* * * *
“Sabrina Lockhart, is that you?”
Jane’s crimson locks and stunning eyes were just as they had been in the videos from the Amish house, yet its face was as devoid of happiness.
“You need to get out of here,” the android said as it helped Sabrina up and guided her out of the Super 8 motel room. “Don’t you know it’s not safe to stay in places where robots could trap you?”
She released herself from Jane’s grasp and stepped away. “It’s also not safe to be around a robot like you, who has no problem blowing up space shuttles.” That Jane was taking interest in her well-being lent more credence to her overall suspicion, which had led her to see no harm taking a sleep that could not kill her, even if the building were not robot-free. As such, Sabrina wasn’t ready to take any chances with this bimbo, even if the reason for its presence wasn’t clear.
Jane looked down. “I never did that. Zolnerowich would terminate me if she heard me saying this, but I don’t care. She’ll never bother me again.”
“You killed her?”
They stepped out into the brisk April morning of Uriah’s homeland, the artifice of which Sabrina noted was impressively vivid, rudimentary as her experience of the area was. Sprouted out of the barren land was the metallic vegetation of an industry just barely entering the robotic age. Marshall hadn’t neglected the details of the animal survivors’ noises. Perhaps if the situation had permitted leisure, she could’ve found evidence of Uriah’s failed mission at the FHS.
“No. I just shut her up when I got sick of her distracting Uriah from helping me get Marshall back. She wanted Uriah arrested when his twenty-four hours were up.”
Brilliant. It was the best way to not have to concoct a story about so unpredictable a persona as the governess, while feeding Sabrina a tale of Jane’s exploits that she wouldn’t find suspicious. If she hadn’t caught onto his ploy, that is. “So why help me? I can’t resurrect Marshall.”
“But you slept with him.”
She tensed up, staring more intently straight ahead. “How’d you know that?”
“Dennis told me.” Jane held Sabrina back and peeked around the corner of one of the ubiquitous New Age centers. “Safe.”
Sabrina stayed rooted to the sidewalk, arms crossed and a little heated. “What’s it to you if I did? I mean, yeah, you probably wanna claw my eyes out for that, but obviously there’s something stopping you.”
“Well, Dennis figured this wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment thing,” it said with another yank of Sabrina’s arm toward its previous goal. She flushed. “Didn’t Marshall tell you anything important when you –?”
“Now just wait a moment!”
Sabrina freed herself and jabbed her finger in the middle of Jane’s chest. “Let’s set the record straight, ‘droid. I’m not about to let myself get pushed around by some psycho’s lifelong prostitute, especially not one who would revive that psycho. He’s not dead, by the way.”
“I knew that, I just meant bringing him back where he could be with me.” Its voice was small and broken as it said this, looking down without a word in defense of its dignity. It’s not human. Remember that.
“Listen, sweetheart, Marshall doesn’t want to be with you as much as you think he does.” Sabrina matched the robot’s presumption with a stroll back to the Aquarius Circle.
Entering, she found a cozy room, pervaded by everlasting incense, with constellation-speckled walls and a tarot reading table. To the left was a steep spiral staircase whose banisters featured three-dimensional symbols of the Zodiac. According to a calligraphic sign, it led to a channeling sanctuary. It was all she could do not to roll her eyes so far back into her head they would get stuck there.
The chimes connected to the door sounded. “That’s a lie. Marshall loves me more than anything or anyone else.”
“Right, that’s why he devoted all this time to trying to coax me over to his side.” In the upstairs landing, Sabrina’s eyes drifted to a lone flame flickering at the tip of a stubby candle. It appeared to be the last survivor in a ring of lights concentric with a floor painting of an elaborate flower. “True love waits, while one of the lovers is stuck in a Mindscape with the mistress.”
“What?”
“This isn’t real, didn’t you know? Which is why I’m checking this place. See just how good your beau is at making fake worlds. He really got the whole New Age aesthetic down, especially the long-lasting candle novelty. I’ve always suspected those were some sort of ironic technological trick. What do you think?”
“What’re you talking about?”
Sabrina opened the drapes and sat on the floor to think, unfazed by Jane’s denial. “There’s gotta be something he couldn’t simulate, that I’d know was a fake, but anything I could spot he would know ahead of time by looking inside my mind. There’s the rub.”
“Sabrina, this is real life.”
“Wanna test that?”
It appeared to have gotten the hint, looking warily at the candle-holder from which Sabrina was removing wax. “You’re not afraid of me?”
“Dream on. If you’re right, then you’re powerless against an Organic, and the world would be better off without someone of your blind loyalty.” And if you’re wrong, then you’re as dangerous as Marshall wants you to be.
Jane raised its arm slightly. “Sabrina, I’m not fighting you. Please, just tell me what you know about Marshall. I can help you get to somewhere safe for the baby if you do this for me.”
“I’d prefer to keep you at no less than a mile’s distance from it, thank you.” She grabbed a pointed candelabrum while ascending, not letting Jane out of sight. “But you won’t let that happen, so I’ll do the questioning here. What do you know about your creator?”
“Nothing that could help you.” Jane stepped back, its palm now aimed at Sabrina.
She’d expected nothing better, but it was worth a try. “All right, then.”
Jane caught the point between her fingers with ninja speed, wrenching Sabrina’s weapon out of her hand and onto the floor.
Strong girl. She scrambled for another gold pick, resenting her pregnancy now more than ever, but Jane darted in her way and wrestled her to the ground. A right hand with a small central hole hovered over her. That’s not the EM –
A liquid splattered.