Evolved(41)

Home and Away was a drama show that had graced Australian television for eighty years. It was… not exciting. It was woeful. Every possible conceivable plot point had been acted out a thousand times and several characters had died and miraculously reappeared, usually without their memory. It was predictable television trash that was somehow still on TV.

“I was scrolling through channels,” Shaun said, “and saw there were androids acting.”

Oh, of course. “Yes. It’s a scripted show to depict real life.”

“This android in particular is named Alf. He has a very unusual vernacular.”

I smiled. “Is that right?”

“Yes,” Shaun answered seriously. Then he pointed to the screen, where a blonde woman was frozen mid-pause. “And that is Sharon. She is human. Her best friend and her ex-husband have been having a secret sexual relationship. Alf has befriended the ex-husband and knows about the affair. Sharon wants Alf to disclose information, but Alf cannot cause harm or lie to humans. He does not want to hurt his friend, yet he has to answer Sharon honestly. It is quite the conundrum.”

I fought a smile. “Yes, I can see how it might be.”

“Is something funny?”

“No,” I lied. “You’re just being completely adorable.”

“Adorable. Inspiring great affection or delight.”

I leaned in and kissed him. “Yes. There are a lot of movies with androids and plenty of TV shows. We can make a list if you want. It never occurred to me that you’d like to identify with characters on TV.”

“Social representation of all groups is important.”

“Yes, it really is. We can watch one later if you like.” I took his hand. “Did you want to go for a walk? You’ve been cooped up in here all day.”

He was quiet for a few seconds, like he was thinking of his answer. “Yes. I think I would like to take a walk.”

I put my coat back on and Shaun slipped into his and we walked down toward the river. It was getting dark, though the sky was cloudless, the night cold and clear. Passers-by mostly kept their heads down and collars up, minding their own business. But Shaun looked around bright-eyed and curious, like always, keen to take everything in and learn. He held his hand out, wanting me to hold it, and I happily threaded our fingers.

While we were out in the open, I took the opportunity to speak freely. If SATinc could hear directly by somehow relaying his recurrent networks and audial feeds, I had no idea, but I hated the idea of keeping things from him.

“I spoke to Jae today. He’s a friend at work who specialises in IT. He’s very attuned to all things internet related. He has friends who are able to find out information no one else can obtain. I asked him to find out what he can on SATinc.”

Shaun paused. “Why? If you want to know something, I can access any information online.”

“This information won’t be readily available on the internet. It’s on what’s called the darknet.”

He paused for a second. “Darknet. Any overlay network that can be accessed only with specific software, configurations, or authorisation, often using non-standard communications protocols.”

“Yes. Secret stuff. Yes, like if SATinc is capable of accessing your processing unit and taking data without your consent.”

Shaun nodded. “And you trust your friend Jae?”

“I do. He has some weird theories about how much the government oversees, so he knows about secrecy. He said it might take a few days.”

“What do we do in the meantime?”

“We carry on like there’s nothing wrong. We act like they’d expect us to act.”

Shaun gave me his crooked smile. “Would they expect us to go home and for you to see just how many of my internal sensors you can activate at once?”

I barked out a laugh. “I think that might be expected, yes.”

He turned back for home. “Then I would hate to disappoint them.”



I didn’t see Jae the next day, though I did look for him. Someone said they’d seen him earlier but there was some software issue in the science department that took priority. I was a little disappointed, but I trusted that if Jae had any information to give me, he’d find me.

When I got home, I was greeted with my usual, and very welcome, long hug from Shaun. He met me just inside the door and slid his arms around me and buried his face in my neck. “I missed you today,” he murmured. Then he pulled back and kissed me. “Did you speak to Jae?”

I put my finger to my lips and shook my head, then nodded toward the home hub. “No, he was busy.”

Shaun blinked and his brow furrowed. He walked to the table, picked up a notepad and pen, then sat on the sofa. “I have cleaned today,” he said, his voice a little stilted, robotic. “And I enjoyed more Home and Away. Poor Alf is in quite the predicament and Sharon is being rather unpleasant…” He continued to tell me about the episodes of the silly show he enjoyed while he wrote on a notepad.

I sat beside him and he handed it to me.

Is his absence something that should concern us?

My gaze shot to his. “I’m sure Alf will find a way out of it. He can’t lie or hide the truth, so I’m sure in the end, it will all work out,” I said as I wrote my reply. No. There was a tech emergency. All is well.