Chapter 30
Notes:
Um, listen… so… you see… OH JUST READ THE DAMN CHAPTER!
MILO
Clearly, Rowan had not expected Milo to literally mean everyone, but as it turned out, everyone was indeed willing to help.
After some convincing of a few of them.
Ruben: I still can’t believe you’re dating your bot, who is alive somehow, and everyone knew but me!
Raina: Oh hush, like you wouldn’t have still tried to steal Milo out from under Rowan if you knew he was a bot.
Ruben. Well YEAH. I haven’t been calling him Platinum Twink because I DON’T like the way he looks.
Rowan: Please stop objectifying my boyfriend. ?
Ruben: Never promising THAT. But I will absolutely do everything you need to help with stopping Andrew Asshat.
Riley: Same here! Fuck the… patriarchy? Fascists? Capitalism? It’s sort of all and none of those at the same time.
Raina: Just say FUCK THE RICH. Always accurate.
Ruben and Riley both sent their own variations of FUCK THE RICH gifs.
Milo: Troy, you in?
Troy: 100%! I was just enjoying the family banter. I’m an only child. Although with my cousins, twins do run in the family.
Ethel: Focus, children. Milo, Rowan, since we are all absolutely with you on this, what do you need us to do?
Ruben: Just please know that if my toaster starts hurling curses at me after this because of how infrequently I clean it, I’m blaming you two.
Milo: I promise, Ruben, no sentient toasters.
All they really needed from Ethel was for her to make sure she plugged in Anabelle the next night for normal charging.
None of the others had A- or B-model bots who would be affected by their plan.
Raina and Troy would be helping “on the ground” as it were, playing it safe throughout the workday like everything was normal, and then assisting Rowan and Milo with their one in a million shot at changing the world as they knew it.
Those who worked at Andreas Tech would be staying late, so fewer people would be there when they pulled the trigger, but there was a lot to do in the meantime given the scope of what Milo had come up with and what Troy had later confirmed they might actually be able to pull off.
There was a currently offline manufacturing area that Milo had learned about while exploring Andrew’s data files.
The start of the plan was to mass produce Rowan’s already approved surge protectors, with Milo set up to cover their tracks and make any activity in that area of the plant look like benign power surges—until the final surge when it would be too late for anyone to stop them.
By the end of the day, they would have thousands of surge protectors ready to ship out.
Raina: Ship out? We’re treating these like normal replacement parts or upgrades?
Milo: And recommending with delivery immediate installation.
Rowan: It’s an easy swap if the bot’s charging port isn’t fried.
Milo: Troy, you’ll message Andrew that all is well and we are moving ahead with starting over with Ray. That should buy us time, as Andrew shouldn’t expect results in a day.
Raina: I bet he’ll still expect results by the end of the week.
He actually said forty-eight hours, but as Troy responded—well, privately in their new group chat after informing everyone that the plan was on track:
Troy: Fuck him.
Raina: Wow. Rebellion looks good on you, Troy. <3
Troy: Thanks. It feels good.
Ruben: Alright, keep it in your pants, you two!
Raina: Like you’re one to talk!
Everything else centered on Troy as their point man.
Troy: I know the right voltage now, and all charging stations for Andreas Tech are Andreas manufactured. With the right credentials, courtesy of Milo’s hacking, I’ll be able to access them.
Riley: You’re going to remotely flood every charging station with the same power surge? What about the bots who don’t have Rowan’s new part?
Milo: I’ll know once they’re plugged in who has the part and who doesn’t. We’ll only hit the ones we can awaken.
Troy: It’ll be tricky, especially to pull it off without getting caught, but I can do it. We can do this. Right, Milo?
Milo: Yes. We can.
If all went according to plan, they still wouldn’t reach every bot, because not everyone would install the part or go through with charging them as directed, and they might not get all of those who did awaken to help fight, but it would be enough to start a discussion and force change.
Ruben and Riley’s jobs were to help spread the news to every social site and acquaintance they had once the deed was done.
Ruben had more than enough connections between the orchestra he played for, his fans, and current and ex-lovers, and Riley had the entire apartment building and several building managers from other complexes who she played poker with once a week.
It was an interesting group of people to get on their side, but it would be enough.
Ethel: And what if that poor bot Ray panics again? Or the others? I’ll be there for Anabelle, but the rest will be all alone when they wake up, with owners who might not understand.
