War of Flesh and Metal by Alicia Ellis EPUB & PDF – eBook Details Online
- Status: Available for Free Download
- Author:Alicia Ellis
- Language: English
- Genre:Science Fiction
- Format: PDF / EPUB
- Size: 2 MB
- Price: Free
“I’M NEVER GOING BACK TO CYBERCORP TOWER.” I STUCK A FORKFUL
of cheesecake in my mouth and let them chew on my words.
My housekeeper Marcy and my best friend Olivia stopped eating to
stare.
The kitchen went quiet except for the faint sound of a vid-screen
playing news in the next room—a new reporter, but the same story from the
last three days:
CyberCorp’s Model One androids had malfunctioned. Hundreds of them
had ignored a corporate-wide standby order and powered themselves on—
something robots were not supposed to do. Still, it was the least of my
issues with the company.
Marcy, Liv, my four-year-old sister Allie, and I sat at one end of our
massive kitchen table. The dark-stained, solid-wood surface was designed
for three times the number of people in my actual family.
Allie stuck her fork in her mouth and licked it clean. “What?”
Cheesecake sprayed everywhere.
“Don’t talk with your mouth full.” Marcy grabbed Allie’s napkin and
dabbed her own cheek. “Or at least aim in the other direction.”
“Now you.” Marcy jabbed a finger at me. “Explain yourself.” Her
expression radiated sternness, but she couldn’t hide the lines around her
mouth and eyes from decades of smiling.
Liv aimed her fork at me like a sword.
“Simple. If something goes wrong with . . .” I waved my left arm in the
air. Beneath the synthetic skin was a state-of-the-art, one-of-a-kind,
artificially intelligent prosthetic made by none other than my parents’
company and the bane of my existence. “I’ll call Dr. Fisher, and she can
show me how to troubleshoot issues on my own. There’s no reason for me
to set foot in that building anymore.”
“How about the fact that you’re the heir to the company?” Liv tossed
the words at me casually, but I felt them like bricks.
“Allie can have it.”
Across from me, Allie obliviously licked a piece of dessert from the
edge of her lips. Even at her age, I’d learned everything I could about the
company. She’d rather spend evenings watching cartoons.
Marcy and Liv stared at me, skepticism etched into the height of their
brows.
“You can’t be the only one managing your arm,” Liv said. “It’s not a
micro-comm or a vid-screen. When something goes wrong, there’s only one
place to get it serviced.” She crossed her arms over her chest and dared me
to argue.
“It’s working fine.” I sliced my cake with a fork and raised the piece to
my mouth. It hit my cheek instead.
Marcy offered a less-than-subtle grunt.
I set the fork down, drew in a long breath through my nose, and let it
out through my mouth, loosening the tightness in my hands, neck,
shoulders. My new therapist emphasized how important it was to keep my
stress level in check—not just for my peace of mind, but also for my arm’s
artificial intelligence.
I didn’t want the AI reacting to my tension.
She also urged me to make peace with the things I couldn’t change. She
probably hadn’t meant for me to put space between myself and CyberCorp.
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