I'm a Cyborg's Pet (girl X cyborg)

Chapter 9/They lied about the grief counselling and the doughnuts

A/N The video above is about a prototype 3D printed dress. Notice any A.I.s in the background?

I walked along the side of the corridor - perhaps the floor opened up. I had 60 seconds to get out so I rushed down the edge. I reached the red line on the ground. It's only paint, I told myself: it's not like it's full of laser beams and I'm going to have to crouch down like Catherine Zeta-Jones in Entrapment and wave my a$$ around. I tried walking backwards to fool the system but then my collar started to make 'beep beep beep' truck-reversing noises. I decided to run down the corridor, doing cartwheels: I doubted I could escape, but at least I would look like I was having fun doing it. I took some steps back and started running.

"Warning - limits of containment facility. Return immediately <beep>," said my Cortona collar, vibrating.

I continued. Have you ever cartwheeled in high heels? No, me neither! You get a good start, but getting upright again requires a lot more spring and I hadn't really turned cartwheels since I was about ten and so I was a bit out of practice.

"Warning. WiFi signal dropping <beep>," said the collar.

Two more turns. This was getting to be hard work. I rushed: I was only a few seconds from the door. I could feel the cool air of the outside.

"Warning. WiFi signal lost," said the collar.

I could almost feel the sunlight.

"Rule 6 violation <beep>," said my collar. It felt like Hermione Granger was standing nearby and had performed some kind of Petrificus Totalus spell on my body. Suddenly I froze and fell to the ground as if someone had scheduled me for tower demolition. 

Now, totally immobilised, I lay there as the door opened and Araneae came in, walking on the ceiling above me. She sounded like she was clapping slowly. "Unbelievable. You, *subject name here,* must be the pride of *subject hometown here,*" she said triumphantly.  Two robots entered through the open door, tutted and picked me up. I was taken down the corridor, once in the WiFI signal re-connected, I could move my face but the movement only returned slowly.

I was dumped in a classroom with a dummy-in-a-collar placed at the front of the class and everyone else sitting around like weird crash test dummies. They put me next to Joe. 

More people were brought in lifeless, then 8933 walked in a little later under her own steam.

"How did you do that?" mumbled Joe through gritted teeth.

8833 smiled, "What's wrong? You too dumb to figure out that wasn't some kind of trick? So I asked Cortona, and she told me that permission has a lower priority than escaping. They can't permit you to escape, it's a Rule 3 issue, so I politely refused."

"Smrrry assezzz," Joe said managed to get out, through gritted teeth.

Finally, Araneae entered the room. If a robot can move in a smug way, she did. Before she entered, my collar told me to stand in respect for a superior being. Anyone who couldn't or wouldn't make it up in time was stung by their collars. Araneae was slow clapping when she came in. That was all I needed to know, these machines were control freaks: I didn't like the idea of slavery but slavery for a nation of mechanical-Martha-Stewarts just managed to dig a new subterranean extension for the 'low' which was slavery. In fact, this was so low that an entire underground metro-network seem high in comparison. I resolved not to hang around to enjoy the New Mechanical Order's attentions a second longer than necessary. There was a way out with my name on it and I didn't care how long it would take, I was going to find it.

"I lied about the grief counselling and the doughnuts," Araneae said.

Again! I thought. These machines really aren't to be trusted with pastries.