Please Don't Tell My Parents You Believe Her by Richard Roberts

Author:Richard Roberts [Roberts, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: SciFi, Superhero
ISBN: 9781719440271
Google: Sz6ltwEACAAJ
Amazon: B07C29767D
Publisher: Curiosity Quills Press
Published: 2018-04-09T00:00:00+00:00

e had to leave Gerty in the truck. Delicate reason was not one of her many talents, and anyway, she would love me no matter who or what I was. But it was nice having Ampexia behind me, in full tech thief regalia, when I showed up for the judging. The parasite would certainly bring allies.

With any luck, those allies would be mine in a few minutes.

We met in front of Claire’s house. A good choice, since it felt neutral to me, even if the parasite probably didn’t think of it that way. She was there, wearing my old jumpsuit of all things, with my goggles perched on her forehead. Behind her stood Mech, in his copper-colored power armor, and a hero I didn’t know in white.

Not willing to be intimidated, I looked Mech right in the helmet. “Stick around. You can tell all the other heroes which of us deserves protection.”

I had to give my doppelgänger credit. She didn’t show a smidgeon of fear at the prospect of being unmasked. “So, let’s get on with it. Where is our mystery expert?”

A car beeped. Then it beeped three more times. The worst driver I had ever seen came swerving and skidding up the road towards us, in a ridiculous yellow car. In fact, maybe it wasn’t her driving. The outside of the car was made of yellow plastic, it belched smoke in multiple places, and what I could see of the inside had none of the usual amenities like seats—only metal frames and a mass of bars. The tires wobbled as it drove, and as it drew closer. It looked like such a death trap that Mech stepped between the rest of us and it as it got closer. Maybe twenty feet away, the car tripped. That’s all I could call it. It jumped off the ground, landed in an erratic roll, struck Mech, and bounced off as easily as a balloon.

When the unlikely rubber vehicle rattled to a halt, right side up, even, an equally yellow plastic robot stepped out of the driver’s side. She gave us a wave. “Hello! This is Mech, who is a hero, and I am Polly Vinyl Chloride, a very interesting and likable and intelligent robot, and I have been asked to figure out which of you is Penny.”

“Polly, please get a new car. You’re going to kill someone with that one,” asked Mech, with the strained tone of someone who’d tried and failed at this argument a dozen times.

“Nonsense. I am a very good driver for a robot, and my vehicle has many excellent safety features,” she answered as she breezed past him.

The front door of Claire’s house opened. My mom stepped out. Miss Lutra was nowhere to be seen, but I was sure she was watching.

Solemn rather than detached, Mom asked Polly, “Are we ready to begin? I assume you have already seen what you need.”

Polly said something, and Mech said something, and I didn’t pay attention, because Ray and Claire walked out of the still-open door behind her.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.