Tobias scowls, a sheen of sweat on his brow. ‘Nathan, leave us alone. We’re getting out of here. There’s three of us and one of you . . .’
In response, Aero lets out a piercing cry, spreading his wings. Oka snarls, gnashing his jaws.
And Jinx hisses, his back arched.
Nathan’s eyes light up at the sight of Jinx. ‘Really, Tobias, I expected better of you. You think I came here on my own? Mr Smith is going to be so pleased.’
‘I am indeed.’ Eric steps out of the same cottage, following in Nathan’s footsteps. Wrapped around his neck is his red panda baku, his dark eyes flashing. Behind him is a security team, all with dangerous panther bakus at their feet.
Immediately I fear for Jinx, so I crouch down and scoop him up in my arms. He doesn’t resist.
>>Don’t let him take me, Lacey.
My heart pounds in my chest. He sounds . . . scared. I won’t, I think, with all the ferocity I can muster. He won’t get anywhere near you.
With more confidence than I feel, I jut out my chin. ‘You can’t get away with your plan for the update now. Not when so many of us know the truth about what it does.’
‘I have a solution for that,’ he replies, this time sounding as serene as the Lake Baku inhabitants. He gestures to his security team, and three of them step forward. In their arms are four sloth bakus, ready to be powered up and leashed – to us.
Panic rises in my chest, and both Tobias and Kai gasp in shock as they realize Eric is willing to update them too. ‘It’s not just us! People on the outside know too . . .’ I cry. I don’t know if that’s really true, but we’ve been sending messages to Ashley, and she would have sent them on to Zora and River back at Tobias’s cottage.
‘Oh? And how is that going to happen.’ He steps aside.
‘Oka!’ Kai cries out from behind me.
My hand flies up to cover my mouth. Oka is there, but he’s a crumpled heap on the ground at Eric’s feet. And behind the unconscious baku is Ashley. One of the security team members is dragging her out from inside the cottage. There are tears in her eyes. ‘I’m sorry. They caught me almost straight away after you left. He’s . . . he’s got Jupiter.’ And sure enough, I see Jupiter pinned beneath the feet of the security baku nearest to Ashley.
‘It’s not your fault,’ I say to Ashley, into the silence left by Tobias and Kai. I’m surprised by the lack of protest I’m hearing from both of them, but especially by Tobias. He’s supposed to be our leader, and he’s letting us down at the crucial moment. I turn back to Eric. ‘This isn’t right!’ I shout. I feel every bit the teenager, caught up in a fight that’s far too big for me.
‘Things would have gone so much smoother if you had simply let your little beetle baku update you, as I instructed it too. But Tobias and Kai and Ashley – it doesn’t have to be this way for you. You can have your bakus back. As long as you give up this quest to stop the update from rolling out this evening. Otherwise – I’ll have no choice but to pair you up with one of these sloth bakus . . . and your originals will be destroyed.’
To their credit, Ashley and Kai both hesitate. But when Ashley yelps out a cry of alarm as the security panther sinks his clawed paw deeper into Jupiter’s body, I give her a nod. They both rush forward, collecting their broken bakus. Ashley mouths ‘I’m sorry,’ to me, but I don’t blame her. I know the connection they both have to their bakus.
I would never want them to be separated.
‘How about you, Tobias?’ Eric asks, looking up at Tobias’s beautiful golden eagle baku.
‘Lacey, I . . .’
‘Take Aero,’ I say, my voice soft.
‘But . . .’
‘Come on, bro. I think Mom and Dad want to have a word with you.’ Nathan folds his arms across his chest.
Tobias looks at me, but I studiously look away. If I look at him, I risk breaking. I risk crying my eyes out, when I still need to be strong.
Tobias steps forward, but Nathan puts his hand possessively on his shoulder, dragging him further into the fold. I catch his eye and shake my head a tiny bit. There’s no point him protesting here, not with Aero at risk. He gives me the tiniest nod back, and Nathan manoeuvres him away.
