To Err Is Human
by Michael P Calligaro
"You're not human."
The other children looked up from their playing and followed along Bobby's accusing finger to the new kid--Jimmy. They all turned to stare at him.
"What, did my pointy ears give me away?"
A few of the children laughed uncomfortably. Jimmy looked no different from any of them.
"Hey Bobby, what's up?" Ted asked.
"He moves wrong. He's not like us."
"But I just came up from Earth." Jimmy walked toward Bobby.
Wild eyed, Bobby yelled "Stay away from me, you alien!" and leapt backward. He somersaulted once and landed on his feet. In the moon's light gravity, this was a simple move, even for a ten year old. "I'll bet you can't do that," he chided.
Jimmy fought to stop his forward movement. He finally managed, but he needed the help of a stationary desk. Almost in tears, he cried out, "That's because I haven't learned yet. I told you, I just came from Earth."
"So? What does that matter?"
"Aw, Bobby, give him a break. He's new."
Bobby turned angrily to Ted. "I say he's a Voltren spy. Why are you defending him? Maybe you're on the Voltren's side? Your dad's a foreman, he won't be out of work when the next layoffs come. But its Voltren like him," he pointed back at Jimmy, "that'll get my dad fired."
Ted shook his head. "But he doesn't look anything like a Voltren. They're green and have webbed fingers, like Aquaman."
Bobby jumped up in excitement, bounced off the low ceiling, and pushed himself back to the floor. "That's it! I'll prove he's not human." He snarled at Jimmy. "If you're a human, you'll be able to answer one simple question. Who's better, Spiderman or Vegaman?"
Jimmy responded immediately. "Spiderman of course."
All the kids went wide-eyed. Some even gasped. Bobby folded his hands triumphantly and smiled. "See, what'd I tell you? He can't be human."
Jimmy looked from child to child. Some of them started to point at him and laugh. He ran away crying. Ted shook his head. "Spiderman is still popular on Earth. He's been around forever. You probably won't even like Vegaman in a year."
"Oh, come on, Ted. How could anyone like Spiderman? Anyone can climb around on walls."
"Don't you know anything, you dolt? They can't on Earth. They got more gravity there!"
"So?"
Ted threw up his hands and stormed off. Some of the other kids started to look at Bobby sort of weird. I'll show them, he thought. He loped down an east-west tunnel, the one with red stripe along the floor, counting the lights in the ceiling as he went. The lights were set four meters apart and he expertly controlled his floating strides to one step per light. He reached the burnt-out one, number twenty-seven and began to slow himself down. Five more strides and three lights later, he came to the comterm nearest their playroom.
The red tunnel was where they unloaded supplies and parts from earth. During the week it would have been extremely busy and the adults would have ordered Bobby back to the children's room. But on the weekend no one was around to tell him to go away and he got to play in the boxes and crates they left behind.
He grabbed one of the smaller boxes and tossed it over to the commterm. It smashed into the stark white wall and fell softly to the ground. Bobby gave it one last shove then hopped up on it. His face now at the commterm's level, it sprang to life.
"Citizen Bobby Taylor, please state your needs."
"I wanna file a formal complaint."
"Processing. What is the nature of your complaint?"
"That new boy, Jimmy, he's not a human. I think he's a Voltren spy."
The computer paused for a second. "Thank you for bringing this to our attention, Citizen Taylor. I assure you we will handle the matter with the care required."
"You do that!" Feeling good about himself, he jumped off the box and caught an air current. This pulled him along for a good ten seconds before he dropped out of it and landed gracefully on the ground. He glanced down at his chrono and smiled. His dad would be home from the plant soon. He couldn't wait to tell him what he'd done.* * *
"You did what?!"
The tone of his father's voice left little doubt that he was less than pleased with Bobby's initiative. "I reported him. He's a Voltren spy."
"I met his father today. He's a good hard worker. They're humans from Earth, not Voltren."
"Well, then how do you explain the weird way he moves?"
Dad looked ready to yell. Fortunately, mom spoke up. "Now sweetie, you were born on the moon and we haven't been able to afford to take you to Earth--"
"Oh, and I suppose that's my fault? I'm working myself to death up here. Damn Ford, too cheap to bring up good robots to do the hard work. The moon is the only damn place where people still work on lines."
There was an edge in mom's voice when she responded. Bobby hated it when they fought. "Please dear, not in front of Bobby. We know you're working hard and we appreciate it." She looked back to Bobby and smiled. "The Earth is a different place than the moon. Everything is heavier down there. It takes some adjusting to walk up here, that's all. That's why Jimmy seems to move strangely. Do you understand?"
Bobby looked from his dad to his mom and nodded slowly. "I guess so." He didn't really, but he didn't want to cause another argument.
