Barren Cove Read Free Page A

really no problem. I came for peace, myself.”
    â€œYes, you said that when you contacted us, and really, I think that was one of the main deciding factors.” She stood up. “So just let us know if you need anything.”
    I was being dismissed? What had happened to the warm invitation from the night before? I wanted solitude, yes, but we were going to be practically living together. “But what about Mr. Beachstone?” I said, still sitting.
    â€œI’m sorry?”
    â€œI haven’t met Mr. Beachstone yet. I thought since he’s . . .”
    She looked through the entryway.
    â€œIs everything okay?”
    She looked back at me. “Mr. Beachstone sees no one,” she said. And then, as if realizing that this sounded odd, she added, “He’s sick.”
    I opened and closed the clamp on my right arm. What did she mean he was sick? What would she have said of me ? She glanced at the door again and then settled her sights onthe floor in front of her. I stood. “Well perhaps another time then?” I said, quite sure there would be no other time. I still hadn’t located the second voice on the intercom from the night before. At the door in the entryway, I felt as though there was something else that I had wanted to say.
    â€œThank you for coming; I’m sorry I’m so preoccupied,” Mary said, and now she looked at me full on, smiling. She was beautiful.
    â€œOh, do we have any neighbors?” I said, remembering.
    â€œNeighbors?”
    â€œYes, I saw a girl on a—with—” What was the polite way to say these things now? “I saw a girl with pink hair yesterday, and I thought we might have neighbors.”
    â€œNo,” she said, shaking her head, confused. “The closest houses are twenty miles off. I don’t know who that was.”
    â€œOh well,” I said. I stepped forward. Mary said, “Door open,” and the door opened in front of me and closed behind me without another word from Mary. It was only then that I remembered I had also wanted to mention my spare parts. I saw Kapec partway around the house, trimming bushes along the path that led to the stairs. I approached him. “Kapec,” I called.
    He stopped the edger, its motor winding down, and turned to me. Man, these servant robots were a disgrace.
    â€œAre you equipped with a message delivery system?”
    â€œYou want Dean for that,” Kapec said. His face was expressionless, his voice atonal. Still, I had the sense that I had insulted him.
    â€œYes, well, I could message Mary from here, but I thought it better if I left a message with you.”
    Kapec turned back to his bushes. “You want Dean for that.” Perhaps it was silly to think that I had insulted him. Perhaps he really was just a gardening unit, and he didn’t know anythingelse. “Say hello to Clarke,” Kapec said, facing away from me, and then he started the edger, the motor drowning out any more verbal communication. What did that mean? I almost messaged him but decided against it. He probably wasn’t programmed for it.
    I returned to the cabana. Inside I said, “Dean, leave a note on your system that I have a package coming, and I don’t know if it will be delivered to the main house or to here.”
    A robot stepped out of the changing room at the back of the cabana. “A package, how exciting!” he said. It was the second voice from the intercom.
    â€œMay I help you?” I said.
    â€œOh, I’m sorry,” he said, moving toward me. “Just habit to use the cabana when I’m on the beach.” He had self-modified, peeling his simul-skin from his arms, exposing his armature from his shoulders all the way down his hands, leaving a jagged edge of simul-skin at his shoulders. He had also removed the simul-skin from the lower half of his face and around his eye sockets. It made it impossible to read his facial expressions,