Deep Engineering

The red ball circled the metal apparatus.

“Xeron Neblo,” Richart Gershon announced without emphasis, without passion.

Neblo’s eyes lit up like a starship’s thrusters. He stood at five foot eight inches. His eyes looked like cut jade. His charcoal colored skin showed signs of sweat bursting forth, especially on his forehead. He leapt to his feet and ran down the aisle. He looked out into the audience who stood up and applauded this turn of events. The walk up to the stage seemed like a dragging sense of reality; time appeared to slow. The commissioner shook hands with Neblo. His greasy smile shone teeth with blood in between them. It wasn’t much, just enough to know that he had bit down on some flesh just moments before.

“What do you have to say?” Commissioner Donner Ralfa asked Neblo.

“I’m just so happy at this opportunity to take home this marvel of American ingenuity.” Applause.

At his house he walked over his threshold with his prize, his bride by his side. Adona consisted not of wires and bolts but of complete organic compounds that qualified her humanoid status. Her smell consisted of lavender and her bioluminescence shone a bluish-green tint. She breathed.

“Neblo, I know we’re just meeting each other but I can perform any function you would like,” Adona announced. Her voice seemed calm and almost above a whisper. Her symmetric visage, ample bosom, and slim posterior and abdomen told a tale of deep engineering. In earth years, she would be a thousand years old. Except, Adona didn’t get old. She looked at his spacious apartment and surveyed the architecture and interior design. The minimalism and stark features gave way to the notion that Neblo displayed taste.

“Adona,” Neblo said.

“Yes, Neblo?”

“Let’s talk over coffee, shall we?”

“Let’s,” she answered.

As the couple sat down at the table, she sipped a cappuccino. The liquid coursed through her body, but water vapor exhaust permitted food and beverage to process through her system and be converted to steam.

“There’s going to be feds knocking on that door any minute.”

“Actually they’re on their way right now,” Adona observed.

“Okay, so you know they’re going to try to limit us. They’re going to try to put so many rules and regulations and controls on us that we’re not going to be able to enjoy each other’s time.”

“Yes.”

“I can find a spot in Lower Slower Delaware (LSD). We can just leave this place.”

“I have a tracking device as part of my code, so….”

Neblo reached around to the nape of Adona’s neck. He sliced open her skin where no blood fell. Her skin was like an envelope, it yielded to the slice and felt just as human as any other woman. Neblo snatched the tiny computer that emitted the signal. With just a few lines of code, he disabled the sensor which the government used to follow Adona. This of course was against federal regulation Twenty-Two. He didn’t care. It had a time frame, however.

Even if he had overrode the system, he still had little time to pack light and move with swiftness.

“If we make it to our destination, we will be ahead of them and they will wonder where we are,” Adona noticed.

“Absolutely, my lovely. That’s more the reason why we must hasten southward,” Neblo said.

Before he did anything, he sent a ghost vehicle ahead. It would lead them off their scent and they’d have enough time to maneuver. He packed light. In his floating car, nothing much entered…. just a few of his watches and that was about it. Neblo had planned in advance if he were ever so fortunate to win the lottery that he had already furnished living space for them both. To live in Sussex County, Delaware seemed to be a different take from the city of Wilmington, but he took the chance nevertheless.

As the two of them traveled to their new home, there seemed to be racing emergency and first response vehicles. They whizzed by in a whooshing motion, red and blue and white lights flashing with abandon.

“They’re actually about to start tracking in about three minutes.”

“There is no God, but thank God this vehicle can go into the clouds.” Neblo steered the car upward like a deer springing forth in a meadow.

The nuclear engine powered it as it rose to about fifteen thousand feet and as fast as seven hundred miles per hour. They found the entrance to the house.

Men and women stood guard.

“Jesus! The tracker must have ran out on us,” Neblo cursed. Adona showed her wrist. “Yes, of course.” The time showed quadruple digits.

“And I thought we’d get here faster.”

“They found us. What are you going to do?”

“I’m going to fight for the right to have you in my life no matter how many regulators attempt to poison our union,” Neblo replied.

“I think we should find a place back in Delaware. I’ll slice off a piece of my neck to impede their pursuit and ultimately end it.”

“No, no. There will be no self mutilation. I don’t know what your past husbands thought of it, but I’m not going to allow you to hack off pieces of yourself just to escape the law. The incision was enough. It was surgical. That complete and total action consisted of trying, and failing, to evade them. A single floating car with sirens and lights commanded Neblo to stop.

They floated in mid air. An encased platform extended from the police vehicle

Officer Shinter walked through the small hallway to Neblo’s car.

“You’re not in any trouble,” Shinter said once he told Neblo to show himself from his window.

“The government just wants to help you. We’re here to serve and protect, not damage and destroy. If you and your wife wish to be together, there have to be controls put on you for the betterment of society.”

At that last remark, Neblo actually choked back a bit of vomit in his throat.

“You can go to your house in Sussex. They’ll be agents far above my paygrade waiting for you. In fact, I’ll escort you.”

“No, thanks. I’m capable of finding it myself.”

“Alright, have a good evening.”

Adona wept. It was a quiet, low, knowing sob.

“What is it?” Neblo asked.

“They’re going to tear us asunder,” she mentioned. “I’ve seen this before. This is what the government is designed not to do. It is a necessary good, but only if it functions properly. I’ve had past partners who have tried to do what you are doing right now and failed. If they can take me and put me up for the lottery, then they can do it again, without your consent.”

