Page 40 of Perfection

Kindra was swabbing items—a piano, a Global Doll with long, braided blond hair, a white robotic kitty—and placing the spent testers inside plastic tubes and labeling them. She used tiny vacuum cylinders to take air samples. York visually scanned the room, his eyes stopping on the Nanny Sally robot.

“I thought they took that Sally to check out yesterday.”

B-Gastion nodded.

Kindra folded her test kit. “May I speak to your wife now?”

“Not in here,” B-Gastion said, a catch in his throat. His shoulders sagged as he led the way out of Isabelle’s bedroom and into the game room down the hall. “This room doesn’t hold as many memories. Wait just a minute. I’ll bring my wife to meet with you.”

York and Kindra each selected a seat. Kindra avoided his gaze, seeming lost in thought.

B-Gastion returned with his wife on his arm. Mrs. C-Gastion was short for a GEI and had an overindulged appearance, a sign she was one of the early C Generation designs. Fredrick helped her into a chair across from York.

“Please keep it brief.” B-Gastion’s gaze bored into York.

York nodded. “Of course.” He focused his attention on Mrs. C-Gastion. She had been too upset to give many details in her interview the other day, and he hadn’t pressed her. “Can you give me Isabelle’s schedule for the past week? Where has she been? Who with?”

“Let me see. It’s Friday.” She looked distant, confused. York wondered what drugs she was taking to help control her grief. He waited patiently.

“Monday was music lessons. Isabelle was brilliant on the piano. Tuesday, we had a playdate with friends and went to the Centre.”

“Their names?”

“Her playmates that day were Amy D-Spindle, Kayla D-Brent, Michael D-Perry, and Samuel D-Cobb.”

York noted the names. “So they were all D Generation?”

“Yes.”

“Samuel D-Cobb. That’s Chairman B-Cobb’s son,” Kindra pointed out.

His eyebrows rose. “Really?” He turned to Mrs. C-Gastion. “And Wednesday?”

“Wednesday, we went to the zoo and then dance lessons. And Thursday, she…she…”

“Did you notice anything different about her behavior? Anything strange before…?” Kindra couldn’t seem to finish the sentence withher death. She wet her lips.

The Nanny Sally took a few steps into the room, saying, “She got up to go to the bathroom. She said her head hurt, and then she collapsed.”

All eyes turned to the Sally. “How do you know this?” B-Gastion asked.

“I was in her room. Sally 2 had to change out a battery component.”

“And the Sally 2 is the one we have at the lab. Right?” York asked.

“Yes,” Both B-Gastion and Sally answered at the same time.

“You, my friend, have too many Sallys. They’re all alike.” York paused, pulling his lips to the side as he realized he shouldn’t have said that to a man who now has no need for a nanny android. “Sorry, that came out wrong,” he apologized, then made additional notes in his report. “I’ll have someone come get this Sally 1 for analysis.”

Kindra approached the Sally and began taking swabs from her hands. “Are you equipped with a medical detection unit?”

“No.”

“We didn’t think that was a necessary feature,” B-Gastion said. “We’ve never had to worry about illness.”

Concern showed on Kindra’s face. She placed a hand on Mrs. C-Gastion’s shoulder. “What about her unity sessions? You mentioned to Dr. Finn there was something odd about them.”

Mrs. C-Gastion grabbed Kindra’s hand and held on as if she’d at long last found someone who understood. “Oh, yes. All of a sudden, Isabelle rejected the opportunity. I eventually got it out of her that she couldn’t tap into the universal energy.”