The Man In The Machine Page 12

  She had to end his rampage then and there.

  So she walked up to the building, and after taking a deep breath…

  She opened the doors and confidently walked inside.

  Meet The Maker

  Hours later, the three of them walked out. The air conditioner had been broken, and they were all hot, sweaty, tired, and emotionally drained… But ecstatic, nonetheless.

  "You fucking did it. He'll be going away for a long, long time, Willow. You're amazing." Blake said, practically prancing as she walked. Blake was very excited for her friend, and definitely glad that everything had worked out okay.

  Marcus wouldn't be able to hurt anyone else.

  "Yeah, you did amazing." Nych said with a smile, holding her tightly as they walked.

  "How about we call up your parents? I'd love to meet them, and I think tonight's a good night for that."

  Willow was exhilarated, exhausted, and leaned on Nych as they walked. "I- Yeah. We could." Willow nodded. "I’ll see if they would like to have us over for dinner tonight." She unlocked her car once they arrived and collapsed into the back seat. She really needed a nice, relaxing evening. And good food. Thankfully, her parents' house could supply all of that for her and everyone else.

  "I'll call them." She nodded, picking up her phone. "But let's head back to the house for now."

  She wanted to give Terry the good news.

  Both of the others nodded, sharing in her feelings of ecstasy and exhaustion, as they sat down in their respective seats. Blake started the engine, and then they were off, towards the house that had quickly become a home for many people.

  Willow spent a good five minutes talking to her parents, all the while laughing, crying, and smiling.

  "So. What'd they say?" Nych asked, once Willow was finished talking to them.

  Truthfully, he was a bit scared to meet them.

  It would be worth it, however. He had to know the parents of the woman he loved.

  "They said they'd be happy to have us over." Willow set her phone down and snuggled up at Nych's side. "So we can pick up Aisling and drive over there. I imagine Dean and Terry will come too, but they'll probably want to pick up Julie before they head out there." She cracked her knuckles and stretched somewhat. "Mom said she was making stew for dinner, so there'll be enough for everyone to eat."

  Anastasia Grace made very large helpings of food.

  She liked eating leftovers.

  Blake nodded her head, and before long, they'd made it back to the house.

  The three of them got out of the car and made their tired way up to the door, knocking before being let in by a very small Aisling.

  "Hey, little one." Nych said, messing with her hair before he made his way past her. With a pang, it came back to him that they would have to tell her about their relationship. Hopefully, everything went according to plan.

  He didn't want to think about what would happen otherwise.

  "Hi Nych!" Aisling smiled and followed after him. "Do you know what we're having for dinner?"

  "We're going to grandma and grandpa's house." Willow smiled at her daughter. "So why don't you go find some socks, okay? We're going to be getting ready to go soon so you need to be ready. You need to brush your hair, too."

  "No!" Aisling wrinkled her nose. "It's fine like this!"

  "You look like a little feral child, Aisling." Willow sighed. "You can brush it, or I can. Take your choice."

  Nych laughed and took Aisling's small hand. "Come here, I can brush it for you. I'm gentle, I promise. You're going to look like a princess." He led her off towards a bedroom so that Willow could explain to Terry what had happened.

  They could tell Aisling when she was a bit older.

  Blake leaned against the door frame, and began picking at her nails.

  "Go on, tell him what happened."

  Willow nodded slowly, waiting for her brother to enter the room. Once he did, he sat down on the couch and stared towards his sister sadly.

  "How did it go?" He asked, patting the spot next to him on the couch. "Blake told me what happened… I can't believe the scumbag tried to find you at the children's hospital." He shook his head.

  "It went well." Willow nodded slowly, sitting down next to him. "I handed over all the evidence I had to the police. I’m pressing charges, so… He should be going to jail for quite a long time."

  Eventually, Nych brought Aisling back into the room, and she looked absolutely adorable. He'd braided her hair for her, which was probably just so he didn’t have to brush as much. It was also evident that he'd picked her clothing, considering she was wearing a black shirt with a robot on it and a pair of her jeans that had been faded with mud.

