The elevator arrived and the squad guarding us slid by to take up guard positions all along the inside of the walls. The elevator was pretty big, so they had plenty of space to react if I had tried anything. Both I and Julia Grinder knew I wasn't going to, since I had already made my point.

“I heard you just got out of surgery.” Julia said when the elevator started going down.

“It was just hardware replacement and an interface upgrade.” I said, and severely downplayed almost dying. Sandra took in a quick breath, and I saw Julia smile in my very accurate peripheral vision.

“And I am only the manager of this building.” Julia said as she glanced at me. I kept my gaze forward and smiled a little. She nodded slightly and faced forward herself. “You've provided me with quite the dilemma.”

“Should we talk openly in an unsecured elevator with people that don't have a suitable pay grade?” I asked, and she chuckled.

“It's just small talk until we...” Julia stopped talking when the elevator dinged. The doors opened and she stepped out. I stepped out right behind her and pulled Sandra along, without the guards having to tell me to do so. The squad didn't follow us, because there was already another squad waiting in the hallway.

Julia ignored their presence and opened the door the guards were gathered in front of, and motioned for us to go in. With little choice in the matter, I held Sandra's hand firmly and went into the room. The door shut behind us, and I looked around the fairly large and empty room.

“Please take your positions.” An electronic male voice said, and I put Sandra in the right spot, then took my own 5 feet away from her.

“J-Jack, what's going on?”

“It's okay.” I said. “They are just going to make us comfortable and ask a few questions.”

“What does that mea-AHH!” Sandra yelled as a set of mechanical arms picked her up and an immersion chair formed underneath her. “N-No! Let me stay with you!”

“Hopefully, I'll be right in.” I said.

“What do you mean, hopefully?!?” Sandra asked, and then the chair finished forming around her.

Another set of mechanical arms picked me up, and a slightly different chair formed underneath me.

“I haven't run calibration tests for immersion yet, let alone set up the proper protocols.” I said to the wall that I assumed they were watching me through. “You better have some great programmers in there.”

The virtual interface had to be different because of the way my new cybernetic parts were going to interact, and the connections and pathways were going to be significantly different.

“He's right.” The electronic male voice said.

“Just start the damn thing!” Julia said, and the chair finished forming around me. I felt different kinds of electronic leads enter the ports behind my ear, and the entire sensation of the chair felt off. It wasn't just the synthetic parts that were making the difference.

The chair itself is different. I thought, and then everything went black.

“Jack! Oh, Jack!” Sandra's voice said, and I thought I could feel something touch my shoulder blades, but it was hard to tell. It felt like I was wrapped in a thick blanket.

“I'd bleaksled.” I said out loud, when I had intended to say, I'm blind.

“I guess he was telling the truth.” The male electronic voice said.

“Had harsh my lick spittle squirt.” I said. At least I can hear fine.

“Goddammit! Hurry up and fix that!” Julia's voice said in exasperation. “I can't question him if he can't answer!”

“Big lakeshore jacelame don't.” I said. Your calibration software sucks.

I heard several mechanical clicks for some reason.

“This might take a while.” The male mechanical voice said, and then I heard a woman sigh loudly.

“All right, fine. FINE!” Julia said, heatedly. “Exit out. EXIT OUT!”

The immersion chair removed the different leads and started to pull itself away from me, and the mechanical arms caught me and stood me up before the chair fell away into the floor. I stood there and waited while Sandra's chair fell away, and reached out to take her hand.

“That was so scary!” Sandra exclaimed and latched onto my hand like a lifeline. “I've never been in a full chair before.” She said. “How can you stand it?”

“I could say that you get used to it, but I've always enjoyed the immersion chamber.” I said. “Until now.”

The door to the room opened, and Julia Grinder and a cyborg stood there. He had a portable display and was tapping on it repeatedly.

“That was pretty uncomfortable.” I said to them. “I felt like I was in a decompression chamber.”

The cyborg tapped on the display faster to add in the new information.

“You were talking gibberish, too!” Sandra said. “I tried taking your hand, but you didn't move at all!”

“I guess that's when I felt the poke on my shoulder.” I said.

The cyborg sighed and stopped tapping the display. “There's no way it can be done in a few minutes.” His electronic voice said. Julia waved her hand for him to leave, and he stepped away from her and almost ran down the hallway.

“If you would come this way, please.” Julia said happily, but I could tell that she was furious. I held in my laughter and led Sandra from the room, and the squad had spread out a little to cover another doorway. It was already open, so I went right in, and saw a traditional table with two chairs in front of it, and 2 chairs about 5 feet away from it on the other side.

