Gray Skies Read Online Free PDF Page A

the chant. She found herself leaning forward in her chair, excited to see Andie. It had been a while, and recently, there was worried talk that maybe the poor old thing had finally gone the way of the others androids in the Commune: rusted beyond repair. While Ms. Gilly acted as if she very much disliked the android, she had been seen a few times talking to Andie, as though the robot were one of her students.
    The younger kids didn’t know how fortunate they were to have Andie. The classroom had been only a few votes away from never even having an android. Because their Commune was one of the largest, the parents’ requests had overwhelmed the oversight committee, and resources had been found to furnish the build. With no manufacturing, all of the parts had to come from the salvagers. Extinct company names, and etched labels peppered Andie’s little frame, like inky body art, worn over the years. But nobody really saw those names and labels; instead, they only saw the face that the salvagers had made for Andie. In a way, Andie was a student too.
    Sammi recalled the day that the android had been delivered. She remembered the large men who’d carried the crate into their classroom, and how she and the other children had remained motionless, and in deep silence. Childish fears had gripped all of them, as the unfamiliar men approached. Their presence, and the heavy smell of the fog’s salty air that was brought with them, had been daunting, and out of place. Though they had worn the same gray-colored coveralls, each of them had also worn a set of black bands circling their arms to signify their reporting group and status.
    The older gentleman wore two black bands. His face was tired, and aged, and maybe even sullen, as if he’d surrendered to the idea that his stature in their Commune was a life sentence. When Sammi had grown older, she’d later come to know and understand that look. Her father wore the same two black arm bands, and had the same weary resignation in his expression.
    The younger man had worn only a single arm band: a feeble ribbon that appeared to have been pinched on haphazardly with a few fasteners. His face and expression had looked much like the older kids in the class: lively, and still wanting things from life. His brown eyes had taken in every corner of the room as he’d helped to carry the crate. Unlike his partner, there had been no struggle with the weight, and no sounds of reluctance or strain of his young muscles. It had been effortless for him.
    Unmoving, except for their gaping eyes, Sammi remembered how she and the other children had studied the men. When the younger man had smiled at them, and chuckled with a greeting instinct had released the frozen grip on them. They had smiled back, and volleyed a collection of pent-up questions, asking about the crate and its contents. The men had wasted no time. Digging into the top panel, they’d pried the boards apart, even cracking one in half. The loud splintered explosion bounced off the classroom walls, and had seemed to strike Ms. Gilly from the side, sending her pitching forward, grabbing at her chest, and laughing at her own overreaction.
    When the front panel of the crate crashed to the floor, the little android was revealed to the class. “It’s an Andie-roid,” one of the children had declared, and in unanimous agreement, the class named him Andie. Since that day, they’d loved every minute with him.
    That was a long time ago , Sammi thought, and then wondered if the children who sat with them that morning remembered Andie’s first day, as she did.
    “Come on Declan, get Andie. We wanna see Andie!” A young voice lifted from the second row. Soon, more voices were added, tempting the chant that had briefly subsided. “We wanna see Andie! We wanna see Andie!”
    When Declan reached the nook where Andie was stored, he motioned to the kids, and teased in a goading voice, “Do you really want to see Andie?”
    The kids roared a single