I exchanged a look with Matt. Garrett had to have a VR rig. What was he so scared of though? “You can start by telling us what’s going on. How did you get control of this robot?”
“I was searching the dumpsters near Cedar and Thirteenth—in person—hunting down something called the Talisman, a robot update device. But when I happened across this console instead, I took it home and plugged it in. I assumed it was a prototype game system.”
My throat clenched. This guy knew about robots, which was something, but we needed him to have answers about the console. It was sounding like he didn’t know much more than we did—unless he was lying. Hard to tell with a robot between us. This was more evidence though for the black-market electronics Mom had mentioned. “Why do you need to update robots? And what does this device have to do with the console?”
“I don’t, and it doesn’t. I’m looking for it for my father.”
“Why does he need to update robots?”
Garrett rubbed the table’s patina of coffee rings. “Father isn’t strictly aware I’m looking for it. We should really be going though….”
“When exactly did you find this console?” Matt asked, death-gripping his coffee-inspired beverage.
The bot turned toward the entrance again. “It was a few weeks ago, the day I blew off class at the Academy on account of a group project. Nobody wanted to work with me, nor I them.” He looked to his lap, twisting his hands. “There were protests downtown and I was rather hungry despite the heat, so—”
Matt cut in. “Uh, is this relevant?”
This guy sure talked fancy for someone still in school. I had so many questions—where this academy was, how he controlled the robot, why he wanted this device for his father. But we needed to focus, especially if his vague threat about needing to leave was real.
“My apologies. I tend to go on a bit when I’m nervous. I’ve never been great with … people.” He lowered his voice, his torso angling forward. “But you are in danger here. We both are.”
Matt shot me a pointed look and I rolled my gaze heavenward. He turned back to the bot with a frown. “How’re we in danger?”
“Not you.” Garrett inclined his head at me. “Her.”
My eyes went wide. “What? Why me?”
“A certain gentleman has been following my bot ever since you handed me that flower in the alley. He must have seen my replay video and assumed you gave me something he’s looking for.”
I jerked back. “Hooold up there, C-3PO. I never met you in any alley. That wasn’t me. But we saw the video too. You’re telling me she gave you a flower?” Garrett’s gentleman could’ve been the one moving stolen electronics.
Now it was Garrett’s turn to gape. “What do you mean that wasn’t you? I clearly—”
“It was a girl who looks like me.” I motioned at my face. “I dunno who the hell she was. Maybe I had a secret twin. But two days ago, we found her dead in a dumpster.”
“Oh dear.” Garrett shifted in his seat. “You look exactly like her. Only—”
“I know. The hair. So did you know her?” I still didn’t discount Garrett having killed her.
“When I was piloting the bot in that video, it was the first time I saw her.” His voice fell. “And the last. I heard something in the alley and hit record before going to check it out. That’s when I found her…. Perhaps the robot’s previous pilot was looking for her. You see, every time I connect, the bot starts in a different place. With the game systems Father used to bring home from work, simply having a console gave you access to a shared character for exploring barren worlds.”
So these bots were for gaming? “And this guy following you? Who is he?” He could’ve been her killer. “Did he … have a glowing gun?”
“All I saw was a beard, sunglasses, and athletic clothing. I came here to ask you why he’s following my bot. But you’re not her, so …” Garrett pushed to his feet.
Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
Beard Dude. That explained why we saw him on my TV when we were piloting the bot. “Wait. We’ve actually … met him in person. I dunno why he’s following you. But he’s looking for me too. My mom thinks he’s corporate security from a place she used to work.” I really needed to get her take on all this. “Any idea why he’s after us?”
Garrett frowned, scanning from the pastry case to the door. He lowered himself back into the chair and adjusted his sunglasses. “May I see your hand? I’d like to check something.”
Matt mouthed, No, but I offered Garrett my palm anyway. “What are you,” I said, “some sorta robot palm reader?”
“Something like that.” A blade flashed from his pocket, carving a thin line across my hand.
