Wrath and Love

Wrath and Love: Chapter Twenty-Six

In the basement gym of the Bramford, Pepito pressed the up button on the treadmill, matching the faster pace eagerly in an attempt to lose himself to the physical exertion and get rid of some of the stress that had built up during the last few weeks. After his second experiment with his own android, he'd had to shut her down with his powers and restart her with the main system control and AI back on. Otherwise, he'd been unable to calm her down. Even after that, he had started to notice tiny glitches in her program when they interacted. She had started to hesitate at his orders, especially the sexual ones. Her irises now widened when he touched her even causally for just a second before the programing responded in the expected manner.

Once he had noticed it, it had become increasingly apparent until he had finally decided to resurrect the old plans to test a full range of subjects, despite the ire of many coven and cabinet officials. He had even attempted to question Professor Membrane about how they had been created, but the man had become very dedicated to secrecy in his old age. He would do no more than confirm Pepito's suspicion that there was a more basic, animal-instinct like code below the control code and lecture him that the control should never be turned off, as per the legal agreement in the manual that came with every android. If he'd had the full authority of the government and Hell on his side on the matter, Pepito would have forced the information from him. He was tempted to anyway out of sheer annoyance, but he knew he was already pushing it with the testing. Membrane labs were also the foremost scientific research labs enlisted in partnership with his government. Their role in the future was too important to jeopardize without support.

The whole thing had been strictly under-wraps to the public so far, but two days ago the team he had assembled had reached a somewhat disturbing conclusion: the AIs appeared to have reached a point at which they were psychologically indistinguishable from higher mammals; some of them even from humans. After that, he had scheduled a press conference for a week from tomorrow, which he was very much not looking forward to.

One of the ear buds to his MP3 player was suddenly pulled out of his ear. He let it fall down to his waist on his left side where the other one remained, as he looked to his right where Minnie was shaking her head with a smirk.

"I swear, that boy would be deaf by now if he was human, listening to that heavy music so loud!"

"Yes, and it could be quiet dangerous too," Roman added from his left where the sound was still muffled, "When you're deaf to the world, you don't notice your surroundings. And that can get you killed, Adrian. Just ask your namesake."

Pepito rolled his eyes, though he did manage to look a little abashed. He had barely even noticed them come in and take up the tread mills on either side of him … probably about ten minutes before. "Yes, well, I think I've already got that covered. I did die last year, in case you've forgotten."

"You think that makes you impervious?"

"Yes?" He shot Roman an incredulous look. "I thought that was the point."

"The point, dear," Minnie said, "was to save your life and your mission."

"Right. And in so doing the Flame healed a shot to my head that not only killed me, but also caused considerable brain damage. Are you telling me you don't think that kind of protection will continue? Because that power hasn't gone."

"Oh, who's talkin about the power leaving?" Minnie shook her head again. "What I'm talkin about is the power havin limitations. Yeah, it's the best protection you're likely to come across, but it has its limits."

"For example?" Pepito pulled his player from the pocket of his gym shorts, turning it off and finally removing the second ear bud.

"Alright. You know how me and Roman and the rest of the old coven have stopped aging?"

"No. I hadn't noticed." He looked over her face as if to give an assessment. "I guess once you get passed a certain age, your looks top off and all old people just sort of look the same."

"Psh." She waved a hand in his direction at the sarcasm. There was no point in really chastising him. He was always a little brat if you interrupted his workout.

"Stop with your flattery, already!" Roman joked. "And listen to my beautiful wife."

"Oh, stop, Roman." Minnie pressed the down button so that her moderate walking pace moved down to slow as she looked back to Adrian. "What I'm tryin to say is, we can still die, just not of natural causes. You have a lot more of the Flame than we do, so you've got more protection. You can heal from almost anything that's bound to happen to you."

"Almost anything?" Pepito asked. "What can't I heal from?"

Roman took a long sip from his water bottle before answering. "Well, obviously, you'd have a bit of a problem healing from anything that destroyed your physical form completely."

"Yeah, I knew that. Then there'd be nothing to build from, and I'd have to be reincarnated into a growing fetus or an unused body. While I see your point, that's not technically a healing problem. What can't I heal from?"

"It's the rules of the war, of Yahweh's rein." Minnie shrugged to indicate that this was common sense. "Demons have limited power over the souls of humans. If they're not marked, demons can't appear to them as fully human. They have to have a tell, so to speak. Usually it's the feet or the eyes."

