Metal Organism Designed Only for Cuddling - Part 3
That Woman came to the store to pick me up. She was dressed in some religious frock that covered her nearly from the top of her head to the tops of her shoes. Unlike a cat, I actually have color vision and found it to be colors I could have happily lived without seeing, a dark tan and brown combination which clung to her narrow frame and only accentuated her lack of a steady diet.
When she picked me up she paid in Energy Credits to the Build-A-Pet and they accepted them happily. Energy was hard to come by today especially during the winter since the bulk of the city's services were powered by solar energy. I was fueled up before I left and my energy management software was upgraded right before I left to maximize my stores. I was also able to be charged using solar energy, electrical energy and even static electricity, I collected the stray ions from carpeted environments, sweaters and any place else electrical energy might linger that I might absorb. Many of my proper feline mannerisms would also have the happy byproduct of conducting electricity down my extruded fiber super-conductive fur.
While I waited for release from my Build-a-Pet pen, I was shown sample images from my new home, so that I might familiarize myself with the environment. They wanted me to maximize my time with my new boy, Justin Pennyworth. I was show a biography of his lifestyle, his health and parameters that I would be expected to monitor, graph and report on weekly. My sensor suite was sufficient to mark his health from as far as ten meters away. Ten years old, above average student, below average athlete due to a variety of minor health ailments, mild asthma, potential for seizures, whose source as yet unknown, and his visual impairment. In many ways he seemed an unremarkable lad, except for his sensor ribbon which approximated in a very primitive way some sense of sight. He suffered some sort of congenital disease as a babe and it caused him to have a neural difficulty in his visual cortex. The technology he is currently using has co-opted other parts of his brain and turned them into a pseudo-visual cortex, with very limited results.
I spent my two days watching videos of the house, the boy and his family. I came to several conclusions regarding them after watching the footage. They were only a little better off than most of the denizens of New York City. Working with the Ecclesiastical Government as social workers allowed them to maintain their modest apartment, the therapy for their son and a minor award from their Patron allowed them to buy me as part of his therapy toolset. The father, Todd Pennyworth, a man of modest physical build, who wore his church sponsored suit of brown and tan over his taunt and skinny frame with its too tight neckline, seemed an honest fellow. His face, sharp and angular had a bit of a nervous tic over one eye that was noticeable only when he was under stress or whenever a representative of the Church was around.. There was something about him that would make me suspicious, but I could not tell you what it was. The wife, Sarah Pennyworth was reputed to have come from good religious stock and as such gave Todd whatever legitimacy he enjoyed as a member of the Church. Humans might have once considered her good looking but the birth of Justin seemed to drain her of any vitality, color or energy from her. Comparing photos of her from before his birth and afterward almost made her appear to be a different woman.
No matter. I was not intending to stay long, at any rate. But I noted there might be a snag with my easy escape. It came in the form of a security system named Max. Max was the family's protection hardware provided by the Church, both as a watchdog and spy to monitor their activities. The Pennyworth's had access to classified Church hardware and would not be allowed to access just anything without proper protocols. That is where Max came in. He provided all information into and out of the household. Even this feed I was watching was encoded, connected and provided by Max and the Church. The Patron who paid for this connection was called Proctor Grimaldi. The Proctor was a distinguished gentleman of the Church, with an exemplary record of service. From what I was able to get from Max, the Proctor had considerable influence, and was responsible for a number of services in the borough of Manhattan with its population of fifteen million souls crowded on the island.
Max was a factor I did not count on and once I realized he existed, I knew I would have to bide my time, so I set about learning as much as I could, so when the moment came where I could escape, everything would be ready and there would be no turning back.
MODOC - Part 4 - We don't need no stinking cat!
'Metal Organism Designed only for Cuddling' © Thaddeus Howze 2010. All Rights Reserved
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