Eager, p.15
Eager, page 15
“Lovely day for a walk,” said Mr. Bell. A message flashed on the screen on the dashboard: “Outward journey: fuel low.” “Looks like we need to stop in any case.”
“Who wants lunch before we walk?” asked Mrs. Bell, anticipating her children’s approval. They pulled in at a farm that promised “good home cooking” and settled down at a vast wooden table in the kitchen. Grumps, released unscathed from the boot, sat Charlotte on his knee and prepared to feed her.
A robot served them but the farmer was at pains to stress that she did all the cooking herself. “I enjoy it and I fancy it isn’t the same when a machine does it. How do they know about that je ne sais quoi that makes food interesting, that’s what I ask myself.”
Through the brightly curtained window they saw four or five robot farmhands straggling across the yard. “Of course,” continued the farmer, “it’s wonderful to have them do the menial work. But my husband and I, we like to get our hands dirty. Why be on a farm otherwise? You might as well be in an office, I say. You’re from the city, I suppose?” she said doubtfully.
“Professional quarter,” replied Mrs. Bell, cutting herself a slice of quiche.
The woman nodded. “I could see you weren’t technocrats by the car. If you’ll pardon my saying so.”
“It is a bit of a relic,” agreed Mr. Bell.
“I thought you said it was ‘vintage’?” said Gavin.
His parents laughed. “Wishful thinking,” said his dad.
“You want a nice walk,” interrupted the woman, “you should go through the woods here. You ask my husband; you’ll see him working round the back as you pass.”
Fleur’s instinct as they entered the woods was to run. The path sloped downward enticingly and she let herself gather speed. She sensed that Gavin was behind her and for a moment they raced each other until the path petered out and trees blocked their way. They stopped beneath a silver birch to catch their breath. “Come on,” said Fleur, and she was off again, running helter-skelter among the trees. Gavin at last caught up with her. “Stop a minute,” he panted.
For the first time they were aware of their surroundings. They were under a broad lichen-covered tree, pale sunlight tilting at them through the branches. Tall smooth-barked beeches, standing to attention like friendly sentries, seemed to be waiting for them to speak. A bird sang piercingly.
“What are we going to do now?” said Gavin.
His sister stared at him. “What do you mean? There’s nothing wrong. You’re the only one who thinks there is.”
Gavin was taken aback. He had imagined his sister to be as worried as he was. “What about Marcia? And Eager …”
“Eager!” Fleur spoke so scornfully that Gavin felt anger rising.
“You’ve changed your tune! Just because our plan didn’t work. I know something’s going on. You should have seen that Tibetan man’s face yesterday when Dad mentioned Professor Ogden. And the way he looked at Eager—”
“You’re not fighting, are you?” Mr. Bell had entered the clearing. He came over and put an arm around each of them, affectionately. “Only you both look cross.”
“No,” said Fleur. She glanced at Gavin but he had moved away and was kicking at a branch on the ground. Her brother had spoken so forcefully that she decided to test the situation one more time. “Dad, my gobepal from Nigeria called this morning. He said the BDC4s there held someone hostage, so LifeCorp took all the robots back to the factory. Sarupa says LifeCorp did the same in Bombay.”
Gavin had stopped kicking the branch. Fleur could almost feel his eyes boring into her but she was careful not to look round. He must not think that she agreed with him. She was just curious to know what her dad would say.
“Faults can happen,” began Mr. Bell cautiously. “It doesn’t mean all BDC4s are defective … a handful of robots from the same factory is not significant.”
“That’s what I thought,” said Fleur, still avoiding Gavin’s eye.
“Yoohoo!” Mrs. Bell, who was carrying the baby, and the two robots had caught up with them. “Charlotte insisted on walking but that means stopping every few seconds to poke in the mud!’ laughed Mrs. Bell. “Here, you take her, Grumps. Which way now?”
“Bear right,” said her jinn, which had recorded the farmer’s instructions.
