Belonging

by
N.C. Weber

    With deft fingers, she carefully tuned the acoustic guitar.  Being bored did allow one to get things done.  However, she had completed her task very quickly, and the old, second hand guitar was now perfectly tuned.  She strummed a chord and smiled at its sound.  These days, bands were opting for synthesized music and electronic guitars, but she remembered a time when instruments were lovingly hand crafted from natural materials like wood and ivory.

    "You still fiddlin' with that thing, Mars?" asked Wreck.  He was a tall, lanky youth from the back country of Britain.  He had a devil may care attitude and an easy going smile.

    Mars nodded.  "I understand that you don't appreciate the classics, Wreck, but at least allow me to enjoy my 'peculiar' pastime."

    "'Ey, I'm not knockin' ya," said Wreck defensively.  "I'm glad you finally found something to do.  You were really beginnin' to mope for a bit there."

    Mars sighed an all too human sigh.  "I know, but what else is there for me to do.  I cannot fulfill my primary function.  Thus, I must pine away my existence.  Without doing what I was programmed to do, I feel I don't belong anywhere in this world."

    "Oh com'on, now," dismissed Wreck.  "What about Siryn?"

    Mars shook her head.  "Siryn is wonderful.  She knows things about me that no one else knows, but she is not who I was meant to serve."

    Wreck was about to ask what things Siryn knew about Mars, but the android held up a forestalling hand.  "No one else knows, and no one else will," she said with finality.  Wreck looked a bit crestfallen.  "Except Max, of course, should he ever accept me," added Mars.

    "Yeah," said Wreck striking out onto a new topic, "what's the deal with that any'ow?  If my dad gave me a robot to serve me, I'd leap at the chance."

    Mars smiled.  "Thanks, Wreck.  You always know how to make me smile.  However, that is something that only Max can discuss.  I honestly don't know why he hates his father so much.  They were such good friends when he was little."

    "How would you know, little missy," chuckled Wreck.

    Mars seem to be startled at what she just said.  "I was programmed with some of Dr. Wren's memories," amended Mars nervously.  She turned back to her guitar and began strumming random chords.

    "'Ey, that sounds pretty nice," beamed Wreck.

    "Thanks," said Mars.

    "Wellp, I gotta take off.  Catch ya later, Robo Babe."

    Wreck grabbed his electronic guitar, which had apparently been why he had appeared in the room in the first place.  Mars wasn't sure if she liked the rather sexist moniker that Wreck had created for her.  Still, she knew he meant well.  Mars began to strike up a tune on her guitar.  It was a lively melody with a latin flavor.  Her playing was soon interrupted by a commotion at the door.

    At first, Mars thought Wreck had forgotten something, but soon she realized that the voices she heard outside the door belonged to none of the band members.  Mars began to panic as she realized that someone was trying to pick the lock.  There was no place to hide inside the tiny storage room, and there were no other exits.  Just as the door came flying open, Mars got up from her seat and stood stock still in the center of the room.

    "See, what I tell ya?  I bet these instruments are valuable on the underground market."

    Two teenagers had entered the room looking hungrily at the assorted electronic instruments, amplifiers, computers and speakers.  One was a scrawny boy in unkempt clothing.  His hair was scruffy and greasy, as it had not been washed in many a week.  The other was a girl, similarly attired and much younger, but probably the boy's sister due to the uncanny familial resemblance.  The two intruders were looking carefully about the room, checking equipment for suitability of an easy theft.  The amps were simply too heavy for them to take.  The speakers presented the same problem.  However, the computers and miscellaneous instruments, both acoustic and electronic, could very easily be hefted about by a pair of ne'er-do-well petty thieves.

    The girl spotted Mars standing like a statue in the center of the room.  "Hey, Mikey.  You think this is worth anything?"

    The boy looked up from the computer he had been examining and grimaced.  "What the hell is that thing?"

    "Maybe its one of them movie props they sell on the Internet," said the girl.

    "I think I would have remembered a movie with something that stupid looking in it," said Mikey.

    Mars bridled inside at the comment, but remained still.

    "Maybe they use it as a stage prop during their show," mused the girl.

    "Forget it, Alyce.  It's probably too heavy to carry anyway," grumped the boy.  "One of these days, we're gonna get a truck so's we can carry away the big stuff."

    Alyce looked down at the chair behind Mars and saw the acoustic guitar.  "Hey, I haven't seen one of these in a long time.  I wonder if it's in tune."

    The girl picked up the guitar and played a very simple nursery tune.  The method was amateurish, but the timing was quite good.

    "Com'on, quit foolin' around," complained Mikey.  "I'll get you one when we make some money off this stuff."

    "Why bother," said Alyce.  "I'll just take this one.  I can still carry stuff if I sling it over my shoulder."

