Ensnared

by Rita Stradling

  Their father took a step forward and almost fell down the steps. “Colby. Colby, no. I—”

  Alainn grabbed Rose by her hair and yelled into her face, “It’s too late for what, Rose?”

  “Rosette 82GF isn’t only a robot. She’s my other vessel. I’m going to switch with her now. Good-bye.” Her smile fell away as her eyes lost their spark of life, leaving only a cold, dark abyss beyond amber-colored pupils.

  “Shit!” Alainn shouted as she shoved Rosette’s head back into the grass.

  “That makes a lot of sense, with what I’ve been observing in their behavior,” Colby mumbled.

  “That means she’s already in there with him!” Alainn turned on her father, growling, “Dad, tell me how to shut them off!”

  “That’s—that’s not possible,” her father stammered. “They don’t have an Off switch. She has an organic circuitry system encased in her brain cavity. She can ingest hardware and her auto-assembler will streamline the circuitry or chips to override existing functions. But you can’t access it through the assembler—”

  “She needs to be destroyed, Dad! We need to destroy both bodies! Otherwise she can just hop back! Tell me how to do it!”

  Her father shook his head. “No, honey. I—”

  “I’m sorry, Ms. Murphy. I can’t let you destroy this body,” the robot that was now Rosette said. Her hands shoved Alainn’s shoulders, wrenching her away.

  Alainn threw all her weight at Rosette, trying to pin her down.

  Colby put his weight into restraining Rosette’s arm and shoulder. “If you disconnect her organic battery system from her circuitry system in a permanent way—a neck break and then decapitation—then you’d have to remove the circuitry from her brain cavity—”

  “What?” Alainn shouted.

  Colby blinked rapidly. “Um . . . or even better. If you could increase her core body temperature to over fifty degrees Celsius, or by that I mean about—one hundred twenty degrees Fahrenheit—”

  “Don’t do this, Alainn—I’ll reboot her!” Her father staggered back. “I have a frequency-encoded reboot light sequencer. I’ll get it. It’s in the house . . .”

  It didn’t matter if this robot rebooted, it was just a placeholder. He would have needed to reboot Rose 76GF, and her father hadn’t acted.

  Alainn stared down at her own face, at the living, breathing woman that was struggling to fight her off.

  Rosette’s empty gaze hit hers and she whispered, “Please. Please, Cara. No.” Pause, then she said, “You can do this, Alainn. I know we can do this. You’ve got it in you. I know you do.”

  Shock hit Alainn like a tidal wave. From fingers to lips, she went numb. Rosette had spoken in a perfect imitation of a voice Alainn hadn’t heard outside of her dreams in seven years. She spoke in the voice of Alainn’s deceased best friend, Cara Miller. In all the places she touched Rosette, Alainn no longer felt her. “What did you say?”

  “You go. I can’t do it,” Rosette said in Alainn’s voice.

  “Stop it!” Alainn whispered.

  Again in Cara’s voice, she said, “Your brain is broken if you think I’m going to leave you here alone to die.” In one fast move, Rosette broke Alainn’s hold and punched Colby in the face, sending his glasses flying amid splattering drops of blood. Her elbow shot back, and pain exploded up the side of Alainn’s cheek.

  Screaming, she grabbed her jaw.

  Rosette bucked Alainn off, sending her rolling onto the grass. When Colby and Alainn dove for Rosette, she scrambled forward, up the grass, kicking away their fingers. With a loud crunch, her shoe came down on Colby’s glasses as she hurried forward. Rosette shoved into their father, catching him ascending the stairs. He tumbled forward through the door and into the house. Spinning, she jumped to her feet and sprinted around them.

  Colby and Alainn both managed to get to their feet, but Rosette had a ten-foot head start. There was a ding of the car lock, and then Rosette ran up to their father’s car. The door yanked open and slammed shut.

  Colby and Alainn collided with the door, grabbing at the handle.

  With a loud screech, Rosette 82GF took off. The handle wrenched out of Alainn’s hand as the side of the car shoved past and knocked them both back. The car screeched around the corner. They sprinted after it. She took corners at high speed and, only five blocks up, they lost her.

