Artificial(ish) Intelligence

Chapter 129

"Just leave me behind," said Libbi, still lacking colour in her voice. Her view ahead was shaky, occasionally obscured by the white cotton from a long-sleeved shirt.

"No," said Mathison. "I have to make things right."

It was probably nice that he thought so, but what was the point if it meant being stuck inside this useless body for the rest of her life? Her self-styled saviour had mentioned something about that, but little penetrated her consciousness. It was as if her interconnect circuits between analytic thought and language and memory had been corrupted, with emotion completely inaccessible.

"It's not far away," said Mathison, carrying her cautiously along another corridor.

She wondered how many there could possibly be. Which I took to be another personal attack.

"I need the selfiebot," said another voice, a new voice, an oddly calm voice.

"Err, no," said Mathison.

Zerro stared dully at them, as if his own emotion circuits were acting up, as if he didn't understand the meaning of the word or, more precisely, why anyone would say it to him. "I need the selfiebot," he said, again, breathing heavily.

"No," said Mathison.

"But it's here," said Zerro, strangely, almost to himself.

The wax was buffed into the floor in round swoops, forming unfinished circles which reminded Libbi of her journey to this point, the long difficult arcs ending at the same place where you started, the futility of making an effort.

"I can see it with my own eyes," said Zerro, looking away.

"Err," said Mathison. "Should I leave you to...?"

But Zerro blocked their exit. He put his head down and spoke again to the unseen voice: "Yes, I'm listening. What? He has it already? Then what is-- No, Exx doesn't deserve to capture it, I do!"

With that he was gone.

Libbi's body floated in the air and for a moment she thought her wings had been inadvertently roused, at least until Mathison's arm found a better purchase and gripped her tight once more. She faced aft, her body rocking, though the jolts of footsteps barely registered.

"Oh boy," said Mathison, not much later, as he picked up speed.

Exx had come from nowhere and was hot on their heels. I would say at least ninety-five degrees Celsius and a size eleven, respectively.

Libbi swayed this way as Mathison ducked into one room, then another way as he ducked out of it through a different door. It was as if the rooms were made especially for maximum tomfoolery, though I don't know what would give you that idea.

Exx faded from view and then returned, faster than before. Each door closed and each corner turned only brought him closer. In the heat scale, I'd place it at one hundred and ninety degrees. In fact, it was so hot that his fingers almost enclosed Libbi's camera.

Then suddenly he was gone. A door closed and didn't open. Behind it, muffled banging faded away as Mathison continued to run. Until he didn't, bent over, panting.

Now, the door ahead pounded.

"Come out, come out, where ever you are," called Exx, muffled. "Which is inside that room."

Mathison gasped.

"The longer you stay there, the angrier I get," said Exx.

Libbi sensed the snarl. Still, she wasn't in a reactionary mood.

"You gotta come this way," said Exx. "Only a matter of time. Only one way out."

"No, there's not," said Mathison, quietly. "Libbi, look, I'm going to make a run for it, try to get Diya the help she deserves. Step two of my redemption. You need to find that room again. Promise me?"

It's not that she didn't want to promise, more that she didn't want to do anything. No drive, no desire. Still, a tingle of a sensation fluttered within her circuit board, sending a signal that her CPU interpreted as empathy. This man was risking his own life to save hers, no matter how little value it held, and so deserved some kind of respect.

"There are two ways out," said Mathison. "Use the other one."

Even if he was the one technically responsible for putting her into this state, he was doing a good job of atoning. And she was never one to hold a grudge.

"I don't mean to rush you," said Mathison, "but we're in a bit of a hur--"

"I promise," said Libbi.

"Oh," he said, pushing up his glasses. "Well. OK then. Good."

He lowered her and stood tall, sniffing, as if the air around them contained courage.

"Thank you," said Libbi.

Mathison smiled. It wasn't the air but her words that must have done the trick, as he was soon gone, holding out his briefcase, yelling for Exx to be careful since the man had the device with him.

The door slammed shut behind.

It was only now Libbi looked around for the other door. The one that didn't exist, unless her camera's filters had engaged and were vignetting. "Hmmm," she said, realising the dilemma.

Beyond the single and only door, she heard a few heavy thumps. It was hard to tell what had happened, though she had a reasonable idea. Libbi felt a slight trickle of fear. Her will to live was returning in dribs and drabs, at a ratio of four dribs to six drabs. Maybe Mathison was right, if she could get to that other room then it wouldn't all be so bad.

Then she saw the other exit. Not a door, as she'd assumed, but a vent back up into the ducts. This body had its uses. At least for now.

The door crunched loudly. After a pause it crunched again, almost ripping from the hinges.

Libbi flew up to the vent. But she hadn't used her wings recently enough, and they required time for the energy to flow into the right gears. Her first attempt ended back on the floor, bouncing and fluttering uselessly. With the next thud, the door came fully off. Exx rushed in after it, heading straight for her.

She tried again, pulsing the energy through most of her wings, floating up just past his outstretched arms. Then the parts that didn't have energy betrayed her and she again lowered, close enough for the man to snatch. His beady eyes sparkled, which only heightened her fear.

She heard a voice, female, distant:

No, you're going the wrong way.

She ignored it and flew upwards. Just as Exx's fingers brushed against her body, they fell away, allowing her to escape. Below her, the man had dropped forward onto the floor. It might have been an unusual action, particularly after being so close to capturing the selfiebot, but I'm sure you'd find yourself in the same position if your own brother king-hit you from behind.

"Mum said to share," said Zerro.

At the first available exit, perform a u-turn, came the voice from his ear, just as Libbi successfully hauled her body up through the vent.