Core Drive: A Westworld Story

Reverie 2015-M: Joy

Joy found it difficult to swallow, like the time in elementary school when she froze in front of the entire audience at Model UN.

Logan was standoffish, thrown by the sight of Áine.

Robert was being supercilious in that polite, passively aggressive British way.

And Joy desperately wanted to remove herself from the situation—or to separate Logan and Robert.

She removed her glasses and squeezed Logan's arm, "We're almost wrapped up with diagnostics here, why don't you go up and I'll—"

"Please," Robert interjected, hand raised up apologetically, "don't feel the need to carry on business as usual just because of me."

"You must admit, your timing is serendipitous, Robert," Joy said, narrowing her eyes at him.

A bit of that arrogance Robert used to carry around on his sleeve flashed in his smirk, and Joy found herself falling into reverie.

She hadn't thought of it in a long while. The mess of design and feelings tied to the creation of the Argos hosts. She could almost see the exact moment Logan noticed it too, the heavy implication of creation. Even if the life was artificial, she couldn't deny that there was something of both of them, of her and Robert, in the original hosts, more so with Áine than any other.

"She has a point, Robert. Not like you to make a social call during clock-in hours," Arnold said as he handed Warren his tablet. The young coder scurried away under pretence of having work to get done.

"Upper management—which includes us—have a meeting with the board and a VP of Delos in fifteen minutes." Hastily, Robert moved on from Arnold's question as if he never asked it, turning to Logan to ask his own question, "Considering you're here, Mr Delos, I'm assuming you're the VP they sent over?"

"Actually, it's Quaid Rollings heading the meeting. I'm sure you're familiar. Short, bit stiff, rather compensatory personality. Brilliantly dry wit! Feel like you'd have much in common," Logan held Robert's gaze daringly. Robert, in turn, smiled amicably, as if he hadn't been compared to a guy who sounded like he had a stick up his ass. Logan smirked, slipping into that entitled persona of his so easily, "I'm here simply as a Delos family member placeholder. Have to remind the board every now and again who holds the coin purses. James would have been here, if he gave a fuck. Juliet's in arts and charity, while you may not need help with the former, her calendar is depressively full. So, you get the default Delos, unfortunately. Hope you aren't disappointed."

Joy contemplated saying something, but what could she say? Two very stubborn men, both of whom she'd seen naked, were passive-aggressively skirting around each other, and she was the fulcrum of their tension.

"Disappointed?" Robert feigned surprise. "Hardly. I don't think I give enough thought to our benefactors to lay such a subjective claim. Much to be done, can't really focus on things that aren't essential in keeping this project afloat." Basically, Robert was saying Logan wasn't worth the effort to form an opinion on. "Since you're here, perhaps I can persuade you to take a tour? I've been assured that the Klondike narrative is running optimally. Some parts of it are a little commercial, conceited if I'm being completely honest, but I still think you'd find much in the way of self-discovery. Illuminating, was one of the words Delos Marketing used."

Joy looked to Arnold for backup, or at least as a thing to do while she tried to find an out. Arnold lowered his gaze towards the wiring panel of the scanner he'd fixed weeks ago, scrunching his eyebrows and letting out an audible "huh" as he ducked down, pretending to be otherwise indisposed.

Logan huffed, a plastic smile tugging stressfully on his lips, "I'm sure it's every bit as illuminating about the one who wrote the narrative. You're leading the narrative design, right?"