I recoiled with a yelp, a sharp sting in my palm. Heads swiveled from laptops as Matt and I leapt to our feet, our legs tensed to run. Not a single person rushed in to help. Had nobody seen what happened?
Garrett gave us a cool stare from behind those shades, wiping the blade under the table and folding it back up.
“What the fuck?” I said, a storm in my chest. The knife had barely broken the skin, blood beading from a neat line in my palm like a weeping meringue. It was an amazing feat of accuracy. What was his game plan here? Slice my hand and expect us to be cool with it? Matt could probably flip the table, buy us a running start.
Sport Coat peered over his laptop, shaking his head. The barista shot me a look like I’d yelled in her library.
“Bots don’t bleed.” Garrett’s tone was matter-of-fact. “Please, sit down. Allow me to get you a bandage.”
How did he know bots don’t bleed? Had he found out … experimentally? If I ran, I could kiss goodbye the few answers this guy had, and I’d never convince Mom to leave town.
Matt’s arms were stiff. “You could’ve asked.”
I snatched the Band-Aid—no doubt one we’d seen earlier in inventory—and sat to apply it with unsteady hands. It may have been a mistake to talk, but I couldn’t make myself run. Not yet.
Garrett stowed his knife with mechanical precision. “I needed to be sure. If the bearded man is from the Otokotronics company that makes these consoles, he could have bots of his own. I gave him the slip earlier, but he—”
I held out my good hand. “Garrett, give me the knife.” If I was going to find out anything about this Otokotronics robot gaming company, which sounded a whole lot like where Mom used to work, I needed this bot to be unarmed first.
“If it makes you feel more comfortable …” He handed over the folding knife, his shoulders sagging. “I can assure you I harbor no ill intentions.”
He sounded earnest, but I wasn’t taking any more chances. I placed the knife on the table beside the pepper spray. “What does Beard Dude want?”
“I really must go.”
“Answer my questions, and my mom might know something about this robot update device.”
Garrett’s brow furrowed. “If he’s searching for the Talisman like I am—and believes your twin somehow had it—he’ll turn over every rock he can to find it. And that includes you.”
My mouth was dry again. “Like he included the girl?” This Talisman robot update thing sounded valuable.
Garrett nodded. “She still could have been a bot though.”
“No, she couldn’t,” Matt said. “When Ko found her in a dumpster, her face was pretty well-bloodied. Cut open. Like, with a knife.” He gave Garrett a sharp look. “You wouldn’t happen to own anything capable of that, would you?”
“Well, there is that knife there….” He met Matt’s glare, his head cocked. “Oh! I didn’t kill her. I would never dream of such a thing. She simply handed me the flower without a word and then evaded my pursuit.”
Sport Coat was at the register now, whispering to the barista.
Shit. We were getting kicked out. I needed to get what I could from Garrett.
Matt shook his head. “Why should we believe you?”
Garrett contorted to rummage in a pocket, producing a smashed, lemon-hued flower we hadn’t seen in inventory.
“That doesn’t prove anything,” I said. “Why is Beard Dude chasing you for a flower, anyway? And why the hell did you keep it?”
He withdrew the crushed petals as the barista rounded the counter with a scowl. “It seemed important to her. And you couldn’t see it clearly in the replay video, could you? The same goes for anyone else who viewed it. I, uh, may have submitted the video to a Fediverse website in an attempt to identify the girl. Now, I really must—”
“So lemme get this straight. You’re saying the girl had this Talisman device you and Beard Dude are after? He sees the video of her giving you a flower and—what?—mistakenly thinks she was unloading this device he wants? And now he’s chasing you for it?”
The barista pushed up her glasses and strode toward our table, her clogs clacking against the floor.
Garrett spread his hands wide, his nervous smile creeping back—an odd expression on his T-1000-looking bot. “Is that so hard to believe?”
My pulse fluttered. “Who even are you?”
Matt shifted. “Uh, guys.”
“What,” I said.
He pushed away his drink, staring past us with round eyes—but not in the direction of the barista. “You were right about stiffing that cab driver after all.”