  She looked like quite the kid, but then again, she looked like she was growing up too fast.

  "I hope you like it." He said to her, grinning as she looked to herself in the living room mirror.

  Blake clapped her hands, laughing. "God, if Aisling goes through an emo phase like you, Willow, I'm going to riot."

  "Shush." Willow huffed at her and then looked to her daughter and the man she loved with a warm smile. She was glad the two of them were getting along.

  Aisling looked at herself in the mirror for a bit longer before she nodded, looking up at Nych with a smile. "Yeah! It looks good!" She turned around to hug him around the waist, then turned her head towards her mother to stick her tongue out at her. "You're better at it than mom is. She tugs on my hair."

  "That's because you let your hair knot." Willow rolled her eyes. "Are we ready to go, then?"

  Once everyone was prepared, they piled into the two cars, one of which being Willow's and the other being Terry's. They drove their own cars, considering they were the only ones that knew how to get to their parents’ house besides Dean.

  Dean likely would have loved to drive, but that would have been terrible for everyone.

  "What kind of stew is she making? Do you know?" Nych asked. His strange sort of non-hunger hunger was speaking to him, and he was curious as to what he'd be eating. His flavor perception seemed to be heightened by the fact that he was a robot, which was interesting.

  He could taste better than he could as a man.

  "Probably some kind of chicken noodle. Or just one with beef and a bunch of veggies. Whatever she's got lying around, she usually throws in there." Willow shrugged, pulling out of the driveway and starting the long drive to her parents’ house. "I suppose we'll just have to find out when we get there." She hesitated. "… By the way, my parents can be a little, um… Intimidating. They do it on purpose, just so you know."

  "Grandma's scary!" Aisling laughed. "She chased away a bear once!"

  Willow rolled her eyes. "It was just a young black bear that wandered into her garden. Doesn't take much to spook them."

  Nych nodded his head, chuckling. "Yeah, from the way you are, I would've assumed as much. Don't worry about me, though. I can handle parents. Especially now, considering… Well, I'm a robot. That's a pretty good conversation starter."

  They didn't plan on hiding anything about him from her parents, considering he was the man she loved. They'd be upfront about it, and whether they accepted him or not…

  That was their own decision.

  Nych reclined in the front seat, having stuck both Aisling and Blake in the back. Neither of them were too happy about that.

  "Don't say I didn't warn you." Willow sighed.

  Before long they were outside of Vancouver, and they turned down the driveway that led to her parents’ house. It was a large residence, surrounded by a gigantic garden, and had a pasture nearby with two horses in it. The house was old, but well-kept. Willow parked the car in front of it and then turned it off, stepping outside and stretching.

  Aisling, on the other hand, bolted towards the front door. "Grandma! Grandpa!" She threw open the front door and ran inside. She was excited.

  The rest of them exited the cars one by one, until everyone was standing at the entryway. The filed throug
h the doors, with Nych entering last, considering he was the only one Willow's parents wouldn't recognize.

  The house was, indeed, big, but not overly so. It was a modest sort of large, just enough space to show that they were wealthy, but not immensely so.

  "It's a nice house." Nych said, muttering his thoughts aloud as Blake fell in line next to him. She hadn't seen Willow's parents in a while, so she didn't quite know what to expect either.

  "Yeah, her father's a pretty well-off businessman. They've got it good."

  Willow peered through the entryway. "Mom? Dad?"

  A woman's voice replied in a language nobody but Willow recognized.

  Anastasia Grace rounded the corner, holding Aisling in her arms. She had deep scarlet hair with streaks of grey running through it, and it was pulled back into a loose bun. Her eyes were a beautiful ocean blue, her skin pale and her hands weathered. She smirked somewhat at her daughter, who stared at her in exasperation, and tilted her head to the side as she spoke again in the same language.

  Willow sighed and ran her fingers through her hair before she responded in the same tongue.

  Willow's family spoke both Scottish Gaelic and English. Blake knew this, but Nych was lost.

