Unleashed

by Amy McCulloch

  >>Yes, whoa. But I can’t stop the update from rolling out on my own. Now that he’s done beta-testing, the next phase will be to roll it out to all level 1 and 2 bakus.

  My eyes open wide. ‘But that would affect millions of people. Not just in Monchaville, or even in the city – in the whole world! So many people own a level 1 or 2 baku.’ I chew on my lower lip. ‘When will that be?’

  Jinx shakes his head. >>I don’t know. Hopefully it won’t come to that. But the problem is Eric Smith. We’re going to have to get Monica back in charge if we’re going to have any chance of stopping Eric Smith before he can implement the next phase. We have to get her out of that creepy basement place. If we go there tonight, I can unlock the security door and—

  I blink and can’t help but interrupt him. ‘But Jinx . . . we can’t.’

  >>Why not?

  He bristles his metallic fur.

  ‘Tobias was just there. He streamed to me directly from the basement at Moncha HQ. Monica isn’t there any more.’

  He freezes. At first, I wonder if he’s had some kind of short-circuit, because he’s not even moving a tiny filament of fur on his body.

  After a few seconds, he says: >>What do you mean, she’s not there?

  ‘I saw it on the live stream. They’ve torn the whole thing down.’

  Jinx hisses. >>They must have moved her.

  ‘But where?’

  >>I . . . I don’t know.

  Jinx sounds totally confused. He keeps freezing in his movements, which I take to mean he’s accessing data at such a fast rate, his electronics almost can’t keep up. His next words confirm my suspicion.

  >>I’m running through all the data I can mine from the Moncha cloud, but I can’t find mention of anywhere they might have taken her.

  Jinx hisses again. >>I thought it was a solid plan.

  ‘What are we going to do? How am I supposed to go up against someone like Eric Smith? He’s got all the resources on the planet . . . and he’s already starting to manipulate people’s behaviour. I can’t compete with that. All I have is . . .’

  >>Me, says Jinx. His hackles rise, sparking with electricity, as if he’s trying to prove to me exactly what he can do. >>But we’re going to need those friends of yours to help.

  ‘What, Team Tobias?’

  >>Yes, and Zora too.

  ‘I’ll call an emergency meet-up after school tomorrow. They’ll come.’

  Jinx nods. He stretches out along the bed sheets and then comes to curl up in my lap. I take a moment to marvel at just how perfect he is. If I hadn’t seen his electronic insides myself, I might have mistaken him for a real cat.

  I close my eyes, amazed that my friend is back again.

  When I open them again, I look around my room. On the back of the door hangs my homework list for Profectus Academy, colour-coded and tracked with what I like to call ‘productivity stickers’. Zora had seen it and dubbed me ‘such an engineer nerd’. Always attempting to organize things – to put things in their rightful place so that things – even my life – can run efficiently.

  Turns out, life doesn’t always like to be colour-coded, even if I use the shiniest stickers. Sometimes, the things you think you can rely on, the foundations upon which you build your life, end up crumbling away. Like my trust in Moncha Corp.

  My chest tightens again.

  Jinx’s eyes bore into mine. >>Let’s talk about it more in the morning. For now, you need sleep.

  ‘There’s just one thing I need to do first,’ I say, getting to my feet. Jinx jumps up as if to follow me, but I shake my head. Don’t worry, I won’t tell her anything.

  I slip out of my room, pad down the hallway to Mom’s room, and slowly push open the door. I can just about make out her head on the pillow, a gentle smile on her face. Petal is on the pillow too, pulsating with a soft green light as she charges. I hope the update is giving Mom good dreams, at least.

  I want to go to her – to give her a hug, to tell her that I love her and that I’m not mad any more: the reason we fought is because of the update. But she looks so peaceful, I don’t want to disturb her. I close the door again.

  Back in my own room, I am hit by a wave of tiredness. Without even getting up to brush my teeth or take off my clothes, I fall with a slump against the pillow.

  ‘Thank you for coming back, Jinx . . .’ I whisper as I feel his weight move next to me on the bed.

  He purrs gently, and I can feel my anxieties ebb away with his closeness. >>What else are friends for?

