Automaton Girl

Part 2 - Chapter 7 - The Headquarters

I wake up in the middle of the night.

Or, it seems like it. It takes me a moment to register we're still in the car, but it's stopped. And it's not night time, we're just in a tunnel of sorts.

CR 0 sits behind me, and startles me as I look over and see her staring at me, not flinching for a second even when I acknowledge I see her staring. I give her an odd look, she turn forward. Rob turns off the engine, and Theo exits the car. January also gets out, and I suppose it's time for us to get out, too.

I look around. The environment reminds me of an empty parking garage, void of only but a few cars. January begins walking ahead, not even asking of us to follow her. She only implies to. I grab CR 0's wrist, and we walk cautiously behind her.

I imagine all the possible ways to get out. I could grab CR 0, and we could sprint any direction possible. But I don't even know if there's any way to get out, without some kind of passcode or ID of some sort. A part of me wishes CR 0 had some kind of super destruction machine button, that would just blast a hole open and allow us to run home free.

Maybe she does?

I shake my head at this thought and how ridiculous it is. I figure out best bet is to just cooperate. They won't kill me. It seems CR 0 is a bit attached to me.

I hear something on the other side of the wall. Chatter, cars, movement --- are we near a city? I want to ask, but January arrives to the door at the end of the garage, the only one in sight. There is a screen attached to the door, that glimmers with light as soon as Janurary steps in front of it.

"Name?" it asks in a dripped, automated voice.

"January Albinche."

"Please press your right index finger to the screen."

January complies, and presses lightly. The screen blinks green, and the door unlocks. "Thank you, and enjoy your stay."

Stay?

The door opens with a burst of air. And suddenly, we step outside.

I am greeted by what seems like a utopia. It's like another world, and I've never seen it before. There's a clear orange sky, the color of day when the sun is setting. The clouds are a dark purple-chalk color. A see a never-ending town unravelled before me, filled with shops of all sorts. I see people --- everyday, average, wonderous people --- walking everywhere. The grass along the sidewalks is a earthly green, and I see monsterous, magnificent mountains in the distance.

I cannot remember the last time I saw such a thing.

I am marvelled at this world, but CR 0 walks forward, and places a hand in the middle of the air to her left. It feels like observing a mine, as she grabs ahold of something that I do not see, and opens it. But she's not acting out a part --- she enters, and disappears from my sight.

"W-where did she go?" I demand.

January laughs. "Simulation, off." She shouts like a command. And suddenly the utopia disappears, and beyond me lies a hallway, white with light and glowing from the walls. I look to where CR 0 walked through and disappeared like Houdini, to see an archway.

"Could she not see the simulation?"

"That is the difference between us and the CR 0. She thinks more divergently than we do; she saw the simulation, but she resolved that it was not real based on our location and the vast size of it all. So she looked for breaks in the world, and followed. That, and as you've seen firsthandedly, the lack of humane feelings."

We walk through the archway.

"I suppose it's time to ask why we're here." I jump the elephant in the room.

January ponders for a moment, and speaks finally.

"Anyone --- anyone, I say --- would be interested in CR 0. She --- it --- is a scientific wonder. How her creator developed such a genetically perfect masterpiece is a question to all of the science and technology facilities that have heard of her thus far. We are interested in studying her. Psychologically, technologically, biologically, chemically --- you name it, we're interested."

"What makes you think I'll let you do that?"

January smirks. "You are not her legal owner. As far as we know, she has no legal owner. And if anyone is her owner, it would be her creator, who is, as far as we know, dead."

I retort. "You've seen what she would do for me."

January glances to the side, catching a glimpse of CR 0. CR 0 taps curiously at a fish tank, where it seems an entire school of fish have crowded to her side of the glass, staring curiously back at her.

"You are not safe. You should not be alive." January says bluntly, as if it's not even that big of a deal. "We can negotiate."

I raise an eyebrow, curious. "Please, go on."

January crosses her arm, tapping on her elbow patiently.

"In exchange for permission to study CR 0, we'll allow you to stay her. We'll provide you with headquarters. That includes food, water, clothing, and recreational activity."

I sigh. I look over at CR 0. If I say no, I wonder what they'd do. We have nowhere to go, even if we were allowed to leave. The men who tried to kill us --- me --- will find us. My home is as good as gone. This is perhaps the only place I will be safe.

"One condition. It's not asking too much."

"Go on." January says.

"She must not be forced. If she is okay with it, so be it. But if she doesn't want to be sliced open and dissected, that is within her own right, and you must respect it. Nothing painful or unauthorized. She may not be human in your eyes, but she's every bit of one in mine. Got it?" I demand. I don't flinch; I don't show weakness.

Only strength.

"Okay." January says. She turns, her gingery hair swaying as she walks to the exit. "Follow me."

CR 0 and I follow January down the hallway which only minutes ago was a busy street full of cars and shops in my mind.  We pass by men in black suits and ties of different colors. January, after what seems like a mile, takes a right and then another, and we come to a door.

"Here is where you will stay." She punches in the code. "The code will be written down on a piece of paper on the desk in your room. I recommend memorizing it, or keeping it on you at all times. I'll probably be about the only help you'll ever get around here."

We enter a room that reminds me of a nice hotel. The bed is made, the temperature is just right feeling. There is a fake simulation of a busy city in a window by my bed, but it seems real enough. There's a desk, and then a bathroom door and sliding closet.

"CR 0 will stay with The Others."

"The others?" it catches my attention.

January begins to walk out, but turns just as I say this.

"Yes." January says. "The Others."

The door closes, and I am left with my own thoughts.

Hey guys! Check out my new side-project, Altruism. Also, sorry for the delay. School, y'know. Anyways, I'm back again. New chapter coming soon!