Conduit

Ch. 17

The android's hand never came down. The moment I thought it would, it came just two inches from my face, hovering for a second, before drawing back. The computer between Logan and me fully restarted and the happy, calming tune of a welcoming machine filled the room. My heart sped as the android slowly moved away, and I let out a hard breath once it was out of the room.

And I laughed. Fuck, did I laugh. I wasn't dead. We didn't die. I didn't know what was going through the android's head, but I was happy it stopped; it stopped in time before the android's fist from meeting my head.

Logan's legs gave out from under him, and he fell to the floor. I looked down at him, laughing still. "We're alive."

He snorted, passing his hand over his face. "And I don't understand how."

"Some things you don't have to understand." Reaching down, I grabbed his hand and pulled him up. He stumbled for a second, his chest meeting mine. Like this, with our hands in fists between us, I looked into his eyes. His misjudgment on the computer almost got us killed, but so did my laziness. Earlier I thought he'd be a great person to team up with, but as I broke our gaze and looked down at the floor, I thought against it.

In less than forty-eight hours, I learned he cared for machines, welcoming to their lives, but he was also reckless and spontaneous; none of those things were good combinations. I knew because I was the same.

"Uh," I pulled back and let him go, "now that we're alive, is there a reason why you said you're sorry?"

Logan's tongue pressed into his bottom lip as he looked outside of the room. With the door broken and nearly smashed on the floor, we could see the android skeletons wandering around the hexagon stations. Some walked to the androids' that'd fallen from their bounds and attempted to help them up. The sudden kindness, despite what had happened, made me smile.

"Um, I don't know," Logan laughed as he looked back at me, "moment of 'near death,' I guess? If I hadn't tried to impress you, none of this would've happened."

My brows shot up. So, he did try to impress me?

"Just forget about it." Logan turns back to the table, properly shutting off the main computer. He passed his hand over it before meeting my gaze again. "You've got more things to worry about right now, anyway. I guess, for that, I'm sorry."

Closing my eyes, I sighed. I could only imagine what was going on upstairs. Had the other androids in the building reacted to what I'd done? If they had, Katherine would probably kill me. If not, well, I was sure she'd want to kill me anyway. What happened was a major disturbance; even if it was just for a little while. But a few minutes of rampage felt like horrors of terror.

I chewed on my bottom lip as I reached into my pocket for the data drive.

"Just tell her I did it," Logan said.

I shook my head. This was my problem. "No," I pushed the drive back into its hiding place, "you weren't even here."

Before he could say anything, I turned, held my breath, and walked past the androids.

***

Standing in front of Katherine's desk, I saw the rage in her eyes. The disappointment. I felt like a kid who'd done the most and the least at the same time. But what was I supposed to say? She'd given me the tiniest window to return with data and my shortcuts led to a mini-disaster.

No one died, right?

"And you're telling me this is all your fault?" Katherine's red nails tapped against her desk. "No one helped you?"