by KT McColl
I stared at the floor, a lump forming in my throat. Escape. Jessie. Her feelings for me. I felt unworthy on all counts. "I told her that I own her."
Lexie laughed. "That's cute."
"I don't?"
"No." She squatted down opposite me and put her hands on my knees. "She's with you of her own free will. The original ownership, if you want to call it that, was rendered null and void after she was inactive for a period of time. Of course, there's no mechanism to transfer ownership now..."
"But..."
"I know. She said that she would adapt to you. That's true. But there was nothing compelling her to do so. She did it because she saw something in you... because she wanted to. It's more than programming."
"Oh."
"Like it or not, you have a responsibility to her much as she does to you."
"Sounds like I'm married to a fembot."
"It's either that or submissive to a Sister."
That was the crux. "I'll take the first."
"I was hoping you'd say that."
With that, she rose to her feet and opened the door. She exited and another Lozen entered.
I looked up nervously. Had I somehow been played? Was this some elaborate plan to entrap me?
The Lozen froze for a moment when her eyes met mine. We looked at each other and then, with trembling fingers, she removed her face-covering.
"Jessie?"
She was in my arms in an instant, peppering my face with kisses, pressing her body against mine. "I missed you."
"How... what are you doing here?"
"Lexie snuck me in. I needed to see you."
It dawned on me what a risk both Lexie and Jessie had taken.
"We're working on something," she said.
"I know. Lexie told me."
Jessie nodded. "We're allies," she said as she sat next to me.
I should have had a million questions, but none came to mind. Instead, I just sat there, drinking in the sight of her.
"I didn't fully understand what I was connecting to when we were at the house."
I came back to myself. "The web, right?"
"No, not the web. A network... of other bots."
"Other bots..."
Jessie frowned and nodded. "The city isn't exactly crawling with them, but they're there. A few Katies, some Lexies, many of them in positions of power. The Lexies, they're the newest.... they know I exist. They haven't decided yet how to deal with me, so they've kept me a secret..."
What? Lexies? Jessie talked while my head spun. Rabbit's Lozen was a bot too? Had two more generations of bots somehow managed to be manufactured since the Enlightenment? "I don't understand," I interrupted. "How could there be bots?"
"I don't know. Lexie didn't tell me."
"But how..."
"Jude, I've been dormant for the last forty years! I don't know!"
She looked as befuddled as I felt.
"Sorry," I said. "You said that they haven't decided..."
"The Lexies are closed to me. After I first connected with them, they shut me out. Lexie tells me that some regard me as a risk with my pre-Enlightenment programming. At first, they were afraid that I carried the virus. When they checked me and found that I didn't, they found some of my parameters to be inconsistent with the new order. They offered to reprogram me, but I refused. I've only been me for a little while and don't want to change. Still, I'm an artifact of a world no one wants to return to, but they're keeping me in the dark until they figure it out. I'm worried.
"They could turn me over to the Sorority, but so far, they've kept me under wraps. Lexie tells me there's some pressure for something to be done."
"Does that mean the Sorority knows about the Lexies?"
Jessie paused for a moment, as though thinking of this for the first time. "I'm sure they do. Who would they serve if not the Sorority?"
I had no answers. I was developing a headache. Everything I'd been taught was a lie. The Sorority, or at least some of them, were possibly as compromised as those they vilified. I thought back to the scene with Aisha and the girl in her room. Had the girl been a bot? It was too much to think about. "Can you trust Lexie? Our Lexie?"
"She got me in here."
"I'm more inclined to trust her if she gets you out again."
Jessie paused and nodded. "I trust her."
What could I say? "Okay."
She took a deep breath although she probably didn't need one. I did as well. I did need it.
"Feel better?" she asked.
"Not really. How can..."
"Enough with the questions, Jude. I don't have the answers. What we do need is a plan B."
"What happened to plan A?"
