I walked down a white, empty hallway, rubbing the back of my head as I went. There was no scar, no pain to speak of, but I could tell they’d removed the chip. Just knew, somehow.

The hallway split up ahead, and a blue arrow lanced across the floor and veered to the right, so I headed that way. A pair of glass doors stood at the end of the hall, beyond which a concrete sidewalk led into a parking lot.

Ezzie stood at the very end of the sidewalk, standing in front of a silent car that was floating with no obvious means of propulsion.

I hesitated there for a moment, right hand gripping the doorknob. I took a deep breath and plunged into the sunlight.

Ezzie smiled and waved, then made a show of opening the back door with a bunch of wildly superfluous gestures.

I tried speaking through the link out of habit, but of course it didn’t work. “Hey Ez,” I said.

It was strange, seeing her in the flesh again—or silver, I guess—and I wasn’t sure how to approach her.

She had a new crack running along the side of her jaw, the sight of which made me glance back at the car, where her father was staring straight ahead with both hands on the wheel, as if neither of us existed.

Ezzie took two blurringly quick steps toward me and wrapped me up into a crushingly tight hug. “You did so good!” she said, just as bright as ever.

She was surprisingly warm, and I returned the hug, then let her lead me to the car. I climbed into the plush back seat and she shut the door, then sat up front beside her father.

He pressed a button and the car ghosted forward without making so much of a sound.

“So, where to?” Ezzie said. “Your wish is our command.”

I shrugged. I hadn’t really considered that, which was a pretty strange revelation. “I don’t know. Not sure it matters. Wild’s pretty much the same no matter where you go.”

“I know a place,” the father said.

Ezzie gave him a quizzical look, but shrugged. “You sure, Silas? You don’t wanna get dropped back where you were scooped up? Maybe try to meet up with the—”

“Ezzie,” the father said. “That’s enough.”

“No, he’s got rights now,” Ezzie said. “The contract clearly says he’s to be released wherever he wants. It’s the least we can do.”

Her father tightened his grip on the wheel, the leather stretching and creaking around his fingers, but he held his piece.

“It’s alright,” I said. “I doubt I’d be able to find them anyway. Wouldn’t really want to at this point.”

“Fair,” Ezzie said, as the car pulled passed some kind of on ramp. Ezzie glanced at her father again, then shrugged. She twisted around her in her seat. “Did you have them change your baselines back?”

I shook my head. “Nah. Didn’t feel comfortable with letting them change anything after the fact. Feels like the grounds are a part of my story now, you know?”

“Yeah and it wasn’t all bad, right?” Ezzie said, grinning. “Now that you’re safe and out, anyway.”

“There were some high points,” I said. “Bed was nice. Discovering coffee was probably a mixed blessing now that I’ll probably never have another cup. Pilot was a real piece of work, though.”

“Was she now?” Ezzie said, laughing. Then she cut off as the car veered hard to the right and pulled into an alley between two buildings. “Where are we going?” Ezzie said.

Her father didn’t respond. He drove to the end of the alleyway, turned the car off, and got out.

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“What’s happening?” I said. “Ezzie?”

“I don’t know,” she said, sounding just as scared as I felt. “I...you should run. Right now.”

I reached for the door handle, but the door was already opening. Her father grabbed me by my wrist and yanked me out, slammed the door behind me and shoved me toward the hood.

A series of muted thumps sounded behind me; Ezzie was pounding on her window. Looked like the car had locked her in.

“I was wrong about you,” the father said. “Well and truly wrong.”

I edged away and put my back to the wall. I was boxed in on three sides, and while I could make a break for it with the car between us, I knew I wouldn’t get far.

The father tapped the hood of the car and a little screen resolved right there atop the metal, a square that was maybe six inches across. “Come here,” he said.

I hesitated. Ezzie was trying to get the driver’s side door open, but wasn’t having any luck with it.

He was on me in an instant, his huge hand wrapping around the back of my neck. He squeezed and the pain was incredible. He hauled me in front of the screen and pointed at it. “Sign.”

He relaxed his grip slightly, and I scanned the text. It was a new contract.

