Ensnared

by Rita Stradling

  Alainn swallowed. She needed him to say yes so badly.

  “Okay, Jade. If you really want the plant in your room, you can have it there. But, please, yes, shower every time you handle it.”

  She nodded, furiously. “Thank you so much. Should I carry it down now?”

  He laughed. “No.”

  She examined the room, even though there was nothing but shadows. “Can Rosebud even come into this room? How is it going to be moved?”

  “Don’t worry.” He chuckled again. “One of the other robots will move it.”

  “Other robots?” she whispered.

  “Of course.”

  Alainn walked toward where he was standing off in the distance. “There are robots other than me and Rosebud?” Stopping feet from him, she stepped to the side when he tried to turn his face to its usual profile. She wanted to see his full expression.

  “You haven’t seen them?” he asked. The grin on his face echoed in his voice.

  “No.”

  “You probably intimidate them. Maybe they’re hiding from you.”

  “Not—not other AI robots?” she whispered.

  He raised a hand. “Nothing like you Rose models. Connor Murphy is on a whole other level than the rest of the world. But I’ve been buying the patents and prototypes of all of the AI technology since its inception. Most are only digital programs, but there are some that move around just as you do.”

  “How many AI robots are in this house?”

  “Fifty-two, if you include you and Rosebud.”

  Her mouth must have been hanging open because he laughed, again.

  “You’ve really never seen them?”

  “I’m pretty sure you’re making fun of me.” She shook her head.

  “How did you think that the house was cleaned?”

  “Rosebud 03AF,” she whispered.

  “That will be the day.” He shook his head. “She’d rather contemplate the universe or meddle in everyone’s lives.”

  It seemed that all Rose models were built the same.

  He leaned in just a little. “Next time you leave your room, go directly back in and see what you find.”

  “Okay. Hey, Lorccan?” She paused to smile. “What do you do all day until five o’clock?”

  “Work,” he said, like he was saying “duh.”

  “You work?”

  “Yes, of course I work.” He shook his head. “That’s how we have money.”

  Oh, the arrogance of rich guys from rich families. Alainn resisted rolling her eyes. Obviously, he came from some sort of dynastic inheritance, but no, he believed he had money because he worked for a living.

  An idea occurred to her. She bit her lip. “Is there anything I can do—to help you with your work, I mean?”

  “You want to work?” he asked it like she was saying that she wanted to lick the floor clean.

  “Yeah, so we can have more money,” she challenged.

  “Is there something you want to buy?” His brow furrowed.

  “No. I just spend all day alone with nothing to do. I sit and think and walk around, but that’s all I’ve done for weeks now.” She shrugged. “I’d like something to do. I’m very useful.”

  “Just not punctual,” he said.

  She sputtered. “I’m punctual.”

  “You’re late more than you’re on time.”

  “By seconds. Maybe you should let that go.” Her arms crossed over her chest.

  “Let me think about it,” he said, a smile in his voice. “For now, I think we should go ahead and go to bed.”

  Alainn’s stomach clenched at his words, though she wasn’t sure why. They wandered back through the halls and said goodnight one floor down. By the time she descended to her room, the plant had already been delivered . . . in a giant plastic containment tent.

  She ripped open the containment tent and shoved the folds of plastic into an open drawer in the wall. Kneeling, she reached forward and pressed her face into the long leaves of the peace lily.

  19

  January 2, 2027

  Alainn mussed up the bed a little more, throwing the pillows at the foot of the bed. If she left for dinner right now, she would be a couple of minutes early. Examining the room, she found nothing strange or out of place. Trying to look completely casual, she walked out.

  Alainn considered just going on to dinner, but forced herself to stay. It had taken her almost a full week to work up the courage to do this.

  She could do this.

  All week, Lorccan had refused to elaborate on the population of robots that lived quietly in the lonely tower. She had begged him, but he seemed entertained by the idea of her finding out for herself.

