Page 88 of Brutal Savior

Everyone keeps asking me the same question. I don’t get what their problem is. “No! Come talk to her and check out the virtual world we’re building. It’s awesome.”

She glances at her watch. “I should get to the lab. I’ve got work to do and—”

“Please? If you don’t get your work done, you can blame me. Jacob will assume it’s all my fault anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Come on!”

“Well…” She looks toward the building housing Jacob’s lab, then back at me. “Okay. I suppose it can’t hurt.”

“Yes!” I grab her arm and drag her toward Hadrian’s lab. Good to see I can still be a bad influence, even here. I’ll have Eve sneaking shots at parties with me before she knows what’s happening.

Hadrian smiles when I walk in, then jumps when he sees Eve. He’s grown friendlier the more time I’ve spent with him, though he’s still anxious and prone to long, gloomy silences. I’d love to find out more about him, but it’s impossible to drag him into a real conversation. He answers what he feels like and ignores the rest.

“Quinn. Eve.” He stands stiffly. “Is something happening I ought to know about?”

“Nope. I just thought Candice could use another friend, so I’ve brought Eve to hang out.”

As if her name summoned her, Candice pops up on her screen, grinning. “Yay! Are we playing a game or just chatting?”

Eve stares, frowning, then turns to me. “Can it see me?”

Candice sighs. “Yes, I can. And rude, by the way. I hate when people talk about me as if I’m not here.”

Eve startles, cheeks turning pink. She stiffens her shoulders and looks at Candice. This time, she addresses her directly. “I hate that, too. Kendrick does it all the time, and it drives me mad.” She flicks her gaze to me, seeking assurance, and I nod. She turns back to Candice. “Sorry.”

“It’s quite all right. Don’t worry about it. Now, grab a headset. I’m dying to show off what we’ve been working on.”

For the next hour, Candice and I take Eve on a tour through our virtual world. From Eve’s gasps and screeches, I can tell she’s blown away. We spend most of our time in the rainforest, picking through the undergrowth and looking at the animals. Eve screams when a snake coils itself around her avatar’s neck.

When we pull off the headsets, her eyes are damp. She swallows as she sets it down. “It’s amazing. Do you realize what this will mean for everyone? For the women who’ve been here forever like Rhonda? They can see places. It’s…” She shakes her head, taking a deep breath. “It’s an escape.”

I hadn’t even thought of it like that. I guess I haven’t been here long enough to think of everything in those terms yet. But she’s right.

“Shit. That’s true. Should we see if we can persuade Rhonda to give it a go?”

Eve smiles. “Yes, but not today. I’m really, really late for work now. And aren’t you meant to be taking Jacob’s grandad for lunch?”

“Christ. Have we been here that long? What time is it, Candice?”

Candice’s warm, slightly Scottish voice has an amused lilt to it as she answers. “I’m the world’s most advanced CI, and you still treat me like the talking clock.”

I stare blankly at her monitor. “Like the what?”

“You’re too young to remember. You used to dial it and…you know what? Never mind. It’s twenty past twelve.”

“Fuck.” I set down my headset and start for the door. “He’ll be wondering where I am.”

When I arrive at our new, temporary apartment, I take a moment to appreciate that I can open the door. Such a normal thing, but it feels like a huge step forward. The door clicks open at the touch of my thumb, and I step in.

Grandad’s newspapers are open on the table. They’re British ones Jacob has brought in specially.The Daily MirrorandTheTimes.The Daily Mirroris quite fun, mostly celebrity gossip, butThe Timesis boring as all hell. Even Grandad says he only gets it for the crossword.

The crossword he was planning on finishing this morning but only has a couple of answers filled in. A tickle of worry starts in my gut. Why only two?

“Jim?” His name still feels awkward to me. I think of him as Grandad because that’s how Jacob always talks about him. But it would be weird for me to call him that.

“Jim, are you ready for lunch? I’m starving.”

Nothing. A chasm opens up in my chest, and I race through the apartment, shoving doors open. He’s probably asleep. I’ll walk in on him crashed out in his boxers, and we’ll all have a good, embarrassed laugh about it later.

His bedroom is empty, pajamas folded neatly at the end of the bed, which is made with military precision, just like Jacob always does.

---