The Turing Test - [Open Novella Contest 2019 Shortlist]

15. Coming Home

Maven meets my eyes, hers unreadable, and jerks her chin at Davis. "Give the gun to the human."

I stand frozen as she motions to another android, and he steps forward. "You, get Darwin's other side. You"—she swings back toward me, he lips curling in frustration—"give the gun to the human."

"But—," someone else starts to protest.

Maven cuts them off with a hand in the air. "But nothing," she says, her eyes still on me. "He's the only one capable of using it. Give it to him."

I give Davis a helpless look as he's forced out from under Darwin, and then I have no choice. Under Maven's glare, I hand the gun to him, butt-first, my hands trembling so much I'm surprised he can grab it.

I bite my lips, sealing them against each other as some unknowable force tries to escape my throat. My heart flutters as I stare at the weapon in his beautiful hands. I don't even know if it's loaded, and I doubt he does, either. He's a programmer. His strength is in his mind, not violence. This isn't who he is, but it's who I've forced him to be.

Then we're moving, crowded out by the flames and growing smoke. My eyes sting. Tears have sprouted on the faces of a few others, but I doubt they share the duplicity of mine. I am crying, and I don't know if it's for Davis's loss of innocence or my own, but I know that even if we get out of here alive, nothing will ever be the same.

We make a beeline for the stairs. Davis coughs beside me, his fingers tightening involuntarily around the gun's trigger. Behind us, Maven and the other man—whom I now recognize as Linus, the one Davis pointed out earlier—haul Darwin up the flight as fast as they can. Another pair carries the second broken android.

I grab the banister, wincing as my shredded and burnt fingers touch the cool metal. I avert my eyes from Darwin before he can take over again, and we skid to a stop on the first-floor landing.

We pant for a moment, Davis gathering his courage before nodding to me. I pull the door to the stairwell open, and before I can object, he leaps out, holding the gun with the fake bravado of someone who has no idea how to use it.

I have no concept of the time that passed while we were downstairs, but I'm surprised to find the lobby completely empty, with the black of night beyond its windows. That doesn't stop the sigh of relief that escapes me, just before a security guard rounds the corner.

Smoke billows out the door behind us, and Davis shouts again for us to run as he aims the gun at the man. His knuckles are white, his mouth tight. I hope the man is too focused on the gun to realize how useless it is. I barrel to the exit and hold the door open for the horde of androids behind me, watching through the window as Davis wavers, trying to calculate the soonest possible moment that he can run without risking any of our lives.

And then we're all outside, woefully unequipped for the blasting cold winds that buffet us as we run. My lungs burn, my legs burn, everything burns except for the pain in my fingers, which recedes as they steadily freeze. I follow Maven and Linus now, letting them set the pace, wondering how they can keep their footing with the gale and the slippery patches of ice coating the sidewalk. I chance a glance behind us, looking for both Davis and the security guard, but have to return my attention forward when my feet almost slide out from under me.

"Come on," Maven grunts. I don't know if she's talking to me, or to all of us. She leads us to the train station, which looks as empty as a ghost town. She slips out from under Darwin at the turnstiles, then jumps over. It takes three of us to maneuver his body after her, and then Linus follows. I hesitate, then awkwardly clamber over the bar, trying not to leave the blood-like substance oozing from my fingers on anything.