I was tempted to sit in a chair right by the table, just to see what they would say; but, then I figured Julia wasn't in the mood for a joke at the moment. I sat Sandra in one of the distant chairs and sat down beside her.

Julia and another man, who looked normal on the surface, sat down beside the table in the two chairs. They didn't have any papers, or displays, or anything else with them, so I assumed that we were being watched and recorded from another room. I smiled, because it was always a safe bet to assume that no matter where you were, unless you had a security field in place.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

“So... Jack.” Julia said and smiled sweetly. “How have you been?”

“You can skip the 'making me your friend' routine and get right to the pertinent questions.” I said, and her sweet smile faded away. I nodded to the man with her. “I assume he has the proper protocols for lie detection?”

“Ah... yes.” Julia admitted, reluctantly.

“Good.” I said. “Now start asking what you want to know and stop wasting time.”

Julia frowned for a moment. “Who is Stewart Masters?”

“No one.” I said. “It was a fake identity used by a cybernetic technology researcher at General Medic.”

“And how did you stumble upon this information?” Julia asked sternly.

“Well, that part is a bit of a long story.” I said. “It all began when I was working and Sandra's shout disturbed me...”

I laid it all out for her, from beginning to end, everything I and my AI had discovered. I even started to add in my suspicions, and Julia cut me off.

“No speculations are needed.” Julia said. “It's just facts we are after today.” She said as she moved her gaze to Sandra. “Now, if you would be so kind.” She smiled. “Please tell us how you met this individual.”

“Well, it was at a community party.” Sandra said. “I thought he was a bit full of himself at first. His confidence was pretty high, and it seemed like he was doing me a favor by talking to me.” She said. “Then Jack asked me out on a date...”

“NOT JACK!” Julia yelled in frustration.

It startled Sandra, and her hand gripped mine tightly. I could see a tear form in the corner of her eye, and she took several shallow breaths to try and calm down.

“If you yell like that again, I will invoke my civil rights as a citizen of this nation.” I said coldly, and Julia looked at me with wide eyes. “You are allowed to ask us questions, but you are not allowed to intimidate or coerce us.” I said. “If you can't act professionally and in a calm manner, I will have no choice but to file an official report and ask for your replacement.”

“You can do that?” Sandra whispered, but because the room was set up for the ease of hearing, we all heard it.

“Yes, and I'm trying to cooperate fully without causing a fuss.” I said. “Believe me, they don't want me to cause a fuss.”

“I don't get it.” Sandra said, and I looked at her. “How can you talk back to them like this?” She asked. “I'm scared out of my wits, and you act like this is just a normal conversation.”

“It is just a normal conversation.” I said to her. “It's true that our lives may depend on the outcome; but, as long as we tell them everything and don't lie, we have nothing to worry about.”

“Jack...”

I turned my head and looked at her. “Sandra, just start at the beginning and tell them everything you know about Stewart.” I said. “How you met, how your conversations quickly turned to flirting, and how you told him everything you knew about me just so he would keep having sex with you.”

“That is not how it happened!” Sandra said, angrily. “Do you want to know what happened? What really happened?”

“Yes.” I said.

“Fine.” Sandra said, and then she told me everything. How he had almost fallen getting off the Cross-Cavern Tour car, his profuse thanks for her saving him, and the offer to take her on a date. She had refused at first, but every day he would come back and take the tour. Sometimes it was only one way, other days it was a round trip. He wooed her and brought her a single flower each time, and then she finally relented.

They went out on a date, and it was magical. She claimed she had never been on a date like it before, and it stunned her. They slept together, and it was nothing more than sharing time together. She had thought that would have been the last she would see of him, since she believed that was all that he had wanted; but, the very next day he was on the Cross-Cavern Tour again. This continued on and on for months, and their conversations eventually turned to the other people in their lives.

Sandra talked about them having a deep personal connection, about how they had the same type of family background about being an only child despite both parents being alive, and about having several similar experiences with bad relationships... which then brought me into the story. I stayed completely quiet as she went on about our ups and downs while we dated, how she had hated that I was rich and could buy anything I wanted, that I rubbed her face in that fact and teased her about it.

I had teased her, but I had only meant it in good fun and thought she enjoyed it. She never showed or told me that she was taking it personally, or that I was hurting her feelings. She said that Stewart was the only one in her life that never did anything like that. He was modest and caring, and treated her like she had always wanted to be treated. Sandra took a deep breath, and looked like she was going to stop talking.