  WHEN I WAKE UP, I wonder if last night had been a dream. Until I look down at the foot of my bed and see a little black robot cat curled up at my feet, warming the blanket – a welcome comfort in the cold morning. I shiver, pulling the duvet cover up under my chin. I wonder why it’s so cold – and then I see that my window is open a tiny crack. I must have left it a bit open when I let Jinx in. A bad mistake in the dead of winter, so high up in the tower that the wind whips around and into my room, making the papers on my desk flutter. Finally braving the cold, I make a leap to the window and lean on it to shut it.

  ‘Jinx, what time is it?’

  >>Don’t ask me, I’m not some level 1 baku.

  I groan, but since I don’t have access to Slick, I’m lost for an easy way to tell the time.

  >>FINE, it’s 8.03 a.m.

  ‘Oh, no!’ Not only am I going to be late for school, but I’ve missed Mom. I quickly throw on my old St Agnes uniform and run to the bathroom.

  >>Don’t forget the duct tape!

  ‘I won’t,’ I say, with a shudder. The update. The change in Mom’s behaviour. I can’t believe how close it came to being me too . . .

  There’s a roll of tape in our kitchen drawers, so I grab it after brushing my teeth. I place a small square over the bottom of the leash, and it’s barely visible. Sometimes the simplest solutions are the neatest.

  Back in my room, I pick my fleece up off the floor, holding it at arm’s length.

  I’m afraid of Slick, I realize.

  Jinx may not be a normal baku, but he’s never been as scary to me as Slick is now.

  To my relief, the little beetle remains still as I unzip the pocket. He must be out of battery. But as I hold him, a series of lights brighten along the beetle’s shell. >>I’m on very low power. Can I leash up to recharge and update?

  I swallow, but guide him to the mains, where I plug him in.

  >>I charge 45% less efficiently via the mains.

  ‘I understand.’ I plug him in anyway, and ask him to send a message to the Team Tobias group to meet me at my condo building after school. I don’t know whether it will interfere with their training schedule, but they need to hear what I’ve learned from Jinx.

  Tearing myself away from Jinx to go to school seems impossible, but he promises to be there when I return. I’m dreading my first few classes, as I don’t share any with Zora – but I’ve sent her a message telling her to meet me urgently at lunch.

  As it turns out, the morning passes in a blur. Even though just yesterday I was this strange and exciting anomaly everyone was talking about, today nobody seems to care.

  Yesterday’s news.

  One thing Profectus and St Agnes students have in common: their ability to find new gossip to talk about.

  Today at lunch, everyone is buzzing about the announcement from Moncha Corp that they’re going to drop a highly anticipated new baku: a gecko. It’s a level 3, so out of most people’s budget. But that doesn’t stop them from dreaming.

  St Agnes students have either a level 1 or 2 baku. That means most people would be subject to the update. I look around at my fellow students interacting with their bakus and friends in the cafeteria.

  The group in the corner playing games with a pack of cards projected by their respective insect bakus.

  The kids teaching their butterfly bakus to copy elaborate new hairstyles from the latest celebrities.

  The group with dormouse bakus like Linus, designing elaborate mazes for th
em to run through and filming it for the most views.

  They all have dreams and ambitions of their own. Maybe not to be companioneers at Moncha Corp, but all equally valid and important.

  Ambitions that shouldn’t be updated away in the name of an illusion of happiness.

  The gecko news is also big because Moncha Corp normally only reveals new bakus at their annual convention, held two days after Christmas. The announcement is like a little present for all of us Moncha fans, as anticipated as the Queen’s speech on Christmas Day. Monica is the real Santa Claus for all of us tech geeks.

  So if they were bringing out a new baku early, that could only mean one thing: that something even bigger and better is being prepped for Christmas. The school forums are awash with bloggers and students alike speculating about what it could possibly be.

  But all I can sense is dread. What if it’s the update? It eats away at the pit of my stomach. Plus, if Eric gives the speech, it will be the final nail in Monica’s coffin. He will become the new Ceo in the public’s eyes, the face of Moncha Corp. I scroll through the tech sites, reading one opinion piece after another about how Monica’s absence is a sign that she just doesn’t care about the company any more. Some are wondering if she’s sick or somehow incapacitated, but almost all state that it’s only a matter of time before the impressive Eric Smith takes the reins.

