by Kristie Cook
“Fine, we’re done for now. But make sure she’s back in an hour.” The professor’s wrinkled face softened into a smile. Anyone else would have been thrown out for stepping foot into his sacred space without asking, but his granddaughter had always been an exception.
The professor peeled off the bio-rhythmic cuff and released Kaitlyn’s arm from the monitor. She stood, happy to have a reason to leave the stuffy room.
Quess pulled her sweater tight over her chest and looked Kaitlyn over. “It’s cold outside.”
“It’s sixty-one degrees,” Kaitlyn said matter-of-factly.
Quess eyed at Kaitlyn’s long, bare legs. “You should put on some clothes.”
“I have on clothes.”
Quess sighed. “Fine. Don’t blame me if you get a cold.”
Professor Adams laughed and chucked her chin. “Quess, she can’t get a cold. You know that.”
“How could I forget? You made her non-human,” Quess snapped.
“I’ve heard enough from you, young lady.” The professor’s playful tone evaporated and his voice brokered no argument. “We’ve been over this many times before. Now you hurry along before I change my mind.”
Kaitlyn watched the exchange with interest. She found it curious that Quess would argue with her grandfather over her.
Without another word, Quess turned on her heels in a huff and stalked from the room. Kaitlyn trailed after her.
Quess banged through the metal doors and into the bright sunshine outside, where they walked in silence until they were at a safe distance from the building and cameras. Kaitlyn watched as the wind gently stirred the leaves around them.
“You wasted a perfectly good opportunity, you know,” Quess finally spoke up, clearly irritated. “I can’t believe you didn’t grill them more at dinner. We could have found out something about your past.”
A cursory scan told Kaitlyn that Quess’s little round face was pinched and annoyed. The girl’s heart rate was also elevated, showing signs of distress.
Kaitlyn smiled. “We gained significant information. How many states do not show signs of season changes?”
Quess stopped in her tracks and turned slowly, her frown turning into a grin. “How many?”
Pulling up the file she had saved to her memory drive the evening before, Kaitlyn said, “Florida, Nevada, Arizona, California, and Louisiana are a starting point. Should that help in your search?”
“Definitely. I wish you could come home with me to the cottage.” Quess sighed. “It would be much easier if we could get on my computer together.”
“I don’t think that is going to happen. I’m surprised they let you spend as much time with me as you do.”
“Gramps would prefer I don’t see you at all, but Nanny convinced him I need some sort of friend around here, even if it is with a robot.” Quess smiled wryly.
“Thank your Nanny for me.”
“I can’t do that! It would give away our secret.”
Kaitlyn smiled; she really did enjoy the girl’s company. Quess seemed to have that effect on everyone around her. She made it hard for Kaitlyn to keep her all-too-human feelings hidden. She didn’t try very hard around Quess. Being with her she was able to let her guard down. At least briefly.
“So, I think Lucas is totally digging you.”
“Digging me?” Kaitlyn tried to make sense of the phrase. Maybe she really did need a slang chip. She could not think of any way that ‘dig’ would have anything to do with her. Dig: 1. to break up, turn over, or remove earth, sand, etc., as with a shovel, spade, bulldozer, or claw; make an excavation. 2. to make one’s way or work by or as by removing or turning over material: to dig through the files. None of those definitions matched the context.
“Yeah, did you see his face when he walked in and saw you last night? He totally wants you.”
Kaitlyn had no idea how to respond. “I don’t understand what you are saying.”
“It means he likes you. He totally has the hots for you.”
Kaitlyn’s body felt hyper aware, her senses tingling. “You really think so?” Perhaps, Lucas thought of tearing off her clothes like she did his. Somehow she highly doubted it, though. The odds were not in her favor. After all, she wasn’t even really human anymore.
“Definitely, it was written all over his face. Thankfully, Gramps is oblivious, but even Nanny noticed he’s crushing on you. She thinks you two would make a cute couple.”
