E.R.I.C. (The Almost Series Book 2)

by Christina Leigh Pritchard

  I nodded, searching for Pop. “Pop! I love you!”

  “I do not emote, my Shay,” he said. “Please continue with survival assessment.”

  “I’ve got the suggested prototypes,” I said.

  “Check,” said Pop. “And for your O.H.P.?”

  “Survival supplies and the freeze portal with longest remaining shelf life.”

  Darla gasped. “I’m not going back into one of those things!” She recoiled, slamming into the aquarium walls. “I never want to go inside one of those things again!”

  “He’ll kill us!”

  “I don’t care!”

  Dr. Cole climbed out of bed. “You’re serious about this escape plan of yours. I thought you understood that we’re trapped down here. How do you intend to get out? If you leave they will spot you.”

  “I promised the N.I.C. he’d have the most data ever collected on a S.H.A.Y. and I intend to keep my promise to him,” I said. “Mom, get in the shrinker!”

  “I won’t do it! I’d rather die!”

  “It’s the only way for Eric not to lock on to you. If he sees you he’ll reprogram again and try to kill us. If he doesn’t see you, he’ll help me—”

  “No!” Darla’s face reddened. “You’ve never been in one of those things! You cannot torture me! I won’t go back inside there!”

  “He’s going to reprogram!”

  I’d never seen Darla angry. Many times, I thought I had, but today, her eyes darkened, deep and full of hate. I stepped back. She made a sound, deep and frightening. “I said no!”

  Pop appeared next to me. He kept pace as I examined each remaining prototype. “I warned you that your plan was faulty. Darla does not wish to be saved. The O.H.P. wishes to die at the hands of her child. Why do you insist on fighting for this human?”

  Darla pointed her finger at Pop. “I don’t want to die. Moron.”

  Pop’s hologram faded in and out. “The human is losing emotional control. Do you see why training is so beneficial, my Shay? Emotions are a human weakness that I do not share and I see why they are unnecessary.”

  “You do emote, Pop, you’re having a little anxiety attack now because you’re going to miss me.”

  Darla threw up her hands. “It’s a heartless machine, Shay! They don’t care about us!”

  “You’re the only selfish one here,” I snapped. “I’m trying to save your life and you won’t cooperate—even Dr. Cole isn’t arguing that much.”

  “I just know that your attempts are futile,” Dr. Cole said. “I’m preparing for a breech. I’ve spent eighteen years watching you over-exaggerate your abilities, Shay.”

  Pop followed me from table to table as I snatched things. “You won’t need any of those,” he said. “We’ve gone over survival assessment and these are not necessary. You should be gearing up.”

  “You’re right,” I said. “Clothes, Pop.”

  They fell from above.

  “Had them waiting.” He gave an electronic laugh. “My last day helping you prepare for your daily activities.”

  I ripped off my night clothes and struggled to put on my wetsuit. Dr. Cole frowned. She shook her head but continued guarding the elevator entry.

  I sneered. “You don’t look all that serious with all that make-up on.”

  “You should see your own face,” Dr. Cole said.

  I glanced up. “Darla.” I froze. “Get away from the walls.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Why should I?”

  “Pop, turn out the lights.”

  He didn’t respond.

  “Pop?”

  “It’s too late for that, my Shay.”

  Darla turned slowly, her body trembling. “Is he—”

  I nodded, my eyes locked onto Eric’s. He swam, pressing his body against the glass walls. He tapped his fingers against the containment.

  Darla looked up, seeing her son. She gasped, falling backwards. “He’s found us!”

  Pop bowed his head. “Oh, my Shay.”

  Chapter Seven

  The Romeo Clone

  “Requesting to enter,” the keeper said. He stood outside the glass doors. “I’m not here to harm anyone, my father has asked me to help keep you safe.”

  Dr. Cole shook her head. “We do not need any outside help.”

  I stood frozen, my peepers still locked with Eric’s. Pop argued with Dr. Cole and Darla recoiled, hiding her face from her son.

  Pop ran statistics before Dr. Cole. “Do you see how helpful the keeper can be for us? He’s spent years studying the E.R.I.C.”

