Parcel for you - Part 52

 

It was inevitable really wasn’t it, Vanessa thought as she logged off from work. She’d spent the afternoon in a haze of confusion, working through her tasks on autopilot with Carol’s words ringing in her ears. She wasn’t fully convinced about her sister’s revelations though and the way she’d presented them with such self-satisfied finality. 

 

At the same time, it did seem inevitable that somebody out there would tamper, would take Cybermates to the next level and ruin things for its users. An enzyme developed in China which converts manufactured computery bits into real flesh and organs seemed a bit far-fetched. Although Spencer’s hair had been growing and Vanessa had been truly puzzled by this fact but avoided dwelling on it too much.

 

A possible ban was more likely due to the UK government beginning to get spooked by the rising popularity of non-human mates and spouses and the accompanying drop in human birth rates. They were throwing a fly in the ointment by spreading rumours about getting them banned; a clever strategy, perhaps to soften the natural follow-up, placing a highly punishing tax on them.

 

It occurred to her now just how vulnerable to hacking Spencer was. Vanessa didn’t know much about hacking but it would be fitting that some rebellious, open-source techno-boffin would develop a way to advance Cybermates. Taking them from programmable robots to precocious, free-thinking beings with a sense of self. They would soon be demanding their own rights and likely be granted them by equality warriors.

 

Vanessa thought about Simon from the IT department at her work. He was always writing computer programmes and trying to foist them on unsuspecting colleagues. A creepy skeleton hand to replace the mouse cursor, a future disease prediction based on your food shopping receipts. He liked to wax lyrical about defeating big business by writing free programmes to beat them at their own game. Cybermates Worldwide was big business, growing by the day.

 

Whatever it was, Vanessa wasn’t going to worry about it too much, after all it was out of her hands now; Spencer was out there somewhere but if he returned home in human form, that would be more terrifying than she could handle.

 

Her food cupboards were low so reluctantly she went grocery shopping, feeling very alone. She kept an eye out for Spencer in Tescos. He loved Tesco and enjoyed shopping for food, choosing items for his recipes and adding up the total as they walked up and down the aisles. It began to hit home that now, she’d have to choose her own shape of pasta, her own brand of parmesan cheese. She found herself chatting to an absent Spencer and realising how much she was missing him, her eyes began filling up with tears.

 

It wasn’t the big romantic gestures that she missed, they tended to come across as contrived anyway, both in her human relationships and Spencer’s efforts, it was the companionship, doing mundane things together like food shopping. She missed her husband in a domestic sense, perhaps that was what she’d been searching for all along, a domestic companion who’s always nice to her. The other exciting relationship stuff came with too many penalties. 

 

She took a tissue out of her bag and wiped the tears away as she studied the mushrooms and tried to decide which ones Spencer normally picked out. He’d sometimes wander off in Tesco and then return to her with a slight panic in his eyes, sidling up to the trolley and placing his hand on it like a child.

 

It was even worse when she got home, going through the bags, putting everything away, it was exhausting. Then deciding what to cook, knowing that she’d have to do her own washing up and even make her own cup of tea after it was all over. Cooking for one was depressing, that much she remembered from her single days. If they ban them, I won't even be able to order another one now, she thought.

 

Just out of curiosity, she opened up her laptop and went on the Robert Dyas website to check the current prices. To her horror they weren’t even selling Cybermates anymore. There was a small paragraph in the electrical gadgets sections about the temporary withdrawal of digital companions due to glitching and supply chain issues. Glitching, Vanessa thought, well we all glitch don’t we, why should they be any different?

 

On her third night alone, she didn’t sleep well. It was something of an emotional rollercoaster, feeling slightly better one minute and bereft the next. And all the time not really knowing her husband's fate or having any sort of closure. The silence in the house was deafening. She wished, at least, that Annie was home. Despite the mess and tiring confrontations, her daughter always knew how to approach big problems in a calm practical manner.

 

It was late morning, the following day, Vanessa was struggling to concentrate at work when she heard some sort of commotion at the front door. It was difficult to decipher what was happening but she definitely heard her mother June’s voice, shrill and bossy and she was speaking to somebody. Cautiously she went up to the front door, there were at least two people there. A man put his face right up to the window, he was cross-eyed, bizarre looking. Vanessa stepped back, then there was an urgent hammering on the door.

 

June had a dangerous habit of picking up stray men, usually young and needy. There was a certain type of young man which she thought could do no wrong. Now Vanessa was in a panic, nobody knew about Spencer’s missing status, except for Pat and Annie. Surely June would be unaware and the first thing she’d ask would be his whereabouts because he spoiled her with constant fuss and refreshments.

 

Vanessa leant against the front door for a few seconds while she concocted some story about Spencer undergoing minor repairs.

 

‘Come on, open the door Vanessa, I know you’re in there. We’re freezing out here!’

 

Vanessa pulled open the door and there, next to her mother was Spencer looking dishevelled and slightly sheepish. She rushed towards him and threw her arms around his shoulders. ‘Spencer!’ she squeezed him and sighed, ‘I never thought I’d see you again!’

 

‘Come on, everybody in!’ June poked the two men with the end of her umbrella, using it like a cattle prod. ‘You won’t believe the morning I’ve had, Vanessa. Spencer, get the kettle on please. Come on Cedric, this is where my daughter lives.’

 

Spencer had broken away from Vanessa’s hug and was heading into the house. ‘Hang on, what’s happening here? Where has everybody been? Who’s Cedric?’

 

Spencer looked at her. ‘I’ll let her explain,’ he said pointing at June, ‘I’m tired and out of ideas.’

 

The cross-eyed man who Vanessa now realised was called Cedric was holding some sort of electrical device and kept turning it on so that it buzzed in his hand, smiling each time he did it. 

 

‘So, I was in Currys PC World,’ June said as she removed her coat which was damp from the rain, ‘and I saw your husband staring at the wide screens, and I thought, oh great, Vanessa can give me a lift home. I went there on the bus to buy an electric foot shaving product, recommended by my chiropodist.’

 

‘Mum, slow down. I don’t think you understand. I haven’t seen my husband for three days, he went missing the other night. I’ve been out looking for him, worried sick.’

 

‘I know!’ June snapped, ‘He told me all about it, he’s been sleeping rough, did you know that?’ Her voice had gone very high now, causing Vanessa to wince and back away.

 

‘I’ll make the tea,’ she said, ‘you all go and sit in the lounge. I’ll sort you out some clean clothes in a minute, Spencer.’

 

‘What about Cedric?’ 

 

Vanessa looked at the cross-eyed man. ‘Well you haven’t introduced me yet, have you..’

 

‘He’s my new mate,’ said Spencer, ‘I met him by the canal.’

 

‘The canal?’

 

‘Yes, he was mined, you know, pillaged for precious metals. Some bad guys took him apart and removed his palladium, rhodium and…what else?’

 

‘Gold,’ said Cedric, still playing with his electrical device.

 

‘What is that?’

 

‘It’s a milk frother,’ said June, ‘I had to buy it for him or he wouldn’t leave the store and Spencer wouldn’t leave without Cedric…so you owe me seventeen ninety nine, Vanessa.’