I was submerged in an alien ocean.
Fluorescent centipedes the size of garden snakes inspected me with their beetle eyes.
I couldn't tell if they were curious or hungry.
Murky waters kept me from seeing beyond anything that didn't glow. One of the feather-legged creatures wrapped itself around my waist. Another around my arm.
I untangled them from my body as nine more water serpents swirled around me.
A slithery tangle trapped my thigh. As I unraveled it from my leg, another whooshed by my head; its body smacked my face as it wriggled away. One more twisted itself towards my neck.
I thrashed my limbs around, attempting to repel the creatures. They continued to swarm me. A dozen more serpents broke through the abyss as they advanced in my direction.
Hands grabbed my blazer from above and pulled me upwards.
I now stood on a thin ledge below ground level with the man I had met only minutes ago.
"Had to make sure the surveillance above didn't see us," he said. A night breeze swept through his long black hair. My own dangling strands chilled my face.
"Could have chosen a tamer hiding place," I said.
We hoisted ourselves up to the ground where a girl in a white dress draped in a sapphire cloak was waiting for us. She had been the one to bring me here. I guessed her age to be around seventeen. Long wisps of blonde hair around her pale face conveyed an air of innocence--though her uneasy gaze revealed a soul tainted with suffering.
"Ezra, I beg you to hurry up with your explanation," the man said as he brushed the dirt off of his caped tunic. "What do you mean she was an Unlisted?"
The creases in his brown skin appeared harsher as he frowned at the girl.
"That's what she told me, Renan. Go ahead, ask her yourself."
They fixated on me. I returned their stare.
"Can I have that cloak back?" I asked, eyeing the black garment Renan had snatched from me before dunking me in the water.
As he handed it back to me, I continued:
"I thought maybe I'd become a snack for those water worms."
I patted myself dry with the cloak before draping it over my body.
"They're harmless," said Ezra. "They're snacks for the big fish."
"Big fish, huh?" I asked, lifting the hood of the cloak over my hair.
"Lacuna 88 is mostly a water planet," she said. Renan chimed in. "Big fish is an understatement."
He glanced around before adding:
"We should get going if we're going to do this."
He stepped off the promenade and started down a dirt road without pause for confirmation.
We were on our way to his home--a home packed with forbidden technology.
Ezra scurried to catch up to Renan. She was--as I was told--the seventh wife of Great One. I had not asked what had happened to the other six.
We walked along the winding road flanked by mud-brick houses. A distant silver orb bathed the neighborhood in moonlight. Great One's golden pyramids loomed high above the makeshift homes.
I glanced up. Unknown constellations blended into a glittered flurry of stars.
I spotted wings as they glided through the air and covered patches of the night sky. Glowing red eyes surveyed the ground below.
"They're back," I said.
Renan guided us between houses with an expert calmness.
We crouched behind a clothes line of rags. A draped bedsheet overhead concealed us from the flying bots. I slumped down on the dirt next to Renan and leaned my head against the mud wall near the suspended rags.
We waited. Renan tilted his head towards me.
"Who are you? Really?" he whispered.
"Exactly as Ezra told you. I was an Unlisted before the experiment. A cargo ship from this planet found me in space. Ezra explained to me that this is where many of the unchipped are sent when they're imprisoned."
"Valuable cargo to leave stranded in space... what were you to them?" he asked. He appeared to scrutinize my attire.
"An s-bot," I said. And a spy. A fun fact I kept to myself.
"Let's go you two," Ezra said, getting up. Silence replaced the whooshing of the bat wings.
It wasn't long before Renan paused at a small house. He pushed the creaky door open and summoned us in.
A woman approached us as we stepped inside. Plump and petite, her weathered dress was adorned only by a marking between her brows of a white crescent moon.
"Oh my Universe!" she said, hugging Renan. "You made it back. I was getting worried."
Renan kissed her forehead as a child's voice chimed from the bedroom:
"Who is that?"
A pint-sized girl with a curly afro appeared in the doorway rubbing her eyes.
"Don't worry about it, Nysa. Go back to bed, sweetie," said the woman.
"Here she is, Yasmin," said Ezra, gesturing at me. "The bot I told you about."
The woman whirled to face me, as though just recognizing my presence. She stared me down before locking eyes with me--then gasped as she took a step back.
"It's her."