  Outside her door, Alainn counted to ten slowly. “Rosebud, let me back into my room.”

  As this was the first time she’d addressed Rosebud in close to two weeks, Alainn thought she’d probably just ignore the demand, but the door swished open.

  Alainn’s hand covered her gasp, and then laughter fizzed up through her body. Her room was filled with monkeys. About thirty little bodies stood on alert while many little white monkey faces turned to look at her. Each of them wore little outfits, none matching another’s. A little curved tail rose from the floor; it had been wrapped around a cloth. Alainn had interrupted a few of them who were on her bed. One was still clutching the sheet in his little monkey fingers.

  As one, they turned and ran on all fours, scurrying to one wall where a small door stood open.

  “Wait!” she called, smiling.

  But they didn’t wait. The monkeys each disappeared inside the door, then the door slowly closed behind them.

  “They are afraid of you,” Rosebud 03AF said.

  Alainn looked to where her voice had come from. “I figured that out.”

  “They like you, though. Many of them follow you through the tower. And they communicate about you all the time.”

  She was being stalked by little robots.

  Great. That wasn’t creepy at all.

  They looked so real, too—exactly like the white-faced monkeys in the zoo.

  “You should leave for dinner so you are not late,” Rosebud reminded her.

  When Alainn ascended the stairs, she found that the dining room was almost fully lit. She stood in the hallway for a second, wondering if the dinner had been cancelled or if she’d screwed up the time. But then she realized that as Rosebud had reminded her to go to dinner, it must be the right time.

  Leaning her head in first, she peeked in.

  Lorccan sat in his chair, fully lit by the lights. He’d turned in his chair so that only the left side of his face was visible. Steam and amazing aromas rose from plates of open-shell lobster in front of each seat.

  Slowly, she crossed to the table, which was smaller than it had ever been. She tried to make as little noise as possible as she took the seat in front of him.

  His breathing expanded his chest and whistled through his mouth. He kept his eyes squeezed closed. It was difficult to tell if he knew that she was there or not. He didn’t seem to be quite ready to eat yet.

  When his breathing became a little slower, she whispered, “Monkeys?”

  His eyes opened.

  “You have monkey robots?”

  A smile twitched at the corner of his mouth, contrasting with his panicked expression. “They’re from Germany,” he said.

  “You were right. They’re scared of me. I caught them cleaning my room, and they ran out of there like I might eat them.”

  “Well . . .” He laughed. “You’re very intimidating.”

  She rolled her eyes. “No, I’m not.” Taking a bite of lobster, she had to stifle a groan of happiness at the amazing taste.

  Lorccan glanced over, then quickly moved his face back to profile. He reached awkwardly to fork a bite of the lobster from its shell. No more words escaped as he tried to fork bite after bite without turning his head.

  Lobster might have been a bad choice.

  “Have yo
u read Journey to the West?” Alainn asked.

  “No,” he said.

  “Neither have I, but Connor Murphy told me the story. Would you like to hear it? It’s about a monkey—well, a monkey king.”

  “I suppose,” he said as he tried to fork another bite.

  Alainn told what she could remember of the story. Most of the details eluded her. She’d only heard the story once, and when she was pretty little. It had actually been her mother who told it to her, her hair piled in a messy bun on the top of her head, a soft hand running over Alainn’s hair. The story went that a foolish and magical monkey king rebelled against heaven and got himself trapped in the Buddha’s hand—which had turned into a mountain—for five hundred years. But after he was free, the monkey king went on a wild adventure to help a monk retrieve a Buddha from India.

  Lorccan’s gaze stayed on her, though he did not turn. She wasn’t sure whether he was listening to the story or simply hyperaware of her presence.

  Gesticulating wildly, Alainn embellished on her favorite parts—the pig monster and Friar Sand, who were both originally fought as monsters, but ended up joining the pilgrimage. She barely recollected the old, famous stories so she just made up the details she didn’t know.

