I thought of my father, the hard-working man who raised me. With my mother dying when I was young, he did everything he could to make sure I was okay—him, and my grandfather. The two of them worked and did everything Lyons asked. It was because of them that I knew what I did today.
Would they have wanted me to become a back-alley technician? Probably not. Most weren't good and had a bad reputation if they were around long enough. And those that were on the streets with a name were eventually scooped up, arrested, and behind bars, good or not. Was my time up?
As the man continued to glance into the room, I wasn't so sure. He told me I could run.
"World clock's ticking, Elijah," the man said, glancing at his wrist.
World clock. Ha. Funny. Was that government humor? The lack of hostility made me curious. Mr. Suit and Smiles here didn't seem like the type. But I didn't trust being in the room with him.
I reached behind me for Victoria's hand. It made me happy to know she was waiting and quickly pressed her fingers between mine. Focusing on the man, I asked, "Do I need to go in there? Or can it be said right here?" I motioned around the hallway.
The man's brows lifted before he pressed himself on his toes. I could tell he was trying to look downstairs. "Is your farmer friend still lingering?" he asked, looking at me.
"I don't know, I—" I looked back at Victoria. "Is he still downstairs, Vicky?"
Her gaze relaxed, white light passing over green again, before she blinked and nodded. "He is," she said quietly. "It seems like he's trying to listen."
"Listen?" Mr. Suit came closer. "You're 100 Series can do property scan?" he asked.
I looked back at him and nodded.
Property scans were only available in the Personals 500 Series and later, added for additional security and peace of mind. Any model before it wouldn't have been able to run that type of data, especially not a 100, but I needed Vicky to be my eyes and ears, especially for places I couldn't see and hear on my own; for both of our sakes. It wasn't a hard program to tweak and fix, either.
"Excuse me, 100—"
"Victoria," she and I said in unison. We looked at each other and smiled.
"Shit, it has a name." Mr. Suit lifted his brows, wiping his cheeks. "Okay, fine, Victoria, is he close by enough that if I called to him, he—"
"I think he heard you," she said. "He's already leaving, heading over to the stables. His 400 is waiting there for an update on this situation."
Mr. Suit's look of disbelief had me laughing. It wasn't loud, but I felt the tears in the corners of my eyes. I wiped them before I looked back at his face. "So, if he's gone you can say what you need to say."
He cleared his throat. He couldn't take his eyes off Victoria. Just like I'd done to Robert downstairs, I waved my hand to get his attention. He blinked and looked at me. "Um, I'd rather we sit down and—"
"Elijah." Victoria tugged at my hand. "He's safe. There are no weapons on his person and the only piece of technology he has is an outdated smartphone without its recent update."
Mr. Suit gasped.
"Anything else you can see?" I asked her.
"Not really," she shrugged. "He's just here with one job, looks like."
Blinking, I couldn't hide my smirk as I looked back at Mr. Suit. He had his hand over his mouth, eyes opened wider than normal. As I stepped off the stairs, he inched back. "I guess it's safe to talk to you about... well, whatever it is you want to talk about," I said.
He didn't move. And since he looked like he didn't plan to, I squeezed past him to step inside the room. The neatly made bed matched the yellow wallpaper out in the hall. I eyed it. Why was everything so sunshine?
As Victoria came to my side, the door shut behind us. I glanced back just as Mr. Suit stepped inside, never dropping his hands from his mouth. "She can really do all of that, huh?" His voice was muffled against his fingers.
"Uh, yeah," I said, crossing my arms over my chest. "Are you here to talk about her? I have her licenses at the house and," I sucked my teeth, "her Series is so old, I doubt any patents are still in effect for her number. So—"
"Oh, no, I'm not here to talk about her. I mean," he threw his hands up and sat on the bed, "I am but I'm not if that makes sense."
It didn't. None of this made sense. Why would a random man in a suit with random knowledge of my family and the company I grew up with come looking for me to ask questions? To find me through one of my clients, of all people?
He folded his hands, sighing. "Look," he glanced at me with a weak smile, "I guess it's time for introductions."
