“This can’t be happening right now.”
I was supposed to remain still. During standby mode, my Program was to enter sleep mode. I shouldn’t have been able to scream – my body should have been asleep. But I did scream. And Charles McVeigh had heard me. There was no hiding the truth anymore: my Program, his precious Twelve, had been altered without his approval.
“When did this happen?” McVeigh stormed over to where Jessica was and shoved her against the Security Tube. “Who did this?” he demanded.
“I don’t know.”
“Don’t you dare lie to me, miss.” He turned his head to glance over at me. I could see the hatred in his eyes. The fear of knowing I could very well destroy everything he had built. He gripped Jessica’s coat tightly and slammed her head against the tube. “I’ll ask you again, when did this happen?”
Jessica shook her head. “Does it really matter?” She asked. “We both know what you’re going to do. Why don’t you just get it over with already?”
He laughed and loosened his grip on her coat. “It was you, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” she stated. “It was me. Is that what you wanted to hear?”
“Todd, come and help me over here, will you?” McVeigh moved his hand around Jessica’s throat. A menacing smile formed upon his lips.
“How may I be of assistance, sir?” Douglas Todd folded his arms behind his back.
“She’d make a fine Program, don’t you think?” he smirked.
“A fine Program indeed.” Todd moved in closer and grabbed a hold of her left wrist.
McVeigh released her to Todd, who tied her wrists with wire, and moved over to my Pod.
“Should I wait, sir?” Todd asked, eyeing me.
“No, no, you go on. I’ll take care of this problem on my own.” The way he stressed "problem", as if I were some sort of disgrace to the world, was a clear indication of what was in store.
We’d been warned about deactivation. When my Program functioned properly, up until this morning, I would have done anything to make McVeigh happy. I would have listened to the threats of deactivation. I would have been scared of the outside world still. I would have done everything that was expected of me. But now, with my old life forcing its way back inside, I didn’t care about his threats.
He’d killed me once already.
What did it matter if he did it again?
“It’s a shame really.” He moved to the side of the Pod and yanked out the power cord. “You really could have been something special.”
McVeigh pulled open the Pod door. “You’re useless to me now.”
“Is that so?” I asked. “Not that I truly care what you think.”
He gripped me by my throat, pulling me closer to him. I wanted to scream in agony as he yanked my hard-drive out of the slot in my Pod. But I didn’t. I couldn’t dare show him that I was weak. “You were everything I hoped for when I took over this business. You,” he shoved his free hand into my chest. “You were perfect. Do you understand that?”
“Yes,” I said. “I was perfect. But then you killed me. Do you remember that?”
McVeigh removed his hand from my throat and walked over to the Security Tube. “Hayden?” he tapped on the glass. “Could you come here for a second?”
The boy looked nervous. “Y-y-yes, sir. I’ll be right there.”
He exited the tube and stood beside McVeigh, who was leaning against the tube, hands folded at his waist. “You’re new here, correct?”
“Correct.” The boy glanced over at me and smiled.
“Do you understand what we are trying to do here?”
“I was told that we’re building a better society,” Hayden replied.
“A better society?” McVeigh scoffed. “Here, at Vesta Corp, we aim to build a perfect society.”
“By killing your fellow humans?” I countered. “Because that just makes perfect sense.”
McVeigh lowered his hand to his waist. A black pouch hung from his belt loop. He reached inside of the pouch, and he pulled out a small hard-drive. “We can fix this, Program. We can exchange your hard-drive. We can act as if this never happened.”
“I’d rather you kill me again.”
He laughed. “Did you hear that, Hayden?”
Hayden nodded, choosing to remain silent.
“Well then, I suppose it is time to get this over with. Hayden, why don’t you fetch me the guards from the hallway?”
“But sir,” he whispered. “Can’t we just erase her? Surely she’s still valuable.”
“I believe I just gave you an order.” McVeigh hissed. “Either you fetch the guards, or you’ll be joining Jessica below.”
I watched as Hayden exited the room, leaving me with Charles McVeigh. It’d be easy to kill him. It’d take a few seconds at the most. He wouldn’t be able to defeat me. I could take him out now and possibly escape this hellhole.
