To Forgive, Divine | A Human Code Short Story

THREE

The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease forever to be able to do it...

*

The new relationship I had with Mary was interesting. Fresh. She had acknowledged her previous legal changes to her name, making her my wife to the world. And while that made me happy, the world... wasn't. Accepting me was a punch in the face, everyone said to her. Because androids were the dangerous machines Bionics shouldn't have built.

They can't forgive. They can't forget.

But she could. And so could I. That's why I welcomed her back into my life when she wanted to be in it. The door had always been open for her, and I was always waiting for the loving look in her eyes to return when she gazed into mine. Now that I had it, I was selfish and didn't want to let it go.

I had to give Rory that same chance. To be loved unconditionally, to be forgiven and accepted. Even if the world didn't want him, if Mary did, it would be all right.

"Javier?" Rory's voice echoed behind me.

Lost in my thoughts, I'd forgotten I had turned on my computer to service Rory's program just once more before I walked downstairs for Christmas Eve dinner. Sorting through my clothes, making sure I was presentable, took more time than I'd originally planned. And with my hand trying to turn my tie into place, I stared at my reflection in the mirror to glance at Rory's face on my computer screen.

"Javier?" he called to me again.

"Yes?" Lifting my chin, I flipped the tie one way, then the next. I grumbled when I tied it crooked, yanking it undone again. "What's up?"

"I don't think I'm ready," Rory said.

"You are." Turning my head to one side, I noted the Bionics symbol printed on my skin, on the side of my neck, just under my ear. I turned my head the other way to look at my tan skin on the opposite side; the normal side. The human side. "All of my computers have noted your stability at one hundred percent. You're perfectly functional. You're—"

"Can you talk to me like a human, please?" Something changed in Rory's voice. An emotion I hadn't heard yet. I knew it was there, I'd keyed it in. I made sure he was as human as possible. But without an actual body this time, it was hard to see it. Feel it.

And that's what I heard in his tone.

He sounds like me...

Turning around, I gave him a weak smile. "Do you remember when she first built you, Ror?"

For a second, Rory was quiet. His video image was clear, though his blue eyes seemed brighter than normal. He looked away from me for a moment, scrunching his nose as though he tried to think about it. But after a minute, he lifted his head to glance at me. And nodded. "Yes," he said. "She was in high school."

"Right." Smiling, I approached my computer. With two quick taps on my keyboard, I made sure his video took up the entire screen. "And you were her best friend."

"You're her best friend," Rory said with a sigh.

Shaking my head, I dropped into my chair in front of my desk. "I'm a different kind of best friend, Ror," I said. "The history I have with Mary is on a different spectrum." Catching what I said as dismissive and rude, I waved my hand apologetically. "Not that yours isn't as special, but she—"

"She was just a lonely girl, Javi." Rory shook his head.

"And she's lonely now, Ror." Putting my elbows on my desk, I leaned close to the computer. "That's why I want to give her the other part of her family back. Other than me. There's you, too."