  I switch over to the Profectus channel at lunchtime. I still follow a lot of the Profectus students on my social media platforms – I haven’t yet been barred from receiving the images and videos, which gives me a spark of hope. Maybe I haven’t totally been wiped from their databases and I’ll still have the ability to slot back into life at Profectus. Some people, like my friend Jake, stream almost constantly from school. It means I catch glimpses of Carter strutting around the place with his boar baku, acting like normal.

  I’m on the outside, looking in, and it hurts.

  ‘There you are!’ says Zora, making me jump. ‘What’s so urgent? Did you fix what was wrong with Slick?’

  ‘Not here,’ I say. We leave the cafeteria, heading towards a stairwell at the far end of the school that hardly ever gets used. I set Slick to have a proximity alert, in case anyone enters the stairwell to interrupt us. He scurries along the floor, and I watch him closely. Between the syringe and the update, I don’t trust him one bit.

  But I do have to trust Jinx.

  Just at that moment, I spot movement in the shadows at the bottom of the stairs. ‘Look who’s back . . .’ I say to Zora. She follows my gaze, and she gasps. Her eyes light up at the sight.

  ‘What? Are you kidding me? Jinx, is that you?’

  He doesn’t reply out loud, but slinks his body beneath her outstretched hand, allowing her to stroke him. ‘Aw, it’s so good to see you, buddy,’ she says. Then she looks up at me. ‘Why didn’t you tell me? You can go to Profectus now, right?’

  I shake my head, thinking how simple that would be. But the situation is way more complicated than that. ‘Zora, Jinx came back because he had to show me something. And I want to show you too.’

  Her eyes scan my face, and the smile placed there from Jinx’s arrival slowly droops. Without any other explanation, I gesture for Jinx to show Zora the presentation he showed me last night.

  Once it’s finished, Zora is shaking. ‘No way. This can’t be real.’ She chews on the ends of her braids, muffling her words.

  ‘It’s only my mom’s department who have been updated so far,’ I say.

  >>For the moment.

  Jinx’s tone is ominous in my mind.

  Zora’s eyes open wide with alarm. ‘Your mom? Is she okay?’

  I shrug. ‘She’s not herself.’

  ‘Are you sure it’s the update? She has been through a lot too, you know,’ says Zora. She stares at Jinx. ‘Do you actually think that Moncha Corp have the technology to control people’s emotions and the way that they act?’

  She’s more sceptical than I am.

  ‘Trust me, Mom flipped from supportive to uncaring overnight. If you saw her – you’d understand.’

  ‘It’s . . . it’s unbelievable.’

  ‘I know. And that’s why we have to have Monica back. She’s the only one who can make sure that this gets properly sorted out. Eric Smith has no morals. We know that – look at his own son.’

  ‘He’s the worst.’

  ‘I know. But his dad is ten times as bad. We have to stop him before the update spreads any further. I just hope that once we have enough proof and can go to the authorities, they won’t shut down baku production for ever.’

  A look of horror comes over Zora’s face. ‘They can’t do that!’ she exclaims, clutching Linus to her chest. ‘Bakus are part of our lives now. They’re as natural as . . . as phones or cars. They didn’t ban the production of cars just because someone could crash one. They’re just going to have to figure out how to regulate things better, that’s all.’

  ‘You’re right,’ I quickly reassure her. ‘So are you okay to come over tonight?’ I ask. ‘Jinx has a plan and he says it needs all of us.’

  ‘Of course I’ll be there. Lacey, this is huge. I have coding club after school but I can skip it.’

  >>No, tell her to come over after that.

  I frown. ‘Jinx says to go to your coding club as normal.’

  Zora nods. ‘Okay then, I’ll be over before dinner. This is unreal.’

  Jinx rolls his spine, a series of lights shooting across his fur. >>I’d better go before anyone else sees me. I’ll meet you back at your locker, Lacey.

  And just like that, he disappears back into the shadows.

