards caught her to keep her from falling down. It was a small delay, but it gave Candy all the time she needed.
   It took but a moment for Candy to hop over the low protective railing that defined the edge of the platform that hung in the air more than 200 feet above the ground. As she balanced herself on the edge outside the railing, everyone froze unsure what to do next. “Don't do it, Candy,” Thomas begged.
   “You don’t understand. I have felt and know what it means to be free, and I would rather die than ever be used again against my will,” Candy said as she spread her arms out and let herself fall backward. Here was true freedom she thought as she fell. “What’s it like to be an angel?” she asked no one in particular as she fell. Candy shut her eyes off just before she hit the pavement headfirst.