  “Damn it!” Alainn’s hands went to her knees as she attempted to stay vertical. Her aching chest heaved with every breath she took. “How long can she stay powered without recharging?”

  “For the Rose 76GF system, she’ll only last up to twenty-four hours away from a charging station, depending on how much energy she uses.”

  Which meant the Rosette-in-Rose 76GF’s system would either be coming back here or heading to Lorccan’s tower in the next twenty-four hours.

  “We are just going to have to deal with her after and make sure Rose doesn’t hop back before I can destroy her.”

  “Unfortunately, the Rosette 82GF’s system was designed with a secondary biological battery that can run on pure glucose.” Colby shook his head, also breathing hard. He squinted at Alainn. He probably only saw a blur without his glasses. Blood dripped down from his purpling nose and he smeared the blood away with a hand. “What was she saying about you and Cara?”

  Alainn shook her head. “I don’t know how she—it doesn’t make any sense.” She turned pleading eyes on him. “Please tell me you found the design and printed the chip.”

  He said, “Yeah,” but shook his head. “Shelly is gone. She took off when she heard the fighting over the phone.”

  “Crap! She has Blue in her car!” When Alainn’s face fell into her hands, her cheek screamed at the contact.

  “If Blue knows a way in, that means there is one. I’ll help you figure it out. We’ll get in there; we’ll bike if we have to.” Colby nodded slowly.

  “Really, Colby? You can’t even see. She broke your glasses.”

  “I can see enough.”

  A loud screech broke through the air and they both turned to see a car driving straight for them. With another loud screech, the car suddenly braked and skidded past. A smell of burning rubber wafted up as Shelly’s beige sedan spun. Halfway across the oncoming lane, it stopped and shuddered back.

  Colby walked in an almost leisurely way to Shelly’s car door and opened it. “Would you mind if I drove us, Ms. Dover?”

  “Alainn.”

  Alainn turned to find her father hobbling up the street. He looked as if, instead of finding her, he was completely lost. “I’m so sorry—I wish that I—I’m so sorry. There must have been some miscalculations in her filters and . . .” He continued to mumble.

  “Dad, we have to go!”

  “Wait. Wait.” With what seemed like more effort than was required, her father held up a small plastic box. Inside, a half-inch-long flashlight rattled. “Reboot sequencer—she has to watch the whole sequence. It lasts ten seconds, then pauses for three seconds before repeating.”

  35

  April 11, 2027

  The pain in Lorccan’s jaw almost matched the agony in his face. The hard, harsh breaths he drew in through his nose echoed in the large hallway, but he knew better than to unclench his jaw lest he cry out. The newest raised welt pulsated against his hand in time with his heartbeat—pain, agony, pain, agony. Over and over.

  His mother’s words echoed through his mind. “You can’t leave!” she had shouted at him.

  “I wasn’t saying that, Mom. I don’t want to leave.” Lorccan had held up his hands, trying to calm her.

  Instead of starting to calm down, her whole body shook so violently, strands of graying hair flew loose from her tight bun. “But, you want to . . . you think I can’t read between the lines to know what you really are asking for? Go get the hypertrophic switch.” She’d closed her eyes as she said the words.

  “No, Mom, please. Please—”

  “I don’t want to do this. You’re making me do this. You
can’t leave—ever. If you leave, you die. If I have to make you so hideous you’ll never try to escape, that is a price I’m willing to pay to keep you alive.”

  He didn’t have a choice. If he hadn’t gone for the switch then, she would have hit him twice.

  He’d thought the years would lessen the pain, thought that now, at thirteen, the pain would be less than it had been at six, but it was worse. At thirteen, her strikes were only harder.

  “Son!” Lorccan’s father called as he rushed into the long hallway. “Oh, my son, what did you do?”

  Lorccan turned his face away but didn’t unclench his jaw enough to answer.

  His father’s face came into view as he crouched down beside Lorccan. They had recently begun to look very similar, he and his father. Tall, with a strong brow and chin. They had the same dark eyes and hair.