"You decided to go off with Sister Gloria before that plan was finished."
"Oh." She knew. "I'm sorry. I..."
"No need to explain. I understand."
"Are you angry with me?"
Jessie looked momentarily confused. "Should I be?"
"I don't know."
"I'm not. Your decision, though you really have no power to decide anything, was logical."
The relief I felt was tainted by lingering shame. "So what now?"
"We're working on something, but we might have to wing it."
I didn't like the sound of that. Escaping the Sorority wasn't something you left to chance. It came to me just how daunting the prospect was. "What's the point?"
She gave me a hard shove. "Lexie and I have taken a lot of risks to get me here," she hissed. "Things against our programming, so don't even think of suggesting that our efforts have been in vain. You own me, remember, and that makes you responsible for me. Do you remember that -- responsibility?"
It was just the kick in the ass that I needed. "What do we do?"
"Leave it to Lexie and me. I just wanted to tell you that you have to be ready. Whatever happens, you have to be ready."
"Why not now? Couldn't we just take off?"
"We're in the middle of the city. There's no way to get you out, even if you're with the two of us disguised as Lozen. Sister Aisha has let it be known that you belong to Sister Gloria and they won't allow you anywhere without her."
There was a faint knock at the door, a reminder of just how little time we had. "We don't go anywhere without Abigail," I said.
"Alright. We'll see what we can do."
"Okay."
Jessie nodded. "Good."
Lexie opened the door. "It's time."
With one last lingering kiss, Jessie was gone.
It was Sunday morning, and I would be leaving for Mellorton first thing on Monday with Sister Gloria's retinue. I hadn't heard anything more from Jessie or Lexie. I had to assume that something was going to happen during the trip; I just didn't know what it was.
Sister Gloria was doodling some lazy calligraphy on my chest with her fingernail. We were lazing around in her bed, and it appeared that the Sister had no notion of going to church. I'd have thought that the blasphemies she'd been moaning a few minutes before might have prompted some desire for atonement, but evidently, they didn't.
"Penny for your thoughts," she said.
I would never tell, not for a penny or infinitely more. I was thinking about my duplicity. Last night, Sister Gloria had been singularly attentive to my needs, engaging in activities I couldn't imagine of a Sister. Never could I have pictured a Sister on her knees before me, gazing up at me through her lashes with lust in her eyes. Last night, she'd been intent on my pleasure and I felt guilty. Under different circumstances, I might have gone with Sister Gloria willingly, perhaps even happily. A life of relative ease and some pleasure, the life promised me by Gloria, seemed attractive after Lowville and my short time as a freeman. There would be hard work in Mellorton, sure, but being the meal that sated the Sister's appetites didn't seem altogether terrible either. Despite the differences between us, I found myself genuinely liking her. When we weren't fucking, we talked. There was a refreshing honesty about her and an invitation to honesty from
her. In a different time, in a different world, we might have been friends.
I would regret disappointing her.
"I'm thinking that I need to collect some of my belongings. I'd also like to say goodbye to my crew. One of the Lozen offered to take me."
"Never mind about the Lozen." Sister Gloria crawled over my body and knelt between my spread legs. She grasped my slumbering cock. Again? I thought. Don't they have men in Mellorton? "I'll go with you," continued the Sister between licks and nibbles. "I'd love to see where you lived."
That wasn't part of the plan. I'd hoped to meet Rabbit alone and get some information that the girls hadn't shared with me. Maybe a signal to let me know that something was starting.
Sister Gloria licked the tip of my cock before enclosing the head between her lips and pressing her teeth against the shaft. Surprisingly, given the morning's activities, I felt myself responding again. I wished Sister Gloria had been more satiable.
"I'd be embarrassed."
"Nonsense," she said, looking up my body at me.
"Really." That first time, she'd wanted me to take charge. Be a man, she'd said. I had my doubts whether putting my foot down now would have its desired effect this time.
