CHAPTER 12
Staring at Jane’s palm aimed at his head, Livingston was genuinely afraid.
He’d known Jane was an android to be reckoned with from the start, as it was invulnerable to his control. It had also brought his plane down, though that was due in part to Sabrina’s stupidity.
But for this mechanical whore to have cornered him at gunpoint after making his visor malfunction, that was the last straw. Jane was an imbecile, he knew that much. Thus it must have had robotic accomplices, surely abundant on the other plane.
He had to get rid of a bot that emotionally unstable and incompetent, but not through terror. Jane was useful, and if he could convince it he was a friend, he could milk it for all it was worth.
Still breathing heavily after having pulled off a risky landing where Sabrina couldn’t see him, Livingston kept his finger discreetly hovering a millimeter away from the EM ring. No need for Jane to know he was armed just yet. “This can be easier than we’re making it, Jane. We each have something the other wants. I can give you what you need to have Marshall back.”
“How do you know who Marshall is?”
“I used to work with him. Brilliant fellow, very interested in emotional AI, but he didn’t have a lady-friend. You two came from the same area, so I assumed.” As the robot relaxed its stance a bit, Livingston slowly stood up. “Nothing can satisfy a robot of your design except the company of its designer, and of course he’s as dead as anybody else besides me and your, er, friend.”
“Uriah’s not my friend.” Jane shoved him back to the ground and kept its palm inches from his face. “Now what do you want from me?”
“Two things. First, in the time between now and when Marshall is alive again, you can do for me what ya did for him.” Jane bit its lip and narrowed its eyes, which Livingston ignored. “Second, there’s a certain … experiment I need ya to help me with.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, remember that machine in Goodsprings? It’s called a Mindscape. I think it just might work on robots as much as on humans.”
“Didn’t Uriah really enjoy being hooked up to that thing? If anything, you’d be helping me.”
“Right! You get to be with Marshall again and have the time of your life in the Mindscape, and I get a willing test subject for my experiment.”
Jane kicked him back so that he was lying flat on his back, her foot planted on his neck. “And my body. I don’t think Marshall would like that.”
“Like I said, we’ll stop when Marshall is back. He won’t know a thing about what we’ve done together. No harm done.”
“That’s cheating. Marshall said he didn’t hate anything more than a cheater, so that’s why he made me.”
“I see. That’s okay, we can forget that condition. After all, we’ll still be even considering you could kill me right now if ya wanted to.” He removed the ring, threw it on the ground, and crushed it with his foot, returning to his upright stature as he did so.
Jane, wide-eyed, did not protest. “You put a lot of trust in me. Most people think I’m evil because I’m a robot.”
“Robots are easier to trust than humans, Jane.” Except this one, because it was too much like humans. Idiotic humans, as far as he was concerned. “That’s why I’m stacking the deck in your favor.”
“But … couldn’t you just as easily take control of me like you did with those other robots?”
“Maybe I could.” No, I couldn’t. “But I’m feeling generous today. If I wanted to make you a slave for the experiment, I would’ve done so. There’s nothing I could gain from this except your companionship. Not friendship,” he added when Jane shifted a tad and grasped her arm with the other one. “I know, I know, Marshall can be your only friend. I know robots.”
Jane looked down but kept targeting Livingston. Without making eye contact, the android said, “You lied to me before, Isaac. You caused those explosions in Nevada, and you told Uriah lies about him imagining all those deaths.”
“Oh, the ones I told Uriah, those were necessary,” he said with a light wave of a hand. “You know as well as I do that he’s responsible for the deaths. For Marshall’s death.”
His gaze drew in Jane’s.
“He’s as distrustful a guy as he is untrustworthy. There’s no persuading someone like that to come quietly, and he lied just as much to me. I’m a lot of things, Jane, but I’m no rapist with a taste for bombs. So no, I didn’t deceive you.”
“But you said a robot a lot like one of Uriah’s planted the bombs. That doesn’t make sense.”
“It was a guess. Probably not the same robot you’re thinking of. This is all trivial, though, because if you don’t think my intentions are good by this point, I don’t know how else I can prove that to ya.” He gave an open-ended shrug and looked up to the sky where he was expecting visitors. “Your choice: me, or the man who caused the apocalypse.”
“Well, how do I know you really can bring Marshall back?”
“The same way I brought myself back.” Livingston reached out his hand and grasped Jane’s with enough confidence to impress, yet not so abruptly as to startle it. “Uriah won’t win, Jane. He can put humanity to sleep for a while, but with your help, we’ll wake it up. Starting with Marshall, the center of your life. Marshall, and I, and every person who thinks life is valuable for its own sake – we’ll join together to make a world where no one will look at you and see a slave, or a monster. In our eyes, you’ll be a person with real dignity who has someone to live for.”
Jane looked him in the eyes. It frowned at first, but in time it relaxed. “If Marshall would want that kind of world to wake up with him, then I’ll help you.” It released his grip and lowered its hand. “Just promise not to touch me. And we’re not friends, just –”
“Business partners? Works for me.”
“So are we going all the way back to Goodsprings?”
“Not necessary. We can find a Mindscape not far from here. Best to keep Lockhart at a safe distance for a while – we’ll go to Everett soon enough – and if she thinks you’re incapacitated, she’ll be heading for Nevada.”
Jane looked puzzled. You forgot the name after you saw Uriah get all pissy over the idea of screwing her? “Sabrina Lockhart, I mean. Only other Organic besides Uriah. She wanted to go with me here to take you out, but I ditched her once we got close enough. She hates you as much as Zolnerowich does.”
“There are others coming for me, though. You know I have a weapon, but can we stop them?”
“Taken care of. Sabrina won’t suspect a thing. Now come on,” he said as he led the way toward the nearest automobile. “We have a world to wake up.”