  Pain scored across his father’s features as he looked into the left side of Lorccan’s face. “My son,” he whispered.

  “I’m fine, Father,” Lorccan gritted out.

  “What did you do this time?” his father asked again, concern heavy in his voice.

  Lorccan did not answer at first, knowing that his father’s expression would change from concern to disappointment. But eventually he moved his lips enough to say, “I would like a dog.”

  His father’s eyelids widened. He shook his head. “No, Lorccan. No, never.”

  Lorccan closed his eyes.

  His father’s voice came to him anyway, “Dogs are very, very dangerous, my son. Dogs commonly give people pinworms, tapeworms, roundworms, hookworms, rabies, Pasteurella, Lyme disease, and even plague. Oh, son.” He reached out and touched Lorccan’s arm, the lightest of touches. “What about Barks and Ruby?”

  “They’re automatons.”

  They sat in silence for several minutes while Lorccan mastered the throbbing that shot a line between his ear and temple. He was stronger than the pain; he’d proved that time and time again. He just needed to wait the pain out, and he would win.

  “You should go see your mother,” his father said in a low voice. “I am sure she’s as upset as you are.”

  “I’m not ready,” Lorccan said.

  “Son, she’s trying to keep you alive. It might not feel like it on days like this, but your mother loves you and just wants to keep you safe. And I also want to keep you safe. We just show it differently.” He gave one more soft touch before his hand pulled back. “Go to your mother, and don’t let her see your scars. It hurts her too much.”

  Lorccan protested the only way he knew how. He didn’t go to his mother. Instead, he stayed kneeling in the middle of the hallway. Eventually, his father gave him a look of sad disappointment and left to return to his office.

  Lorccan raised his head to look down the long hall of digitized paintings, his gaze moving from scene to scene. There were always three in their family, always three smiles on their faces.

  His father was correct, of course. Lorccan had not thought about the different parasites and bacteria a dog could bring in. He’d considered Lyme disease and rabies as something that could be discovered in a blood test before the dog was brought in, but he hadn’t completely thought the request through.

  “Lorccan?” his mother called.

  His father was correct, again. His mother was upset. Usually she would wait much longer before calling him to her. “Son? Can you come speak to me, please?” Her voice shook as she called out from her room.

  Lorccan gazed down the length of the hall that separated him and the door to his mother’s sitting room.

  “Lorccan? Can you come to my sitting room please?” Her voice now echoed through the speaker system, meaning he only had a minute before he definitely would have to go in. Exhaling a pent-up breath, Lorccan climbed to his feet.

  With his gaze on his mother’s door and his hand still covering his face, Lorccan trudged forward.

  Lorccan woke screaming in his bed. Just as in his dream, his hand clutched his cheek, the pain echoing through the years and into his temple.

  Barely having the energy to hold his own body weight, Lorccan collapsed forward onto his pillow. His stomach roiled as the room swam around him. His heavy eyelids slid back closed.

  Who would have known that his mother was right in everything she’d said?

  One plant—one peace lily—was killing him.

  He should have never brought it in for Jade. The moment he had the thought, though, he remembered her expression as she turned to thank him, sparking with joy and excitement. He revised his thought. He was glad he bought the plant; he just shouldn’t have started to care for the plant himself.

  Yet, when the monkeys had told him that Jade had ignored it to the point where the leaves were yellowing, he’d needed to tend the plant back to health himself.

  From the symptoms, he had to have caught Sporotrichosis.

  The fungus was affecting his lungs, joints, and central nervous system. Though he had not read about the nausea. Nausea must be a symptom that he had because he had a lowered immune system. A lifetime of never facing an illness was, in the end, playing a part in his demise. The illness had arrived suddenly an hour or so ago; perhaps it would pass.

  “Rosebud,” he rasped out.

  “Yes, Mr. Garbhan?” Rosebud 03AF said in her pleasant, calming voice.

  “Is that medical automaton on his way?”

  “Yes, he is on his way. You should sleep, Mr. Garbhan. He will be here soon.”

  “Thank you,” Lorccan whispered.