"Good," his dad grimmaced. "Now, right after dinner you'll go find Jimmy and apologize, or you'll never get dessert again. Am I clear?"
"Yes, sir," Bobby said dejectedly.
"Working up here is hard enough without having your kids abused by the others. Next time you think about how you'd feel if everyone treated you the way you treated Jimmy."* * *
Bobby found Jimmy playing alone in the north-south, blue corridor near the plant. He had some sort of small toy and was making it climb up the concrete wall. Bobby didn't want to go talk to him, but the thought of losing dessert forever was too frightening a prospect to be trifled with. Still, he dragged his feet as he approached.
"Hey, Jimmy."
The boy looked up startled, then recognized him and stared down at his feet.
Bobby could sort of see what his father was talking about. He wouldn't want to feel like that. "My dad said what I did was wrong and that I should apologize. I'm sorry."
The boy looked up again. "Do you mean it?"
Bobby nodded.
"And you aren't going to call me names anymore?"
Bobby hesitated, then shook his head.
Jimmy smiled. "Thanks."
That did sort of feel better than making him sad. "So, what're you playing with."
"My Spiderman figure. See." He held it up.
Bobby stared at the little plastic figure in jealousy. "Wow, we never get anything like that up here. The shuttles come in but they're always full of spaceship parts, never toys."
"Well, this one's mine!" He pulled Spiderman in close.
"Don't worry, I'm not going to take him. Can I try him out though?"
Jimmy thought about it for a second, then held him out. The figure was just like Bobby had seen in the holoadds. Its arms and legs moved and it had EverStick on the fingers and toes so he could stick him to the wall. He pressed the button on the right arm and a stream of more EverStick shot out.
"Hey, don't do that! I can't get any more now that I'm stuck on the moon."
Bobby reluctantly handed it back. "That's really lunar. Does it glow in the dark, like they say?"
"Yeah, but that's wearing off. It takes a really bright light now."
"Wow, a glow in the dark action figure. Do you have any more? I've always wanted to play with the Vegaman."
He frowned. "No, they only let me bring this one. Anything more would've been too heavy."
"Did you have a Vegaman on Earth?" Bobby asked excitedly.
"No, but my friend did. It was pretty blastin', but my dad never could afford to get me one. He got laid off from GM and the moon was the only place he could find work."
"Yeah, it's those damn Voltren. Everyone's buying their spaceships instead of ours now."
Jimmy nodded.
They walked off down the corridor together. "So, why do you like Spiderman better than Vegaman?"
"Vegaman's a robot. At least I've got a shot at being bitten by a radioactive spider."* * *
Despite their rocky start, over the next few months Bobby and Jimmy became inseparable. Sometimes they played with the other children and sometimes they didn't, but they always played together. One day they were playing in the outer corridors, right next to the Ford manufacturing plant. Jimmy noticed that the screen over one of the access tubes was loose and pointed it out to Bobby. "Hey, where's this go?"
Bobby got his bearings by turning around a few times and checking the colored stripes along the floors. Wide eyed, he backed away from the screen. "That goes into the plant. My dad told me never to play in there."
"Aw, why not? What harm can we do? The plant's made of hard plastic and we're soft. We won't break anything."
Bobby didn't really like the idea, but it was Jimmy that usually led them on their best adventures. He'd never have gotten a chance to see the surface if Jimmy hadn't convinced him to sneak into the escape pod and try on the pressure suits. Of course, when they got caught Bobby's dad grounded him for a week and took away his dessert for a month. Still it was worth it. Seeing the Earth from the surface would have been worth any punishment.
Jimmy pulled at the screen and loosened one of the remaining bolts. He was definitely an adventurous type. Of course, he had much better parents than Bobby did. Jimmy's dad didn't even scold him when they got caught on the surface. He even convinced Bobby's dad to shorten his punishment. He was supposed to get twice as many weeks. Bobby wished he had Jimmy's parents for his own.
Snap. Another bolt pulled through the screen. "There, I think we can fit through now. Are you comin'?" Bobby hesitated, staring into the dark tube just large enough for him to fit into on his hands and knees. Jimmy added, "You know, Spiderman would definitely do this. I suppose Vegaman would be too scared."
"Okay, I'm coming." He helped Jimmy pull up the screen and followed him into the tube. "If we get caught, I'm hiding out at your place though."
"Yeah, that would be fun. I'll hide you in the closet!"
They crawled forward and soon came to a larger tube running across theirs. In the new tube they could just stand up. It was also dark, but there was a dim light at both ends.
"Which way?" Jimmy asked.
"I don't know. Why don't you use your spider sense to decide?"
Jimmy snorted. "You're supposed to be the one with built in sonar. You should be able to see around the corners."
