The Story of Candy Apple - Android
Page 29

   Daisy May was a stupid name, but Cybertron Robotics newest general service android had the same basic structure as the Angel personal companion models. They never caught on in heavy construction which preferred the April general service android, but the Daisy Mays was quite popular with light industry, restaurants, hotels, resorts, that sort of thing. The only real difference between the Angels and Daisy May was the titanium skeletal structure and the Kevlar skin. The synthetic muscles were the same except Angels had an inhibitor chip that kept them from using their muscles at full power. Candy’s new body was custom-made. She was a hybrid. An Angel on the outside and a Daisy May on the inside. The inhibitor chip was never part of her new body’s design.
   The man swung the homemade sword at Candy’s head which she saw a moment before it would have severed her head from her body, but a moment was all she needed to duck below the blade. The man sliced, stabbed, and jabbed at Candy who barely managed to duck, dodge, and dance away from the blade trying to end her life in the narrow corridor. When Candy saw her chance, she jumped in and grabbed the handle of the sword. There was a brief struggle for possession of the sword, but the man was no match for an android that could lift over 500 pounds with one hand. Candy broke every finger in the man’s hand in the process of ripping the sword from his grasp. He was lucky that she didn’t rip his hand off too.
   Colonel Jack Stryker was the first on the scene followed by six of his Starfighters. “Candy, are you ok?” he asked very concernedly. He had grown quite fond of the spunky android.
   “Just a few nicks here and there, Jack; nothing that won’t heal,” Candy replied handing him the sword.
   “Get this piece of trash out of here,” Jack told the soldiers behind him as he handed one of them the sword. The soldiers grabbed the man none too politely and took him up to the medical section to tend his broken hand before throwing him in the brig.
   Jack gently took hold of one of Candy’s arms to personally inspect one of the cuts. He could see the cut wasn’t deep enough to cut all the way through her skin, but on a human, she would have needed stitches. Already her skin was beginning to heal itself. “This was one of Roth's men I bet,” he said trying not to let his concern show.
   “Probably.” All kinds of things went through Candy’s mind when Jack touched her. She wanted to pull her arm away, but there were parts of her that wished he’d touch more than just her arm. What she saw in his eyes made her feel warm and fuzzy all over. “Can I have my arm back now?” she asked.
   “Sure.” Letting go was hard for them both.
   I should have kissed him. I should have thrown him up against the damn wall and kissed him, Candy thought as she watched Jack walk away.