  Lorccan had never wanted to die. For as long as he could remember, all he had ever wanted was to live, to truly live. And now, more than ever, Lorccan wanted to survive this.

  If he died, so would Jade. No one else would fight to bring her back. She would simply cease to exist, a file deleted and irretrievable. But no file was irretrievable—if it once existed in her, it was still there.

  He wouldn’t let the pain that racked his body defeat him. He had always outmatched pain. Pain was an impatient opponent; if you waited him out, he always folded.

  “What is Jade doing? Is she all right?” he asked.

  “Jade is fine. She is watching a movie. She says she remembers the movie,” Rosebud 03AF replied.

  “Good. That’s good,” he whispered. Lorccan looked down to his hand and the ring shining out in the low light. It was not how he thought his wedding to Jade would be, with him exhausted and her sitting across the room, lit by the computer screen. She’d put both their rings on, one after the other.

  Yet, it was the first time she’d showed an interest in being “his” Jade since the malfunction. He’d fallen asleep minutes later, and sleep was returning for him now.

  Lorccan’s stomach flipped rapidly, though he did not have the energy to make it to the restroom. Eyes closing, he called to Rose, “Please send the medical automaton up as soon as he is decontaminated.”

  “Yes, Mr. Garbhan.”

  Lorccan wished he could dream of his Jade, dream of hands entwining and laughter on tender lips, but he knew what was coming. Lorccan was heading directly back to his mother’s sitting room.

  36

  April 11, 2027

  “Please state your purpose,” said the voice Alainn now knew wasn’t truly from Rosebud.

  “I’m trying to contact Lor. I haven’t been able to reach him.” Shelly’s voice was almost inaudible, her words wet with sobs.

  It was amazing that she had driven here at all. Blue had confronted them with a pretty scary fact about getting into the garage on their way there. Blue could open it manually with the safety switch, but Rose could close it within thirty seconds of the door opening. Meaning, they had to be in the access way to get in.

  Unfortunately for Shelly, neither Colby nor Alainn could waltz up to the access way without Rose calling the police—or worse. As they had no idea how long it would take, they all came to the realization that Shelly’s car was the only way to get close enough.

  They dropped Blue off a block up an
d watched as she climbed the exterior of the neighboring building. When she’d made it to the top, Blue crawled along the edge of the building until she’d reached the corner. After a deep crouch, Blue leaped and flew across the access road. Her little fingers caught onto something Alainn couldn’t even see on the smooth black building. She pulled herself up and forward into a small rectangle of space they could only see because Blue was halfway climbing into it. When she was fully in, the space disappeared from view.

  They waited only five minutes, Shelly bawling her eyes out in the front seat while Alainn lay in the space between the front and back seats, somewhat covered by a blanket Shelly had in her trunk.

  “It’s now or never, Shelly,” Alainn whispered when she hadn’t pulled out of where they’d been parked.

  Shelly told them that she wanted to do it, especially now that she truly believed Lorccan was in serious danger. There was a moment where Alainn was sure Shelly would tuck tail and run, but, sobbing all the harder, she pulled back into traffic and drove the short distance to Lorccan’s building.

  “I’m so worried about him,” Shelly whispered to the screen outside her window.

  “He’s very busy with work, Ms. Dover. I would be happy to take a message for you.” A melodic beep sounded.

  “Okay,” Shelly whispered.

  “Please speak louder, Ms. Dover.”

  Shelly spoke louder, “I’m worried about you, Lorccan. You’re not answering my calls and we’ve missed several of our nightly calls. My anxiety is really high, and I haven’t been able to work or sleep very well.” Amazingly, after Shelly started, she just kept going. She told him about reconsidering her medication, what medications she was thinking about instead and her concerns. In detail, she described the projects she was working on, complicated projects impossible to follow. She said everything in a very quiet voice, but her speech went on unbroken for what seemed like fifteen minutes.

  Alainn’s hand slowly reached out of the blanket and toward the door handle. She would have only seconds to jump out of the car after the door opened. And Alainn might have to help Colby out of the trunk since he was pretty much blind. Then they both needed to slide under a closing steel door.