To read Part One, please click here.
“Hey, hey.”
I shudder, as someone speaks from right behind me. I whip around and see my sister, Edo, giggling at me. She sure has some nerve barging into my sleeping quarters like that. I sigh, turning back to my tablet.
“Wait, wait! This is important — we’re leaving here in ten minutes.” Edo pulls at my ear as I try to focus.
“Why? Do we have another appearance? They’re so hopeless; we went abroad, like, yesterday.” I trudge over to my still-packed duffle bag, shirts and socks dangling out of the open pockets, and start pushing everything to the bottom. “How long is this outing?”
“Umm . . . well . . .” Edo pauses. “It’s an indefinite period of time. We might not come back. The . . . the power to the city is being cut off in an hour. We can’t stay.”
“What? Why would they do that? Don’t they know how many automata live here? The whole city’s gonna look like a junkyard!” I look to Edo to confirm she is serious. She stares back. “Shouldn’t we tell other people in the cubical complex?”
“You know we can’t. Every council member has vowed to secrecy. Breaking that would mean being stripped of all power. You’d become another broken machine in the ‘junkyard,’” Edo snaps, then looks down at her feet. “Sorry. I feel the same way as you, but we have to stay alive.” She’s right. Humans are looking for any chance to kick us out of the council. We must be perfect.
I nod silently. A.I. was supposedly going to take over the world. We were the enemy. Though most automata are servants or caretakers for elite senate members, somehow Edo campaigned for us with the political influence of our late creator. We were elected to political office, and “all have equal representation under the law” — humans and automata. But humans are wary of us. They know we have the potential to annihilate them. So we pick no fights, keeping relations calm.
I pick up my bag and head to the doorway.
“That’s all you want? None of the trinkets you’ve collected?” Edo calls after me.
I shake my head and walk out. The buzz of the crowd makes me shiver. What will the humans do when the power shuts off? The automata will shut down, but humans have no such restraints.
“The transport should activate in a few minutes.” Edo comes up behind me. “It will be okay. This is a temporary cut until a fugitive is caught.”
Power will return to 12865. It’s the capital of the world, after all.
A blue light flashes and the transport materializes a few meters away. Edo walks up to its pearly walls and presses her hand to the scanner. The transport hisses and the gates open. Edo strides in, and I follow. We take a seat, but the doors don’t close right away. A perky lady walks in and plops down beside us. She’s dressed in the standard police uniform: baseball cap, one-piece armor suit (athletic fabric), and iron-toed boots. Her hair is pulled into a sloppy braid.
“Hello, ma’am.” I say, looking to Edo for an explanation. She shrugs. The door closes and we sit in suffocating silence.
As the transport starts to move, Edo scrolls through her tablet. “Hey, Shuko, there’s already a photo up of the fugitive!”
I look over Edo’s shoulder. Staring at the camera is a girl with hazel eyes. What stands out the most is that her ears look like a cat’s. I think back to last week's newscast, when someone leaked photos of some mutated humans created by the government. They looked to be part animal, part human, though their mutations were more severe than just some warm kitty ears. Even so . . . .
“Edo, is that girl one of the government experi — ”
Edo slaps a hand over my mouth, staring at the officer beside us.
“Don’t sweat it. We know everyone knows about the ‘secret genetics mutations project,’” the lady says. “The police watch the news, too.” She glances us over. I go rigid. Edo grips my hand tightly, but the woman just waves her hand. “I’m not going to arrest you yet. But I have a question: do you think that girl should be handed back to the government?”
Edo and I both look at the lady.
“Yes,” Edo responds quickly.
“What? No! The government mutated her genetics and probably treated her like trash!” I shout.
“I mean yes, but we have a duty as coun — ”
“Enough council garbage! What’s the point of having power if we can’t help people?” I snap.
“We are helping people. We just can’t recklessly help anyone we see,” she argues.
“Sorry. Ms. Edo, was it?” the officer asks. “The next stop we’re taking, we’ll pick up a . . . new guest.” She gestures to the tablet. “Police chief’s orders. If you would like to get off at the next stop, you may, but this is the last transport out of the city, if I remember correctly.”
“The ch-chief . . . the assistant t-to the president wants th-this experiment to escape? And you . . .?” Edo stutters.
“Yes. I’m loyal to the police chief. The girl will be accompanying us on this trip. She’ll hijack this transport and kick you guys out at a proper power source. So you know, this was her idea, not mine.”
