AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Is he giving you grief about upgrades?” Rohn glared at AL.X.
“No, Rohn, that’s what I’m trying to tell you.Hedidn’t order the parts. Upper levelers did. He’s supposed to be the newest model Pleasurebot.”
His expression softened, brows furrowed with shock. “That can’t be right.”
“Tell’em what you told me, AL.X.”
AL.X shifted closer to me to be more in-frame for the camera, turning a hopeful expression onto Rohn. “There were concerns that I might be more advanced than planned. They were going to downgrade me.”
Rohn grabbed the part he had been working on and chucked it towards the wall with a resounding clang.“Fuckin’ mother fuckin’ bastard suit-wearin’ sonuvabitches!”
I cursed a lot, sure. Most of the tradies did. But Ro… he made it an art.
“See? I told you I had a union violation.”
“Yeah, Yeah. But—” Rohn threw his head toward the ceiling and then back to face me with a look of pity. “I don’t know what we can do, Kid.”
“Make him a member of the union so he has the backing of our team.”
“He doesn’t even exist Aubs, not officially. He might not even have aproductserial number yet, let alone a personal identity number.”
I gave Rohn my sweetest smile and batted my eyelashes at the camera. “I know you can fix it, Ro. You’re on the board. You have back channels.”
“Don’t try to butter me up, Kid. You know I’m immune.”
He wasn’t. Rohn was like a long lost uncle to me. He liked to play gruff and cold, but I knew the old man held a spot of affection for me. AL.X shifted beside me and drooped his head some, but I wasn’t giving up. I kept staring at Rohn with the big, pleading puppy-dog expression in my brown eyes that I knew would work… eventually.
He took in a deep breath and smacked his palm emphatically against his anvil. "Dammit. You're right. He deserves a chance, and if I can help get him that, I will. I'll comm the board… and uh, a few other people. I’ll get back to you ASAP, but Aubrey?" His face turned grim, eyes full of trepidation. "You gotta keep up appearances until I can work this out. If they eventhinkyou're up to something you, me,andAL.X will be indeepshit. I’m not just talkin’ android lobotomy, I mean he gets a full reprogram and we get shallow holes in the pink dirt. If they’re playing fast and loose with the rules, it means a major investment is at stake. This is big, bigger than just some paperwork. We need to be sure we play our cards just right."
AL.X looked back and forth between me and the screen, shaking his head. “No, I cannot ask either of you to take this risk.”
I rolled my eyes. “Well, too bad.”
“No—”
“Listen, buddy,” Rohn interrupted. “Once she’s got a mind to do something, she does it. The best thing you can do is get on board.”
“And tradies stick together,” I added.
Rohn nodded. “You’re one of us now, AL.X. Better get used to the kid’s smart mouth and the smell of a forge.”
AL.X looked back and forth between the two of us. “Thank you.” His violet gaze lingered on me. Android eyes couldn’t fill with tears like a human’s, but his were still filled with so much emotion, so much life.
How they hadn’ttrulyrealized that AL.X was sapient baffled me. How he’d managed to hide it when there was so much there. Worry, hope, care. Anyone with a heart would’ve noticed.
But that was it, really. The upper levelers cared about profit and themselves, not us, and certainly not an android.
AL.X turned back to Rohn. "What do you mean by ‘keep up appearances’?"
"He means," I answered, "you and I are going to proceed as if nothing has changed. You’ll need to keep pretending, just for a little while longer, and I’ll keep working. If anyone checks in on the project, they won't suspect anything."
“I gotta get started on this, Kid.”
"Keep me posted, Ro." The old man waved me off and closed the feed.
AL.X moved to my work table and picked up the schematics again. "Don't just stand there," he chided with a smile. "Get over here so we can build my cock."
Al.X
