Will once again sensed the drool on his cheek as he lifted his sore head. He felt as if he'd been whacked by the full force of deja vu. How long had he been out?
He looked around and saw a great deal of blackness. It only took him a few minutes to realise he wore a sack over his head. And a few minutes more to feel the ropes wrung tight around his wrists, arms behind his back. It was hot, and he struggled to breathe. It reminded him of--
"Libbi?" he whispered.
Nothing.
The room he was in shook. He assumed it was a room, since his voice was dampened, so it wasn't a cavernous warehouse or a nice park in the suburbs. And the floor was a little too hard for his delicate behind.
At least the helperbot would protect Paige. While it remained at her house, she'd be safe.
"Libbi," he said, again, raising his voice a smidge. Boosting it a tad could have potentially caused his captors to hear him. And a modicum would have sounded too pretentious.
He heard sobbing, mixed with the sound of shaking metal. It had to be her. He tried to twist his way out of the bounds, free his hands to remove the sack over his head, but it was no use. And his shoulders didn't possess the necessary dexterity to bring his hands to the front. They barely possessed the dexterity to play games.
A loud din rose above the sobs, exotic in source, pulsing through his whole body. It reminded him of Large Steal Vehicle IX, the big revival for the game franchise, when the cars hadn't yet become fully electric and were still manually driveable.
YOU ARE READING
Artificial(ish) Intelligence
Science FictionIt's the near future and Will, supported purely by the Universal Basic Income, spends his days playing video games while devouring piping hot noodles, delivered straight to his room by roaming DeliveryBots. Gamers are starving to death, but Will's...