Maybe I’d even be able to stop Vesta Corp.
Maybe I’d be able to save a few lives.
Maybe I’d –
There was tugging on my lower back, and I could feel someone yanking on my hard-drive. I tried focusing on what was going on, but I could barely make out where I was. A pair of dress shoes stood in my line of sight. “Is if safe to transport her in her current state?” Someone asked.
“She’s useless like this, I assure you.”
Restraints were secured around my wrists and feet. “We don’t want anyone getting hurt now.” McVeigh whispered in my ear. His hand moved towards my lower back. He pulled on my hard-drive and for a moment everything turned to black.
Something clicked in my back, and I could feel my body restarting. “What did you do?” I tried to sound threatening, but the words barely escaped my lips.
“The last thing we want is for your hard-drive to be accidentally installed on a newer Program,” he smirked. “I changed it back to ensure we get rid of the problem once and for all.”
“You piece of –“
“Now, now, Twelve. Show some respect.” McVeigh slapped me across the face. “Guards, bring Twelve to the deactivation room.”
The guards gripped my forearms tightly as they dragged me from the Pod room.
I made eye contact with their newest monster. Program Thirteen. The poor girl didn’t have a clue as to what she was, or what they’d done to her. I could see it in her eyes. I could see her desire to satisfy Charles McVeigh and his servants.
I remembered that feeling. I remembered wanting to be the perfect Program; wanting to do anything it took to live amongst the humans, because that was what I was created to do, after all. But I knew better now.
I knew that everything they’d said, everything they’d taught us, was wrong.
They erased our former lives and implanted new ones. They erased us in order to gain control. That was all Charles McVeigh cared about: control. And he had control at Vesta Corp. He decided who he wanted for his next Program. He decided what we knew. He decided when we were no longer useful to the company. He decided everything, because as long as our Programs remained intact, we would obey his every desire.
But I wouldn’t. Not anymore. Not now that I knew the truth. Not now when I knew who I was. I was Jocelyn Lawrence, a twenty-year-old resident of Seattle, Washington. I had a family: two brothers, a mother and a father. I had a life before they stole it from me.
And so did she - Thirteen. She deserved to know the truth. She deserved to know what they’d done to her. I tried to push forward, to break-free from their hold, but it didn’t work.
“You can’t control me!” I screamed. “I know who I am. I know what it is that you are doing here! I will stop this. Do you understand? I will find a way to get the truth out there to the others!”
“I’m sure you will.” One of the guards laughed. “I’m sure you will.”
They pulled me further down the hall, away from Thirteen, away from the others. We stopped in front of two large metal doors. “Program identification,” a voiced boomed over an intercom.
r /> “Program Twelve,” one of the guards responded.
“And who ordered the deactivation?” The voice demanded.
“Charles McVeigh ordered Program Twelve to be deactivated.”
“Thank you.” A loud buzz sounded as the two doors opened up. “Program, please enter the room.”
The guards released their hold on my forearms and shoved me inside the room. “Guess you won’t be spreading the truth after all, huh?” He smirked.
I turned around to run after him, but the doors slammed shut before I could reach him
The room was dark, and eerily quiet. I tried scanning for an escape, but the only way out appeared to be the same way I’d come in. And those doors could only be opened from the control room. “Shit.”
“Hello to you, too.” A large monitor beamed to life across from me, showcasing an older man who appeared to be in his sixties. He wore a white coat, like the others, and an identification card that read Rupert Sounders, Head of Deactivation.
“How does it feel to be a murderer?” I asked him.
“Me? A murderer?” he smirked. “By the time Programs like you reach me, they are already dead.”
“One of these days, one of McVeigh’s precious Programs will successfully take down this company,” I warned. “And when they do, I hope you remember my face, because I’m only the beginning of what is to come.”
“I highly doubt that’ll happen.” The monitor died, killing off the only source of light in the room. I could hear footsteps behind me, but I refused to turn and look. “I highly doubt that’ll happen because McVeigh has already taken care of the problem. Jessica is gone now, and the other caretakers are far too loyal to attempt a