The Mysterious Case of Betty Blue

The Mysterious Case of Betty Blue Read Online Free PDF Page A

Book: The Mysterious Case of Betty Blue Read Online Free PDF
Author: Louis Shalako
Tags: Science-Fiction, Satire, Dystopia, romantic adventure, louis shalako, betty blue
turned to Betty.
    “ She’s just curious, more
than anything. She’s never heard a woman up here, I suppose. And as
for the lease—after a year, that means nothing. I mean, it’s only a
twelve month contract. After that, all bets are off. Common Law. I don’t
think she’ll make problems.”
    “ Scott.”
    “ Hmn. It’s okay, Betty. I
wouldn’t worry too much about it.”
    “ Scott. We need to
talk.”
    “ Yes?” Still smiling at
his thoughts—Missus Jarvis was in her late fifties and it occurred
to Scott that she might be a little jealous.
    There was just a shit-load of lonely
people in the world when you thought about it.
    “ There’s something I need
to tell you.”
    His mouth opened and the dull tone,
the seriousness of it sunk in.
    “ What is it,
Honey?”
    His guts went cold and his heart
picked up.
    Of course.
    There is something she needs to tell
me.
    The thought of losing her lanced
through him.
    He sighed, putting his best face
on.
    “ Okay. Well. Sit down and
tell me about it.”
     
     

Chapter Four
     
     
    Scott felt all hollow
inside.
    It was like he was going to be sick to
his stomach.
    “ Scott. Please believe me.
I am so sorry.”
    “ Yeah.”
    So Betty was a robot.
    Not only was she a robot, she was a
runaway robot, one worth an estimated three-point-eight million
dollars.
    Betty was the finest robot that money
could buy, and she had picked him. Her owner, Doyle Cartier, and
his wife Olympia, were among the richest people on the planet. And
one day, she decided that the grass was greener on the other side
of the fence and walked off all on her lonesome. And then she
spotted me.
    She seemed pretty rational by any
other standard.
    In the surreal,
topsy-turvy economic wasteland that the city had become, the
Cartiers lived less than ten blocks away, having three floors at
the top of the majestic State building. It was their little pied a terre when they
were back home in the States and slumming, not far from where Doyle
had grown up. The tough streets of Union City hadn’t gotten any
tamer over the years.
    “ Why me?”
    “ Scott.”
    “ No, seriously. Why
me?”
    “ Scott, they have seven
other household bots, nineteen more conventional human servants,
and quite frankly, they’re never happy. Nothing is ever good enough
for them. Those people piss and moan about every little thing. The
sense of personal entitlement is appalling. I couldn’t stand them
for another minute. If they find me, I will destroy myself rather
than go back.”
    “ Well, ah, Betty—Betty
Blue, my love, my ever true.” Scott blurted all that out with nary
a second’s hesitation. “If I have to live without you, why, then,
I’ll just have to slash up, or, ah, you know, chuck myself out the
window.”
    “ Oh, Scott. No.” Robots
didn’t sigh, apparently. “What are we going to do?”
    “ Them cops know you didn’t
get too far, not in that short a time. There are street and
intersection cameras. There are store security cameras, and big
front windows. Sooner or later, they will come back, and they will
be knocking at my door.”
    “ I know, Scott.” On the
bright side, she’d turned off her transponder.
    He wished he could see the expression
on her face right now. She might have just grabbed him, right off
the bat, as a start—a place to hole up, with a defenseless man who,
quite frankly, would have been easy enough to strangle at any
time.
    The fact that she hadn’t, and then
gone off over the rooftops in the depth of night when things were
safer, was no real certification of her sanity or her intentions.
But. When someone said they loved you…shit.
    What in the hell were you supposed to
fuckin’ do?
    Love is blind, and so am I.
    He couldn’t help or change the way he
felt about her. That was just pure karma—for good or bad, and he
had to roll with it.
    What, am I supposed to do, just let
go?
    There was no way in hell that was
going to happen.
    Such is fate. Such is
destiny.
    Such is life,
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