Page 45 of Ezra
Kat sighs in annoyance. “I can’t accept that.”
“You’re young,” her father says. “Eventually, you will. In time. Don’t think about it too hard, or it’ll drive you mad. Let it be my worry. It won’t be your problem forever. There’s a whole world of fossils and spears and caves awaiting you in the near future. I think if any kind of pivot needs to be made, it should be in your favor.”
“I’m not going to quit,” Katrina replies, stubborn. “If anything, now I just want to prove you wrong.”
Carson chuckles. “Well. I hope you do.”
I hope she does too. I bow my head, folding my arms across my chest.Because if she can’t, I haven’t got any hope left for the rest of you.
In my three years as a bionic law enforcement assistant, I’ve never been handed an assignment meant to be so simple that became something beyond complex.
I’ve been tasked to protect a woman before from an abusive boyfriend after he attacked her and her android. She and I barely exchanged words back then. I thought this might be more of the same, but it seems as though Katrina and I can’t entirely stop talking even if we wanted to. Pretending like she doesn’t intrigue me does me little good. Even as we ride the elevator up BioNex Tower together back to her temporary penthouse, silence is something we can no longer maintain.
Because speaking with her is becoming something I enjoy.
I like her.
I don’t tell her I overheard her conversation with her father, even though she emerged from his room looking troubled and dissatisfied by it. She doesn’t seem keen on talking about that, so I bring up her love of paleoanthropology, specifically her future education.
“What’s stopping you?” I ask. “From pursuing your doctorate in another town, somewhere away from all of this?”
“What do you mean?”
“You seem tired of it.”
Katrina sighs, nibbling on her lower lip. I’ve observed her doing so often. She has several nervous tics. “Humanity First, I guess,” she replies at last. “I’m a big believer in finishing what I start, and until we have an actual win on our hands, something tangible, I feel like I can’t walk away.”
“What would be a tangible win to you?”
“Get Carnegie Steel fined for their massive layoffs.”
“Think you can pull that off?”
“Maybe,” Katrina says, taking to nibbling on her thumbnail instead. “If we could do that, maybe Humanity First wouldn’t need to exist.” She looks at me. “What about your department? How do they balance human staff and android assistants?”
“I wouldn’t put NCPD up on a pedestal,” I grunt, watching the levels pass until we’re at our destination at the very top. “I’m the only one, and they’re definitely not perfect in how they’ve handled me.”
“I kinda figured, considering you’re here with me,” Katrina admits. “Do they treat you well?”
“Some do. Some don’t,” I reply. “But I’ve had to deal with bad attitudes for my entire existence.”
“Even at work?”
“Especially at work.” The penthouse elevator doors open, and we walk together inside.
“How so?”
I snort, heading to the fridge and pulling out a smoothie for her.
She leans against the marble kitchen island with her arms crossed against the smooth surface, watching me in surprise. “You don’t have to do that.”
“I know.” I slide it to her. “I want to.”
She accepts the smoothie and sips it. “Thank you. You were talking about work?”
“When I was activated, I was filled with eagerness, excitement, curiosity,” I admit. “Even pride. I was different than most bionics you meet. Self-awareness was mine to grasp the very moment I opened my eyes.”
“Because you don’t have the inhibitor chip,” Katrina offers.
