Chapter 24: Android Aftermath

Arnie Phillips is one of those individuals who shouldn't be allowed near a screwdriver. Boy, has he got Michael in a precarious situation.

Fortunately, it doesn't appear that the police are convinced Michael, Chip, and Becky were androids, but Arnie's next move could prove most damaging if he decides to carry out his plan entirely.

Robots Living Among Us

Aired September 27, 2000 – 21:01 ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

MONICA KAUFMAN, WSB ANCHOR: We are going to go live to Buckhead, where reporter Ross Cavitt has some disturbing news.

ROSS CAVITT, WSB REPORTER: Thank you, Monica. I'm live here at the Ritz Carlton hotel, on the corner of Peachtree and Piedmont, in the heart of Atlanta's Buckhead, where not more than 10 minutes ago, Mr. Michael Collins, a senior manager at Datatronics, Corporation, was being nominated by his peers, and when we discovered that he, and two other companions, are really robots.

:VIDEO FOOTAGE:

MAN AT PODIUM: ... without further adieu, I hereby present Atlanta's Information Technology Manager of the Year award to Michael Collins!

[CLAPPING]

MR. COLLINS: Thank you Jim, thank you everyone. I'd also like to bring onto stage the three most important people in my life; Julie, Chip, and Becky for were it not for their enviable patience and understanding, I could never have...

[LOUD NOISE]

MR. COLLINS: ... never have...

WOMAN ON STAGE: Michael? What's wrong?

MR. COLLINS: Malfunction.

[MAN STARTS TO JERK WILDLY, THEN FREEZES.]

[SCREAMS]

[TWO YOUNGER BYSTANDERS START TO FLAIL ARMS AND FALL TO THE GROUND]

MAN IN AUDIENCE: See! I told everyone! None of you believed me! He's an android!

:END FOOTAGE:

ROSS CAVITT: So what started out as a quiet, and peaceful evening for hundreds of members of Atlanta's technology sector has turned into mayhem. Standing with me now is Artie Phillips, the man we hear yelling in the audience. Tell me, Artie, what makes you think they're robots and how did this fiasco start?

ARTIE PHILLIPS: Thank you, Ross, but my name is Arnie. Anyway, it all started earlier this year. Let's just say Mike wasn't year-2000 compliant and his girl-friend needed my help repairing him.

MONICA KAUFMAN: Ross, this is Monica back in the studio. Did anybody else realize that this Mr. Collins was in fact a robot?

ROSS CAVITT: Let me ask. Mr. Phillips, our anchors back in the studio are wondering if anyone else realized that this man was a robot, also?

ARNIE PHILLIPS: I tried to tell some people, but I was locked up for it. No one believed me, but now the whole world knows!

ROSS CAVITT: This is Ross Cavitt reporting live, from Buckhead, for Channel 2 Action News. Back to you, Monica.

MONICA KAUFMAN WSB ANCHOR: Thank you for that report, Ross. Stay tuned to Channel 2 Action News for further updates to this amazing story, as we get them in.

And so it goes. All around Atlanta, rumors were spreading at the possible existence of androids among us.

Atlanta, being the technological center of the south, was abuzz with rumors. Everyone was talking about the incident which happened at the Ritz Carlton that evening. And it appeared Arnie was eating it up.

While the three geeks were downstairs deciding on how they should proceed to try to repair Chip, Becky, and Michael, Julie had retreated upstairs to Shane's livingroom to escape her emotions from the evening's events and switched on the TV.

Tuned to CNN, she saw Arnie on the screen giving an interview.

She was floored when she saw this and broke down and cried as Arnie relayed to everyone the events which happened that fateful New Years eve.

Leaving nothing out, he told the world about his and hers New Years Eve sexual trysts, Michael's "prowess", and the urinalysis. However, he didn't mention much about Chip and Becky, or about any of Michael's other unique abilities. Julie was relieved at this fact and assumed it was because Michael had broken off all ties with him back in January.

She walked downstairs to see what the three men were doing.

"We need to disassemble them to see how they work if we're ever going to be able to fix them," David said.

"We can't do that! We don't have the necessary equipment." said John.

Julie took a deep breath, and walked into the room. "Why don't we start by resetting them." she said.

Matthew and Danny's eyes lit upon hearing this revelation, and they got up from where they were sitting on the floor and walked over to the androids.

"Uh." said Shane, "we don't know how to reset them."

"We do," said Danny.

Shane, David, and John were dumbfounded upon hearing this news and stepped aside as Julie unbuttoned Michael's shirt and opened his control panel, while Danny and Matthew exposed Chip and Becky's cranial controls.

Michael's LEDs were still lit, but one marked FAULT was flashing. Julie depressed his reset switch, and Michael's eyelids closed as all of his lights went black for a second, and re-lit one by one.

Danny and Matthew did the same to Chip and Becky as their entire bodies went limp upon the reset.

"It'll probably take them awhile to reboot," Julie said. "In the meantime, I need a cigarette."

Everyone retreated outside to Shane's porch and smoked a cigarette. Even Matthew and Danny, who both didn't smoke, joined in to try to cope with the wave of emotions they were all experiencing.

