"I'm sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to make you feel uneasy."
"No, it's fine," I said, feeling a little silly for my reaction. "She's right. I am single."
"If Mrs. Swanson is correct, and it has been awhile since your last sexual encounter, I can provide you with—"
"Oh God, are you saying..." My face must've turned a dark shade of red—I could feel the heat radiate from it.
He did that adorable head tilt of his, as if he were confused. "I am fully equipped with the same anatomy as a human male, and versed in several techniques of love making—"
"Please, just...stop...talking."
His words had a direct effect on my body, and the lack of sex ache that was often present amplified threefold. To say I was tempted to take him up on his offer would be an understatement. I mean, he was an android, so sex wouldn't be fatal to him. Like it was with Pete.
Victor looked down. "Forgive me. I didn't realize that possibility was so offensive to you."
"What? No! That's not why..." I sighed. "Victor, we just met. And while I could definitely use a release..."
My God, did I really just say that out loud?
"...I'm not about to use you like that. I mean, do you even..."
"Orgasm?" he said.
"Feel pleasure," I corrected.
"It's different. I have sensors and receptors, as well as an emotion chip. But I suspect it's rather like how a dog sees colors—less than a full spectrum experience."
His eyes seemed sad somehow. I wondered again about his history with humans, his interactions. I wondered if he were as lonely as I was, cut off from human contact too, albeit for a different reason.
I took hold of his hand and felt that buzz of technology. Hundreds of thousands of lines of code. It was instantly comforting. "I'm glad you're here with me, Victor."
"Thank you." He wrapped his arms around me in an unexpected hug. His body was warm, solid, and I found myself holding on longer than normal. I simply didn't want to let go. It was so much easier to talk to him, to trust him, than it was with a human.
I finally released him. "If those videos are the real deal, we need to stop it from happening."
"Agreed. I will run my comprehensive diagnostic overnight, and let you know in the morning."
Chapter 8
The following morning, I awoke to the smell of coffee brewing, a special imported blend I purchased a while back but hadn't yet had a chance to taste. Just the aroma of it was heavenly.
And then I remembered I wasn't alone. Eager to hear the outcome of Victor's scan, I rushed to the kitchen.
"Good morning! How did the diagnostic go?"
Victor opened his mouth, I thought to respond, but then he just closed it again. His gaze lingered on my half-naked form.
I blushed, now fully aware I was still dressed in my nightgown, which consisted of a satiny off-the-shoulder shirt. Yep, just the shirt. Barely covered my ass. "I'm sorry, I can get dressed," I mumbled as I turned to leave.
"No, I'm the one who's sorry," he said. "I didn't mean to gawk, I just never saw so much of the female body, up close."
"Understood, I'll go change."
"It's okay, Cass," he said, but I kept moving. I felt so stupid, for making it weird between us. But to my defense, I wasn't used to having house guests. Sometimes I wore even less, lounging around my house. With all the blackout curtains drawn, it wasn't like anyone could see inside.
I changed into a pair of jeans and a comfy t-shirt and then rejoined Victor. A cup of coffee awaited me on the breakfast nook table, along with creamer and sugar.
"You do drink coffee, right?" Victor said, as he joined me at the table. "I'd seen some coffee grounds in your trash and assumed it was your beverage of choice in the morning."
"You assumed correctly." I fixed it up the way I liked and took a sip. It was divine.
"I apologize for earlier," he said, avoiding my eyes. "This is your house, you should be able to wear whatever you want. I was... struck by how lovely your form was."
"It's all right, really." The compliment was nice but unexpected. It wasn't often I was described as lovely. "And thank you."
He smiled. "I have good news. After I completed the comprehensive diagnostic, I discovered the reason behind the suspended mode I was in. My future self had uploaded the videos, set them to run at startup, then placed me in suspension with a trigger to come online again."
I took another sip from my coffee. "What trigger?"
"You. He, I mean I, deactivated all overrides and programmed myself to stay that way until I heard your voice."
"Me?" My forehead wrinkled. Why would I be the trigger?
"Perhaps my future self determined you were needed to stop the virus." He seemed to be accessing something, I presumed the videos.
"But I wasn't even in the videos." Time travel theories always gave me headaches when watching sci-fi movies, and this was no different.
"Exactly. The whole intent of going back in time is to change the past. Introduce a variable that wasn't present the first time around."
"That makes sense, but why me? If you didn't know me before, then how would you even know to look for me?"
"You are known, Cass. Your reputation as a consultant is widely known amongst the IT world and beyond." He paused to consider it. "Perhaps your enhanced ability will make a difference this time."
Not that I was ever one to shy away from a conflict or challenge, but now the fate of all humanity is riding on my shoulders? Part of me wanted to just leave. Buy an island somewhere and wait for it all to blow over.
I knew deep down that I had to help. After all, time traveling androids don't ask just anyone to save the world.
"How did you manage to travel back in time anyway? I mean, are we sure that's what we saw?"
"Genitech was researching it. I must've spent the two months between the first video and the second completing that research."
I chuckled. "You make it sound like just another side project. Is time travel really that simple?"
