Conduit

Ch. 9

"They can repair him," he whispered.

"Oh, yeah? After they destroyed him? Fuck that." I glanced back at Victoria, motioning her to follow. When she stood with Reggie, I looked back at Frank. "I'll be in my apartment. No one is to bother me. I don't want to hear some bullshit response for today."

Frank didn't say a word as we moved past him. Even as I hobbled by, he remained silent. I made sure to look at him once we were down the small hall. "Tell them—"

I had to think about it. What did I want him to say? I couldn't tell him to explain how I hated this company, and the government, and wished them well with the crumbling world, because I didn't wish them anything.

"Tell them to be ready when I schedule a meeting to discuss my plan of action to deal with all of this."

As I turned to walk away again, Frank quickly followed. "What's the plan? he asked.

I looked at him, cocking a brow. "They'll know when I do."

***

Forty-eight hours.

In forty-eight hours, I was reminded of how evil and manipulative Lyons indeed was. It made me wonder... how were they able to convince my family to join forces? Were there false promises made? Had they been good for the people in the beginning? I didn't know, and after stewing in my anger and frustrations for a few hours, I didn't care.

I spent days in that apartment. Days focused on Reggie's repair, having him connect with Victoria to ensure his computers were functional. I spent the time nursing my wounds, my bones, and the confusion grasping my heart.

I couldn't figure out Lyons' plans for the world. The weapons had to be intentional, but why? Were they looking for androids to kill androids? If that were the case, they'd fuel the conspiracy of an android war.

None of it felt right. Staring out the window of the massive building felt wrong. I should be home, helping those who needed me. Really needed me.

There had to be a way out of this prison fueled by lies.

As I sat to eat breakfast on the eleventh day, Victoria came out of the room to check on me. She looked over my leg, checking for pain. When I didn't look at her, she stood and tapped my shoulder. "Elijah."

With my chin resting in my hand, I looked up at her.

She frowned. "You aren't eating."

I shrugged. "You know I don't like oatmeal."

"You haven't made any food requests to the building, and it's been over a week," she said. "Are you intending to starve?"

"No," I scoffed, leaning against the island in the kitchen. "I'll call eventually. Just not now." I looked at the bowl of oatmeal in front of me, eyeing it with disgust. Victoria had tried to put banana and peanut butter in it to make me feel better, but that didn't help. Maybe it wasn't the food. Maybe it was me.

"I don't want to give them the time of day." Finally, I was honest with her. "They don't deserve it."

"Elijah, there are two big issues here that you are ignoring." Victoria pulled up the stool beside mine. "And I think you're forgetting that."

Chewing on my lip, I looked at her, and past her. Reggie had been in the apartment the entire time, patiently allowing us to work on him. Without the space for him, I'd pushed the couches in the corner of the living room to allow him some kind of comfort. Even if it wasn't physical, the mental support was definitely what he needed.

We locked eyes as he stood, and we smiled.

"Elijah," Victoria tapped my shoulder, "did you hear me?"

"I know what you're going to say." I focused on her, looking her in the eye. "There's a planet full of people, and the androids we depend on. Both need me." I reached for her hand and squeezed her fingers. "But who needs me more, Vicky? If I help Lyons, I'd fuel hatred for machines and put another bandage on an issue that we," I tapped my chest, "humans created by ourselves. But if I ignore this powerhouse company, not only would I put us in danger, I'd throw gasoline on the flame. Androids will be angry."

Reggie walked toward us. "We only want people to listen," he said.

Victoria nodded. "For the world to live and prosper, Elijah, the planet needs to be in unity—both machine and humans alike. If that doesn't happen, the world will die. And if humans die," she bit her lip until she frowned, "androids will, too."

I licked my lip. What she said was right; it was a revolving circle of life. Humans took the basic law of nature and added machines to the mix. For it to function how we hoped it would for hundreds of years, there needed cooperation. Hand holding. Love and care.

Closing my eyes, I slid my hands over my face. "And what am I supposed to do, Vicky?" I glanced at her through the slit between my fingers. "How am I supposed to care about both sides?"

She shrugged. "The way you always have. You helped those who couldn't afford the rates put on them by big companies. And you also cared about us," she placed her hand on her chest, above where a heart would be, "you made sure that we worked, despite the issues conflicting with our code."

That was what I'd done; for years. To maintain the stability of the world as my family had done. And I tried to do it the best I could. Maybe the back-alley life got to my head—all of the hiding and running from the law was a thrill. I couldn't be like that anymore. I was put here for a reason.

"Fine," I sighed. "Make a call to Frank and get him up here, please. He can help me with this email to Katherine."

"He's already coming," Reggie said, smiling still. "He's on the elevator as we speak."

My brows shot up. "You can do an area scan like that? Assembly models don't have that in their programming."

"Yeah." Victoria nodded. "I tweaked his programming yesterday and gave him the ability to do it."

I laughed. Shit, did she learn that from me? Was she paying attention every time I ran her repairs?

Rubbing my chin, I shook my head. "Good shit," I whispered. "Well, then, when he gets in here, I'll tell him to schedule a meeting."

A sense of relief came over me as the pieces fit together in my head; a connecting puzzle of a mystery bigger than myself. I knew what I had to do, but it needed to be done bigger, out loud, and to the crowds who needed to listen. I could be the voice of the androids, the voice of the people, and become the connecting bridge between humans and machines. That was the biggest problem; the lack of communication and understanding.

There wasn't an update that could fix that.

A knock came to do the door.

"He's here," Reggie said.

Nodding slowly, I stood and faced the door. I was ready. "I'll go and let him in and—

Victoria's hand quickly grabbed mine, stopping me. When I turned and looked at her, she said, "He isn't alone."