Parcel for You - Part 51

 

Maybe he’s just better off without me, she thought as she drove back towards home, knowing in her gut that Spencer would not be by the front door waiting for her. She began to imagine him enjoying himself somewhere, far away from home and the Nordic walkers, he’d found a place of safety. It was strange, perhaps simply a coping mechanism, she couldn’t explain it but somehow her inner panic subsided and briefly she experienced some peace.

 

She messaged Annie, telling her that she’d searched all over town for Spencer and there was nothing more she could do but wait at home and begin to accept that he might be gone forever.

 

‘He’s not gone forever Mum. He’ll come back, I can feel it.’

 

Now she had to boil her own kettle, make her own cup of tea. She noticed how neatly everything was put away, the kitchen surfaces sparkling and all the floors clean and vacuumed. It was the new standard and she’d grown used to being waited on. Vanessa had settled so easily into this lifestyle she’d become lazy to the point where she’d forgotten about the chore factors associated with housekeeping.

 

Preparing her own food, at least took her mind off Spencer. At the back of her mind were nagging thoughts about the administration side of his missing status. She’d signed up to the Cyber Premium Club and was paying a monthly fee but to wriggle out of it, she’d have to tell them that her husband was missing. Of course, he was only missing because she had tampered with his internal mechanism, removed his mizzen flap. It was the ultimate betrayal.

 

‘I hope you’re having a good time out there,’ she sighed, ‘and I’m so sorry, I let you down.’

 

The rest of the day seemed exceedingly long. She kept going up to the windows, looking up and down the road. Daytime television rattled on in the background making her feel terribly useless, guilty and claustrophobic. The worst part was when it began to get dark, the sky coming down like a curtain, cutting off her hope and options. Rain began to spit upon the windows.

 

Charlie cried out, a pressing call, loud and drawn out as if he was asking about Spencer. Vanessa looked across at him, ‘I don’t know where he is, Charlie. Maybe you could go and find him, bring him home to me.’

 

The cat looked towards the window and blinked before trotting softly upstairs to curl up somewhere warm. Vanessa wondered if Spencer was in fact like a cat. It was possible he wasn’t thinking about her at all and was perfectly happy to start a new life somewhere else with a different bunch of companions. But she remembered what Gregory had said about Cybermates going awol, ‘the results aren’t always happy, unfortunately.’

 

That didn’t mean that they were always unhappy though. Vanessa got the impression that this sort of thing happened more than Gregory wanted to let on. The whole concept of Cybermates remained unregulated so who really knew how many were being dumped or getting tampered with and wandering the streets until they rusted or even evolved. The article about them living rough suggested that they were far more resourceful than people realised.

 

Vanessa held her wedding ring and spun it around on her finger. Perhaps it would release some invisible energy, some pull which would force Spencer to remember his home and prompt his safe return. She decided that she would work from home the following day, there was no point driving round asking strangers about him, it only made her appear unhinged. That was the thing about marrying a Cybermate, you had to be prepared to look unhinged, people stared and laughed, questioning your ability to form real relationships with real humans.

 

As the day drew to a close, Vanessa felt resigned to being alone, at least for now. She left the bedroom window open a little just in case Spencer called out to her from outside but she dared to imagine her life without his return and it didn’t seem all that bad. Perhaps she could order another one or even just the housekeeping version, no marriage required but then she heard the wind and rain outside and thought about Spencer out there. He knows where I am, she thought, it’s not as if he hasn’t got a home to go to.

 

Vanessa slept well, she was coming to terms with the guilt attached to tampering with her husband’s brain and the events which had followed. What will be will be, she thought as she brushed her teeth, whatever happens next, marrying a cyborg was an experience. She felt something of a pioneer, among her many friends and relatives, all of which were having relations with real humans. I was just ahead of my time, she thought as she spat out the toothpaste.

 

She began to think about going on a holiday abroad now that Spencer was gone. It was far too early to look seriously or book one but the thought of sunny skies and white sands kept creeping into her consciousness. Maybe she could go and visit Annie in South America but Annie would just be angry with her because she had become quite attached to Spencer during her visit home and would be quick to blame her mother for losing him.

 

‘Everything alright with the family emergency?’ her boss asked her during the morning meeting.

 

‘Yes, yes, it was just my mother..she’s in good health but she sometimes goes awol you know.’

 

‘Oh, you found her then, got her home safe?’

 

‘Yes, eventually. I just wish she’d check her phone occasionally instead of worrying us all sick. I went out looking for her but the man at the coffee kiosk said she’d gone off with a walking group. It was all a bit of a palava but to cut a long story short, she’s home safe now, my sister’s with her.’

 

Vanessa in the act of telling a lie, found herself disclosing many unnecessary details, some tied in with the truth but involving her mother rather than Spencer. She felt she’d got away with it and continued with her morning, keeping an ear out for a ring on the doorbell.

 

It occurred to her that if anybody found Spencer’s lifeless body, would they be able actually do anything about it, report it to Cybermates Worldwide or just leave him? There would surely be something frightening about a decaying cyborg although it would be very unlikely he’d be mistaken for an actual dead body. No decomposition, just a bit of rust, eyes intact, parts seizing up. A serial number clearly marked to identify him.

 

She shuddered at her own imagination and concluded that it was simply a coping mechanism. It was a good thing her husband wasn’t a real man or the consequences of opening up the back of his head and then losing track of his whereabouts would be a lot more serious. 

 

At lunchtime she paused to make some toast and wondered if she'd tempted fate as her phone rang and she saw Carol’s name on the screen.

 

‘Is Mum okay?’

 

‘Yes, yes, she’s fine Vanessa. Why?’

 

‘Oh,’ Vanessa sighed with relief, ‘It’s just not like you to phone me that’s all.’

 

‘Well, I was just wondering if you’d heard..’

 

‘Heard what?’ Carol was already annoying her, just seconds into the conversation. 

 

‘Heard about what’s happening with these Cybermates. Apparently they’re going to be recalled.’ Vanessa was silent, not really knowing how to respond. ‘Are you still there, Vanessa?’ There was a smug knowingness in Carol’s voice.

 

‘Yes, I’m still here…and no I hadn’t heard such things. I think the headquarters would have emailed me if this was the case.’

 

‘I have inside information because of my connections with the university so I tend to get wind of these things before anybody else.’

 

‘Oh,’

 

‘Yes, they’re being recalled. The designers at Sheffield University are saying that some organisation in China have developed an enzyme and if the cyborgs are exposed to it then they start to grow human cells so that’s obviously a huge risk to the human race.’ Vanessa remained silent. ‘Are you still there?’

 

‘Yes! I’m here. I just don’t know what to make of what you’re saying, that's all. Not sure if I believe it to be honest.’

 

‘Oh believe me, I can assure you, this information comes from a highly credible source. I’m just giving you a heads up so you can start preparing for losing your husband. I wouldn’t tell him, just act normal. He is out of earshot isn’t he?;

 

‘Yes, yes, he’s upstairs…doing a crossword.’

 

‘Do you want me to tell Annie?’

 

‘No! Please don’t. She’s very attached to Spencer. I’ll wait for more information to come through, officially that is.’

 

‘Vanessa,’ Carol scoffed, ‘you can’t get more official than me. I’m doing you a big favour by letting you know early.’

 

‘Okay..thanks. Look I need to go now, I’m in the middle of something for work.’

 

‘Alright well, just to be clear, this is confidential so it must go no further than you and me for now.’