Murasakino

Locked Up

   I dropped the chair and looked down at Indigo, who was curled up in a ball and whimpering softly. Dr Takeda would have been as mad as me; he never programmed me to be agressive. Although, artificial intelligence could learn to be agressive, and I felt ashamed of myself that I had.
  
   The door swung open with another crash, and four tall men in suits ran in. The first was holding a wide shield, like the ones riot police use, and the others stood behind him. They must have been very confused to see me, stood on my own in the middle of the room, and Indigo crouching in the corner.

   "Get her, then!" she yelled, and the shield was dropped. The other three men came towards me and reached out for my arms. I noticed that a crowd of scientists had gathered in the doorway, curious as to what the noise was about.

   "Hey, let go!" I said as they grabbed hold of me. One of the men's hands was so large it went right round my arm.
   "So, she attacked you?" one of the men asked Indigo. I realised that the others were only holding me gently, as if they didn't fully believe I was aggresive.

   "Yes," Indigo answered, no longer crying, "and I know who to blame. The robot is under the control of Dr Takeda, who's lab is..."

   "I am not!" I shouted. "Dr Takeda has nothing to do with this! He would never make me injure someone."

   The men looked from me back to Indigo.
   "You can't believe her," she said. "Dr Takeda must be controlling her and making her say this!"
   "He is not!" I yelled.
   One of the men left the room to find Dr Takeda.
   "Don't you dare!" I said. "He has nothing to do with it! He probably has no idea where I am thanks to Indigo."

   "Miss Gardner," Indigo corrected me. "Again, Dr Takeda is controlling her. Go and find him and..."

   "Would Dr Takeda do this?" I asked, and swung forwards in the men's arms, kicking my foot at Indigo. They tightened their grips on my shoulders.

   "Find a more secure room for it," Indigo said, waving the men away. They pulled me from the room and through the crowd, who were all talking quietly to eachother. I thought of kicking and shouting, but almost everybody in the hall was staring at me, so I just walked quietly.

   Just as we reached another door, I heard Dr Takeda's voice in the distance.
   "Is Murasakino alright? You haven't... wait, what's going on? Let go! What are you doing?!"
   Then I was shoved into the room and the door was closed and locked.

   It was almost empty, and no lights were on, so I just lay on my front in the position I landed in. Once my eyes had adjusted, I saw a bed (well, a mattress on the floor) and another door. Behind it was a single toilet, and no sink to wash my hands. I slumped down on the mattress, thinking about what Indigo had said earlier. Find a more secure room for it. It was the same way she'd spoken about Erica.

   I lay down on my side and started crying again. If this was how I was going to be treated for the rest of my life, I knew I wouldn't be able to stand it. My head was filled with thoughts of escaping again, but that would surely be impossible.

*  *  *

   I didn't get any sleep. All I wanted to do was lie there and weep, but after a few hours a hatch in the door opened. Light flooded in, and I got up as quickly as I could to see who was there. Cathy.

   "Hi, Murasakino," she said, smiling her warm smile. I hadn't forgotten about her letting me be found, but I still loved her and I smiled back. "I've been told to give you this," she said, handing me a cable through the hatch.

   "What's it for?" I asked, examining it. I felt like I had seen one before.
   "There's a socket in the wall over there. You need charging, you're horribly tired."
   "Thank you," I replied, and went to sit back down.
   "Oh, Murasakino?" Cathy said.
   "Yeah?"
   "Take this too. You'll need to be up early."

   She held a mobile phone through the hatch, and I got back up to take it. On the screen it said 'Alarm set for 03:30.'
   "Thanks, I suppose," I said, smiling again. Cathy said a quiet goodbye and closed the hatch almost all the way, so  some light still came through.

   The phone said the time was 19:42. With a long sigh I sat back down, trying to find the socket in the wall. I plugged one end of the cable into it and then looked for the other socket, on the back of my head. I hesitated, remembering the last time I was plugged in and shuddered. Oh well, I thought. I don't have much choice this time.

   Either the electricity didn't hurt me at all or I was too tired to notice it.

*  *  *

   I woke up to the sound of Cathy's alarm bleeping quietly. There was no light coming through the gap in the hatch (it was 3:30am after all) and I couldn't see a thing. When I turned the phone over, its screen let out some light and the bleeping got slightly louder. I was about to turn the alarm off, but noticed a message Cathy had attatched to it.

   "Password is 'Pippak22.' Go to gallery and tap on the first video."

   I silenced the alarm and typed in the password. The screensaver showed Cathy and Dr Kerrett, with their arms round eachother's shoulders, grinning. Cathy was wearing the makeup she had on in Harper's poster, and Dr Kerrett didn't have her glasses on.

   Following the instructions, I tapped on the gallery and more similar pictures came up. The first one was a video of Cathy, which I tapped.

   "Hey, Murasakino!" she said in a hushed voice, as if she were really there and trying to be quiet. "Listen. I don't have much time to explain, but my band - who I'll tell you about later - are going on a small tour around the country. I've heard that Indigo is treating you like..." She swore, and I was slightly taken aback, but carried on watching. "So, basically, even though it's the craziest thing I've ever done... I'm taking you with me."

   A key turned in the door's lock.