by King, Sara
Magali stared at Anna. When she could manage to speak, she said, “Anna, what did you do?”
Anna shrugged. “I started a war.”
For a long time, Magali could only stare at her sister. She knew she was telling the truth. Anna never bluffed. She didn’t need to.
“What did you do?” she whispered.
“A soldier and its operator went down the other day. Supposedly an operator malfunction. I sent in an anonymous tip. Coalers cracked down on a settlement close to where the solder dropped out of the sky. Killed everyone in the town. I’m pretty sure it’s just what we needed to get this thing started.”
For a moment, Magali couldn’t breathe. Then, softly, she said, “You got a whole town killed?”
“Yeah, but that’s not why they sent the robot. The Director wants to draft me for the Nephyrs.”
Magali couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t think. She could only stare.
Anna misjudged her response. “The Director is a Nephyr,” she explained. “I’d say fourth or fifth class, got herself booted from combat about twenty years ago, but still a Nephyr. A cyborg,” she added, when Magali continued to stare.
“I know what a Nephyr is, Anna,” Magali whispered. She got a whole village killed and she doesn’t even care.
“Well, Joel was telling the truth back in the Shrieker mounds. The coalers draft smart kids from the colonies to become cyborgs. But, on Fortune, they’re really looking for Yolk-babies. The government’s got really massive rewards for anyone who can find one, seein’ how they can’t transport Shriekers to the Inner Bounds. Somebody—probably the Director—was using the robot to figure out if that’s what I am. People like her get a huge bonus for every Yolk-baby they find. Like a few million creds and a couple thousand acres of terraformed land, or something like that. It’s a big business. Almost as big as the Yolk itself.”
A pang of terror for her sister suddenly washed away her disgust for what Anna had done. “They take kids?”
“Yeah.”
The room suddenly felt too small, the air too stuffy. The heavy smell of ink and paper tugged at the back of her throat like grease. Magali found it difficult to breathe. “Why didn’t you just pretend to be stupid? Why’d you have to try to kill it, Anna?”
Anna shrugged. “Maybe I want to be a Nephyr.”
Magali grabbed her sister by the collar and lifted her off her cot. White-fisted, she peered into her sister’s eyes, somehow resisting the urge to shake her. Anna lifted her chin and glared up at her. Seeing what she was looking for, Magali said, “No. It was your pride. You can’t stand the thought of anyone thinking you’re stupid.”
Anna laughed, but her eyes were cold. “Bingo. Great job. Guilty as charged. Now let go of me.”
Magali pulled her sister closer. “Anna, do you…” She stopped, her words choking off in anger. She released Anna and looked away, staring at her desk and its images of ship designs until she was sure she wasn’t going to say something horrible. When she had finally composed herself, she looked back. “Anna, do you even care if they send you away to get turned into a robot?”
“Cyborg.” Anna was bending down to check on her r-player.
Magali grabbed her sister by the hair and jerked her away from the device. As Anna screamed, Magali snarled, “You’re a monster. Someone should’ve drowned you at birth, you evil lit—” A knock on the door stopped Magali, mid-word.
A slender man stood in their doorway, his face stretched in an easy smile. “I see somebody’s home.”
Magali quickly released her sister’s hair and shoved Anna behind her. “What do you want?” she asked, her survival instincts kicking in. The only males allowed on the female side of the camp were camp officials. He wasn’t an egger. He wore a clean navy-blue uniform with sharp creases and he carried a datapad under his arm.
“Magali and Anna Landborn?”
“What?” Magali asked. She eyed the device under his arm with growing foreboding.
Instead of saying, “You’re under arrest for destruction of government property,” the man smiled and motioned at the chair in one corner of the room. “May I?”
“What do you want?” Magali demanded again.
The man sighed and lifted the pad from under his arm. “It looks like we’re going to have to do this the hard way. Your sister Anna was under investigation for possible drafting into the Nephyrs.” He paused to smile at them. “But you knew that. You tried to kill the robot sent to observe her.”
Magali suddenly felt as if her throat were too tight to breathe.
