The scrapper focused on the metal that Nora quickly uncovered to show him. His eyes widened, then narrowed again before he said, “That’s a good amount. But the rate has gone down since you got him helping.” He focused back on Simon, tone brisk and sharp. “Talk with me, robot. When you from?”
The disdain in his voice and suspicion in his eyes raised Simon’s wariness in dealing with humans. He pressed his lips together tight.Not all are like Nora.She was squirming at his side, however, so he decided to be respectful and not hostile for her benefit. He fell into the same tone and mannerisms he took with humans from his time. The cool, yet polite, indifferent one. “I was last awake over a hundred and fifty years ago. Things were different then.”
Max’s face went slack. “Well shit.” His cheeks paled under the layer of dust. “What the hell, Nora.”
“Max . . .”
Max ignored her, focusing on Simon’s face. “What happened? Why weren’t you dismantled?”
“I was hidden until Nora found me. I do not know what happened during the war.” He tilted his head and lied, “I also was not designed to fight, only to serve. I am incapable of fighting.”
“Incapable?”
“Correct. I am programmed to never harm a human. I am grateful to Nora for her assistance in addition to being designed to help in whatever way possible.”
Simon saw Nora shift from side to side, averting her eyes.
Max rubbed his face and then looked over the stuff they brought in. “Right. That’s what the records said. The robots all got dismantled and melted down when they wouldn’t listen. So even if you . . .”
Simon reached for calm coolness. “My guardrails are still intact. I exist only to help.”
“Simon has been great, Max,” Nora interjected.
Max narrowed his eyes, obviously thinking hard. “Yeah . . . you did find more with him helping, too.”
Behind them, others started to filter in with their scrap to trade. Max’s eyes darted fast in his old face. He spoke quickly, before the others could overhear. “Fine. You’re the one taking the damn risk living with him anyways. But the deal is different now. I get half the shit you find for free. And in return, I don’t know anything about your pretty new pet here.”
Simon watched Nora back down and nod as she forced a smile. “Okay Max, that’s fine.”
“If you try trading elsewhere, deal is off.”
“I won’t, Max. You know I always just come here.”
“I mean it.”
“Yes. Yes, of course.”
Nora’s quick, meek compliance made a sensor twitch in Simon’s cheek. As well as the practiced placating smile that formed on her lips a second later.
Max narrowed his eyes on Simon again. “Damn straight. That’s the only reason I’m considering this deal. You’ve always followed the rules.” He shook his head and mumbled, “Other than finding and waking him, that is. Shit, Nora.”
Simon knew enough to stay silent, assessing the entire area and committing it to memory.And this is . . . civilization?
Nora held out her hand as Max put coins in her palm, holding it out a bit after he finished as if expecting more. Simon watched the exchange, his neural receptors sinking as Max stared at Nora stonily until she wrapped her palm around the money. Disappointment coated her face as she said back in a small voice, “Thanks, Max. We’ll be back soon.”
Simon followed Nora as she walked away until they got back in the hover. Tilly was bouncing on the backseat, happy they were back. They climbed in and drove off.
When out of earshot, Simon asked her in an undertone so Tilly couldn’t hear, “Did he severely underpay you?”
Nora nodded her head. She leaned against the hover’s steering wheel once they were out of sight, letting the engine idle, then banged her hand on the dash. “Shit.”
“That’s not a good word, Mama,” Tilly said, frowning from the backseat.
Simon felt at a loss on what to do.How can I make this better?His hand reached out to touch her gently on the shoulder. A second later he removed his fingers, feeling her muscles twitch underneath and the small heat surge that happened at his touch.
The earlier curiosity over her reaction was dimmed by her current distress. His touch seemed to help her move on though, as he watched Nora sit up and palm at the money in her pouch, counting it while taking deep breaths.
He asked, slowly, “Are we in trouble, Nora? From Max knowing?”
