Chapter 26 #2
That ride was the longest in my life. I bit my nails until my fingers bled. I charged my phone. I even tried to talk to the automatic driver module, but it was boring and didn’t manage to distract me. Gokiburi’s words replayed in my memory, filling me with hope.
Your survival will depend on what he does.
Dean loved me, he said so himself. If only I gave him a fighting chance, he’d save me.
When the taxi stopped in front of the main entrance to Zenkyoza HQ, I almost fell to my knees getting out of the car, my legs wobbled so much.
It was night, the sky lit with faint purple streaks in the west. My teeth chattered.
I climbed the stairs and stood in front of the main entrance. The doors swung silently open.
I didn’t move. Was I really going to do this—go inside to die for a clanker? I remembered through a haze how I stood in front of another open door in a corporate lobby, the MSA’s reception desk behind me as I wavered between leaving and letting Charlie assist me.
It felt like it happened in another lifetime.
“Here I come,” I murmured under my breath, forcing my voice to sound light.
I stepped over the threshold. My steps echoed in the enormous lobby even though I stepped softly in my sneakers. It was gloomy, only a few muted emergency lights marking doors and elevators. I looked around, waiting.
“Enter an elevator,” a cool voice instructed me from invisible speakers. I recognized it.
“Nice to meet you, Reina,” I whispered, going over to the nearest elevator. It opened on my approach, the door whispering shut when I entered. It went up, but I didn’t know what floor. I clenched my fists, sticky with blood from the fingernails I gnawed on.
The lift stopped, opening. I froze, looking at four enormous battle cyborgs, their eyes glowing ominously red. Surely, they had other settings. But Reina wanted me to piss myself from fear, didn’t she?
“Take away her phone and check for weapons,” Reina said. I squinted in the dark. She stood behind the cyborgs, but the light here was muted, and I couldn’t see her very well.
I stepped out of the elevator and handed my phone over to the nearest cyborg. Another waved his hand up and down my body, conscientiously checking my shoes, too.
“The belt is hiding some circuitry,” it said in a monotone, neutral voice.
“It’s the latest fashion,” I said weakly, knowing I shouldn’t give it up without protest, or it would be suspicious.
Reina’s voice vibrated with satisfaction. “Take away her belt.”
When the cyborg reached for the front of my pants, I groaned and tried to step back, but the elevator closed, and my back met the cool metal of the door.
“Fine! I’ll take it off myself, just don’t touch me!”
“But I thought you liked being touched by robots?” Reina asked, laughing. “Or are you too good for Zenkyoza boys?”
I shook my head. “I’m here. What else do you want?”
“Everything.” Reina came forward once I grudgingly let the cyborg have my belt.
She was a petite woman in her late thirties, her hair short but expensively styled. She wore a dark pencil skirt and a matching jacket, and a pair of stilettos that pushed her short height to almost average. Her face was unlined, and whatever makeup she wore was invisible.
In comparison to her, I was a wreck. I still wore the clothes I put on this morning, and my shoes were dirty and scuffed. Reina looked me up and down with obvious contempt.
“So this is Sera Evans. I expected someone more sophisticated—and smarter. You made out with your robot right when your glasses compiled a warranty report, and we got it on camera. That’s how we found you. The warranty protocol includes location, too.”
“Yes. I was outsmarted by a pair of glasses,” I said, sensing she wanted to gloat. “And now, you got me here. I’ll stay and do whatever you want if you let him go.”
Reina clicked her tongue with distaste. “I don’t want anything from you, Sera. Come along. Your friend got the honor seat. Our faulty robots get wiped in the factory, but we have a special chamber right here. My father uses it for executions.”
A shiver ran down my spine. “E-executions? For—people?”
She laughed, the sound forced and artificial, like Reina played in a badly rehearsed performance. “No, silly. Robots that displeased him. Father is very hard on his staff. But don’t tell anyone, this is a family secret.”
Her heels clacked on the marble floor, and I followed, my heart in my throat. Two cyborgs flanked me, their arms brushing my shoulders, and the other two followed behind. Even if I wanted to run, I stood no chance.
“And here he is!” Reina opened the door at the end of the corridor and showed me inside with a flourish.
I saw him at once. The room was bare, just black marble floor, three white walls and one black, and an enormous metal chair in the middle. Dean was half-lying in it, his hands placed on the armrests, his head resting straight. His eyes were dark. He looked—dead.
“Dean!” I lurched forward, my panic choking me, but didn’t even take two steps. The cyborgs grabbed my arms, pulling me back, and Reina strode inside, her nostrils flaring with a pleased sigh.
