Piece Simul ✔

Chapter 41- Guin- Estrenar

"Please, for everyone's safety, no sudden movements."

Guin was thoroughly shocked at the lucite robot wielding a knife.

"You can't use that anyway," Guin said.

She sounded confident, but the gleaming weapon made her feel less so.

Advancing, the bot said, "I am allowed to disburse threats." It gestured her way with the knife. "That's you."

As it advanced, Guin had little choice but to step back. And back. Until she had been crowded into a corner.

"Now, Captain, go." The bot's eyes blazed at her.

Forster attempted to stand. When that failed, Russ swept in the room, draping his arm over her shoulder to help him hobble out.

Before they left, Guin stepped forward, and the bot swiped her arm.

The butcher knife cut quickly and cleanly through her suit. It stung like hell.

"Let a bot do your dirty work, eh, Rodriguez?" There came no answer, and so she followed up with, "I thought janitors knew how to clean things up."

Russ didn't turn, but momentarily stopped. A moment later, she and Forster had disappeared from view.

Then a particle shield dropped. Guin stuck her tongue out at the bot, cradling her arm.

"You can drop that thing, toaster. I'm locked in."

She reached for the control panels beside her.

"Uh-uh. I wouldn't do that. Not if you like breathing."

Russ's threat reverberated from the speakers, needling under Guin's skin.

"What are you going to do?" she asked, half-trying to stall, and half-curious.

"Flood it with atmosphere," Russ said in sing-song fashion. "But I'll let you out, if you're good."

The words were entirely too familiar.

Nausea caught her stomach. With great effort, Guin suppressed it. Still, she couldn't help asking,

"What'd you say?"

She knew damn well what Russ had said. She had muttered the sort of thing that someone said when trying to gather their composure. Which is exactly what was happening to Guin.

"I said..."

I'll let you out, if you're good.

Guin's father used to say the same thing.

A memory surfaced, a human memory (was she still human?).

Father had locked her in her room one weekend, snarling how she was a slut for kissing Swanee, the maid's daughter.

"You'll embarrass me," was another particularly nasty line father had shared.

Not about her at all, but him. He always put himself first.

The pain of the memory cracked through the foreign entity clouding Guin's brain. Clarity momentarily reigned.

A flood of images reminded her of all the horrible things she had done, and all the horrible things she had intended to do. She couldn't say she'd been a spectator, per se. Everything hsd seemed like a good idea. Until it didn't.

The bot was still blocking her in, and she couldn't blame it.

"What am I doing?"

She had meant to ask herself, but the bot answered.

"Clearing." Lucite fingers caressed her brow. "Your eyes are clearing."

"They are?"

Once more, nausea wrecked her. Guin dropped to her knees, head in her hands.

The cloud crept back. She felt it rolling across her eyes.

"Genly, did you say her eyes were clear?"

"Yes, ma'am."

"Guin?"

"Guin--Guin is my nickname," she groaned.

With all of her mental reserves, she resisted the allure of the cloud.

You want this.

A voice reminded her of the power.

You'll never be locked in anywhere.

"No!"

Why did it know how to hurt her? Except, the pain, the memory, brought her back. And that was the key, she realized. She had to hold into herself, whatever way possible. Or, just the opposite.

"My full name...," Guin took a breath.

The bot asked her if she was alright, and she pushed it away.

"What?"

"Rodriguez! My full fucking name is Uma Guin Ngam."

"Oh. Kay. And?"

Guin's head felt like it had split open. She cried out, squeezing her eyes shut.

"I'm Thai, you idiot. My full name is a big fucking deal."

"What do you want me to do about it, cupcake?"

Cupcake.

"A new one." A headache of epic proportions raged under her eyelids. "Re-fucking-name me."

Russ's laugh echoed throughout the chamber. "Wouldn't know where to start."

The bot's hands settled on her shoulders. It leaned in.

"Ma'am, I believe she's struggling to regain full consciousness. Best try something."

"Well, fuck," Russ sputtered, sounding like she had zero ideas.

Guin hugged her sides and doubled over. She rocked back and forth, tapering down cries.

"Can't hold this," she rasped.

And she couldn't. Like an infected tide, an emerald sheen descended.

Then, "Estrenar!"

Immediately, the emerald curtain lifted. Peace replaced the chaos of the pain. Guin swore she was flying. The cessation of pressure had been alleviated, and she was free.

Slowly, she lifted her head, which felt both lighter and heavier.

Openly, she wept through newly cleared eyes. She managed to push out two insignificant words:

"Thank you."

~*~