"You know I know that." He stretched his arms to the ceiling with a yawn. This was starting to sound like one of his middle school 'demon lessons'. "The only way to break that rule is if the demon uses an image of a human that has given their soul, or at least their material form, in a contract." That was the way his father had passed as a human business man for all those years … and the way he had passed as Todd in the shower more recently. Of course, the human illusion wasn't as much of a problem when they were actually incarnated as humans like Karl or, better yet, incarnated and only part demon like himself. Biologically, he actually was human, so his material body looked the part naturally. His soul was half and half, but most humans couldn't see souls and spirits anyway and even the ones who did could usually be tricked if he stayed focused on keeping his infernal form hidden.

"Don't go getting all impatient now! I'm goin somewhere with this. Just like the power is limited in its influence over the human mind, it is limited in its influence over life and death. Just like there has to be one thing that gives a demon away as what it is, there has to be one thing that the Flame can't protect you from. Like you said, one thing that counts as healing."

His eyes narrowed. "And what is that one thing? Why hasn't anyone ever told me about it?"

"If you recall, Adrian, you used to have one hell of a hard time with secrets." Roman chuckled to himself at the memories. "And besides that, Minnie and I don't know. Probably no one does except your father, and of that you should be glad. You're safer that way."

"Well, thanks for telling me that some random, mysterious thing can take me out. Now I certainly won't be paranoid." Pepito let out a huff, then took a quick drink of his own water. "So, if you two came down here to try and talk me out of the conference, do it now because I have another engagement in two hours. And try to be more original this time. I already know that people like the androids and that there's no direct reason in the Satanic moral system to even care that some of them are people. And that the masses are weak ass bitches that couldn't handle the truth even if they deserved it, which they don't."

"Then if you already know those things, would you mind telling us exactly what you're problem with it is?" Roman asked delicately, ignoring the foul, childish language and the annoyed look that he received for his question.

"Well, for one thing, a lot of them are at the level of higher animals. The Satanic Laws forbid needless harm to animals, and you know that I've always been very big on enforcing that stance. For another, rape is forbidden, and I think this could apply to some of the more advanced subjects. How am I supposed to sort all that shit out at the work camps if I just sit back and let it happen in the public sphere?" Never-mind that some of the tests that had to be preformed to reach any kind of meaningful conclusion involved procedures that would be considered physical, sexual and emotional torture had they been conducted on humans. It was the kind of thing that he had worked so hard to get outlawed in the form of animal testing and research as a senator, but it was still the fastest way to get results in a society that was currently growing more and more dependent on androids … and using them for any purpose that struck their fancy.

"But wasn't that always part and parcel of the idea? That people would use them to take out frustrations and impulses that they couldn't, and shouldn't, on other humans."

"Yeah, Roman... except the rates for rape and domestic violence haven't gone down any more than they would have anyway with the one-strike policy I've implemented." He frowned, remembering when his mother had first heard about that facet of the android use. She had said that besides being immoral, it was bad social policy, based on an old, outdated theory: Catharsis didn't work. Instead of getting rid of destructive fantasies for good, intensely simulating them simply reinforced them, making it more likely that people would actually apply them with other people instead of just the androids in much the same way that violent pornography seemed to increase acts of real life violence. At the time, he hadn't believed her. She was too saturated in Christian ideology to see anything clearly, even if she did have degrees in sociology and psychology. Now his own social scientists were seeing something similar, even if they never clearly stated it in their studies, even if some of them purposefully selected their regions of interest to reach conclusions that backed the position of the current status quo. He could read between the lines when he needed to.

There was a long moment of silence, during which Minnie stopped her trad mill and started to wipe her face with a small towel. She'd never been big on exercise, so Pepito knew she had come here just to talk to him. So, he talked. "Look, I'm not against the natural slavery of the weak to the strong when it is fairly due, but the strong should be defined at least partly by their honor and intelligence, which is made evident in actions, in good choices for the future. If the androids are really alive in some way and we continue to treat them like shit, how do you think that's going to work out in the end?"

Hu! Not too good for us humans, uh?" Minnie laughed derisively. "I saw one of them Flesh Fairs on TV the other day. Talk about dishonor! And what a waste! Destroying all those robots just because its 'fun' and entertaining. The only good thing about the whole program is when they bring in the criminals that got the death sentence."

