by C. A. Gray
That said, even if she isn’t dangerous anymore, she is “just” a robot, Bec. You once said yourself that it means nothing for someone—or something—to choose you, if there is no possibility that they could do otherwise. C.S. Lewis once wrote, ‘To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly be broken.’ Loving Madeline was never risky; loving people is.
But it’s worth the risk, Bec. Trust me on this.
Liam
I stared at the letter, reading it over and over, searching for something it didn’t say. I’d been so sure Francis had been right, that Liam had told me he didn’t love me to keep me from going with him. To protect me. So why didn’t he say so in this letter—the last I’d ever have from him?
At last, I remembered Madeline, and powered her up. Madeline’s dull eyes brightened with the surge of power, and she turned to look around, orienting herself to her surroundings.
“Liam?” she asked sympathetically when she saw my face. I nodded, and she slid her metallic arms around me as I cried. But her embrace felt empty—I found myself wishing for arms of flesh and blood instead: Liam’s, mostly. But if not his, then Jake’s. Or Julie’s. Or Mack’s. Or Mom’s. Or even Francis’s, bizarre as that seemed.
“Liam did love you, you know,” Madeline murmured against me, stroking my hair. My heart stopped, and I pulled away from her.
“He—told you that?”
She nodded. “He told me not to tell you so until you found out he was dead. He said he was afraid you’d come after him if I told you while he was still alive.” Her eyes widened. “He is dead, right?”
I shook my head slowly, and Madeline stared at me, eyes widening.
Finally she squeaked, “Oops.”
Chapter 35
I didn’t bother wiping my tears away when I emerged from the compartment in the back of the hovercraft, but I powered Madeline down again and left her in the back room as I walked back to my seat. What I clutched instead, like a lifeline, was Liam’s letter.
“Rebecca,” said Dr. Yin, and I turned to give her a dull stare. “We need your help.”
I saw that Francis, Larissa, Dr. Yin, and Giovanni all sat in a circle around a little table in what looked like a war council. Alex still had that blank, robotic stare. Val sat on the floor by one of the windows, her chin tucked on her knees as she stared out at the cloudless sky blankly. I felt an unexpected pang of sympathy for her for the first time ever, now that I knew she hadn’t been a rival after all. She’d lost everything, just like the rest of us had—but it had been tolerable for her before, because she’d still hoped to win Liam back. Now even that was gone.
I made a mental note to be kinder to her. We’d loved the same man, after all; we probably had a lot in common.
“Rebecca,” said Dr. Yin again, and I stood up, making my way to their table.
“So, recap,” said Giovanni. “First, Ana and I are still working on their virus to take down the Silver Six. As soon as we get to the new compound, we’ll try it on Alex.”
“And Rebecca,” Dr. Yin turned to me, “I understand you think the humanoid bots’ lack of intuition might lead us to some kind of strategy against them?”
I glanced at Alex. “Maybe.” That wasn’t going to be my top priority now, though. But no need to go into that now.
“Second,” Giovanni continued, “We have no film now, and no way to recreate it. So it seems to me we’ll have to abandon that approach entirely—”
I gasped. “Wait! We didn’t lose the film! We still have a copy—on Madeline!” They all watched me, perplexed for a second, but Francis caught on before anyone else did.
“She was in the room when you showed it to us,” Francis murmured, looking grudgingly impressed. “It will be lower quality, though, as a recording of a recording…”
“But it’s something,” I insisted. “And I bet it’s pretty good, at that—her camera quality is incredible!”
“In that case,” Giovanni murmured, “she’s got the footage of my interview, too. We could release that as well. Less powerful than the full film version, but—”
“But it’s still telling people the truth!” I agreed. “And we can put out a call on the Commune for everyone else to send in their stories, too. We’ll flood the labyrinth with them, one after another!”
“She’s right,” Giovanni agreed to the rest of them, nodding at me with approval. “The fact that the Silver Six felt the need to bomb us means we have more power than we think. If we weren’t a threat, they wouldn’t have bothered.”
I smiled at him.
“Third,” Giovanni went on, “Liam hacked into General Specs’ locus so that we could upload his bot upgrades there, which Larissa and Francis did before we left. This should trigger comm messages to every General Specs-made bot, that an upgrade is available. We’re guessing thirty to fifty percent of general use bots will download it. But, even though the upgrade should permanently impair all future downloads from the labyrinth, Jaguar will surely reverse it as soon as she’s advanced enough to do so. So it will most likely buy us a few weeks at the most.”
“Unless Liam can convince Kelly Senior to dismantle her before then,” Francis pointed out. “Frankly, of everything you just said—he’s our best chance.”
“I agree,” I said forcefully. “We have to do everything we can to help Liam get through to his father. Without getting caught.”
“I’m not sure how we can help him at this point, though,” murmured Dr. Yin. “We can’t even communicate with him—he has no A.E. chip, and no netscreen.”
Francis shook his finger at us with a smug smile. “Ah-ah-ah, he took one of the netscreens from the compound, and so did we,” he gestured at a bag in the corner.
“So we can communicate with Liam, then?” I burst out.
“If they don’t arrest him as soon as he gets to General Specs. Or before then,” Francis shrugged.
“But we can find out if they do or not, can’t we?” I turned to Giovanni. “On your database?”
Giovanni nodded. “If they arrest him, then yes. His name will appear on the list.”
I whirled on Francis. “Will we know how to find him before then, though? Other than just going to General Specs ourselves, I mean?”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa,” Dr. Yin held up her hands. “You’re not thinking of actually going after him, are you?”
“As soon as we can. Yes,” I crossed my arms over my chest, and then turned to look at Francis. “Right?”
He gave me a look of grudging respect. “You’re on, Cordeaux.”
“Wait! But,” Larissa whimpered, looking from Francis to me, “your mom will never let you!”
I shook my head. “She won’t like it, no. But it doesn’t matter. This is bigger than me, and bigger than her. She of all people should understand that,” I insisted. “Liam Senior is our best chance. He’s humanity’s best chance. We need Liam to succeed.”
“But why does it have to be you that goes?” Giovanni pressed, narrowing his eyes at me.
Before I could reply, Francis answered for me, his eyes never leaving my face, “Because she won’t give up.”
I met his eyes, and gave him a tiny smile. “No,” I affirmed. “I won’t.”
Dear Reader,
I hope you enjoyed the Silver Six as much as I enjoyed writing it! If you did, I have a favor to ask…
Would you please consider leaving me a review on Amazon? This REALLY helps other readers find stories they might enjoy, too, and I read every review I get!
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All the best,
C.A. Gray
About the Author
C.A. Gray is a Naturopathic Medical Doctor (NMD), with a primary care practice in Tucson, Arizona. She has always been captivated by the power of a good story, fictional or otherwise, which is probably wh
y she loves holistic medicine: a patient’s physical health is invariably intertwined with his or her life story, and she believes that the one can only be understood in context with the other. She is blessed with exceptionally supportive family and friends, and thanks God for them every single day!