Chapter 28
SPRINGING CALL
"Screw the breakfast dishes! Sit here with me and read the paper; it’s Sunday." Johner’s hand reached across the table to her shoulder, holding her in her chair. "I’ll help when we’re done with the paper."
"Deal!" Sarah poured another cup of coffee, picked up the comic section, and settled happily.
A few minutes passed in companionable silence, both immersed in the paper; then Johner straightened abruptly. "Jesus Christ, it’s Call!" Sarah looked up, puzzled. "What? Who called?"
"No! That’s Call, right here in this picture. Jesus, she’s arrested! We’ve got to get down there right away! ---Let’s see, It’s the 39th precinct---who do we know there? Henderson, right? That’s good, he’s OK. I heard he just made Captain; that’ll help a lot. Come on, Connor, move!"
"OK, I’ll move---if you’ll tell me what this is all about!"
"In the car. Come on!"
Once on the way, Johner took time to explain. "It’s Annalee Call, from my old crew. Connor, she’s a robot. An Auton, a second-generation robot, designed by robots. They were recalled shortly after they were created, they were all supposed to be destroyed." He smiled. "It seems they didn’t like to take orders. That’s Call!
"I don’t know how she escaped, but she’s in big trouble if she’s put in jail. If they find out what she is they’ll kill her! We’ve got to get her out before someone X-rays her, or tries to draw blood!"
"What’s she in jail for? And how on earth do you expect to get her out? Are we on the way to a jailbreak?" Sarah was smiling, but there was anxiety in her voice. She knew Johner.
"I don’t think that’ll be necessary." His face creased in a grin. "But you’d do it if I thought it was, wouldn’t you."
"Yup."
"You’re the most." He reached over to touch her hair.
"You’d do the same for me."
"Yup." Their eyes met for a moment, and they exchanged a smile.
"So what’s she in for?"
"The newspaper’s right there on the seat. I think some kind of demonstration. God knows what about; Call’s the original protester! If any kind of authority is for it, she’s against it." He shook his head, remembering Call’s intensity and unbending moral judgments.
Sarah scanned the paper. "Oh, for God’s sake! The demonstration was about that prison planet the right wing fringe is talking about. It’s never going to get done anyway; why would anyone waste their time protesting that?"
Johner chuckled. "That’s Call. Perfect! Go to jail and risk death for a moral principle on something that’s never going to see the light of day anyhow." He sobered. "She is risking death. I just hope we get there in time."
********
When they entered the precinct station, Captain Jack Henderson was standing in front of the desk; when he saw Johner and Sarah he broke into the sunny smile which Sarah remembered as characteristic of him. "Johner! How the hell are you, haven’t seen you for months! Sarah, you still staying with this big bum? When are you going to get some sense, woman?" He put his arm around her and grinned down at her.
"Hands off, man! You bet she’s still with me; she knows a good deal when she’s got one." Johner laughed and shook hands. "It has been a while. I understand you’ve had a promotion recently, congratulations! You deserve it. Last time we saw you, you were handcuffing that no good little pip-squeak that stole the payroll. Heard he got put away for a long time. Good riddance!"
"That’s right, you were in on the end of that one, weren’t you? Yeah, we won one, for a change. Come on into my office---want a cup of coffee?" He settled them in chairs with cups in hand. "Well, now, what can the 39th Precinct do for you today?"
"We’re here to spring someone. Name of Annalee Call."
"Call? God, what do you want with that little wildcat? She’s here all right, been raising holy hell ever since she was dragged kicking and screaming in the door."
"That’s Call!" Johner laughed. "She’s an old, old friend. I saw the picture in the paper, and knew it was her when I saw she’d been arrested. If there’s trouble, there’s Call. What’re the charges, Jack? Is there going to be a problem springing her?"
"As long as it’s you, no. We got some scratches and bruises off her; there are guys around the precinct who’d like to charge her with assault on a police officer. But there’s no harm done, except to tempers; we were actually going to let the whole bunch go today, her included, as soon as we process them. We’ve kept them as long as we legally can. Hope it puts the fear of God into some of them. Not her, though." He shook his head, laughing. "She’s a holy terror. Beautiful, though, and guts to spare. Too bad she’s such a wild woman."
"Yeah, she is that; but I’ll be responsible for her behavior if you release her now, in my custody."
"She should be fingerprinted and blood typed, but to tell you the truth I’ll be glad to get her out of here. Some of my guys are pretty mad at her. I’d hate to have any nasty incident in my first month as captain, and if she could pin anything on us, she would."
"I’ll take her off your hands. OK, Connor?"
Sarah laughed. "She sounds like my kind of woman. I’ll be delighted to meet her."
