Parcel for you...Part 14

 

There was no arguing with Spencer’s claim. Vanessa was quite thrown by it, she opened her mouth to respond but something stopped her, a feeling that arguing the case that humans were not in fact the worst seemed futile. Instead she simply stood and stared at the back of his head for a while. It looked so real, his scalp, the outer edge of his ear, she felt sure that his hair had grown a little since she first unpacked him. She was unsure whether this was normal and for a second she had a strong urge to search for an answer online but she stopped herself. It felt like a slippery slope.

 

‘I’m going upstairs for a bit,’ she said. 

 

Vanessa ran a bath so she could wash off the doctor’s hands, lie down, relax for a while and think. The concept of evil humans lingered in her thoughts. Had he drawn this conclusion from browsing the web or had it been somehow installed into his consciousness via the recent update? Whatever the case, he was right. Humans really are the worst, Vanessa thought. 

 

The alarming thing was just how quickly Spencer was evolving from the seemingly quite simple, malleable being that she purchased on a whim to a being with unlimited sophistication. The period where Spencer could be fully controlled had been so fleeting. She was just getting to grips with his control pad and the various settings, beginning to feel confident about controlling him and now he had developed mysterious extensions. 

 

The potential for his functions to expand seemed limitless. Vanessa thought about how it had taken primates millions of years to become human and therefore evil but it might be possible for Spencer to get there in just a few updates. She felt frightened and a little angry.

 

At the point of purchase, it hadn’t occurred to her that her husband would be undergoing regular updates from an external source without her approval. “Surely there should have been some button I should have been asked to press in order to agree to updates,’ she muttered as she lay wallowing in the bubbles. I've been incredibly naive,’ she sighed, ‘but then again I always have been a prize idiot of the first water.”

 

For a moment she pondered the possibility of sending Spencer back, returning him, either to JML or directly to the UK distributor of Cybermate Worldwide. Just waiting for his charge to run out then stuffing him into a box but after further consideration it quickly became apparent that this wasn’t as straightforward as it seemed. It dawned on Vanessa that Spencer now held all sorts of personal information about her. She began to panic slightly as she wondered if his eyes were in fact cameras beaming live images back to some office somewhere.

 

She jolted and sat upright as there was a faint knock on the bathroom door. ‘Hello?’ she said in a wobbly voice while covering her breasts with her hands.

 

‘I was just wondering if you were okay. You seemed a bit upset downstairs. Do you need anything? I could bring you a cup of tea.’

 

‘No, no I’m okay but thank you, thank you, Spencer. I’ll be out in a minute and we’ll make dinner and watch The Big Allotment Challenge.’

 

‘Alright. Can I go online again while I wait for you?’

 

‘Erm, no, I think you should have a break from all that. It can be overstimulating.’

 

‘Oh okay….I won’t then.’

 

Vanessa listened for the sound of him going back downstairs but she didn’t hear it. He was lingering outside the door, trying not to move but he must have lost his balance because a floorboard creaked. ‘Are you still there?’

 

‘Yes, I’m just worried about you.’

 

‘I’m fine, Spencer. Please can you have a look in the freezer for me and find something nice, not just peas, something really tasty.’

 

She waited for him to go back down then sunk back into the warm water while breathing a sigh of relief as she heard him downstairs rifling through the freezer. There was something about the atmosphere which reminded her of when her daughter was off on school holidays and the only way to keep a modicum of control was to constantly find activities to keep her occupied. It was hard work but it prevented tantrums and other unwanted behaviour. Annie was a very intelligent girl and an only child, she knew how to get at her mother, pit her parents against each other and generally cause chaos in the household.

 

In fact, Annie had been playing on Vanessa’s mind. She was due to return home from travelling in a few weeks and Vanessa hadn’t even told her that she had got virtually married again. It wasn’t going to be easy because Annie was the most ethically minded, right-on person she’d ever known and was bound to pull apart the concept of purchasing a husband and make her feel like a thoroughly terrible person. 

 

She resolved to think of a cover story, perhaps even a sob story; Spencer had been rescued from a bargain bin because he was damaged and unwanted, no Annie wouldn’t fall for that. Perhaps she could weave a story about how she had become incredibly lonely after Annie went travelling and ordered a husband in desperation, no, Annie would ask her why she didn’t just volunteer with local environmental groups to meet real people. This was going to be more difficult than she thought but she had a few weeks yet to plan things.

 

Spencer had pulled some filo pastry out of the freezer and was now chopping vegetables. ‘I’m going to wrap these vegetables in sheets and make Mediterranean parcels,’ he said proudly. 

 

‘I don’t know how long that pastry has been there. I have a feeling it’s from three Christmases ago when I made a chestnut strudel for Annie,’ Vanessa laughed, ‘but I’m sure it’s fine and I’m so glad that you enjoy cooking,’

 

‘I like watching you eat.’

 

‘Hey I’ve got a project for you,’ she said.

 

‘Oh really,’ he stopped chopping, turned around and smiled at her.

 

‘Yes. We’re having a dinner party on Thursday.’

 

‘Oh wow,’ he said, ‘can I cook?’

 

Vanessa nodded her head, ‘I was hoping you’d say that. I’ve got two friends coming, one’s an old friend, Pat, she’s been over before.’

 

‘Oh,’ Spencer looked downcast. ‘I remember her, she wanted to humiliate me.’

 

‘Gosh. Yes, you remember that?’

 

‘Yes, she tried to take my trousers off.’

 

‘She can be a bit like that…but she means well.’

 

‘She means well but she's well mean. Ha ha ha,’ Spencer laughed, ‘that’s a good one.’

 

‘That’s funny, Spencer. No, she just lacks finesse. Anyway she’s got a new man friend and she wants me..us to meet him. He likes aeroplanes apparently and prog rock.’

 

‘Sorry I don’t know that one.’

 

‘Pardon?’

 

‘I’ve never heard of that.’

 

‘Aeroplanes, you’ve heard of those?’

 

 

‘Airplanes, I know about but not aeroplanes and not the other thing.’

 

‘Well, we can research these things together and then we’ll have something to talk about when they come, won’t we.’