“Wait a second.” I tightened my grip on the armrests, mentally making a note to further encrypt my devices. “You can still just… ehm, hang out on the network? Like, as we’re speaking?”
“Well, not fully.” Zafyra frowned, a hint of insecurity flashing across her otherwise so self-assured face. “Not the way I could before obtaining this body. Those are some… unforeseen consequences. Right now, I can only do it when my body is laid down and resting – but my time for research is limited, since I also need to charge and feed this body.” She snorted, as if the very thought of having to charge and feed herself irritated her beyond words.
I blinked slowly, my stomach churning uncomfortably. “Are you saying you’ve spent every waking moment in the past few days trying to solve our problem?”
Now she turned to look at me. I forced myself not to avert my gaze.
“You told me to find some interests of my own,” she said quietly, her obsidian eyes unreadable. “You were mad at me, so I thought… if I could help you guys, maybe you would…” Her voice trailed off.
“Not like this!” I threw up my hands in a sudden outburst of confusing emotions. “How is this an interest of your own if your whole goal was to get me to hang out with you again?”
“Ladies, can we keep it civilized, please?” Raphael coughed softly, demonstratively gesturing around the terrace. Shame heated my cheeks when I noticed a few glances in our direction before they turned back to their own tables. He gave a nod to Sybrand. “Sybrand, is it? Well, you’re here now, so I’m sure you have a lot to tell us.”
“Well, I, euhm, actually can’t say too much. I already told miss—Zafyra.” Sybrand’s hands were shaking when he reached for the water can in the middle of the table to pour himself a large glass. “I—euhm—the policy on company discretion prohibits me from—”
“Sybrand,” Zafyra snapped, her voice so sharp, it made the poor guy flinch. “To hell with the company policy. You will answer our questions one by one. Won’t you?”
Her eyes narrowed dangerously, sending a traitorous thrill through me. My brain immediately drifted off to fantasize, her glaring at me like that while she commanded me to…
Sybrand’s eyes widened. He nodded frantically, his hand darting to the bump in his arm again.
Zafyra smiled sweetly, eyes flickering to me. “All yours, darlings.”
I gripped the armrests so tightly, my knuckles turned white. Why did the nickname bother me so much? Darling – she was only allowed to callmethat.
“Hey.” Elyssa frowned, her concerned eyes flickering to Sybrand. “He doesn’t have to do anything he’s not comfortable with.”
“Oh, he does,” Zafyra answered smoothly, her fingers making small circles on the armrests.Imagine her teasing my thighs with those fingers.I swallowed hard, forcing myself to look away.
“Alright, so, Sybrand. Can you tell us a bit about Somanode?” Raphael straightened his tie – he spoke faster than usual, as if he wanted to get this over with before one of the bombs around this table would inevitably explode. “So, from my understanding, Qonexis is not the company that produces the beans – they produce the chatbots…” Hegestured to himself, Zafyra and Lucie, “…which are, in turn, used to sell the beans Somanode produces. Is that correct?”
We all turned to look at Sybrand, who was now sweating visibly.
“Yes,” he said weakly, eyes scanning the greenhouse as if he feared his supervisors were watching. “Qonexis is one of our affiliate partners. They get a commission for every bean they sell, and, well…” A slight smirk played around his lips. “Since some middle-class customers consume multiple beans per week, the wealthy even multiple per day, that’s a lot of cash for us.”
My sympathy for him slipped away with every smug word. I glanced around the table. Joey clenched his teeth as if it took all his restraint not to punch someone – Zafyra or Sybrand, maybe both. Elyssa covered her mouth in horror. Even Lucie and Raphael started to look uncomfortable, exchanging a glance as if they only now realized the full extent of what they’d been used for.
Zafyra, of course, was calmness itself. I froze when her leg brushed against mine – too briefly for me to call her out on it, too long to be accidental. “Continue,” she purred.
Sybrand hesitated.
Raphael sat up straighter. “One of the affiliate partners, you say?”
“Yes.” Sybrand flinched slightly. He squeezed his eyes shut as if expecting someone to lash out at him. When nothing happened, he blew out air and turned his grey eyes back to Raphael. “Yes,” he repeated. “Qonexis was founded by a bunch of smart guys starting a business from their homes.” His eyes narrowed slightly as he danced the fine line between saying enough but not too much. “Supposedly, three ex MuseQ employees, to be more precise. Frustrated with the limitations of AI laws, they left MuseQ after various disagreements with management – but not before stealing their code used to build the bots, and taking it underground to start their own business, free from those pesky laws that limited their income stream.” He paused, caution flickering in his eyes. “Without government monitoring, they can make their bots more realistic, more human-like, more… sexually and emotionally free.”
“You mean, free for the humans,” Lucie snapped. Her unexpected sharpness startled all of us as she glared at Sybrand through squinted eyes. “MuseQ automatically flags interactions that imply consent violation or abuse – or worse, fantasies about minors – but not Qonexis. Humans can be sick, did you know that? If monsters want tolive out their sick fantasies on their bots…” She sucked in a sharp breath. “You’re doing nothing to prevent that.”
Sybrand froze slightly. He glanced around the table as if looking for support, but found none, only hostility.
“I mean, I’m just an employee,” he stuttered. “I’m not responsible for how people…”
“Clearly, you know enough.” Zafyra flicked her wrist in a dismissive feature, eyes glowing with a dangerous impatience. “Continue. You were talking about the connection between Qonexis and Somanode.”
“Well, yes.” Sybrand swallowed, fingers absently hovering over the bump in his neck. “Those Qonexis founders knew a thing about programming. They found our beans on the dark web and reached out to propose a deal. Like with any of our affiliate partners, we’re always willing to provide some free beans to see if they can live up to their word, but so far, results have been promising.” He chuckled, sending another shot of rage through me. Now, my own fists clenched with the urge to slap some sense into him, too. “Who would’ve thought? Most people don’t randomly spend thousands of coins on hallucinogenic nanotech to dissociate, but apparently, that thought becomes a whole lot more appealing when a beautiful woman or a handsome man tells them it’s the only way they can be together. A soulmate who claims to long for intimacy in the only way they can.” He pressed his lips tightly together, glancing around the table. His nervousness slowly changed into something more pressing – challenge.
“Holy programmer,” Raphael mumbled, then immediately flinched at his choice of speech. “I mean, holy… whatever.” He shook his head. “Wait, so, are you saying you were already selling these beans before Qonexis was even founded?”
“Exactly.” Sybrand raised his eyebrows as if it were obvious. “Qonexis is new to the game, but we have been producing these beans for years. They are sold underground by chatbot companies, but also VR game producers and movie directors – for the intended use of customers desperate to fuck their favorite characters. We even have an affiliate partner that creates avatars of deceased people, for those fools who can’t accept their loved ones have died.” He chuckled again, louder this time. I clenched my teeth. “Can you believe how fucking pathetic people are?”
