Lifel1k3 (Lifelike #1)(29)

“Have you ever been in love, Ana?” she asks one day.

We’re on the floor of my bedroom, staring at the ceiling with our fingers entwined. We spent the morning playing games, digital pieces on digital boards. A few weeks ago we were evenly matched, but Faith wins every time now.

She has an appointment with the doctors soon. They measure her patterns. Monitor her growth. She told me once she doesn’t like the way some of them talk to her. Like a child, she said. But she made me promise to keep that a secret.

“No,” I say. “I’ve never been in love. Have you?”

“I’m not sure,” Faith frowns. “Perhaps.”

“I think if you are, you just know it.” I picture Ezekiel then. Those bow-shaped lips and eyes that make me want to drown. But he’s not like me. He’s not human and I know it’s wrong to want him, but still, I think perhaps I do. “They say it’s wonderful.”

“Mmm.”

I lean up on my elbow, long blond hair cascading over my shoulder. I look Faith in the eye, but in my head, I’m speaking to someone else.

“Did Father even make it possible for lifelikes to love?”

“Oh, yes,” Faith says. “He made us so we can do almost anything.” She frowns, voice dropping to a whisper. “I think Grace is in love with Gabriel.”

“Really?” I squeeze her fingers, delighting in the thought. “Have they kissed?”

“She won’t tell me. She hasn’t told anyone.” Faith sucks her lip in thought. “I don’t think the doctors would like it if they found out.”

“But Father and the other scientists made you to be like us,” I say. “Surely they’d be happy that you are like us?”

“We’re not exactly like you.” Faith’s frown darkens. “We may look human, but the Three Laws still bind us. You could bash my skull in and I couldn’t do anything to stop you if you ordered me not to. You could tell me to walk off the balcony and I’d have to obey.”

“Why would you think such horrible things?” I squeeze her hand. “You’re my dearest friend. I’d never do that to you. Never.”

“I know.” Faith sighs. She looks up at me and her eyes are shining as if she were about to cry. “Raphael is sad.”

I blink. Raph is one of my favorites. Bottomless eyes and a laugh you can’t help but get wrapped up inside. We share books, he and Marie and I, from the great library on the lower levels. Reading every night and meeting in the morning to discuss our thoughts.

“What’s Raph sad about?” I ask.

“He won’t say,” Faith replies. “But I can see it in his eyes.”

She shakes her head as if to banish her dark thoughts. I wonder what else she thinks, when all the lights go out. She stands swiftly, moving like water, clean white dress billowing about her long legs.

“I’m late for my checkup. Will you come with me?”

“… Of course.”

Faith takes my hand and pulls me up effortlessly. She’s so much stronger than me. All of them are. Stronger. Faster. Smarter.

Better?

Sometimes I wonder what they really think of us.

Sometimes I wonder what my father has created.

Faith leans in close and kisses me softly on the lips.

“I love you, Ana,” she says.

… But my name is Eve.



“Stop… .”

Eve was on her hands and knees, head bowed. Her wilted fauxhawk hung in her eyes, her skin smeared with slime.

“Make it stop … ,” she whispered.

“Eve, what’s happening?” Cricket wailed. “If you don’t tell me, I can’t help you!”

Trying to hold herself together.

Trying to make any piece of this make any kind of sense …

“That lifelike … clocked me in the head,” she managed. “Just gimme a minute.”

The walls quivered, a hollow gargling sound echoed off wet, pulsing walls. Eve looked up with a wince as the ceiling opened wide again, this time spitting out a sodden and flailing Ezekiel. The lifelike plummeted head over heels, crashing down into the slime. It burst up from the slop with a gasp, one arm flailing.

Eve pushed herself up on her haunches, still trying to catch her breath.

“There’s no way I’m jumping into that crap a third time,” she declared.

“Don’t look at me,” Cricket replied. “First Law says I only have to protect humans. Bloodthirsty murderbots are on their own.”

Ezekiel seemed to be having trouble swimming with only one arm, so Eve finally sighed and wobbled to her feet. Her head was throbbing, the bone around her Memdrive aching like it was cracked.

“Evie, seriously, are you all right?” Cricket asked.

Eve waved him off, fished about in the detritus around them. Her stomach was filled with dread. The images in her mind … there was only one explanation that fit them. A thought too big and terrifying to contemplate. With Lemon and Kaiser still missing, with everything else going on, it was just too much to wrap her aching head around for now.

She knew, at least, that Ezekiel was somehow a part of whatever was happening. Letting it drown (if lifelikes could drown) in a lake of mucus didn’t seem like the smartest play. She found a tangle of rope, knotted with decaying weed. Grimacing at the stench, she hurled the rope out toward the lifelike, pulling hard after it took hold, dragging it closer to her metal shore. Ezekiel finally staggered out of the sludge, pawed the gunk off its face and coughed.