Coded ambition

Fragment 10: Intricacies, Part 1

It was a grim Sunday shrouded in an eerie silence, the calm before the storm. The season of fall storms had arrived in Cading, and the first cloudburst was yet to come.

Lysander and Dean, visual opposites, stared at each other, waiting for the other to say something. The tone of L-35's voice, with which the robot had summoned the two men here today, was cold and had nothing of the usual calm and modulated melody. It was obvious that this gathering was not going to be of the nice kind.

Dean was in a foul mood. Over and over, people approached him in need of something, and in the state he was currently in, it was too much for him to deal with. Now he even needed to look at another murder suspect in Natalie's case, even if he did not want to see Bea or him. Something had always seemed fishy about Lysander. His gut feeling was telling him that his former brother-in-law could be more than meets the eye.

L-35 lifted his hand to signal that he would now begin to talk. Finally, the men stopped squinting at each other and moved their gazes to the android.

"I am aware that all of us are on edge with the recent events and Natalie's sudden passing. I don't mean to prolong this tension any further for you. Let me just explain why I gathered you here today," L-35 said.

Dean became even more grumpy with those words. As if this steel and aluminum case with a quantum chip was able to feel anything due to the loss of Natalie, her husband thought. Absurdly, it made him really angry. The robot was talking as if he could understand Dean's grief about her death. But he could not understand it at all. His acting in front of them was just optimized behavior to deal with Dean and Lysander. Catching himself spiraling down into hatred, Dean tried to concentrate on the actual things L-35 was telling him in the following.

"Shortly before her death, Natalie entrusted me with her most important secret. My protocols forbid me to share anything of that kind with you. However, I am aware that she wanted to share the truth with you one day, which is not a secret per se anymore."

Dean glared at Lysander and L-35. Why was Lysander so important when L-35 was about to reveal one of Natalie's most important secrets? Should Beatrice not be here instead? Even though Dean was sitting, his knees buckled a bit, and he held his spine tightly to keep himself upright.

Lysander seemed to be nervous as well, but he did not dare say a word. Unlike Dean, he avoided looking at him and did not force himself into a straight posture. The face of Youngman's genius was pale and avoidant.

"And," L-35 added, "Mark's wellbeing is now of uttermost importance to me. That is why I need to tell you the truth. It's about Mark. My priorities have shifted; hence, I feel obliged to obey my new action recommendations."

Dean's heart was pounding at a terrifying speed. There was only one scenario he could think of that would involve Mark and a former male family member to whom neither Dean nor Natalie were related by blood. Dean's body was all tensed up, and he urged L-35 to spit the 'truth': "Out with it, L-35! It's not like you to mince words."

L-35 bowed the head slightly demurely. "Then I will speak the truth now." He lifted the head and looked first to Dean, then to Lysander.

"Mark is Lysander's biological son," the android said calmly.

Judging Lysander's face, even he had not expected such a revelation.

"W-what?" he asked in pure shock.

"Dean is not Mark's real father. But Lysander is," L-35 repeated calmly, with different words now.

Despite hearing the words two times already, Dean could not fathom the veracity conveyed to him at this very juncture in his life. For some moments, he felt as if he were flying high up in the sky, unbothered by any worldly matters. He could not tell where he was or if he felt any pain. To protect himself from the pain of realization, he was just mentally gone for a while.