By the time Monday arrived, I was almost back to normal. Ben greeted me at the door of the Lab.

“So, how was the rest of Friday?” A sly smile appeared on his face.

“Alright.” I shrugged.

“How was Ryder? I’d gone through the logs. That was some good work you did.” Ben patted me on the back.

“Umm. Thanks.” We walked through to the kitchen, and I could smell the coffee. I immediately remembered Mama, how she brewed her Turkish coffee in a special pot, the smell of it in the mornings. Then I remembered how Mama would add cognac to her cup of coffee. The talk of blood pressure going up and down, medicinal coffee, medicinal alcohol, her chats with Vlada and Zhanna. Mama. Killed by Phil. I hadn’t thought of him in a while and now gritted my teeth.

“I just made some. You want a cup?” Ben asked, jerking me out of my thoughts. “We asked for a coffeemaker, and voila! Just got it delivered.”

“Cool.” I nodded, trying hard to snap out of the melancholy thoughts about Mama.

“So you wanna cup?”

“No, thanks. I don’t like coffee.” I must have frowned, because Ben raised his eyebrows. It was as if I offended him by not liking coffee.

“Let’s get started then.” He punched in the code and led me downstairs.

The work station looked different. Emptier somehow. The gleaming white surfaces welcomed reflected the recessed lamps. I sat at my desk, grabbed the headphones, put on the finger monitor while Ben observed. Then I remembered the swab. I’d blocked it out of my mind, but now gulped, anticipating the procedure again.

“Are you gonna do the swab today?”

“Not today, no. We’re actually all done with the swabs. Remember, Friday we didn’t do one.” Ben took a sip of his coffee. “Good news, right? I don’t know about you, but I hate those things.”

“Yeah.” I answered vaguely. I did not want to criticize anything at the Lab. At least not before I got my first paycheck.

“Oh, by the way, Rodion, you know you gotta just click over here to report issues. I saw you left notes, but we’re trying to have everything in an online format.” Ben leaned over and turned on the screen. At that moment, Ryder appeared, and I gulped. I’d forgotten how much he looked like me. How much of me was in him? Whatever it was, Ryder freaked me out. Ben followed my line of sight and nodded, showing understanding.

“Cool, ha? Ryder is totally you! I love how it worked out. Don’t you?”

“Yeah.” I tried to match the excitement in his voice.

“I kinda wish I was doing the digital twin testing. But someone’s gotta supervise!” He shook his head in mock irritation.

“Hey guys!” The door to the basement opened, and we heard the clicking of heels. It was Kate. She was dressed in a skirt suit, a short burgundy skirt with a high slit and a matching jacket with large gold buttons.

“Howdy! How was your weekend?”

“Weekend was awesome. Got to be a maid of honor. Again!”

“What’s all this?” Ben looked up at her.

“I got a presentation this afternoon.” Kate shrugged. “Wanna come? It’s a budget update.”

“Nah, I’m good.”

“Lucky you.” Kate said.

“Lucky me. Rodion and I were just talking about Ryder here.” Ben turned to the screen. Ryder was there, staring at us, unblinking. Observing and waiting for instructions.

“I guess I better get started.” I said, clicking on the ‘DETACH’ command.

“Yep, good luck, Rodion. Oh, by the way.” Kate turned to me. “This afternoon you’ll see Doctor Matucci.”

“Wait, that’s today?” Ben frowned.

“Yes, it’s the monthly physical, remember? She’s coming with two interns this afternoon.”

“Who’d Dr. Matucci?” I opened my eyes wide.

“Dr. Matucci works at Upper Hill Psych. She is leading the study that we’re doing here. And she wants to supervise your progress personally.”

“Upper Hill?” I gulped. Upper Hill was the name of the psychiatric hospital in Oakland, right down the street. Its massive tower dominated the neighborhood skyline, soaring over the rest of Oakland as if waiting to crush it. Upper Hill Psych had a bad reputation. So far I’d assumed I was testing AI, some innovative game, and not some psychiatric experiment.

