INTERWOVEN ADVENTURES | Circadian Earth: Book 1

Chapter 23

"Now that you know the plan, what are your thoughts?"

"I hate it," Layla replied. "But whatever. I'm in. I know I have no choice."

"Excellent. Now, I visited Izzy yesterday, shortly before I found Layla. 2-14 has left their place and is free, along with a new prototype. We need to find them, and bring them back."

"A pair of robots a quarter of our size, who could be just about anywhere in Bitobia. Sounds like an easy task," Emily commented. "Should've just taken them from Izzy's while you still could."

Amelix shot her a glare. "Right now, finding them is our number one priority. Layla, this is where you come in."

"I can't track them, if that's what you're asking."

"And why is that?"

"Prototype Nasrics don't exist in the system."

Amelix stared at the fennec, confused. "You can't possibly know that."

"The Nasrics over in Nasrica don't even know that the prototypes exist," Layla explained. "And I doubt Izzy is the one entering tens of thousands of Nasrics into the system every single day."

"And you can't possibly have looked through the entire database to check this yourself," Emily shot back. "How about you tell us how you came to those conclusions? Maybe show us your process?"

"I..."

"Emily is right," Amelix said. "Izzy never spoke of you. How exactly did you come across the existence of the prototypes? What you're saying doesn't make sense."

Layla sighed. "With your plan, you'll eventually find out anyway. There are five prototypes out of twenty-one created so far."

"Four."

"No, there are five," Layla corrected. "One of the failed ones was found in a scrapyard earlier this month, and yesterday, she somehow came back to life as a response to being fed a crystal."

Amelix tilted her head. "And you know this... how?"

"I watched it happen. My sister is the one who found her. Afterwards, I took her to Izzy to repair the damaged modules she had, where I learned about the prototypes.

"That doesn't explain how you think you know that they're not in the database," Emily countered.

"I went though the Nasric helpline first, and they wouldn't help because there was no data on the prototype."

"Interesting... Which prototype was it? Serial number?"

"2-07."

Emily groaned. "An older one. Useless to us."

"Useless indeed." Amelix got up from her chair. "Emily, on the off chance that our targets are in the city, you go out there and look for them. Use whatever means you deem necessary, as long as you bring them back in one piece."

"Understood."

"Layla, I need you to get into the Nasric database. Let me know exactly what is stored about each Nasric. Even if the prototypes aren't there, it could be useful to know what info there is."

Layla nodded. "I can do that. What about you?"

"I need to work on some... updates. And Layla, no more sitting at the opening until those updates are done. You never know who might see you before then."

"What? Why can I go back to sitting there once you're done? If it's unsafe, isn't it... always unsafe?" Layla asked. But Amelix had already left the room.

"You ask too many questions," Emily grumbled. "You'll learn to only ask the right ones."

"I don't understand, though. Is all of this really necessary?"

Layla jumped back as Emily's hands suddenly burst into flame, the crimson hedgehog holding them out to her sides. She had a devilish grin on her face, as she advanced towards the terrified fennec.

"Are you sure you want to find out what happens when you decide that it isn't? I'm now permitted to... get rid of you, if you don't comply. Now go and do as Amelix ordered."

"Fine." Layla headed out of the room and back across the floor towards her bedroom, watching Amelix disappear into the top floor.

Emily appeared behind her, heading towards what Layla could only assume was her own bedroom.

"Aren't you supposed to be doing your own job too?" Layla asked, confused.

"I need to get something. And it's none of your business."

"Then how is whether I do my job your business?"

"I don't trust you yet, and neither does Amelix. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have my own matters." Emily disappeared into her room, closing the door behind her.

Layla shrugged, entering her own room. Opening her laptop and using the knowledge she'd gained on previous attempts, she made relatively quick work of Nasrica's security systems. It seemed that the internet connection here was even better than the connection back in Skycross, as Nasrica's inner systems showed up on her screen significantly faster than ever before. Typing away, she managed to run into a loading screen, and it seemed to be taking a while.

"And there it is..." Layla smiled. She'd been here before. All she needed to do was wait, while the system loaded a list of every single existing Nasric, all one hundred and forty million or so of them. Eventually it loaded, alongside some options to filter by serial number, colour, design, and whether they were adopted as a companion or lived freely. Previously, Layla had never gone into any particular Nasric's profile, but this time, she had a job to do. She started by looking up Addie's serial number, and sure enough, there she was. The database had pictures of her design, right down to the very last detail of the paint. There was also information such as her date of construction, and date of being assigned to Layla and her family, as well as Wren's phone number and address. But, where Layla had hoped to see some basic information on personality, there was nothing. Not even her actual name was listed.

"Maybe that's because she's not a free Nasric..." Layla backed out of Addie's profile, and turned on the filter for free Nasrics. Typing a couple of random letters into the search bar reduced the results greatly, and she selected a random option. Unfortunately, still nothing.

Layla groaned. This wasn't good news; she had nothing of value to give to Amelix.