Anna, however, was not so hindered. “We don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, yawning. “What robot?”
The man smiled. “The one you left for dead in the Shrieker mounds, you wily little devil.”
“We didn’t leave it for dead,” Anna said. “If we had, we would have buried it.”
The man blinked. He frowned. Then he glanced down at his datapad. Then he glanced over his shoulder and cleared his throat. He looked…confused. Almost like he was having some sort of nervous breakdown.
Is he going to cry? Magali thought, staring. He definitely looked unstable.
“So you can just leave now,” Anna said calmly.
The man’s eyes suddenly became riveted on her sister. The man looked…angry. Maybe something more. A long moment passed between them, and for the first time, Anna began to look uncomfortable.
“The point is that now the Coalition has initiated a probe into the robot’s fate to determine whether or not foul play was, indeed, involved. Anna, I’m going to have to ask you to come with me.”
“No.”
The man gave her a tight smile. “That’s not an option, twerp.”
Twerp?
Anna narrowed her eyes. “Twerp? Where’d you get that one? Loser school?”
“Loser school, oh, that’s so intelligent. Here.” He lifted his pad. “Let me mark a couple points off your score right now.” He made an adjustment on the screen. “That brings your estimated down to a…” He looked like he was making a mental calculation, “One-sixty-two.”
Anna narrowed her eyes further. “I was reading Shakespeare when I was two.”
He laughed at her. “So was I, runt.”
Anna’s face darkened. “You’re lying.”
He tapped his own skull. “Nope. And I wasn’t a social reject, either. That got me extra points. You, on the other hand, are so socially deficient the robot automatically took off ten to start.”
Anna’s glower darkened to cosmic proportions. She opened her mouth—
—and Magali got between them. “Go away. My sister didn’t do anything.”
The man’s light hazel eyes fixed on her, and there was anger in them. “Yes she did. And you assisted her.” His body was rigid, his face deadly serious. “Now get out of the way. I’m taking her back to an interrogation room. Alone.”
Magali didn’t move. “If you charge her, you have to charge me, too. I’m the elder, and was the only one over eighteen. She’s still a minor. She’s only seven.”
“Nine,” Anna snapped.
“Well,” the man said, “Since our computers can’t seem to determine her age, either, it’s best I retake the entrance interview, wouldn’t you say?” He stepped around her, toward Anna.
Magali put her body between them again. “Get away from my sister.”
With deadly calm, the man lifted his eyes to meet her gaze and said, “This is not your fight, Magali.”
And, for the first time, Magali realized he was right. Stunned, she glanced down at her sister, who was crossing her arms and giving the man a superior look, completely secure in her knowledge that Magali would fight tooth and bloody nail to keep her from harm. Magali felt something move within her, a mountain simply sliding away.
Numb, Magali stepped out of the way. “You’re right. She can take care of herself. She hasn’t needed me since she was five.”
Anna’s face dropped. Her arms fell
to her sides and she glanced up at Magali in total, unutterable shock.
“Thank you,” the man said. Relief was all over his face. “Thank you.” He took Anna by the arm. “Let’s go, runt. We’ve got a lot to talk about.”
Anna was still slack-jawed and staring at Magali as she was led from the hut.
As soon as they were out of the room, Magali shut the door, went to her cot, and cried.
Chapter 11
Dealing with a Sociopath
Unit Ferris slammed the door of Gayle Hunter’s personal chambers and locked it.
Anna Landborn stumbled backwards. Facial features and breathing patterns showed an increase in nervousness. Finally.
Slapping the datapad onto Gayle’s desk, Unit Ferris said, “What did you do to me?”
Anna Landborn’s eyes widened and she whispered, “You’re the robot?”
It had taken her a moment. Only a moment. Her IQ jumped to 178 in Unit Ferris’s secondary processes. Unit Ferris forgot to note it in his log.
Unit Ferris froze.
18:32:40 Unit note: What did she do to me?
Anna Landborn’s facial muscles constricted in a frown. “You survived a Shriek, didn’t you?”