“It’s not a big deal, nothing like THAT.” Kate opened her arms wide.

“The study is looking at health behavior change because of interaction with AI.” Ben added.

“Look at you, Mr. Science!” Kate giggled. Her mood was markedly different from the snarky attitude the week prior.

“Well, we need to explain to the young man here what he’s going to be going through. I think it’s only fair.” Ben gave me a supportive smile.

“Anyway, Dr. Matucci will be by shortly. We’ll come get you.”

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Ben and Kate left, and I started with Ryder. He was in the familiar place, the same desert with white, octagonal shapes. For a second I stopped, wondering what I’ll be doing with Ryder, but then the assignment flashed on the screen.

‘PHYSICAL TRAINING.’

“Alright, why not?”

So I took Ryder to the gym. It magically appeared in the middle of the desert and Ryder started lifting weights and doing push-ups. He got straight into this, and I felt my heart rate accelerate, as he went from lifting a 100lb bar to a 150lb bar in minutes.

I was just getting into it, when Ben appeared and called me upstairs. The pot of coffee sat there, staring at me, and I remembered Mama again. A feeling of such loneliness and sadness washed over me. I felt faint.

Black circles floated in front of my eyes and I nearly toppled over, but continued shuffling after Ben. We passed the front door and, for the first time since joining the Lab, I climbed the stairs to the second floor. It was a staircase with massive, large railings carved out of a dark wood. The layout of the second floor was like what you would expect in a family home. Four doors leading to what could have been four bedrooms. All closed. Ben led me to the one right across from the landing and opened it without knocking.

We were in a large room. A white couch stood in the middle of it, with two matching armchairs on each side. By the wall there was a large brown leather couch and another one, smaller, across from it, with a footstool next to it. On the white couch, I noticed a huge teddy bear. The walls of the room were decorated with tapestries red and orange, yellow and gray. And there was a table in the corner with a statue of a Buddah on it.

“Have a seat, Rodion.” Ben instructed me and left. Have a seat. I repeated to myself and looked at the options.

Then I went to the white couch, pushed the teddy bear aside and sat in the middle, staring at the front door in silence. I didn’t have to wait long. A few moments later, a plump woman with shoulder-length brown hair entered. She was short, but was wearing platform heels.

“Hi, I am Maria Matucci.” The woman had a soft, buttery voice. She extended her hand to me. “You must be Mr. Likharev?” She produced a notepad. A black Parker pen followed.

“Yes.”

“Mr. Likharev, is it okay if I call you Rodion?”

“Sure.” I shrugged.

She glanced at the chart. I felt terror paralyze my body at this sight of this woman, though I couldn’t explain why. I nodded, my heart beating fast.

“Russian?” The buttery voice asked, confidential. I nodded again.

“I’ve been to Moscow many times. Fascinating place. Incredible people.”

I could not move. I felt as if I’d been hypnotized.

“Let’s begin.” Dr. Matucci looked at the notepad. “I see that you’re in excellent physical health, Mr. Likharev.” The Doctor nodded. “We’re going to meet once a month and evaluate your condition. How does that sound?”

“Great.”

“Very good, very good! I like your enthusiasm. It’s very American.” She narrowed her eyes. “How old were you when you came to this country?”

“Five.” I then remembered celebrating my fifth birthday upon arrival and corrected myself. “Four.”

“Yes, yes. I see. Plenty of time to become Americanized.” A scribble in the notepad followed. “So, do you still speak Russian?”

“A little.” I shrugged.

“You don’t speak Russian at home?”

“No.” I decided not to elaborate why.

“Well, regardless, we aren’t here to evaluate your linguistic talents. But the two languages have undoubtedly expanded your intellectual abilities.” The doctor chuckled. Let’s go over this questionnaire you filled out.” She produced several papers, and I recognized the questionnaire I’d filled out in April’s kitchen. Eyes widening, I stared at the doctor as she casually flipped through the pages. “I see you aren’t pursuing higher education? But your essay was quite interesting.”

“You read that?”