I exhale sharply.
It’s just you and me now, Jinx.
He doesn’t respond, but instead I feel him vibrate in my arms, burrowing his face against my stomach. I feel my pulse slow, my breathing become more regular. Jinx is calming me down, and in response, I feel my mind sharpening.
‘Pardem, why don’t you leash up where you belong?’ Eric says, once my old teammates and the security team accompanying them are out of view. Monica’s old sloth baku shoots me an evil look as he languidly crawls towards his owner. Eric looks back at me.
>>I hate him, hisses Jinx.
Jinx, you should run away now. You’re faster than them. I know it.
>>I’m not leaving you to face him alone.
I pull him close and bury my face in his fur.
‘That’s sweet,’ Eric says. ‘Your friends have made the right decision, you know. You should trust me that this is for the best.’
I glare up at him. ‘You put me in a coma.’
For the first time, a flicker of annoyance crosses Eric’s face. ‘If my team had reached you before that silly boyfriend of yours, we would have had you back on your feet in no time. We had an antidote – I just needed to stop you so I could question you. You don’t understand, Lacey. I’m not some evil guy out to harm you. In fact, I admire you. I think you’re smart and a brilliant engineer, with a fantastic and agile mind – you’d be an asset to the Moncha Corporation. We need people like you working for us. In fact, I want to offer you a job at the end of this, once you’ve graduated from school – whether that’s Profectus or St Agnes. But I need the robot that’s in your arms.’
‘But why? Why do you need him so bad?’
‘That, my dear, is far above your pay grade.’
I see him about to gesture to his security team – maybe to relieve me of Jinx. I grip him tightly and ask Eric another question to distract him.
‘Why have you come here?’ I blurt out. ‘You could have sent one of your minions, like you did to my apartment. Shouldn’t you be . . . I don’t know, preparing your big announcement?’ My mind is racing to try and think of a way out, but there isn’t one. All I can think to do right at this moment is to try to keep him talking, even if what I’m saying is meaningless blather.
I almost laugh out loud. I feel like I’m in a movie, acting exactly like it’s been scripted. And maybe we are all just robots, programmed to behave in predictable ways. If that’s the truth, then Eric Smith won’t be able to stop himself from talking up his grand plan, even though he could take Jinx right now and destroy him before my very eyes.
I almost breathe an audible sigh of relief when Eric’s eyes turn slightly misty. He looks almost proud of himself when he says, ‘Ah, my announcement will take care of itself. I know you don’t like it, but it’s a good plan, you know. Most people accept the status quo, remain in their dead-end jobs, their miserable routine, their 9-5 that makes even the interesting seem mundane. Moaning on a Sunday afternoon, waking up with dread on a Monday morning, enduring hump day, getting drunk on a Friday – same old, same old. Except they don’t really want to change it. So, why not allow people to keep that routine and yet be happy? All we do is make a little tweak to their ambition. They get to live their normal lives, without uprooting themselves in pursuit of some unreachable, impossible dream, and – most importantly – they can be happy.’
I swallow, my mouth so dry with fear that I can barely speak. ‘How do you know they’re happy?’
‘The bakus are the biggest data mine in the world and Moncha has the best scientists to analyse it. By any metric available to us, the volunteers under the update are happy. And you know what? There was only one thing that we needed to tweak. Ambition. That was all. Once that was gone, everything else fell into place.’
I shake my
head. I can’t control my emotions any longer, and a trembling that began in my feet travels all the way up to my body. Our bakus record all of our conversations and all our movements, they’re with us every hour of the day. I never realized just how sinister that could be, until seeing what could happen when that data became the property of someone like Eric.
‘That’s sick. If people knew . . . they wouldn’t go for it.’
‘Of course they would. In fact, they will. Don’t you realize? We haven’t just implemented this all at once. This is something I’ve been working on for years. Almost a decade. Your mom has just had the very latest upgrade. But her department have been our guinea pigs for years – the next stage of volunteers after those at Lake Baku, of course.’
