CML - Custom Made Lover [Slow Updates]

CML - Custom Made Lover, Chapter 6

-I'm making the chapters shorter and thus easier to read. Enjoy and feel free to comment!-

Caleb hurried back down to the shuttle station, arriving just in time to hop on board the next one; he was going to be about five minutes late for his appointment at Numan at this rate, but it was of no concern. Explaining a five minute delay was a very small price to pay for saving someone's life, no matter how this person had come in to being. Sitting down in the back once more, his skin still a little bit irritable but considerably less so, he looked about himself at the people gathered; they were the usual mix of commuters and tourists. How many of them had seen Dave sitting in the back, appearing lost and helpless, and decided to not get involved? A considerable amount, Caleb wagered, as not many people liked to get in trouble or inconvenience themselves in some way by taking on the plight of a stranger. How long had Dave been sitting there, uncertain of his fate? He made a note to ask him about it upon returning home. They would have a lot to talk about, for that matter.

The part of him that had grown to despise the average person on the street rose from the depths once again and made him regard the strangers before him in a very negative light. Everyone knew about clones and Numan's practices. The commercials for Numan's services were a daily feature on the AddScreens suspended around town; every crowded place had a few. Every day, several times a day, these screens would tell everyone who was willing to look and listen about their customer satisfaction guarantee policies. 'Not satisfied? No problem!', was their often heard credo.

Anyone willing to look beyond the well-groomed add campaign and the positive messages held within had to realize at least to some degree that this policy only existed because customers were not always immediately satisfied with their 'purchase'. It took a special kind of willful ignorance to not want to see that this policy concerned the fate of actual human beings, brought in to existence as physical adults but helpless as children. The ones that found good homes were put in the lime light as the world chose to ignore the less fortunate ones.

His annoyance with the strangers turned inward when he considered his own actions; he had certainly helped Dave, but how many other escapees had he ignored or not seen before then? On top of that he was currently on his way to order a clone of his very own, thereby indicating that he acknowledged and agreed to their practices. It made him feel a little ill and he seriously considered calling the whole thing off. Internally he struggled while appearing calm on the outside, sitting in the relative gloom of the backseat. On the one hand today's events had reiterated how wrong some of Numan's practices were; he didn't really want to support them. Earlier today he had decided to deal with that sense of guilt by swearing not to turn Nathan down, no matter what. This didn't seem enough of a reason to continue now that he had met and rescued Dave, however.

On the other hand he had spent the better part of the last twenty years wanting to bring Nathan in to his life; at this stage it seemed foolish not to do so. Sometimes he even felt as though Nathan was already present in spirit, watching him and everything he did, occasionally even giving silent commentary. Going through the process at Numan felt more like Nathan was already a living, breathing entity who currently lived in a foreign nation and Caleb was only going over to fill out the necessary paperwork to allow his lover in to the country; his arrival was no longer a matter of 'if' but rather 'when'.

Fully realizing his hypocrisy he made up his mind to go ahead with his plans. To make up for it he decided to try and start some kind of public awareness campaign to bring the less savory practices at Numan to light. Perhaps he could both atone for his sins and change the fate of future clones and those still on the run. Dave and Nathan could even help out in that regard. He felt a little odd using their services only to turn on them later. Their company was capable of doing great things, bringing people in to the world who were wanted and needed. In a way the black mark on their record was not exactly their fault; they produced humans based on the specifications given to them by their customers. If these specifications were in error they could not force said customers to take the product all the same.

'Perhaps they should.', Caleb mused to himself. It might make for less cheerful and shiny advertising and a less customer-friendly reputation but it would make people think twice before sending off their orders. Perhaps then... His thoughts trailed off as he stared ahead without actually seeing anything.