  Hearing the foreign language, however, immediately got Nych thinking. What if there was a way to connect to the internet, so that he would understand any language that was spoken to him?

  He'd have to ask Willow about that later. For now, the words were foreign to him.

  "Pip pip le doodly doo, get me some beer and play a jig to you too." Blake said, clapping Willow on the shoulder as she looked to Anastasia. "It's been a while, remember me? I'm the bad influence. Turned out alright, I'd say."

  Blake had never been a favorite of any parent.

  Anastasia looked over at Blake and raised her brows as she tilted her head to the side. After a second, she spoke again in Gaelic, and Willow groaned. "Mom. English. I know why you're doing this."

  "Oh, bah." Anastasia rolled her eyes. "You're no fun. Hello Blake, it's nice to see you again." She lightly bounced Aisling in her arms, turning to walk into the rest of the house. Her Scottish accent was thicker than Willow's, but still understandable. "Come on, into the dining room. Your father is in the kitchen right now. Christopher! The kids are here!"

  There was a grunt of acknowledgment from around the corner, and Willow rolled her eyes as she followed her mother into the room over.

  "By the way." Anastasia casted a glance over her shoulder. "Who's that?" She gestured to Nych.

  Nych walked over slowly, conscious of his robotic body the entire way there. Eventually, he stood in front of the woman that was the mother of his love, and he extended a hand.

  "Hello, Mrs. Grace. I'm… Nych Haywiyth. No doubt your daughter has told stories about me. And you probably know… I was dead."

  It was best to start off with the hard stuff, so it could be joked about later.

  And that was definitely going to be a hard pill to swallow.

  Anastasia stared at him for a moment, and then narrowed her eyes as she studied his face. She set Aisling down, putting her hands on her hips as she paced a circle around Nych, examining him thoroughly and eventually stopping in front of him. "… Christopher, come here."

  A man sighed from nearby, and after a second walked over.

  Christopher Grace was an absolute behemoth of a man. He was built like a Viking, with short hair and a neatly groomed beard. "What is it, Anastasia?"

  "… He says he's Nych." She pointed at Nych, and quirked an eyebrow.

  Christopher stared at him, and then looked to Willow. "Well?"

  Willow rolled her eyes and sighed. "Yes. This is Nych."

  Nych looked at the two of them. Strangely, they definitely went well with each other. They were total opposites in appearance, but… He could see them being with each other. Like a Viking love story.

  "I'm… Well, I'm a robot. My brain's hooked up to a hard drive, and my entire body otherwise is metallic." He said, looking at the two of them shyly.

  He hoped Willow would come to his rescue and explain.

  Hell, he didn't know half the things about his body.

  "… So you finished him?" Christopher raised an eyebrow.

  "I did." Willow nodded. "It took a long time, but I had a breakthrough and I figured out what I needed to do. His brain is paired with a hard drive that is connected to the body, and the body carries out all of the same functions that the organic one did." She walked over to her robotic love, gently resting a hand on his arm.

  "And when did this happen?" Anastasia asked.

  Willow was going to respond when she was interrupted by a voice that didn’t belong to anyone in the room.

  "It happened when I brought her a tool to help, of course."

  That goddamned motherfucker didn't make a sound when he came through the door. His blonde hair was flicked over from the wind, and his pale eyes were full of starlight, with his oversized bag flung across his shoulder.

  But there was no mistaking who stood in front of them.

  Erile looked to all of them with a small smile, then glanced around the room. "A nice place you’ve got here. I’m pretty sure this becomes a museum or something."

  Anastasia blinked, and then narrowed her eyes. "Who is this?"

  Willow tensed, then looked towards Erile with wide eyes. She had no idea where he had come from, or how he got there, but… She was kind of glad to see him again. He had made her life so much better.

  "… A friend." She glanced back at her mother. "He gave me the tool that let me finish Nych's body." She folded her hands in front of herself neatly and tilted her head to the side with a slight smile.