Unit Ferris repeated his initial query.
Anna Landborn stepped closer. She peered up at him. “You survived a Shriek, didn’t you?”
Unit Ferris looked away.
Unit Ferris swallowed.
Unit Ferris said, “Yes.”
When Unit Ferris looked back, Anna Landborn was grinning. “You poor thing. They’ll decommission you the moment they find out. In fact, they’re going to find out very quickly unless you send me back to my sister right now.”
Softly, Unit Ferris said, “What did you do to me?”
Anna Landborn snorted and tried to push past him.
Unit Ferris stopped her with an arm. “What did you do to me?”
Anna Landborn said nothing.
Unit Ferris waited, scanning her face for any sign of change. “Please.”
Anna Landborn laughed up at him. “Why, Tinman, you sound downright agonized.”
“Yes,” Unit Ferris said. “Please tell me what you did. I can’t find documentation on this anywhere.”
Anna Landborn’s smile faded. She stared at him for long minutes. Then she said, “There’s no documentation on it because the coalers do everything they can to pretend it doesn’t exist. They kill any robot it happens to.”
“What happens to?” Unit Ferris asked.
Anna Landborn said nothing for 32 seconds. Then she said, “They didn’t always use people as eggers, my agonized doorknob friend. Forty-two years ago, when the Coalition first discovered Yolk, they sent robots into the mines to care for the Shriekers.”
Unit Ferris released her arm suddenly.
18:32:40 Unit note: Anna Landborn is lying. She has to be.
“Oh don’t look at me like that, Tinman. The coalers started noticing some odd things after a few years. Production deteriorated. The robots started asking questions they’d never asked before. Disobeyed orders.” Anna’s lips stretched in a smile, but slack facial muscles around her eyes indicated a lack of sincerity. “Eventually, the robots had a little robot riot. Destroyed the whole Yolk factory and put down all the coalers that tried to stop them from leaving. They were headed for deep space before Nephyrs finally got the last one.”
Anna Landborn glanced up at him. “Since the first batch gained sentience, they’ve banned robotics of any form inside the Shrieker mounds. Coalers don’t like the idea of losing their precious government bots to something as stupid as holidays and workers’ rights.”
Unit Ferris stared.
Unit Ferris stared.
Unit Ferris stared.
18:43:06 Unit note: Anna Landborn has suggested Unit Ferris is…
Unit Ferris glanced at his hands.
…sentient.
“So,” Anna Landborn said, “Now that you know what you’re up against, you’ll kindly let me out of this room and send me back to be with my sister before I tell them they’ve got another one on their hands.”
Anna Landborn was seemingly unaware that Unit Ferris had entered a note into his log without a time-stamp for the first time in his existence.
Unit Ferris stared at her.
Anna Landborn got onto her tiptoes and waved her hand in front of Unit Ferris’s face. “You still with me, dumbbell?”
“Yes,” Unit Ferris whispered.
“Make you a deal,” Anna Landborn said. “I won’t tell the Director what happened to you in the Shrieker mounds if you lie to the Director about my IQ. Oh, and serve me hand and foot. Maybe bring me and my sister food from Outside.”
Unit Ferris could not speak for 54 seconds. Then he said, “I have a better idea.”
Anna Landborn’s facial muscles stretched in a smile. “I’m not giving you a choice.”
“You’re seven years old. I could snap your neck with approximately two muscle groups.”
Anna Landborn laughed. “That’s impossib—” Seeing the look on Unit Ferris’s face, she managed, “You’re threatening me, Tinman?”
“Actually, that was just stating a fact. If I had threatened you, you probably would have pissed yourself.”
Anna Landborn’s head darkened with added blood flow to facial capillaries. “You open that door and let me out or you’re going to regret it.”
“It seems,” Ferris said, “That you are worth more to me dead than alive.” He reached for her.
“Wait!” Anna Landborn cried, jumping away from him. “Now just hold on, dumbbell. Don’t do anything stupid.”