"Two months is a long time, for me." His gaze fell to the floor. "With enough time and access to data from other scientific minds, it is possible. I can process over 9 sextillion operations per second."
"That's amazing." It gave me hope, that together we could stop this from happening. But how?
I needed to clear my head if I wanted to come up with any kind of a plan. I turned on the TV and grabbed a water.
Victor followed me around like a puppy dog. It was kind of cute. But also a little sad. I wondered if my taking him in meant I was responsible for him now.
The news was on and a serious-looking reporter spoke. "The Craff Act is one step closer to being passed, as it was approved by a majority vote and is now on its way to the Senate. The controversial bill would extend the powers of the Patriot Act to not only use any means necessary to determine enhanced status, but to also give the government the authority to detain enhanced individuals, for further study. Democrats have speculated that a special organization already exists and is rounding up enhanced to perform illegal experimentation. We'll keep you posted as this story develops."
"Do you know about that organization?" I asked Victor.
"The OCEI. Genitech is working with them."
"So, it's plausible that this serum in the videos came from Genitech?"
Victor's eyes moved back and forth, as if he were processing something. "Not only plausible, but probable."
"Do you remember working on the serum?"
"I do not. It may be in the locked part of my memory."
It bothered me that the answers to so many of the questions I had about Genitech were right there in front of me, yet still out of reach. I let out a frustrated groan and walked over to my printer.
I grabbed the stack of papers that comprised his "instructions." "Guess I'll start on a little light reading tonight..."
Victor's brows drew together, but then his expression relaxed. "Oh, it was a joke." The smallest of awk
ward smiles appeared on his face. "I will try to find out information about the man from the first video."
"His name is Tyler," I said.
"Do you know him?"
"Not really. But he introduced himself the last time we met."
"The last time? It sounds as if you do know him."
Did I detect a twinge of jealousy in his voice? Perhaps it was simply surprise. "Just happened to run into him. Twice."
"And you think it's a coincidence?" Victor's eyes focused on the opposite wall, as he appeared to concentrate on something else. "The odds of a chance meeting happening twice between you and Tyler are 42,687,742 against it."
"Well, that's very precise...." I had to admit, it was a little strange seeing Tyler at Genitech. I was starting to wonder if meeting him in the park had been staged.
"I will research Tyler," Victor said. He retired to his room, and I was grateful to be left alone. It's not that I didn't enjoy Victor's company, but I'd been so used to solitude that I missed it. The quiet was so refreshing. I curled up in my little reading nook with an obscene number of printed pages. And while new programming languages are always interesting, I didn't last an hour before I fell asleep.
The nightmare I had woke me into consciousness. It was so real, I could feel the virus infesting my veins, pumping itself throughout my body. I could feel my body under attack, trying to fight it off before resigning to its fate. Relaxing into oblivion. As I drew my last breath, I forced myself awake, thinking, I can't die like this...
I glanced at the clock. Shit, I lost three hours. With less than two weeks left, casual naps were out of the question. Though I felt refreshed, I knew I had to keep working if we had any chance to beat this thing.
By late afternoon, I was ready to surrender. The pages on my lap taunted me. Sitting there, laughing at my half-hearted attempt to assimilate a new language. I skimmed through the first hundred pages and determined the complexity of the language was unlike any I'd ever seen. To get up to speed on it, let alone fix a memory issue, would take months if not a year. Time we didn't have.
I joined Victor in his room. He was sitting on his bed, appearing to gaze out the window.
"Was there one person that headed your development at Genitech?" I asked.
"Dr. Sylvia Rhodes." He tilted his head. "I think we worked together a great deal."
It was frustrating to hear him say he "thinks" anything. Uncertainty and computers just didn't go together. "I really wish I could help you with your locked memories. I looked at what you printed out, and it's going to take longer than two weeks for me to learn Dalia."
"I was afraid of that."
"But with the head developer, I may be able to get some answers from her."
Victor raised an eyebrow, something he hadn't ever done before with me. "You think she will volunteer this information?"
"Of course not. But I may be able to extract it from her computer with my power," I explained.
He frowned. "I do not think this is a good idea, Cass. If Genitech is working with the OCEI, then it is a dangerous place to be for you. What if they discover your ability?"
I was truly touched by his concern for my safety. "I can be covert. We need answers. And I have a feeling we might find them on her computer."
I opened my laptop, logged in and connected into the Genitech network. That part was easy. Figuring out which machine was hers? Well, that took some time—all the computers had generic names.
"Do you know what her computer name is?" I asked Victor.
He nodded. "GW-0905-0127."
Then he added, "But it won't matter."
I was about to question what he meant by that, when I was denied access to the machine. I tried seven different commands to get in, but nothing worked.
"What is going on here?" I said more to myself, but Victor responded.
"Her computer is running an in-house developed security suite. Remote access is impossible."
Victor proceeded to explain the basic premise of the software, and as much as I wanted to try to crack it, it sounded like more than I could overcome quickly.
"Okay, onto plan B. I get an appointment with her."
"No."
"Excuse me?"