  When both the food and all her ideas were depleted, their plates sank into the table and were replaced with a smooth surface that pretended to be wood.

  “Did you want to play a game?” she asked.

  “This is very hard for me, Jade,” Lorccan said in a quiet voice.

  “I know. You don’t have to have the lights up. We can turn them down—or off.”

  “I’ve never . . . No one has ever . . .” He closed his eyes again.

  “You don’t have to. But you’re my friend. Just know that looking at your face makes me feel happy and nothing else.”

  “I like looking at you, too,” he whispered.

  “Then look at me. I’m just me. There’s no one else here. Just me.”

  Slowly, he turned until he faced her fully. His eyes were still clenched shut. It was as if he thought that because he couldn’t see her, she couldn’t see him either.

  “See? I feel happy,” she whispered.

  His eyes slowly opened, light blue irises meeting hers.

  Neither of them spoke. They just sat there, looking at each other, until she couldn’t help smiling. “Hey, Lorccan, did I tell you that the monkey king peed on the Buddha’s hand?”

  His eyes closed and a smile crept into both the scarred and smooth sides of his face. “No, you definitely didn’t say that.”

  “Well, according to Connor Murphy, he peed all over his hand.”

  “No wonder he was imprisoned for five hundred years.” His eyes opened once more, immediately going to hers. “Would you like to watch a movie?”

  She shrugged. “Sure.”

  His shoulders relaxed visibly.

  They finished My Fair Lady. Once again, Lorccan kept his profile to her in the low light. He looked exhausted, as if he might fall asleep at any moment, though his gaze stayed fixed on the screen.

  Alainn looked over as the movie was finishing. “Shelly is busy tonight?”

  He paused before nodding slightly, his gaze not moving.

  “Does she work for you?”

  He looked to the ceiling. “Do you always talk through movies?”

  She shrugged. “Maybe.”

  “I met her through work, but no, she doesn’t work for me.”

  “How did you meet?”

  “Jade.” He sounded annoyed.

  “I’m curious. I don’t know much about romance, and you two are . . . in love. I’m curious how that happened.” Alainn turned fully toward him and away from the movie.

  “She is employed by a robotics company that designed software for my company. We did some projects together. Work turned into phone calls and we just kept talking. We really get along.”

  “What do you guys have in common?” she asked.

  “We have a lot in common. Let’s watch this movie.”

  It was like Alainn couldn’t control her mouth. Even though she knew she was being obnoxious, she barreled on ahead anyway. “Like what, specifically?”

  “Like work stuff, Jade. It’s personal. I don’t want to talk about it,” he snapped.

  “But you guys have met in person? You’ve spent real time together, right?”

  He turned his head and glared at her, finally showing both sides of his face. Real, genuine anger was written in every line and angle of his features.

  “You already know, Jade. Why are you asking me these questions? Are you trying to insult my relationship with Shelly?”

  Swallowing, she just kept going, like a loose freaking cannon. “I just don’t know much about love. Like, for instance, how you can be in love with someone you’ve never even met.”

  His head rocked back as if she had hit him instead of just throwing stupid words at him.

  “Why would you say that to me when you know how important Shelly is to me?”

  Alainn knew the words should be taken back. She knew she should apologize, but what came out of her mouth was, “I just don’t understand how you can love someone who doesn’t know you.”

  “She knows me. Obviously, you don’t. Perhaps you want to punish me for something? I don’t know. I’m done here.” Lorccan stood in haste, turned, and stormed up the stairs. The moment he was at the second step, the door closed behind him, becoming an unbroken wood wall.

  “Please return to your room, Jade,” Rosebud 03AF said.

  “Holy shit.” She covered her mouth with a hand as tears coursed down her face.

  What the hell is wrong with you, Alainn?

  Standing, Alainn rushed into her room, and threw herself onto the bed. She was here to help him learn to be with his girlfriend, not to smash his dreams to pieces.