“I’m not worried about that at all. We’ll go down there and meet up with these goons in suits and submit to only the bare minimum of their demands to prevent you from parting from me.”

Adona grinned and her blue-green light emitted from her forehead. They landed at the new house. Men and women in suits stood by with sunglasses on their faces. Upon exiting the vehicle, the government men and women approached Neblo and Adona.

“You gave us a scare back there,” cracked Custin Bowery. He had a tallish frame and a permanent smirk.

“Look, all we want to do is set some ground rules. After all, you do know that Adona will not be yours for all-time. She will continue, however.”

“That’s right,” Kirsten Sonnen replied.

“We have to have certain rules to acknowledge the power of the State.”

Neblo held up his chin. Adona stood firm.

“We can hash all of this out inside, if you don’t mind….” Bowery announced, knowing that they would find an agreement between the couple and the government no matter where the digital forms accepted signatures.

Neblo strode into the house with Adona’s hand in his. They walked in and the temperature apparatus read their body heat and adjusted.

“Nice digs,” Bowery remarked. Kirsten stayed silent. They both removed their sunglasses.

“Now let’s get to it,” Kirsten commanded. “You are to have this synthetic being until the day you die. If, for some reason you want a divorce, we cannot recognize that. You are tied together for the remainder of your days. You may not have any extramarital affairs. Adona, however, may have as many adulterous situations as possible.”

“That makes no sense,” Neblo said.

Adona had been through nearly two hundred cycles and never stepped outside her marriage. She looked steadfast. Neblo looked at the digital screen with the line to be signed.

“No, I’m not doing it. I mean I’m keeping Adona by my side, but not on these terms.”

Kirsten leaned in a bit.

“You will sign or Adona goes away.”

Neblo looked at his lover and friend. Adona nodded.

Neblo waved his finger in the air and the signature landed on the glass.

“I’m of course going to appeal this,” Neblo mentioned.

“You can make an application to the state of Delaware,” Kirsten said, a smug smirk stretching across her face.

“We’re going to go now. We hope you two love birds can find trust in one another.”

The two government officials left.

Neblo looked at Adona. “You know it was just on principle that I rejected and I plan to rewrite the rules on this decision.”

Adona smiled. “I know. I have the power. I have the strength to be with dozens of other men. I want you.”

Neblo grinned. “I know. You're hundreds of years older than myself. They upgrade your system every three months. I’m a man. A human being who wants to fight the government. The fact I can’t divorce is not a problem. I want you, too. It’s just the idea of not being able to do something because of some bureacrat’s daymare that rankles me. Of course we can still celebrate. We have each other forever.”

Adona took Neblo’s hand and led him to the bedroom. The blue-green bioluminescence intensified when they closed the door behind them.

In a few weeks, Neblo dressed in a black tunic and silver tie. Adona used her computer system to change her entire appearance. A month ago, she looked like a bride, today a lawyer. She couldn’t represent Neblo in reality, but she dressed the part despite the fact.

“I’m going to go in there and set a precedent. I’m going to show that there is no ‘little guy’ just a pissed off black man ready to set things right.” Adona laughed a clean, ebullient laugh noting the tenor of her husband’s rhetoric.

“I won you in a lottery game, but it’s more than that. Just that bit of luck has allowed a wellspring of joy to come into my life. I may not outlive you, okay I definitely will depart from this life and you’ll be here. We, though, can still cherish each moment and understand our place in all of this.”

Adona kissed Neblo’s mouth. “Let’s fight city hall.”

“Let’s,” he said.

When they arrived at the courthouse, they found the sun beaming down on them. They located the proper place. They noticed that the court disallowed synthetic beings.

“You go,” Adona said. “I’ll walk the grounds.”

Neblo walked into the courtroom. The smell of the air invaded his nose and made him think of musty-sweetness. He represented himself and no jury remained. Kirsten and Bowery stood on the opposite side of the room. They looked staid and eager at the same time.

“Your honor, I wanted to explain my case,” Neblo proclaimed. “I think it is unjust, even if I never engage in adultery, for me not to be allowed. And to not be able to divorce is a wicked crime against the mind. It is none of the State’s business what happens in our marriage. It’s bad enough that the government has to get involved in such matters. This is an outrage that must stop. I think it should start with me.”

Judge Doris Culberry looked at Neblo.

“You don’t think it’s the power of the state to issue such mandates?”

“No, your Honor,” Neblo replied.

Judge Culberry shifted her gaze at the two government officials.

“State your claim,” she sighed.

“Yes, your Honor. We say that the State in its powers must govern over aspects of the lives of citizens. Sure, they can have their precious liberty. But who protects that liberty? We, the government, do.”

“Mr. Neblo?” The judge asked.

“Sure the state has powers but no rights. In fact, it’s sole job is to protect those individual rights of the people.”

Judge Culberry looked down and up again.

“Okay…I’m going to ensure that the regulations on marriage forever remain lifted and that the rights of the individual see the fullness thereof.” The gavel banged.

Neblo showed no emotion. Kirsten and Bowery’s visages looked like they attended a funeral as they filed out of the room.

Neblo ran out of the courtroom into Adona’s arms. Their embrace solidified the change in the trajectory of all synthetic beings and human relationships for now and for the future.