The truth slaps me across the face. Both of my parents have been pawns in Eric Smith’s game. My dad may have been one of the very first. And now to learn that the gradual changes I’ve felt in Mom, that I just put down to . . . I don’t know . . . what it means to be an adult? Her . . . settling for her lot in life? They were not that at all.
I think about the cookbooks I found in the garbage bag, the ones I have stashed away in the corner of the locker – along with the photographs and letters from my father – so old-fashioned in our era of modern technology. The acceptance letter to a top cooking school, the dream of travelling to Paris, to Florence, to Istanbul, to try the food and indulge in her passion. Mom and I haven’t gone on holiday for years – but it’s nothing to do with a lack of money or desire – the way I thought it was.
It’s been because of Eric Smith all along.
My throat constricts at the thought of what our lives could have been like, had Mom not been subject to the update. What could she have become? Would we have been happier if she had been able to pursue her dreams?
What if she pursued her dreams, and failed? Would that have made her miserable? But the point is, she will never know. She was never given that choice.
And then there’s my dad? One of the original subjects of the update, living out his days at Lake Baku in blissful (is that the right word?) complacency, a walking zombie with no mind of his own.
I take steps backwards from Eric, not wanting to get swept up into his twisted logic.
‘Once people know about this, you will be forced to stop,’ I say, shaking with anger. This man has taken so much from me and from my family. While I still have my own mind, I won’t ever stop fighting him.
He presses his fingers against his temples, and I sense now that he is getting tired of me. I have to find a way out of here. Or else Eric Smith will force the update on me and these might be the last words I ever care about hearing. Jinx, any ideas?
>>I’m thinking . . .
‘Oh, Lacey,’ Eric continues. ‘This has been Moncha Corp’s core goal since Monica and I founded this company. How can we make people happier? I’ve simply . . . accelerated things.’
‘If this was really a “shared” company goal, you wouldn’t have had to lock Monica away.’
Now it’s Eric’s turn to look disgusted. ‘You think her laser-like focus on creating that . . . that thing . . .’ he looks over at Jinx, his face screwed up as if he wants to spit on him, ‘had anything to do with following our company ideals? Trying to create life – she’s not Dr Frankenstein. You think that I am evil, but Monica had the biggest ego of us all – she had the grandest designs; she was the one who thought she could play God! You idolize her but you didn’t see what she had become. If she cared so much about her precious company, how would I have been able to take over so easily? At any point she could have raised her head and seen the truth, but she kept her nose firmly buried in that thing’s machinery. If she wanted to stop me, she would have.’
I shake my head. But even as he speaks, I feel like I can recognize what he is saying. When I get working on a project, it’s as if everything else melts away and nothing else matters. The world could be descending into chaos, meteors could be raining down, aliens could have landed, zombies could have risen up out of the ground, but if I was down in my locker and in the middle of tinkering, I don’t think I would have cared. What if Monica had been like that too? Had she just passively let all this happen, allowed Eric to go ahead and build the community around Lake Baku, let him steadily release updates to some of her most dedicated staff, while she play-acted at being CEO, all the while developing her obsession?
And yet the result of that obsession is Jinx. Could I be too angry about that? Maybe in order to create something so amazing, something so innovative and out of this world, something so . . . real . . . it required one hundred per cent devotion.
Even to the total detriment of everything else.
Tears well up in my eyes. ‘I want to go home,’ I say. ‘You . . . you’ve ruined everything for me. First you took away my dad. That’s him, isn’t it? That’s him out there with another one of those sloth bakus . . .’
‘I know you think I’m evil. And . . . yes, we had some hiccups along the way. Some – accidents.’ He actually has the audacity to look sad, his palms open towards me as if he’s asking for forgiveness. ‘That is your father out there. One of the good ones. The best ones. He volunteered for this program early on. He knew what he was risking – for technology to advance, we had to have test subjects. We needed to try the bakus out under every condition. And that meant getting things wrong sometimes. You must understand that, as a creator. How many times did you get things “wrong”, before you were able to get it right with Jinx?’ He almost looks like he wants to cry.
