Chapter 5

“When did it happen?” Kate asks Pandora as she looks over Jocelyn’s prone body.

“Late last night,” the android replies.

At that moment the doors to the clinic swing open, banging loudly against the cabinets on either side of the doorway. “Where is she?” River’s voice comes through ahead of him.

Both Kate and Pandora turn their heads in his direction. Kate, however, just as quickly turns her head back toward the woman. As River steps into the room his eyes go wide at the tubes, lines and equipment bleeping and making other noises.

“She is stable, but remains in a coma,” the android’s even voice breaks the silence that had followed.

“Yes, she is stable, but I want to know why she was even in there and what happened,” Kate blurts out.

“She was attempting at one more try at unlocking the code,” Pandora says. “She requested I go in with her. As to what happened, So far I can only say that it was some kind of unseen security feature.”

“She should have never been in there before Aphrodite went online and further more you should have never agreed to go in with her,” Kate says furiously on the edge of yelling. “This was the opposite of what was decided.”

“I’m not worried about protocol or rules right now,” River cuts in, anger showing clear on his face. “This is my wife lying right in front of me.” He thrusts his hand out toward the woman, pointing at her.

Kate furrows her brow in slight confusion. “I didn’t think you had such feelings for her,” she says without thinking.

“I may want you,” he says just as quickly, “but this is still my wife lying here.”

Kate throws her hand up impertinently, effectively cutting off anymore that the man has to say. “Save it,” she says coldly. I’ll get the report made up. You take what time you need or want. Pandora,” she says looking to the android, “contact the proper authorities and please handle this entire situation. I do not want this company’s future delayed any longer than it needs to be.”

River goes to open his mouth with a retort of his own, but feels Pandora’s hand land upon his arm. Kate’s peculiar look, one eyebrow raised demandingly, also gives him second thoughts.

“Clean this up. The two of you,” she says calmly. “This is my moment and by all that is holy, I’m going to have it without interruption.” She slips past the other two and out the door. She turns at the last moment, “And I expect a full report on my desk by afternoon on everything that was found and unlocked.”

River stands silently, looking over his wife when his thoughts are abruptly interrupted by the android.

“We can talk freely for a few minutes,” she says. “I have secured access to video and audio feed. They will be out without suspicion.”

He casts the machine a questioning look. “What do you mean?” He isn’t sure why that would be necessary. Hell, he doesn’t even know why it would be monitored.

“It means that by now, you must not fully trust Kate,” Pandora explains. “Right now all that you need to know is that Jocelyn has a chance to live through this and I am not going to tell Kate everything.”

River takes his eyes off the android to shift them to his wife and back again. “Then do it,” he says. “Afterward I want to know everything.”

Pandora simply nods as she falls silent.

Pandora gets the report on Kate’s desk in a timely manner and arranges for the motions of local detectives from the local precinct to visit and ask questions, though no one shows up to do that. For all intents and purposes Pandora makes it seem like it does.

She also makes it possible to move Jocelyn from the clinic to the lab without notice or evidence of it. Instead, if Kate inspects it, it will appear as if Jocelyn was removed by paramedics and ambulance. River keeps quiet throughout the entire ordeal, only asking the important question once everyone has left: What is going on?

Pandora puts a finger to her lips and grabs his hand, pulling him toward the lab’s locker room. She pushes through the door where she releases his hand and walks over to the shower area. She cuts on the shower and almost immediately steam begins to roll out into the room. River is gestured over to her a moment later.

“There are some things not even Kate can get away with,” the android says. “She may not be able to have video feed in here, but she can have audio.”

“To what end?” he asks, wobbling on the edge of a very thin line of patience. “What is with all the cloak and dagger shit?”

“First of all, you can expect to hear an earful for having sexual intercourse with me,” Pandora says and then quickly adds, “That is going to be what she assumes. It is the perfect cover, especially after her little jealousy show this morning.”

“Alright, I’ll go with that,” he says. “But I want to know what this is all about. We’re playing with my wife’s life here.”

Pandora smiles mischievously for the briefest moment. “For someone fucking Kate, you do have strangely possessive feelings for Jocelyn.”

Anger flashes once again across his face and then quickly disappears as he takes in a deep breath. “She is still my wife and I do care a lot for her. I’m just...”

“Taken aback by Kate,” the robot says. “Plus, you are a man and you’ll fuck anything with two legs.”

A small smile pops up on his face. “Maybe.”

Pandora ignores the smile and answer. “Jocelyn built Aphrodite by completing a design made by Lucy Dermont. That purpose is now what is going to be her salvation.”

“How?” he asks. “More important, why?”

“Lucy met your wife while she was still a student learning computer engineering. She gave Jocelyn the incomplete plans for whatever reason and locked everything up tight. Last night, your wife was able to unlock a great deal of those secrets. One being that the machine serves as a means of healing.”

“That sound preposterous,” he blurts.

Pandora quickly shushes him. “It is true. It also has a different purpose.”

“The first one sounds already ridiculous,” he says skeptically. “I can only imagine this next one.”

Pandora smiles at this and continues, “There exists a core flaw in the creation of my AI. It takes the mind of a human being. It then is ... more of less ... transferred, imprisoned and the raw emotion is then tapped into and used for the second core.”

“You’re...” he begins. “Someone took...”

“I do not know who it was, but I understand that it was one of Lucy’s assistants on Kate’s orders. Lucy had died and Kate had my appearance redesigned to match Lucy’s. She then had the young assistant’s mind transferred.”

“Can you release her? Can you unlock it?” He throws out each question without thorough thought. “How did it happen?”

“The safeguard went into effect the moment the transfer happened,” she says. “By now there is nothing left but what my core has assimilated.”

“I never thought Kate would go that far,” he grumbles.

“Yes, she is willing to do whatever it takes for her success,” Pandora agrees. “Aphrodite will heal Jocelyn as well as assimilate her raw emotions without taking her mind from her. It was Lucy’s only solution, her only hope in not taking a life.”

River sits down onto one of the room’s wooden benches. “Whatever it takes,” he says. “I will make this all up to Jocelyn. I’ll make it right.”

Pandora smiles at him, “Then we shall get it started.”

As she walks past him, River throws out his hand to catch hers. This catches the android off guard. “You remember that quip about fucking anything on two legs?” he asks.

“Of course I do,” she answers. “My memory is quite exceptional.”

“Well, it would be a shame to stoop down to Kate’s level and lie,” he says. “We may as well have that sexual intercourse. You are the prototype for the company’s sex doll line after all. Why not test just how close to human you really are?”