They set off together and began talking of other things. Gavin found himself walking with Eager, who was becoming increasingly excited. “It’s all real,” he kept repeating. His sharp eyes were sensitive to the slightest flurry and he ran from tree to tree, peering up into the branches to see what had caused the disturbance. At other times his eyes were pinned to the ground, following the scuttling of beetles and wood lice.
Gavin mulled over Fleur’s news. If only he could agree with his dad that it meant nothing. He would have liked to tell Eager about the various incidents but decided that it would be unkind to involve him anymore.
“The trees are speaking to me,” the robot announced.
Gavin was startled. “Are you sure?”
Eager nodded. “I feel waves coming at me. It’s like when I sense the frequencies of other robots.”
They were walking parallel to the rest of the party and could hear Fleur’s laughter through the trees and Grumps’ voice saying gravely, “That is a squirrel, Charlotte, not a pussycat.”
“Am I alive?” asked Eager.
Gavin hesitated, not wanting to hurt the robot’s feelings. “You’re sort of alive because you can see and think and talk and move,” he began. “But if you mean alive like the trees and the beetles and us, then no, you’re not. You see, we’re organisms and we can reproduce ourselves, and you’re a machine.”
“Squirrel, Charlotte,” they heard Grumps say. “Not doggie.”
Eager had gone quiet and stopped his inquisitive hurrying from tree to tree. The birdsong in the woods rose suddenly to a clamor.
“I once asked someone very clever on the gobey about this,” continued Gavin. “He said it’s like making a robot with a digestive system …”
“That would be useful. I was at a loss what to do while you were eating lunch.”
“Yes, well … The food could go in and come out at the other end and even be broken down in the middle, but you still couldn’t really eat pizza. Being alive is the same, apparently. There’s some sort of process that makes it real that you don’t have. Anyway,” Gavin added encouragingly, “what’s so wonderful about being like us?”
Eager gazed up at the sky. “I feel I am alive.”
Gavin took a deep breath. He knew that the trees and the birds and the wood lice were all drawing on that same air for life. It was a connection that Eager would never have. Yet when he looked at Eager and saw the vibrant expression on his upturned face and the curiosity in his eyes he could not argue with him.
“Then you must be,” he said.
Sounds of laughter and chatter were closer now as the others arrived, sidling and stooping through the branches. “This way,” said Mrs. Bell. “We’re nearly at the road. The farmer said if we turn left we’ll soon be back at the farm.”
The trees thinned and they could see a single-track road ahead of them. A lorry was parked a little way off. It wasn’t a farm vehicle and its gray anonymity marked it out as an odd feature in the landscape. Gavin quickened his step, curious to find out what the lorry was doing.
He and Eager were the first out of the woods. They stepped into the lane and started walking toward the vehicle. Instantly, the engine started up, smooth and splutter-free. Gavin was too far away to see who was behind the wheel but an instinct stirred in him and he cried out to Eager, “Get back in the woods!”
Eager hesitated, wondering what the danger was. Then he heard the roar of the engine as the lorry accelerated toward him and he bounded into the trees. Mr. and Mrs. Bell and Fleur appeared and saw Gavin, waving his arms at them and shouting “Stop!” They stepped back onto the verge in confusion.
The lorry gathered speed. At that moment Grumps emerged from the woods further up, carrying Charlotte, and started to cross the road. There was an agonized scream from Mrs. Bell, the first to realize what was happening. Grumps turned at the sound to see the lorry bearing down on him; he spun round on his wheels as if to retreat, but it was too late. In a split second he had thrown Charlotte over his shoulder toward the trees. As she sailed through the air in a perfect arc Mrs. Bell rushed to catch her, but two strong rubbery arms got there first.
There was a terrible crash of metal hitting metal and the lorry thundered by. It rumbled in the distance; then all was sick-eningly quiet. Sobbing with relief, Mrs. Bell ran to Eager and clutched Charlotte to her chest. The baby wriggled to escape, to signal that she wanted to play the flying game again. Fleur, Gavin and Mr. Bell gathered round and they hugged each other. They were in no rush to look at the scene behind them. Just for now they clung to the irrational but all too human hope that Grumps might somehow be put back together again.
