Cyberman

"But brains aren’t marbles," said Neely between thoughts.

Everyone looked at him.

"How can you think now?" he continued prodding. "How does a brain think and how is that process duplicated? And if you can’t eat, how can you enjoy all the things you liked, like seafood or candy or gum?"

"Well, you’re right, I can’t. But I don’t have to worry about the bad things."

"You can never enjoy eating."

"I can never go hungry."

"What about accomplishments?"

"I can never fail."

"What about adventures and dreams?"

"No one need ever suffer again. Isn’t that a great dream?"

"Yeah- never worry about the future. We could be kids forever!" cheered Pete.

"But what would be the point?" Neely silenced him. "How would you enjoy it?"

"But he can enjoy it if he wants, can’tcha Rick?"

The cyberman shook his head unsympathetically. Only his natural demeanor suggested a constant sadness.

"No."

"Man, I dunno. It’s strange, ya’ know?"

"Yeah," agreed Stuart, struggling to make sense of it.

"But it’s still me," consoled Rick. "I just don’t have all these burdens anymore. Physically, I don’t need them."

"Is it you?" asked Neely.

The head turned and stared at him.

"Of course."

"How do you know?"

"What?" screeched Pete. "How do you know? How do you know you’re you?"

Neely paused. Then, looking back at Rick: "Is it you?"

________

Neely"s mother stood in the doorway, looking at him curiously.

"Neely, are you in those books again? Really, I don’t know why. The newsman says that the future of a socialized cybernary conglomeration is right around the corner."

"Then I need them more than ever," he muttered.

"What was that, dear?"

"I saw one. A Cyberman. Rick was his name."

"Oh, pooh. Then that ruins my surprise."

"Wha-?"

"I did, too. In fact, he’s coming over tonight, after dinner. The whole neighborhood will be here at our front door. And your aunts and cousins. Oh, Neely, now do you realize how wrong you were? Isn’t it amazing?"

His mother walked away, dreamily, trailing: "Oh, how glorious to never worry about anything."

________

Neely sat waiting as the roar of the downstairs continued to climax. For hours he sat in his room, contemplating, trying to work something out that had settled uneasily in his mind.

Suddenly there was total silence.

He sat up straight, straining to hear anything. Then, leering at his doorway, he could hear it down the length of the hall, to the left, down the steps and into the living room. A grainy, plain and direct reproduced mechanical voice.

He followed the sound to the steps, half clamored with people trying to get a glimpse of the mechanical man. Instinctively, at first, he tried to silently descend the flight, but even when his full weight let out a resounding creak of wood, no one noticed in the slightest. All heads were looking into the living room. Soon he was pushing his way into the doorway and in a moment could see a large circle of bodies around the Cyberman who stood at its center.