Daughter of Zeus ✔

20.3

"Tell me what happened at the hospital," Shylar asked from the passenger seat.

They had gotten into the sub-garage to leave, and he had gone for the driver's seat. Ada had zapped the handle of the door before he could open it, effectively taking control. Even though the car was put on autopilot more often than not, it was the issue of control that was most important. He knew she liked having her bit of control, and she wasn't going to give it up to her robot friend just to maintain a semblance of politeness.

He also believed employing tact was pointless, which is why his first question left little to be desired. Darcy was asleep in the backseat, and had she been awake, he would have saved his inquiry for later.

She fingered a black ceramic vial hanging from a silver necklace. "I shouldn't have gone, because when I got there, August was already dead. And I was," the last word was hard to say, but she got it out somehow: "glad."

Any other person would have given Ada a reproachful or surprised look, but he kept his eyes straight ahead, remaining impartial to her revelation.

She continued, "On the way there, I fantasized about what would happen when I saw him. I knew I would try to save him, but I thought about how August would react. Maybe he would wake up, he would know me, and we would go on with our lives together. Or, he would wake up, not know me at all, and our lives would go on in separate directions. Yet, with his death, I didn't have to see any of the outcomes. August never had to wake up and see how much I changed. What's best of all is that he passed on peacefully, no longer trapped within a withering shell. So yes, I was relieved to find out my husband was dead."

She sighed. At her pause, Shylar turned to her. She wasn't crying, but her eyes were reflective pools. Lightly, he touched her shoulder. Ada froze then, she reached up to cover Shylar's hand with her own. The hum of an electrical current warned him. It was more than awareness for her skin on his. More like a jolt that increased his blood flow. He didn't mind, and he thought he could get used to it in time. When she squeezed his hand, he smiled at her unusual display of affection.

The intimacy of the moment propelled Ada to admit even more to him. "It may not have been my fault, but I know that—" She closed her eyes before saying, "I killed August."

An eternity passed. "No."

She frowned.

He realized he needed to clarify his viewpoint. Before she shut down on him, he spoke again. "Nothing was your fault. It was an accident."

The angle of accident would take a longer time for her to accept, but at least she listened. She might not agree but she said, "Thank you for waking me up to the truth. Even if you were programmed to. None of what you're saying is real or your own, is it?"

The sudden shift of her body moving away from him clued Shylar into was she was feeling. He wished she would stop thinking about him as though he were a thing. "None of this was part of my mission parameter."

As soon as the words left his mouth, he thought, what a jackass. Mission parameter? That sort of wording is sure to convince Ada you're not a robot.

Though, he couldn't help speaking like that. The person he'd been before had been replaced, but traces of his old personality still lingered. Shylar could feel his old memories and thoughts thrumming behind his eyes. Close as they seemed, he knew they were far away, out of reach.

"It wasn't, huh?" she said.

"No, just as my feelings for you are completely separate from the artificial personality constructs Kressick created in my mind."

As the words left his mouth, he worried he was lying to her. He couldn't be sure what part of him was the result of re-wiring or what wasn't, as the line between who he was and he who he had been obliterated the day Kressick smiled, looked him in the eyes, and imbued him with the deepest calm he'd ever known.

She shook his hand off of her shoulder. Her tears fell, and Shylar was fascinated by her suffering.

"I knew you had feelings for me, but I suspected Kressick's programming influenced you." She grinned, a tear tracing its way down her uplifted cheek. "It's nice to know I was wrong."

Even with her tears, she seemed happier. Shylar could see a playfulness replacing her sadness, a calm replacing her anger. Without thinking, he reached up to wipe her tears away. It was the old Shylar in him, feeling and acting out instead of just thinking.

"Why's that?" but he could guess the answer.

"I like you. I have no taste, but I like you. What do we do about that?"

Unexpectedly, he stopped touching her. He straightened, and his face held no hint of emotion.

"We don't have to do anything about it. We can take care of Darcy, take care of each other."

"Shylar." Ada grabbed his hand and held it. "Okay."

He glanced down at their joined hands. The jolt from before surged through him, and his heart beat a little bit faster. Whatever answer he planned, it never came. The car stopped moving, parked in the underground lot of Kressick's building.

From the backseat, Darcy stretched to show she was awake. She saw Ada and Shylar holding hands and grinned.

"Are we there?" Her question came out in between yawns.

"I guess we're home," Ada said.

~ * ~