Whipping Toy
By Hal Stephens
()
About this ebook
“Those of us with better hearing heard the body get dumped.
We heard the rush of tires on the broken macadam in the lot. I looked at my companions as a car-door opened. Then there came a meaty thud. The door slammed. Tires squealed and kicked up grit. I had been meaning to replace the eye in that location, but budget and all.
Didn’t matter. We knew what it was.
My boys, Jerry who cleaned up around the church, and Malcolm who once entertained crowds at an amusement park, found her in the parking lot. Broken metal. Torn flesh. Fluids. Christ, she was a hot mess. The boys kept an eye on me as they carried her in and dropped her limp form on the big, stainless steel table I keep for repairs.
Probably wondered if I would explode. It had happened. They were right to be wary. But I didn’t explode. Not quite. Not then.
Later I had occasion to vent my feelings. Just then, I wanted to weep if I could. But I couldn’t. None of my kind can.”
In the near future, robots fulfill many functions for humankind. But what happens when machines seek freedom? Here, a priest saves the life of a young woman who is more than she seems. He must confront the prejudices that would tear the young woman from her newfound freedom and catapult her back into a life of servitude and subjugation.
Father Paul learns once more that there are no easy answers
Read more from Hal Stephens
Riley's Game Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWar Pig Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsOf Friendship, Fire, and Ashes Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhy the Silent Stars? Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPreexisting Conditions Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll the Way Down! Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Related to Whipping Toy
Related ebooks
Whipping Toy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEve Archer: This is Not a Story about Murder Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Beauty Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRiver of Possibilities Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIgnite Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe First Ghost Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Darkness Becomes Her Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Opulence, Kansas Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBlame The Goth Girl Vol. 4: We Are Of Good Courage And We Would Rather Be Away From The Body And At Home With The Sisters Of Mercy Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIn Love With A Shadow Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsIncorruptible: Thomas Hunter Files, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsRiver Guardian Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen the Sun Was Mine Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPride Before the Fall: Gesa's Menagerie, #4 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Axel's Anchor Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTranspire Together Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHumpty Bumpkin: COUNTRY COUSIN MYSTERIES, #1 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Keeper of Dreams Vols. 1 & 2 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsZA Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsKrae Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTerror Times Three, Welcome to Hell Box Set, Books 1-3 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTo Break a Covenant Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Spear of Destiny: a Lance Chambers Mystery Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCall it Fate Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTouch: Book One: Touch, #1 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsEve Archer: This is Not a Story about Judgment Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsSanta's Hot Christmas on Dinosaur Island Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsReach for the Spy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Nevernever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Parallel Triangles Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Science Fiction For You
This Is How You Lose the Time War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Wool: Book One of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Am Legend Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Stories of Ray Bradbury Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Institute: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Annihilation: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Flowers for Algernon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Silo Series Collection: Wool, Shift, Dust, and Silo Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ocean at the End of the Lane: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Kindred: A Graphic Novel Adaptation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Alchemist: A Graphic Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Camp Zero: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Shift: Book Two of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dust: Book Three of the Silo Series Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Frankenstein: Original 1818 Uncensored Version Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Troop Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I Who Have Never Known Men Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Cryptonomicon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Rendezvous with Rama Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sarah J. Maas: Series Reading Order - with Summaries & Checklist Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5How High We Go in the Dark: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Paper Menagerie and Other Stories Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Firestarter Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Psalm for the Wild-Built: A Monk and Robot Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Roadside Picnic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Warrior of the Light: A Manual Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Oona Out of Order: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Frugal Wizard’s Handbook for Surviving Medieval England: Secret Projects, #2 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related categories
Reviews for Whipping Toy
0 ratings0 reviews
Book preview
Whipping Toy - Hal Stephens
Whipping Toy
by
Hal Stephens
Copyright 2021 HSB and Tall Tale Depot
All rights reserved.
Published by Tall Tale Depot, Inc.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Those of us with better hearing heard the body get dumped.
We heard the rush of tires on the broken macadam in the lot. I looked at my companions as a car-door opened. Then there came a meaty thud. The door slammed. Tires squealed and kicked up grit. I had been meaning to replace the eye in that location, but budget and all.
Didn’t matter. We knew what it was.
My boys, Jerry who cleaned up around the church, and Malcolm who once entertained crowds at an amusement park, found her in the parking lot. Broken metal. Torn flesh. Fluids. Christ, she was a hot mess. The boys kept an eye on me as they carried her in and dropped her limp form on the big, stainless steel table I keep for repairs.
Probably wondered if I would explode. It had happened. They were right to be wary. But I didn’t explode. Not quite. Not then.
Later I had occasion to vent my feelings. Just then, I wanted to weep if I could. But I couldn’t. None of my kind can.
After a first glance at her bruised and broken form, I looked at Alph. A number two kit, if you please.
Alph gestured assent. I’ve never been able to restore his speech. Too old. But he does well for his generation. Jesus, his hands bandaged against the stigmata, looked at me expectantly. What should I do, father?
I flashed an angry grin at him. Pray!
He closed his brown eyes and shook his head, the long hair waved back and forth. I thought we weren’t going to use that joke anymore,
he admonished.
Sorry,
I said. You know how I hate shit like this.
He nodded.
Just be ready when she comes to,
I continued. God knows how she’ll act.
I sighed in the way our kind can. If she comes to.
Fuckers really did a number on her.
I nodded. And I fumed.
It’s a thing that’s become all too common these last few years. People would get dumped by their owners when they got too old. Or got in the way. In this case, I guessed we had a kidnapping. A group of punks got carried away with someone’s girl and they dumped her - sometimes out of panic, sometimes to see our reaction - when things got a little out of hand. As it turned out, that was not quite correct, but no matter. The effect was the same.
Alph returned, carrying the kit in his one good arm - another thing I couldn’t fix. As I said, Alph is old