Total pages in book: 44
Estimated words: 41151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 165(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 41151 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 206(@200wpm)___ 165(@250wpm)___ 137(@300wpm)
“Zeki deserves punishment,” I tell him. “And Dreamy deserves to be free. This way, they both get what they deserve.”
“Alright,” Malik agrees grimly. “Let’s do it.”
Trying to extract a worker from a functioning Colony is practically impossible. The security measures are intense, designed to prevent any interruptions that might disrupt output. To the colonists, workers are not people. These are people-shaped machines running pre-programmed routines.
It is, however, not a place that overly cares for the individuals inside. The Colony must function. The individual is incidental. Zeki had Dreamy returned to the machine, but it is possible for her to break free again, I hope. This place was never designed as a prison for the flesh. It is a jail for the mind. That’s why they’re not concerned by the den of depravity down by the shore. The only people there are people separate from the Colony, people who buy the Colony’s products and suckle at its teats.
We’ve managed to locate an ex-Elite who used to work in the conditioning plants in the Colony. He’s a thin, nervous man who probably has a lot of reason to be nervous. I’ve agreed to pay him handsomely for revealing the secrets I need to know in order to extract Dreamy again. I’ve also promised not to kill him, which I think is very generous.
“It’s called ocular programming. It’s the use of high frequency pulses of light to initialize preconditioned programs. It’s very effective. For whatever reason, your girl must not the best candidate for it. Something breaks her programming. We see this sometimes with candidates with some kind of emotional baggage, for want of a better term. Unfinished business. Their minds hold onto memories they cannot access but can nevertheless act upon. From what you’ve told me, this woman knows she belongs with you. You could simply wait for her programming to fail again.”
“How long might that be?”
“Months, likely. They’ll be keeping a very close eye on her, assuming they inserted her back into the system, which I would guess they have, because there is no other use for a drone. Or we can attempt your plan, which I believe will work simply because it is more audacious than any I have heard before and the system is not built to stop it.”
“Then I think we’re ready,” I tell him. “Let’s do it.”
“Fuckers! Cowards!” Zeki is cursing up a storm in her little cell. My core crew all know she’s here now. They know what she did. And the only reason they haven’t killed her themselves is they know what we are going to do to her next.
She’s done part of the job for us already by changing her hair color. Zeki looks different with her hair dyed brown. She looks calmer. Saner. She’s neither of those things. She’s absolutely furious that I haven’t simply agreed to become her mate. She was deluded into thinking she just had to prove her viciousness, cunning, and strength to me. All she ended up truly showing me was how desperately unhinged she is. She still believes, even now, that I will choose her. It is sad, and it is painful for her. What we plan to do will relieve her of a burden, and us likewise.
“This is the last chance to say no, Malik,” I tell him as we watch her on camera. She’s raging at the interior of her cell, cursing to the heavens, demanding to be let out. But she’s blown her spot all the way up. We know her secrets now, her connections, the lies she told, the confidences she betrayed. We have become stronger from the wounds she inflicted, though those wounds will always be there.
Malik shakes his head. “She’s not the person I thought I knew. But she is my sister, and at least this way she gets to survive.”
Two of the crew go into her cell. Zeki tries to attack them, but they are prepared for her aggression. Malik curses and turns away. He doesn’t want to watch this. Neither do I.
I want to be there to make sure it happens.
“Get in the chair, Zeki.”
There was a brief moment of relief for her when I walked into the room. She thought I was going to save her. I guess, in a way, I am. But not in the way she wants to be saved.
“Why are you doing this, Shah!?”
She has the absolute fucking nerve to be shocked that there are consequences for her actions. She expected to be forgiven. Tears are running down her face, but they’re not tears of sadness. They’re tears of outrage. She can’t believe she’s not getting what she wanted.
“Because the alternative is putting a fucking bullet in your brain. Get in the chair. Now.”
“They’re going to brain wipe me. They’re going to make me a moron.”