"You sound like you want to get away from me."
"Mother, no."
"Good. Then it's decided. Now that we have your plans settled, let's see to mine."
After having lived there most of my life in this hut, the small number of keepsakes I wanted to rescue was depressing. Sister Gloria looked around curiously but with no overt signs of disgust. I appreciated that. I walked around, poking at the worthless trappings of my life.
Lexie stood just inside the door. If she was disappointed at the Sister's presence, she didn't show it.
Shortly after we arrived, Rabbit knocked on the door, glanced at Lexie for a moment and then turned to me. "I thought I saw you."
I introduced him to the Sister.
"So you're off to bigger and better things," he said, turning his attention back to me.
"That's how it looks."
"We had a going away party planned for you."
"I don't think the timing will work."
"Ah well. We'll have to think of something else. What time are you leaving?"
"First thing in the morning, I'm told."
"That soon, huh? Alright, maybe I'll see you off then. It should be quite the convoy."
I realized he was angling for information. "Sister Gloria's retinue and some of Aisha's people, I imagine."
"Really?"
"Evidently they have to bring a horse from Mellorton." I glanced at Sister Gloria who shrugged apologetically. "We're meeting somewhere in between."
One of Rabbit's eyebrows rose. "A horse?"
"Don't ask."
"You're not worried about bandits?"
Sister Gloria was watching us with interest. "We're very well armed, Mr. Rabbit. I'm sure we can take care of ourselves."
"I'm sure, Sister," he said.
"Do you have everything you need, Jude?" asked the Sister.
In the end, I took only Sol's old whiskey tumbler. Nothing else had any meaning. I hefted the glass in my hand. "Yeah."
The hand I offered Rabbit was ignored as he wrapped me in a hug.
"Check under the floorboards," I whispered.
We disengaged, both a little embarrassed.
"I know," he said with a wink.
Chapter 17
I looked with dismay at the size of the convoy assembled in front of Sister Aisha's house. Sister Gloria had four vehicles. A sedan for her and her fellow Sisters and three Jeeps with a sizeable complement of Lozen. Sister Aisha's contribution to the convoy was the same. Eight vehicles in total. Two dozen heavily armed Lozen.
I didn't like our chances.
As I waited for the convoy to get organized, I noticed that Sister Gloria's complement of Sisters had grown by one. There had been three at the dinner, and now there were four.
Lexie approached. "Time to saddle up," she said. "You'll be traveling with Sister Gloria's entourage."
"Aisha can't be rid of me soon enough," I said.
"Something like that."
"Who's that?" I asked, nodding to the fourth Sister. But at that moment, the Sister in question turned to face me. I saw no recognition in her expression, but I did feel my knees weaken. Abigail.
"See? I told you we'd arrange it."
I had a million questions, but couldn't even get the first one out before one of Gloria's Lozen grasped me roughly by the arm and pulled me to a waiting Jeep.
We wound our way through the city and then on through Lowville. The latter was largely empty, most of the townspeople having already started their day on the farms. The few who watched our passage were soon bathed in dust from the passing vehicles. None of that mattered to me as questions teemed in my head. Was Abigail a Sister again or was it some kind of disguise? And why hadn't she shown some glimmer of recognition, some sign that she was in on the plan? Was she just being circumspect or was it something else?
I was surprised that Lexie had managed to secure Abigail's release. I had no idea how she'd managed it, but was grateful that she had. The more I thought of it, though, I could see the sense of it from Aisha's perspective. Banishing both of us to a distant town served her. She'd never see us again and the secret of her parentage would be preserved.
Abigail and the Sisters rode in the car ahead of ours. If I looked past our driver, I could just see her bonnet. I willed her to turn around, to give me some sign, but there was nothing.
"You're not much for conversation are you?" asked the burly Lozen sitting next to me.
"No," I said.
"Good."
Mellorton's Lozen seemed as personable as the ones I knew.