"We shouldn't rush to conclusions," said Renan.
"It's her..." Yasmin repeated.
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
"You're here to free us," Yasmin said.
I cleared my throat, ready to correct her.
"I'm here to find out if my parents are on this planet. Ezra told me your husband has a secret database of the inhabitants here."
"That's true, he does. But you're here to kill Great One. You will free us from his madness," she said, her voice animated as she thrust her hands into the air and squeezed them into fists. I did not match her enthusiasm.
"You don't know me..." I said.
Yasmin smiled before replying.
"I know you. You were in your ancestors' dreams."
"That's... not possible," I said, leaning away from her gaze.
"Ohhhh my dear, higher powers are at work that you know nothing about."
"Enough," said Renan. "We don't have much time. Sit."
His expression revealed a worn-out ear to his wife's prophecies. Ignoring her husband, Yasmin gasped as though witnessing another vision unfolding in front of her. Her voice was now laced with caution as she spoke.
"But don't be hasty, Aura--"
"What do you see?" Ezra asked.
Yasmin's body stiffened.
"Demons laughing."
"Could've done this without her coming here," Renan said under his breath before disappearing into the bedroom.
"I'm not making this decision alone," replied Ezra.
I heard floorboards being moved around in the bedroom as I sat down. Nysa watched me.
"Your little girl?" I asked Yasmin.
"Informally, yes," she said. "Nysa lost her family. The streets are not kind to orphans here."
"I want to be a veterinarian when I grow up!" the girl exclaimed.
"Shhh, lower your voice, dear," Yasmin said.
I managed a half-smile. An instinct to introduce her to Pixel tugged at me. I ignored it and felt for the device in my pocket. Still there.
The girl's attention went elsewhere.
"Mrs. Yasmin, I'm hungry," she whispered.
"I'll get you some slug soup. But then it's straight to bed."
Nysa gave an exaggerated nod.
Renan returned to the room as Yasmin transferred cold soup into a bowl from a nearby pot.
"Names?" he asked, resting a metal machine on the table as he sat down. A holographic database flooded the air above the device. Strings of names crowded green widgets below an empty search bar.
I could have given a few dozen. I had a heart full of ghosts.
"Twyla and Rhett Mynx," I said.
My parents. Maybe missing. Maybe dead.
He typed their names on a digital keyboard that projected onto the table. Nysa fidgeted by the bedroom door.
"Are you the lady from space?" she asked.
"She has the ears of an elephant," Yasmin said, placing the soup in front of the little girl. "Must be exciting to see you. We don't normally get visitors."
"What's an elephant?" Nysa asked as she plopped onto the floor and stretched her tiny arms out to grab the bowl.
"Personnel not found," voiced the machine.
Silence swept the room before Renan cleared his throat.
"It's not a complete database," he said.
The words were shards popping balloons of hope.
"Then let's head back," I said.
"Aura's right. We have to go," said Ezra.
As we shuffled to our feet, a sound from the outside froze us in place.
A knock on the door.
Our eyes darted towards one another.
"Aw, krype," Renan swore, then pointed Ezra, Nysa and me into the bedroom.
We weaved ourselves into the small space. A thin mattress on a twin-sized bed was all that filled the room. No closet.
Nowhere else to go.
I signaled for Ezra and Nysa to hide behind me as I stood in the farthest corner, obscuring them with my large cloak. A deep beastly voice asked why the couple wasn't in bed after curfew.
Apologies from Yasmin.
"Do you normally eat on the floor?" he said, stomping in.
A slight gasp from Nysa was met with a swift hand on her mouth and a silent shhh from Ezra.
"I got hungry..." Yasmin said.
The bot picked the bowl up off the ground.
"This doesn't look like rations. What is this?"
"It's a mix of rations, made into a stew," she said.
"Perhaps they're paying you too much food if you're able to make stew. Let me see your papers. Both of you."
Renan's footsteps quickened. A drawer slid open.
The sound of shuffled papers.
Then silence.
The deep voice spoke again.
"Looks like everything is in order. Obey the rules."
"Yes, of course," said Yasmin.
He stomped towards the door.
I winced as I heard the sound behind me.
Nysa had sneezed.
"Who else is in here? This unit is just for the two of you."
He stomped towards the bedroom. I took a deep breath and stood still in front of the girls.
A large robotic creature filled the doorway.