  The familiar nerves return as he leaves, but I squash them down. He’s not leaving for good. He will be back. ‘My old teammates from Profectus are going to be coming tonight too,’ I tell Zora.

  Now it’s Zora’s turn to look concerned. ‘Are you sure that’s a good idea?’

  ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘Well, didn’t you say that your friend Tobias’s dad works for Eric Smith?’

  ‘Yeah . . .’

  ‘So you mean to tell me that you think it’s possible Tobias’s dad works for Team Happiness but doesn’t know what’s going on or how the technology is being used? of course he does!’

  ‘Well . . . maybe. But that doesn’t mean that Tobias won’t help us.’

  ‘You’re too trusting, Lace. That’s always been your problem. You think that human beings perform like one of your builds, where everything is predictable. But you can’t predict how Tobias is going to react when he finds out that his dad is involved this. I mean, think about it . . . is Tobias really going to want to send his dad to prison, if that’s what it comes down to?’

  I frown. I hadn’t thought about it that way. ‘Maybe not . . .’

  ‘And it’s his brother too, right? Who works at Moncha? I mean, we’re talking about someone with really close connections to the inner circle. I wouldn’t be so quick to give away all of our plans and secrets to him.’

  I frown. The annoying thing is, Zora might just be right. ‘But what choice do we have, Z? He’s the one who can get us into Moncha HQ. Without his help, we’re actually screwed. We might as well succumb to the update.’

  There’s a moment’s pause. ‘Well, would that be so bad?’ mumbles Zora.

  ‘What do you mean?’ I reply, unable to keep my jaw from dropping as the weight of what she’s saying sinks in. Suddenly, the stairwell seems to grow, the gap between us widening.

  Zora sticks her chin out, more defiant now. ‘I mean it. Maybe things would be easier if someone just made sure we were all happy with our decisions. I mean – look at my family. We’re all related by blood and yet can we get on? Not at all. Do you know how many times I’ve wished for a way to make the fights with my sisters go away? If I got to keep Linus, keep my friends . . . what’s wrong with being made to feel happy about everything else?’

  ‘Maybe because you wouldn’t have a choice about it?’ I screw my face up into a scowl,
crinkling my nose. I can’t think of anything worse than not being able to have a say in my future.

  Maybe I will make bad decisions.

  Maybe I will take some wrong turns.

  Maybe I won’t always be happy.

  But at least I will know that I have had the power to make the decisions along the way.

  Zora shrugs. ‘Who says we even really have a choice now? Do you think if I had a choice, I would’ve chosen to live with three older sisters and my parents in a tiny two-bedroom apartment? No . . . I would have chosen to be . . . I don’t know, Tobias’s sister or something, and live in a huge mansion. He seems to have a pretty sweet life. Or heck, how come Carter gets to have all his privilege and I don’t?’

  ‘So you’d rather just have someone else decide for you whether you were happy enough.’

  She sighs. ‘No, I’m not saying that. I’m just wondering if there might be a hint of possibility that there are good intentions behind this “Team Happiness”.’ She must take note of the horror on my face, because she shuffles up so that she’s sitting next to me, and nudges my shoulder. ‘Didn’t they teach you to be open-minded at Profectus?’

  ‘They did – but I could never be open-minded about that. Or at least . . . not if they did it without asking people first.’

  ‘That’s true. And pushing updates on Moncha employees just because they signed a job contract years ago is not fair. What they’ve done is not fair.’

  ‘And I have to trust Tobias,’ I say, in a small voice.

  ‘I know you do. That’s because you lurve him.’

  ‘I do not!’

  ‘You so do. Look, you only get that red if you’re in the proximity of Tobias Washington. Or thinking about him.’

  ‘If that was the case, I’d be permanently red-faced,’ I say, with a grin. Zora bursts into a fit of giggles. ‘He asked me out yesterday.’

  ‘He did? What did you say?’

  ‘I . . . I don’t think I said anything!’

  ‘Oh, Lacey,’ she says, with an exaggerated sigh at my boy-related incompetence. We finish off the rest of our sandwiches and she links her arm in mine. ‘You’ll have to give him an answer another time. Don’t leave Hot Guy hanging. But don’t worry, I’ll be there tonight. And always.’