Forget It (ONC 2024)

Chapter 6 - Beyond our control

The investors sat in a room I'd never had the luxury of seeing before. It was accessible by elevator from the executive floors and sat at the penthouse level with a view of the entire city glowing beneath us from bright snaking mag-trains to multi-tiered bridges to allow various forms of transportation to co-exist.

A few family and couple-sized lev-pods rose and sank on the horizon as people took in the city's grandeur, though far fewer than we'd see around sunset. Arch had said he'd book a private one for us once our proposals got approved, so we could celebrate together, but the thought of being alone with him made my skin crawl, which was quite the contrast from earlier tonight when I'd thought we might be ready to move in together more permanently. With my pay raise, there was no need, and his betrayal eviscerated any desire.

Although he stood tall and smiled toward the investors, his glance kept darting at me, and his hands twitched until he noticed my gaze and shoved them in his pockets. Was he nervous I'd mess up the presentation? I was now under the code of silence and wouldn't be able to fight with him or anyone about the true source of the idea in public. That had to be his dream. Complete control and an impressive, heavily sponsored invention to knock him out of his internship. I focused elsewhere so I wouldn't grow too enraged when I needed to focus on what Inno-Tech proposed for my invention.

The investors rose to shake the founder's hand when he entered along with Ravi's, Arch's, and mine. Ravi gestured for us to take a seat at the opposite end of the long table while he stared into mental cyberspace, likely readying the mind projections.

From time to time, a person would opt for the external chip projections over the mind-link in day-to-day interactions, but the fact that none of them had meant they trusted Ravi and the founder. This likely wasn't their first meeting or collaboration.

After a few minutes, Ravi turned to Arch and me. "Mr. Kenton, Ms. Mintz, we're ready for you."

Arch stood and extended his hand to me. I donned a polite smile and went to push myself up, but my hand reached of its own volition to meet his. I tried to pull it away, but it refused to budge.

Was this part of the contract? Would my body be forced to act as Arch's girlfriend for the duration of the project, or was this some kind of mind-control scenario?

As if Arch sensed my panic, his calm voice entered my head space.

"Don't worry. It's only in the public eye to sell the pitch as a power couple. You can return to ignoring and despising me as soon as the meeting ends," he mind-whispered.

My legs stood and brought my body closer to him as he guided me to the front with a hand on the small of my back, burning like a welding gun. Why hadn't I read that contract all the way through? Had that deceptive bastard sneaked this in for his entertainment?

"Don't worry? Says the man who can do whatever he pleases, knowing I'm control-chipped not to resist. This is sick and illegal!"

And if it wasn't, it should be. This clause and invention were a freeway toward unchallenged mass exploitation through human trafficking and abuse.

"I'm not in charge of this any more than you are, Selene. But with what little control I have, I'll make sure I won't hurt you any more than I already have. I promise, and I'm sorry."

I wanted to scoff at his blatant lie, but my lips curled into an unnatural smile as we stood before two dozen investors. That 'look happy when we're together' part didn't seem in tune with the Arch I knew, as he accepted me no matter my mood. When I turned, the founder and Ravi's eyes were on us, particularly me. Perhaps he wasn't lying, but if Arch wasn't controlling this, who was, or was there some default 'romantic' setting someone had tuned the control chip to and I'd be obligated to follow?