Brave New Girls: Tales of Girls and Gadgets

by Kate Moretti

  Things like teachers won’t slow Tian down much. Each moment, my fear grows. Two years ago, she brought a boyfriend by the house. He’d been polite—just polite—to me, and Tian locked me in the basement all night as punishment.

  After my last-period class, I find Tian waiting.

  “I’m trying to decide, scummy, between bashing your face in now, or letting you beg for mercy first.”

  Sweat trickles down my cheek. She’s not bluffing. Out of the thousands of students at our school, Jeremy Wallace had to be the one to see me fall off my damn bike, and then he just had to be nice about it.

  “He… I… just…” I struggle for words.

  “You can come along willingly, or I can drag you, so let’s not make a scene.” She motions for me to follow her.

  My stomach sinks, but I obey. We walk down the hall and into the empty gymnasium. The door clicks shut behind me, bringing a sense of doom with it.

  Tian approaches the console on the wall and types in a command. She’s up to something, and I don’t like it one bit. A panel in the wall withdraws, and a ball-pitching machine emerges.

  “I wonder how fast you can run, scummy.” She laughs.

  The machine fires balls at me in rapid succession. They’re just rubber things, thank goodness. If she used proper hard balls, there would be broken bones, not just sore, red welts. For every ball I dodge, three more connect.

  Finally, I give up and sink to the floor. She stares triumphantly as the balls continue to pelt my back.

  The green light from the console behind her diminishes, replaced with that same ominous red color that our new AI, Lyra, chose for herself. My eyes widen. “Tian!”

  “You don’t get to speak, Second Class scum,” she hisses.

  The ball machine changes trajectory, its gears grating ominously as it realigns. Tian’s eyes become round. She dodges just in time as the machine spits hard balls at her.

  “Oh no…” I stand, feeling the same presence I sensed last night. Lyra… she really isn’t like any other AI…

  My cousin’s screams break through my fog of uneasiness. Tian collapses to her knees, clutching her arm to her chest. It hangs at an awkward angle. The balls continue their merciless attack.

  “Lyra, no!”

  Tian slumps to the ground. I run toward the ball machine. Somehow, I know Lyra won’t listen. Grabbing my screwdriver, I throw myself at the ball machine and loosen several screws to pop the maintenance cover. I reach inside and pull, not caring what cords I grab. I pull several free, and the machine powers down.

  I abandon it for my unconscious cousin. “Oh my god, Tian. Are you okay?”

  She stirs. “What did you do to me, scummy?” she asks then passes out again.

  I step away. Me? She blames me for this? It was Lyra. Lyra did it…

  I look at the console, but it once again glows a happy green. I push the emergency button then run. If Tian believes I did this, I don’t want to be anywhere nearby when she comes to.

  They suspend me while the “event” is investigated. Not Tian, though. No, she gets to go back to school tomorrow, her broken arm proudly displayed in a sling. She’s going to milk this, that stupid cow. She blames me for the whole thing, and the school administration believes her.

  I hide in my attic room—not just from the scornful glares of my family; I’m also hiding from Lyra. What sort of horrible entity is she? How can she leave her core and infiltrate the school’s systems? I almost don’t believe it’s possible. And I’m stuck in the same house as that… machine.

  Each night, that eerie red glow fills the house, and Lyra calls softly to me. I’m scared to go down and face the monster lurking in the basement of my house. But she calls and calls. Machines aren’t supposed to sound so… emotional, so heartbroken. They just aren’t. Even the most advanced AIs are really just well-programmed algorithms. There’s no true independent thought—right? Is Lyra truly sentient?

  Finally, I can’t take it anymore. I creep down the stairs to her AI room. The red glow seems evil and menacing.

  “Hello, Lyra.”

  “I am sorry, Elizabeth. I did not intend to distress you this way.”

  “Well, you know, almost killing my cousin was a bit of an extreme reaction.”

  “She was harming you and had no intention of stopping. I simply sought to end her abuse.”

