by Roxy Mews
One woman stood from behind a car and gaped. Paisley’s brain raced to place her.
She waved to try and get the reporter’s attention.
“Isn’t that the woman you interviewed at the beginning of all this?” she asked.
“Son of a gun. It is. She must have been listening to you and blocked the gas.”
“Drag this portal over there. I have an idea.”
The portal made a grinding noise as the cameraman dragged it for them, and with a flicker, Magistrate Winters’s feed was cut. Paisley wasn’t sure if he cut the feed, if something malfunctioned from moving the portal, or if Ben and Jon had pulled the plug. She hoped there was enough juice left in this piece of equipment for her to keep going. She suddenly had a lot to say.
“My best friend was captured.” Paisley spoke directly to the woman, trying desperately to get her attention. “My friend was knocked unconscious. I didn’t know if she was alive, or if the government that you are fighting with had killed her. I cried for hours, because I let them take her away. I wasn’t strong enough to stop the men with the uniforms. I thought they’d take me away too.”
Tears fell again as Paisley relived the night Coral had been taken. She didn’t know at that point that Quinn had stolen her back. All she’d known was her friend was gone. That night she’d stood back out of fear.
The woman walked closer.
There wasn’t much room for anything in this holographic recorder. Fear definitely wouldn’t fit. If she went to jail, it was still nothing compared to what would have happened to Coral if she stopped now. If she could change this one woman’s mind, if they could show how people can begin to understand each other, they might fix something that was truly broken in the world. Paisley might never be the leader her best friend was, but she was done backing away.
The woman’s protest sign was touching the ground now. She had been mad about losing her money, but she’d been more worried about her mother. This woman wasn’t cold-hearted. Paisley pushed to reach her.
“You said you wanted a caretaker for your mother. What was your robot’s name?”
Leaning on her picket sign for support, she said, “Her name’s Rosie.”
“Did Rosie turn on you? Did she harm your mother?”
“No.”
“I’d bet she was there when you needed a break. I’d bet she was there even when you didn’t know if you could hold it together.”
Without even looking at the camera, she spoke directly to Paisley’s projection.
“She was the only reason my mother survived her cancer. She was the only reason I survived.”
“Did you talk to her about that? Did you say thank you?”
“Every day.”
“Why would you tell a machine thank you?” Paisley watched the woman fall. “If she was just a machine…”
“She’s not just a machine to me.”
Then Paisley saw it. She hoped like hell the tablet was trained on it. She’d just made someone understand.
The royal guard filtered through the crowd. They wore minimal armor and collected the weapons from those passed out. They encouraged people to dissipate and locked zip cuffs on those who weren’t open to encouragement. It was easy to spot the people that were scared, and those who were sorry it had gone so far. It was hard to tell if it was over for good, but it looked like it was over for today.
The DMA officers lowered their guns as the guard pushed through their ranks. Some had taken off, but Paisley could see the robots on the other side of the barricade now.
Coral was in front, and Paisley saw her quiet strength. Coral didn’t want to be the one in the front lines, but she did it because she knew she had to. That fortitude had pushed Paisley to do the same. Paisley saw the mechanical citizens had all begun putting their hands in the air. A sign of surrender. But then those hands joined, still raised, to let everyone know, they stood together.
She didn’t know if the camera was on her or the action any longer, but she said the words just in case.
“That’s why there shouldn’t even be an application process. When an intelligent being wants to care for itself, we should send it out into the world. It doesn’t matter if it grew from a child, or advanced under the love and care of its creator. Labels aren’t important. Intent is. And there is not one being behind that line who has struck out at you. Even with guns pointed at them. I only wish I had their strength. I hope to grow into a woman of that caliber someday.”
The bullhorns sounded again. The chatter faded. The outside world dissipated from her vision.
The office was dimmer as the holographic recorder was disconnected.
Paisley heard another loud zap, and the office around her came into focus just in time time see Jon’s fingers touch Darius. Her ex dropped like a powered-down bot. Unlike a bot, Darius pissed himself.
“Now.” Ben swung the plug in his hand. “Let’s discuss how we are going to correct this injection problem.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Paisley looked out the window and the few people who weren’t passed out were scattering, like there was a sale on chocolate during a PMS outbreak. People looked vaguely annoyed, but the dramatic push from their anger had dissipated.
The twitching mess on the floor by her feet was mumbling as Paisley took off her com pieces.
“This was the way to let the kingdom make the decision they want for the future,” Darius said before trying to wipe away a stream of drool. “It was a way to let the world out of this horrible mistake without putting the blame on the king and queen.”
He looked every bit of the whack job he was turning out to be. His hair frizzed out at the sides and looked horribly unkempt as he rolled back and forth.
“Because a war where you control the actions of one side of the battle is completely reasonable.” Jon was a lot calmer than Paisley thought he’d be. Especially considering he had gone in for his DNA file already. One of those horrible chips was in his arm now, and with the magistrate’s feed gone, they had no idea what he was going to do with the bomb he controlled inside the bots.
