Conduit

Ch. 10

Frank wasn't alone. Was this a planned ambush? I'd specifically told him to keep everyone away from my apartment. I needed to be alone to think. Who said I was ready?

Looking back at Reggie, I wanted to know how well his scans worked. "Can you tell me who he's with?"

Reggie's head dipped to the left. A line of white light passed over his eyes. "Katherine Bigon is with him," he said.

If my brows lifted any higher they'd be at my hairline. Victoria had really fixed his programming, huh? Able to detect movement and identify them. "Anyone else?" I asked him. "Guards? Androids?"

Reggie relaxed. His smile returned as he looked at me. "Just the two of them. No danger detected."

That was a relief. After my last run-in with Lyons' androids, thinking of them made me tense; I couldn't believe they were programmed to be violent and lie about their weapons. It didn't make sense. Despite what parts of the general public may have believed, androids did have a base code that kept them from causing harm to a human. Victoria 's concern—and mines—was that the type of neglect they experienced in this world could clearly override that.

Or had Lyons found a way to override the safety parameter in their androids? The Model 757 wasn't aware that its behavior was wrong until after the fact. Defensive outbursts made sense, but to hold a weapon, shoot first, and ask questions later—that was just violence. This felt intentional and I didn't understand why Lyons put this override in their machines.

Nodding toward the door, I looked at Victoria. "Might as well let them in before they knock." I glanced at the door as footsteps approached from the hall. "I wanted to see them, anyway.

Victoria nodded, shrugging as she made her way over to the door. As I asked, she opened it slowly, as if on purpose, and looked back at me as she pushed the door against the wall. Outside, Frank came to a stop, confusion covering his face. Katherine, on the other hand, kept coming. The sound of her heels echoed until she reached the exposed carpet in my living room. She glanced at the couches in the corner before looking back at me.

"And how are you, Mr. Garret?" she asked, eyeing my small living room before brushing strands of hair away from her face. She shot me a forced smile. "You've been here a few days. A week now? Hopefully, it was time spent thinking."

I scoffed. I had already learned she was something else, but I didn't know how high that ridiculousness soared. This woman had her head in the clouds.

"I have been thinking." I crossed my arms and licked my bottom lip. "Was actually about to call him," I looked at Frank, slowly approaching her from behind, "but it seems you two already planned to visit me today."

"Well, you left me no choice." Katherine put her hands on her hips as she walked in a slow circle, inspecting my space. It was as if she didn't know what the apartments looked like, and she was genuinely curious. Didn't she own this building?

She stopped and faced me. "I brought you here to help ensure the planet's future."

"You trapped me here to help ensure the planet's future." Correcting her felt right, especially after a tense look took over her face. She couldn't counter what I said, it was true. Frank got me to follow him to this building, and once the doors locked behind me, there was no going back. I was to fix a problem Lyons created on their own.

Clearing my throat, I turned to the stools in my kitchen and sat down. My bowl of oatmeal still waited to be eaten. I stared at it for a minute. The silence in my living room felt as dry as this breakfast. "My plan involved everyone." I looked back at her. "The issue is more than just your androids."