  Erile nodded, looking around the room until he noticed that Aisling was there. As such, when he stepped up to Willow's parents, he decided to use his alias.

  "The name's Basil Connors. I'm an expert in the growing field of artificial intelligence, and figured I could help with this oh-so-important development. I figured I'd pop by when I heard the achievement himself would be here and see how it's going."

  Nych, of course, was mystified.

  "I… Hello?" He said questioningly, looking to the blonde man in front of him.

  Why hadn't Willow mentioned him?

  "I see." Anastasia examined him, while Christopher stayed quiet. He didn't seem like one to talk much. "Anastasia Grace." She tapped her husband's arm and huffed. "Introduce yourself."

  The old man sighed, eyeing Nych up and down. "I am Christopher Grace." He nodded his head in greeting.

  "Why don't we step outside for a moment?" Willow looked to Erile, tilting her head to the side with a smile. "Then perhaps you can properly introduce yourself to Nych."

  Erile nodded his head, grinning. "Yes, that sounds wonderful. Anastasia, I believe your stew needs stirring. You wouldn't want those lentils to burn to the bottom of the pot, now would you?"

  With that, he turned, leaving the house and walking out to the end of the driveway.

  Nych gawked at him.

  "What in the hell? Is he psychic?"

  "Come on." Willow took Nych's hand, leading him outside and closing the door behind them. She walked up to Erile, making sure they were out of view of the house, before she wrapped her arms around the blond man. "Thank you." She said after a moment, giving him a tight squeeze. "I really owe you one. I would never have been able to finish him without the tool you gave me." She pulled away and sent him a warm smile.

  She looked over to Nych and grinned.

  "Show him what you showed me."

  Erile looked at her oddly for a moment, before he seemed to realize what she was saying. "Ah yes, that. I suppose I can do that."

  He stepped away from them, a good ten or so feet, before he knelt and began to rummage through his bag. Nych was about to walk over and ask him if he needed help before he pulled out what looked like a gun.

  … And aimed it right at him.

  "Hey, what the hell-" He began, but then E
rile pulled the trigger.

  And Nych began to float.

  Willow bounced on the balls of her feet. "Isn't it remarkable?" She grinned, tilting her head to the side as she looked towards Nych. "His real name is Erile. He has tech from the future. He gave me a tool that allowed me to fully connect everything in your brain so I was able to finish you entirely. If he hadn't shown up… Well, I wasn't lying when I said that it would be literally impossible. Our technology hasn't evolved that far yet."

  This was all too much.

  "You can set him down, now. This is probably a lot to take in." She glanced to the blond man.

  Nych, meanwhile, was panicking.

  "What the hell, yes put me down right fucking now, oh my God-" He definitely wasn't having a fun time with this, and he let out an audible sigh of relief when he was placed back on the ground.

  "Yes, well, about that… I've got a favor to ask the both of you, in return for helping you finish him. It's nothing big, but… Essential, nonetheless."

  "Oh?" Willow raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms in front of her chest.

  This was interesting, and she was willing to do anything for the man who had helped get her happiness back.

  "What is it, then?" Her eyes were alight with genuine curiosity. "I'm sure we could probably help in some way."

  "In twenty years, or perhaps a bit more, you're going to meet me again, Willow Grace and Nych Haywiyth. When you do, I must ask that you do not let it slip, in any way, that you know who I am. You must play dumb, pretend, or avoid me if possible. Because that version of me will have not met you yet, and if you say that you know me… Unfortunate things could happen."

  He didn't intend to elaborate.

  "So that is what I ask. Do not tell me, when we meet again, that you know me."

  Nych, of course, was very confused by this. "What do you mean… You won't have met us?"

  Willow stared at him for a couple seconds, and eventually nodded. She didn't fully understand, but…

  She would do it.

  "Okay." She nodded slowly, rubbing the back of her neck with one hand. "If that's what you want, then… I can do it." She looked up at Erile and walked over to him after a moment. "Thank you for all you've done for us. For me and my family. I won't forget it. You've done me a huge favor."