Markus has picked up his pace. He circles the low coffee table in the middle of the seating area. After each round, he stops, picks up his glasses, checks the time, changes direction and keeps circling the table. After his fifth round, Kaarina jumps up from her seat.
“Stop. You’re making me dizzy. And we’re not in a time-capsule here. You don’t need to check the time every thirty seconds. Just go to work, I’ll be fine. I’ll come back next week and we can talk. I’ll tell you then what Laura wanted.” She doesn’t mean to be short with him. So snappy. But her shredded nerves seem to have wiped out her manners. Maybe she’s more nervous than she thought.
Markus cocks his head to one side. “Who’s Laura?”
“I mean Doctor Solomon. Who knows? Maybe it’s good news. Maybe next time you see me I’ll be one of you guys. I can walk the blue tiles, watch crappy wellness shows, and work at the Server-Center with you and Raino. We’ll be one big happy family.”
“That’s unlikely. Raino can’t work in the Server-Center, they have an age limit. He can keep his pharmacy job, or he can retire. That’s it.”
“You’re wrong, he can work at the Server-Center. He told me he’d let them plug him in as soon as he knew that Toni was alive.”
Markus freezes in place. His AR-glasses slip from his hands. They hit the floor with a bang that echoes through the small room. “Did he really say that? They told him they’d plug him in?”
“Yeah, in a capsule of some sort. That’s what he says.”
“You’re one hundred percent sure about that?”
“I am sure. It’s not like he’s a man of many words.”
“Kaarina, that’s not right at all. That means these people—”
The meeting room door flies open, interrupting Markus’s hasty words. He turns to see Doctor Solomon and two nurses, who all walk in with friendly smiles on their faces. Then, four men and three women, all dressed in matching blue uniforms, enter the room. Kaarina’s never seen them before. They nod at her, stand by the entryway with their arms folded on the front of their blue overalls. Do they live in the center? Or are they Laura’s bodyguards? Why are there so many people suddenly present?
Markus turns his back on them, shakes his head rapidly, and whispers, “You don’t need to decide anything right now, Kaarina. Raino and I will help you. You’ll have food, friends. I promise. Just don’t agree to anything they suggest. Not today.”
“Ah, Kaarina. So wonderful to see you again. It’s been—what—two years since you left us and the Center? I’m so sorry about the way we left things, but I’m glad to see you back here.”
She meets the doctor’s warm eyes and smiles back at her. The same calming sensation Kaarina remembers from their walks around the facility comes over her. The doctor makes her feel welcome and wanted.
“This bitch is up to no good. Listen to Markus, Kay. Walk. Away.”
Doctor Solomon turns to Markus, raises her eyebrows. “And Mister Nyman, to what do we owe this pleasure? Have you left your new position at the Server-Center? We had such great hopes for you and that house you picked out on the west side of the city. Such gorgeous interior design!”
Markus blinks rapidly, his voice shaking slightly as he replies. “I’m still at the Server-Center, Ma’am. Just helping Kaarina find her way around the city.”
“A gentleman, then, hmm? Isn’t that lovely.” The doctor looks at the two nurses next to her. They nod enthusiastically along with her words. “But I can assure you that Kaarina is perfectly safe. After all, she’s found her way back to me. And what news do I have for you today! Tell me, dear, are you ready for a long-overdue change?”
Suddenly she feels nervous, unsettled. “Change?”
Laura’s laugh caresses her ears. “You do still want to be one of us, don’t you, Kaarina?”
They all stare at her with equal gravity. Markus looks wide-eyed and slightly panicky. He reaches for Kaarina’s arm, but Doctor Solomon blocks him and turns Kaarina toward the doorway.
“Let’s get you some dry clothes, dear. If you’ll kindly follow me. Once you’re nice and dry, I have some thrilling news to share with you.”
They start toward the door. When Markus tries to follow them, the nurses block his way. The doctor turns and gives him a smile, wraps her arm around Kaarina’s shoulders.
“Now Mister Nyman. Don’t you worry about Kaarina here. She’s in excellent hands. You had better run along, now. Being late wouldn’t be the best thing for your social rank and I happen to know your supervisor Mattinen is a very punctual woman. You wouldn’t want to risk that fabulous house of yours, just because you were a couple minutes late one morning, would you?”
The door shuts behind them, muffling Markus’s reply.
***
The glass shakes slightly in her hands. Kaarina tightens her grip on it, staring at the miniature waves appearing on the surface of the water. It isn’t easy to process the doctor’s words.
They’ve done it.
They fixed it.
An Unchipped brain, successfully integrated with the city’s CS. And she’s next in line.
She takes another sip, then clears her throat. “And you’re sure? The chip will definitely work this time?”
“My dear, I’m positive. We’re already seeing excellent results from other test subjects in the facility.”
“Test subjects?”
“My apologies, dear. I mean other Unchipped, here in the center.”
Small wrinkles around the doctor’s eyes, her blonde hair tied into a careless ponytail, and the loose-fitting college shirt under her white jacket make her seem so… ordinary.
And yet she’s the mastermind behind fixing her chip—this process of making Kaarina normal. Someone who can eat, drive, walk, shop, and live in the city. No more outcasts, cold Milkcap stew, or black market. No more knives at her throat. She’ll be just like everyone else, just as ordinary.
“Can I think about it? For a day
