Artificial Mates - Chapter 125

I had the hardest time to calm myself, we had to visit the infirmary. I was angry, however, that word was too weak to express the fire blazing inside. I wanted to punch someone for all this. I wanted to punch one person in specific—Atlas. He was not a person. I gritted my teeth and stared at the stain on the floor. Grant stepped aside when the nursed finished with the shot. I was so engrossed in my frustration I didn’t felt the needle.

“She needs some rest, it’s unhealthy for someone who has a history of the void to have emotional spikes,” she frowned at Grant like it was his fault. He nodded in silence. “Good,” she gave me one last look. “Can you step outside one second,” Grant turned to me frowning.

“It’s ok, go on,” the shot was slowly taking effect. I waved him away, he stood by the door as the nurse exited, doubtful about my words.

“I’ll make it quick, I’ll ask Olga to let us go home early,” he lowered his head. Was that guilt? I supposed. I also felt terribly guilty for leaving Demos behind. I felt it as a defeat against Atlas. I sighed and hopped off the edge of the bed. Here I was again being weak. I hated myself.

“I can’t believe this!” I scolded myself.

“What is that you can’t believe?” I jumped back and bumped my knee against the bed. The voice came out of nowhere. Gripping my painful knee I scanned around. It was not Atlas flat voice or Demos. Was someone there?

“No need to be fearful,” said the unknown voice. That was definitely not a human. Humans don’t speak in that formal language. I narrowed my eyes at the ceiling. “You did mention that you disliked my voice, I’ve altered it to a more agreeable tone,” my heart quickened. What the f.u.c.k! I didn’t ask for anything. The urge to punch him came racing. I sunk back on the bed and rubbed my knee, the bruise has turned red.

“Where is Demos?” I said as I took a deep breath.

“Away,” he made it sound like a question. He was trying to toy me with again. I won’t fall for it.

“I don’t want to speak to you. The nurse said I needed rest,” I said in a rather dry tone.

“Rest is a foreign construct. We AIs don’t rest or sleep or dream,” I squeezed my eyes shut, I didn’t need a dive in the human psyche right now. Especially not with him. Just freaking go away. Leave me alone, damn it.

“Cool,” I muttered.

“What is? Does cool refers to the air around you or to the fact that I don’t understand rest?” damn this freaking machine. I felt my veins in my head popping.

“I don’t really care,” my voice held hints of irritation. I don’t know if he chose to ignore it or was so full of himself that my clear hatred for him was beyond his comprehension, still, he pressed on.

“I find it fascinating how you, humans react to stimuli,” I rolled my eyes, where were his cameras? I hope I caught me doing it so he could leave me alone. “Just like right here,” I paused and listened.

“If you are doing this on purpose—!” I let the sentence lingered and didn’t finish it. I couldn’t, not when Demos was on the line. Did he take Demos as a hostage to be able to blackmail me and Grant? I glared at the ceiling. It was difficult to rage when there wasn’t any fixed point to thrust your anger.

“I’m not playing around if it’s what you’re thinking,” his voice was calm, like some narrator from a doc.u.mentary. It pissed me even more.

“Atlas, let’s make it clear. I don’t want to play in your little games. I don’t want to be a test subject in your experiments. I’ll not give data for whatever fun you’re having—psycho! I don’t freaking, care,” just then the door opened and Grant gazed at me with curiosity.

“What’s wrong?” he inquired when he noticed I was frowning.

“Can we go?” I hopped off the bed and limped to the door. He watched me before nodded. We exited the building, Atlas kept silence and I was happy. I doubted that was over. But at least this short period of peace was welcomed. Grant led us to the car and saw in the driver’s seat. I stood in front of the passenger’s door staring.

“What’s wrong? Get in,” he leaned to peek at me through the window.

“I don’t know if I should ask, maybe I’ll sound stupid,” he sighed and lowered his head.

“Come one spit it,” he sighed.

“You drive,” I stated. He did drove Dr. Churchhill’s car and that was a manual antique thing and now we were going to drive an electric one. “Since when?” I c.o.c.ked my head to the side. He stretched over to the passenger side and pushed the door open.

“Is it really important?” he peeked at me.