At last Mr. Bell pulled away and walked slowly to the road. The children followed.
Scattered far and wide across the tarmac were heaps of mangled metal and twisted circuitry. A buckled wheel rolled drunkenly toward the verge. For a moment no one spoke. “I’ve got a shovel in the car,” said Mr. Bell hoarsely.
“I’ll help you, Dad,” said Gavin.
“So will I,” said Fleur. But when, further down the road, they spotted Grumps’ motionless head, she burst into tears and ran to Mrs. Bell.
Gavin and his father walked the short distance to the farm and drove back in the car. They began to scoop up Grumps’ remains, placing them in a blanket that had been on the backseat.
All this time Eager was standing at the side of the road, his system in turmoil. Life as he knew it had come to an end. How much worse it must be for the family. He went up to Mr. Bell. “Leave it to me,” he said.
Mr. Bell shook his head. “With your hearing it’s better you listen out for traffic.” Fleur, her face puffy, came back to help and Eager went to stand in the middle of the road as they worked silently around him. The light was failing. He could hear the wind gathering in the trees and rooks shrieking.
They put the blanket in the boot and Mr. Bell slammed the door shut. Mrs. Bell insisted on squeezing into the back to be with the children so Eager had a front seat to himself. But he felt no pleasure in it as they drove, shocked and speechless, back to the suburb.
CHAPTER 22
That evening the older Bells carried on with their lives numbly, as if the lorry that had crushed Grumps had flattened them too. They spoke politely to each other and tiptoed around, anxious not to disturb the fragile fabric of their world. Charlotte was bad-tempered, refused to eat and whined all the time. Everyone agreed she must be teething. They all knew that really she was missing Grumps.
The next day Eager made a special effort and cooked pancakes for breakfast. Grumps had shown him how and though they were a little thick he was pleased with the results. He laid them on the table with a flourish. “Pancakes,” he said, a note of pride in his voice.
An image flashed before the family of Grumps presenting them with a tureen of tomato soup. They couldn’t help staring gloomily at Eager’s offering. Gavin’s eyes pricked with tears. Fleur dropped her fork, noisily.
“I was so horrible to him. I called … him … names,” she choked. “Sometimes I wouldn’t even … talk … to him … was ashamed.”
“Come here,” said her dad, holding out his arms to her. She sat on his knee, and for a moment sobbed uncontrollably.
Mr. Bell smoothed her hair. “Remember what I said? He was nothing more than a machine.”
Fleur shook her head. “That’s not what it feels like,” she whispered.
“He was programmed to make us happy,” persisted her father. “So if we smiled he would smile too. Other than that he didn’t understand much about our moods. He wouldn’t have known you were being rude.”
“Your dad’s right,” said Mrs. Bell, kneeling beside them and putting her arm around Fleur.
“That’s not what you said. You always wanted us to treat Grumps politely, like a person,” said Fleur accusingly.
“I know I did. I didn’t want us to take him for granted. I just wanted us to be grateful. Perhaps I overdid it.”
Fleur began to cry again. “Grumps taught me to ride a bike—he used to hold on to it, do you remember? And he picked me up whenever I fell over and said ‘No need for hospital,’ which always made me cross. And only the other day he made my favorite pudding … I never asked him, he just did it!”
Gavin, flooded by his own memories, could not bear it anymore. He slid down from his chair and joined them. His dad put a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze, while his mum hugged him with her free arm. He realized that she was crying too.
“We humans are a stupid lot,” she sniffed, “making a fuss about a machine. There must be something about the way we’re made….”
“Even I miss him,” said Mr. Bell, “after all I’ve said. Besides, it was a terrible accident. We didn’t expect to lose him that way.”
Fleur looked up, concern on her face. “Who’s going to tell the kettle? Not me.”
She was so indignant when the others began to laugh that they laughed even more. Fleur tried to get cross but found herself giggling and even Charlotte began to chuckle. Then Fleur started to hiccup, which set everyone off again.
