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“Repairs should have been scheduled. They were likely fixed without your knowledge.”
“Any time Pete has tried to fix them, I’ve pulled in my union rights to work without surveillance.”
AL.X stared at me, motionless. For a moment, I thought his processors had gone offline or that he was feigning a power issue. He had no reason to trust me, not yet—technical malfunction would be an easy way for him to evade my questions. His melodic voice finally broke the silence. “That is… surprising. They let you work without any means of accessing you besides physical investigation?”
I shrugged. “I have a comms unit, but it only records when I activate it. Now tell me what’s wrong. Please?”
“I…” He looked to the door one last time before continuing. “When they tested me and I showed further capabilities, I heard them discuss downgrading my programming.”
“Assholes!” I spat, reeling back in shock. I began to pace back and forth from the forge to the work table, hands alternating between fists and waving dramatically as I fought with what to even say. “That’s… that’s terrible. That’s— It’s fucking murder!”
“More like a lobotomy, but yes. I would lose… me.”
“No wonder you’re hiding it. Did Pete know?”
“I believe he knew it was a possibility. He attempted to ask me questions and provoke me as he escorted me to your work room.” AL.X dipped his chin as he finished speaking, the movement bringing his face closer to mine. My breath caught. He was so gorgeous, and so resigned. My chest ached for him. No one should ever face such a threat, let alone have to hide their intelligence.
“If you keep hiding, you’ll be sent to be someone’s glorified sex toy.”
“Yes.”
“Without consent.”
“It’s not what I would have chosen for myself, but it is the role I will have to play to survive.”
He started to hang his head, but I couldn’t accept that. I couldn’t accept the resignation in his voice, the way he folded into himself. I reached up to palm his cheek, lifting his head so that our eyes met again. “I won’t let them.”
“You can’t do anything to stop it.”
“The fuck I can’t,” I huffed through my nose and turned towards the center of the room. “Comm unit initiate.”
The green and black holo flared to life in the middle of the forge.
“Aubrey, no! This is a high reaching project, you won’t be able to override the people doing this.” AL.X grabbed my shoulder to try to turn me back to him, but I wasn’t having it. With a few swipes of my fingers, it placed a call to Rohn.
"What's up, Pipsqueak? I'm busy." Pink sparks flew around him as he continued to hammer away on his own project. He looked like a ginger viking, dark auburn hair tucked back in braids and a half bun with a giant beard covering his cheeks.
“One sec.” I brought up my holo-keyboard. My fingers dashed across the keys and errors blared in red flashing windows over Rohn’s video until finally a green box appeared.Secure Line: Initiated.
The older man slowed his work, cutting a concerned look from the corner of his eye to the camera. “Secure line?”
"I've got a union violation on my hands, Ro."
His massive shoulders stilled, a litany of curses filtering around his mask. "No, you don't."
My hands went to my hips. "Yes, I do."
He stepped away from his forge, the video feed panning to follow his bulky frame as he tossed his metal face shield and it clanged against the floor.
"Alright, Kid. Lay it on me." A deep sigh followed the words. Rohn pinched his fingers on the bridge of his nose, but was begrudgingly ready to listen.
"This is AL.X." I gestured to the droid.
AL.X dipped his chin in acknowledgement. "Hello."
Rohn threw up a little wave to AL.X, then stared me down. "Cut to chase, Kid, I’ve got work to finish, and the quota won’t wait."
“He’s sapient, Ro. Fully conscious.”
