Artificial(ish) Intelligence

Chapter 52

Will was face to face with a pair of thin strips masquerading as eyes. Exx stared through him with a nasty smirk. The man was thin but seemed to be made from strands of sinuous muscle.

"We won't harm her," said Zerro, which seemed a strange statement to volunteer.

Will split his attention between the two men.

Libbi had managed to make her way above the door frame. "Will," she whispered.

"No thank you," said Will, taking the hint, "we don't need anything right now." He quickly slammed the door closed and twisted the lock.

"I've got a bad feeling about those men," said Libbi.

"You don't say?" said Will.

"No, I'm serious," said Libbi.

Will discarded the intention, but the word serious was a fitting description of their predicament. These 'paramedics' didn't seem the kind to take no for an answer. Regardless of the rumours, Will wasn't an attractive woman who liked to frequent nightclubs, so he had no idea how to deal with such unwated attention. "What do we do?" he said.

The selfiebot did her best impression of a shrug. "I don't know, Will, but it's not safe to be here. We have to find a way out."

"Are you kidding?" said Will. "If we got away then Paige won't be safe."

"You're right," said Libbi.

"Err, OK. I thought you'd say she'll be fine, that we've got nothing to worry about."

Another loud knock on the door. Another jump by Will.

"We've got a lot to worry about," said Libbi. "Why do they want her? What are they going to do?"

"A procedure?" said Will, with just a tinge of snark, enough to give his sentence a mauve colour.

"Hello?" shouted Zerro, from behind the door.

"Think of this like your game, Will. What would you do?"

"Epochs of Civilisation?" he said. "This is the first time we've encountered them, so I guess it's like an early raid. We need to regroup as fast as possible and turtle, since we've got archer-towers and strong early-game walls. This is a hospital, they're not about to break the door down. It'd draw too much attention."

"Good," said Libbi. A few more loud bangs on the door made her fly above Paige toward the back of the room.

"We just have to stay tight," said Will, standing in between.

Through the constant knocks, the muffled voice of Zerro again filtered its way inside. "We need to be alone in the room for a small while," he said.

"Go away," said Will, firing an ineffectual arrow. He could almost hear Paige sarcastically comment, That showed them.

The gaming portion of his brain -- by far the largest -- kicked into gear. They must be connected, these men, to Paige's condition. And if there's been a sharp increase in people starving, they might be responsible for those, too.

The knocks were incessant. Until they became cessant.

Will looked to Libbi. She wasn't about to move from her defensive position against the far wall.

The silence was worse than the pounding.

"Have they gone?" said Will. Actually, he whispered it, though I'm not sure why.

Libbi floated lower, hovering just above the floor. "Check it," she whispered, having caught his disease.

"Uh, thanks," said Will, quietly.