Mrs. Bell wiped her eyes and stood up. “We may joke about it,” she said, “but I’m going to visit the kettle. I think it would have been Grumps’ last wish.”
“We’ve got to talk,” said Gavin.
Fleur put her finger to her lips. She led him out of the house and down to the wild patch at the bottom of the garden. “I don’t want anyone or anything to overhear,” she said in a low voice.
Gavin opened his eyes wide. “You mean … you think we can’t trust our own house?”
“I think we can’t take chances. I know what you’re going to say,” she went on. “The lorry in the woods, you think it was after Eager, don’t you?” Her eyes were shining. “Did you see who was in it?”
“Not properly, but I’m sure it was robots. I think they meant to jump out and grab Eager.”
Fleur sat down on the stone bench in the corner. “So who sent them?”
“I think it was LifeCorp.” Gavin waited for his sister to protest; instead she bit her lip and looked askance at him.
“I was afraid you were going to say that,” she muttered.
“It has to be!” he cried. “I bet it was the man we met at the hotel, Mr. Lobsang. He’s one of LifeCorp’s top robot designers. I told you—he looked at Eager with his tongue hanging out. These technocrats are just like the marauders, they want to get their hands on the latest technology. They’re scared they might not be the first in the race—”
“Hang on,” said Fleur. “I agree that LifeCorp probably wants to know what other scientists are doing. Perhaps this man thinks Eager is a rival product. But that doesn’t mean he would kidnap Eager.”
“Well, who else would?” Gavin wished his sister would stop trying to sound like a grown-up. She was so busy asking questions and weighing evidence that she couldn’t see what was staring her in the face.
“And who else could, more to the point?” he said. “LifeCorp has hundreds of satellites in the sky. They know our address because Dad’s working for them. It would be easy to spy on us. I bet they tracked us all the way to the woods and sent the lorry to meet us. But instead of getting Eager, they hit Grumps.” He felt a wave of sadness at the memory.
After a moment he said bitterly, “I know one more thing— the robots wouldn’t have done it on their own. It’s against their laws. ‘A robot must not harm another robot, unless instructed to by a human being.’ “
Fleur let this sink in. “I still don’t see why LifeCorp should be so interested in Eager.”
“Because he’s like the BDC4s, only different. Remember our conversation the other night? LifeCorp have spent years designing the BDCs, then along comes another robot that’s just as clever as they are.”
“But Mr. Lobsang only looked at Eager. How can he know anything about him?”
Gavin reflected. “I think he must know something about Professor Ogden’s work. Listen, I think they might try again to get hold of Eager. That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. We mustn’t let him out of our sight from now on.”
“Well, that won’t be difficult,” said Fleur, “since he’s grounded.” Her attention wandered to a speck of yellow beside the hedge. She pulled back the grass to find tiny primroses. Eventually she looked up at her brother. “Gavin, I’ll help you with this. But I don’t agree with you that the BDC4s are dangerous. They’re just machines like all the other robots and sometimes machines can do funny things, that’s all.”
He frowned. “I can’t help thinking there’s a connection. Mr. Lobsang sees Eager as a rival to the BDC4s, and the BDC4s are behaving suspiciously.”
She stood up. “I’m going back.”
Gavin let her go past. He sighed, then followed her to the house. At the door she swung round. “Do you think we should tell him?” she said. “That LifeCorp is after him?”
Gavin thought of how dejected Eager had been since Grumps’ accident. He did not want to add to his unhappiness. “No,” he said.
Eager found the philosopher as usual, sitting on the bank under the tree and apparently wearing the same sheet.
“Hello,” said Eager, which he had decided was the most neutral greeting he could give. It seemed to work, because the philosopher merely nodded and waited for him to continue.
“My friend Grumps has been run over,” Eager began. “I think it was my fault, the lorry was chasing me, I’m sure of it…. I feel worse than when I put Charlotte in the washing machine.”
