* * * *
Her eyes were wide open, her heart had skipped a beat, and her breathing came heavy and slow. She got up, not daring to make a sound as she slipped the EM gun out of her pocket, back against the wall.
More shots let in streams of light, turning the chamber into Charlie Brown’s ghost costume.
That was more light than they should have brought.
An unfamiliar, husky feminine voice declared, “I can hear your breath. Come out without a fight. If I see a weapon in your hand or hear you shove it into your pocket, that gun gets the same treatment this wall did. I don’t want to hurt you, it’s just that Mindscapes are soundproof and I needed to communicate with you before you blasted me with an EMP.”
She did not lift the blaster. “How do I know you won’t kill me when you let me out?”
“Because I would’ve done so right now if I wanted to. The only other possibility would be that I wanted information out of you before killing you, but I could just as easily get it without letting you out.”
This would’ve been compelling, but knowing how Livingston’s mind worked, it seemed exactly like the sort of bait-and-switch he’d pull for incomprehensible motives. He didn’t need logic to constrain his way of getting what he wanted. Just the prospect of screwing someone over, after giving them every reason not to believe they’d be screwed over, was clearly his idea of heaven.
“In fact, I saved your life. This isn’t a ventilated device, not when it’s powered down.” Pause. “And … I was built to serve you. I’m incapable of intentionally harming you.”
What? “How dumb do you think I am?”
“Dumb enough to know when it’s best to just give in and trust me. Please, I don’t want you to starve in there. Drop the gun.”
The android was right. “Okay, but only if you drop yours.” She kept up her end of the bargain and stepped toward the door.
The robot who let her out could only be called breathtaking. She had the human resemblance of Jane, yet every feature conformed so much to Sabrina’s ideal of the human form it was uncanny. Modest as the bot was, she wasn’t enticing in the usual way – it was more a special quality of beauty to which no biological person could aspire.
“Who are you?” Sabrina whispered.
“Artemis.” She raised her hands over her shoulders. “Do you trust me now?”
“Yes.” There was no indecision, which she rationalized during their conversation as an attempt to disarm Artemis. Logically, it was clear this was a last-ditch scheme of Livingston’s, but she began to find it difficult to be logical. “Where is Dennis?”
Artemis smiled. “Don’t worry about him. He’s safe. You’re safe. You don’t have to worry about Jane or Livingston anymore.” She wrapped an arm around her as they walked toward the staircase.
“How do you know all this?” Sabrina had to look up slightly to face her, and when she did it was difficult to turn away. The android returned the eye lock.
“Because I know you as well as you know yourself. Probably better.”
“Marshall Patterson designed you, didn’t he?”
“Don’t remind me.” Even when she discussed something irritating, she did it with calm grace. “He’s gone now. Livingston, too.”
She pulled away a bit. “If you’re supposed to serve me, why did you kill the only people in the world who knew what I need to know? My parents are cryonic – they need me.”
“I know what you need to know, because you do.” They stepped out into the near-midnight. A robo-car was parked in Livingston’s driveway. “You just don’t know it.”
“Okay, now I know this is a setup.” Sabrina turned away and broke off from her by several feet. “Artemis, I’m not about to discard my brain because you’re –”
“Everything you ever found worth loving in a person?”
“Yeah, right. Livingston’s not ‘gone,’ you’re just under his control.” She folded her arms, focusing all her will on defending herself from what Artemis was obviously doing. “I’m sorry. It’s not your fault, but I can’t love you knowing you’re manipulating me.”
“I’m not manipulating you.” Walking into Sabrina’s line of sight, her eyes were warm and sincere. “Really, the secret to restoring those people has been in your mind all this time. Ever since Livingston said, ‘This is for you, Jane.’”
“You don’t say? Tell me, then.”
“It isn’t that simple.” Artemis approached her with open arms. “Sabrina, listen to me very carefully. I’ll be honest: I can’t tell you why you should believe me when I say I have good reasons for keeping the secret. All I can ask from you is that you have a little faith.”
She rested her hands on Sabrina’s shoulders. “That I’m doing this so you can figure the answer out for yourself. You know in your heart that the highest forms of love are built on respect, and I respect you too much to make life easy for you.”
“You think this is about faith?” She swiped the robotic palms off. “You expect me to have faith in you when not long ago I went through the worst pain of my life? When Livingston could drag me back to hell whenever he damn well pleases? You wanna talk faith? Let’s talk faith. My faith tells me creations like you are what got us all in this cesspool in the first place!”
Artemis seemed on the brink of tears. “Remember how you felt after Michael was born?”
“What?”
“You had doubts. They weren’t necessarily about your beliefs, but about your ability to make tough decisions based on your experience. On those moments that gave you a reason to think it was worth it to keep going, for yourself or for someone else.” If eyes were windows to the soul, and if a robot could possess such a thing, Artemis was opening those windows up completely. “That’s the kind of faith I mean, Sabrina. If you let me help you help yourself, I promise you you’ll never lose it.”
She bit her lip, looking down. It was Michael all over again, but now that she regretted what she’d done to him, what was there left to do? Was it just aesthetics that made this so painful? In that moment when she had ended her son’s life, he’d been a freak, an evil, abstract other.
What was wrong with her? She was an absolute wretch, and she hated herself for that.
And now Artemis had come, like … like …
“Okay.” Sabrina embraced her servant, her eyes watering. “Okay, I’ll go with you. Wherever you want me to. I just have no other –”
“Shh.” The bot ran her fingers through her master’s hair. “I understand.”