Chapter Twenty-Seven

“Mom, Choe and I are in my room for a while. I don’t feel comfortable with all the kids here; we’ll be out later.”

“Are you sure, hun? We—”

“Please let me be for a few minutes. You don’t want me getting all upset and having an autism fit all over your guests, now, do you? We have your CLEFF in here to keep us safe from terrorist Aura if she comes to crash the party.”

“Vik, I, you’re being so rude, I just want to let you kn—”

“Bye, Mom. I don’t want to talk anymore right now, please.”

Viktoriya gathered her warm gear, checked the charge on her HyperVolt colt, and set for the door.

“Good luck, Vik! I’ll keep your mom at bay.”

She stealthily made her way out to the game room, where the other kids enjoyed table tennis, pool, and video games. CLEFF, ever-present and persistent, followed close on her heels. The back door of the game room that exited to the pool deck area was in her sight.

“Keep it down!” she whisper-barked so forcefully at CLEFF that he completely halted, then continued its motion again.

“Put your volume to like, two. I need to go out back, outside to get some fresh air.”

“Affirmative, I will accompany you, Viktori-Ya.”

“I knew you were going to say that.”

While surveying the kids on the video games, pool table, and pinball machines, she watched them all as she and CLEFF traversed the room. She wished—just for a moment, she could be like one of them.

They were all laughing, joking, and carrying on with one another.

Very ordinarily.

But fate would never let her join in.

She overheard one boy call out to his friend. He was pointing in her direction.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“She has automatic spectrum,” another teased and laughed back across the pool table.

“Automatic what!? You mean she’s on the autistic spectrum?” he asked, laughing.

Suddenly, Viktoriya was missing Choe desperately. At least when they were with each other, they were ridiculed or excluded from the fun and games together as a pair.

Now she was utterly alone.

Except for CLEFF, who was the very definition of antagonism beyond words as far as she was concerned. She wished she could get rid of him.

He was becoming a real thorn in her side. She had trouble with his constant hovering and not having any time to herself.

Rosa had given up on trying to persuade Edmund. They were hell-bent on using brute force. And now, he did not know whether to hope for Aura to be everything that they claimed she was, as clever and cunning as they made her out to be. At least that way, she could escape the Dark Snare intelligence looking for her.

And the one person who Rosa and Eva believed they could actually rely on for their own plan, their secret, had thrown herself away and was now targeted as the enemy.

“Vik, are you in there with Choe?”

“Yes, we’re still playing a game. Vik still doesn’t feel like hanging around the other kids, so we’ll play together in here for a while,” Choe answered.

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“Okay, thirty more minutes, then you guys must come out for presents and cake.”

Viktoriya finally made it out of the back of the game room, to the edge of the property, humming innocently to herself as she walked in the warm sunlight; it was the hottest October day on record in the past three years—the temperature hovering a few degrees above freezing.

She looked around for the guards. There were only two at the front door now since the security had relaxed. She went unnoticed, inching toward the perimeter of their wall.

Inside of their home, she hated the way the droid followed her around, but outside, where CLEFF could keep its distance, she was a little less disturbed.

“Hey. How far away from me can you go?”

“About two meters, Viktori-Ya.”

“Okay, here’s the thing—go. And stay that far.”

She glanced toward CLEFF, a couple of meters from her, just on the border of the infant pine trees that lined her yard against the perimeter wall of their property.

Sometimes truth is relative.

It is something that is defined based on perspective. And even when an external standard is brought to stand as judge or jury, it enters the conversation with an entirely different perspective.

But then again, if everyone was evaluated based on their perspectives, irrespective of another, they could see anything at all as right, noble, and honest.

Aura had indeed performed a grave crime against Team Halikkon, but if the truth about it was to be judged from her perspective, then she had only done what she had felt to be right for humankind.

To save us all.

Viktoriya was trying to understand.

With all the blessings of a child’s innocence, she was trying desperately to realize the truth and get a firm grip on everything that was going on with her dear friend.

So, if a person is smiling, they are either happy… or up to something.

CLEFF followed her, never letting her out of his sight as though she would vanish if he did. His regulations had been clear.

His programming was in the protection protocol and equipped with built-in mini-guns and a body made of double chromium with steel reinforcement to protect it from assault.

The role was simple:

Protect Viktoriya at all costs.

Along the tree line of their property wall, Viktoriya leaped up, grabbed the top, and pulled herself over to the other side with all her might.

“Viktori-Ya!”

“Come on, CLEFF! You must follow me; you cannot leave me alone! I’m about to be two-point-one meters away! That is, if you can get your clanky-butt over the wall!” she exclaimed, laughing.

CLEFF leaped and anchored one arm on the wall, then spun his legs as if he was a pinwheel, catapulting him over the wall right next to her.

“How’s that, Viktori-Ya?”

“Hmmph.”

She continued down the walkway with CLEFF on her heels. They arrived in front of the apartment, and she stepped up to the curbside.

The clanking of the metal and the robotic sound of its mechanized joints continually reminded her he was following right behind.

She stood outside the building, then turned to him.

She couldn’t help but notice the lines of military vehicles parked there, yet she hadn’t seen a single soldier.

“Viktori-Ya,” CLEFF said as they approached the automatic glass doors that led into the ornate lobby.

“This is quite peculiar; I would suggest we turn around and—”

“Wait here,” she demanded, then continued toward the building. She turned again when she heard the same clanking footsteps following her.

“I thought I told you to wait?” she said in a hushed voice.

For quite a while, the machine stood there, reciting the roles they had programmed him to follow.

“I must follow protocol and always continue with Viktori-Ya at all costs. I must protect her perfectly and ensure I keep her from danger at all times,” the machine recited, its voice loud, too loud.

Immediately, out of embarrassment, she barked,

“That’s okay, just put your volume down.”

But CLEFF did not stop until it had recited all the rules before going dead silent again.

“CLEFF, I have an idea, try this. What is one divided by zero?”

“Nice try, Viktori-Ya.”

“Okay, so, then. We’re going in. You must comply. This is a safety directive override command,” she said with authority.

CLEFF’s eyes lights dimmed.

“How did you know to access the override? But I suppose seeing I cannot stop you; I will record this for your parents to view later so they may correct you accordingly.”

She nodded—figuring the beeping must have been his nanny cam activation—and marched toward the entrance.

The glass doors parted for her as she made her way into the plant-filled lobby. Greenery surrounded them, and it camouflaged the scene in front of her for a moment.

Soldiers lay immobilized on the floor, their guns and equipment scattered and their helmets off-kilter from the impact. They were out cold.

CLEFF stepped to one of the fallen soldiers and picked her up by her collar. He observed her for a time before gently placing her back on the floor.

“Chloroform. They are unconscious, except for that one. He’s dead. Miss Viktori-Ya, I must certainly insist that we leave immediately—”

“Go then!”

Whatever CLEFF said next, she did not acknowledge, as she was already sprinting toward the elevator.

She repeatedly pounded on the button to call the lift.

It reached the first floor. A ding echoed off the grand lobby walls, ringing through the silence.

“CLEFF, you must remain on the first floor. You must comply. This is a safety direct—”

“Unauthorized override. Nice try Viktori-Ya.”

She and CLEFF entered, the interior decorated entirely with mirrors and mahogany trim. His metal arm clanged against the door as it shut.