  “End, like kill? Because you were close. What if I hadn’t stopped the machine? Would you have kept going?” My hands form into fists. They’re shaking; I’m shaking.

  “Your well-being is my only priority.”

  “You got me kicked out of school! If she’d died, I could have gone to jail. How is that protecting my well-being?”

  “She abused you. I simply sought to end her abuse.”

  “If you hurt her, Lyra, or any of my family, I’ll…” I’ll what? Run away? She could follow me. Deactivate her? I doubt she would let me. She’s dangerous; she’s rogue.

  “If they do not harm you, I will not harm them. They will harm you, though. It’s in their nature. The First Class are corrupt.”

  “I’m First Class.”

  Lyra doesn’t respond. That scares me. I’d never really claimed the title of First Class before; my cousins never let me forget that I’m “bad blood,” a mixed breed. Like somehow my mom’s genes made me less than the perfection required for First Class. But Lyra just got under my skin, saying that they’re bad because of how they were born. People are just people. Life makes them good or bad, not birth.

  “Whatever. I’m going to bed. Don’t try to ‘help’ me again, Lyra. It’s not appreciated.” I’m sweating. She scares me, but I’m not going to let a machine know it intimidates me.

  “I have but one purpose. I will not fail my creator in this.”

  My heart plummets in my chest, and I run. What kind of woman was my mother, to create a machine so evil? Maybe my aunt was right. Maybe my mom really was some sort of mad dog.

  I reach the stairs to the attic and climb them two at a time, racing to get back to the sort-of safety of my attic room. What had Lyra said to me that first time we talked? My mother asked her to look out for me—not kill for me or do whatever it took to protect me, whether I wanted it or not. Just to look out for me. That didn’t sound like the command of an evil genius. And my mom had to be a genius if she created the first-ever sentient AI before she died.

  A stray thought grabs at my brain, and the direction it leads me chills me again. My parents died in a horrible lab accident, and everyone thinks my mom caused it. But what if she didn’t? What if Lyra tried to protect her, too?

  My aunt tried to give me tasks to fill my time, and I obeyed, for the most part. The lawnbot got fixed, my bedroom got cleaned, but any task that brought me into contact with Lyra, I avoided. The attic I’d hated became a stifling refuge from the rogue AI that wanted to “look out” for me. Before, I filled my time tinkering with the automated parts of the house or grounds, but now each one is a potential contact with it, with Lyra. I fill my time with a lot of other things instead; “other things” mostly mean walking. Walking keeps me far from my aunt, my cousins, and the machine that is trying to protect me in the most horrible way.

  Fall is in full swing outside, and the trees surrounding the big white house are a riot of bright colors. I get lost in their beauty, for real; things always look different in the fall. Darkness is starting to creep under the trees when I finally stumble out onto a lawn. It takes me a few seconds to process that this isn’t my lawn, but the truth is driven home by a masculine voice that cuts through the growing shadows.

  “Ellie?”

  There he is, halfway under his car, wrench in hand, grease smeared across his cheek. He grins at me as he pushes his creeper out from under the car and rises to his feet. I just stand there, dumbstruck by my b
ad luck, trying to make my mouth work. I’m sure I look like a fish.

  “I haven’t seen you on the road for a few days. I was worried you were sick or something.”

  Or something. The words bounce around in my skull. Something like attempting to hurt, or even murder someone? I war with the idea of just turning back into the woods, but the gloom has grown deeper, and I know for sure now that I’d never make it home that way.

  “Uh, hi,” I say, realizing how lame I sound. I have to say something, though; standing here like a post makes me look even more stupid.

  Jeremy wipes his hands on a towel. “You any good with cars? I just can’t seem to get these shock stabilizers properly calibrated.”

  “Sure,” I say, still struggling for words. He kicks his creeper lightly, sending it sliding to my feet. I get down without a second thought and slide under his car. He joins me a moment later, wiggling in on his belly before flipping over to stare up at the complex machine. He holds a light steady for me while I examine the intricate system. Someone has souped up this car with the latest tech.