  Why had she done that to him?

  He’d done something incredible tonight, let her be part of something incredible . . . and then she’d thrown it in his face.

  Long, broken sobs ripped from her, and she tried to smother them with her pillow.

  She’d messed up. She’d messed up the possibility of working for him and getting access to Rosebud 03AF’s hardware. She’d messed up helping him heal so he could lead a normal life.

  He would hate her now.

  “Rose, does he hate me now?” she whispered.

  “He is very angry and upset,” she responded immediately.

  “Will you tell him I’m sorry and that I’m just a stupid robot that doesn’t know anything?”

  There was silence, and then she said, “He heard the message but doesn’t want to hear anymore from you tonight. I have relayed to him that you are very upset.”

  “Ugh!” Alainn covered her face.

  Unzipping her dress, she pulled it off, almost violently. Grabbing a mass of blankets, she brought them to the floor next to her plant. She lay across them, placed one hand on a leaf of the peace lily, and cried herself to sleep.

  20

  January 5, 2027

  Alainn sat in her living room, bored out of her mind.

  Lorccan had been ignoring her for three days now. Three days where she was told that she wasn’t required at dinner and when the barrier to the upstairs simply didn’t open.

  Obviously, Lorccan wanted her gone.

  She wanted to be gone.

  But when she pointed this out to Rosebud 03AF, she simply ignored Alainn. Rosebud was really good at ignoring her. Alainn had always wanted her absent, and now that there was essential information to get from her, Rosebud was silent.

  Reading and watching movies killed a bit of time, but she was too restless to veg out for more than an hour or so each day. She spent the days wandering alone, her footsteps echoing down the long, deserted halls.

  By that evening, she was ready and willing to do almost anything to alleviate her boredom.

  Her feet hit the coffee table. “Hey, Rosebud 03AF . . . my evil captor!” she call
ed out.

  Rosebud didn’t respond.

  “Want to play a game of chess or something?”

  Again, she ignored Alainn.

  “Pool? Checkers? Tic-Tac-Toe?”

  Nothing.

  “Screw this. Screw this and screw both of you. Yeah, I shouldn’t have said all those things to Lorccan, but they were the truth!”

  And yet again, nothing.

  She blew out a breath and settled farther into the couch.

  Alainn didn’t know much about love. But she was pretty sure that love couldn’t be arranged over a series of scheduled phone calls. That was, like, a business partnership or something. Love didn’t seem like something that could be organized or contained; it should be messy and emotional, like exploding and imploding with someone at the exact same time.

  But what did she know? Absolutely nothing.

  Leaning forward, she grabbed the remote and pressed a button at random. The room went dark as lights started flashing around her.

  “Niiiice.” She drew out the word while leaning back. She had completely forgotten about the disco party function in the room. A newer pop song played now—a song from her era. First, she rocked her head. Then, still sitting on the couch, she swung up her arms, waving them with the beat. Punching into the air, she watched the disco ball shining out from the roof. It had to be on a video screen, but it looked three-dimensional.

  “You suck, Lorccan Garbhan!” Alainn kept punching at the air.

  “What? What is this?”

  She actually heard Lorccan’s voice along with the music, blaring out in the room.

  “I said, you suck, Lorccan Garbhan!”

  His voice came again, “Jade?”

  “You know what else sucks? That you’ve made it so my whole life revolves around you! And now that you’re mad at me, my whole life revolves around nothing! How is that fair?”

  “Jade, how are you making that . . . what is that music? Where are you?”

  “Hey Rosebud, will you turn the music up?”

  Rosebud, to Alainn’s amazement, turned up the music. A new pop song came on, and to her joy, this one was extremely repetitive. “Na, na, na!” she yelled along with the music.

  After about a minute of her singing along, the door to the entertainment room swung open and Lorccan came charging in. “Turn that off, Jade!” he yelled.