Iapetus Shift

Chapter 4

Olan pushed through the door into the dim interior of Electric Sheep. The place buzzed and thumped with the stilted and difficult-to-parse rhythms of android music. He immediately saw Estha's head of curls at the bar, but instead of approaching her, he dodged to a corner table and kept an eye on the entrance. Someone had been following him on his way here.

He hadn't been able to make out the character very clearly, but he was tall and wore a long jacket. Olan watched the door, waiting for the guy to come through, but after twenty minutes, the only time the door opened had been to let in two stumbling blondes leaning on each other. His shadow must be waiting for him to leave; he'd deal with that later.

Olan watched the bar for a while longer. Estha sat between two androgynous models with exposed metal at the joints. She looked so human next to them. Not just her skin and hair, but her posture and behavior. She hunched over her drink, leaning on the bar as if uncomfortable of the crowd around her. She glanced left and right after every sip, and shrugged away whenever someone bumped her. Olan knew these kinds of places existed just for the purpose of androids learning to behave like humans, but she was shockingly good at it compared to the others.

A stool opened next to her, and he slipped through the crowd to drop into it. He glanced sidelong at her, taking a moment of voyeuristic pleasure knowing that she wouldn't recognize him in the shape he was in—one she'd never seen. She tugged at her hair the way she did when she was bored and twisted her glass of beer around on the table. He felt a little twinge in his gut as he watched her. Sometimes he forgot that she was all metal and programming beneath her smile and twinkling eyes.

He ordered a Scotch and took a sip before finally speaking. "Hello Es," he said.

She jumped in her seat and turned wide eyes on him.

He smiled. "Satan, oscillate my metallic sonatas." It was their code phrase, her favorite palindrome. But he knew she'd ask him a few more questions before she was satisfied.

"When's my birthday?" she snapped.

"October twenty-first, twenty-two oh five. You'll be three in a month. I'm gunna buy you some manners." He winked and took another sip.

Her green eyes softened a bit. "What have I got in my pocket?"

"Your hand," he said, and she rolled her eyes. "And hopefully a little syringe to stick me with."

She turned in her stool to face him. "Okay, last one. Why were you skulking over there in the corner for half an hour before coming to talk to me?"

Olan smiled. How many more times was he going to be surprised by how sharp she was? He'd known her for close to two years, yet he constantly let himself forget what a professional she was. "I've got a shadow," he said. "He's staying outside for now, but we'll have to leave separately."

She nodded. "What happened?"

"Let's get a booth and I'll tell you."

An empty drink later, he'd finished his story, and Estha stared with her mouth open. "They let you out? Just like that?"

"Yeah, guy wasn't lying about his funds, I guess."

"So, we can just leave, right? I mean, they gave you back all your stuff!"

Olan shook his head. "My accounts are still locked. I'm not starting over, I need that upgrade so I can get off this medication."

Estha placed a warm hand on his. "Olly, we don't even know if that's real."