Page 84 of Chaos Theory
‘I have, I have. Now, listen, Maeve –JP and I need to talk privately for a little bit. Why don’t you run along with Josh here? He’s all set up for the Kobi handover.’
My stomach flip-flops at the word ‘Josh’ and even more so at the word ‘handover’. I feel like I’m on the wrong side of a custody battle. I don’t even have time to process the way Ron just told me to ‘run along’ as if I were a child.
‘Sure thing,’ I say breezily.
I watch as Josh greets Kobi with what looks like genuinewarmth. I realise they haven’t seen each other in a while. I can’t look him in the eye though.
‘Josh,’ Kobi is saying, ‘I have many questions.’
‘All will be explained.’ Josh looks at me. ‘Please, follow me to our robot bay.’
In spite of the circumstances, I feel a stir of curiosity at the prospect of seeing the ‘robot bay’, whatever that is. My ill-begotten robot-handling career is currently on the rocks. I flash through a quick recap:Duped by an engineer into integrating a malfunctioning bot into an office full of unsuspecting people; lying to Laura Cantwell and PHI employees about where I work; attracting the ire of the CEO of RoboTron. Not a great résumé. But it’s not all bad. I’ve done some good things too – things I never thought I’d be able to do:Integrated a robot into an office full of people; helped said robot put humans first in a moment of crisis; rehabilitated a damaged robot. But it’s very hard to know where I go from here.
The three of us board the elevator. I feel the space shrink around me. Josh’s lies suck all the air out of the metal box.I’m doing this for Kobi,I remind myself.
‘So how many people work here?’Maybe some small talk will ease the tension.
‘No one knows,’ says Josh. ‘Or at least, no one will tell me. We have the top three floors of the building, anyway.’
‘Oh,’ I say. ‘I thought the whole thing was RoboTron.’
‘Yeah, people assume that. There’s some subletting going on though.’
‘I suppose things are not always how they seem on the outside,’ I find myself saying, and we fall into an awkward silence.
A few minutes later, we arrive at the robot bay. The entrance is via oversized, opaque sliding doors that swoosh open to reveal a cavernous, messy workspace. The atmosphere feels chilly, and not just because of the tension between me and Josh. Tools lie discarded on workbenches, wires trail everywhere. I almost trip over a single bionic arm on the floor.
My eyes are drawn to the large glass cases that line onewall. Istop in front of the first one, peer inside. I tap on the glass as if I’m at the zoo. The small white robot within lights up its eyes and swivels its head towards me.
‘Maeve,’ says Kobi from behind me, ‘may I introduce you to the Leila bot? Its responsiveness to environmental stimuli makes it an ideal companion for the housebound, the elderly, the confused. I believe you would enjoy her company.’
‘Ha,’ I mutter.
‘Josh,’ says Kobi, ‘shall we give Maeve our lab tour? Maeve, you will find it most stimulating. The grand finale is a robot dance, which Josh performs while I mimic the actions of a nightclub DJ.’
‘Wait,’ I say. ‘Josh, look. I can’t pretend this is normal.’ I gesture at the glass cases. I can make out the labels ‘Poopsie’ and ‘Drover’ on the next two. ‘Obviously, this isn’t normal. But…’
I take a few steps to get further away from Josh. Then I stop, turn to face him properly for the first time. My voice shakes as it all comes tumbling out. ‘I cannot… I just… How could you? I mean, why did you? I mean,howdid you?’
I thought I didn’t want to know, but it turns out I do. I want to hold him to account.
He takes a step towards me. I take a step back. He moves to a workbench, picks up a controller. The lighting dims a little.
‘I’m so sorry,’ he says. ‘What I’ve done is inexcusable. But at least let me explain it. I’ll tell you everything. Maybe we can sit down together, have a coffee? Kobi can wait here.’
‘No. You owe Kobi an explanation too. He’s very confused about all of this.’
‘Maeve is correct,’ says Kobi. ‘Data is incomplete. Logic circuits have misfired. A number of fundamental assumptions are currently undergoing re-evaluation.’
Josh sighs. He sits on a chair, puts his hands on his head. He speaks quietly. ‘The last thing I wanted to do was to harm Kobi. That’s what started this whole…runaway train. When I got the call to go to PHI in the middle of the night, I didn’t believe what they told me. Until I watched the video, I thoughtthey’dmade somekind of mistake. Kobi’s actions were just way beyond any of his programming or experiences.’
He looks at Kobi. ‘He’d been doing so well up to that point. Incredibly well. Game-changingly well.’
‘I get it,’ I say sharply. ‘He was going to be your big break.’
I slump down onto a swivel chair. Kobi was going to be my big break too, I realise. ‘Why didn’t you just take him home right then and there?’
‘I did take him home – to my apartment.’