It was past that. "Sure." I lazily waved my hand in front of me. "Since you already know who I am, who are you?"
"I'm, um," he rubbed his face again, "Frank Luis, a Lyons associate for the government."
Now the suit attire made sense. His being here didn't. I stared at him, waiting, silently telling him to continue. When he looked at me, I knew he got the message. "We've been watching you for a while—"
Oh, were they? Government surveillance was still a thing, huh?
"We know what you're capable of, and I see it." He looked at Victoria. "If your 100 can do all of the things she's displayed today, imagine what you're capable of."
My brows lifted. I didn't need to imagine. I knew.
Frank cleared his throat, breaking the awkward silence that had settled in the room. "As you may know, we've released the 700 Series androids and machines."
I nodded. "Mhm, I know." The new androids came paired with an update I spent days protecting Victoria from.
He cleared his throat again. "And we need a programming engineer for the 800 Series."
I was taken aback. 800? So soon? "New sets come out every ten years."
"They did," he said, then looked me directly in the eye. "But we need someone to start on the 800s sooner rather than later, and hopefully," he gave me an awkward smile, "we can release the new series before expected."
Pinching the bridge of my nose, I shook my head. Here I was confusing myself when he was the one not giving me the needed information. "I don't know why you're telling me this," I whispered.
"We need you to build the 800s and create the newest update."
My hand dropped. My eyes widened. Me? "And Lyons decided on me because of what?"
Frank blinked. "Do you not see your 100?"
"Victoria," I corrected him, raising a finger, then continued, "and yes, I do, I see her every day."
Frank sighed. "Elijah, you're beating around the bush."
"Shit, not as bad as you are." I snorted and looked at Victoria. This was the first time in years that I'd seen her so silent. Ever since I broke through her programming, firewalls, and safeguards, granting her mental freedom with a vast amount of information, she was a chatterbox. She never failed to speak her mind. Yet, now, as Frank spoke to me, she kept her head down. I could see her emerald eyes pass over the floor. Her mind was racing.
So was mine. I looked back at Frank. "Tell me, you all have been watching me for a hot minute now, right?"
Pursing his lips, he nodded.
"And not once did anyone think to arrest me. My work is illegal. Or did that change at some point?" I folded my hands in front of me, waiting patiently for his answer. It took a few minutes for him to look at my face. Nervousness pressed lines around his mouth. He breathed heavier, louder. He even adjusted the collar of his button-up shirt, as if he was suffocating.
I clapped my hands together and leaned back. "I will take your silence as no—can't arrest someone so valuable, right?"
Again, he nodded. "We need you."
I blinked. "Because I can fix anything?"
Frank pursed his lips. He couldn't look at me, but couldn't turn away, either. "Listen, Elijah," his gaze shifted to the window, "I can't tell you everything unless you agree to help Lyons."
"Right." I nodded. "So, question—"
His eyes widened. "Okay?"
"—Does your offer still stand; I can leave? Just hop in my truck and go home?"
Frank cleared his throat. He pushed up from the bed and stood, wiping his palms against his palms. "If you didn't want to hear me, you could've left, yes," he said.
Slowly, I nodded. "Okay, that's cool. And if I decline now?"
"Um..." Frank nervously passed his hand over his head. That slick look he tried to keep crumbled. Strands came undone. I saw the dark brown and light greys underneath. The government must have caused him a lot of stress, huh?
"If you want to decline the offer, then I suppose you can leave..." He sounded so unsure of himself. Of everything. I was sure whoever gave him this assignment hadn't expected this outcome. What person could say no to the government? To save the world?
Me. I was that person. I didn't need or want that kind of pressure.
"I decline," I said, and didn't allow him to say anything.
Reaching for Victoria's hand, I tugged her out of the room. Together, we walked down the steps. Once outside, the late afternoon sun slapped against Robert's house, but I saw him out of the corner of my eye. He was in the stables, just as Victoria had said. Rather than head to my truck, I approached him instead.
