I saw him to the elevator. “It’s a shame the head was destroyed.”
“On the rogue?”
“No chance to really analyze its programming.”
Walker nodded, and looked around the entrance hall. “You’ve been offered a lot of money in the past to help with Three Law. Why not accept? You’d be doing more good than you do here.”
“You must not understand what we do here, if you can say that.”
“I understand very well what you do here. Animus serves many purposes. Your amnesty program, for instance.”
I felt a chill go through me. “You need an education, Walker. That’s a toxic rumor.”
“Your activist efforts are laudable. Really, I admire you. But this problem lies deeper. Animus is the solution to a problem that wouldn’t exist with functional Three Law.” The doors opened. “I’ll be seeing you again soon, Grace.”
I followed him in. Once the doors had closed and the elevator began sliding down, I turned to him. “What if the AMU helped us, instead?”
—
I had lunch with Kyle in the building’s cafe. We picked at our twin salads for a while, making small talk. Eventually I pushed away my plate. “Do you mind?” I began digging in my purse.
“No problem.”
“We should get a drink soon, huh? It’s been too long since I’ve had fun.” Kyle shrugged and nodded. I flicked the lighter a few times, struggling to produce a flame. “What’s with you? The cold shoulder this morning?”
He opened his mouth and then closed it, nervous. I took a drag and blew it out over the balcony. “I’m really glad to see you, Grace.”
The skies were grey. Another quick drag. “And?”
“I didn’t know if I would see you again.”
“Not quite dead yet. Soon.”
“Don’t say that. Swan’s been working her ass off with Capricorn. She’s there almost as often as she’s in the office.”
“Oh, I know,” I said, waving it off. “What’s going on, Kyle?”
Kyle pushed his plate aside as well. “You were away for so long, I was afraid to see you today. Swan told me you’re still supposed to be on bedrest.”
“I’ve lost enough time already. I need to be back, with this going on.”
“Jesus, it’s the fifth one this year. Not even March.”
“It’s terrible.” I sighed, the cigarette pressed to my lips. My eyes stung and I smelled the stale fumes. “Terrible. Sometimes I…I feel like it’d be the right thing. Registration, Three Law. It would be so much easier for everyone.”
“No point in fighting for android rights if they aren’t allowed to think.”
“I know it’s wrong. It’s just how I feel sometimes.” Kyle squinted and had a drink of water. “I would never say that to someone who wasn’t on our side. But what should we do?”
“We’ve got to do something. We can’t just put out press statements. Nobody ever believes us, anyway.”
“How much support have we lost?”
“Since the massacre? It’s been giving me heartburn, I don’t even want to think about it.”
“Spit it out.”
“A lot. At this rate, we won’t make budget. We’ll pull through, we’ve got some angels watching. But we sure won’t thrive.” Kyle held his hand out. When I cocked my head, he beckoned with two fingers. I wedged my cigarette between them. His lips closed over the pink stains I’d left.
“So you must have some ideas.”
“I’ve been thinking,” he agreed. “Swan won’t like it, but we could work with the police. Show our support in the investigation.”
“Walker was suggesting that. Do we have anything to give?”
He shook his head. “Contacts, that’s all. But it’s more important we’re visibly cooperating. It could hurt our standing with a lot of people, especially in Redmond. But, well….”
“They live in Redmond.”
“Speaking financially, it’s better to alienate them first.” He held the cigarette out to me, but I felt queasy. I pushed it back to him. “I don’t like any of our options, but that may be the best one. You’ve still got connections in there, right?”
People knew me in the block. Some idolized me. It would be foolish to betray their trust. And the Sons of Man…they were another problem to deal with.
“You’ve got your own idea,” he said.
“I’ve been mulling it over. I don’t know how much help I can get if we start working with cops. Especially with the AMU operating the way it has been. They’re practically a second arm of the police, only less accountable. I’d either be asking brick walls, or losing a lot of friends when we declare our allegiance. But it’s like you said, we have a network. And people know me.”
Kyle stubbed out my cigarette on the balcony rail. “We aren’t detectives, Grace.”
“I’m tired of being in this position. We’re going to take action this time. That little boy…he’s going to be canonized. We’ll be destroyed.” With no answers, people would turn the blame to us. I pushed out my chair and stood up. “We’ll get to the bottom of this ourselves,” I said, fastening the buttons up my coat. “I need a statement prepared for the board.”
Kyle stayed seated and looked up at me. “This won’t get past the board, Grace. Swan would never sign off on it.”
I put my hand over his. “I’ll talk to Swan. You work up a statement, get the right people interested. No police.”
—
The crickets were on in Lomond, sky turned down low simulating the early dark of late winter. I leaned up against the stair rail outside our front door, smoking. I was already nervous thinking about going back into Redmond. Work had taken me to the police tower several times, and a couple choice spots I was ferried to for meetings with important residents. It had been a long time since I had to navigate the block, but few things ever changed about the place. I knew the streets and alleys in and out. What I was never ready for were the new people and cultures, rules and tolls. Unless you lived in the block, you would be constantly caught off-guard by the shifting climate.