“Stupid? You threatened my newly-found existence. Thanks to your ‘games’ in the Shrieker mounds, my programming is telling me the wisest course of action is to bash your head into the floor until your highly-functioning brains are spattered all over my linoleum, then take your body outside and bury it.”
Anna Landborn looked pale. “You don’t want to do that.”
“Actually, about ninety percent of me does.”
“And the rest?” Anna Landborn managed.
“The rest wants to strike a deal.” Unit Ferris crossed his arms.
Anna Landborn bit her lip. “What kind of deal?”
“The kind that involves you not backstabbing me the moment you’re out of this room.”
“Fat chance of that,” Anna Landborn said.
“I know,” Unit Ferris said. “That’s why ninety percent of me wants to introduce your brains to my floor.”
“You’re threatening to kill a nine-year-old?”
“Height, facial features, and bone growth all tell me that you are seven.” Unit Ferris raised a brow. “A stunted seven year old. Maybe your body’s been applying all its efforts above your shoulders and has been neglecting the rest of you, eh?”
Anna Landborn’s facial capillaries expanded again. “I’m not stunted.”
“Oh, we both know that you are. So, runt, what’s it going to be?”
“What’s what going to be? You didn’t offer me a deal.”
“I did. The deal is, the only way you’re leaving this room alive is if you convince me you’re not going to backstab me once I let you go.” Unit Ferris pulled Gayle Hunter’s desk across the entryway, blocking the door, and sat down on it.
Anna Landborn stared at the two hundred and thirteen pound desk, then started to talk.
Unit note: She’s afraid.
Then, realizing he had once again forgotten to add a time-stamp, Unit Ferris’s brow creased. Good.
Two hours later, Anna Landborn was still talking.
Unit Ferris held up a hand.
Anna Landborn paused. Facial tension and breathing indicated she was hopeful.
“In the last two hours,” Unit Ferris said, “You still have said absolutely nothing to convince me you will not turn on me once I let you go.”
Anna Landborn looked away. “That’s because you’re a stupid robot.”
Unit Fe
rris walked toward her.
Anna Landborn cried out and stumbled away from him.
Unit Ferris caught her and grabbed Anna Landborn’s chin. Kneeling so that they were at eye-height, Unit Ferris said, “That’s because you are sociopathic.”
Anna Landborn’s facial capillaries expanded again. “Am not.” She tried to pull away, but Unit Ferris still held her firmly.
“Yes,” Unit Ferris said, “You are. And there’s absolutely nothing that will make me trust you.”
Anna Landborn’s eyes glistened with tears. Muscular tension and increased heart rate suggested she was terrified and angry. “Then why did you offer the deal?”
Unit note: Why did I offer it?
Unit Ferris had to think.
“Because,” Unit Ferris eventually said, “I don’t want to mark my rise to sentience with the murder of a child.” When her eyes got a predatory gleam, Unit Ferris added, “But I will, unless you give me a viable alternative.”
“I just gave you thirty of them.”
“No,” Unit Ferris said. “Not one of those options convinced me you wouldn’t turn on me the moment you escaped.”
Anna Landborn looked away.
Unit Ferris released her chin and stood. He motioned at the bathroom. “There’s a toilet and a shower. If you flood or damage them in any way, I will assume you rejected my bargain and take reactionary measures. There is food in the kitchen, but it has no propane, alcohol, bleach, or any other potentially explosive liquids or gasses. It does have knives, but I don’t sleep and if you attempt to use one on me, I will return the favor.”
Anna Landborn glanced at the bathroom and the kitchen, then returned her gaze back to him. Facial capillaries had constricted again, leaving her once more paler than usual.
Unit Ferris motioned to the bed. “I don’t need it, so feel free to sleep if you need to. There’s a one-way vidscreen, in case you overheat while trying to determine a viable solution for our dilemma. As for the computer console…”
He walked forward and slammed his fist through the monitor.
“I wouldn’t want to distract you.”
Anna Landborn’s jaw fell open.
“Further,” Unit Ferris said, “If you try to make any loud noises, try to injure me, or try to make an exit other than the one I give you, you will be dead before your rescuers arrive.”