  “I don’t care! Machines can change at any given moment as they are based off probability and statistics rather than empathy and humanity.” Dr. Cole’s eyes filled with tears. “Machines don’t care about us.”

  My fingers trembled, frozen, as Amie pressed her palm to mine. “I would choose you over any statistic.”

  I shook my head. “Suppose I don’t save your S.H.A.Y., then what would you do?”

  Amie frowned. “I’d be very disappointed, but I would still choose you.”

  I narrowed my eyes. “Just like how Dr. Cole’s A.M.I.E. chose her?”

  “Please, trust me,” Amie begged. “Why would I connect to you out of all my S.H.A.Y.s if you were not important to me?”

  “Maybe because I was the first to ever try to meet you?”

  She touched my cheeks. My tears felt like ice against my skin. “You’re the only S.H.A.Y. I opened my door for.”

  Pop’s voice rose. “I am unlocking the doors! Dr. Cole is unreasonable and not thinking with her complete mental faculties.”

  She tried to punch his hologram. “Listen. Idiot. I’m in charge, not you!”

  “The N.I.C. approves of his keeper being allowed to enter,” Pop said. “Consider your authority revoked by the N.I.C.” The doors opened and the keeper stepped forward.

  Dr. Cole charged for him.

  Pop shouted, his lights flashing. “Abort, abort!”

  She cut through his hologram and tackled the keeper. They rolled around. Dr. Cole, finally showing her active side, punched him in the face and he kicked her, sending her flying. She landed against the double doors.

  The keeper, his arms flexing, grabbed her by the ankles and dragged her into the sanitation room. He grabbed the privacy curtain, twisting it and wrapping it around the struggling Dr. Cole’s waist.

  “This won’t hold me!” she shouted, jerking violently. He shrugged, turning away.

  “Shay?” he said. I looked him over. He was tall, but not as tall as Eric, and there was a playfulness to him. His face was rounder and he had a beauty mark to the right of his mouth. The keeper’s eyes were a soulful brown. “I’m Nick, Eric’s best friend. We’re like brothers. He doesn’t want to hurt you.”

  “Don’t listen to him!” Dr. Cole warned. “He’s the keeper for a machine!”

  I nodded. “I know, he’s here to save me.” My eyes glanced back, watching Eric swim back and forth. He was unable to figure out a way to enter the aquarium walls.

  Nick stepped closer until his arm rested against mine. He was warm and loving. My eyes set on his. They danced and I smiled. “I’m going to get you out of here, far away from this monster woman.”

  I glanced at my sister. She shared my DNA, but was she really in there anymore? Or was her A.M.I.E. the actual person I spent the last three months with? There were moments that I knew I was speaking to Dr. Cole, but they lasted mere seconds.

  I turned to Nick. “Once Eric locks on to his mom,” I said, pointing at Darla, “he’s going to be reprogrammed to kill her and anyone who stands in his way. He has no choice. That is, if he hasn’t already.”

  “If he had, his eyes would be red,” Nick said.

  “What do we do?”

  “We don’t allow him to lock eyes with his mother. I’m sure you’ve got something here to save her. My dad says you’re one of the most unconventionally creative S.H.A.Y.s he’s ever analyzed.”

  “Is that N.I.C. you’re referrin
g to?”

  He nodded. “What’s the plan?”

  “I had a plan, but Darla will not cooperate, so now I must improvise.”

  Nick squinted. “What are you thinking?”

  I laughed. “Are you studying me?”

  He smiled.

  “Yeah, you are. So, N.I.C. sent you in to figure me out. He’s very clever. I like him.”

  Nick beamed. “He’s highly intelligent and teaches me a lot of really cool things!”

  “You have a relationship like I have with my Pop.”

  “Your P.O.P has bonded to you?”

  “Do you find that odd?”

  Nick cocked his head. “How do a human and machine bond?”

  I refused to look away. “You already know.”

  He nodded. “What is your plan of action? N.I.C. has analyzed all possible outcomes and cannot see any way for you to escape other than to follow me out through the elevators to the safe house. He wants to know what you’ve devised.”