"Now that I think about it, you’ll probably get along very well. Both stubborn as hell, and not afraid of man nor beast." Johner stood up and pulled Sarah to her feet. "Come on, babe, let’s get our little wildcat home."
Captain Henderson personally oversaw Call’s release; when she entered the lobby ten minutes later she was looking over her shoulder and laughing back at Henderson.
When she turned, her face lit with a huge grin. "Johner? Is that you? I don’t believe it! Are you springing me? Well, will wonders never cease! Since when do you enter a cop house voluntarily?"
"Hey, I’m an honored guest, right, Jack?" Henderson nodded, smiling widely. "See? There are sides to my character you never had the slightest idea of. Call, this is Sarah Connor, my woman. Connor, this is the wildcat."
"Annalee Call, howdy." Call put her hand out, and Connor took it. "It’s a pleasure to meet you, Annalee Call. I’ve heard about you. And now we’re going to take you home with us, where you can get a shower and a decent meal. I’ve been in the pokey, I know what the first requirements are when you get out."
Call laughed. "You are so right! That’s exactly what I want. But I’ve got a room, you don’t need to take me in."
"Yes we do. Johner will want to catch up, and you need a little TLC after twenty four hours in jail. Come, please. We’d really like to have you."
Call’s pleasure in the invitation was obvious. "Well, thanks; I will. I’d like to hear what Johner’s been up to. He appears to have changed just a smidgen since last I saw him."
"Uh-huh." Sarah grinned up at Johner. "Due entirely to my benign influence."
Johner smiled back. "That’s true. There, surprised you didn’t I? Come on, you two, let’s go home. ‘Bye, Jack, thanks. Talk to you later." He put an arm around each of the women, and they headed for the door.
********
A couple of hours later Call was showered and fed, and the three of them sat around the kitchen table, drinking coffee.
Johner looked up from his cup. "Call, where’s Ripley? I thought you two would surely be together."
Pain transformed Call’s face; she looked down for a moment, then raised her head resolutely. "Ripley’s dead. She was killed, murdered, three months ago. In a barroom brawl," She looked down at her hands turning her coffee cup. "By a lowlife scum that wasn’t worth the least hair of her head. He came up behind her and put a bullet in her head from about three feet away." Tears overflowed her eyes and made shiny tracks on her cheeks as she looked at Johner. "Ripley deserved better than that. I miss her a lot."
"I’m real sorry to hear that. Ripley was like no one else. You’re right, she deserved better." Johner reached to put his hand over hers. "I’m sorry. Were you there, Call?"
"Yeah.
I was there. She died instantly." Call’s face was strained.
"The scum won’t get out of it, though. He’s awaiting trial right
now, and he’ll go away for a long long time. About ten people saw
it happen, and at least three of them are willing to testify.
"He’ll be convicted...but Johner, she’s still dead, isn’t she? It doesn’t make any difference to Ripley whether he goes to jail or not." She began to cry again.
Sarah reached to take Call’s hands and spoke softly, "I lost someone I loved very much once, to violence. It takes a long time to come to terms with a violent death. I think it’s the hardest way to lose someone. I hope it will get easier for you before too long."
"Thanks, Sarah. I hope so too." Call smiled shakily, and then straightened and brushed her short hair back from her forehead. "Now let’s talk about you and Johner. How long have the two of you been together? I can’t believe yet that you’d put up with this bum! You’re such a nice woman, Sarah."
"That’s what I keep telling him; that he’s unbelievably lucky to have me." She grinned at Johner. "Right?"
"Ah, but she’s not telling you about all the disadvantages of our association for me. Her insufferable sense of superiority, for one thing." He ducked as Sarah took a swing at him. "And an unfortunate tendency to become physical when annoyed."
Call chuckled and looked from one to the other. "How long has this been going on?"
"Four years, isn’t it?" Sarah looked at Johner, "Nearly five, I guess." She grinned slyly. "The worst part is it’s a life sentence. No time off for good behavior."
Johner looked astonished. "What do you know about good behavior? I didn’t think you even knew the words!"
"I used to, before I met you. I’ve been dragged down into a lower realm, made to behave in a manner that was not my natural state." She turned to Call. "Before I met him I was practically a saint."
Johner choked. "And if you believe that, Call, you’re not as smart as I thought you were."
"I don’t believe it, and I’m smarter than you thought I was." Call laughed and put a hand out to each of them. "I can see from what you say that it’s true love. Good, maybe this can turn Johner into a human being. In fact, I’m beginning to think maybe it has." Her face sobered suddenly, and a little smile tinged with bitterness crossed it. "Now if we could just find some way to turn me into a human being---"
Sarah shook her head. "Don’t, Call! I know what you mean, Johner told me; but I’ve been with you for a few hours now, and there’s no doubt in my mind. You are a human being."
"No, Sarah, I’m a robot. I
don’t fool myself."