Entry 28

“And I need you to understand, Mr. Holier-Than-Thou Barker, that nothing you can say will persuade me to leave my brother here in this prison,” I retorted.

“If I was not so sure that seeing that your android truly is an android would change your mind about this brother business, I would think taking you here is a mistake,” Ven sighed. “Carlee, if you try anything I will take my sedative and knock you out. Do you understand?” I bit my lip, nodding, though I had no intention of leaving John behind. I just had to figure out a better way than simply grabbing him and running. If only Ven would help. With his knowledge of the Society of Anthropologists surely we could pull it off.

“How can you be so certain that doing this will change my feelings about him?” I asked as we resumed walking.

“I’ve done this before,” he answered. “And even before that I watched others do this. Trust me. Once you realize that your so-called brother is nothing more than a machine, your feelings will change.” I wondered how many times Ven had done this for humans specifically. I wonder if he could even begin to fathom the bond I had with John. Or maybe he just did not realize the stock modern Earthlings put in anything they viewed as part of their family. I would not be willing to leave behind my family dog, let alone my brother.

Or maybe he just underestimated the stubbornness of a fifteen year old girl.

Finally Ven stopped outside of a set of doors. He paused, gave me one last stern “don’t-mess-anything-up” look, and then passed through the doors. I followed, nervous and unsure. I had never exactly had to hatch an escape plan before, and I still had no idea how I would free John.

I entered the room, expecting a hospital room environment with John lying on a table; however, that was not quite what I saw.

Bodies scattered the room. I was sure it made organizational sense to someone, but to me it made none. It was as if this was just an android body storage area. Some of the androids were laid out on the floor, while aliens kneeled close to examine them. Other androids were sitting on stools, slumped over like marionettes without strings. Two aliens were holding an android up between them, moving the arms as if testing the joint flexibility. The room struck me as a graveyard, which was frightening. The androids looked just like regular aliens to me, other than their lifelessness. For all I knew these were just dead alien bodies.

Ven stopped, his eyes scanning the room. I did the same thing, looking about for my brother. Ven caught sight of him before I did, for he tapped me and motioned for me to follow him.

I tried to glance around Ven to see John, but Ven is so much larger than me. There was not exactly a lot of room for me to move around. We skirted around the lifeless androids and the aliens, who were studying them.

“Remember,” Ven said softly to me as we walked. “It’s not alive. It’s just an android. It can’t feel pain. It doesn’t know fear of death. It’s just a machine.” I did not respond, knowing that nothing Ven could say would convince me that John was not alive. I had fifteen years of life with John to ground my thoughts and feelings in. I had only known Ven for a few hours. I certainly was not going to trust Ven over John.

Ven then stepped off at an angle, and my eyes fell on my big brother.

John lay discarded in a corner, like a forgotten doll. He was propped against the wall, so he was sitting up, but he was on the floor instead of a chair. His brown eyes stared lifelessly into nothing, and his entire face was slack without emotion. The only clothes he retained were his undershorts, leaving him very exposed and naked in such a cold room. All of the skin on his left hand had been peeled back, revealing clear muscles, through which his metallic bones could easily be seen. The skin on his left hand ringed his lower arm, like a sleeve someone had pulled back though the skin from the fingers awkwardly fell away. The skin on his left elbow, left shoulder, right knee, and right foot had also been peeled back, as if someone had been studying all of his joints. No human could ever survive such a thing without bleeding to death, but John was not bleeding, as if turning him off turned off his blood. All in all he looked very inhuman, and yet very much like my brother in need of my help.