    This was more than Mars could stand.  With lightning speed, a hand darted out and grasped the girl firmly by the arm.  Alyce screamed and dropped the guitar.  The instrument made a horrendous discordant sound as it hit the concrete floor.  Mikey looked up stunned to find his sister in the grip of a metallic green stage prop.

    "Mikey!  Help me!"

    Mikey jumped over an amp in his rush to aid his sister.  He tried pulling hard on Mars' hand in order to release his sister's arm, but the grip was like a vice, and nothing he did would budge it.  Mars' other hand reached out and grabbed Mikey.

    "Hey, let go of me!" he yelled.  "What is this some kind of crazy security system?"

    "Please, stop struggling," said Mars.  "You're only going to hurt yourself."

    Both teenagers went still.  Alyce's face became pale.  They turned their heads in unison towards the android.  Mars looked at them and smiled.

    "Now then, perhaps you two can explain to me why you are taking things which do not belong to you."

    "I don't believe it!" spat Mikey.  "A security guard in a stupid costume, and we just walked right into her hands."

    "Costume?" said Mars uncertainly.  Then, she brightened.  "Of course, costume.  Yes, this was a trap for thieves like yourselves.  Now, what should I do with you two?  Perhaps I'll call your parents?"

    "We ain't got no parents," said Mikey defiantly.

    "Well, then perhaps I should call social services?"

    "No!" squeaked Alyce.  "They'll send us to the asylum for juvenile delinquents.  I had a friend who went there.  They did stuff to his brain.  He wasn't the same since."

    Mars frowned.  "I doubt that."

    "If I'm lying, I'm dying," said the girl earnestly.

    "Well, I can't just let you go," said Mars.

    "It don't make no difference," said Mikey.  "We always land on our feet.  We'll get outta this, too."

    "Hmm," pondered Mars.  "I'll tell you what.  I'll let you go.  She released her hold on Mikey's arm.  "But you will stay with me for a while," she said to Alyce.

    "What?" cried Alyce.

    Mikey looked worried.  "Wait a minute, what are you keepin' her for?  Let her go, and I'll stay."

    Mars looked at Mikey.  "Can you play a musical instrument?"

    "What?  No!"

    "Then she stays," said Mars.  "Your only alternative is for me to call the police for both of you."

    "W-what are you gonna do to her," asked Mikey nervously.

    "I won't harm her, if that's what you're thinking," said Mars.  "Return here tomorrow morning, and I will release her."

    "No way," said Mikey.  "I ain't leaving her with nobody.  We stick together."

    "Those are my terms," said Mars.

    Mikey clenched and unclenched his fists.  "Fine!" he spat out.  "But if anything happens to her, I'll kill you."

    "You have my word she will be safe," said Mars with a nod.

    Mikey stared at the android for a good while.  Then, he turned to his sister.  "I'll be back for you.  I promise."

    "One more thing," said Mars.  "Just you return.  If I see that you are bringing anyone with you, you won't find us here.  Understood?"

    Mikey gritted his teeth.  "Understood."  He dashed out the door.

    Mars bent down and picked up the guitar.  She sat Alyce in a chair and took one herself.  Then, she handed the guitar to Alyce.  Alyce was dumbfounded by all of this.

    "W-what are you going to do with me," she asked timidly.

    Mars smiled.  "You have some talent with the guitar," she said.  "I want to hear you play."

    Alyce looked down at the instrument.  "I...I don't know that much.  Just a few things I learned in the orphanage."

    "That's alright.  Play what you know."

    Alyce placed her fingers on the frets and began strumming a little.  Finally, she meandered into a lullaby that she knew.  When that was done, she went into a short waltz.  Mars listened quietly, smiling all the while.  By the time Alyce had reached her fifth tune, Mars had stood up and moved behind her.  Reaching around the girl, Mars corrected her finger posture.  She had her replay several songs over and over, and showed her different chords that Alyce could play in place of the basic ones she was currently using.

    Mars noted that the girl had obviously learned to play by ear, so she picked up an electronic guitar and tuned it to sound similar to an acoustic one.  Then, she began playing the same latin tune that she was playing earlier before Mikey and Alyce had broken into the store room.  Alyce was a quick study and soon had picked up the tune and was following along.  Using what Mars had shown her, Alyce had accomplished chords and flourishes that she hadn't known before.  Her playing had greatly improved over the time that she had spent with this security guard in the strange robot costume.

    The hours seemed to melt away.  It wasn't long before Mars noticed the early morning sunlight filtering through from beneath the door.  "I think that's enough.  We've been playing all night.  It's morning.  Your brother should be here soon."

    "How'd you know Mikey was my brother?" asked Alyce.

    "Come now, I'd have to be blind not to notice how similar you both look," said Mars with a smile.  Her face seemed to sober.  "Why do you and your brother steal things?"

