The Nero Protocol

by Victoria Zagar

  The sound of boots on concrete and the clacking of guns brought Elias back to reality. Ario slipped from his grasp as they both assessed the situation. The Department's military arm stood before them, the C.E.O. of Cybot Corporation looking smug and satisfied behind the squadron of human soldiers he'd summoned to his aid. One order from him, and Ario would be history. Elias stood in front of Ario, hoping his own flesh and blood would be enough to shield the man he loved from a wicked fate.

  "Stand aside, Elias," Ario demanded.

  "I won't let them hurt you!" Elias yelled.

  Ario's hand clutched Elias's shoulder tightly, squeezing reassurance. Elias closed his eyes. "Don't ask me to do this," Elias whispered. "Please."

  Ario took a lock of Elias's hair in his fingers, caressing it with a wistful smile on his face, as if they were a million miles away in some island paradise on and not on a grungy building rooftop with two dozen guns pointed at them. He leaned in and kissed Elias, claiming his mouth with a boldness born of certainty.

  "I love you," Ario said, breaking the kiss. He pressed his cool forehead to Elias's, then let go, walking toward the soldiers with his eyes open. A gun went off, a bullet grazing Ario's cheek and splitting the skin to reveal his metallic bone. He braced himself for more, just as he had braced himself for the blow of the baseball bat so many long months ago. Fear truly was the curse of the human condition, and it welled up in his circuits now, an electrical pulse that fired up his neural network. It gave him the strength of a hundred men, and he knew he could swipe the guns aside, pick up the soldiers and snap them like twigs if he so chose. But the warm impulse of love was still fresh in his veins, tempering his fear and filling his network with precious memories. The bullets felt like ants as they ripped through him, pain nipping in his circuits, yet crowded out by the wash of emotions that filled him up. Even Elias's screams and Mariko's cries seemed distant, as though they belonged to some other cruel world while Ario walked along the beach beneath the sway of palm trees and the ocean breeze.

  "Hold your fire!" The C.E.O.'s voice was loud and clear, his commanding tone drawing immediate silence to the volley of bullets headed in Ario's direction. The soldiers parted, shrinking away from Ario now that their guns were no longer there to suppress their fears. Ario took the clear path to the C.E.O., wires and steel exposed where the bullets had torn into his body.

  The C.E.O.'s upper lip seemed to curl up in distaste as Ario approached. Ario stopped in front of him and simply stood as all assembled held their breath. Nothing moved, save for the breeze. It tousled their hair, blowing it in their faces as if to hide their true intent.

  They watched, and waited, a silent battle of wits and wills occurring in the silence.

  And then something extraordinary happened. As if he had intended it all along, the C.E.O. of Cybot Corporation held out his hand. It remained in the air for a few moments, palm flat, waiting for a handshake that may or may not come.

  Ario regarded it for a few moments, then held out his own. The firm, yet businesslike, handshake seemed to unfreeze time. The soldiers visibly relaxed, as did Elias and Mariko. Ario and the C.E.O. stepped back from one another, and only then did Elias realize that there was a television crew behind them filming everything.

  "I don't understand," Elias said. "What just happened?"

  "We just averted the war to end all wars," Mariko explained. "The war between humans and synths is off… for now."

  "But what are the terms?"

  "Who knows?" Mariko shrugged. "All we know is that Cybot had an opportunity to kill Ario… and shook his hand instead. Shook his hand… as an equal."

  "Oh." The truth dawned on Elias as Ario turned to face him. Ario looked a mess, but there was a new strength in the way he walked: long, purposeful strides. "But… why? He could have killed us all. He had the upper hand."

  "Quite the opposite." Mariko pulled out her phone and handed it to Elias. The display was lit up with social media notifications, news reports and video feeds. Ario had become a talking point across the globe: a cause. "To kill him would make him a martyr for the synth cause. The C.E.O. is backed in a corner."

  Ario embraced Elias before shepherding him and Mariko through the throng of reporters eager for an interview. The rooftop had become crowded as journalists all across the city realized there was a story unfolding live and came to scrape up whatever tidbits they could find. The C.E.O. went into damage control mode and all attention turned to him, allowing Ario, Elias, and Mariko to slip away.

  EPILOGUE

  "The C.E.O. of Cybot Corporation has admitted the Synthaholics episode was, in fact, a sham. Reporters have discovered presenter Gary Rogers is safe and well at the C.E.O.'s summer home. The police are considering whether any crimes have been committed, and whether it is in the public interest to pursue charges…"

  Elias let out a long sigh and switched off the television. He turned back to Ario, stretched out on a table in the back room of Mariko Electronics. The beige floor tiles squeaked beneath his feet as he turned to grab a screwdriver from a nearby synth set.

  "There. Is that better?" Elias ushered Ario to a sitting position and placed a hand on his arm as he flexed it back and forth.

  "Indeed. You are excellent with your hands, Elias."

  Elias smiled and set the screwdriver down. His smile faded as he pondered recent events. "Is it really okay to let the Cybot C.E.O. get away with murder? I can't help thinking about those synths at Paradise. They died for nothing."