Bobby looked left and right, then pointed right. "That way then."
They walked along some tracks set in the ground and turned the corner. A dim light shone above them and the tunnel stretched out for a short ways before it ended abruptly in open air. Curious, the two boys wandered to the edge and saw a huge room full of little metal and plastic devices.
"What are those?" Bobby asked.
"They look like buttons."
"Oh yeah, this must be where they put the buttons they make for the spaceships."
Jimmy looked at him with a perplexed look on his face. "What are they for?"
"What, don't you ever watch the holo? People fly the ships by pressing buttons."
"Lunar! Let's climb down and try them out!"
Bobby grabbed his arm. "No, we'd better not. My dad was just yelling about how the Voltren are beating us because our ships break down. If we hurt the buttons and that makes more of our ships break, no one will buy them any more. Then Ford'll have more layoffs and we won't get to play together anymore."
"Why not?"
Bobby spoke in his best "what are you, stupid?" tone. "Because if they lay dad off, I'm going to have to get a job."
"Why?"
"Your dad doesn't tell you that?"
Jimmy just shook his head.
Damn, he really wished he had Jimmy's parents. "Well, we just shouldn't go down there, okay?"
"Oh, all right. I'll bet the place where they make the buttons is more interesting anyway. Race ya there!" He bound off before Bobby could object.
Jimmy didn't move like a Voltren spy anymore. Bobby's mom must have been right about him just needing time to adjust to the moon. He had to really race to catch up and overtake him. He passed by just in time to bank around the corner on the outer wall.
"Hey, you cheated!" Jimmy cried.
"How's that?"
"You've got faster legs!"
"What's that you said? Did I hear that Vegaman's better than Spiderman?"
Jimmy clamped his arms across his chest, buttoned his lip, and tapped his foot.
"Come on, you can say it. You know it's true," Bobby taunted.
"Well, maybe he's faster. Not better though. Come on." He stalked down the tunnel with Bobby following behind and gloating. They quickly came to a section with long green tiles set into the ceiling. "How blasted!" Jimmy exclaimed. Feel how smooth this stuff is!"
Bobby reached up and ran his fingers along a tile. Unlike the poured concrete everywhere else, he couldn't feel any bumps anywhere on it. Also unlike the cold concrete, this was warm to the touch. "What is it?"
"I don't know, but it's way smooth. I wonder if Spidey can stick to it?" He pulled his action figure out of his back pocket and stuck him on one of the tiles. "Ta da! I'll bet Vegaman can't hang from a perfectly smooth ceiling like that!"
Bobby heard a noise.
"Can he?"
"Shush, do you hear that?"
"Oh, fine, you gloat that your superhero is faster, but you won't let me have my fun too."
"No, really, listen!"
The tunnel started to rumble and vibrate and both boys looked around. Bobby pointed farther down the tunnel. "Is something coming?"
"I don't know, it's too dark to see."
Alarm crept into Bobby's voice. "I think something's coming!" They stared on, and he could just make out a dark shape that appeared to be getting bigger. And it was getting bigger very quickly. "Run!"
This time Jimmy overtook Bobby and shot ahead of him. Bobby leaned almost to the floor and pumped his little legs as fast as they would move. He fought to keep from pushing himself off the floor--that would only slow him down. He glanced back and saw a big hulk filling the tunnel and lumbering toward them. "Run faster!" he screamed. He looked back again. Whatever it was, it had just about reached the tiles.
Suddenly his foot screamed out in pain and the floor rushed toward his face. He threw his hands forward and caught himself, but his foot wrenched harder. He screamed. Jimmy stopped and looked back. His eyes went wide. Bobby gingerly extricated his foot from the track, sobbing with every movement. The train continued to advance.
Then, as suddenly as it had appeared, the train stopped. Both boys looked back in disbelief. The train had stopped under the tiles, and they started to give off an eerie green light. Jimmy only paused an instant. Then he raced back to help his friend. He put his shoulders under Bobby's arm and helped him limp down the tunnel. "Hurry up Vegaman, we don't know when that train'll move again."
They moved as fast as they dared, taking care to avoid the track and trying to keep the weight off Bobby's foot. He cried as they went. "The train's going to kill us, it is."
"No it won't, I swear. We'll make it."
It seemed to take forever to reach the turn and then even longer to reach the exit tunnel. Bobby kept thinking he heard the train start up again and prodded them to move faster, even though it was him that slowed them down. Sure that the train was right behind them, they reached the exit tunnel and dove in. Bobby didn't know how long they sat there before the train roared by and dumped its buttons in the holding room. It seemed like it happened the instant they got out of its way. Jimmy was a good friend and didn't say anything about his crying. He waited for him to calm down before they crawled out. Bobby couldn't imagine letting his dad see him like this. That time he cut his finger and went home crying, he got a spanking.