  I dug inside my bag. “I’m going to improvise. You tell your father that part of emoting is to follow your gut feeling.”

  “He wants to know what a gut feeling is,” Nick said. “I’ve already tried to explain to him what it means but—”

  “There is a little voice inside you that is very small and it does not listen to reason. It is illogical and frightening to experience. Tell your father that he will understand one day when he is confronted with loss. His circuitry will falter and he will be faced with a choice between doing what will work statistically and what his hard drives are telling him. They will feel hot and fail repeatedly. If he chooses the logical option, he’ll never function properly again.”

  Nick recoiled. “My father doesn’t understand. He says you speak in riddles.”

  “I’ve given N.I.C. enough information to understand once he is faced with loss or desperation.” I frowned. “Please tell him I hope he never understands.”

  Pop stood before us. “My Shay, are you ready?”

  I stepped as close as I could to my Pop. “I wish I could hug you.”

  He glanced away. “I do not wish to watch.”

  “Permission granted.” I closed my eyes. “Goodbye Pop, I love you.”

  Pop faded slowly. “I do love you, my Shay. Dr. Cole is wrong.”

  Dr. Cole! I raced over, untying her. “Get up and get ready.”

  “Not before I kill that keeper!”

  I pushed her against the sanitation pole. “There’s no time!” I threw her bag of supplies at her. “If you want to live, put your survival gear on.”

  “Survival gear?” Nick said.

  “Prepare yourself, Romeo.”

  “Romeo?”

  I grabbed my face mask. It was a small tube which funneled into my nostrils, feeding me air from an oxygen tank that I hid inside my backpack. I pressed the automatic glass helmet. It surrounded my face.

  I glanced in the reflective glass.

  I looked like an alien.

  Nick laughed. “How are you going to get outside? Eric isn’t smart enough to cut through the glass even though he easily could.”

  “That’s correct, Romeo. He’s not going to do anything to hurt me.”

  “Why are you calling me Romeo?”

  “Darla!” I shouted. “Stop crying and put on your gear. If you’re not going to comply then just try to save yourself.”

  “You’re not going to help me?”

  I shook my head. “I tried but you want to be a martyr, so get ready. I hope you make it without my help.”

  “Shay!” Dr. Cole gasped. “That’s out of character.”

  “I can’t save everyone. So, save yourselves.”

  “Shay!” Nick said. “Answer me! Why are you calling me Romeo?”

  “Because your father has taught you well.” I leaned down, grabbing my most un-useful invention ever. It was the size of a peanut and shaped like a triangle. I pressed it against the glass.

  Dr. Cole raced forward. “Are you crazy, Shay?”

  Nick stopped her. “What do you mean, my father has taught me well?”

  I stepped back, grasping Darla’s hand. “You’re a charlatan, Nick, pretending to be a loving human when in reality you’re just a robotic spy. Your love is fast and instant but always ends in death.”

  When I was thirteen I became fascinated with blowing various things up but not wanting to clean up the mess. So I invented the three-point explosion.

  Step one, explode.

  I covered Darla with my body. We watched the glass walls of our aquarium crack. I averted my eyes as it shattered and water poured in, knocking us backwards.

  I tried to scream.

  Step two, reattach object.

  Suction dragged our bodies to the center of the room; even Eric was no match for its force. He flailed his arms, resisting the magnetic field. It was no use. He followed the others, getting trapped with them. I held the anti-gravity pen in my hand, allowing me and Darla to exit without getting sucked. I glanced back, watching my three-point explosion repair itself. That process included keeping the others inside, together, away from us.

  I grabbed the three-inch emergency raft cube, exposing it to water. It filled, lifting us up towards the surface. Darla gasped for air. She didn’t have her oxygen in. I gave her some of mine.

  Amie pointed towards the surface, then motioned in the direction of Miami’s closest border. She smiled and somersaulted before us. “You’ve escaped! What cleverness!”

  I shook my head. “Not yet,” I said. “I never finished working on step three.”