His red eyes locked onto me. He had the snout of a canine and the body of an unknown blue beast in armor. Folded bat wings grazed the top of the doorway. He reminded me of a modified version of Anubis, the Egyptian god of death.
"Who are you?" he asked.
"I'm... a newcomer," I said. "I don't have rations yet so I came here for food."
He stepped to the side and got a clear view of Ezra.
"She's with me," I explained. "I brought her here. We'll leave immediately."
He seemed to be scanning her before moving closer.
"Is that... you. Get up," he said, ignoring me.
Ezra kept her gaze to the floor as she whimpered and did as demanded.
"You're... Ezra," he said. A dutiful posture took over him.
"Great One will be informed of this."
Ezra sunk into herself like a wilted flower and started to weep. The bot cocked his head to the side in my direction.
"Who else are you hiding?"
The little girl peered out from behind the black garment. An agitated huff came from the beast.
"You're all coming with me--"
Before he finished his sentence, I dropped the cloak, lunged onto the mattress and slammed my foot on his chest.
A loud pow quaked through the small room as my boot collided with his body armor.
He lost his balance and toppled over by the door.
"Get out!" I said to the girls.
Ezra stopped sobbing, hoisted Nysa onto her hips and attempted to run out of the room--only to be grabbed by the ankle.
I dashed over and stomped on the arm that gripped her.
Clack--clack--clack--
The bot's canine face twisted into a scowl.
Clack--clack--clack--clack--
A dent formed in the armor covering his forearm.
He let go of Ezra's ankle and grabbed my feet, hurling me to the floor with a hard thud.
I crawled backwards as he stood up. Our eyes locked onto one another.
He advanced closer.
I hit a wall.
The beast bent down, wrapped his fists around my collar and lifted me up off the floor until my feet dangled.
In a stiff tone, he demanded to know: "What are you?"
I didn't answer. Instead, I grabbed his face and drove my thumbs into the inner corners of his eyes. I felt metal parts dividing before he growled and let me drop to the floor.
I crawled through his legs and onto the other side of the room before rummaging through my pocket. After locating the tiny device, I clicked its activation button.
A projection shot to the top of the bed near the beast. The bot watched as a small holographic black cat materialized.
"Aura!" Pixel said in his high-pitched voice, before gasping as he noticed the guard bot.
"Pixel, transform!" I yelled.
Within seconds, the cute cat morphed into a solid, full-sized jaguar. A natural killer's glare replaced his innocent stare. His joyful voice now a low growl.
Pixel lowered his body before lunging at the cornered beast.
The bot held up his dented armor and attempted to shield his face from the pouncing animal. Pixel's fangs crushed into the metal as the beast thrashed his arm around in an attempt to free himself.
I launched onto the mattress and pounded the bot's face with my fist. By the third blow, he seized my hand mid-punch.
Pixel released his grasp and thrust himself at the beast again. Sharp claws gripped at exposed body parts as he latched onto the bot's unshielded neck.
The diversion was enough for me to twist myself free and land a side kick that winded him. He stumbled backwards against the wall--his red eyes flickering.
The bot no longer resisted as Pixel squeezed down. His glowing pupils went black as he tumbled onto the bed near my feet.
Motionless now.
Shocked faces stared in silence from the doorway at the downed beast.
Pixel morphed back into his small form and floated into the middle of the room.
"Whoa!" he said. "Did ya see me? Did ya? I was all like, hiyah! Kapow! Grrr! Arrg!"
He made pouncing motions with teensy claws that latched onto invisible prey as he showcased his baby fangs.
"Yes, Pix, we saw you," I said. I stepped off the bed as the others gathered into the room.
Nysa seemed to awe at Pixel.
"Are you a magic cat?" she asked, most of her body still hidden behind Yasmin.
"I guess," Pixel said, seeming to ponder the idea.
Renan embraced his wife and Nysa as though the beast and I were both escaped zoo animals.
"What are we going to do?" asked Ezra, wringing her hands. "We can't dispose of him... they'll know he's missing."
I turned Pixel off.
"Get me a sharp object," I said, hoisting the bot onto its back. "Let's see what this beast is made of."
--
The robot lay lifeless in the dim room. Yasmin occupied Nysa with a book as Renan kept watch by a window.
Ezra observed as I scanned the bot.
