Welcome back to my post-post-apocalyptic novel, Ada’s Children, and thanks for reading! If you’re new to the story, please don’t be surprised that it’s paywalled. The Prologue and first three chapters are free, and you can start reading them here. The previous chapter, “Escape,” is here.
The last time we were with Carol, she’d just endured one of the most traumatic experiences a person can suffer. (Is that vague enough? I’m avoiding spoilers for those who may be new to the story.) Now, with the help of Shondra and Megan, she’s trying to recover her interest in life.
SEPTEMBER 2046
“You’re a robot, aren’t you?”
The young woman Carol had been talking to didn’t even blink, itself a giveaway.
Carol had been standing in line at the local tea shop when the woman—or bot, as she now guessed—started a conversation. What was good here? Did Carol come here often? Wasn’t it too bad that the coffee had run out? In front of her, Shondra and Megan paused in their inspection of the shop’s new vegan scones and turned back to look at them.
“Why do you think that?” the bot said. Its voice was smooth and mellifluous, almost too perfect.
“Oh, I don’t know, maybe the dead eyes?” That wasn’t really fair; the bot’s eyes were quite expressive, if unblinking. “Or maybe you just look like someone who would snatch toddlers off the street!” The old sarcasm still came in handy, but she’d failed to deliver it with the cool reserve necessary to carry it off. In fact, her voice had risen to a scream. The tea shop went quiet, everyone turning toward them.
“Carol,” Shondra said, a warning note in her voice.
This was the sort of confrontation they’d sought to avoid on these outings. It was only Carol’s third time out of the apartment since Shondra and Megan had convinced her she needed to get out more. For six months, grief had kept her in a torpor, unable to do much for herself. Only her friends had kept her tethered to life, taking turns staying with her. They all knew it was a suicide watch, though none of them said it. When Shondra mentioned a therapist or psychiatrist, Carol wouldn’t hear it. She wouldn’t be drugged into submission along with the rest of the population.
Finally, a couple of months previous, Carol had consented to these monthly outings for tea and shopping, the latter at the community crafts market—the only kind of shopping for anything other than necessities in this new world. Her friends had taken this as renewed stirrings of life and hope, but Carol didn’t dare tell either of them, especially Shondra, what was really fueling her new-found energy. She kept imagining herself joining one of the few surviving resistance cells and fighting the bots head-on. She’d held herself back for Alice’s sake, but she no longer had that excuse. Maybe it was true what they said about serving revenge cold.
Nothing about her felt cold now. Her heart was racing, her breath coming fast. The room felt hot.
“No, I’d never…” the bot said, then trailed off, blinking at last.
“Oh, look, everyone,” Carol said to the room. “A bot at a loss for words. Not fitting into your algorithms, am I?”
“Carol, she’s not…” Megan began, then hesitated, looking at the bot uncertainly.
“That’s no bot, lady,” a man seated on the other side of the cafe said. “Have you lost your mind?”
Carol had to admit, this was the most human-like bot she’d ever encountered. What had tipped her off? Maybe the too-perfect skin. Something in the inflection of its voice, like a British actor mimicking a Minnesota accent. Or its awkward questions, like something a visitor from another country would ask, practicing their English.
“So, what, Ada thought she could create a bot so lifelike we’d never notice? Why? To spy on us? Crush the last of the resistance?”
“No, to help. Many humans have an extreme reaction to existing robot morphologies, so it’s hard to help when we’re needed.”
“Help?” Carol heard herself screaming. It was as if she was no longer entirely attached to her own body. “Is that what you think Ada created you for?” She lunged at the bot, digging at its eyes with the fingers of both hands, at the same time trying to knock it over.
“Calm her down before she gets herself killed!” someone yelled.
The bot hardly budged, putting one foot back to brace itself while grasping Carol’s wrists, forcing them gently but inexorably down to her sides.
At the same time, Megan and Shondra were on either side of Carol, trying to pull her away. “No, please, she didn’t mean it,” Shondra said to the bot. “She’s just distraught.” The bot let her go and her friends restrained her.
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