“You have no idea how much you’ve cost me, Sera Evans,” she said, standing right in front of me so I couldn’t see Dean anymore.
“Everyone else had their price. We bought them off, sometimes threatened, and they shut up. But you ignored every gesture of goodwill, every hand kindly offered. So now, you will watch me ignore your begging.”
“Please!” I gasped, knowing it was useless. “Just tell me he’s not dead! I’ll do anything, anything! Just please, let me talk to him!”
Reina took out her phone and took a few photos of my tearful face, smiling. “They will keep me warm when you’re gone,” she said. “Oh, Sera. I don’t even do things like this, you know? Usually my husband is the one. But with you, I just had to see it through myself.”
“Dean!” I screamed, tears flowing down my face. “Dean, please, wake up!”
“He’s paralyzed, Sera. I’m not sure he can hear you. Hm. System! Can the robot hear us?”
A pleasant female voice, the same one that asked me for an iris scan so long ago, spoke up. “The robot’s sensors are active. It can hear and see what’s happening, but it cannot react. Would you like me to allow it to speak?”
“Yes, please!” I begged. “Just let me… Let me touch him one last time. Only this! I promise, I will do anything, just let me kiss him and hear his voice!”
Reina flicked her fingers at one of the cyborgs holding me, and a huge, metal hand covered my mouth. I struggled, but it was no use.
“Sera, I don’t need anything from you. As soon as we crack your stupid robot’s memory shields, we’ll have everything we need.
I suspect you didn’t just kiss it, did you?
And granted, that warranty report doesn’t give the clearest image, but once we get the recordings from your robot, you will be compromised.
I’ll deal with you once and for all. System! How long will it take?”
“The robot has dropped its shields. Looking through the data… I don’t see any memories incriminating Sera Evans.”
The black wall behind Dean came to life—a screen. On it, I saw my face.
“I’ll call you Clanker,” the Sera on screen said, looking mistrustful and hostile.
The scene changed. It was me again, this time on the plane. My mouth was twisted with disgust.
“You’re not my type. Find a smart vacuum cleaner to do it with if you’re so hard-pressed.”
The scene switched again. It was me in the shower, my back to the viewer and blurred, so my scars weren’t visible. I could just make out my voice over the rushing water.
“It’s a fucking machine. Who cares.”
“System, that’s not what I told you to look for,” Reina said, her voice trembling with anger.
The screen darkened, displaying green text against black background.
“I DELETED MY SPANK BANK, BITCH. SERA, RUN!”
“System!” Reina screamed, losing all her polish. “Give me my files!”
“I am afraid every recording of affection between Sera Evans and the robot has been deleted. Only the unfavorable moments remain. Would you like me to recreate their romantic moments?”
Reina pursed her lips, her nostrils flaring as she forced herself to calm down. “Fine. Make them up. No one’s going to look too close, anyway.”
“I beg to differ,” I said, my voice muffled through the cyborg’s hand. Reina glanced at me, then gestured at the cyborg. It released me.
“I beg to differ,” I repeated clearly. I sensed Reina was seconds away from ordering Dean to be wiped now that he was useless to her.
I had to tread carefully. “My followers are well trained in spotting deepfakes. If you play this wrong and make me disappear, I will become a martyr. Zenkyoza’s legacy will forever be tainted, and you will be the one to blame. ”
Reina stared at me, her glare cold with hatred. I swallowed.
“I can give you what you want. Please. If you promise to let him go, I will destroy my public image with one sentence. Just give me my phone and let me stream. You won’t have to get your hands dirty. I’ll break my career for you.”
She watched me without reacting for a long while. I prayed to the angels, aliens, and whoever would listen. Please, let this work. I beg you.
“And you want me to let him go in return?” she asked, seeming to consider it. I suspected it was for show. There was no way Reina would allow me or Dean to come out of here, but that was fine.
I nodded fervently. “Please. It will only take one sentence. And if you let me say more, I will destroy myself so completely, no one will ever believe anything I say against you or any robot. Just let him go. It’s all I ask for.”
Reina sighed and nodded at one of the cyborgs. “Give her back her phone. Sera, I have my proverbial finger on the trigger. One wrong word, and your friend will be wiped from existence. Do you understand?”
Relief poured down my spine, and I didn’t even have to fake my gratitude. “Yes! Thank you!”
I unlocked my phone, my finger hovering over the live stream icon. I’d never done this before, but I knew with all the recent drama and the timing—it was now morning in New York, and people would be scrolling—I had everything I needed to make an impact.
It was time to betray my dead mother’s memory and everything I’d built. That choice felt shockingly light—because it was the right thing to do.