"A bloodless model," I noted. "Also a simple one. Whoever made it was aiming for quantity."
Ezra wrapped her arms around herself.
"Great One has countless guard bots," she said, then paused before adding: "That's quite a weapon you have..."
I looked up and met her eyes.
She's afraid of me.
She seemed to notice the analysis and straightened up, displaying an unconvincing poker face. I felt a faint desire to reassure her. Instead, I looked away.
Vulnerability was a luxury for the sheltered.
"His neural network is encrypted," I continued. "Info scans pull up nothing."
She dropped her eyes.
"What could we do with that anyway? Hack him?"
Something like that. I stored the bot's system scans in my memory. I'll figure it out later.
"We'll have to burn the drives. Scorch the wounds. Make it look like an internal accident. Then dump him somewhere."
"But what if they find out--"
"Then we'll deal with it," I said.
She averted her eyes as a thousand dangers rushed through her mind.
This was your idea--I wanted to say--bringing me here to seek counsel from a mystic.
But she looked at me like a paper swan waiting for a boot to collapse her.
"Get me some matches," I said in a blunt tone. "Let's hurry up and dump this beast."
She bowed her head and started for the door, before pausing as she raised her chin towards me.
"Will you do it?"
I knew what that meant. She and Yasmin seemed to be convinced that I would end their confinement.
"Yes."
--
I lay naked in a bed of red satin sheets, half dreaming in a blackened room. I'd made it back to my assigned chambers within the main pyramid. I had been here stirring for the remainder of the night after we had dumped the guard bot on a side street.
Arlo entered my mind. A flashback of my legs hooked around his arms.
My back against a wall in his hallway.
Our synced breathing. His deep moans. My exposed chest.
A spark of primitive heat rose in between my legs. I slid my fingers down my bare skin, past my naval.
A harsh knock at the door jolted me back into the blackness.
The door swung open.
Ezra.
Automatic wall lamps blossomed with dim lights towards the ceiling as she rushed into the room.
"Why are you in bed? You don't even need sleep."
"I like dreaming."
"Get dressed. Great One wants to meet you at breakfast in twenty minutes."
"Is he aware that I don't require food--"
"Of course, he's aware."
She glanced at my spotless clothing on the floor.
"They're self-cleaning," I said, propping myself up with my elbows.
She reached into the pocket of her white dress and pulled out a box.
"He asked me to give you this," she said, opening it.
A black metal pendant with a long chain. It was a necklace with the Egyptian symbol for immortality.
"He wants you to wear it at breakfast."
I watched her delicate fingers lift the gift out of the box.
"Unfair to have his wife giving gifts to an s-bot," I said.
She shook her head at me.
"Great One knows best."
"Well," I said, shrugging, "maybe we can just poison his oatmeal and--"
"Shhhhhhouldn't keep Great One waiting too long."
Her body seemed to be shaking from the inside.
I scanned for surveillance devices.
Hm. A hidden camera. Upper left corner of the ceiling.
"All is taken care of," she said as I glanced up.
Ezra corrected her scrunched posture and cleared her throat.
"It's a nice chain, yes? Long and sturdy."
She gave it a quick tug to show its strength before she furnished it around my neck. Then said:
"It's rare to get more than one chance to... make such a bold statement."
I nodded. I wouldn't need the chain to kill him, but the gesture made me smile inside.
There was a backbone attached to those trembling hands.
Ezra folded a lock of blonde hair behind her ear.
"The dining room is down the hall to your right. Hurry up," she said, then scuttered out of the room like a rushed mouse.
Alone again, I placed my feet on the floor. The room was bare aside from the suspended mattress. The lights revealed an abstract design--crisscrossed markings etched into the brown walls.
A decoration that reminded me of fingernail scratches a prisoner would make.
I grabbed my clothes--how long before they discover who I am?--and started to get dressed.
Soon...
It won't matter.
--
I wandered down the hazel hallway. Slits of ambient light cut through the walls and sliced the ceiling. A luminous circle with three interior lines decorated the end of the hallway. I zoomed in to scan it.
A glyph. Symbolized power.
Part of me was surprised it didn't glow a gaudy gold like the exterior of the pyramids.
I heard muffled sounds and amplified my hearing. Ezra and a man were talking. Liquid was poured.
I was close.
When I reached the power glyph, I turned right as instructed.