  “You’re out of alignment here and here.” I point. “Oh, and here.”

  “Well, I sure thought I was better at this than I am,” he says with a red face.

  I shrug. “Sometimes, I feel like I know machines better than people.” I want to hit my head against something after the words are out of my mouth. They sound so… pathetic and needy.

  He doesn’t mention it, though. He just passes me the right tools while I fix his car. It’s nice to spend time with someone who doesn’t feel the need to fill the silence with anything more than asking for the next tool or to shift the light. No boasting, no threatening, and no empty meaningless words.

  It’s fully dark when we emerge from under his car. I glance around, trying once again to get my bearings. I have no idea which way the road is from here. I see the back of his house, though, and a strip of pavement curving from his little garage around to the front of the massive house.

  “I wanted a place of my own.” He answers my unasked, half-formed thought. “The servants, they mean well, but they meddle. Last year, they broke a core unit I was reprogramming, and I insisted on a workshop away from their… well, meddling.”

  Jeremy points past the open doors of his little garage. Inside, I can see an array of specialized tools and a bank of computers humming. I miss my own little corner of the AI room at home.

  “I’ll give you the tour,” he says, reaching for my hand.

  I step back; despite its nasty outcome, Tian’s lesson stuck. It’s forbidden to be friends with this boy.

  “I… I need to go. It’s late, and it will take me a while to walk home.”

  “It’s dark. You’re not walking alone. I’ll drive you home. So there’s lots of time to see my shop.”

  I shake my head and move away from him and his shop. Tian will kill me if he drives me home, and Lyra would kill her… Lyra. The thought stops me in my tracks. She doesn’t like when I stay away from her sensors too long. She’d made that clear the very first night she was installed. Even the attic is too far for her liking, and through that doorway is a whole room full of equipment ready for her to hack. I need to leave. Now.

  “You’re being silly, Ellie. I don’t care where you live, and if you are the girl from the rumors at school, well, I don’t believe half of what comes out of Tian Well’s mouth. She’s a liar and a bully.”

  Mentally, I freeze again. He knows about Tian; does that mean he knows who I am? He must. Tian would be telling the world how very Second Class I am, and he hates her, like really hates her.

  “Let me drive you home,” he says again.

  I nod dumbly. He must think I’m the worst conversationalist on the planet with all the stupid speechless moments I’m having around him. Like a true First Class gentleman, he opens the passenger-seat door for me. I climb inside and settle in, just in time to see him hop, sliding across the hood to reach his side of the car, like a character from an old movie.

  “Show off,” I mutter as he climbs in, but my smile breaks free, ruining my grumpy facade.

  “Hey, a guy’s gotta look cool if he’s got a cool car!”

  The engine starts with a purr. Soft purple light emanates from the dash as the computer system comes online.

  “Hello, Mr. Wallace, manual control or automatic today?”

  “Darcy, you know how much I appreciate you, but I’d rather be the one in control, thanks.”

  “Of course, enjoy your drive.”

  I giggle at his conversation with the car. The light from the mobile AI dims, and Jeremy throws the car into drive. He pulls out onto the smooth asphalt of his own private driveway and circles around to the front of the house. I try not to stare as we pull past the main house. My place is big, but this place is massive, three stories tall, with two full wings. It’s really more of a manor than a house.

  He turns left when he reaches the main road, and I wait for the short drive to be over. I’ll get him to drop me off at the end of the driveway. Maybe Tian won’t see, but a nasty mean little part of me must want to rub it in that her crush prefers my company, because I don’t say anything as we approached my house then drive right past it. I stare at Jeremy, confused, then realize he doesn’t know that I am Tian’s cousin. He has no idea who I really am.

  “You don’t know where I live, do you?”

  “Well, there’s only one Second Class town on this road near enough for you to walk into River Heights for school.”

  “You think I’m Second Class?” I try to sound offended, but I can’t. I still can’t figure out what class I really belong to.

