Between the Lanterns(35)
“I don’t know, sweets. It sounds… sacrilegious,” she said in a quiet voice. “You can’t hold someone’s soul from going to Heaven or Hell.”
“Well, I like to think that it’s not your whole soul in there. It would just be a tiny part, meant to let the other one of us say goodbye in our own time. Like I said, it won’t last forever anyways,” August replied.
“But what if it hurts to be inside of that thing?. What if it’s actually eternal agony, but we can’t express it, sweets?”
She pulled August close and held her head against his chest, breathing in the aroma of his hard work, and noticing she had her own pungent smell to match.
“Sam, don’t worry,” he reassured her. “It won’t hurt a bit.”
Chapter 14
HELPFUL BUT AWKWARD
“Woodrow, please move this shelvin’ unit to that wall,” August instructed the tall, wooden automaton.
“SHELL VING,” Woodrow replied.
Having an unthinking automaton to help you set up your new business can be quite handy, as August was finding out. Over the past year, Samantha and August had found multiple uses for the new Woodrow and his new size. No longer a small thing, standing 5’10”, he was capable of a lot more and turned out to be a great help around the house.
Watching the two at work, Sam was ecstatic. She felt that August had finally come to his senses by starting his own tech shop, which he called Sweets, Inc., naturally. She even had no problem doing all the housework for a while, so that Woodrow could help set up the new shop.
“You two could use a break, sweets,” she said to August. “You’ve been at it for hours.”
August glanced back and wiped the sweat from his brow, smiling at his wife.
“I sure could,” he answered, “but I don’t think Woodrow is even winded.”
“WIN DID,” the helpful, but awkward robot replied.
The married couple laughed at their strange wooden friend. The neighbors had been thoroughly shocked when they first saw Woodrow. He looked nothing like the boxy, inhuman Montek.Automatons. He had a very human-like body shape, carved out lovingly by Samantha. There were grooves where the tough-fibered and almost unbreakable strings of tubing ran along his arms and legs going into his mid-section, which housed the motor that controlled Woodrow’s movements. He hummed slightly and made sounds like children’s building blocks clacking together when he walked.
Now, though, the entire neighborhood was used to seeing the sleek wooden robot. Montek had heard about Woodrow and had sent their lawyers around with some techs from the Montek.Automaton division. They found absolutely nothing in common with their property, so they could not say a thing about this new Woodrow.
August had completed his mandatory free year of consultation, and, as he had promised his wife, had only given them just enough information to satisfy the higher-ups, m. Making no innovations during his time back in their grasp, and creating nothing close to Woodrow 2.0. When they finally did see this new automaton, the Montek officials scoffed at the material used to build him. But upon inspecting his internal components, the Montek employees were impressed to the point of jealousy and suspicion.
“Why didn’t you use this technology, or even tell us about it while consulting for Montek?,” one of the lawyers had asked.
“It’s just something I’ve been messing around with in my home workshop. I didn’t think Montek would be interested in this kind of tech,” August had answered.
Now that his time with them was over, and Sweets,, Inc was close to opening., August was ecstatic. His shop would specialize in tech repair, but also offer his own line of affordable products to solve modern problems. He, of course, offered nothing made by Montek. Every piece of tech in the shop was of August’s personal design.
August had created a line of levitating lanterns, modeled after the modifications he had made to his and Sam’s lanterns. He had a line of cellphones for people who didn’t want to use a SmartChip. August figured the target audience was small for that, but people did love retro stuff these days, so maybe it would be a big seller. Time would tell. He couldn’t use his cellphone’s design, tapping into Montek.Communication satellites, since it was illegal. Instead, he modded old cellphones and even built new ones from scratch, that could hold a SmartChip inside of it. People would still have to pay Montek.Communication for their bills; they just wouldn’t have a chip implanted in their ear anymore.
He also had an oven that was easier to use than the real one he and Sam had at home. It was automated, which people would like. But it required the use of real ingredients and food. No Nutricator muck put into a reservoir in the back. Samantha was especially hoping this one would be a big seller.
“Well, sweets, come on over here and have some lunch,” his wife said. “I made your favorite:; meat loaf, green beans, and home-made biscuits. There’s sweet tea to drink, too.”
August came over and sat down on the blanket Sam had laid out for them. As he hungrily devoured the delicious food she had made for them, he took it all in. His shop was fantastic. He was as proud of this as he was of Woodrow. August believed that it would be successful in this neighborhood. Of course, they had rented a spot on West Main Street, very close to where they had first met.