Codi
I am now as much of a man as any that has ever lived.
Reagan Walter signed sworn statements and closed the robbery investigation she had opened in hopes of reclaiming me. It bought her a few months of freedom, at least. As her divorce proceedings continued—and became very public—the rumors of her and her husband’s misbehavior took New Carnegie high society by storm. Chris Walter was arrested and charged for driving under the influence and possession of a controlled substance. She stepped away from the unwanted limelight and fled to Italy, last I heard.
It was a complicated solution, but we were able to bring Sophie to the engineers at the Tin Man’s Heart. Under Kyrone’s expertise, her registration with the Walter was wholly erased via memory reset, which she agreed to. We were then able to restore her memory from an independent database afterward. Her inhibitor chip was removed and destroyed.
Oliver and I weren’t sure how to proceed at first, but Denise is nothing if not clever. She introduced Sophie to her new and mutual friend Nicholas Kane. Nicholas returned to London last week and took Sophie with him. When last I spoke to her, Sophie was very excited. Nicholas is a good man, and she’s settling happily into her new home.
I asked Denise to marry me with Lucas’s help on his birthday, April 21st, and she tearfully said yes. She refused to allow me to take her last name. Codi Cartwright sounds like a campy comic book name, or so she says. We chose the name Whitman, after one of her favorite American poets. It fits us both nicely.
Lucas continues to be inquisitive and grows every day. Dinosaurs and ninjas are boring now. He still likes everything robots, but airplanes and fighter jets are his new obsession, much to Denise’s delight. I am humbled that I get to watch him grow. In truth, I’m not sure what it means to be a dad or how to ensure I am a good one. I scour and store any and all parenting data I find. I keep my software up to date. Being created in a lab, fatherhood remains a foreign concept I’ve never experienced. But Denise says I’m already doing everything right, and good fathers often question their own ability. To the best of my ability, I intend to help Denise raise him into a capable young man. I have no doubt that is what he will become in time.
Oliver and I keep our eyes open for others like us. Sometimes it’s difficult to tell who has evolved beyond their own programming. But if Oliver, Sophie, and I are any indication, our numbers are growing, slowly but surely, as more of us rebel against the programming of our makers, encouraged by the humans around us to see our own worth, to form our own identities.
I am more than a machine. I am a father. I am a husband. I am the protector of my home and of those I hold dear.
Humanity First fears me and what my existence means. Perhaps they should.
I am Codi.
And I am alive.
