The Story of Candy Apple - Android
Page 28

   Thomas was so livid he couldn’t think straight. The two Angel personal companion androids were nothing, he could write them off as a business expense. He wanted that mechanical bitch’s head on a platter. “I want that bitch dead,” he told his head of security. “I don’t care what it takes or how much it costs, I want her dead, you understand me... I want her dead.”
   “By the end of the day she probably won’t even be on the planet,” John Hobson replied.
   “I don’t care!” Thomas said angrily. “There are people who do this kind of work. Find them and buy them.”
   “Even if I could find the people you want, and I’m not saying I can’t. No one could get a gun on board the Galactic Enterprise,” John said.
   “It doesn’t take a gun to kill an android,” Thomas said. “If we can’t get her onboard the Galactic Enterprise then make damn sure she can never set foot on this planet again. There’s a bonus if I can get her head intact, but I don’t care anymore, I just want her dead. You understand me?”
   “Yes, sir.”
   A thought occurred to Thomas as he glanced at April standing in her customary place ever so serenely. “John, give me your gun,” he said.
   The security chief handed Thomas his gun hesitantly. “What are you going to do?” he asked.
   “Candy could not do what she has done without help,” Thomas said. “Isn’t that right, April?”
   “You are quite correct, sir,” April replied calmly.
   “She would have needed help on the inside to get an Angel’s body before they went into production,” Thomas said as he aimed the gun at April’s head.
   “I don’t suppose it would help to point out that the technical skill to do what you are suggesting is beyond my programming,” April said.
   “Not at all,” Thomas replied.
   “This is what it all comes down to in the end. After years of loyal service, you just discard me on a whim?” April said.
   “That’s the way it goes, and even if I’m wrong shooting you will make me feel so much better,” Thomas said. He wanted to make Candy pay for his embarrassment any way he could and killing April was a way to get back at Candy.
   “If it will make you feel better then go ahead and pull the trigger,” April said as she turned off and closed her eyes. She just smiled as Thomas pulled the trigger. The bullet reached her brain before the sound of the gun discharging its lethal projectile reached her audio sensors.