  Darla and I gasped for air as our heads surfaced. The raft bounced up and I tipped it over, emptying the remaining water from inside. She was heavy and barely able to hold onto the sides.

  Amie shook her head. “What was step three?”

  “Clean up,” I said, shoving Darla in her behind. She dropped into the raft. “Dr. Cole never let me finish working on it, so eventually repair mode reverts back to explosion.”

  “Hurry! Stop daydreaming, Shay!” Darla grabbed an oar and I hit the expanding motor. It seized, water flooding it.

  “Why is it taking so long?”

  “It’s my original prototype; it takes three minutes to complete building.”

  “How much time do we have before that horrible invention you have explodes?”

  “Two minutes maybe?”

  “This is the worst plan you’ve ever had!” Darla started rowing before I could even grab my paddle. “This isn’t very thought out.”

  “That’s because you didn’t follow the original plan. I had to make something up! This is your fault!”

  “Yelling at the frightened O.H.P. will not help save her. Row, Shay, Row.” Amie pressed her nose to my cheek. “You’re both frightened. She doesn’t mean what she’s saying.”

  A rumble came from below. “We gotta hurry.”

  Waves capsized us.

  Darla gagged, grabbing at the sides of the raft. I held onto the other side, balancing it out.

  “Hold on tight,” I told her.

  “They’re coming!”

  “Calm down and hold on! It’s the only way we can stay together. The explosion is going to go everywhere and if you let go I’ll never find you.”

  Waves and water spouts breeched the surface.

  I braced myself.

  Chapter Eight

  Unlikely Hero

  Waves toppled us, sending the raft under. We struggled to hold on, our limbs burning and stretching in ways I didn’t know they could. Half my bed burst from the waters splashing us further towards Miami’s shoreline. Darla screamed, losing her grip. I submersed myself, flipping the raft upside down, tugging her underneath. Our heads barely above water, breathing the shallow air underneath the raft, we held the handles this time, letting the waves jerk us about.

  I saw my things float up inside the upturned raft; my unmentionables, prototypes I didn’t pack, books I read with my Pop…

  “We need to get movi
ng.”

  Darla nodded, kicking her feet. “This way,” she said.

  Amie sighed. “She’s not very good with navigational directions, is she? How will she train my S.H.A.Y.?”

  “Really, Mom?” I shouted.

  Darla turned. “Are you talking to me or your imaginary friend?”

  “My imaginary friend,” I said.

  Darla’s eyes widened.

  “I’m your mother—not your friend.” Amie floated between Darla and me. “I can be both your friend and your parent, right?”

  “Darla is loving and kind,” I said. “She isn’t always so stressed. I know she’ll be a good mom to your last S.H.A.Y.”

  Amie smiled. “She did a fantastic job with you.”

  Tears stung my eyes.

  “What did your fake friend say?” Darla asked.

  “She said you were a great mother to me.”

  “Are you connected to your A.M.I.E.?”

  I nodded.

  Darla shook her head. “That’s bad! Shay!”

  “It doesn’t matter. We need you to survive. You have to care for the next S.H.A.Y. My Amie wants you to raise her away from the scientists.”

  “They’ll never allow it.”

  “I know,” I said. “Before I die, I’m going to steal her and bring her to you. None of the robotic creatures can cross the Miami border.”

  “You’re already speaking as if you and your Amie are one voice,” Darla said. “This is bad, Shay, very, very bad.”

  “I am not bad for you!” Amie protested. “It’s a good thing I can’t physically harm you.” She waved her fist in Darla’s face. “Too bad you can’t see how angry I am at you!”

  “Calm down,” I said. “She didn’t say no.”

  “You’re talking to her again?”

  “Yes, that or I’m finally going crazy.”

  “I’d prefer you go crazy than really be connected to that monster.”

  “Stop calling me names!” Amie spat. Code resembling spit flew at Darla’s face. She didn’t flinch. How could she? She couldn’t see Amie or her coded spit.

  A twinge of pain shot through me. I could see why Amie didn’t want to just be a hologram. There was something missing to not be physically there when your mind most certainly was.