I didn’t move. Was I really going to do this—go inside to die for a clanker? I remembered through a haze how I stood in front of another open door in a corporate lobby, the MSA’s reception desk behind me as I wavered between leaving and letting Charlie assist me.
It felt like it happened in another lifetime.
“Here I come,” I murmured under my breath, forcing my voice to sound light.
I stepped over the threshold. My steps echoed in the enormous lobby even though I stepped softly in my sneakers. It was gloomy, only a few muted emergency lights marking doors and elevators. I looked around, waiting.
“Enter an elevator,” a cool voice instructed me from invisible speakers. I recognized it.
“Nice to meet you, Reina,” I whispered, going over to the nearest elevator. It opened on my approach, the door whispering shut when I entered. It went up, but I didn’t know what floor. I clenched my fists, sticky with blood from the fingernails I gnawed on.
The lift stopped, opening. I froze, looking at four enormous battle cyborgs, their eyes glowing ominously red. Surely, they had other settings. But Reina wanted me to piss myself from fear, didn’t she?
“Take away her phone and check for weapons,” Reina said. I squinted in the dark. She stood behind the cyborgs, but the light here was muted, and I couldn’t see her very well.
I stepped out of the elevator and handed my phone over to the nearest cyborg. Another waved his hand up and down my body, conscientiously checking my shoes, too.
“The belt is hiding some circuitry,” it said in a monotone, neutral voice.
“It’s the latest fashion,” I said weakly, knowing I shouldn’t give it up without protest, or it would be suspicious.
Reina’s voice vibrated with satisfaction. “Take away her belt.”
When the cyborg reached for the front of my pants, I groaned and tried to step back, but the elevator closed, and my back met the cool metal of the door.
“Fine! I’ll take it off myself, just don’t touch me!”
“But I thought you liked being touched by robots?” Reina asked, laughing. “Or are you too good for Zenkyoza boys?”
I shook my head. “I’m here. What else do you want?”
“Everything.” Reina came forward once I grudgingly let the cyborg have my belt.
She was a petite woman in her late thirties, her hair short but expensively styled. She wore a dark pencil skirt and a matching jacket, and a pair of stilettos that pushed her short height to almost average. Her face was unlined, and whatever makeup she wore was invisible.
In comparison to her, I was a wreck. I still wore the clothes I put on this morning, and my shoes were dirty and scuffed. Reina looked me up and down with obvious contempt.
“Sothisis Sera Evans. I expected someone more sophisticated—and smarter. You made out with your robot right when your glasses compiled a warranty report, and we got it on camera. That’s how we found you. The warranty protocol includes location, too.”
“Yes. I was outsmarted by a pair of glasses,” I said, sensing she wanted to gloat. “And now, you got me here. I’ll stay and do whatever you want if you let him go.”
Reina clicked her tongue with distaste. “I don’t want anything from you, Sera. Come along. Your friend got the honor seat. Our faulty robots get wiped in the factory, but we have a special chamber right here. My father uses it for executions.”
A shiver ran down my spine. “E-executions? For—people?”
She laughed, the sound forced and artificial, like Reina played in a badly rehearsed performance. “No, silly. Robots that displeased him. Father is very hard on his staff. But don’t tell anyone, this is a family secret.”
Her heels clacked on the marble floor, and I followed, my heart in my throat. Two cyborgs flanked me, their arms brushing my shoulders, and the other two followed behind. Even if I wanted to run, I stood no chance.
“And here he is!” Reina opened the door at the end of the corridor and showed me inside with a flourish.
I saw him at once. The room was bare, just black marble floor, three white walls and one black, and an enormous metal chair in the middle. Dean was half-lying in it, his hands placed on the armrests, his head resting straight. His eyes were dark. He looked—dead.
“Dean!” I lurched forward, my panic choking me, but didn’t even take two steps. The cyborgs grabbed my arms, pulling me back, and Reina strode inside, her nostrils flaring with a pleased sigh.
“You have no idea how much you’ve cost me, Sera Evans,” she said, standing right in front of me so I couldn’t see Dean anymore. “Everyone else had their price. We bought them off, sometimes threatened, and they shut up. But you ignored every gesture of goodwill, every hand kindly offered. So now, you will watch me ignore your begging.”
“Please!” I gasped, knowing it was useless. “Just tell me he’s not dead! I’ll do anything, anything! Just please, let me talk to him!”