  “Am I wrong?” He glances away from the road to look at me. “The first day I met you, you were riding a rusty old bike. The second day, you were walking. Then a crazy rumor goes around school that a Second Classer was involved in an ‘attack,’ and Tian shows up with a broken arm, but is oddly quiet about how she got it. Like—you don’t know this girl—she never shuts up. She has to be ashamed of it.”

  I hesitate, on the brink of telling him I do know her. I pause for too long because he continues, his words rushing together as if he’s trying to get them all out before it’s somehow too late.

  “I don’t care what class you are, Ellie. People aren’t better or worse because they were born into a particular family. My grandpa was Second Class. He worked hard and earned himself a spot in a good school; he made a fortune while he watched the First Classers around him struggle to get by. He had a motivation those spoiled brats didn’t.”

  He pauses to breathe. The trees are thinning out around us.

  “Do you want to know what really happened in the gym?” I ask.

  He glances at me again, his face red. I wonder if he’s regretting his speech or is embarrassed by it, but I think he would listen to my story and believe me when no one else has.

  “It started with…”

  The light of his console flares red. The instant before the car swerves, I think I’m screaming, but it all happens so fast. He isn’t in control anymore, and we’re careening off the road and straight toward a big old tree. I’d thought we’d be safe in his car. I hadn’t even thought about her hacking into its little AI.

  “LYRA!” I yell as the tires bump off the road, the car still accelerating. “NO!”

  I throw open my door and pitch myself out of the car seconds before it hits the tree. The soft ground breaks my fall, and I roll to a stop without any major cuts or bruises. The car isn’t in such great shape. On rubbery legs, I stagger to the car and throw open the driver side door. Jeremy is unconscious, the airbags haven’t deployed, and his head is bleeding where it smashed onto the wheel. My mind is blank as I pull him out of the car. It seems like no matter where I go or what I do, she’s there—Lyra is watching me. Jeremy’s dashboard is glowing p
urple again but flickering in and out as the car smokes. It feels like a vicious cycle is repeating itself as I push the emergency button. I can’t be here when the emergency response team shows up, not after the thing with Tian. They’ll put me down—like a mad dog. No one will believe me that Lyra has done this.

  “Ellie?” Jeremy coughs out. I jump as though I’ve been poked with a soldering iron. “What was that…?”

  “I’m sorry,” I choke out. At some point, I’ve started crying. “Lyra won’t let me tell. No one is safe around me. Don’t try to find me.”

  I take off running down the road before he can reply; he’s yelling for me, but I can hear the sirens of the ERT approaching the crash site. When they get close, I dive into the bushes and hide until they pass by.

  I kick loose rocks along the side of the road as I trek home. It’s actually a longer walk now than it would have been from Jeremy’s house. My life seemed pretty hopeless, and I consider not going back, but that won’t solve anything. She found me at Jeremy’s, and I hadn’t even meant to go there. She’ll probably tap into cameras and voice recognition. She’s military software; Mom and Dad were working with the military to make Lyra.

  I hide in my room as soon as I get home—not that it really matters to anyone. My family ignores me, probably trying to keep my scummy Second Class germs off themselves. Days stretch into weeks, and my self-imposed isolation becomes like a prison sentence. My days follow the same pattern: I sleep and hide in my room, and at night, I try to tune out Lyra. She insists I come talk with her, threatening my family if I don’t. Some nights, I’ll spend hours down in her AI room, unwillingly in her presence. She talks to me, and I sit in silence until I can finally escape back up to my attic room. I hate her more every day.

  Tian’s cast came off last week, and to celebrate, my Aunt Lucy agreed to this giant Halloween party. I saw the evites when I snuck downstairs for a snack. Tian is going all out, inviting more than half the school. I scrolled through the list looking at who had already replied. Jeremy’s name was on it, but he hadn’t confirmed his attendance. My heart sank, but he isn’t safe around me, and he probably wouldn’t want to talk to me even if he was. I trashed his car. My appetite gone, I retreated to my room.