I clench my fists. ‘My dad wouldn’t have volunteered if he’d really known the risks. There’s no way. How long was he supposed to be in Lake Baku? How long was that test really supposed to last?’
Now Eric looks distraught. I wonder if he did care for my father, but then – he can’t have done. He let Mom and I believe that Dad had disappeared . . . that he’d just left us. At any point, he could have come to us and told us the truth: that Dad was here, living life under this dome. ‘We’ve come such a long way in the decade since Albert . . . your father . . . volunteered. And it was thanks to his sacrifice that we were able to improve the technology.’ He must catch the look on my face – a look of disgust, of disbelief – because his tone becomes more urgent.
I want to scream at him: DON’T YOU KNOW YOU WILL NEVER CONVINCE ME?!
I want to rail at him, to hit him with my fists and scream my lungs out, I want to tear at him with my teeth, I want to become a feral beast, just to show him exactly what he’s done to me – to us – and how I will never, ever forgive him.
But I don’t do any of that. I’m strangely calm, my expression neutral – I don’t even let tears roll out on to my cheeks, even though they’re desperate to. It’s driving Eric wild – I can see that. He wants some sort of absolution from me, and I’m not about to give it to him. The only sign – if he could see it – is the way that I’m gripping Jinx tightly to my chest, and the way that I can feel his paws pressing against me, showing his presence. But I know he’s doing more than that. He’s soothing me, keeping me calm.
>>Stay strong, Lacey.
You too, Jinx. I won’t let anything happen to you. He might be trying to convince me that what he’s done is noble, but I won’t be sucked in.
‘You know something, I knew Albert well. He was a good man. And he was so happy when you came into this world. His vision for bakus was so far beyond what even Monica and I could have imagined. He wanted bakus to be body-independent – sorry, a technical term there – but essentially he thought that bakus could be passed down from generation to generation, become receptacles for our memories and a constant link between families. Why do you think we make it possible for people to upgrade rather than replace? Keeping a baku for life is what makes people happy.
‘Isn’t having Jinx with you making you happy?’
‘But Jinx isn’t controlling me; he’s soothing me!’ I shout back, fiercely. ‘He’s not altered any of my hopes and ambitions, or
made me forget my feelings. He’s helping me manage my feelings. It’s not the same thing.’
Eric shrugs. ‘Semantics. Now, hand Jinx over to me.’
THERE’S A ROAR OF AN engine and another door to the dome flings open. Standing, silhouetted against the bright white winter light, is Zora – and a man it takes me a second to recognize.
‘Lacey, don’t you dare give that man anything!’
My heart lifts at the sound of Zora’s voice. It’s as if all my prayers are answered at once.
Once they step into the dome, I gasp. Next to Zora is Mr Baird. I’m immediately comforted to see his calm, confident face, his unwavering air of authority even in the face of Eric Smith, one of the most powerful men on the planet. Seeing him, a huge weight is lifted off my chest.
I hadn’t even realized how much it had been worrying me that we hadn’t been able to find him before – that maybe it really was going to be us against Moncha Corp. But a representative from another huge corporation, a proper adult in a position of power, someone the authorities would listen to? Surely it will be impossible for Eric to push the update now.
I look back at Eric, whose face is bright red. ‘Get that baku!’ he cries out to his security team.
Now, Jinx – run!
We both bolt at the same time. I sprint to Zora and Mr Baird, as fast as my feet can carry me. Jinx speeds away towards the trees, the security panthers chasing after him. But he’s faster than them; I know he is. And he can’t be tracked now he’s disconnected from the cloud. Lose them, Jinx, you have to lose them.
The fact that he doesn’t waste any energy on a reply, I take to be a good sign.
Zora grips my arm instinctively, her fingers digging into the flesh of my bicep. But rather than chase after Jinx and me, Eric simply laughs. The sound sends a shiver down my spine.
Unleashed Page 18