I shudder, as someone speaks from right behind me. I whip around and see my sister, Edo, giggling at me. She sure has some nerve barging into my sleeping quarters like that. I sigh, turning back to my tablet.
“Wait, wait! This is important — we’re leaving here in ten minutes.” Edo pulls at my ear as I try to focus.
“Why? Do we have another appearance? They’re so hopeless; we went abroad, like, yesterday.” I trudge over to my still-packed duffle bag, shirts and socks dangling out of the open pockets, and start pushing everything to the bottom. “How long is this outing?”
“Umm . . . well . . .” Edo pauses. “It’s an indefinite period of time. We might not come back. The . . . the power to the city is being cut off in an hour. We can’t stay.”
“What? Why would they do that? Don’t they know how many automata live here? The whole city’s gonna look like a junkyard!” I look to Edo to confirm she is serious. She stares back. “Shouldn’t we tell other people in the cubical complex?”
“You know we can’t. Every council member has vowed to secrecy. Breaking that would mean being stripped of all power. You’d become another broken machine in the ‘junkyard,’” Edo snaps, then looks down at her feet. “Sorry. I feel the same way as you, but we have to stay alive.” She’s right. Humans are looking for any chance to kick us out of the council. We must be perfect.
I nod silently. A.I. was supposedly going to take over the world. We were the enemy. Though most automata are servants or caretakers for elite senate members, somehow Edo campaigned for us with the political influence of our late creator. We were elected to political office, and “all have equal representation under the law” — humans and automata. But humans are wary of us. They know we have the potential to annihilate them. So we pick no fights, keeping relations calm.
I pick up my bag and head to the doorway.
“That’s all you want? None of the trinkets you’ve collected?” Edo calls after me.
I shake my head and walk out. The buzz of the crowd makes me shiver. What will the humans do when the power shuts off? The automata will shut down, but humans have no such restraints.
“The transport should activate in a few minutes.” Edo comes up behind me. “It will be okay. This is a temporary cut until a fugitive is caught.”
Power will return to 12865. It’s the capital of the world, after all.
A blue light flashes and the transport materializes a few meters away. Edo walks up to its pearly walls and presses her hand to the scanner. The transport hisses and the gates open. Edo strides in, and I follow. We take a seat, but the doors don’t close right away. A perky lady walks in and plops down beside us. She’s dressed in the standard police uniform: baseball cap, one-piece armor suit (athletic fabric), and iron-toed boots. Her hair is pulled into a sloppy braid.
“Hello, ma’am.” I say, looking to Edo for an explanation. She shrugs. The door closes and we sit in suffocating silence.
As the transport starts to move, Edo scrolls through her tablet. “Hey, Shuko, there’s already a photo up of the fugitive!”
I look over Edo’s shoulder. Staring at the camera is a girl with hazel eyes. What stands out the most is that her ears look like a cat’s. I think back to last week's newscast, when someone leaked photos of some mutated humans created by the government. They looked to be part animal, part human, though their mutations were more severe than just some warm kitty ears. Even so . . . .
“Edo, is that girl one of the government experi — ”
Edo slaps a hand over my mouth, staring at the officer beside us.
“Don’t sweat it. We know everyone knows about the ‘secret genetics mutations project,’” the lady says. “The police watch the news, too.” She glances us over. I go rigid. Edo grips my hand tightly, but the woman just waves her hand. “I’m not going to arrest you yet. But I have a question: do you think that girl should be handed back to the government?”
Edo and I both look at the lady.
“Yes,” Edo responds quickly.
“What? No! The government mutated her genetics and probably treated her like trash!” I shout.
“I mean yes, but we have a duty as coun — ”
“Enough council garbage! What’s the point of having power if we can’t help people?” I snap.
“We are helping people. We just can’t recklessly help anyone we see,” she argues.
“Sorry. Ms. Edo, was it?” the officer asks. “The next stop we’re taking, we’ll pick up a . . . new guest.” She gestures to the tablet. “Police chief’s orders. If you would like to get off at the next stop, you may, but this is the last transport out of the city, if I remember correctly.”
“The ch-chief . . . the assistant t-to the president wants th-this experiment to escape? And you . . .?” Edo stutters.
“Yes. I’m loyal to the police chief. The girl will be accompanying us on this trip. She’ll hijack this transport and kick you guys out at a proper power source. So you know, this was her idea, not mine.”