The Cyber Exorcist

Part 4 Father Xavier

When Fr. Xavier awoke it was to find a slender man sitting on the large round frame of his windowsill. Startled, he jumped out of bed. The stranger studied him with steady pale green eyes. He had light brown skin, curly black hair and a high nose that would have looked beak-like and ugly on anyone that didn't have that man's cheekbones. He looked Brazilian or possibly Middle-Eastern.
Taking in Xavier's stance he said, "Are you going to go all kung-fu on me?" At the sound of Jesse's faint creole accent, the memory of the other day came back to him.
Fr. Xavier dropped his hands and scratched the back of his head.
"One of the sisters taught me some hapkido," he said.
"Really? You any good?"
"If I managed to give you a bloody nose it might be more by accident than by skill," said Xavier, turning to get his clothes on from his closet.
"But your sister could beat me up?"
Xavier gave a nervous laugh "No, a sister could though. It's kind of like being a nun, only more mission and charity work than prayer and study."
"Really?" Jesse leaned forward. "Where in the world did a sister learn martial arts?"
"In the world probably. We all come from somewhere. Or do you think men like me are born with their collars on?"
"Well, I know you're not from here. That much is apparent."
Fr. Xavier shrugged his cassock on and messed with his hair in the mirror.
"What gave it away?"
"You talk in your sleep. Some Asian dialect I think."
Fr. Xavier felt his cheeks flush but he hid it by turning away and opening the door.
"I thought you Post-Humans could speak any language for the price of a cheap augment." Xavier blinked and Jesse appeared walking beside him, his left shoulder sinking into the wall where the hallway was too narrow. Fr. Xavier knew from walking around with his guest yesterday that the man was visible only to him.
"We can," said Jesse, "When we're online. Take us offline though and all the god-like omniscience disappears. Most of the is an affectation really. Unless a Post-Human works for the government and has the right clearances they can't access a person's movements any more than a regular shmoe can."
They entered the kitchen. The rectory was one of the older Memphis buildings with traces of the ancient victorian molding in the ceiling and gingerbread trim gracing the corners of the rounded window where their peeling wooden table stood. A small counter separated the dining area from the real kitchen, once dubbed a "step-saver" style, which meant that one could stand in the middle and knock your elbows on all four pantry-lined walks by pivoting on one foot.
Fr. Xavier pulled the eggs out from the fridge. Where was Fr. Damien? It couldn't be he'd finally gotten over his jet lag, could it?
"It's Korean, or rather the North Korean dialect. I spent the last decade on a mission there."
"Ah yes," Jesse said, watching Xavier crack eggs into the skillet, "the new frontier for all you religious people, that, and the chaos of China."
Fr. Damien walked in and stopped short at the doorway.
"Well look at that, you're up before me!" he said.
Xavier shrugged.
"And how is our guest?" Fr. Damien asked looking out around blindly.
"He's sitting on the counter," said Xavier.
"You can tell him I'm alright," said Jesse. Xavier did.
"I was talking to Collette the other day," said Fr. Damien. "She has an old android he can wear when he wants some privacy from us. She built it herself for a school project so you can be sure it won't have any backdoors, though it doesn't have any touch-sensory programs."
Jesse blinked and looked genuinely surprised. "I'll have to thank her, but what did you tell her about me exactly?"
Xavier passed along Jesse's question.
"Only that one of the parishioners got jumped by some scrappers and didn't have the necessary funds to replace his arms and legs at the moment. She doesn't know it's for a Post-Human," said Fr. Damien.
"I suppose the idea of a Catholic Post-Human is a contradiction in terms," said Jesse grimacing.
"What did he say?" asked Fr. Damien when he saw Xavier's discomfort.
Xavier shook his head Jesse made a soft grunt of disgust and his visual form dissolved. Xavier's cheeks heated. He knew he was being a bit of coward but he'd never had to explain the church's position, or lack thereof, toward Post-Humans while one was present. He hadn't even kept up to date on that argument. Sure, Seoul was almost entirely made up of Post-Humans now but living up North, it hadn't seemed very relevant in his old mission. Even among non-Christians, the idea of uploading one's mind outside their bodies seemed horrifying to most of the locals.
