Page 88 of CHOICE Lover
He waits for her to shoot a glare at the door, but she doesn’t. She must assume he keeps it at the office.
“I went to them when NHOS first rolled out Project LEN.” He chuckles again. “I was already quite adept at my aloof persona by then.”
Her mouth falls open. “So that version of you is the persona! That’s another thing I wondered about. I thought you were having an identity crisis. Or acting like everyone you meet is a manupartner.”
He shrugs. “I’ll admit I do that occasionally. It makes social situations easier. Wouldn’t Janet call it a defense mechanism? As far as identity crises go, I am indeed having one, considering I’m the very public creator of manupartners—”
“You’re either brave or foolish,” she says, and he raises a brow in question. “If you recall, the last time you said something to that effect, I got quite angry at you.”
He kisses her lightly. “You didn’t let me finish. I’m the very public creator of manupartners, in the midst of falling for a human woman.” Her cheeks redden, and he relishes that he can make her blush so easily.
The device in his pocket buzzes. “One second,” he says, pointing to his m-volt implant behind his ear. It’s a message from the identity company Electra mentioned. After their visit to the reincarnates, he created a BLACKOUT account and sent them a request to meet, and they’ve finally replied.
She watches him listen to his message, opening her mouth. Probably to berate him for getting distracted with his device, but he presses a finger to her lips before she can speak. “It’s good news that you’ll want to hear, so please hold your comments.”
“Oh, really?” she asks, swiping at his hand.
He brushes the last residual tears off her cheeks.
“Yes. We officially have an appointment with IdenTECH. Tonight.”
“Really?” she asks, beaming.
Res6 isn’t thrilled about the prospect of meeting at a dusty bar in Z Quadrant called Scraps with the two founders of the alleged company, but he has to give her something to make her happy,and keep himself valuable to her so she won’t leave. That’s what he failed to do all those years ago with Jerme. He won’t make that mistake again.
Plus, seeing the conditions the reincarnates were being kept in convinced him a fake ID was an option worth exploring. If she gets one, she’ll still have to be careful since Wanda can identify her. But they can navigate that together—unless he can convince Inspector Wanda to grant the reincarnates personhood. Then he could tell her about Electra and get her legitimate citizenship too.
Electra shakes his shoulders. “Really?” she repeats.
He grins. “Yes, really.”
The private SAT emits a faint humming as it zips across MSP toward Z Quadrant, the location of the meeting Res6 arranged for them with the founders of IdenTECH. Beside him, Electra’s vibrating knee betrays her anxiety. Since they set up the meeting, he’s been scrolling through BLACKOUT for anything that will give him some insight into the people he’s about to meet with.
She’s watching him intently as he scans an article. “What are you reading?”
She chews her lower lip, trying to steal a glimpse at his screen. “You don’t want to know,” he says, rubbing her knee to ease her nervous energy.
“Well, now I certainly do,” she says, leaning closer.
The SAT pulls into a public garage, and the doors lower to begin the air purification transfer. There is a loud click before the hiss of the airexchange, which is powerful enough to rattle the vehicle. Outside the window, the air becomes lighter until it’s the clear, breathable inside air he’s used to.
Electra reaches forward, tapping his phone to scroll to the beginning of the article Tommy sent that’s still making the rounds from over six weeks ago. He lets her read it quickly, knowing there is no point in arguing once she’s decided something. It’s part of the reason he’s sitting here. At least she quit pressing him about his “work” experiment, i.e., the gelatinous blob that might one day become Jerme.
He knows she’s gotten to the part about the manhunt that took place in B Quadrant when she emits a small gasp. “This article is dated October 14. Does that mean Wanda knew about the reincarnates the day of the robbery?”
The wordreincarnateseems to have caught on. Even the NewNews reporter is using it. “Evidently, but when she messaged me to ask for my help, she didn’t mention how long they’d known about them.”
“Several of the people at Camp Reincarnate stated that their owners turned them in, but the ones there the longest said they got caught, which suggests she found out some other way. Maybe BLACKOUT, like you and Tommy?” she asks.
“The organization that hosts and moderates BLACKOUT has a way of blocking people who might have cause to shut them down. Because NHOS isn’t shy about shutting things down, people like police officers or government officials and anyone associated with them get restricted. I gather they know about it and occasionally find ways of getting access, but if the moderators routinely slipped up, people wouldn’t trust it. NHOS could have found out through a number of channels—FrogBlog for one.”
He doesn’t miss how she blanches at the app’s name. “That makes sense. Do you think the woman from the article was in camp with the others? None of them mentioned running from the police duringthe interviews.” By her alarmed expression, she’s probably envisioning herself in the woman’s place—wherever she is now. “Wait, how do you think they knew she was a reincarnate?”
He shrugs. “I don’t know—maybe her owner tried to turn her in, so she fled?”
“This whole situation is awful. Wanda couldn’t have been happy that this article got out. It reads like both NHOS and GROW are on cleanup duty. They published your official statement, which definitely reads as an advertisement for CHOICElover.”
She’s right, it does—he and Tommy crafted the statement specifically to make CHOICElover look good. The doors to the SAT open, and he takes Electra’s hand, helping her out. There’s no one but the half-interested Z Quadrant garage attendant in the vicinity.
