A Robot's Partner

The Protest

Caesar let go of me and he was frowning, probably because my heart was beating faster than normal.

“I don't sense any medical conditions. Do you know why your heartbeat sped up?” Caesar asked.

I couldn't lie to Caesar because he would know if I was lying, but I certainly wasn't going to tell him the truth because it would be too embarrassing.

“It's nothing to worry about.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yeah, I'm fine.” I nodded.

“Alright, but please visit a doctor if this keeps happening randomly,” Caesar said.

“You really don't need to worry.”

“I'll trust your judgement. Anyway, I don't detect anything wrong with your health.”

“Well, that's good to know.” I smiled.

****

Caesar and I were at work, and we hadn't had any calls, so we were working on the murder case. It was very difficult, since there weren't many leads, but we'd been looking for new models who'd been reported missing.

A man walked over to our desk, he was white and had short curly brown hair. He looked quite young, and he was slim. “Hey, robot, get me some coffee.” The man put his mug on our desk.

“His name is Caesar, not robot, and he isn't your assistant or anything,” I said.

“It'll do what I tell it to.” He glared at us.

“No, I only have to obey Amelia,” Caesar replied.

“You shut your fucking machine mouth!” The man yelled, punching the table.

“We're working on an important case, so you need to leave us alone,” I said.

“Captain Ford won't be happy if she finds out that you've been harassing Amelia and Caesar,” Val said.

“I have work I need to do, you two stay out of my way.” He finally left us alone.

“I swear, there are so many people here who hate robots.” I sighed.

“Well, not everyone around here is so vocal about it. It's mainly Jacob and that guy, Harley, who have outbursts like that,” Val replied.

“We'll just avoid them as much as possible.”

“Yes, we should do that.” Caesar nodded. “Oh, we're getting called out to a protest that has turned violent.”

“Oh, this could be tense.” I sighed.

“Good luck,” Val said.

“Thank you.”

I left with Caesar, and we got into a van in case anyone needed to be arrested. He started driving to wherever the protest was being held. None of the robot protests in Cambridge had ever turned violent — I'd always been there as an observer, but they were always peaceful.

“Your heartbeat is elevated again, are you worried?” Caesar asked.

“Yep, I've never really dealt with a violent protest before. Everything was much more peaceful in Cambridge, so it's all new to me.”

“You're going to be fine, police are already there, so we'll have help. Anyway, I won't let anyone get near you.”

It made me feel a bit better, especially knowing how strong and smart Caesar was — he could even predict people's actions.

“I can't believe how little experience I have with crimes. Maybe they should've got someone more experienced.” I sighed.

“I wouldn't want to work with anyone but you. You may not have as much experience as others, but you're trying your best, and you're doing a good job. You're also the only person who I've met so far who fully likes robots,” Caesar said.