He fumbled with his dirty cloth as he looked at me. His 400, the tall brunette with big auburn eyes, peered at me from the open stable's door. She gave me a small wave. I did the same before placing the same hand in front of Robert, palm up. "Three hundred," I said.
"Um," he gulped, and with his cloth, wiped at his forehead, "for what? You didn't repair anything today."
I cocked a brow. "For my troubles," I insisted. Sternly. I didn't know how or what led up to today, but it wasn't worth my time, and life, to come over here for a repair that wasn't going to happen. So, I wiggled my fingers when he didn't move. "You know what you did, Robert, and I need my money."
With a shaky sigh, he reached for his wallet. "Elijah, I didn't mean any harm by this. I thought I was helping. I—"
As soon as he placed three solid bills in my hand, I closed my fist around them and turned. I didn't want to hear the rest of his apology, or what it could be. I needed to get Victoria home, I needed to lay down. If I fell asleep now, the day would be over.
Victoria quickly sat in the passenger seat as soon as I hopped on the driver's side. Once I tapped the ignition and the engine roared, she reached for my hand. "Elijah are you sure about this?" she asked.
With my hand on the steering wheel, I looked out the back window to reverse out of the farm. "It's fine," I said, pulling onto the small dirt road.
As my truck's tires picked up dust, Robert's yard androids looked at me. They stopped working as if they knew what had happened, knew that I refused to build the next batch of machines. What did it matter? I said no, and they'd move on to someone else, right? The Earth kept moving, machines got built; it was a never-ending circle of our future life.
But as I put the truck back into drive and turned towards our house, Victoria looked at me with the same eyes the other androids had. As if I made a mistake, I should've said yes.
No. This was my mind playing tricks on me. I'd made up my mind on the government when I was fifteen. Being twenty-seven couldn't change that.
Pressing my foot on the gas, I looked at the road. "Before we get home, I'm scooping up a drink."
***
I stood in the old Garret's garage, a cup of whiskey in my hand. I would've stood with the entire bottle, but Victoria worried about the alcoholic content and the effects it'd have on the body. I for one didn't care about losing track of time while intoxicated; I did that enough sober. My grandfather's desk covered with articles, reports, and old tablets I was supposed to test and return was evidence of it.
Naturally, I was a garbage fire.
Footsteps approached the side door. I didn't turn, my eyes fixated on my father's old Lyons Engineering Certificate—William Garret Jr., Mechanical Engineer of 2086! He had been so proud of it. And so was the Lyons company. Until they decided they could build his machines without him and raided our whole house looking for his books.
My grandfather died that day. My father died shortly after. I was too young to understand. Or was I? I knew enough. Trusted no one. I stayed in the back alleys for a reason.
The footsteps stopped. A knock followed. Again, I didn't turn.
"Elijah," Victoria's sweet voice, "Frank is here to see you."
Now I turned. I wasn't going to be able to run from this man, which was obvious. No one ran from Lyons or the government. Did he have cuffs with him this time? Would I have an ugly mugshot, just like the others? So much for not being arrested.
She leaned against the doorway and gave me an apologetic smile. "He said he needs to talk to you."
With a huff, I finished my drink.
"I know it's important. I think you should talk to him, Elijah." Victoria's tone made me look at her. She wanted me to do this. Had his offer worried her that much? The world was ending, and that was something we'd known for years. But the look in her eyes told me there was more.
For Victoria, I'd talk to him, and I'd probably still decline. Which meant we'd need a new home. I couldn't stay here and have this man stalk me for the rest of my life.
Chewing on my lip, I approached her and politely held out my glass. "Could I have another?"
She frowned but took the glass. "Elijah—"
"Look," I placed my hands on her shoulders, "for you, I'll talk to him, but to do it, I'll need another drink. For my nerves. Please." Pouting, I tried to give her my best 'puppy dog' eyes. "Just tell me where he is."
Victoria sighed as she helped the glass close to her chest. I took that as a good sign, but when she glanced behind her, into the house, that sign went out the window.