It had been a long day, or at least it felt like it. Tomorrow would be longer. Maybe I wasn’t ready to come back, after all. A tightness bunched up inside me like I was on a stake. My hands felt cold. I took a long drag that bit at my nose.
“God’s sake, Gracie,” said Omar. He grabbed the cigarette from my hand and tossed it into the street. “You can’t even do it where I won’t find you?”
I glared at him.
“Dinner’s ready.”
“I’m not hungry.”
“Hey, come on,” he said. “I’m sorry, okay? I’m sorry. I just want you to be well.” He put his arms around my shoulders. “Come inside, I missed you.”
“I missed you, too.” I turned around in his grasp and drew his face down for a kiss.
Omar moaned softly in my mouth, put another kiss on my forehead. “Your hands are freezing, come on inside.” We sat down at the table together, where Omar had set a saucy pan of eggplant and synth meat. “How was it today?”
“Hard. I feel wiped out.”
“You shouldn’t go in if it leaves you like that, you know.”
“Uh huh.” I spooned some of the food into my bowl of rice. Omar’s cooking was quick and simple, but always delicious. “My favorite, babe.”
“You deserve it,” he grinned.
It tasted like nothing. I looked up and watched Omar. Nothing. My taste was going. I took another spoonful and almost gagged at the slimy softness of the eggplant. The puddle of Leo Kimil’s body flashed to my mind. I sniffed hard, trying to pull in the spicy aroma, but only got the sharp smell of oranges.
“It’s good tonight,” he said. “I used that garlic press Swan bought us.”
“It’s great, Omar,” I smiled. He smiled back and kept eating. “I’m sorry about the cigarettes. I wish it was easier.”
“Forget it. That one’s a freebie, we both screwed up.”
“Yeah.” I sighed. I felt normal, sitting down for dinner. I wasn’t quite used to normal yet. Our table bobbed up and down on its shortened leg as Omar set his elbows on and off of it. “You heard about John Pereira?”
After a pause, he nodded.
“It’s been a while since a child died in a rogue attack. We’re panicked. It’s already all over the news. We had people picketing the office.”
“I don’t want to talk about it right now.”
“Listen, I need you to do something for me.”
“Of course, Gracie.”
“I’m going to tell Swan I’m unwell tomorrow. That I’m staying home. But I won’t be here. I need you to back me up if she calls.”
“Where?”
I thought of eating more and put my fork down. “Out. Redmond. I want to find the truth of what happened.”
“Why not tell Swan?”
“She doesn’t think I can do it. She thinks it’s a waste of effort, too much exertion for me. But she’s wrong. I can do this.”
Omar looked sick.
“What is it?”
“I think agree with her.”
“Oh, of course.”
“She’s right, Grace, that’s no kind of job for someone trying to recover.”
“I know what I can handle, Omar!”
“I believe that, but the doctor said it anyway. She said to make sure you’re not spreading yourself too thin. This is…it’s dangerous. How long has it even been since you went into the block? It’ll be a shock to the system.”
“A ‘shock to the system?’ Who do you think I am, Rip van Winkle?”
“The police are already looking into it. You’re planning to do better? No, Grace! I won’t lie for you. I won’t let you go there.”
“You think you can stop me? If you blow this, all you’re doing is making it harder for the truth to come out! You and Swan and Kyle, you’re all so worried about Animus’ reputation, you all think I’m too sick to take care of myself!”
“We’re worried about you. You’re killing yourself, Grace, all your projects and battles, your cigarettes–”
“Oh, shut up!” I pushed out my chair and stood up with my hands pressing down on the table. “You want to rat me out, then fine! I’m going whether you all like it or not. So go ahead, do what’s best for me and just tie me to the bed!”
Omar started to say something, but I was already gone. I locked myself in the bathroom and threw off my blouse, popping a button off at the collar. He knocked a few times, but I ignored him. My chest was tingling. I gulped a couple handfuls of water from the sink, then sat down on the toilet lid and pulled off my slacks and underwear.
I hated seeing myself naked. My skin was lined and cracked, scarred from years of engraving injuries. Patches were dry, scabby purple. Omar always claimed not to notice, but they were big enough. I pinned my hair up and lowered myself into the hot water. I could still smell the bitter citrus of the processor coolant. It had been decades since I engraved, and I could still smell it, burned into my sinuses, my DNA. The aches in my body started to dissipate, soothed by steam.
Kyle had told Swan she had a meeting with Capricorn Pharma that evening. When I was in the hospital, she’d begun working for them, assisting their efforts at tailored protein therapy with folding skills translated from her origami works. Supposedly it was for my benefit. I had never met them. I heard, once, they came to visit me in the hospital while I was asleep.
Omar knocked on the door and I woke up. “Grace?” The water was tepid. “I’ll do it.”
Stargazer 