“Of course. Such an interesting analysis of the criminal justice system.”

“Yeah. It’s something I’ve thought about.”

“Have you had direct interactions with it, Rodion?”

“With what?”

“The criminal justice system.” She stared at me in silence, as if she could read my mind. As if she already knew everything about me. I wanted to run out of that room as quickly as possible. If I’d only known! I would have bolted right out, tumbled down the stairs and out the door, never to come back. But I had no idea what was to come.

“No.” I responded and turned to the teddy bear.

“Feel free to hug Phil.” Dr. Matucci said.

“What?” I jumped off the couch and stood up.

“The teddy bear. His name is Phil.”

“Why did you name him that?” I couldn’t bring myself to pronounce the name. Not out loud. The name of the man who had destroyed my life and killed Mama.

“It’s a nice name. Don’t you think?” She raised her eyebrows. “It means ‘to love’ in Greek.”

Did she know? Does she know? My heart beat fast. My fingertips were icy cold, and I dug them into the couch.

“Rodion Likharev.” She rose and walked over to me. It was the end. I knew it was the end. I gulped. Maria Matucci stood right next to me, hovering over me, balancing on her platform heels.

“I wanted to thank you personally for joining this experiment.” She extended her hand. “See you in a month.”

“See you in a month.” I took my cue to leave. As I exited the room, I felt her eyes drilling into me. She knows. Flashed through my mind.

“How did that go?” Ben was waiting for me at the reception.

“It went well.” I said. It took an enormous effort to keep myself from gagging.

“Isn’t she awesome?”

“Who?”

“Dr. Matucci. She’s just amazing. We’re lucky we got her to lead the study.”

“I know, right? She’s like this bright star, doing pioneering research on the impact of AI on behavioral health.” Kate appeared next to us and joined the conversation as if she’d been there all along.

“So why does she need to speak to me?”

“Just to evaluate you. She told us the data wasn’t enough.” Ben added.

“Weren’t.” Kate rolled her eyes.

“Ha?”

“Data weren’t enough. Data are plural.”

“Oh, will you just lay off!” Ben yelped. The bickering returned. We were back to normal.

The two of them escorted me downstairs, made sure I was properly set up, and left.

“Alright, Rodion, have fun,” Kate said, as they shut the door behind them.

I detached Ryder and continued training him in the gym. After we finished with weights, we went on to another training, with punching bags. Like Ben requested, I was marking various errors in the portal, but also doubling in a notepad, to be on the safe side. This went on for a whole hour, or maybe longer, and left me absolutely drained. I felt exhausted and my muscles ached, as if I was the one doing the training. It made little sense, because the whole time I was only sitting in front of the monitor. The only person, or whoever he was, doing the training was Ryder. And yet. My body ached. Finally, I pulled off the headphones and ripped off the finger monitor. The computer beeped and Ryder protested. I quickly pressed ‘ATTACH,’ and sighed in relief.

I checked the time. It was exactly eight pm, which meant I could leave. I punched in the code and exited. Sandwiches were laid out, as usual, on the counter. I took one. It was tuna this time, like on the first day, and I wondered whether the choice of the sandwich was related to the day of the week. I was about to bite into it when I heard Kate’s angry voice:

“Not like it’s your Ph.D. thesis at stake!”

“We shouldn’t be doing this stuff. This doc, she creeps me out.” It was Ben.

“This whole project does.”

“If you’re so morally opposed to this stuff, you can just quit!”

“Quit? And what will happen? I’ll be black-listed.”

“Whatever. You’re just sabotaging yourself. We’re doing ground-breaking work here.”

“And what if this thing takes over?”

“Takes over? Are you nuts? You’ve watched too many movies.”

The voices got closer and I lunged for the door, opening and closing it as if I’d just gotten out of the Lab.

“Oh, hey, Rodion. Done already?” Ben said. He and Kate walked into the kitchen. He scanned my face, as if trying to assess for damage.

“Yes.” I nodded. “Kinda tired.”

“Great, see you tomorrow.” Kate noted, deadpan.