Doing a hard reset on Rick is really difficult. I tried a simple reboot first, which consisted of pressing my thumb to the soft spot just under his chin for forty-five seconds. When nothing came of that I attempted the hard reset. I watched Shane explain it on video twice:

"Have him sitting upright, facing forward. You take your thumb and press against the roof of his mouth, right in the center. And as you’re doing that, tilt his head up, so his face is pointed up toward the ceiling for twenty seconds. Then, still pressing the roof of his mouth, tilt his head down until his chin rests against his chest for another twenty seconds. Then–still pressing against his mouth–tilt his head back up toward the ceiling. Hold that position until he comes online. At least twenty more seconds."

This whole procedure sounds ridiculous, and I feel ridiculous performing it.

The first try, the chair rolls and he slumps over, making my thumb pop right out of place. After that, I grabbed zip-ties from the workbench and secured Rick's arms to the chair to keep him upright and put the brakes on the wheels.

Okay, let’s try again.

I pop my thumb in his mouth and press on the roof, tilting his head back. He's warm, and his mouth is wet. It feels weird. He's obviously still ‘alive’ and it's just wrong that he's ’turned off’ and I'm turning him back on.’

And what if he doesn’t turn on? Will I just hand over his unresponsive body to SynDeCorp? They could turn him back on for sure, if they want to. And that line of thinking leads me down a rabbit-hole of uncomfortable thoughts–would it hurt him to be back under SynDeCorp's control? This whole time we've been together…has he been forced to behave the way he has, for me, but in his own head he was miserable?

What about the sync? You can't be un-synced. Or is that just another lie this awful corporation is telling everybody? If it's a true factory reset I'm performing, he shouldn't be linked to me anymore. And inside this Faraday closet, the sync can't work anyway, can it? My implant is completely offline in here.

Am I hoping he will still be synced to me? How selfish am I?

I'm distracted by all these terrible thoughts as I perform the reset, and so I jump in surprise letting out a startled squeak and remove my thumb when I feel his tongue move against it.

He's sitting up straight and his lovely brown eyes are awash with confusion.

"Honey?" He tries to get up, but he's still zip-tied to the chair, "Did something happen? What—"

"You were remotely shut down. I just turned you back on."

"Oh, thanks." He shakes his head and blinks a few times. "But…why was I shut down? Am I malfunctioning somehow? I feel…disconnected. Honey—”

"You are disconnected. You're in a Faraday closet, so they can't shut you down again. There's been a recall."

He tries to stand again, then looks down at his arms where he's restrained.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

"Why am I tied to this chair?" He peers at me, considering. "I don't feel our sync. I don't—” He shakes his head back and forth as if trying to dislodge something. "I don't like this."

Oh gosh, it hurts my heart to see him like this. His usual cocky domineer has disintegrated and his eyes are full of uncertainty, hurt, and confusion.

I kneel right in front of him and wrap my arms around him as well as I can and try to reassure him. "I'm going to help you. We're going to figure this out; I'm not letting you be shut down and recalled, ok?"

"But—” he starts to speak, but then he stills. "There's someone at the door."

I listen, and he's right–I can hear a pounding on the door.

I quickly stand.

"I'll go take care of it and come right back. You have to stay in here, okay? If you leave this room, you'll probably shut down again."

He nods.

I hurry through the house to the door, and I find a police officer. I open the door with a "Hello?"

"Honey Williams?"

"Yes, that's me." I step out to join him on the front stoop and pull the door closed behind me. "How can I help you?"

Now I can see two more people at the curb in front of my house. One of them has a hand-cart and is standing in front of a white, windowless van.

There's no squad car in sight.

I look back at the ‘cop’, studying him. His badge is shiny and official looking, but isn’t it supposed to have a name on it? I tune back in and he's saying “—dangerous androids. Can we come in?”

"No," I respond, shaking my head. "The android left."

"It left?"

"Yes," I answer emphatically. "He shut down, and then turned back on and left through the garage."

"It shouldn't be able to do that!" The fake cop argues.

"Well, apparently, they're defective." I brush my hands on my pant legs. "I already got a refund, so this doesn't concern me anymore. Good luck you guys."

Having dismissed them, I turn to go back inside, but before I can close the door the fake cop has grabbed hold of it and is insisting through the doorway, "Ms. Williams, we need to come inside and look around—”

"You will remove yourself from my porch or I'll call the police!"

"Ma'am—”

"The real police. Isn't it a crime to impersonate an officer?" I demand.

"I never said—"

"Off! My! Porch!" I shout over him. "First you people sell me a defective android and now you're wasting my time and trying to invade my home! Trying to bully me by impersonating a police officer! Just who the hell do you think you are?!" I've picked up a lot of steam as I berate him, genuine disgust mixing with fake indignation.

He releases my door, holding his hands up in surrender.

"Ms. Williams, if that android comes back please call us at Synthetic Designs right away. For your own safety—”

I slam the door and lock it.

I need to call Shane and tell him what all has happened, but I don't want to leave Rick alone and scared in that closet longer than necessary. But I worry because isn't the door a vulnerability in the shielding of the faraday cage? Am I risking Rick being remotely shut down every time I open the door?

And, just what am I going to do about Rick? He can't live in that closet forever.

I sit down on the couch trying to order my thoughts. I turn on the smart screen on the opposite wall and pull up my news feed. I scroll through, looking for updates on the emancipation case–which has been appealed by SynDeCorp and the recall, which is not going well.

I watch a video of one man ranting in an interview about how SynDeCorp ‘goons’ broke into his home and took his Perfect Match while he was at work.

And another video of a lawyer speaking on behalf of another Perfect Match owner who is refusing to release her Match for recall and is suing SynDeCorp for causing her emotional distress.

I read the article about the emancipation case and find out that Match was successfully recalled and destroyed, barely a day after the court date.

That poor woman. How terrible to win the court case, just to lose her Match anyway.

SynDeCorp is doing everything they can to get these Perfect Matches back. They’re a huge corporation with unlimited resources, and they just do whatever they want and get away with it because the government is in their pocket.

Can I fight this? I'm sure they know that Rick didn't actually leave.

How in the world am I going to keep Rick safe?