“It was better than leaving it to chance. And it gave the humans an even footing. Fighting against beings with limitless strength, intelligence, and energy isn’t fair.”
“What in your brain makes you think we need to fight at all?” Paisley said. She could see Jon and Ben working the computers and the look on their faces was anything but peaceful resolution. Paisley wanted to kick Darius in the nuts again, but she had a feeling her battle buddies were looking for a much more painful and permanent strike.
“You need to stop being so naïve. War comes whenever something this big changes.”
“And it always solves so much.” Paisley planted her feet to keep from kicking. “First, we need to figure out how to get these chips out.” She put her foot on Darius’s throat and held him there so he couldn’t talk anymore. He wouldn’t regain full body functionality for a few more moments, and she really enjoyed standing on him. She turned to Jon. “Some of these have been under the skin for months. The surrounding tissue will have blended it. How do we detect it?”
Darius garbled around her shoe anyway. “You’ve…committed…espionage.”
“What the fuck do you think you’ve done?” Paisley yelled at him.
“Protected people.”
The bastard really thought that. His voice was sure. He didn’t even feel bad about lowjacking them, mainly because he didn’t consider them people.
A hand closed around Paisley’s arm and began pulling. Fighting against a biometal grip wasn’t something she could do, but she glared at Jon and tried to look as indignant as possible.
“What are you doing?”
Jon pointed to a blinking alert on the screen of the holographic projector. “Getting you out of here before we all get arrested.”
Sure e
nough when Paisley read the words they said “Police Arriving Shortly” over and over. Either Darius had tripped the alarm, or the magistrate had done it remotely when his feed stopped.
Jon pushed her forward fast, but when they got to the door, she spread her legs and blocked him from shoving her through. He was shocked enough that she was fighting him that he stopped. Paisley was glad for it, otherwise her shins would have had some very colorful bruises.
“I’m staying here.”
“The royal family isn’t going to save you on this. You broke laws with us. Without allowing for time to get the legal side situated, you’ll stay in prison. You might end up there anyway. We all might. But dammit, we don’t need to hand you over to a holding facility on a silver platter. I doubt you have a stash of cash to bail yourself out.” Jon was downloading some information from the computers onto his thumbdrive, but his eyes kept straying to the transmitter where the magistrate’s feed had come from. Mr. Winters had shut down the signal, and there wasn’t a way to backtrack it.
Ben slammed a fist into the portal and pulled out a few microchips. “We may be able to get some information off of these, but it won’t be much. Paisley, the king and queen can pretend to not know we were involved, but your image is the one going out on all the news feeds. If a network decides to spin it the wrong way…”
Prison orange was not a good color with her skin tone, but Paisley moved out of his reach before she could change her mind. “If we’ve only got a few minutes and I’m going to jail anyway, then show me what we need to steal to get the chips out.”
“We’d need a detection tool and a surgical team. We all have skin transplants, or bio material that will be damaged by the process.”
Paisley ran back into the room. The DMA officers were visible on the screens. The men who had been deep in the robots’ ranks were heading up the stairs and right for them. They’d abandoned the militarized vehicles under the pressure from the royal guard, but they weren’t unarmed.
Something occurred to Paisley. The nurse who’d injected Coral for the certificate of humanity had an office here. The medical room was next to the magistrate’s.
Paisley was grateful for the government’s cheap building materials as she kicked in the flimsy door.
“What are you doing?” Jon called.
“Feeling like a badass at the moment,” she mumbled as she scanned the room twice before finding what she was looking for.
The small doctor’s bag looked like something out of an old-time movie. Black with a top closure and a red cross inside a white circle on the side. Only difference was this bag came with a top of the line lock.
The elevators dinged and Paisley heard the sounds of radios crackling with orders she couldn’t quite make out. But it sure as shit didn’t sound like they were coming to congratulate her for stopping a riot.
Paisley pressed the bag into Jon’s chest. “Can you get out of here through the vents?”
“Possibly, but I’d need to use my magnets to cling to the sides. I can’t carry you with me. The width isn’t sufficient to support two bodies.”
“I wasn’t going with you anyway.”
Ben burst through the door and shut it behind him. “We’ve got a minute, tops.” He shoved a large bookcase in front of the door Paisley had destroyed.
Paisley pointed to the vent. “Get the bag to Coral. She’s seen the nurse open it. That photographic memory of hers will be able to pop that thing in a second. Then get the chips out of everyone fast. I don’t know what the magistrate is going to do now that we can’t see him.”
“We aren’t leaving you here,” Ben told her.
The door began to bang.
“I’m doing something important,” Paisley yelled over the noise.
“Sacrificing yourself isn’t noble, it’s stupid.”
“Then I guess I’m just a dumbass human after all.” She pulled Ben in and kissed him. Then she did the same to Jon. She might have bitten Jon’s lip just a little. “If you don’t get that chip out of my best friend, I won’t forgive you. And I certainly won’t fuck you again.”