Jesse continued to give him the silent treatment all afternoon. And Fr. Xavier was so busy catching up with work he'd all but forgotten that Jesse was there. He was reminded by the sight of Collette lugging her heavy Android through the front office door.
"Here he is," she said, flourishing her ten, silver-spindle fingers on her right hand.
Lucy, the parish secretary stood up in surprise.
"My goodness Collette!" she said. "I knew you were good with building circuit panels but I didn't know you had this!"
Xavier walked over to get a closer look at the contraption and Jesse appeared across from him, eyeing his new body appraisingly.
Collete brushed a strand of black hair behind her ear and shrugged. "I've just been using him to tinker with, keep my hand in, you know," she said. "But I've had him so long I don't think there is much left for me to fix up. I've been meaning to start on another for ages now."
The body was sleek and unadorned. However long Collette had been fixing up the insides you couldn't tell much from the outside. To him, it looked no different from the run-down service bots running the docks. The plasteel was discolored in places and the seams had dimpled and uneven seams.
He glanced at Jesse but was surprised to find the man didn't look all that disappointed.
"She's really not going to charge for it?" he asked.
Xavier asked Collette and she shook her head.
"If it weren't for the church's help I wouldn't even have my job," she said, "And I got most of the parts for free from my factory's rubbish pile anyways. You can tell whoever needs it that they can keep it and pass it along to someone else when they're done."
Jesse stared at the young girl like she was the strangest thing he'd ever seen.
"I don't think I was half so humane at her age," he said. Since Collette and the Parish Secretary didn't know Jesse was there Xavier couldn't openly respond so he just gave Collette a big smile and thank you. Though Xavier hadn't been at the church long himself the young girl was already a great source of encouragement to him too.
Once Collette left to return to work and the android had been transported to the privacy of his and Damien's office, Jesse was eager to try his new body out. He quickly grew impatient with Xavier's fumbling.
"You slide the port out by taping your ring finger into your palm," he said.
Xavier blushed and did so. He bent the android's fingers into the same motion and then when it's port was extended, grasped the bot's forearm. The two ports slid into place and in an instant, the bot's eyes began to glow. The android pulled away from Xavier's grasp and sat up, flexing its shoulders, arms, and fingers experimentally.
"Everything working ok?" Xavier asked.
"Everything seems fine," said Jesse, but through the speakers, he no longer had a cajun accent but that of the bots that Xavier remembered talking to in the hospital. He supposed it was the default program.
It occurred to him then that Jesse might not even be Cajun. He might be Chinese or British who happened to think Creole accents to be exotic.
Android Jesse stood up and looked around.
"It's a relief to be able to choose what I am looking at," he said.
Xavier cocked his head.
"The me you have been seeing is just an interface that lets me communicate more comfortably with you. I haven't been able to actually see anything that you weren't actively looking at."
"Oh," said Xavier, feeling stupid. It seemed obvious now.
"I'm going to go explore your church garden," said Jesse. "I'm sure you wouldn't mind some time away from a soulless being yourself," and he got up and walked out the door before Xavier had fully processed what he'd said.
Fr. Damien came in a minute later.
"What happened to Jesse?" he asked. "I didn't think an Android body could be made to look so pissed.
Xavier sighed.
"I'll tell you later. At least this way we don't have to come up with an excuse for me," said Xavier. "What time is the patient coming?"
Fr. Damien checked his watch, "Soon actually. Can you get the room ready?"
Fr. Xavier nodded and set about gathering the supplies: a spray bottle of holy water, a stack of cloth rags, a crucifix, chairs for everyone attending, the candy dish of spare rosaries from Fr. Damien's office and two copies of The Rite.
From the window of the room, he spied Jesse scowling at an Our Lady of Lourdes statue in the garden. Fr. Xavier sighed heavily. There were going to be enough misconceptions and awkward conversations soon enough without their guest also knowing that his hosts were two exorcists.