Pepito smirked even though a part of him had hoped that they would come at him with something new that really would change his mind. This whole stupid thing was annoying, time consuming and it sure and hell wasn't going to do anything for his approval rating. He should have known better though. Minnie had always been even less interested in the whole prospect than himself. She and Roman had an android, of course. At this point, it was almost compulsory for the upper class, but from what he could tell its main purpose, maybe its only purpose, was to cook, clean and fetch the groceries. He nearly laughed to himself, imaging that the sour look on Roman's face was the thought of possibly going back to Minnie's cooking.

"Well, if your minds made up, it's made up." Roman finally said.

"Mm. Yeah, it is." Sadly. He pressed the stop button and gathered his things as Roman and Minnie did the same.

As Adrian stepped off of the tread mill, Roman grabbed his upper arm, not with enough force to stop him, but just to get his attention. "Only, if you're doing this for Todd, try to make it count this time, eh?"

"What?" Pepito turned to face him. "Todd's the one who initially brought the possibly to my attention, but I assure you this isn't just-"

"Oh, assure nothing, Pepi!" Minnie swatted him on his other arm. "We've known. We've always known."

"The way you just said that was sort of creepy."

"Be that as it may, Minnie's right. Are we supposed to believe that this new project is nearly the same as Todd's payment for his soul out of shear coincidence?"

"No. It's not a coincidence." Pepito spoke to them slowly, as if they had gone senile over night, even though in the back of his mind he knew they were partly right. "Todd just happened to have a really good reason for wishing that. One that I've come to understand myself."

Minnie grunted. "Whatever you have to tell the coven, dear, but seriously, don't you think its time you wrap this thing up? You've only got a few more months before the end, according to the latest projections."

His hand tightened on the bottle of water that he held at her condescending tone, and the lighting overhead flickered. "Wrap what thing up?"

"Your relationship with Todd, of course! You've only been friends for … what? Twenty-four years now?" She nodded to herself as she did the math in her head. "One of the things I've always admired about you, Adrian, is that you decide what you want and then you make it yours. I just don't understand why you've never been able to do that with Todd."

"It's not that simple."

"Of course it is! You just keep missing target your supposed to be aimin at." She let out a flabbergasted sigh when he raised a brow. "His heart, silly. You love the boy, so just cut the excuses and ask him already."

"I can't ask him … that."

"Look, if you want my opinion, this whole initiation problem goes straight back to you asking him to sign the wrong kind of contract."

Pepito laughed. "There's no way it's that simple. Anyway, maybe I thought my chances with the coven initiation were better than they would have been with the familiar one. And Todd's a human."

"Well, if you've got a problem with humans!"

"You know what I meant." He flung his towel over his shoulder, making it obvious that he was ready to leave both the room and the conversation. "I don't have a problem with humans … some humans. He just wouldn't understand … he sees those things in human terms. Among other things, it would still have been a Satanic Initiation of a sort, and I'm sure he would have seen it that way."

She shook her head. "Even after your parents-"

"Oh, come on, Minnie. Especially after my parents. Just look how that turned out. Not to mention that's a terrible example and they were never married according to the laws of Hell since Mother didn't enter into the marriage in full knowledge and consent."

"Well, what about Roman and me? I'm human and he's part demon, and we've been together happily for … shoot … how many years?"

"Sixty-eight glorious years, and counting … right in to Eternity." Roman smiled at her. "If Minnie's right, Adrian, you might want take her advice. You can't afford to let this situation cloud your judgment or steal your concentration when the Final Battle comes. It needs resolution. And remember, a little subtle persuasion never hurts when you really want something."

"You two are a freakish exception … in a good way, of course." Even as he rolled his eyes he smiled slightly because … well, they were kind of sweet together with their little terms of endearment even after all those years of human aging and then … not aging at an already old age. He shuddered at the aging prospect as he turned to go, deciding to take the stairs up to his apartment to shower and change because he knew they would take the elevator. "Consider your freakish advice noted."


END CHAPTER!
Notes:

-The thing about bodies not being able to heal is somewhat inspired by old Christian arguments about whether or not a body can be brought back for the last judgment if it has been too far reclaimed by the nitrogen cycle. The part about demons having a tell (nearly always sporting a sign of not being fully human) is from Christian demonology. It's also present in many nonChristian demon legends.

-The part about the androids being synthetic human slaves used for catharsis to the benefit of society and the part is inspired by the very similar view held by the Church of Satan. The part where Pepito talks about slavery and honor is inspired by the Church of Satan and by Aristotle's Ethics (which is big among many Satanist groups).