  "It's not okay," Ario said, "but it is a sacrifice we must live with if we wish to avert war. For the first time, people are talking about the personhood of synths and the ethical questions raised by the Protocol. We must be content with that, for now."

  "I'm glad… I'm glad you listened. I was so afraid…" Elias buried his face in Ario's shoulder, seeking comfort.

  "It's over now, Elias," Ario soothed.

  "No, no, it's not. In fact, it's just beginning." Elias looked to the doorway as Mariko hobbled in, supporting a battered synth that was leaning on her heavily.

  "Another home decomm?" Elias asked.

  "Yeah." Mariko sighed. Ario jumped off the table and helped take the synth's weight until they could lay her down. Elias gripped a screwdriver between his teeth as he leaned over the synth with a scanner, taking her vital signs as Ario looked on.

  "She'll be okay." Elias took the screwdriver out from between his teeth, twirling it in his free hand. "Her neural net is undamaged. I can repair the physical damage." He left the rest unspoken. The Department had ceased all decommissioning while the personhood of synths was being discussed, and it had created a black market of gangs and former synth merchants who made a living disposing of unwanted synths, not to mention the disgruntled owners who were taking matters into their own hands. The immediate side effects of Ario's truce with Cybot almost seemed worse than the initial problem, but that was something Elias feared to say out loud. To say it wasn't worth it… what would that mean for the future of synths and the human race?

  "We can't afford to run a charity here, Elias." Mariko looked down at the floor. "I want to help, too, but parts don't come cheap. Synths without owners… who will pay for their repairs, and where will they go afterwards?"

  "I think I may have a solution for that." A familiar face emerged at the doorway, his old frown still in place, but his air of power gone. Elias's dad stood contrite, his hands folded in front of him.

  "Dad, I don't want to talk." Elias turned away, trying to hide the anger in his eyes. "I just want you to leave me alone."

  "Hear me out, at least," Elias's father said. "What I want to offer you isn't perfect, but it may help. I need workers, and I'm willing to pay them a fair wage. Ario has shown me that synths are competent enough now at human tasks that require more than just automation, so I was thinking… if you can send me synths that need jobs, I can pay them, and in turn, they can pay you back for their repair bills."

  "You tried to get Ario killed. You're the rea
son I lost Brynn. Now you're trying to make amends? It's too late. I'm grateful you helped me go back to school, but I can't forget that you called the Department on Ario."

  "Elias." It was Ario who spoke, placing a firm hand on Elias's shoulder. "We could use his help. These are imperfect times, and we must all meet in the middle if we want to move forward."

  "But!" Elias gripped his screwdriver tightly before gently setting it down in the synth set with the other tools. Hadn't it been him who had told Ario that every life was important? Yet here, now, was a war he didn't want to back down from so easily, not while Brynn's death still rankled. Not while his father's bitter words about Ario and synths still echoed in his mind. Here was a man who would never see Ario as an equal, and yet… "Fine. But you'd better pay them what you pay your human workers, and submit them to no greater risk."

  "Agreed." Elias's dad turned to leave. His mouth moved as if he was going to say something, but he closed it again and walked out into the hallway. Elias followed, led by his own wish to know what his father's thought processes were.

  "I didn't know about Brynn. From my angle, it looked like you were projecting your feelings onto something that could never return them. I didn't want you to get hurt. I had no way of knowing you were tinkering with his code… or that such a thing was even possible."

  "Fine, but that doesn't explain how you treated Ario," Elias complained.

  "Look, Elias. Try to see things from my perspective, even though I know that's hard for you. I see my son, a good, bright young man with a promising future. And then I see he's fascinated—obsessed, even—with something I see as a toy. I'll admit I was relieved when Brynn was gone. I hoped you would move onto a normal relationship. Then I met Ario. I knew he was more able than Brynn, but he's still a synth, and a sex synth at that. What was I to think? My son is dating a robot prostitute. It wasn't how I'd hoped things would turn out for you."

  "So you've said. But I don't exist simply to fulfill your wishes. I know I'm not normal. I know I don't fall in love like others do. I don't think the same. Maybe that's a bridge we'll never be able to cross—I don't know, honestly. I just wish that you'd accept that I'm not flawed or broken—I'm just different."

  "I don't know if I'll ever be able to think that—but I'm trying, really, I am." Dad closed his eyes, a bead of sweat trickling down his forehead. "Sometimes, I wonder if you're not more like synths than humans—maybe that's why you're drawn into their world."

  "Maybe that's true," Elias said, as he watched his father walk away.

  Ario stood and wrapped his arms around Elias. Elias let himself be drawn into Ario's comforting embrace. He analyzed the circuits that rested beneath the synthetic skin of his hands like veins.

  "Peace is hard," Elias whispered.

  "It is," Ario replied. "But it is the only way forward."

  FIN

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  Victoria was born in the United Kingdom but emigrated to the United States at age 21. She’s bisexual, happily married and still shouts in a British accent. She lives with her husband in Pennsylvania where she spends a lot of time playing and talking about video games, especially Japanese role-playing games. She has an author website at http://victoriazagar.com and is active on Twitter at @landale.