Page 37 of Cozy Prisons
Nataly almost laughed. “Thanks for coming by.”
Hale gave a little grunt, then was out the door. She could hear them start mumbling to themself before the door shut behind them.
She’d like to call Hale odd, but who was she to judge?
Alone again, she decided to try eating. Maybe this time her stomach wouldn’t protest.
She didn’t lock her door down because no one was rude enough to simply walk in without pressing the request for entrance chime. That meant she didn’t expect her door to slide open without any warning. Blinking with surprise, she watched Daxus stride up to her, looking over where she was sitting at her workbench.
“You have to understand that I was only doing it for your own good!” His angry buzzing rattle filled the room.
Standing up, she backed away and pointed to the door. “Out.”
Daxus didn’t move. “I know you're upset, but even you have to agree that you weren’t behaving rationally.”
Did he honestly think this was the best way to talk to her?
“You. Betrayed. Me!” she said, articulating each word loudly enough to hear over his buzzing rattle.
“Only because you refused to seek out the help you need!” His roared words echoed through her small home.
If she weren’t so angry at him, she’d be astounded to see the cool-headed Daxus this upset. Far from being intimidated by his display of temper, it was helping her remember that the sweet lemon smell tickling at her nose wasn’t to be trusted, just like the Talin it emanated from.
“I will not be treated like a pet. Bodily autonomy is the least of what I should expect from you and everyone,” she gritted out. “If you’re not going to even talk to me as an equal, we’re done! Go, before I make you leave.”
“I need you to understand,” Daxus said, advancing on her again. “You must—”
She was done. “House, intruder protocol 3A!” she shouted, interrupting Daxus.
As she expected, her domicile sprang into action.
The first line of defense was the fire suppression system that emerged from the wall near the food preparation area. The motor on the mechanical arm whirred as the high-pressure nozzle was aimed at Daxus.
“What is this—”
He was interrupted again, but not by her. This time it was from the full blast of suppressant foam to the chest. He let out a surprised yelp and stumbled back a few steps. That carried him to the door, but not entirely out yet.
That was fine because the rodent elimination bots came next. They jetted out from their hiding spots under the food prep area cabinets and charged at him. They had long, thin rods with sparkers at the end.
They jammed the sparkers against Daxus’s legs and hit him with the maximum voltage. It was only enough to stun a small creature, not enough to do any permanent damage to someone as large as Daxus. That wasn’t the goal of these bots. The painful jolts from the sparkers make him dance back, carrying him the rest of the way out the door.
“Why are you doing this?” he yelled, keeping an eye on the rodent elimination bots that had stopped at the threshold. They were programmed to leave the house.
“You did this to yourself,” she mocked. “I told you to leave, and you refused. This is the consequence of your actions.”
His voice turned plaintive. “I’m only trying to help you.”
“I get that,” she responded. “But you can’t help me if it means taking away my liberty.”
“Your health is more important than your liberty,” he roared, sounding the angry buzzing rattle again. It looked like he was ready to kick her rodent elimination bots out of the way and try to come back in.
Nope, not happening!
“House, intruder protocol 3B.”
Four rotary bots came to life and swarmed Daxus. They were substantially larger bots, almost as big as Daxus himself, and made to break up soil and rocks so it could be compacted properly for building. When Palathum stored the bots next to her domicile, Nataly decided that meant she could tinker with their programming. This was the result.
“You better move,” she warned Daxus. “They’ll chew you up like you’re a big rock in their way!”
