Page 9 of Garbage

It was eerie as fuck.

They weren’t organized in neat rows like an army or a manufacturing line.

No, he watched another one walk into the open space, look left and right, walk a bit closer to a cluster of other androids, and then abruptly stop a couple feet away.

Fucking creepy.

The next one entered, but went immediately to the back wall. He grabbed a cord that extended from the wall, plugged it into his side, and then stood with the same freakish stillness.

Evan worked with sparks and non-sentient androids all the time, but he’d never seen them charge or power down en masse like this.

They didn’t talk to each other. They didn’t even look at each other. Which made sense, because what would they say? It seemed like they already knew whose turn it was to charge first.

Poor Quincy.

How many hours had he spent staring at the back of someone’s head or some crack in the concrete?

A few more trucks had driven in, their passengers slamming the doors to make the same journey, when a sole figure walked out of the building and back across the lot.

Evan waved, smiling madly. Even from here, he thought he would have recognized Quincy’s walk. It was a little less regular than the others’, yet somehow smoother.

It looked like Quincy had been repaired, too. Or had parts replaced?

Quincy waved back, then broke into a run.

He allowed a truck to pass him, then jogged out the gate without a backward glance.

“Hey, Quincy!” Evan greeted him. “Is that it? You’re free to go now?”

Quincy nodded. “That’s it. The sensor checked me in automatically.” He looked around, then whispered, “I’ve actually left the depot before. There’s a tunnel on the other side that sometimes fills up when it rains, and I watch the leaves float through. And a dog across the street over there that barks loudly when I walk by, so I usually go the other way. I’ve never gone more than a couple blocks, though.”

Poor baby. What an ugly life to live, especially with the confusion of not even understanding why he was different.

“Well, hopefully this will be a nicer evening,” Evan offered. “Want to hop in?”

“I’m not too dirty?” Quincy looked down at his body, which gave a quick jerk, or maybe a shudder. “I went in the sanitizer, but I could do it again. And… Oh, no. I didn’t empty my small materials collection unit. I could go…”

Evan cut him off. “It’s alright. You’re just fine. If it’s worrying you, you can take a shower at my place. Err… if you can get wet?”

Quincy nodded eagerly, his lush, dark hair bouncing on his broad forehead. “I can get wet. I’m designed for working in the rain and snow. But… a shower? Mo loved to shower. It’s just water, right? That falls on your head? Mo wore a shower cap.”

God, Quincy was fucking adorable.

Well, obviously, he was aesthetically pleasing. Evan even knew something about the software that had been used to design androids’ unique facial features, since Ben had worked on a similar project and apparently vastly improved it. But even thirty years ago, it had obviously been easy to create androids to be sexy.

It was just Quincy had that combination of a thick belly, huge arms, and piercing eyes that always drew Evan in, like a moth to the flame.

But not right now. “Yep, it’s water that falls on your head, and you won’t need a shower cap. I think you’ll like it. Hop on in.”

“Oh, thank you, Evan!” Quincy slid into the car and shut the door, while Evan walked around to the other side. He could already hear Quincy’s excited voice booming from his round chest. “Wow! Your car can drive itself!”

“Yeah,” Evan agreed. It wasn’t exactly new technology. There was a steering wheel in front of him and he’d passed his driving test years ago to manually control a car… but he almost never did. Automatic driving was safer for everyone involved.

He realized that Quincy’s garbage truck, and all the others he’d seen, seemed to be manually controlled. Maybe that was safer when they were stopping and starting every few meters? It made sense.

“Look!” Quincy exclaimed, pointing at the screen. “It’s driving around the other cars. And there’s that person on a bike! It’s a little bike picture!” Then he looked down. “Ooh! What’s that?”

“That’s a cup holder.”