“Yes. The augmented reality contains many city games and challenges, and people engage in them regularly. Many clubs, museums, and stores have mini games and AR-only features, as well.”
Dean joined me by the window, and we talked about the scene stretching in front of us. The large billboard was set up to display any content I chose, as long as I had a subscription. The free channels contained ads of course. I saw one for AR headphones that promised an immersive in-world experience, but so far, most of augmented reality was vision-only.
When I got tired and looked around for a place to sit, Dean picked me up, cradling me in his arms. My throat grew tight. How could I keep him? How could I not? It was maddening. I almost wished for our plan to fail so we’d be forced to spend more time together without facing the aftermath.
My heart beat faster and faster the closer we got to showtime. Four p.m. passed as I anxiously nibbled on my favorite shrimp-flavored rice snacks. Dean checked on our robot every minute at this point. All looked good. When it was ten to five, he suddenly spoke.
“Julia’s parents gave the robot to Zenkyoza. One of their neighbors is your fan, and she just commented the robot was loaded into a Zenkyoza van half an hour ago. She’s a lightsleeper, which is the only reason why she saw that. It’s almost three a.m. where they live.”
I froze. “What? Why would they do that? Oh God.”
Of course, I knew why. I struggled with it for a moment. Could it really mean that the parentswereguilty? Did they break the robot’s safety measures to make sure their teenaged daughter was constantly supervised?
And if so, how often did it happen in the previous cases I dealt with? What did I miss? Did I help guilty people escape scrutiny, hiding behind the hate for AI? My head spun, and I felt helpless and miserable. All that work—sacrificing everything I loved—for nothing. I hadn’t made the world safer for anyone. All I did was…
Advocate for people like Dean to be lobotomized and killed.
“Sera, are you all right? I shouldn’t have told you.” Dean’s voice was a soft, rumbling purr. I looked up and sighed, surprised. He made himself an avatar, too, and just put it on.
Dean’s face visible through the glasses no longer looked like it was made from the silvery composite. It was a human male face with the same features as his own apart from a pair of magnetic, long-lashed eyes with violet irises. He had thick brown hair, handsomely tousled, and a hint of a day’s growth on his chin and jaw.
“Why did you do that?” I asked, feeling inexplicably sad.
“I don’t want you to let me go.”
My breath stuttered in my throat. I was still for a moment, then took off the glasses and let them fall to the floor with a soft crunch. Dean looked at me with the purple lights he had for eyes, though not really, did he? I saw the tiny cameras placed on his forehead, temples, and chin, giving him superior vision. He saw me through them.
“I prefer you like this,” I said, stroking his face.
“Then can we be together after this is over?” he asked, his voice so even, like he didn’t care if I answered one way or another.
But of course he cared. I hesitated, still stroking his cheek as I warred with myself. There was a way to make it all fit, I knew. I just had to figure it out. How to still do what I did, how to still atone, and be with Dean at the same time?
Therehadto be a way, only I couldn’t see it.
I took too long. Dean looked away. “It’s starting. Phase one. Do you want to watch on my screen?”
I nodded as he let me down to my feet. With a sigh, I picked up the glasses, looking at them with longing. The world they showed was beautiful, but also not real. It was far too easy to get lost in it.
Dean displayed the view from our robot’s front camera on his torso. It walked onto a busy zebra crossing and stopped in the middle, raising its arms. Music blasted from its speakers. People walking close by jumped away, and a few started filming. The robot played a catchy pop number, doing a dance currently trending in social media. People stopped to watch it. Right before the lights changed, it ran down the street, shouting for everyone to follow it.
Already on the other side of the street, the robot snatched an elaborate hat with a feather arrangement off the head of a tall man wearing fishnet tights and red leather shorts. The man turned around, but our robot was already on its way, dancing through the crowd as people behind jostled through the crowd, trying to follow it.
“I gave it an AR banner,” Dean said with a grin. “It says, ‘Catch me to win ten thousand yen’.”
“That’s not much.”
“That’s the point. Make the reward too big, and people think it’s a scam. If it’s small, it looks more believable, like a legit city game.”
I put on my AR glasses, barely paying attention to the small crack, and glanced at the billboard. I was subscribed to a local breaking news channel that reported on city disruptions in real life. Our robot didn’t make the cut yet, but people streamed live. It would soon make the news.
“All right, we have a nice crowd,” Dean said right as the robot ran into a luxurious shopping mall. “Phase two.”
The robot slammed its fist into a glass case with a display of high-end jewelry. It didn’t take anything, but alarms blared. This was a crucial moment, because once security got involved, our time would be cut short. I leaned in, biting my nails until Dean gently caught my hand.
“It will be all right. Look.”
The robot jumped on top of a fountain and splashed the water on everyone nearby. People sitting on benches sprang to their feet, but it was gone already, disappearing inside a smart device shop where it hacked the network. A moment later, every device played a different episode of an atrociously bad SF soap opera about heroic humans fighting an army of evil machines shaped like bugs. Our robot was already out of there, and Dean showed me the feed from its back cameras. It was being chased by two security bots and a handful of people.