    "We sell stuff to get money, so we can eat," said Alyce sadly.  "But the people who buy stuff from us, don't think we're all that important.  They won't pay us what the stuff we get is really worth.  So, we have to steal more and more."

    Mars shook her head.  "You shouldn't be living like that.  It's not the way children should grow up."

    "So what are we supposed to do?" asked Alyce plaintively.

    "You have a talent.  Use it," said Mars.  "True, you are still learning, and you need to be taught music theory and to read sheet music, but you have the makings of a really good musician if you apply yourself and work really hard at it."

    "There's no money in that," sighed Alyce.

    "Oh, you'd be surprised," said Mars.  "You'd have to start small.  Play in schools or churches.  But, at least it's honest work, and you would get paid for it.  The churches may even feed and house you.  Some of them run shelters."

    "Mikey said we're never staying in a shelter," said Alyce.

    "Mikey is proud," said Mars.  "Which can be a good thing, but it can also hold you back.  Mikey will listen to you if you talk to him.  It's obvious he loves you."

    Alyce smiled.  "Of course he does.  He's my brother."

    Just then a knock came at the door.  Mars nodded to Alyce to open it.  Alyce carefully set the guitar on her chair and went to the door.  When she saw her brother, she threw her arms around his neck.  "I knew you'd come back," she said joyously.

    "Of course," said Mikey returning the hug.  "Family don't leave family behind."  He stood back and looked at his sister.  "You okay?"

    Alyce nodded.  "She taught me things on the guitar."

    Mikey looked confused.  He turned toward Mars.  "That's what this was all about?  A stupid guitar lesson?"

    "Among other things," replied Mars.

    "Well, hell!  I coulda stayed here for that!" yelled Mikey.  "You had me worried half to death."

    "A frightening feeling, isn't it?" said Mars.

    "You're damned right it is!"

    "Just like you'd feel if I were a policeman and decided to bring you in," said Mars.

    Mikey blinked.  He didn't know how to respond to Mars' comment.

    "I think you two have some talking to do," said Mars with a smile.  She stood, picked up the guitar and handed it to Alyce.

    Alyce looked up at Mars with wide eyes.  "For me?"

    Mars nodded.  "You're going to need it for your new career."

    Alyce unexpectedly gave the android a big hug.  "Thank you so much!"

    After the children had left, Mars found herself alone in the storage room once more.  She had taken out Siryn's sitar and began to tune it.  It didn't require much since Siryn was almost religious about the instrument's upkeep.  Just then, a key was heard being turned in the lock.  Siryn, Wreck, Thrash and Max all walked into the room.

    Siryn had a momentary panic attack when she saw the sitar in Mars' hands.  "I'm sorry," said Mars.  "I should have asked your permission first."

    "It's okay," said Siryn relaxing a bit.  "I'm just a little possessive of it."

    "I know it means a great deal to you," returned Mars.  She carefully placed the ancient instrument in its case.

    "Well, let's get packin', people," said Thrash in his rumbling bass voice.  "Our next gig is a two day drive away."

    Mars stood eagerly.  "I will stow the amplifiers and speakers."

    Thrash looked oddly at Mars for a moment.  "Uh...yeah.  You do that."

    Mars lifted one of the two hundred pound amps as if it were a cardboard box and walked out toward the van.

    "I swear it's scary how...human that thing acts sometimes," said Thrash.  "I don't think I like that."

    "Don't be such a luddite, Thrash me mate," chuckled Wreck.  "Maybe she's a regular Pinocchio."

    "Hmph," rumbled Thrash.  "I'm glad you think it's funny, but one day they're gonna build more of those things, and they'll make ones that can replace musicians.  Mark my words."

    "You and your conspiracy theories," said Wreck shaking his head.  He hefted a computer beneath each arm and headed out to the van.  On his way out, he ran into Mars on her return trip to the store room.  "So, where's that guitar you were working on, love?"

    "It...had a crack in it," she said hesitantly.  "I accidentally broke it when I was tuning it.  I had to throw it away."

    Wreck clucked his tongue.  "That's too bad.  I think it's a mistake to go completely electronic with music.  Gotta keep the classics alive, ya know.  Well, maybe we can find you another one in better condition."  He was about to pass her when he whispered softly.  "And don't tell Siryn about the guitar.  She'd never let you touch her sitar if she found out."  He left her with a smile and a wink.

    Upon returning to the store room, Mars ran into Siryn carrying rolls of cables.  "How are you doing, Mars," asked Siryn with some concern.  "Wreck tells me you've been feeling down in the dumps lately."

    "Well, I was, actually," began Mars, "but I think I've finally realized that I truly belong with you guys."

    "Well of course you do," said Siryn beaming with relief.  "There was never any doubt in my mind."

    Mars smiled back at Siryn.  "And now there are no doubts in mine as well."

Return to The Document Library.