He tried to crawl without bumping his foot, but failed. He bit his tongue to ignore the raw pain shooting up his leg. Jimmy held up the screen for him and he crawled out. Then they moved slowly toward the wellness center. Halfway there Jimmy looked back and exclaimed, "Oh no!"
"What?"
"I left Spiderman on the tiles! I've got to get him back."
Bobby saw the look in his friend's face and forgot his pain for a second. That was the only toy Jimmy had. Bobby could feel his hurt over losing it. "Leave me here, I'll be okay. You go back and get it."
Jimmy looked at him and looked back over his shoulder. He then looked at Bobby again and continued toward the wellness center.
"Where are you going?"
"We'll take care of you, then I'll go back and get it."* * *
"How's your foot, Vegaman?"
Bobby's head shot up in surprise. He held a finger to his lips and asked in a hushed voice, "How'd you get in here?"
Jimmy smiled. "Just because you're grounded forever doesn't mean I can't get past some stupid adults."
"Did you get it back?"
Jimmy's face fell and he shook his head. A tear rolled down his cheek. "I went back and there was a guy looking at the screen. He called someone over and they bolted it down. It's too tight to open now."
Bobby's stomach felt hard and knotted. "I'm sorry, it's all my fault."
Jimmy looked angry, like he wanted to blame him, but his face fell again. "Naw, I had us go in there and I put him on the tile. I'm the one who lost him."
"Well, at least it'll get really charged up for the glow in the dark, hanging on to those light tiles and all."
Jimmy laughed, "Yeah! Some day I'll sneak back in there and get him. He'll glow forever."* * *
Bobby's foot healed and eventually his father let him play with Jimmy again, though he grumbled continuously about what fixing his foot cost the family and how Bobby was strictly forbidden from getting hurt again. Jimmy got over the loss of his Spiderman figure. Still, they occasionally went by the access tunnel and tugged on the screen. It stayed secure. They never told anyone where they were when Bobby got hurt. Even without the figure, they enjoyed themselves.
Then one day their fun came crashing to a halt. They were in the main playroom where Bobby originally accused Jimmy of not being human. Jimmy's mom and dad came in with grim looks on their faces. Two men in uniforms stood stiffly on either side of them.
"What's happening, dad?" Jimmy asked uncertainly.
"They're taking us away, Jimmy. We've got to go."
Bobby jumped up so fast he bumped his head on the ceiling. "Why?"
Jimmy's dad looked to him with sad eyes. "It's okay, Bobby. We'll be okay. Quality has dropped at the plant and management wants someone to blame. They've chosen us. We'll get it straightened out though."
"Why us, daddy?" Jimmy asked hysterically.
"It seems someone filed a complaint, saying we were Voltren spies."
Bobby felt sick. He wanted to crawl into a corner and hide. Jimmy's mom laid a hand on Jimmy's arm and started to take him away. Bobby didn't want to tell anyone he'd filed the complaint, but he knew he couldn't hide from this one. "No!" he yelled. "I didn't mean it! I was wrong." He grabbed Jimmy by the other arm and tried to hold him back. "Please," he cried, "I didn't mean it."
One of the men in uniform forcibly removed his grip from Jimmy.
"I'm sorry, Jimmy. I'm so sorry."
Jimmy looked sad, but not angry. He looked up at his parents then back to Bobby. "It's okay Vegaman. You didn't mean it. Go back and get my Spiderman sometime, okay?"
Tears flowed freely down Bobby's face as he watched them take his best friend away. It was all his fault.* * *
Ford space vehicles continued to get poor quality reviews from trade holos. The engines were solid and none ever blew up or even broke down in inopportune situations, but the ships were plagued with a number of minor failures. For instance, the control buttons tended to go bad, annoying customers. Voltren marketing beat mercilessly on humanity's inability to make a decent spaceship, and most humans outside of Detroit and the Moon bought Voltren craft. Human management at Ford and the other spacemobile manufacturers made a number of blunders and eventually Voltren companies bought them out.
The first thing the Voltren did when they took over the moon assembly line was send a secret team throughout the plant to remove a number of small and subtle sabotage devices. One of these was a clever energy collecting gizmo disguised to look like a child's action figure.
No one had ever bothered to do a genetic analysis of Jimmy and his parents. While management did not really believe the report made by a ten year old, it had needed a scapegoat and used them. Jimmy's father couldn't find work anywhere and eventually took his family home--to Voltren.
Bobby never saw them again and never considered the thought that they were spies. Some time after they left, someone asked him who was better, Vegaman or Spiderman. Without hesitation, he replied, "Spiderman, of course."The End
Copyright Michael P. Calligaro
All Rights Reserved
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