Chapter 20: Reunion

Becky and Chip have both been exploring their sexuality over the past several days.

While none of the androids have been programmed specifically for sex, they did find pleasure and comfort with being in the presence of other individuals, along with certain stimulus that companionship provided.

Michael continued to drive around Atlanta thinking about the world around him. Several hours into his drive, he glanced down at his dashboard and noticed the fuel gauge in his car was almost empty, so he pulled off the Interstate and into a convenience store to fill up.

While outside at the pump minding his own business, he heard a familiar voice from behind him.

"Well if it isn't the venerable Michael Collins," the voice said. "What are you doing in this neighborhood?"

He immediately recognized the voice, and a wave of frustration suddenly came over him. It was Arnie Phillips.

Michael hadn't seen much of Arnie since he transferred him out of his department upon taking over after Scott got fired, and really didn't give his existence much more thought. He really didn't like Arnie; he found him to be rude, obnoxious, and irritating. The fact Arnie violated him while he was out didn't help Michael's feelings towards him, either.

Arnie on the other hand couldn't keep his mind off Michael. Spending six-weeks in a residential treatment center didn't do much for his opinion of Michael, either. He was becoming increasingly more angry towards him, and resentful.

He wanted nothing more than to tell the world that Michael was really in fact a machine; and he tried once before. Fortunately for Michael, no one believed Arnie and he was sentenced to be hospitalized for psychological observation.

"Hello, Arnie," Michael replied, trying to at least be cordial. "What are you doing out here? I thought you lived in Buckhead."

"Used to live in Buckhead," he said, walking up to him. "I couldn't afford the apartment anymore after you demoted me."

"Well, I'm sorry about that,"

"Oh, I bet you are," he said, pacing. "Do you have any idea how fucked up you've made my life?"

"Not really," he said, noticing the pump stop. "And, it looks like I'm done here. Nice seeing you, Arnie," Michael said, and quickly got in his car.

"I'm going to get you Michael Collins!" Arnie yelled to him as he sped off. "Android! Fucking robot!"

If Michael had a heart it would be beating quite heavy right now. But, since he doesn't, Michael just wondered what Arnie meant by what he said.

He made it back to his house about an hour later to find Becky and Danny sitting together watching TV. Chip and Julie were downstairs working on the computer, and Michael relegated himself to going up to his bedroom and read.

What Michael didn't realize was that Arnie was a little serious when he said he was going to get Michael for ruining his life.

Back in MidTown, Arnie's run-in with Michael only provided fuel for his fire as he worked on his special project.

Arnie was developing a pulse-gun which would render electronic devices, including Michael, useless by scrambling the electronic circuitry.

He was coming along with his device at a steady pace, too.

His earlier experiments revealed he was able to scramble the circuitry in a television so bad that it no longer displayed a picture. In fact, one time he accidentally turned on the power to his device while it was aimed towards his computer and the resulting field completely wiped his hard drive.

Arnie's only problem was finding a suitable time and place to deploy his device against Michael so as many people would find out about him as possible, proving that he wasn't insane.

Later on, back at the Collins' house, Matthew stopped by to visit Chip.

Julie left Chip to go back upstairs when she saw Matthew come down. "Don't do anything I would do," she told the two boys as she walked up the stairs.

She went upstairs to find Michael laying down on their bed reading a book. "Hey," she said as she entered.

Michael replied but didn't take his eyes off the pages. Frustrated that she wasn't receiving enough attention, Julie climbed onto the bed to lay next to her lover.

"Whacha reading?"

"Great Expectations," he told her.

Resting her head next to him, she began to gently stroke his arm. "Why do you still read?" she asked him.

"What do you mean?"

"I mean, I'm sure the book is available in electronic form now. All you'd need to do is load the file and you'd have it."

He set the book down on his chest and turned slightly to face her. "But that wouldn't be reading."

"But it's much more efficient."

He reached out to gently stroke her cheek. "I ran into Arnie, today."

"Really?"

"Yeah, he said something about that he was going to get me for making his life hell. But, what can he do, right?"

"Yeah, right," she replied. She started to become uneasy hearing these turn of events and could think of a number of things Arnie could do, if he had the will, to get back at him.

"I'm going to go take a shower," he said, getting up to walk into their bathroom. "Care to join me?"

"I thought you'd never ask!" she replied, jumping off the bed.

Upon entering the bathroom, Julie drew the shower as Michael stepped out of his clothes. As she started to get undressed, herself, Michael called out for her to stop. "Let me do that for you," he said with a bright smile on his face.

Michael walked up behind her and slowly undid the buttons to her blouse, moving slowly, and sensuously. He could feel her erect nipples protruding through her bra signifying her arousal.

Julie shook slightly, and let out a quiet moan, as he let his fingers graze down the middle of her chest and stomach.

He guided her shirt off her shoulders and let it fall to the floor, as he reached around the front of her bosom to undo her bra. Julie reached behind her and gently grabbed the cheek of Michael ass, pulling him closer towards her, as Michael cupped and massaged her breasts in his hands.