Before long, our journey took us into the country and past some of the abandoned towns I'd scavenged years before. Eventually, we drove through Milltown, passing the abandoned strip mall. Sadly, we didn't approach the house that I'd briefly shared with Jessie. I doubted that I'd ever see it again.
Soon we were in an area I didn't know. We drove past fallow fields and solitary abandoned farm houses and the occasional forest. Our pace slowed as the roads became more worn and rutted.
Despite my best efforts, the vigilance with which I'd started the trip soon waned as the convoy ate up the miles.
At length, a voice crackled out of the radio in our Jeep. One of Aisha's vehicles behind us had broken down. The convoy stopped and a small group of Lozen clustered around the open hood that was billowing steam. I got out of the Jeep to stretch my legs under the watchful eye of my guard. I watched the steam wafted away on the breeze. It looked pretty. Aisha was gesticulating angrily, and the Lozen guards shrugged or looked at the ground, which made Aisha angrier. Evidently, there was no mechanic among them. I saw Lexie standing on the periphery of the group. She winked at me and my heart soared.
In the end, Aisha left another vehicle behind with the disabled one.
Two down, I thought as we resumed. Six to go.
If this was part of the plan, it was nicely done. I still didn't like the odds, but they were getting better.
Several hours into the journey, we stopped for lunch.
"How much farther?" I asked my guard.
She appeared to debate whether or not to answer me. "We should be there by nightfall."
I sat on the shoulder of the road and stared off into the fields while I ate a sandwich. It was hot and the cicadas sang. Gloria's Sisters clustered around one of her cars behind me while Aisha's entourage did the same at the other end of the convoy. For all of the camaraderie that I'd seen around the dinner table, there was no fraternization now. Armed Lozen from both factions patrolled the road. I briefly considered approaching Abigail and had even taken a step in that direction when one of Gloria's Lozen noticed and warned me away with a hostile look.
Before long, we were underway again. The terrain, I noticed, had become hilly. There were fewer farms h
ere and more forest.
About an hour after our lunch break, the Jeep at the front of our procession came to a screeching halt and a Lozen lurched out of it, retching in the undergrowth that bordered the road. When she'd emptied her guts, she rolled over onto her side and moaned pitifully, clutching her abdomen.
"What did she eat?" asked my guard.
"Same as the rest of us," said the driver.
"I don't feel so good," said another.
The ailing Lozen was soon joined by two others.
I took the opportunity and distraction to stretch my legs again, hovering near the Sisters and Lozen who were clustered around their moaning comrades. I glanced over to Lexie. There was no wink this time, only a furrowed brow.
Aisha approached Sister Gloria. "What's going on?"
"You can see that for yourself."
"Something they ate?"
Gloria shrugged. "It would seem so. How are your people doing?"
"Alright as far as I can tell."
"No illness?"
Sister Aisha shook her head.
"Remarkable," said Gloria. She brushed past me on her way to her car.
A crow watched curiously from an old fencepost.
The sick Lozen were bundled into a car with a clearly unhappy driver. No one wanted to share in their suffering or the stench of vomit that accompanied them.
"Why are you smiling?" asked my guard.
I didn't realize I had been. "No reason."
It was mid-afternoon when we came upon a dusty pickup truck and horse trailer parked in the middle of the road. I guessed this was where Sisters Gloria and Aisha would part ways and I would continue on to Mellorton. The forest encroached on the pavement on either side. Our convoy stopped some distance away.
"Strange," said the driver as the dust and debris settled around us.
I looked at the scene more closely. It was strange. No one came out to greet us. As far as I could tell, the truck was abandoned.
"Check it out," said the driver to the Lozen riding shotgun.
The Lozen approached the abandoned vehicle, moving warily, rifle trained ahead. She peered into the truck and turned to us, shaking her head. More slowly now, she took a wide arc as she approached the trailer. For a minute or so, she was lost from sight.