Free Camp Alien by Gini Koch Page B

could decide if I was willing to pull her head off or not, Chuckie ran up with a pen. I’d have made a smartass comment but we’d learned that pens fit into the android ears and were able to hit the off switch.
    He jammed the pen into her ear. Nothing happened.
    â€œWhat are you doing?” she shouted. “That hurts!” She managed to pull the pen out.
    Chuckie looked confused. “I know I hit the right spot.”
    â€œDude, I have nothing for you other than that the Kitty-Bot is still fighting me and I’m going to have to rip her head off unless you come up with something else.”
    â€œI have a message for the President,” she shouted. “Stop trying to stop me! I’m the wife of the Vice President and I need to get inside.”
    As she said this she managed to get out of my necklockand bucked, tossing me into Chuckie. He didn’t go down and steadied both of us, but the Kitty-Bot was heading for the others.
    Mom stepped out in front and my stomach clenched. “Who am I?” she asked the Kitty-Bot.
    â€œAn enemy of the state.” The Kitty-Bot pointed her left arm at Mom, like it was a gun.
    At that, my Secret Service detail converged on the Kitty-Bot as one. She went down under a dogpile of sturdy, serviceable suits. There were six of them, four of them men, and she’d had trouble with just me.
    Sure enough, they subdued the Kitty-Bot. “Go team.” Tried to go over to the others but Chuckie kept a firm hold on me. He also gently pulled my earbuds out, right in the middle of Social Distortion’s “Don’t Drag Me Down.”
    â€œLove how you told Serene to keep everyone politically important inside and yet you charged the android.”
    â€œShe’s impersonating
me
. Did we ever tell you about her?”
    â€œNo, you didn’t.” Chuckie didn’t sound happy about this.
    Filled him in fast on the whats and wherefores, as few of them as we had. “So, I think she’s here to kill Mom.”
    â€œI think she’s here to kill the President. She wasn’t trying to kill you. But if she’s really an older model, that might explain why the off switch isn’t in the same place on her as it is on the other androids.”
    â€œIf she is an android. She seems far less . . . realistic then they all were and are.”
    The Secret Service had the Kitty-Bot standing up and her hands were cuffed behind her. She looked roughed up, which wasn’t surprising. But she didn’t look upset. Realized she’d kept the same expression on her face the entire time—determined concern.
    â€œRobots and androids are pretty close, Kitty.”
    â€œBut they’re not the same. And the Kitty-Bot seems much more like a robot.”
    Reader came over to us. Chuckie didn’t release his hold on me, and Reader didn’t seem to disapprove. “Yates was into robotics, but most of those connections were into Titan. Though not all.”
    â€œI need to speak to the President,” the Kitty-Bot said. “I have an urgent message for him.”
    â€œYou’re going to tell it to me,” Mom said, voice radiating authority.
    â€œYou are an enemy of the state. All enemies of the state must be destroyed. I can only share my information with the President.”
    â€œThat’s it.” I wrenched out of Chuckie’s hold and slipped past Reader. “It’s head ripping time.” Got in front of Mom. “Who the hell am I?”
    The Kitty-Bot didn’t blink. “An enemy of the state.”
    My brain nudged. She’d said something when I was fighting her and talking to Chuckie. And if she was a robot, versus an android, that meant her programming was far less sophisticated. “Who
is
the President?”
    â€œThe President of the United States.”
    â€œRight, we’re outside his house, we’re clear on which President you want. What’s his
name
? We