Page 33 of Even Robots Die
I’ve been calculating and calculating again what power we should send and where in his brain.
I contacted the surgeon who Brice said will be cutting his skull off this morning and he more or less told me that I’m the one in charge of finding where exactly we need to put the probes on the brain.
Talk about some pressure.
I guess I’m now the expert on the matter. Or Milton is.
At least the conversation I had with the surgeon comforted me in the hypothesis I’ve made so far. I’m just scared about having to try my theories on a human brain.
I know the birds didn’t have these kinds of issues and that’s probably why they fucked Brice’s brain up.
From what I’ve been reading in the code, the only thing that was really planned was for them to implant the idea that Elhyor needed to die. The fact that Brice lost all capacity for feelings and sensations was just a bonus to them.
But this means it makes it that much harder to find ways to counter the damage.
“The lab is ready,” Brice announces.
Like, I’m starting to think this is usual for the grumpy asshole, that he doesn’t say hello or ask me how I’m doing.
I stand from my chair and look up to face him.
I didn’t even hear the door when it opened and I wonder if I was just completely absorbed by what I was doing and forgot about the rest of the world.
“Do I need to move the machine, or is someone going to come and get it?” I ask as an answer.
Call me grumpy, but I don’t see the point in being polite if he isn’t, so I’m answering without niceties either.
“I’ll get it moved later. Do you want to see the lab?” Brice asks.
Without answering him immediately, I save my work and turn off the device.
“Lead the way.”
Brice doesn’t wait and I follow him to the first floor and then to the same corridor the mad scientist lab was in. We walk farther down the hall, though, and arrive at a wooden door like any of the ones in the castle.
Brice opens the door and holds it for me. As I pass him on the way inside the room, my hand brushes his pinky and I feel the sensation course through my whole arm and I stop in my tracks.
What the fuck is happening to me?
I look up and meet Brice’s eyes.
For a second, it’s like time is suspended, and I hold my breath.
My throat goes dry at the way Brice is looking at me like he has all the time in the world and is wondering what is going to be my next move.
I know I should start walking again and just go inside the room, but instead I feel rooted to the ground.
I wet my lips, and Brice’s eyes drop to my mouth.
For an insane second, I entertain the idea that Brice isn’t an asshole who forced me to take my dad’s spot in order to free him and that his personality is as handsome as the face that is looking at me right now, and my mind conjures his own tongue replacing mine to wet my lips.
I feel my skin heat on my cheeks.
A small smile tips the side of Brice’s mouth and I think Brice is going to close the few centimeters that are still separating us, but instead I feel his pinky brush against the side of my hand again quickly and then it’s like Brice received one of those electric shocks I’m working on and just like that, time seems to start passing at normal speed again.
And Brice is already in the middle of the new lab.
Three meters away from me.
