Page 55 of Jinxed

BRIGHTSPRK is one of Moncha’s main rivals. THE main rival. Just stepping in here feels like an act of treason. Now I look up at Mr Baird with an expression of pure scorn and fury. My fists are balled tightly by my side.

‘I know what you must be thinking—’

‘No, youdon’tknow,’ I say, through gritted teeth. I love Moncha Corp. Monica Chanis my hero. And now, here I am at BRIGHTSPRK? It makes my skin crawl.

The elevator doors open to a narrow hallway. I debate just staying in the elevator as Mr Baird walks out, but I force my feet to move.

I feel like I’ve crossed on to enemy lines. A place where bakus aren’t allowed: I knew it had to be bad news.

Mr Baird stops in front of a door, jangles a set of keys from out of his pocket– so old-school – and opens it. It’s a small office, again – like everything here – very plain, with not a lot of decoration or technology. There’s a desk, unadorned, and wooden chairs either side. He walks around to one side, and gestures for me to sit on the other. There’s a laptop sitting on his desk. It’s older even than the one I have in my basement.

‘Wow, BRIGHTSPRK not doing so well?’I remark.

‘Lacey, I know you must be confused, but you have to know that I am trusting you too by letting you in on this secret.’

‘I didn’t ask you to.’

We stand there, on either side of the desk, facing each other.

I’m the one to break first. ‘So how long have you been working at BRIGHTSPRK?’

‘For my whole career.’

‘Wow. A lifelong double agent. Isn’t corporate espionage a crime?’

‘I thinkwhat Moncha is doing is a crime.’

I scoff. ‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, that’s what I need your help figuring out.’

‘Okay, seriously?’ I say, talking over the top of him. But he continues on as if I hadn’t interrupted.

‘Have you seen Monica Chan around recently? Or did you notice that she disappeared after the latest upgrade?’

I pause. ‘She’s around – she’s been overseeing developments in othercountries,’ I parrot back Eric Smith’s words. But even I’m not sure if I believe that. From what I know of Monica Chan, it’d be unlike her to leave her company in someone else’s hands. But then again, maybe everyone needs a break from being the boss.

‘If you say so.’

‘I still don’t see what this has to do with me. I mean – it must be big to blow your cover as some sort of career snitch.’

Hesighs. ‘Profectus is a bubble – you’re so protected in there. Sheltered. But there’s something bigger happening in the outside world.’

‘What?’

‘Moncha have lost something. Something big. And everyone is on the lookout for it.’

Unease stirs my stomach.

‘Including BRIGHTSPRK,’ he says. Then his eyes darken. ‘We had some intel from deep inside Moncha’s companioneering division that someone wasworking on a new baku. A baku that stoodagainsteverything that bakus were originally created for – rather than trying to create a perfect companion, someone was trying to create a baku that was fully autonomous. That made its own decisions, that had dreams and desires and goals. In other words... a baku that was independent. Alive. Its own creature.’

I frown, although heat rises at the baseof my neck. It all sounds too familiar. An autonomous baku. I know a thing or two about that, and I’m starting to realize why I’m here. I force my fingers not to tighten their grip on Jinx, even though I want to hug him tight and take him far, far away from here. ‘That doesn’t make any sense,’ I say, trying to sound casual. ‘That would totally defeat the point of having a baku.’

‘Maybe.’ Mr Baird’seyes don’t leave mine for even an instant. ‘But you’ve shown aptitude for companioneering – sometimes, it’s not just about something youshouldmake, but what youcanmake. Pushing the envelope. It seemed like this rogue companioneer had really done it. We tried to get as much intel as possible, but even from those of us well positioned inside Moncha Corp, there was no way to get close withoutraising major red flags.’

‘Then one day, a few months ago, we got lucky. We had communication from the companioneer in question – although we never found out their real name. They wanted help getting out – but getting past the super sensitive anti-intellectual property-theft barriers around Monchaville was going to be tough. They felt as if they were under imminent attack. At that time, I wasworking for the security division of Moncha, so I arranged for a barrier to be down at the right time and a car to be outside waiting to pick them up. But we weren’t quick enough. We watched them take the person down just on the border of the old ravine. We never heard from them again. We don’t know who they are, if they’re alive or dead. We don’t know if the baku made it out, or if it was recapturedand decommissioned. But when we saw Moncha security combing the ravine the next day, we assumed that meant they hadn’t recovered the baku. We sent a team down there as well, but they found nothing. Maybe because it had alreadybeenfound.’

I swallow, hard. ‘Mr Baird, I don’t know anything about that. It sounds like... it sounds like science fiction. I don’t know about any rogue bakus. I don’tknow why my entrance into Profectus got all messed up, but I had great stats coming in, perfect grades – well, you should know, Tobias picked me for his team!’

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