Evolved(63)

The second woman looked at me. “Can you activate him, please? We’d like to check a few things.”

My heart lurched heavily. I really didn’t want to but I knew better than to argue with the AMA. “Shaun, Power Up.”

Shaun lifted his head and opened his eyes. He looked at the AMA officers, at me, to Jae, then back to me for a long second. “Shaun,” I said flatly. “These AMA officers need to ask you some questions.”

And they did, and the other two officers asked Jae a bunch of questions, like how he knew me and what he was doing here, but I just sat there. The TV showed footage over and over of Sasha and Myles being escorted out of SATinc, and then there were experts discussing what this breach meant for national security and where other countries stood on android warfare policies, and I couldn’t stand the noise a second longer. “Television Off.”

Everyone went silent and stared at me, but I ignored them. Until Waleed sat down beside me. “We also have footage from inside the facility. Their own technology will be their downfall.”

“It was anyway,” I added. “They designed software for an android to assimilate into enemy territory and relay information back to the government. And that’s exactly what Shaun did. Only he didn’t use it against an enemy. He used it against them instead.”

Waleed smiled. “I wish I could have met him.”

My eyes burned with tears. “He was incredible.” I looked at Shaun, still occupied with the agents asking him questions and running diagnostic scans, looking over the scar on his chest.

“What happens now? With all SATinc’s androids? With Shaun? Does he still need to be connected to their server?”

“The AMA will take over, and they’ll be subject to standard android updates. It won’t be anywhere near as invasive as SATinc.”

“I think they were hacking into my home hub,” I admitted. “I can’t be 100% sure.”

“They were,” he replied outright. “Their mainframe is now with us so you can be assured you’re secure once more.”

I leaned back into the sofa and put my hands through my hair, my mind spinning.

“We may need you to testify,” Waleed said. “Though we have surveillance and the upload Shaun sent us, which should be enough. We also have all their software, records, and the master key, which is highly illegal. We have international transactions and… well, let’s just say, neither one of them will see daylight again. But you may still be required to give evidence.”

I nodded slowly. I really didn’t care either way. I looked to the agents who were apparently finished with Shaun. “What can you tell me?”

“He’s a standard A-Class,” she replied. “Whatever processing unit he had before, he doesn’t anymore.”

I nodded again and this time my tears spilled over. Waleed put his hand on my shoulder. “We’ll be back in touch tomorrow. For a proper statement.”

I wiped my tears. “Yeah, of course.”

“We’ll leave you to it,” he added. “I’ll notify the police that I’ve spoken with you. They’ll probably wish to see you tomorrow as well. I would suggest you don’t leave town or speak to the media.”

He left his card on the dining table, and they were all gone.

Jae stood there awkwardly, rubbing his arm and scratching his head. He’d obviously had the scare of a lifetime. “I probably should get going…”

I nodded. I needed silence just as much as he needed to be gone. “Okay. Thanks for coming by.”

“I’m glad you’re okay. I’ll see you at work soon.”

I nodded and then he was gone too. The silence was resounding and complete and normally I’d have revelled in it, but now I missed Shaun like crazy. There was a void I wanted to drown in. I wanted it to swallow me whole.

Something moved in my peripheral vision and I was surprised to see Shaun stepping around the sofa to sit down next to me. I didn’t want to look at him. I couldn’t bear it. He looked just like him, his eyes, his hair, his lips…

I stared at the door and tried really hard to speak. I wanted to tell him to power down; I wanted to show him to his room and tell him not to leave it. I wanted to punch something and scream and cry until I filled the emptiness, and I wanted to crawl into bed and cry myself to sleep.

“Lloyd,” Shaun said.

I put my hand up. “Please don’t. I know this is all new to you and I apologise for not being a very good custodian right now, but you remind me of someone I loved and lost, and it’s a little hard for me to cope.”

He remained silent and I stood up. My legs barely worked and my eyes welled with tears, but I managed to take a few steps toward my room. I needed to leave. I needed Shaun. “Power Down.”

I walked into my room, crawled into bed, and pulled the covers up over my head and waited for the darkness to take me.

Silence.

Loneliness.

Heartbreak.

Loss.

Regret.

I regretted not fighting them harder. I regretted telling Shaun not to fight them. We just walked in there and let them do it, and I did nothing to stop them. I should have tried harder. I should have died trying to protect him. Instead, I did nothing. And what the hell was with his last words to me? Had our reading Moby Dick meant that much to him that his parting words to me would be a quote from it? Why didn’t he tell me he loved me one more time? Why didn’t he tell me everything was going to be okay?