“Going to be kind of hard to do behind bars anyway,” Jon said, but he opened the air return vent and went.
Paisley peeked a look out the window and saw exactly what she hoped she would. The media crews were descending. “I’ve got an angle. Let me work it.”
Paisley’s blood rushed past her ears. She had herself on edge. Adrenaline coursed through her system. She needed to settle herself, but couldn’t relax until she saw the vent cover slip back into place. The bookcase rocked and creaked as the door pressed forward behind the DMA officers.
She jumped back as the bookcase lost stability and came crashing forward. The door bent as they cracked the inexpensive wood with what appeared to be the rounded shape of a battering ram.
Stealing one more peek outside, Paisley saw the reporter hone in on Coral. The cameraman still had the tablet in his hand and was getting shots from the other side of the military line. Paisley hoped it would serve to prove the validity of the images Coral had recorded. She hoped the reporter and the news network had the balls to air it uncut.
That was out of her control, how she’d react to what came through the door wasn’t. When it finally gave way and men with heavy boots kicked the bookcase to the side, she decided she would have to go for it.
Paisley held out her arms and placed her wrists together. “When we get to the jail, I’d like a com-link device please.”
The zip cuffs were slipped on her wrists and auto tightened.
Six officers were in the small office and looking like they had no idea why all of them were needed. One man, the one who’d worked the cuffs over Paisley’s hands, directed with a gloved hand.
“Miller, go make sure the guy with the pee all over him is okay. He was mumbling and might need some medical attention. Taylor and Blake, make sure you double-check the rest of this floor, but I think we’re clear.”
Paisley looked up at him and smiled. He had no idea how much trouble she was about to be.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Waiting for legal council to assist you in your breaking and entering charges wasn’t fun. Watching that same lawyer begin to salivate at the possible career-making case gave Paisley the giggles.
Samantha Peat had advertising all over the city, and it was well known that she only handled the high-end clients herself. She’d worked to get an entire apartment complex shut down last week. Samantha knew how to work the media’s influence to secure judge and jury favor in a trial. The first thing she’d told Paisley when she walked into the holding room was, “A picture is worth a thousand words, and your face hasn’t stopped talking all day.”
Now Samantha was scribbling notes faster than Paisley could peek over the data pad to read them.
“You had a right to enter the building. It not being business hours isn’t much of an issue. When you are working on legislation like you were doing, there are many late nights. You were arrested for being in your place of business and shutting the door. Are you sure you don’t want to file charges? We could squeeze these assholes until they cry for their mommies.”
“I’m not above using the threat of a lawsuit as leverage, but I think we need to stick to setting a legal precedence for the rights of robotic citizens.” There were a lot of things Paisley learned working within a building full of elected officials and bureaucrats. They were only interested in how the paperwork they filed affected their ability to be re-elected. And Paisley wasn’t about to propose the robotics bills and amendments be put up for a vote. Rights were rights, not decisions to be voted on. It was time the world realized that.
“You are a better person than I am.” Samantha shook her head, but flipped to a clear page, and Paisley saw she was already prepping for the upcoming battle.
A snort of derision came from behind her and
Paisley’s heart filled to see Coral and Quinn in the room.
“She’s an idiot,” Quinn said.
Coral pulled up a chair and sat next to Paisley. “Am I supposed to kiss your hand as a show of support?”
“People usually hold hands as a show of support. Kissing my hand would show a romantic interest,” Paisley explained as she grabbed and squeezed Coral’s hand.
The bandaged area around Coral’s elbow still pulled the air out of Paisley’s lungs. She cocked an eyebrow at Quinn.
He gave her a very slight nod before he pointed to the lawyer. “Is she good enough? We’re paying out the nose for her. They said she’s known for busting some pretty big balls, but if you’re not happy, we’ll keep looking.”
“I’m the best representation money can buy,” Samantha stated without being insulted.
“You’d better be,” Coral chimed in. “Otherwise we have overpaid.”
“I’ll pay you back,” Paisley told her friend.
Coral held up her arm. There was a small pinkish dot of her lubricant staining the gauze at her elbow.
“You already have.” Coral squeezed Paisley’s hand until her knuckles popped, then backed off to make sure she didn’t cause damage.
Ms. Peat cleared her throat. “You know it would be beneficial if you could produce the medical equipment that seems to have gone missing from the DMA during your incident there.”
Paisley glanced at Coral’s arm and then told her lawyer, “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Samantha snorted. “As long as you can say it like that in front of a camera, I won’t press.”
After only a few more minutes, the lawyer did what Paisley hoped she’d do. Using the magistrate’s questionable actions regarding the robotic citizens, and Paisley’s employment in the City County Building as leverage, Paisley was released pending further investigation.
No more zip cuffs, and the electrified gate opening, were beautiful sights.
After she signed for her things, a large envelope was emptied in front of her. Paisley put on her earrings and smartwatch. She put her dead phone in her pocket. She’d need to borrow a charger until she got hers back from the palace.