“So, you ranted to him about me.” I said to goad her.

“I sure did!” Sandra said. “It was so nice to get it all out of my system! How you work all the time, how you look down on me because of my job, and how you think you're so much better than me!” She said, and her eyes went wide as she realized what she was saying. “Jack, I... that's not what... I didn't mean...”

“Yes, you do.” I said. “There's no reason to hold back now, so you might as well get it out in the open, right here on the official record.”

“J-Jack...”

“Go on. Tell them that I never raised a hand against you. Tell them that I've loved you since we met. Tell them I wanted you to sign an exclusive contract right away, and you flatly refused.” I said. “Tell them that not once have I ever... ever... demeaned you or said I was better than you.”

Sandra didn't say anything, and I looked at our interviewers.

“I'd like to submit all personal recordings taken in and around my apartment that involve Sandra Eileen Peterson and myself into the official investigation record.” I said. “My very pissed off AI Amanda should give them to you, if you get the System to ask her nicely.”

The man that sat next to Julie at the table waved his hand a little in acknowledgement.

“That should provide ample proof that your accusations are baseless and unwarranted.” I said and looked back at Sandra. “Despite what you may think, or have come to believe, I have never rubbed your face in how much money I have.”

“You bought the apartment next to yours and gave it to my parents, just so I would move in with you!” Sandra said, angrily.

“Ha... hahaha!” I laughed. “Did you see that man's finger not tap on the table?” I asked and pointed, and Sandra and Julie looked at the man and his index finger. It was out of position of the other fingers. “Even he knew that was a lie, and I hadn't even explained that I bought the apartment well before asking you, just as a precaution, in case you said no and needed somewhere else to live.”

The man's finger didn't tap again, and Sandra looked back at me.

“You were going to move me into the apartment next door?” Sandra asked.

“Until I had the bright idea to move your parents there and have you move in with me instead.” I said. “Then you wouldn't have far to go when we had a falling out; which I have to admit, seemed to happen a heck of a lot more since you started seeing Stewart.”

Sandra kept quiet, and I sighed.

“I just regret that none of this has ever come up before.” I said. “It took my accident to bring it out... into the... open.” I said slowly, and then it dawned on me. “Oh, damn.” I said. “He's dead because of me.”

“Wh-what?” Sandra exclaimed loudly.

“Why do you say that?” Julie asked.

“He was supposed to keep an eye on me and report on my work.” I said. “When he found me in the hospital, he thought taking the opportunity to remove me from Sandra's life would make her happy.”

Sandra gasped at that little revelation.

“I was wondering why Astra said it was such a departure from Greg's normal behavior.” I continued. “Of course, once System Security started to investigate the incident where I broke his nose and discovered he was trying to kill me by shutting down my cybernetic parts, he became a liability to whoever he worked for.”

“You... you're saying he was killed... because of me?” Sandra said.

“No... I...” I saw the man's finger start to tap and sighed. “Yes, he died because despite what his job was supposed to be, I think he really cared for you.”

The finger moved back without tapping on the table, and Sandra burst out crying.

“Well, this is all enlightening.” Julie said and the door of the room opened to admit 2 guards. “Sandra can leave the room now, because we have some private things to discuss.”

“I'm sorry, but no.” I said. “I agreed to come along and talk with you on the condition that she stay with me.”

“We can't discuss sensitive matters with a civilian here.” Julie said through gritted teeth.

“Really?” I asked. “I'm pretty sure one of those guards has noise-cancelling headphones she can borrow.”

Julie thought about arguing, then sighed and waved to one of the guards. He opened one of the pouches on his combat harness and slipped out a small pair of headphones. He tossed them across the room to me, and my normal hand darted out and caught them easily. I unfolded them and put them over Sandra's ears, and hit the button. They expanded out to look like suction cups and cut off all sound. I snapped my fingers loudly in various places behind her, to show that Sandra didn't react to the sound, and the man at the table nodded.

“At least turn her around so she doesn't see the presentation.” Julie said.

I waved my hand in front of Sandra's eyes to make her look at me, and I made a 'turn around' motion with my finger. She nodded that she understood and turned her chair around to face the other way, then sat down again.

“All right.” Julie said and stood up, then turned to the wall behind her and tapped it. An image of a particle generator appeared on the wall.

This subject is going to be sensitive, all right. I thought as I took a deep breath and let it out.