Kaitlyn hadn’t noticed anything on his face. Perhaps Quess was imagining things. She did seem to have an overactive imagination—one of the reasons Kaitlyn enjoyed the girl’s company so much. It was nice to see things through her human eyes.
“Aren’t you at least a little excited?”
“About what?” Kaitlyn asked, confused.
“Lucas! He likes you. You’re obviously interested in him or you wouldn’t have asked.”
“Oh. I don’t really know what to think about that.”
Quess sighed. “I wish you felt things like a normal person.”
“Me, too,” Kaitlyn said softly.
“So what are you going to do if we find the mystery man?” Quess asked curiously.
Kaitlyn hadn’t thought that far ahead. Really, what could she do? Show up on his door step and say, ‘Remember me?’ That probably wouldn’t go over well. “Maybe we should stop the search.”
“What? Are you kidding me? No way. I need something to keep me busy at night. I’m going to find him, plus it will help sharpen my secret spy skills. You know … just in case.”
“I guess that’s true,” Kaitlyn agreed.
After they made their loop around the grounds, Kaitlyn sighed. “We need to get back to the lab. Professor Adams says this new update is important.”
“I don’t know how you put up with them always changing you.” Quess turned and they headed back toward the laboratory.
“It’s annoying, but I know that’s what I’m here for.”
“I wish they would just leave you alone. It’s not fair.” Tears welled up in Quess’s eyes, making them look more green than hazel.
Kaitlyn felt a lump form in her throat, but she wasn’t sure why. “It’s okay, Quess. I don’t mind.”
“But you should.” She balled her small fists up by her sides. Her pale face was bright pink, and a teardrop escaped, trailing down her cheek. “You should have a normal life! Not caged away like some animal. You can’t even comprehend how wrong this is, and that’s the worst part.”
Kaitlyn watched the young girl swipe tears away, and wondered what it felt like to cry. She hoped it wasn’t painful for her friend.
“Does this hurt?” Kaitlyn touched the liquid seeping down Quess’s cheek.
Quess giggled. “Crying?”
Kaitlyn inclined her head. “Yes.”
“No. Crying doesn’t hurt.” Quess sobered, using the sleeve of her cardigan to wipe away her tears. She reached for Kaitlyn’s hand and took hold, bringing her hand to her chest. Reflexively, Kaitlyn tried to pull her hand from Quess’s grasp, but she just held on tighter. Kaitlyn’s hand relaxed.
Beneath Kaitlyn’s palm, she felt the sensation of Quess’s human heart beating slowly and consistently.
Quess held tightly to Kaitlyn’s hand, keeping it spread over her heart. “Crying doesn’t hurt. But when you cry, it’s because your heart does.”
“Your heart hurts for me?” Kaitlyn asked, puzzled. Though Quess’s strong grip was a little unsettling to her sensors, there was something deep inside of her that reveled in the way her friend’s heart beat steadily; reveled in her warmth and kindness. That lump in her throat wouldn’t go away.
Quess just nodded as more tears filled her eyes.
“Let’s get back inside,” Kaitlyn said, still trying to process the information. She pulled away from Quess. “Maybe they are upgrading my slang vocabulary, and our conversations won’t be so perplexing.”
Quess broke into a laugh, a wonderful sound to Kaitlyn’s ears, but she stopped la
ughing as quickly as she started. “Are they really making you leave next week?”
“What? Where did you hear that?”
“I overheard my grandparents talking. They said that you were almost complete, and it was nearly time to hand you over to fulfill your destiny.”
“My destiny?” Kaitlyn felt like she couldn’t breathe. That was ridiculous; there was nothing blocking her airways.
As much as she disliked the compound, she didn’t want to leave. Where were they going to send her? She ran scenarios through her mind and came up empty. She had no idea. Her infinite source of knowledge couldn’t give her an answer.
And that was terrifying.
As much as she hated to admit it, she had come to enjoy her time with Professor Adams and his bushy eyebrows, Lucas … well, because he’s Lucas, and even the nurse who never spoke a word to her. The daily routine with them made her feel almost normal.
