The Dragon and the Stars by Derwin Mak & Tess Gerritsen & Eric Choi

Author:Derwin Mak & Tess Gerritsen & Eric Choi [Mak, Derwin & Gerritsen, Tess & Choi, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Fantasy, Science Fiction, Fiction, General, Short Stories, Science Fiction; American, Anthologies (Multiple Authors), Fantasy Fiction; American, Short Stories; American, American Literature, Fantasy Fiction; Chinese, Science Fiction; Chinese, Short Stories; Chinese
ISBN: 9780756406189
Publisher: DAW
Published: 2010-05-03T22:00:00+00:00

The men came to the door before the sun even crept up.

“What is going on?” Nina demanded as she stepped out of her room, still dressed in her pajamas.

Katie, Charles, and Carter were already standing at the front door.

“Katie, why are you all making all this racket at—” Nina stopped when her eyes fell upon the five other men in the room.

“You must be Ms. Huang’s mother,” one of the men said. He handed Nina a business card. His name was Ian Roberts. “We are with BioCorp’s robotic collection division, here to pick up a certain robot. Carter, I believe?”

Before Nina had a chance to reply, Carter stepped forward and said, “That would be me.”

Standing there, Katie felt her stomach twisting, turning.

“Now, hold on,” Nina said, grabbing Carter by the arm as he walked toward the men. “Carter, where are you going?”

“We’re taking him to the testing lab at BioCorp,” Roberts said. “You see, Carter here has passed our robotic psychological examination and is now pending human status.”

Nina looked confused. “I never submitted Carter for any examinations.”

Roberts’ pleasant smile faded. “Umm ...” He looked from Nina to Katie.

“I gave Carter the psychological examination,” Katie said. Her mother’s eyes jumped to her. “I read a poem to him last night, just to see whether or not he could interpret it as a human could, and he passed.”

“You gave him one of your nonsensical psychological examinations?” Nina exclaimed with a glare. “Why in the world—”

“Nina, it’s okay,” Carter interrupted. “I’m just going with these men down to the lab to get tested. I’ll be back soon.”

None of the men said anything, and Katie stood with her eyes glued to the ground, her heart racing with an unsteady beat of guilt and fear as Nina rounded on her again. “Katie, how could you?”

“Ma’am.” Roberts stepped in between them, a sheet of paper in his hand. “This is the buyer’s contract you signed in Indiana when you bought Carter, a little over three months ago. If you read the safety clause below, you’ll see that BioCorp is perfectly within its rights to take possession of any robot, at any time, without giving a reason until BioCorp has kept the robot for more than twenty-four hours.”

Nina’s eyes scanned the paragraph. She said nothing afterwards.

“All right,” Carter said, smiling. “I guess it’s time for us to go.”

Roberts nodded and motioned for the men behind him to file out.

As Carter placed his first foot out the door, he suddenly stopped and turned around.

“I almost forgot,” he said, looking down at Li Bai’s book of poems, still clutched at his side. He handed the book back to Katie. “Thank you.”

Katie looked down at the book. “You can read this?” She had a hard time keeping her voice steady. “When did you finish?”

“While I was waiting for you to finish your phone call,” Carter said. “It took a little longer, using the Internet to translate the Chinese, but I did finish. By the way, this Li Bai guy is a total cheese ball of emotions.

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