Hawk and Dove

Dan took more steps backward, growing instantly confused and defensive. The blonde woman, Louise, wrung her hands in front of her. And Dr. Hurley made no sounds or movements the whole time. She was still staring firmly at the place where Dan's chair had been.

"Please start explaining," he said quietly. His anger and frustration melted away, and in their place were only questions.

Louise swallowed, glanced at Dan, and walked over to Dr. Hurley. Dan couldn't quite see what she was doing, but soon the latter was moving again. Her fingers unlaced, then her arms moved down to her sides, and then she sat up rim-rod straight. Her expression was blank as she said, "Going into stand-by mode." Then silence. No movement whatsoever.

Dr. Hurley was a robot. Dan stared, his jaw going slack.

Louise cleared her throat. "I made her. Believable, isn't she?" she said, and although she was extremely trepidatious there was still a glint of pride behind her voice. This woman –couldn't be that much older than Dan- made this robot. A robot that looked so real and talked like a human and ran an entire facility of gifted children. And she was proud of it.

Dan supposed the robot didn't run The School. Louise must do it.

"You haven't started explaining," he prompted snappily.

Louise swallowed and put her hands on the back of Dr. Hurley's chair. "Right. Might as well tell you since there's no point in beating around the bush," she said and took another breath, "My name is Louise Pentland, and I'm a super genius. I developed this entire place. All the men you see around here... well, they're not men, they're androids, I built them."

"Wait," Dan interrupted, holding up her hand, "The administration, all the people who walk around with the suits and ear pieces. They're robots?"

Louise nodded. "Yes. I grew up in the next town over, you see, on the other side of the hills. This building has been here for years. I community center, I think it was? Yes. Anyway, I programmed the androids to fix it up to make it look like this. Ages it took, but I finally did it years ago. And here we are," she said, a small smile creeping onto her lips.

That explains the old gym, and the poolroom. "What about the junk yard?" Dan asked.

"It came with the building. Old places acquire old things over the years. But, old things can be made new," Louise said and placed her hand on Dr. Hurley's shoulder, "I made this one out of parts I found in that junk yard. Can't tell now, can you?"

"No," Dan conceded. He was still so, so confused. "Please. What is this place? If Dr. Hurley is a robot, if they're all robots, then who is running this place? You? And you said you were a super genius. You're... one of us?"

This time Louise smiled for real, as if Dan had just made her dreams come true. "Yes. I also have a genetic mutation that makes me different than others. Like you have," she said.

"Okay. Then... why are you doing this to us? Taking us away from our families, Prime Minister Page searching for us, the blood samples. The experimentation!" Dan rattled off, putting a hand in his hair.

"I can explain," Louise told him, once again, "Please, have a seat. You're making me nervous standing over there, you're much taller than I am."

Slowly, Dan pulled up the chair he had knocked back and sat before the desk. Louise pulled one that was sitting next to a bookshelf and sat down in it beside Dan, facing him. When he gave her a questioning look, she smiled. "The person sitting behind a desk creates an illusion of power by doing so. There's no point for me to do that between us," she said.