Off-white walls and a high ceiling housed a horizontal digital fireplace in front of me. A cascading diamond curtain suspended by artificial clouds obscured my view to the dining table. A figure noticed me.
"Ah! There she is!" echoed the man's voice.
I passed the shimmering veil and got a clear view of the bright room.
And him.
I zoomed in as he walked towards me.
Shorter than me. Average build. Wore a plaid suit with a gold metallic tie. Round black-rimmed glasses.
Unreadable biometrics.
He stopped in front of me and eyed my body as though I was a museum statue, then clicked his tongue.
"The SG and their space junk," he said, shaking his head. "Their trash is making me a happy man these days."
"So," he continued, now making eye contact, "you're the unassigned sex bot found on my new toy. Do you have a name yet?" He spoke to me as though addressing a child.
"No."
If he was scanning me, my specs would match my answer.
Default pre-registration settings. A false product code. My not today forearm tattoo already faded to match my skin tone.
A faint digital glow of my info speckled his glasses before disappearing.
"Well then. I'll call you... Cupcake. Yes. Cupcake, it is," he decided for himself. "Do you like that?"
"I love it," I said through my teeth.
He motioned for me to follow him as he walked back to the table where Ezra sat. I complied.
The space was near naked. Asymmetrical stone tablets lined the sides of the room. Pale statues shape-shifted in a dangling dance above the stones--morphing into various sharp-edged sculptures.
I took a seat diagonal to Ezra at the long glass table. She looked down as she forked an exotic fruit salad. Great One sat at the head to my right a few seats away. Round opaque windows behind him eclipsed our breakfast.
I held back a gasp as a guard bot entered the room wearing a tuxedo.
Same red eyes.
Same blue snout.
Yet this one had no wings and gripped a coffee pot.
He proceeded to the table and poured the hot liquid into a cup near me.
Not so intimidating as a butler.
Still, Ezra would not meet my eyes.
Slices of bread with various toppings decorated three-tier plates. Fruit with spikes lay sliced up on an oblique cutting board. White bowls cradled gleaming blue globs of jelly.
"You must try the mizpah," said Great One, signaling at the luminous blobs, then flicked a wrist at the bot.
"E-22, prepare some toast for her."
Obeying, the guard bot plucked a slice of bread from a diced loaf and smeared on the jelly-like food before placing it on my plate.
I scanned it. Unreadable. I paused, unsure if I wanted to try it.
"You do know how to eat, don't you?" Great One asked.
I glanced at Ezra as she chewed her food in a cautious rhythm--then picked up the toast and took a bite. The salty bits popped in my mouth as I chewed.
I swallowed and asked:
"What is it?"
"Inquisitive," he said, raising his brows and waving the guard bot away. "Do you like it?"
"Sure."
"Sure? Ha! Haha! Sure," he mimicked, then looked at Ezra--who chuckled with tense shoulders.
He bore his eyes into me.
"Call me old-fashioned, but you're supposed to be a fantasy," he said. "Shouldn't you be more... refined? More proper?"
"I'm supposed to be a lot of things I'm not."
Ezra took a long breath and smoothed her dress down. He seemed to be thinking about my statement as he tapped his foot against a table leg. The conclusion he reached contorted his face.
"Well then, is there something you want instead, your Majesty?"
His comment towards me was met with fidgeting hands from Ezra before she finally spoke.
"The s-bot is probably not well-calibrated after getting stranded for who knows how long..." she started.
"No one asked for your tiny opinion, EzraaaaAAAAA!"
The echo of her name skipped into the hallway.
I stared at his red-hued face. My jaw open. The toast suspended in my hand. Ezra sunk into her seat and apologized.
He adjusted his metallic tie and chuckled as the heat left his cheeks.
"I said to her earlier, you speak when spoken to, understand? She said yes, I understand. Now look," he said, gesturing towards Ezra. "A real idiot, this one, don't you think?"
"Yes. There is an idiot at this table," I said, stuffing the rest of the toast in my mouth.
Ezra winced.
I chewed the food and swallowed, then stared at nothing as I waited to hear my new name bounce down the hallway along with Ezra's.
No response.
Then--a burst of laughter from Great One. A cackle that tinted his cheeks again.
"HAHAHAHAHA! Haaa--HAHAHAHA--"
"I don't know," he said, simmering down. "Maybe I won't reprogram you. I need that humor around here."