David explained to Julie what was in the Freedom of Information Act documents which he obtained from DARPA. He was disappointed that the majority of documents were still classified, and only a high-level executive summary of the project was available.

This prompted David though to wonder if it would be possible for him to build his own robot, given the technology of today.

Julie walked back inside to check on Michael's progress. A single LED inside his chest was still flashing 1, indicating his systems were still in run-level 1, which indicated he was still booting.

Danny and Matthew sat down on the floor next to Becky and Chip respectively, and held their respective hands.

The knew that neither Becky or Chip could feel them until their systems were finished rebooting, but it comforted them none-the-less.

Shortly after kneeling down, Danny and Matthew felt the android youth's hands tighten slightly as they blinked for the first time since their mishap earlier in the evening.

"What happened?" asked Chip, still laying down on Shane's floor.

Becky, having heard Chip already ask the question saw no need to repeat it, and sat up to await an answer.

Michael was still booting, his systems a little slower than his more recently built android cousins.

"We're not sure, but I'm certain Arnie had something to do with it." said Julie, continuing to stroke Michael's cheek while she waited for him to regain consciousness.

"Who is Arnie Phillips?" asked Becky.

"An ex-friend of Michael's. He's the one who helped save Michael on New Year's Day."

Shane, David, and John couldn't help but look at each-other with wonderment at hearing of this revelation. "What happened on New Years Day?" asked John.

"Michael crashed when the year became 2000." Julie replied.

"You mean he wasn't Y2K compliant?" asked David, laughing hysterically.

"Leave it to the feds to develope the most advanced piece of machinery in existence and not make it Y2K compliant!" chimed in Shane.

Julie was not amused at the juvenile banter coming from the three samaritans.

Just then, Julie jumped to her feet at the sight of Michael sitting upright on the floor. He didn't say anything, at first, as he looked around the room and surveyed his surroundings.

"Where am I?" he asked, but his voice was not normal. It was synthesized, and sounded like a computer.

"You're in Marietta," Julie told him, holding his hand.

"My voice ... it is not normal."

"Now he really does sound like a robot," David said as he walked over to him.

Julie helped pull Michael to his feet. Once vertical, Michael closed the hatch in his chest and rebuttoned his shirt. '"I need my equipment, Jules.'" he said.

"That's going to be a problem, I'm afraid." she replied. She went on to explain how Arnie has been telling everybody he could possibly imagine about who he really was.

"Goddamnit. Mother fucker. Son of a bitch." Michael exclaimed, but everyone around couldn't help but burst out laughing. Everyone, including Chip and Becky found Michael's lack of intonation and flection quite humorous.

"Look, I still have my car at your house," Matthew said, "maybe I can stop by and see if everythings ok?"

"Yeah, and I need to go home, too." said Danny.

Julie gave Michael a hug of reassurance that everything would be okay. "That's a wonderful idea." Julie replied. "Would one of you mind giving him a ride?" she asked of the three men.

"I can," said John.

The three men got into John's car and headed east towards Alpharetta, back to Michael's house so Matthew could get his car. During the ride, John kept on pressing Danny and Matthew for information about the three androids.

"I'd rather not talk about it," said Matthew, retorting to John's most recent question.

John kept on discussing how cool it was that science had developed a robot that could actually live among human beings, and for the most part go unnoticed.

"It has a job, it owns a house, it even has a girlfriend!" he exclaimed to the boys.

"You just don't get it," quipped Danny. "Michael is not an it, and neither are Becky and Chip. They're real. Alive. More alive than you and I, probably."

"They're walking microwave-ovens," replied John. "I think that's cool."

"Microwave-ovens don't feel empathy, anger, or love," said Matthew.

The three didn't say much to each-other the rest of the trip. As John's car pulled into the subdivision, Matthew could see Michael's driveway from the car, and was scared to see several police vehicles, and news crews, parked outside their house.

John dropped the boys off at the top of the street and sped off, hoping noone saw them. As the two boys walked down the sidewalk heading to the Collins' house, they were beseiged by various local news crews.

"Who are you?" asked a reporter from one of the stations.

"Do you know the androids?" asked another.

"No comment!" Danny cried out as he and Matthew tried to push their way past the adults and cameras.

As they made their way past the cameras, they could see several uniformed and plain-clothes individuals walking in and out of the Collins' residence. A tall man approached them and blocked their way.

"Hello, Matthew," he said to him.

"Do I know you?" Matthew replied, crossing his arms. "How do you know my name?"

"I'm Detective Roberts, Fulton County Sheriff's Office, and we ran the plates on your car."

"Am I under arrest?" he asked.

"No, we just want to ask you a couple of questions." the Detective said, lighting up a cigarette. "Where are the robots, son"

"I don't know what you're talking about."

Taking another draw, Det. Roberts looked at Danny. "Maybe you know?"

"I don't know of any robots," he replied.

"Ok, let's try another angle," said the Detective. "Where's Michael Collins? He could be injured. We want to help him."

"I don't know." replied Matthew, getting nervous. "If you could move your car, I'm late for bed and we both need to get home."