Dead World

**Bonus Scene**

Lucinda's voice brought me back to the matter of borrowing her car.

"What's mine is yours," she said and moved her gaze off of me.

"Likewise," I said.

"Are you running errands?" She asked moving toward the kitchen. I followed her. The kitchen was magnificent, modern and sleek, though it only served her servants. She told Eleanora she kept it around because of the 'aesthetic' it added to the house, but I think she did it out of mercy and guilt. It was a fine line to walk.

"Yes," I said then added, "personal ones."

She smiled, an odd spreading of lips to reveal her artificial teeth. "Is Godwin involved?"

That was the thing about Lucinda. While generally mild-tempered and apathetic, she also bore a deep hatred for Godwin. She despised the races and everything they stood for. Unfortunately, his legacy in the community allowed the council in charge of the city to turn a blind eye to his atrocities, to even encourage him in his pursuit of Dead World. Now, it was more than just a tradition for the city, it was an entire business and lifestyle. And Lucinda couldn't stand the legality of it all. How someone so evil could have so much power. She couldn't balance this race with our new world.

"Maybe," I responded, ambiguous.

"Oooh," she said and danced up to me. "Please tell me you're finally going to rip his miserable face off."

"No, but what I'm doing will definitely piss him off."

"Say no more," she gushed. "If there's anything I could do to help, please let me know."

"Will do," I said as Jupe walked through the kitchen door, key rings spinning around his fingers. He smiled sheepishly between Lucinda and myself, tucking his gaze toward the ground.

"Morning, Jupe, how are you?"

"Doing well Mr. Kit. Thank you. I trust you're doing well."

"Please, Jupe. Just Kit is fine." I said, though it was a fairly reoccurring conversation. Jupe looked to Lucinda who nodded at him in approval.

"Of course, mis...jus... Kit," he said, fumbling through his words. "The car is out front and idling."

"Thank you," I said to him with earnest. Then turned to Lucinda. "Wish me luck?"

"I wish you no such thing," she said, faking offense at such a concept.

"But do know I trust your wits enough to get you through this," she said.

I winked at her before leaving. Being in her house was a break from the reality of what I was doing. Were we really going to steal this girl away and try to persuade her to help us save the world? Could we even trust her? If she was the one Hank promised, she could shut down Ele and I with a snap of her fingers. Protecting her would go against my most basic instinct: self-preservation. I worried not only for my physical body, but the thoughts and data I had accumulated. The very integrity of my existence relied on the memories jammed in my circuits and the fact that I looked like I was related to Victor, that I was made in the image of a real person. And I feared what ability she might've had over me.

There was another gnaw, a deep sense of morality that demanded I do the right thing. That I listened to Victor and Eleanora. That I protected the girl with everything I had so we could set the world straight.

That was what I wanted, wasn't it?

Ah, but then there was the matter of Godwin. He wasn't the only one with a grandiose vision of the extinction of humans. More than half of the city wasn't too keen on their presence and it showed. If Godwin were destroyed or altered, if the girl could even manage to get her hands on him, what did it change? There were still those that sought to oppress humans.

But maybe it wasn't about Godwin at all. Maybe this would be about the girl and what she meant. She had power over them, a true ability to make them heel to authority, something no one had in decades. But it still didn't help me from wondering: had Hank foreseen this conundrum? He was smart for a human, but he could be wrong. Maybe the girl wasn't the answer. There was no answer, just desperate shots in the dark. A maybe here, a dash of hope over there. She was something, a weapon or perhaps evidence of change. Or maybe: she was a message. Change was coming.

"Protect her with everything," Victor said to me. And I would. My world started to change. I would do everything to protect her, to protect the hope she was and the message she carried. She wasn't just a threat but a beam of light, a rope to cling to. If there was any chance at changing our world, she was the path to it. Where she went, I too would go. To right a wrong I aided in, I would give everything.

And when I pulled up to the workshop and saw the Dead World van parked in front of the garage doors, I knew a path was starting to form for us. Her path formed first, evident by the droids that exited the van and crossed the sidewalk to meet with another droid, Hatsuimoto, identified by his generic look and tacky clothes. They chatted briefly and then he wrenched the garage door open. They were a terrible force, imposing dark shadows. A series of shouts and crashes sounded. From where I was parked with the car, only the edge of the garage door and a few feet into the workshop were visible. I couldn't see Mar or the boy she lived with. Devastation rolled through me and a furious rage clenched my fingers too tightly around the steering wheel, creating four new divots on the side.

"Magda!" Her voice wailed, a miserable sound piercing through the glass of the car. They jerked her upright and I caught the agony on her face just before it simmered into painful remorse.

"I'm sorry. Karl. I'm sorry!"

They held her against the back of the truck for a moment while they decided her fate. The seconds ticked by slower than any in my existence so far before they said the words I dreaded and plopped her in the back. Everything was moving too quickly. One sauntered to the driver seat of the vehicle, while the other handed Hatsuimoto a small envelope and shook his hand. Hatsui returned to his workshop yelling as the Dead World van pulled away. My feet scrambled for the pedals.

Following the van, I considered a million different ways to get her out of it. Too many of them ended in me getting wiped and her getting a visit from Godwin. Frustrated, I did the only thing I could do: I followed. We weaved through the city, fighting an exceptional amount of traffic—all in preparation for the race. Suddenly, all the banners and advertisements made me sick. I couldn't stand the sight of the gaudy pink and purple hues of neon signs advertising betting clubs and simulation rooms. Only Eleanora came to this part of town to visit her friends, a part of town that was like a playground for the droids and ring of torture for humans.

LIVE!!! 

HUMAN BRAWLS!!!

BET WITH US!! GUARANTEED STATS!! TONS OF WINS!!

Just outside the jeweled part of town sat the drab racing facility. Once the van pulled through the gated entry, I sped off in the opposite direction, pushing Lucinda's electronic car as far as it allowed. It felt good to be reckless for a moment and consider the future. The only thing I could do to protect the girl was join Dead World, where I could be with her. And it would take quite a lot of tricks to get in.

Good thing Ele was part-magician.