And if I wanted out? I’d have to hit Grade S.

The passenger side door exploded off its hinges and smashed up against the wall.

Ezzie rushed out, her face flushed, her fists balled at her sides. “What the hell are you—”

She cut off as her father slapped her across the face, the force of the blow driving her sideways into the wall. She slumped to the ground, cradling her face with both hands.

“Like it or not, you need this, Ezzie,” the father said. “You’re hopeless without him. We can’t just let him walk away. This is your future. Our future.” He turned back to me. “Now. Where were we.”

He slammed my face down against the hood. “There’s no nano to help you now,” he said. “Anything that happens here is going to linger. Make it easy on yourself. Just sign the contract.”

I hesitated, then his fingers began to dig into the side of my neck. “Fine,” I said, the pain so bright and sharp that I was barely able to speak. “Just...stop.”

The pressure lessened again, but only slightly. “Then sign,” he said. “Just press your thumb to the line on the bottom of the screen and it’s all over.”

I raised a shaking hand in front of the screen. Held out a thumb, moving it toward the line at the bottom.

Thick, black liquid spattered the screen, then the father’s hand slipped off my neck. His knees buckled and he fell forward, slammed onto the hood then rebounded off it and hit the pavement.

I whirled around to find Ezzie standing just a few feet away, her chest heaving, a red brick held high in one hand. She eyed here father, then tossed the brick back onto the street. “I...am sick...of living like this. I’m done. Do you hear me?”

I just stood there, rubbing the back of my neck, staring at the prone figure.

“Silas,” she said, “please get back in the car.

I swallowed, then climbed into the now-doorless passenger side.

Ezzie squatted beside her father for a long moment, speaking into her wrist or something. Seemed like she was talking to someone. She rubbed her eyes, then came over and got behind the wheel.

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Is he...”

“Dead?” Ezzie said.

I nodded.

“No. Just unconscious. Takes way more than a brick to the head to kill an android.” She started backing the car out of the alleyway, leaving her father crumpled on the asphalt. “But I think it’s safe to say he’ll be going away for a while.”

“Where?” I said.

“Prison,” she said. “This is the second time he’s tried to bully a free human into a contract. The Android Entertainment Council went easy on him the first time around because he was a big name back then, but this is different.” She glanced over at me. “I recorded the whole thing. I already called in a patrol, too. They’re headed this way to pick him up right now. They’ve already got the video and audio. You alright?”

“Yeah,” I said. “He’s got hell of a grip.”

“Sure does,” Ezzie said. “Mean backhand, too.”

“Thanks for getting me out of that.”

“None needed,” she said. “That was the right thing to do. Now, let’s get you home. I already filled the patrols in on where we’re going, and I can handle all this stuff once you’re back in the wild.”

She guided the vehicle out onto the street and turned around, ghosting back the way we’d come and taking the on-ramp her father has passed.

“But...what about you?” I said.

“Me?” she said.

“What are you gonna do without him?”

She was quiet for a long moment. “I have no idea. It’s weird. That always used to scare me; the thought of being alone. But now I’m looking back on the last couple years and it’s like...I would have been so much better off on my own, and I don’t how I didn’t see that. I’m still scared, but I’m optimistic, too. My father was right about one thing, though: I’m not cut out for Piloting.”

“That’s—”

“Silas,” she said, her tone firm. “It’s fine. I’m passable at best, but I’m not good enough to make a career out of it.” The car sped up, joining a stream of similar vehicles that were traveling at incredible speeds without making so much as a sound. “And that’s fine. I don’t think I have the stomach for it anyway.”

“Don’t you need money?” I said. “Isn’t that how this started?”

“Yeah,” she said. “But I’ll figure it out. Just think how much money I’m going to save now that I won’t need to get my face repaired on a monthly basis.”

I felt like I was supposed to laugh at that, but I didn’t have it in me. “Thanks, Ez. Seriously. I don’t know where I’d be right now without you.”

Ezzie winked at me. “You’d probably be dead.”

“True, honestly,” I said.

She punched my shoulder. “You’re welcome.”