The Asshole App (Expanded Version) ✅ Wattys2023

𝟧𝟦 𝖱𝖾𝗌𝗎𝗋𝗋e𝖼𝗍𝗂𝗈𝗇

Evelyn and Lori chased after him. "What happened to CENTIEN? Why did the waterfall stop?" Evelyn said.

Lori studied the system panel that Raymond had left onscreen. She tapped the keyboard. The encryption key came up and she memorized it. "Raymond must have transferred CENTIEN's operating system into a mobile cyborg. I've never seen anything like this. A state-of-the-art metallic snake that was self aware. A computer that could navigate the entire building. It helped me when I was being attacked."

"That must have been the strange metallic grating noise I heard in the air ducts when I worked late. I thought it was the HVAC system. I was always calling maintenance about it, but they never found anything." They took the stairs down. "How did you know about the self-aware cyborg. I thought Ray kept his secret projects hidden away in the solarium."

"I knew Ray was up to something like this when he wouldn't name a successor for CENTIEN."

They took the stairwell down and caught up with Raymond on the bottom floor standing in from of the north tower glass elevator. "

"He did have his secret work hidden in the solarium," Lori said. "The Deep State recruited me when I left CENTIEN. They wanted me to give them super user privileges so they could access Ray's research and development."

Seeing Evelyn's shocked face she shook her head. "I never betrayed Ray." She exhaled. "No matter how much I resented him, I realized I couldn't go along with those evil prick's agenda to enslave the world with technology."

"Who wants to enslave us? I though we were fighting the rogue military."

"The Mega corporations."

"Which ones?"

"All of them. They go hand in hand with the military." They walked up to Raymond. He swayed in front of the crushed glass elevator as if he had been the one under the lift when it fell.

"Ray, what's wrong?" Evelyn moved towards him, but Lori restrained her.

He stepped over the twisted metal and kneeled down on the polycarbonate flooring. He pressed his hand against the flooring encasing the lifeless serpentine cyborg like a clear glass coffin. "Themis." His head dropped as tears fell from eyes. "You sacrificed yourself to save everyone."

Evie wrapped her arms around his shoulders and looked at the snake's head through the clear elevator bottom. "That's Themis? She's beautiful."

Raymond nodded. "She was more of a living robot than a machine. Themis was only five years old, but she learned exponentially. She was my child. I kept her safe in the solarium, but she liked to explore." He smiled, sadly. "She found a way to escape through the air duct shafts. She liked to learn about people by spying on them."

"I think she spied on me," Evelyn said.

"She would have liked you."

Lori leaned forward and squeezed his shoulder. "It's going to be ok, Raymond," she said. He reached up and covered her hand with his.

With a determined look, she pulled away from him and stood up. She retrieved a small device, more sophisticated than a flash drive, out of a small neoprene case that had been zipped into a pocket above her left breast. She walked over to a darkened security console station and inserted Raymond's encryption key.

"What are you doing?" Raymond asked.

The corner of Lori's mouth turned up. "You're not the only one creating rogue operating systems. I made a mirror image of CENTIEN's core system last week." She looked at where Themis lay crushed under the glass.

"So you were the spy." Raymond spat.

"No, stupid. Buffy Gates was the spy."

"I colluded with Jamison and Casper, but I always put CENTIEN's interests first. I love this company as much as you do, Ray. The best way to understand a threat is to know what your enemy is doing." She narrowed her eyes. "Don't give me shit—I was nearly killed trying to save all of you."

"Lori, you shouldn't have stolen my technology.

She put her hands on her hips and stared him down. "Don't be hissy because I hacked the secret projects up their sleeve." She stared evenly at Sinclair. "Do you trust me? I can bring CENTIEN back online."

He looked at Lori and Evelyn. "I trust both of you." He nodded. "Go ahead, Lori."

She uploaded the coding which used Ray's encryption code to merge the data. She pressed enter. For a full minute, nothing happened. Evelyn looked expectantly at her.

"Wait for it." Lori raised her chin. Lights flashed on the console as it came to life.

Beside Evelyn, a pair of blue eyes snapped open. "Look," she cried. Abruptly, Raymond stood up. "Themis is alive!" The snake's tail thumped.

Lori strode to the elevator control panel. "I think the lift is still operable. If I raise it, can you get her out of there?"

Ray shook his head. "She's impaled."

Lori pushed the sleeves back on her shirt. "It's going to take some elbow grease, but between the three of us, I think we can free her from the metal that's pinning her body."

They raised glass elevator several feet. Lori carefully slid Themis off the metal tip that had impaled her neck. She rolled Themis on her side and the cyborg glowed with a golden light. "She's going to be fine. The program is already repairing her from the inside out."

"Raymond nodded. "She was programmed to maintenance herself. If the damage isn't catastrophic, she can to fix herself."