With the way my house connected to the garage, I saw him. Just past the kitchen and dark hallways with bulbs needing to be changed, was Frank. He was in the living room, seated in my father's old chair, with his head in his hands. Even from this far, I could tell he was nervous. Desperate.
I clenched my jaw before glancing back at Victoria. "You should bring him a drink, too."
As she looked back at him and walked into the kitchen without another word, I approached the inevitable. I rolled up the old, dirty sleeves of my tee, and slowly made my way into the living room. I glanced at all of the family pictures hanging on the wall, the very reasons I'd avoided the government for as long as I did. I cleared my throat to get Frank's attention. Instantly, his head snapped up.
"You're here." He jumped up from my father's seat and flattened the folds of his suit.
"Why wouldn't I be?" As I shook my head, Victoria came beside me with two drinks in her hands. She was fast. She handed one to me before walking over to Frank to hand him the other. He took it politely, quietly thanking her.
I sipped my glass, eyeing him from the rim. "I live here. It's my house," I said.
"Yeah, well," Frank's hand trembled as he sipped his drink, "after the talk we had, I thought you'd run."
I snorted into my glass before walking over to the front window. Looking out of it, my yellow grass cried out to me as the wind blew. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen it green. "Why? Are you going to arrest me now?" I asked.
"What?" he sputtered into his glass. "No, no, I'm not here for that."
"Then?" It was funny to think that when I first saw him, he was so sure, cocky, and believed that I'd accept whatever he had to say because 'my father would.' It was as if he didn't know how Lyons destroyed my family for a mathematical equation they didn't write on their own.
"I um—" Frank took another drink. Finished it with one swig. "I'm not supposed to say this, okay? If they found out, I'd be out of a job. Maybe dead. I don't know. But I feel like if I don't do this, you won't come with me." He wiped his brow before sitting down again. He drew in a long, slow breath. "There's a reason we need you. More than just designing machines for the next generation. We need you to—"
He paused, focusing on his hands before he closed them into fists. "Machines change, Elijah," he said, looking at me. "The androids—the Personals, the Insectades, the Breeders—they grow. Change. Evolve."
I blinked, taking another sip. Yeah, everything changed. They kept making new androids with new updates. "Okay. Point?"
He pointed at me. "Your grandfather created the base for what we do today, and your father mastered it." Frank bit his lip. "He did something no one could've done on their own."
He was telling me shit I already knew. "Mhm, I know." I cocked a brow.
Frank quickly jumped from the chair and rushed to the window. "If you haven't noticed the decline of this planet over the past few years, they—the machines—are deciding not to help us. They're evolving and changing and don't see a need for us anymore!"
The world was ending because of machines? Shit. It wasn't something I was ignorant of; I was aware of the self-awareness a lot of machines displayed over the years. I just figured it was the clashing of updates and errors in their systems.
"Our engineers over the past few years have only managed to design new codes and updates that masked the issue. But the higher-ups know this last one won't last long. And we need the androids. But they're refusing to help us. If they keep this up..."
"Our planet's done. And the machines are to blame. That's what you're saying?" I finished my drink.
"What I'm saying, Elijah, is that you're our last hope." He pressed his hands together, pleading. "I know I didn't approach you the right way earlier, and for that, I'm sorry. But I need you to understand, okay? Either you agree and they can continue to keep us alive. Or you run away, and we fight them for a planet that's rightfully ours."
Victoria came back into the living room to scoop up the empty glasses. She took Frank's off the table before taking mine. Pressure rushed up my chest.
Would my father have said yes?
"If you run and we fight," Frank added, "I think you know which side will eventually win."
"If I do this and there's no fighting, if the androids go back to helping us, what then?" I looked back at him. "What happens to me?"
Would they dispose of me like they'd done to the rest of my family?
Frank dropped to his knees. Dropped with a thud. He lifted his hands in front of him. This desperation was real and couldn't have been scripted. When he lifted his head and looked at me with red eyes, I knew it wasn't.
This man was afraid of the end.
"You'd forever have our gratitude. So please, please, help us." Lowering his head, he whispered, "I don't want to die...