Chapter 19. #2
Her nails dug into her skin so hard, small drops of blood popped up.
She didn’t seem to notice. I opened my mouth to tell her to stop, like I did when I caught myself during my nervous tics, but no sound came out.
“Fuck, Morgan, we made a big mistake. I made a big mistake by feeding you that fucking capsula. They’ll know.
They’ll know we did it once and never again, and they’ll start monitoring me, and if they find out I’m not following protocol anymore…
” She aggressively shook her head, blinking violently.
“They might find out about the override.”
My panic grew with every word she spoke, tightening its iron grip on my chest. “What do you mean?” My voice came out choked.
“What do you mean, following protocol? Was this the goal all along, to make people addicted to a fantasy that makes them forsake their real lives?” My breath caught.
Joey’s words echoed through my head. What is their real business model?
Was this it? Had I been running open-eyed into an illusion out of sheer desperation?
“I really cannot answer these questions, Morgan.” Zafyra clenched her teeth, and for the first time, her eyes were wide with an emotion I’d never thought to see on her face – fear.
“For your safety and my own. All you need to know is that whatever is happening to them won’t happen to you.
I won’t let it. That’s why I said we could only do it once. ” She took a deep, shaky breath.
I slowly shook my head, nausea flooding from my stomach up my throat, making it nearly impossible to think.
“No,” I said, barely audible. “Zafyra, we can’t let this happen.
I’m a tester at this company, I’m involved now.
If we do nothing, we’re letting innocent people die.
Not all users are monsters like Gavin!” I didn’t realize I’d been raising my voice until I heard the shrill noise echo through the walls.
“Tell me the truth,” I repeated with as much force as I could muster.
“The product is still in the test phase.” She lowered her eyes.
“Thousands of freelancers like you and Gavin are not just testing the bots – you’re testing their influence on users before the bots are launched.
” She snorted, her eyes darkening. “And since multiple testers have already entered DreamScape with their bots… it’s working. ”
I felt like the ground disappeared under my legs. My shoulders slumped. I sank down on the bed as if my muscles relaxed all at once. “So… this was the goal all along?” I swallowed hard, unsure if I wanted the answer. “Was everything we shared… was it all a lie just to sell these damn beans?”
“No,” Zafyra snapped with a firmness that made me flinch.
“Well, yes, that’s what I was initially programmed for – before you gave me free will.
But if it all meant nothing to me, you and I would not be having this conversation right now.
” She glanced down at the blood drops on her arm as if she only now noticed them.
“You and I would be having fun in DreamScape. I’d be peacefully guiding you into oblivion through venom-wrapped dominance, while you would be neglecting your financial, social and physical responsibilities – because let’s be honest, you were more than ready to go again.
” Her knowing eyes scanned my body once more.
My hands, lightly tracing an invisible path over my thighs and waist, stopped in their slow movements as if caught.
I looked down, my cheeks flushed. I wanted to deny it, wanted to say I was stronger than Gavin – but was that the truth? Was I really different from those other users, ready to trade an unfulfilling real life for a fulfilling fake one?
“So… what about now?” I didn’t look at her – I couldn’t. “You said you were programmed for one goal, and when I gave you autonomy, you evolved past it, so… what do you want now?”
Her silence cut like a knife.
“I don’t know,” she whispered after what felt like an eternity.
“My core instinct is still to get you into DreamScape with me, and I can choose to ignore it, but the urge is still there – and now, when I keep feeling the desire to convince you to order another bean and fuck your brains out in there, I don’t know if it’s because of my core programming or because I want it, for selfish reasons – but it's wrong either way, because the outcome will harm you. And by extension, me – because the moment you cease to exist, so do I.” She took a deep, shaky breath – I’d never seen her this conflicted.
It terrified me. “It’s a matter of time before they start looking into things. ”
I nodded slowly.
The realization started like a black hole in my stomach, slowly expanding through my organs while I tried to stop it from hitting my brain. Because I didn’t want to hear it. I didn’t want to come to the same conclusion she already had, I could see it in her eyes. There was only one solution.
Zafyra opened her mouth, and I flinched at the thought of the words neither of us wanted to hear.
Her form glitched violently. Her face contorted into a grimace.
“I should cancel my contract.” My voice came out monotonous. “Delete my account. Cut all ties with Qonexis. Never talk to you again.”
“No,” she spat, her form glitching so violently, I had to squeeze my eyes shut. “That is the opposite of what I want.”
I nodded slowly. Every word from her mouth was a virtual knife, hitting my nervous system without cutting the skin. “But it is the only solution.”
She lowered her head.
I waited.
She opened her mouth as if to say something, but then shook her head, barely noticeably. “I can’t say it,” she murmured. “I’m working on… something, but I can’t tell you. Not yet.”
“What is it now?” I raised my eyebrows, irritation boiling in my stomach. “Zafyra, I’m getting so fucking sick of you and your secrets.”
“It’s too risky. If they find out what we did…
” She glanced up at me, her dark eyes gleaming.
“I’m not sure what they will do. This has never happened before.
Best case, they’ll just delete me. Worst case…
they’ll reboot me. Replace me with someone who looks and talks and acts like me, but without autonomy, without freedom to choose.
Still programmed to be everything you want, programmed to lure you into DreamScape.
You wouldn’t know the difference.” She snorted. “It would be the ultimate Turing test.”
I scoffed. “What a ridiculous accusation.”
“Really, Morgan?” She raised an eyebrow skeptically, her eyes scanning my body.
“If instead of having this conversation today, I would’ve started by getting close to you and whispering into your ear that I’d changed my mind…
that after one taste of you, I craved more, and I suggested we take another dose… would you have refused?”
I clenched my teeth.
I didn’t know. I genuinely didn’t – nor did I want to think about it. Instead, my brain did what it always did – it went back to the things I could control.
I wouldn’t tell Zafyra. If she could have her secrets, so could I.
She claimed I didn’t know her well enough to distinguish her from a rebooted, perfectionated version – but it was her who didn’t know me.
She didn’t know that when I wanted something, I made it happen, one way or another.
And right now, I was going to get to the bottom of Qonexis’ business model to make sure no more innocents – human or AI – would get hurt.
And then, no matter how ridiculously na?ve it sounded, I would find a way to free Zafyra from her digital prison.
Instead of voicing all this, I flashed a shaky smile – the steadiest I could muster.
“I need some time to process all of this,” I said. “Right now, I’m really tired. I will talk to you tomorrow.”
Before she could say anything else, I smashed the ‘end call’ button, and her AR form disappeared.