Conduit

Ch. 26

"What the..." Forcing my phone into my pocket, I stepped out onto the instructional bay. There was a crowd of technicians in the center aisle, partially covering the cubicle on the right. I didn't know the number, but it didn't matter. The cracked glass was concerning, but not as alarming as the technician huddled in the corner, her hand hovering over her head as a form of protection, and the android in front of her. The female Personal had a pen in her hand, pointed tip first at the technician.

My chest tightened as I held my breath.

What happened? I know there have been issues but another attack?

"Elijah!" Frank's frantic voice carried through the crowd as he emerged from it. He hurried at first, then slowed down. His eyes searched me, the space around me as if noticing something.

He stopped a foot away. "It's just you?"

I clenched my jaw, looking past Frank. New tears slid down the technician's face. Her wavy brown hair stuck to her cheeks. Big brown eyes stared up at the Personal. "You can't do this to me," she said, with a scared, high-pitched squeal.

"And you can't do this to me," the android responded, unafraid, unbothered, and angry. "Your expectations are unjust."

The Personal moved. The crowd gasped. And the technician cowered further.

I passed my tongue over my lips. "Frank, what's happening?"

"Where's Reggie? Victoria?" He didn't answer my question.

I looked at him as I tried to step forward, but he raised his hand and stopped me. I looked at him. "What. Happened." Demand rang in each word.

He couldn't call me down here and not tell me what happened. I needed details. Facts. I knew the issues were rising and after my mistake yesterday, data could be flowing still. Technicians had a right to be afraid, but what happened here, and why?

Frank's hand moved away from my chest. "Amara, that technician," he pointed at the cubicle, "ran her test for that Personal today. A 700A Home model."

"Home models," I repeated, watching the Personal's slow, advancing, threatening movements. Home Models were created to care for household chores, care for children, and run errands for the families they were assigned to.

They were also the androids people tried to marry.

And the few that I repaired had done too much.

"Tell me," I tongued my cheek, "what are tests for the Home models?"

"Um, I mean," Frank gulped and looked at the floor, "it's standard practice for a Lyons technician to tell a Personal what to expect, without their main program roles and... what people may want."

I pinched my brows together. "So, Amara told the Personal that humans are disgusting pigs, huh?" Shifting to the left, I looked at him. "Why would she do that?"

"To prepare them." Frank seemed unsure of his answer. It rang in his tone. And he was right to question it. I knew Frank didn't believe half the things he said; it was all a mask to blend in with the company he worked for.

Things needed to change.

"Please, look," Amara pressed both of her hands together, "I'm just trying to get you ready for the real world."

"Your real-world is evil." The Personal lifted both hands this time.

This time, I moved around Frank before he could stop me like he'd done the last time. My shoes squeaked against the floor. Before the android could do anything, I slid, bad knee and all, into the cubicle and put myself between it and Amara. Amara gasped behind me.