She didn’t want to think about never seeing Quess or Lucas again. She couldn’t. Her mind rebelled at the thought. “There must be some kind of mistake.”
Quess didn’t bother to reply.
Kaitlyn pushed through the double doors. Lucas was sitting behind the desk in the large laboratory and stood up immediately when she walked through. He hit a stack of file folders with his hip, and the tower slid to the floor, papers exploding out. A vial crashed to the ground and splintered off into hundreds of shards.
“Well, that was graceful.” Lucas picked up a file from the floor.
“Is it true?” Kaitlyn demanded.
“Is what true?” Lucas asked, tearing his gaze away from the mess to her, his mouth slightly agape.
“Am I leaving the compound to go on assignment?”
Lucas glanced away, and wouldn’t meet her eye. Instead, he knelt and stuffed pages back into files.
Confirmation. Quess told her never to trust someone that won’t look you in the eyes. She felt like she was running, but she was standing still. Her body was revved up, even though she was rooted to the floor.
“Does it bother you? The thought of leaving?” Lucas asked, finally catching her gaze.
“It doesn’t matter to me.” Kaitlyn kept her voice level. “Will I return?”
Lucas’s expression changed, and mirrored the look that had been on Quess’s face earlier before she had started crying. His heart hurts. In that moment, she knew she would never set foot on the compound again. Never see Lucas again. She wondered if they were going to send her on a suicide mission in order to shut down the project. She’d seen a movie about that once. Or maybe they would just hand her off to new owners. Kaitlyn didn’t know which idea sounded worse.
“We need to upgrade your hardware. I want to add facial expressions to your database so that you can filter through to make conversations easier. It will help you react to situations if you know what emotion the person is feeling. You will eventually learn to mimic expressions as well.”
“Fine.” Kaitlyn resigned to accept whatever was coming her way. Of course, he wouldn’t tell her anything.
“Please take a seat.” Lucas nodded toward her chair, the white one that she had spent far too much time sitting in.
Once she was seated, Lucas hesitated before he stepped forward. “Please turn to the side. This is going to be a large upgrade, so you will be unconscious for seven minutes. Give or take a few seconds.”
Her body moved even though her mind told her not to. She hated that mechanics had so much control over her.
Slowly, he pulled the collar of her shirt down, exposing her shoulder blades. She trembled under his touch, or maybe it was his hand that was trembling. It was hard for her to tell the difference. She felt movement, heard the soft click. He gently removed a chip, set it on the counter, and replaced it with another.
Her eyes closed as her body went slack for the update. She had no idea how long she sat slumped in the chair. Eventually, the humming in her head stopped and she sat up straight, blinking a couple of times. The mess had been cleaned up, and Lucas was sitting behind his desk, staring directly at her.
“Do you feel any different?” he asked. It was an unusual question coming from him.
She thought about it for a moment, and shook her head. She felt the same.
She still didn’t want to leave.
Chapter Nine
Lucas had seen a spark of emotion in Kaitlyn’s eyes. He knew he had.
He couldn’t get the image out of his mind. She’d genuinely seemed upset to leave the compound. The emotion was so fleeting that for a moment he thought he’d imagined it, but it was there. He knew what he’d seen.
The lab felt colder and more silent since she’d left. Lucas sank back into his chair, his mind going over the encounter from beginning to end.
Could she possibly still have feelings after all they had done to her? It was hard for him to believe. They had overridden the signals in Kaitlyn’s brain that caused any kind of human emotion. She was supposed to look human, but not possess human traits. That was the beauty of the project—or the tragedy, depending on how you looked at it.
Agitated, he ran his hand through his hair. This was like his worst nightmare coming true. His justification for going along with the idea was that she wouldn’t understand what they had done; she wouldn’t care. When she awoke from the coma, she was supposed to have no memories of being human. In essence, they’d saved her life. She would have died from her injuries.
At least, that’s what he kept telling himself.
He needed to find out the truth before they sold her off to the government. If she was harboring any kind of human thoughts or emotions, not only would she pose a threat to government security if her own moral compass affected her decision-making, but it would fall back on IFICS.