“Frankly, no. But I need to take my head off A LOT of things. A little distraction is welcome. Even if that means talking about why are you driving, when you never did before,” I climbed inside with caution. It was my first time sitting in the front. It somehow felt like an upgrade to my privileges. I clipped my seatbelts on and watch him do the same.

“Ok, that sounds logical—somehow,” he hesitated. The car backed out of the parking lot and moved smoothly to the exit. “I drive simply cause I learned how,” the manual mode button blinked as we joined the main road. It indicated that he was the one driving and not the car. I focused back on our conversation.

“When?”

“When we were at the apartment. Remember those days when I had loads of free time?” it seemed so far away. I turned to the rapid moving buildings.

“I do,” I voice was low and filled with sadness. He reached out a stroked my hand then turned back to the road. He switched to autopilot then turned his full attention to me.

“Did something happened while I was away? You were pale when I came back,” I wasn’t sure if this car was safe or if Atlas was spying on us right now. I was a little surprised that Grant couldn’t connect with me when Atlas suddenly popped out of his box, like the devil he was. Since I was by default a paranoid, my mind jumped into complex tales. Whether it’s true or not. I stayed on the cautious side, I had to speak to Grant but I had to be sure there weren’t any ears around.

-Liliane, I know something is bothering you. Come on tell me.

“You know what,” I forced a smile, Grant narrowed his eyes at my sudden shift. “Didn’t that nurse tell me to relax. Well, I really want to take a swim,” I rose my eyebrows at him. His shoulder sagged and he relaxed.

-Can we talk then?

I smiled but it was a genuine one. I loved Grant for picking up hints so rapidly. He bent closer and pulled me towards him. I didn’t trust that car. I was stiff in his embrace.

“Can we stop in town before going to the beach. I need to check something,” he whispered against my hair. I nodded since we were almost the same height our hugs were very intimate. Eyes meeting each time we move. My heart ached just thinking about it. He blinked and pushed away a little.

“Demos?” his eyes searching mine. How could I deny it? I lowered my head and pushed away.

“I want to wear that outrageous red bikini,” I murmured as I staring at the scenery smudged to a blur.

“Are you tempting me?” he asked. I slowly turned back to face him, how could he talk like that in such a situation. I wasn’t in the mood to do anything at all. He innocently grinned at me.

“Is sad s.e.x that good?” his smile dropped replaced by shock.

“What?” when I noticed my mistake I tried to mask it with humor.

“I’m joking, silly,” I laughed with a high pitched voice. He gazed at me with a curious look for a long time. Silence settled inside the car, I pretended that a rapid moving background suddenly was captivating. Grant also turned his attention back on the road. Soon we reach familiar territories but took a direct turn from our usual route that led us to away from the city center directly to the docks. Among the tall containers cranes lining up, I recognized the yacht onboard which we came and the sad memory linked with it. Grant eased the car in the visitors’ designated parking.

“Wait here, I need to talk to someone, it’ll talk a couple of minutes,” he paused with the door half-opened. Worry clear upon his face.

“Go, I’ll be ok,” I urged. He hesitated one second then strode to the security checkpoint. As Grant disappeared behind fences that led to the tall building next to the dock I sunk back in my seat. Not knocking what to do I turned to my bracelet, switched to my messages and started reading through them. Last time, I stopped when I saw my brother’s message. I wrote a quick message to Anna and Mr. Ramdin. Anna’s lengthy account of the incident was a welcomed distraction. She had a colorful way of getting me interested in her tale. She left Kumari R2 for a rural area at an aunt’s place. Anna went on and on about the many relatives who also crashed in that small farmhouse. Since there was nothing to do all day, Anna was enjoying caring for the farm animals. She didn’t mention the war or deaths. I wrote that I was ok, I’d find work and kept Demos’ incident out of it. I was sure she didn’t need that piece of information.

Mr. Ramdin’s letter on the other side was very formal. He inquired about my health and said he worried about my safety. So I did the same and quickly typed a short and concise answer that I was fine, well-fed and safe. When I looked up from the hovering screen I saw Grant crossing the parking lot. He smiled when he spotted the car.

“Let’s go,” he smiled then pulled on his seatbelt.

“Something good happened?” I asked.

-I’ll tell you later.

“What do you want for dinner,” he grinned as we got out of the parking lot.