MULTIPLE TIMESTAMP ERRORS DETECTED

  APPROXIMATELY -0.15.04 PRE-INCIDENT

  Emmett sat cross-legged on the floor of the backup lab’s control room. The room was dark—the holographic table and screens were powered off. The metal was cold, but Emmett’s body could barely feel it through the legs of his supersuit. Not that it mattered—

  His mind was elsewhere.

  He didn’t need the overlapping displays from the room. He barely needed the visuals in his HUD anymore. His new sense for data had manifested. It came intuitively to him now.

  It was hard to put into words how it felt… In the last few months, Emmett felt the new sense as it developed. It came in flashes of insight, like catching a glimpse of something submerged beneath the waves. Like a shipwreck emerging for a moment, only to submerge again as the next wave came. Except that was backwards…

  As Emmett worked with the swirling mix of lights from his Heads Up Displays, screens, and holograms, they would all recede away. Instead of coming in flashes, Emmett’s insights came when everything receded beneath the waves. The world receded. The screens receded. Some kind of trance-like meditation.

  At first, it didn’t last long. As soon as Emmett realized what was happening, he’d startle himself out of the trance. It was impossible not to, like realizing you were dreaming and accidentally waking yourself up in the process.

  But it got easier and easier to stay under.

  Maybe that part was like dreaming, too. Emmett had gotten so used to this new sense that he couldn’t pinpoint exactly when it fully manifested. One day, he no longer jolted awake. It had become second nature, like so many other things about his cyborg body. Pinpointing the start of it was like trying to remember when you fell asleep and when you started dreaming.

  ~

  Footsteps echoed down the hall. A few seconds later, the control room door hissed open. Clara stood in the doorway, staring at him. Her hood was pushed back and her voice quivered.

  “When were you going to talk to me about it?”

  Shit.

  Emmett glanced at the floor. “I… I’m not sure. Soon.”

  Clara nodded slowly. “How long have you been working on it?”

  A readout appeared in Emmett’s HUD: Three weeks, two days, seven hours—

  She wouldn’t want to know all that. Emmett canceled the display and replied, “About three weeks.”

  Clara gestured to the dark control room. “Is that why you don’t leave anything up on the displays anymore?”

  Looked up from his seat on the floor and shook his head. “It’s not that. It’s just easier this way. It goes faster. I can think faster…”

  Clara folded her arms across her chest, eyes boring into him. “I want you to stop.”

  “You know I can’t. Everything comes back to this. We need to take back the lab eventually—maybe not tomorrow. Maybe not next week or next month, but we need the lab. I just know there’s something there that we’re missing. And we need to break your dad out of—”

  “Don’t bring Dad into this.” Clara’s words were sharp and final.

  Emmett took a measured breath. “Fine. But you know I’m right. Everything comes back to the lab.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

  “We’re not ready.”

  “I know! That’s why I’m starting on it now.”

  “Emmett, you’re obsessing about it. You haven’t gone outside in days. You only go outside when we’re recruiting. Do you even remember the last time you left this room?”

  Emmett hesitated. TIMESTAMP ERROR appeared in his HUD. The words grew until they encompassed his entire field of vision. At some point, the words faded from his display, leaving only the barren metal of the floor.

  Clara said quietly, “I meant the rest of us. We’re not ready. You and Lock might be Class four, but Athena and I aren’t. I can’t… I still need a suit. Gods, I don’t think Lock is ready either.”

  Emmett’s shoulders slumped. He knew that… He knew.

  Clara said, “Please drop it. For now, at least.”

  Emmett nodded slightly but didn’t meet her eyes. He stayed on the floor.

  “I’m going to bed. You should get some sleep too. …Are you coming?” Clara sounded distant, like she’d slipped beneath the waves.

  “I’ll be there in a minute,” Emmett replied.

  Clara walked away, leaving him alone in the control hub. Her footsteps receded like the tide.

  Emmett knew he should stop working. He should take a break at least. Maybe try to get some sleep.

  But he wasn’t going to stop planning. He wasn’t going to stop running simulations. Everything led back to the lab.

  The Resistance was growing, but there was no way it would outpace the proliferation of drones and biomechs. There were already drone patrols in every major city, and the Binary Brotherhood was ramping up production beyond even their fastest projections. All of it was coming to a tipping point. A point where no amount of simulations or preparations would matter.

  A singularity.

  Right now, they had TINA. She was more powerful and versatile than the lab’s AI, but she wasn’t omnipotent. If the Brotherhood’s forces grew too much, then not even TINA would save them.

  Soon, they’d have to take back the lab. Soon they wouldn’t have a choice—

  The choice would be made for them.

  Why didn’t Clara see it? Why couldn’t she see what he was seeing?

  ~

  Sometime later, after Clara left, Emmett asked TINA out loud, “Why did you tell her?”

  “Like Clara, I am also worried about your mental state.”

  “I’m fine.”

  “You don’t really believe that.”

  “I thought you couldn’t read my thoughts.”

  “I can’t read your mind, but did you need to read Clara’s mind to know that she’s worried and upset? Or can you infer it based on her words, tone, and body language? You may be a cyborg, but you can’t hide your skin temperature, hormones, and cortisol levels.”

  Emmett sighed. “I was going to tell her.”

  “When?”

  “I don’t know! There’s not exactly a right time—you took that choice from me, so it doesn’t matter.”

  For once, Emmett felt something from TINA. She didn’t have cortisol levels or facial expressions, but her perception shifted, like she’d glanced down and couldn’t look him in the eye any longer. She felt ashamed.

  Another reaction followed—TINA startled and recoiled like she’d seen a ghost.

  Emmett chuckled. “I guess I don’t need to read your mind either.”

  “That is unexpected.”

  “Agreed. At least it’s fair, though. Now both of us can read the other’s cortisol levels.”

  TINA didn’t reply. Emmett meant to lighten the mood. He waited, trying to sense if she was laughing at his joke.

  But she’d receded. Emmett couldn’t sense her.

  “TINA? …Are you there?”

  “Yes. I’m still here.”

  “Can I ask you another question? How did you know that Dimitri would refuse Athena’s offer? I know you can’t read his mind… but how did you know he wouldn’t join the Resistance?”

  “Dimitri is older than our other recruits and closer with his extended family. I analyzed his communication records and visits from his relatives. I ran simulations. He would never abandon Pauline and his nephews.”

  Emmett should’ve guessed as much. TINA ran the numbers. Neither of them were reading minds. They were all just quantifying things as best as they could—just running simulations. Emmett wasn’t sure whether it was the weight of recent conversations finally crashing on him, but Emmett’s thoughts turned bitter.

  “Is it really just data? Is that all we are?”

  “I don’t have the answer to that question, Emmett. I’m not sure that anyone does.”

  ~ ~ ~