Before he could change his mind, Lucas tossed off his lab coat and grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair, jerking it on as he exited the room.
He made his way across the courtyard toward the dormitory Kaitlyn shared with the grounds-people, cooks, and other workers that lived on the compound.
He hesitated as he turned down her hallway. In all of the time he had known Kaitlyn, he had never entered her bedroom. There had never been a reason to. But now …
Maybe he should just turn around. It was none of his business. He was paid to make sure she was prepared for the assignment, not to check on her emotional state of mind. Not that she had an emotional state of mind. However, it kind of seemed … The keys jingled in his hands. Screw it, he had to know.
In a few long strides, he was in front of her door. He tapped the keys lightly against the metal, thinking to himself how it was more similar to a jail cell than a bedroom.
“Yes.” Kaitlyn’s sweet voice floated out the door.
“Umm, it’s Lucas. Is it okay if I come in for a moment?”
“Yes, you can come in.”
His hands shook as he turned the key and pushed the door open.
Kaitlyn lay on her bed with her long, bare legs crossed, her eyes wide and serene. The sight of her smooth, silky skin distracted him, and Lucas had to will his eyes away from her legs and to her face. He no longer noticed the teal parts of her body with the code scrolling. When he looked at Kaitlyn he saw a young woman, not a machine. He felt lightheaded and almost forgot why he was there.
To divert his attention, Lucas glanced around the room. It was small, not much bigger than a closet, and everything was white. Even the curtains. Other than a little television, she didn’t have anything else. She was only allowed to watch movies they deemed acceptable. Mostly spy flicks. It was mainly for her to watch humans interact outside of the locked down environment she lived in. The thought was she could pick up on mannerism and dialogue. Did she really spend all of her time sitting in her room? She needed books or magazines, too. He should address the issue with the professor. Not that it really mattered at this point. Soon she would be gone.
Kaitlyn stared blankly at him. “Can I help you?”
“Look,” L
ucas said, his stomach suddenly aflutter with nerves, “I’m just going to come out and say it. Can you feel things?”
She tilted her head as if trying to process the question. “Such as pain? No, I cannot.”
“Not pain. Emotions. Feelings.”
Kaitlyn’s eyes darted to the ceiling. The red light of the camera blinked. “I don’t know what you mean. You have to be more specific.”
What in the world was he thinking barging into her bedroom like this? She had no clue what he was even saying.
I’m such an idiot.
Lucas sighed. “Forget it. I’m sorry, Kaitlyn. I shouldn’t have bothered you.”
As he turned to leave, her voice stopped him. “Lucas, I would like some fresh air. Professor Adams says it is good for me.”
The request startled him. He turned back around, meeting her blank gaze, and scratched his head. “I guess I can take you outside.”
“I would like to be taken outside. The fresh air is good for me.” She untangled her legs and rose to her feet. Lucas watched, mesmerized, as she slid her slender feet into a pair of brown leather flats.
He held open the door, and she brushed past him. When her skin hit his, it nearly dropped him to his knees. A jolt of electricity surged through him with only the barest of touches, and he knew it wasn’t because she was half electronic. A girl had never had this effect on him—and he had known a few. He could never seem to relate to them.
Lucas took a deep breath and steadied himself, asking himself again what he had been thinking coming here, it was bad enough he had to see her for hours in a clinical environment. Seeing her outside of work felt more intimate, and it scared the hell out of him.
“I will show you where I walk with Quess.”
“You walk with Professor Adams’s granddaughter?”
“Yes.”
How did he not know that? He should be talking to Quess instead of Kaitlyn. That would definitely be easier. Lucas shoved his hands deep in his pockets to stop from fidgeting as they walked the empty halls and out toward the courtyard.
It was a cool day. They didn’t pass anyone on the narrow sidewalk that led away from the dormitory toward the woods. “Did you know that dogwood trees used to be called dog-tree?” Kaitlyn said, breaking the awkward silence.