He took a bite of his breakfast as Ezra relaxed her shoulders.
"Do you like your Ankh necklace?" he asked while chewing. "It's a key... if the door opens, you're allowed in. If not, stay out. Easy enough, yes?"
"Yes," I replied.
"Ah, there," he said, motioning at a hallelujah moment. "Some common sense. Refreshing."
I glanced behind him at the windows--too tinted to see outside.
"Curious?" he asked.
I nodded as he stuffed the last of his entree in his mouth and stood up. He clapped away crumbs and motioned for me to follow him towards one of the giant windows.
The glass brightened as we came closer until daylight flooded the room.
A bird's eye view of a black ocean and a dark sandy coastline was now visible as he spoke.
"I have quite the day ahead of me."
Tiny figures below prepped large ships and raised red sails. The streets were lined with mud-bricked houses beyond the coast. A city-like vastness with third-world appeal.
I figured it was safe to ask questions since he'd brought me here.
"Who are those people?"
He looked towards the ships as though observing an infestation of insects.
"Unlisted vermin. They hunt at night for the creatures that carry those eggs you just ate," he said, smirking at me. "This planet is a black market's dream, Cupcake. Hard to miss a crime-ridden slum like Mars when you are the sole supplier of such a versatile asset."
"You built all of this yourself? It's monumental," I said, hoping my admiration sounded genuine. "I'm sure the people around you appreciate your hard work."
He gawked at my last statement.
"Pfff. No one appreciates anything I do around here. They just take and take and take. I've come so far," he said, more to himself. "All those sleepless nights..."
Sleepless nights exploiting the vulnerable.
Then he turned to me, his eyes filled with memories.
"When we found this planet, I thought--why be an accountant for the black market when you can monopolize it."
"We?"
"It was different when we first arrived here," he continued, ignoring my question. "Much different. But loyalty is still as hard to find as competence."
He appeared to return to the present and shook his head.
"You needn't worry about any of that, little robot. I have a different purpose in mind for you."
He eyed my body. I tried not to cringe.
"Why don't you go back to your room," he said, his voice low. "I will be there shortly."
I stepped away from him--unable to fake enthusiasm--and headed down the hallway.
As I walked towards my room, I toyed with my necklace and thought:
The chain might be fun to use, after all.
--
It wasn't long before he was at my door.
He greeted my back as I fixated on one of the wall lamps.
I wondered if dark men saw the light before death.
My right hand gripped the Ankh necklace--its chain bunched into my palm.
"Nice outfit," I heard him say. "How shameless."
I said nothing.
"Turn around."
I did.
He came closer to me. I could feel his breath on me.
I looked down at him and asked:
"What's your real name?"
He chuckled into the back of his hand before responding.
"You ask brave questions. Only a new sex bot wouldn't know any better."
After a why-not shrug, he answered.
"Vestor."
"Your real name is... Vestor?" I asked.
"Don't repeat it, Cupcake. Just call me Great One."
"Now," he continued as he took a step back, "take off your clothes."
I pretended to consider it before I answered.
"No."
"What?" he asked.
"You heard me."
Enough of this, I thought.
I stepped forward and headbutted him in one swift motion.
The blunt force from the blow blurred my vision on impact.
His skull was... harder than I'd expected...
"Tsk tsk," he said, then latched onto my blazer and forced our heads to clash again.
He was still standing as I dropped to the floor, my ears ringing.
I stumbled backwards as he came closer.
"You're..." I started, still waiting to see only one of him. He snatched the necklace out of my hand and threw it out of reach.
"You're not human," I said.
I knelt by the bed and stared up at him as I cradled the swelling on my forehead. Drops of crimson stained my fingers.
Uncertainty--and Vestor--hovered over me.
"I suppose we do need to reprogram you, after all," he said, ignoring my revelation. "Don't we, Cupcake?"
He grabbed a handful of my hair and started to drag me across the floor towards the door. I scrambled to loosen his grip as the dizziness faded. His grasp wouldn't budge.
I gripped the doorway as we left the room.
"Where are you taking me?"
A hard yank forced me to let go of the frame as he continued to drag me down the hall into an unknown area.
"Where are we going?" I asked again.
He sighed, then spoke. His tone casual.
"You heard me."
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