Conduit

Ch. 12

I'd never thought a tour could end so quickly. After Frank admitted, what I supposed was why he didn't want Logan spreading that "rumor," he shut down. He pointed at the computers in the creation floor's main room, and he muttered instructions, but I could tell he wasn't in it. The job portion took over and that joy he had, his need to over-explain, faded away. I had to be the one to excuse myself; save the rest of the education trip for another day.

The fact that he didn't argue or complain about my wanting to leave only proved it; he was upset.

As the hours passed into night, I sat in my apartment's kitchen and just thought about it. It wasn't the way I wanted Frank's walls to fall. Hell, I thought of dismantling the guy myself. But that mask he wore crumbled this afternoon. It was the second time since meeting him that I saw his honest self; the first time was at Robert's house. He was afraid that day. I wondered if he still was.

I stared down at the red beans and rice Vicky prepared for my dinner and sighed. Was it horrible to think that using our painful past as a connecting point could be what our friendship needed? Up until today, I honestly thought that Frank and I were two incompatible people; different minds, even farther off wavelengths. Forgetting how I knew there was no way I'd enjoy my time at Lyons, only here because Victoria needed me to be here, but I swore I wouldn't have been able to get along with Frank. His personality bothered me, his love for this disastrous company irked my soul; I honestly believed he'd bleed little Lyons symbols if someone stabbed him.

Today, now, that all changed.

"Sorry to bother you during dinner, Elijah." Reggie pushed himself up from his couch-bed and crossed the room. His eyes were on me until he reached the TV. Then he pressed the button on the side. "There is a media report about a violent android attack four miles from here."

"Violent?" I stared at the screen as a news drone hovered over a retail plaza. One of the stores within it had androids standing outside its windows. They proceeded to break the glass, causing people nearby to run away screaming. A person, who I only assumed was an employee of the store, tried to climb out of the broken windows. One of the androids reached forward and grabbed the man by his hair.

Immediately, I jumped up from my kitchen stool. My fork fell to the floor. "Shit! Oh, fuck." My hands shot up in my hair. I glanced over at Victoria as my jaw dropped. "Is there some android syncing broadcast," I pointed at my head, "speaking thing going on right now? I've seen some rebellious shit, but never anything like this. Never anything violent!" Clenching my jaw, I looked back at the TV as screams came through the speakers. "This shit is crazy..."

Victoria sighed. "It seems the androids are crying, stating they've been treated poorly."

I pinched my brows together as I pointed at the screen. "Does it call for this?"

She looked at me with disbelief and frowned. "Elijah, continuous abuse? You know that can make anyone snap. You understand this, just like you understand us."

"Fuck." Grunting, I moved away from my dinner and walked over to the TV. I looked Reggie in the eye as I passed my fingers over the buttons, shutting off the news. I couldn't watch it anymore.

If the abuse between humans and machines has already reached the point of violence, then there was no way I could correct it. A new software update could've postponed it a little, but there was nothing to slow it down. The anger was bubbling over. Innocent civilians were taking the bulk of it.

I need Katherine to do something.

Victoria moved around the kitchen's island and stood by my half-eaten dinner. She frowned, shaking her head. "Don't doubt yourself," she said.