Genre(s): Science Fiction/Romance
Rating: T (as according to fictionpress)
Characters In Chapter: Samara Crichton, Nazilla, Mark, Stewart, Martha, Rebecca, Glau
Relationship(s): Samara Crichton/Nazilla
I heard the sound of Samara calming her breathing down in the backseat. We were more than halfway home, but she was still reeling from the battle. Because of the chaos I hadn’t had a chance to tell her about Glau. I wanted to be back home where I would have time to stop and answer questions about the M-3.
Leaving the
battle had been more than hectic. Martha and Rebecca had run away to their
original vehicle while Mark and Stewart had to leave in a vehicle from the parking
lot. Samara had managed to get into the backseat of the car I had stolen.
I kept on
the lookout for Netty’s forces to suddenly appear, but they didn’t. Samara and
I had survived, but I knew she would feel guilty if the others had died. I
didn’t like the thought of the other four dying, but it wasn’t guilt I’d feel
if they died. Rather I would miss their contributions to Karma.
Even Mark.
As I pulled
the car up I saw two other cars and Stewart standing idly at the door. Samara
got out and waved at him. I let the two of them exchange coded information
while I walked to the trunk. I opened it up and looked at Glau’s unconscious
form.
I heard
Samara and Stewart start to come over to me.
“Naz?” She
asked and then stood silent when she saw Glau.
“That’s a
Machine?” Stewart asked. “M-3 or M-4?”
“It’s my
ex…well…was.”
“It’s an
M-3 called Glau. Glau is the person it’s imitating.” I said and looked at the
two.
I tried to
decipher Samara’s face and could only figure out that she didn’t like seeing
her ex again. Was it the reminder that the real Glau was now dead? Was it the
fact that she thought I was going to turn? Was it the fact that Glau would
become good and Samara would have to see her dead ex for years?
Examining
Stewart’s expression was much harder. He always seemed Machine-like in his
intensity. From what I could tell, he wanted to examine the M-3 body himself to
find out new ways to destroy it in battle.
“Why did
you bring her here?” Samara asked.
“While
attacking me she forgot that she is an M-3.” I explained. “I want to examine
her chip and find out if she can one day be made to serve Karma.”
Stewart’s
face seemed to take on a few different expressions at once before settling on
his usual calm demeanor. Samara just looked like she didn’t want to deal with this
argument at the moment. I felt like I had made the correct decision to not tell
her until now.
“Why didn’t
you tell me?” She finally asked and shook her head.
“Well it
just happened and you needed a breather after the battle.” I explained. “And I
figured it’d be better to have this conversation now where we can take our
time.”
“If you can
find out how to fight the M-3’s better, find a weakness, Karma will be proud.”
Stewart said and then paused. “But you’ll need to convince Kered.”
“That will
be a problem.” I said. “But what if it was your idea?”
“What? So
Stewart can take the blame?” Samara asked sternly.
“No,
because Kered doesn’t like me. If the suggestion comes from someone he likes
then he has a better chance at agreeing to it.”
“Why do you
really want to do this?”
“Because it
will help Karma.”
Samara just
shook her head and I knew I hadn’t fooled her. We had known each other for too
long for me to get away with the lie. Was she worried that I would turn and
leave her alone? And how would she react to me leaving her a second time?
After a
node from Stewart, I took Glau out. She was heavy enough for me to take a
second to make sure I could hold the weight, but it wasn’t hard after that
initial lift. I registered her weight, but there was no effect besides
information. I didn’t grow tired as I carried her into the house.
I walked
inside and then headed down into the basement. Everything down there was
organized so that any one of us could work on a project with the knowledge that
we could easily put evidence away. I set Glau onto the table on the right side
of the room. I tied her up so that if she realized she was a Machine that she
wouldn’t be able to escape.
Trying her
up gave me time to think about what would happen if I had to kill her. There
was something about her that made me think of her as a kind of friend. A kind
of friend that would try to kill me from time to time.
Scanning
over the restraints a few times still didn’t give me enough reassurance, but it
would have to do. I took Glau’s chip out of my pocket and put it into her head.
It took a minute for her to come to and then she looked at me.
Describing
her look is beyond the scope of a lowly M-4. The look Glau gave me wasn’t human
and yet it wasn’t Machine. Glau’s personalities were probably warring with each
other and so she couldn’t respond. Neither side would give control for her to
say anything if that was the case.
“Glau?” I
asked and she struggled before deciding it was useless to try.
“Y…sss…”
Glau finally replied.
The rest of
the night followed like that. Both sides of Glau were struggling and neither
would take enough control to tell me anything useful. There were angry sounds
from her mouth but nothing more. It wasn’t like I expected to make any headway
the first day anyways.
But it
still would’ve been nice.
“Naz!”
Samara yelled out and I looked at Glau. “The others are leaving!”
Should I leave
her on and trust her or turn her off?
Looking at
the restrains I knew there wasn’t much I should worry about. I had made sure
she wouldn’t escape and so she wouldn’t.
Saying
good-bye to the others wasn’t exactly sad, but it would be odd working without
them. Which in some cases, like Mark’s, would be a good thing.
Martha, of
course, insisted on hugging me. She gave me words that were comforting but
untrue. Lies that humans told themselves to feel good. That I had told myself
once. Rebecca, the older and colder sister, just shook my hand and told me that
she hoped to work with me again.
Stewart
looked at me with admiration before being going out. He was the one that I
would miss the most. It wasn’t that he treated me like a human, but because
he…treated me as what I was: some odd combination of human and Machine. If I
had been straight or bisexual I might have even decided on trying to start a
relationship with him. As it stood, he wasn’t sexually attractive to me.
Mark just
looked at me and walked away. There were no good-byes between us and I didn’t
mind.
Samara and
I waved as they left. I only did so because it was a motion I knew it to fit
the moment. When they were out of our sight I went back in to examine Glau some
more.
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