Milo: We have to risk it.
Rowan: We do, but I had a thought about that, Milo.
What if we also broadcast a video of you explaining to the bots something to help them adjust and understand they don't need to panic?
Nothing is a guarantee, but it's better than them waking up alone.
Then the bots can do their best to explain to their owners.
All we really need is for word to spread, so humans know not to panic either.
Milo: But what would I say to them?
Rowan: Speak from the heart. <3 If all the bots share your video with their masters, along with details about Andrew's plan, we’ll get through to enough.
Riley: Not to be a downer or anything, but it still could be chaos out there.
Rowan: Sometimes a little chaos can be good.
Ethel: And it’ll definitely make the news!
Ruben: Got that right, Granny! We’ll make sure of it.
Ethel: Young man, you better apologize for calling me ‘Granny’ or you might find your browser history uploaded to your Grindr profile.
Ruben: Please. It’s basically already on there.
Ethel: Even your repeated watchings of the old reality TV show: Rock of Love with Bret Michaels?
That brought several seconds of repeating ellipses, but finally—something Milo knew from the family chat history had never happened before—an apology came through from Ruben.
Though how Ethel had accessed his browser history that quickly, Milo had no idea.
Now, with the hour of reckoning close at hand, most daytime employees of Andreas Tech should be long gone. Milo, Rowan, Raina, and Troy had all set up shop in the otherwise dormant manufacturing area that had produced and shipped out Rowan’s surge protectors as planned.
The area wasn’t as low as Troy’s subbasement lab, giving Milo a view of the city at night from egress windows just above eye level.
Even though the machinery was off again, Milo could hear and feel the hum of electricity all around him.
The city at night and the twinkling of the stars above was beautiful to Milo, even if it wasn’t his favorite view.
He should have been ecstatic as the countdown to their start time neared zero, but seeing his would-be friend Ray dormant again, online but seemingly blank and lifeless as he sat hunched on a table, Milo couldn’t summon a smile.
“Why so glum?” Troy asked, coming up to Milo beside the window and valiantly attempting to keep a cool head and positive attitude like he’d managed all day. “This really could work, you know.”
“I know. But Ray… he’ll be starting over. He still died and will be someone completely new, like the first him never existed.” Milo didn’t mean to continuously shame Troy for the part he had played in that, but the reality haunted him.
Troy looked somber in that moment too but tentatively reached to place a hand on Milo’s shoulder.
“I am truly so sorry for that, Milo, but I will do everything I can to make sure nothing like that ever happens to another bot again. You are really something special, and if we can have more like you, well, I think all the risks in the world will be worth it. And don’t think of it as the other Ray never having existed just because he’s done.
He existed, and that matters as long as you remember him. ”
That meant more to Milo than he could express, and he nodded gratefully, placing his hand atop Troy’s in recognition of the gesture.
“Aw,” Raina said as she came up to them with Rowan close beside her. “The sentiment is adorable—and so is the engineer who said it—but are we going to do this or what?”
Milo met Rowan’s gaze with proud resolve. They had ensured everything was carefully put in place for this moment, and Milo wouldn’t have wanted to be standing here with anyone but him. But all of them. “Yes. Let’s make history.”
They took their positions with Ray still on his table, seated but slumped, and Troy at the nearby workstation—not dissimilar to how they had been in his lab yesterday—with Raina at his side at a connected console to watch for unusual activity, and Milo and Rowan standing before Ray, waiting for their moment.
Well, Milo’s moment. Rowan remained a few steps back, so that when the time came, Ray’s awakened eyes would act as Milo’s camera, projecting him to all the other awakened bots to give his speech.
He had tried to practice it but found the anticipation too great. If he was to truly speak from the heart as Rowan had told him to, he had to do so spontaneously and let the words come.
“Okay.” Troy made eye contact with each of them to confirm their readiness, before his attention returned to the controls and readouts in front of him. “I think we should be rea—oh shit!”
Milo’s eyes snapped to Troy’s, just as Rowan and Raina’s did too.
“What?” Raina demanded. “What is it?”
“Uh… probably nothing? I sort of forgot about the kill switch.”
“What?” Rowan snarled. “Are you saying there is a kill switch enabled in all the new surge protectors we sent out?”