Transmat World: Chapter 10, Episode 5
Between the Earth and Moon; Thursday, October 7, 2145 A.D.
--
“But, Enrique, how will you manage without me?” said Rousseau as he followed with an exaggerated limp.
A lot of fried paint came off in the shower, and the hedbot came out looking only like a camouflage job gone bad instead of a burn victim. Enrique found clean clothes and a pair of shoes his size waiting outside the shower stall. Two gentlemen in military dress blues flanked the exit of the bathing facilities. They were to accompany him everywhere for the next twenty-four hours. With one guard in the lead and the other trailing, Enrique and Rousseau entered the hotel lobby to another round of cheering. The lead guard made his way to a specific part of the party room subtly divided from the rest by plants and furniture.
“Sirs and Madams, may I present Mr. Enrique Ramirez and Rousseau,” announced the guard, and then he stepped aside. Enrique was looking at a group of men and women smiling like lunatics, most of them in TecHed gear with hedbots. They looked rough, like they were dragged out of bed or went too long without shaving. One stepped forward and shook his hand.
“Enrique Ramirez, my name is Vince Miller. This is Julie Newburg, Mark Herrington and Maria Valdez.”
“Hello, Enrique. Hello, Rousseau. I am Anthony Manula,” said the other gentleman in the group as he shook Enrique’s hand. Anthony looked shabbier than the others and seemed comfortable with it. He had a slight tic in one eye, but his most noticeable attribute, given the fact he was CEO of TecHed, was that he had no hedset and no hedbot.
“Hello, Boss,” said Rousseau. Enrique gave Rousseau a startled look, and the other hedbots tittered.
“Hey, the man runs TecHed,” explained Rousseau.
“Rousseau knows you’re the real boss, Enrique — he’s just a suck-up,” said Anthony, his face the picture of equanimity.
“Wow, TecHed,” said Enrique.
“And Vince is the head of Transmat. We are here to pay — “ Anthony Manula was cut off.
“We’ll give you 4 million new-dollars for the suit and story rights,” blurted Mark Herrington.
“ — tribute to a job well-done,” finished Anthony with a wry, apologetic grin.
“Sorry. When he said ‘pay’ I thought he was making a first offer on the suit,” explained Mark to the group in an embarrassed tone to match his red face.
Anthony reached behind a potted plant and came up with a box.
“I also wanted to offer you this, Enrique, plus a million new-dollars for Rousseau’s battered body,” said Anthony as he opened the box on a shiny new green grasshopper hedbot. “It is the deluxe package that includes radar and storage cavities, ‘pockets’ in Rousseaus’ vernacular. It is a simple process to switch Rousseau’s CPU and memory chips.”
“Not so embarrassed now,” said Mark.
“Ooh, let’s get that, Enrique. I mean Mr. Big Boss Man. Can we? Huh? Can we?” pleaded Rousseau.
“Calm yourself, Rousseau. I’ll consider it, as well as all your offers,” said Enrique to the group, “but my head is not in the right place to talk business right now. Let me wind down, and then we can talk about it.”
Vince stepped forward with a glass of champagne and handed it to Enrique.“In that case, cheers.”
“Cheers,” said Enrique as he held his glass high.
The room erupted in a huge, cheery, “CHEERS,” and everyone celebrated in their own chosen manner.
After the noise died, Vince told Enrique, “Now, if you decide not to sell the suit, that’s okay. Just let me make an offer if you do.”
“I will.”
“And, either way, I’d like to offer you a job,” said Vince.
“Doing what?”
“Test pilot. You have experience.”
“Test flying space suits?”
“No. Other things. Faster things.”
“Near midpoint, I was going 70,000 miles per hour. That’s over 30,000 meters per second in old units.”
“Much faster than that,” said Vince, impressed Enrique could convert into the old units in his head so quick. Vince handed Enrique a business card, a piece of smart paper that looped contact information and a Transmat recruiting pitch. Enrique stuck the card in his pocket.
“Thanks for offering to find that silly hedbot when we thought he had crashed,” said Enrique, “I hope it didn’t cost you much.”
“That’s so rude, Enrique, I’m right here,” whispered Rousseau.
“No, the search party canceled the search so they could attend your arrival at the base,” said Vince.
“Humans can be so cruel sometimes,” said Rousseau.
“We thought you were dead, Rousseau,” said Enrique.
“All right, I’ll let it slide. While I’m being nice, Vince, tell Chuck I’m sorry I was so hard on him.”
“Wow, Rousseau apologizes,” said Enrique. “Are you sure that aqua regia didn’t seep into your brain?”
“Face it, Enrique, you’ve got a good and faithful hedbot,” said Vince.
“Barf,” muttered Ookie.
Anthony and Vince and his entourage were herded away to make room for the group that gave the next highest amount to a non-profit military support fund. So it went for about an hour. By the time Enrique snapped to what was going on, the “paid-up” line of wellwishers had dwindled and Enrique begged off. The excuse was to use the restroom, but in reality he wanted to mix and mingle like at any party where he was the superstar hero. Rousseau lapped it up, basking in the glory and talking up his role in the success of the journey. The hedbot still looked leprotic. Enrique felt guilty about turning down Anthony Manula’s offer of a new robot body, so the next time he saw TecHed’s CEO, he took it. Rousseau was happy to have his CPU and memory chips transferred to the new machine.
“I look like a new hedbot,” said Rousseau. “You’re the best owner I’ve ever had.”
“How many have you had?”
“Just you.”
“You’re the same old hedbot.”
Enrique celebrated his new fame, fortune, and brand new old hedbot until just a few people hung around talking in low tones and sipping drinks. Vince and his group were among them.
Maria approached Enrique. “I suppose further congrats are in order for the new hedbot.”
“Same old hedbot, new body,” said Enrique as Rousseau and Ferdinand tilted heads at each other.
“Don’t let a million new-dollars go to your head,” said Maria. “When the excitement dies down and you get stir crazy, you should consider Vince’s offer.”
“So, how well do you know this Mr. Transmat guy?”
“Well enough to tell you he’s the most sincere and honest person in the room.”
“That well?”
Maria smiled. “See you around, Enrique Ramirez.” She rejoined Vince, Mark, and Julie as they waved goodbye and headed for the Transmat booths.
Enrique’s eyes followed their backs as they walked away. His first impression of Vince Miller was of honesty and sincerity. His first impression of his girlfriend was that she was sincere and honest and drop-dead gorgeous, and her girlfriend with the freckles was very interesting as well.
The trip, the party, and the booze had conspired to exhaust him. He trundled off sandwiched between the same two guards that led him to the party. They showed him to his bunk and closed the door behind him. Enrique doesn’t even bother to check if they locked him in or not. Rousseau perched on a nightstand to watch over the sleeping hero like a good and faithful hedbot should.