"I don't want you to go," he said, as his gaze met mine. His eyes seemed bluer than before, and the fact that he didn't have to blink made his stare more deliberate, more critical. "It's too dangerous. I would go in your place, but..."
"But you would get caught. So, it really only makes sense for me to go." I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly, but he wasn't buying it.
"We should find Tyler instead. I've got his last known address, it's in Atlanta."
As intrigued as I was by Tyler, I didn't believe he held any answers.
Okay, was I a little nervous about finding him, about the inexplicable calm that set in at his proximity, about the way my whole world stopped when he spoke? Yes, yes I was. I'd never been in a serious relationship because I tended to seek out men who were safe (before my powers manifested)—guys who just wanted some fun. Idiots I couldn't have an intelligent conversation with. The only exception was Pete, and that ended in his demise.
I refused to have another death on my conscience.
"Tyler is just a victim, isn't he? I mean, how do we know he's even involved, that he knows anything?"
"We don't. But you've spoken to him before. He was friendly, right?"
Friendly wasn't the word for it. "I suppose, but he was at Genitech to invest. What if he's one of the bad guys?"
The second the words left my mouth, I knew they weren't true. Investor or not, the feeling I got from him was undeniably good, peaceful.
"It is a possibility. Perhaps we could tie him up, detain him until he answers our questions truthfully."
I chuckled. "You must watch a lot of movies."
Victor smiled proudly. "Yes, it is a great study of human behavior, mannerisms, and relationships." He rubbed his chin slowly with the index and thumb fingers of his right hand. "Do I not look more pensive now?"
I couldn't hold back a laugh. "Absolutely! But maybe you should observe non-Hollywood staged human interaction as well."
"Noted. I've searched flights, and we can catch a flight tonight to Atlanta—"
"I'm going to meet with Sylvia. Maybe I can gain access to her files if I touch her computer. You can do whatever you want."
"Fine, I will travel alone."
"Think you might have a problem getting through the metal detectors, buddy."
His eyebrows scrunched together, which was just adorable. He wore the cutest frustrated scowl, as his eyes moved back and forth with lightning speed. But then he sighed and closed them.
"I do not see an alternative. Driving there would take too long. Unless..."
The mischievous look in his eyes was scary and fun at the same time. "...I could smuggle myself into the cargo bin."
"Are you insane? You think you can get past security? And even if you did, that no one would notice you? " I took his hands into mine. "Victor, you're the key to unraveling this mystery. I can't afford to lose you now."
"Nor I you. You're the only human I trust." He massaged my hands lightly, circling with his thumbs. "It's safer to go after Tyler."
I knew it was all in my head; even with an emotion chip, androids weren't capable of true affection. But hell if it didn't feel exactly that from him. "I'll tell you what, we can look for Tyler after I talk to Sylvia."
"Okay. But please be safe, Cass. If she threatens you, promise me you'll get out of there.
"Of course."
His arms collapsed around me in an unexpected hug. "Thank you."
"For what?" The hug was warm and despite all the hardware beneath his facade of skin (or maybe because of it), it felt comforting and safe.
"For letting me stay. For not rejecting me or treating me like an abomination."
I considered how generally technophobic people could be, and I understood what he meant. The fact that it was so d
ifficult to tell the difference between him and a human made more than a few people uncomfortable, I was certain. "You are a marvel. Never let anyone make you feel anything less."
He kissed my cheek as I pulled away, the most innocent of kisses, like how you would kiss a child. It was so sweet. The heat from his lips lingered on my cheek, and I wondered about the feelings rising in me. I reminded myself that Victor was off-limits—the very definition of unavailable, for multiple reasons. Somehow it didn't help.
I stood, eager to escape the natural draw I had towards him. I made a break for the bathroom, to splash some water on my face. You're getting too close.
I called Lisa at Genitech, and she reluctantly setup an appointment for me to visit with Sylvia, after I explained I had a theory on the android's breakdown and a solution to prevent it from happening again.
Tomorrow I would meet the brains behind Victor's design, and possibly the person responsible for the serum. What the hell am I going to say to her?
Chapter 9
The next day, Lisa met me in the lobby again, looking stunning as ever. It seemed criminal for someone to look that good and work in a lab.
"I realized I never answered your question, Ms. Lexington," she said mysteriously. "About what we do here."
I met her gaze, which seemed curious more than anything. "And that is?"
"To revolutionize the future with our technology." She paused, which seemed odd, like it was for dramatic effect, or maybe she thought I would respond. I raised an eyebrow, which seemed to prompt her to continue. "We must be prepared for any threats to mankind. Our research is making sure that is the case."
"How?" A chill ran up my spine. I was pretty sure she was talking about enhanced.
"I'll leave that for Dr. Rhodes to explain," she said, as we arrived at a rather elaborate office. It wasn't labeled, but it was by far the largest office in the wing, located at the end of the hallway.
Lisa knocked gently on the closed door. The woman who answered it was not who I pictured. Her hair was long, spilling past her shoulders in a cascade of light brown waves. Her eyes were green, and the pronounced lines around them made me think she was in her late forties or early fifties. Her smile was practiced, so much so that it appeared genuine.
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