Parcel for You - Part 50

 

Vanessa’s blood ran cold. The idea of Spencer in some sort of human inspired self-destruct mode filled her with dread and a deep sense of sadness. It would never have occurred to her that he would be vulnerable to such negative behaviour and she felt she’d let him down.

 

She spent some more time searching online for further reports about homeless cyborgs. It wasn’t big news, just a few small articles, Facebook posts focusing on the potential for them to be a threat to human life. There was nothing quoted about their own safety or welfare. It was as if they were considered a disposable commodity.

 

Knowing how impressionable he was, Vanessa was certain that she must act fast to recover her husband in the state that he left her. The more time passed, the more likely he would change in her absence and there was a risk she might not want him back in her home with an altered character.

 

She showered in a rush, changed her clothes and tapped out a quick email to work explaining that she had a family emergency then she got into her car. It was rush hour now and the traffic across town was slow but at least that gave her time to have a thorough look at the people walking the streets, crossing the roads, standing at the bus stops.

 

It suddenly seemed as if every other man looked like Spencer. His navy blue fleece pyjamas were not unlike a tracksuit and his short dark hair made him an average joe, nothing to set him apart from many of the other youngish guys. Briefly, she began to regret turning him into the white noise of husbands, keeping him penned into quite unremarkable parameters so that he didn’t stand out. She wondered why she’d done it, fear perhaps. Did it make her feel safe?

 

She had a hopeless feeling inside. I’m wasting my time, she thought, unless I drive to the abandoned industrial estate. That was where the photograph had been taken in the local news story but she was reluctant to go there. The area was once bustling with factories and warehouses but those businesses were now long gone and it had been earmarked for housing. However for now, the place remained decorated with graffiti and inhabited by what most would consider threatening characters.

 

Vanessa thought about Annie, what would she have done? She knew the answer, Annie would have had no qualms about entering the suburban equivalent of Doone Valley and would disprove of her mother failing to leave no stone unturned in pursuit of rescuing her husband.

 

She drove on through the centre of town and then onto the endless labyrinth of out of town shopping centres, big, ugly grey monstrosities filled with the usual DIY and chain stores. It seemed a hell of a long way for Spencer to have walked but then she remembered how he didn’t get tired like her. As long as he found somewhere to charge himself he’d be alright. He wasn’t even on a shutdown routine anymore, not since she and Pat had regrettably tampered with his head.

 

Pat had been in Vanessa’s life for decades but their friendship waxed and waned as friendships do, according to their individual circumstances. They’d grown very close when they were both single, although Pat was always more brash, self-serving and uninhibited. Now with such different husbands, it was more difficult to connect. 

 

The shopping centres thinned out and the road surface became crumbly and decayed. Some aluminium portable fencing surrounded a wasteland of rusting machinery and dilapidated buildings. The land in between was a mix of dead looking ground and disappearing tarmac with sparsely sprouting vegetation, brambles and ash saplings, some old crates and beer bottles.

 

There was nobody about. Vanessa engaged her central locking and craned her neck to look deeper into this suburban wilderness. She noticed a few tents in one area and wondered who would survive in such hostile conditions. There was no way Spencer would be happy to make this place his home, he loved his radio and their cosy, practical kitchen, unless he was far more adaptable than she thought.

 

She drove on, under a railway bridge to the area she recognised from the news article and there, eighty or so meters away, she saw a small group of people and at least one woman. Some were sitting on plastic office chairs with sleeping bags wrapped around them, others standing. They were talking and laughing together, there were a couple of dogs too, milling around unleashed. Her eyes widened as she slowed to a stop and stared across at them trying to pick out Spencer.

 

It felt absurd to her that this world existed just five or six miles from her home. What did these people do all day and how did they stay warm, dry and nourished? She realised they might not have a choice but it still seemed incomprehensible. A cyborg might not be able to survive for as long as a human but for as long as they did, it would at least involve considerably less suffering.

 

Suddenly one of the dogs trotted towards her car and began barking, attracting the attention of the others who all turned around and stared at her. None of them looked like Spencer, unless he’d managed to borrow a coat from somewhere. It was impossible to tell whether they were human or robots or a mix of both, existing side by side.

 

Vanessa swore under her breath and turned the engine back on in a fluster, reversed quickly, turned the car and drove away in another direction which took her deeper into the industrial estate to an area which felt slightly more civilised. There were a few active businesses, a limousine company and lawn mower repair workshop. It still felt very dodgy though and she was fully expecting to come out of the other side at any moment, back to civilisation but it just went on and on.

 

She began to feel a bit panicky, her heart quickened as it crossed her mind that she’d somehow become trapped in another dimension. It was simply her imagination, only five minutes had passed since she’d entered this area; being so tired, hyper-vigilant and worried about Spencer had caused time to feel stretched. The road came to a sudden stop with concrete boulders blocking vehicle entry any further.

 

Vanessa did a three point turn and began driving back towards town, feeling regretful for even coming this far. She drove out, relieved to be away from the place, and suddenly had an idea to visit the park where she’d occasionally visited with Spencer. He loved that park and it was where he’d eaten an ice cream cone and seemed so happy with his lot. She recalled his beaming face, like a child experiencing something for the first time, unlocking the next level of life.

 

The park was full of morning dog walkers, joggers. For a split second she thought she saw Spencer stretching his leg out on a bench. She gasped and began to run towards him but the man looked up at her, frowning, he had a grumpy face, it certainly wasn’t Spencer. She sighed and began to walk towards the kiosk, the one which sold the ice creams.

 

‘Can I just get a black coffee please?’

 

The man spun around without speaking and pushed the button on the coffee machine. He had a look about him, half-closed eyes, mouth slightly open, downturned, both bored and perhaps a bit judgemental. 

 

‘That’ll be three pounds eighty,’ he said, sliding the cup towards her.

 

Vanessa took out her card but hesitated. ‘Hey, I don’t suppose there’s been a man here has there?’

 

The man shrugged. ‘A man? Yes we’ve had a few of those this morning, anyone in particular?’

 

‘My husband. I just thought he might be here. Hang on a minute….’ She scrolled down her phone, searching for a decent photo of Spencer. ‘There, him! I don’t suppose you saw him around this morning?’

 

He put on some glasses and had a good long stare at the phone screen, breathing heavily while nodding slowly so that his jowls shook. ‘Yes I think he was here earlier. He asked for an ice cream but the machine isn’t on, it’s too cold today for ice cream.’

 

Vanessa put her hand up to her heart. ‘Really? He was here, it was definitely him?’

 

‘I’m pretty sure yes. Strange guy I thought, strange mannerisms..sorry, I appreciate he’s your husband but he was just a bit stiff in the way he moved and the funny thing was..’

 

‘What?’

 

‘The funny thing was, when I told him the machine wasn’t on, do you know what he said?’

 

‘What?’

 

‘He said, ‘I’ve got no money anyway’, and I thought that was strange because why come out without a wallet or a card or something.’

 

‘So where did he go then, which direction?’

 

The man laughed a bit and said, ‘Then the Nordic walkers came along, a big herd of them, tap, tap, tapping on the pavement and he looked absolutely terrified. I swear his hair stood on end and he just made a noise and scurried off in a hurry. Why don’t you just ring him?’

 

‘Oh, he doesn’t have his phone unfortunately.’ Vanessa reached into her bag and quickly scribbled down her phone number. ‘Please, if you see him here again, ring me. He’s got a medical condition and sometimes he wanders off without his tablets.’