The Turing Test - [Open Novella Contest 2019 Shortlist]

15. Coming Home

Darwin's last words ring in my ears. Get out. I raise my arm against the blaze. I can feel its heat from inside our cell, and just as I wonder how we're supposed to avoid burning up down here, the overhead lights shut off. It's almost imperceptible, because the fire glows brighter than the dull bulbs, but I see the moment the lighting turns completely to a red-orange flicker. For a second it reminds me of Darwin's eyes, and I stare, mesmerized.

Then I hear a click overhead, and the door of our cell swings outward a few inches. Murmurs rise over the steady roar of fire as the others notice their freedom too. Davis grabs me by the elbow and hauls me to my feet; my palm scrapes over the tiny diamond on the floor, and I grab it instinctively, shoving it into my pocket.

"Come on!" Davis shouts, pushing me forward. He stops as most of the cells swing fully open, all but a few remaining simply ajar. Darwin's is one. The motionless man's is another. The third belongs to Ruby.

Davis grabs her door and yanks it toward him. "Let's go," he calls over the fire. "We don't have much time!"

"No," she agrees, "you don't."

"Wh—?" Davis squints at her, not comprehending.

"This is my home." As she stares up at him, the flames cast eerie shadows on her face, turning her dark irises to obsidian fire pits. "Sven is my home. He will come. And when he does, I'll be a hero."

With that, she lunges at us. Her fingers claw at my shoulders, bringing me down hard on the floor. The wind rushes out of me, leaving me in a state of shock. I could struggle, I could push her off, but it doesn't occur to me to try. It doesn't occur to me that she's a lost cause, that she'll fight us to her death because it's what she's programmed to do.

For Sven.

Davis grabs her from behind and throws her off me. I come to my senses and scramble away as she catches herself from stepping right into the spreading fire, then turns back toward us with a sinister smirk.

"Run!" Davis yells, shoving me toward the elevator. Ahead, Maven is heaving Darwin's body over her shoulder and struggling under his weight; Davis runs ahead, throwing one of the robot's arms across his own back. Darwin's head lolls, and I catch his eye just as it flickers like a ruby gem.

My panic vanishes, stuffed away under Darwin's logic as he becomes me once again. This time, though, the only raging heat comes from outside as I turn back to the inferno. I block an advance from Ruby with one hand, and then, before I can comprehend my own actions, I reach for the control panel.

I scream as fire sizzles away at my hands, but Darwin won't stop fumbling with the wall under the control panel. He ignores the raw coughs that rip my throat, singlemindedly ripping at the wall until it finally gives way under my touch. I can't even feel the object my hand closes around, but when I withdraw from the heat, I clutch a gun.

As I stare at it, I feel Darwin's fighting spirit rise strong. For a moment, my hand tightens around the metal grip, but the pain that radiates from my fingers shocks me back to myself. As I stare at my hands, the skin burnt and melted away to reveal the metal and circuits underneath, reality slams into me like a semi-truck.

Here is undeniable, indisputable proof that I am not human. I'm not alive, and in an ironic twist of fate, the realization makes my heart pound louder than ever in my ears, muting the crackle of the fire.

"Ronnie!"

I turn back to the others with a sharp inhale that turns into a coughing fit as I breathe in the smoke. Davis looks torn, like he wants to run to me and help me forward, but Darwin's arm rests heavily over him.