26
January 23, 2027
Colby Murphy’s pen scratched across the page as his finger held the place where the Butterfly Nebula should be. Two points of pain were forming on the backs of his ears—something that happened every time he worked for a prolonged period. That, along with the strain in his neck and back, was going to force him to cut his time in the workshop short today.
He made the final marks, rubbed his eyes with his hands, and stood up from the chair.
“Did you find it?” Rose 76GF asked him. She’d watched him for at least the last five minutes; he’d felt her inhuman eyes on him. Rosette 82GF also stared at him, though she was always just staring off at something, so he thought it might not be him that she was actually interested in.
He raised the paper. “Yes. I should probably get these papers to the university.” He rolled back his shoulders, feeling a strong ache in his shoulder blades.
“Why don’t you call it in?” Rose asked, gaze still fixed on him.
He yawned and shrugged at the same time. “I need to get out of the house.” Standing, his attention skipped between the robots that looked so like his sister—but somehow didn’t.
“That’s good. I really should be focusing on breaking into Rosebud 03AF’s system instead of astronomy.”
Colby gathered up the papers on the table, shuffling them across the tabletop. “How’s that going?”
“It’s harder than I expected. She’s created several layers of protection. I’ve been able to break through many of them; I believe I am almost through.”
“Are you sure I can’t help? I might be able to—”
“This is far too sophisticated for you or your hacker friends.”
“I understand.” Colby focused on making a neat pile in front of him. “When you are through her system, how do you plan to get Alainn out?”
“I have a plan. Even though you are more intelligent than the majority of the human population, I don’t think I can explain it in a way you would understand. I should never have helped Alainn do what she did, and my only hope is to remedy my mistake.”
“You’ve told my father your plan, though?” Colby asked as he pushed his glasses up his nose and tucked his papers into his briefcase.
“Of course,” she said. A moment later, both of the Roses smiled, in sync with each other.
Colby nodded. “I guess that’s good enough for me. If Dad asks where I am, tell him I drove his car down to the university.” He waved.
“Where else do you go?” Rose asked, gaze still on Colby.
He made his movements slow, nonchalant as he turned back. “Sorry?”
“The university is forty-six miles away; your odometer always reads that you drive fifty-five to sixty miles each way.”
Colby shrugged. “Coffee, usually. Sometimes I go for food. It’s nice to finally have a car for transportation.”
Rose nodded, her gaze still piercing his. “Perhaps one day you’ll take me to the university.”
Colby nodded. “Taking either of you would be an honor.”
It would be the type of honor that could get him promptly kicked out of the program for academic dishonesty.
Without waiting a second more, he walked out of the house and down to his father’s car. The little blue car had been parked a few blocks down since the last time he used it.
Colby kept his back straight and body stiff as he started the ignition and drove down the hill. In his mind, he recited: left-most drawer, three from the top, centimeter open, computer screen on the left had a website open titled “Common Household Toxins.”
Rosette 82GF had closed the website within thirty seconds of him entering. The shredder had been full of blue paper from an unknown source.
As soon as Colby was three miles away, he pulled off his route. Reaching under the seat, he maneuvered out his latest notebook. His fat fingers had a difficult time turning the pages, but eventually, he made his way through to the first clean page. Quickly, he spilled all the observations he’d been repeating in his head for the last two hours onto paper. At the end, he continued with behavioral observations.
Rose again indicated that it was Alainn’s idea to take her place in Mr. Garbhan’s household. She still refuses to give details of her plan to extract Alainn. Her daily behaviors and routines continue to be regular. Father continues to spend very little time in the workshop and the majority of his time in his bedroom.
After finishing, Colby again stored the book under his seat and drove back into traffic. He’d need to find a better route—perhaps one that took fewer miles and more time.
Mr. Garbhan’s tower was by far one of the most imposing buildings downtown—a thick, black high-rise cutting into the sky.
Colby headed down the access road, then turned to park before the wide screen outside the garage.
Before he had even rolled down his window, Rosebud 03AF greeted him, “Hello, Mr. Murphy. How are you doing today?”
“I’m good. Any chance you’ll let me talk to Mr. Garbhan or my sister?” he asked, already knowing the answer.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Murphy. I can’t do that.”
Colby sighed and rubbed his nose. “Okay, show me that she’s okay and I’ll go.”
Rosebud 03AF immediately obliged. The video screen filled with Alainn’s smiling face.
“Shut up. I do not do that,” she said to someone off screen as her eyes laughed.
She sat at the same dinner table he always saw her at in these recordings. Her hair was up in a messy bun, even though she wore a formal green gown that reflected the light around her.
“You definitely do that,” said what he now recognized as Mr. Garbhan’s voice.
And just like the many times before that Rosebud 03AF had assured Colby that his sister was all right, he saw that his sister was better than all right. For the first time in the seven years since Cara Miller had died, his sister looked happy.