There’s a reporter standing in front of a fire, and I realize after a second that they’re showing downtown Minneapolis and using the word riots. Glenys grabs my wrist and squeezes. “That’s where Nell is,” she whispers.
“We’re not staying here,” I say, putting my glowing drink back on the bar.
“If there are people you want brought here, I would be happy to accommodate,” Rajiv says. “Nell? Her family? I can have them here in an hour.”
I look him in the face. “I’m not staying here without my mother.”
“I’d be more than happy to bring her here, if you can figure out where she is.”
If he had her, I’m pretty sure he’d at least hint about it, since he’s trying to convince me to stay. So we’re done here. I look around at Mimi, Glenys, Rachel, and Bryony. “Let’s go,” I say.
The bar area isn’t enclosed, but when I turn to leave, the multi-limbed server robots have all rolled up to the edge, surrounding us. “Hear me out,” Rajiv says. “I have a lovely shelter full of abundant supplies to wait out a period of civil disorder, and a fleet of robots—these are only a handful—to use for self-protection. And to protect a select group of friends.”
“Like the Abiding Remnant, Brother Malachi?” Glenys asks, her voice shaking.
He squints and says, “Oh, it’s you.”
“Yes,” Glenys says. “It’s me.”
“The Abiding Remnant’s purpose is foot soldiers,” he says. “Shock troops for the battles of the Tribulation. There’s a reason I’m here, not there.” He starts to turn away, then thinks of something and adds, “Your younger siblings are on their way to the compound. They’ll be fine.”
“What do you mean by ‘a fleet of robots’?” I ask.
“The great thing about an amusement park is that it makes a lot of noise, and if you want to refit part of the former factory into an actual factory and ship in parts and machinery to manufacture robots, people take ‘I’m working on new features for my amusement park’ at face value,” Rajiv says. “I’d be happy to give you a tour of the secondary facility in a day or two. It’ll be nice to have some human friends to see it.”
I think about what it would be like to be shut up here with CheshireCat as my only companion. When he says AI friend, does he really mean that the AI is his friend, the way CheshireCat is mine? Or is he using the AI, the way Rajiv and my father used my mother’s brilliance and skills years ago for their project?
“I’ve heard you out,” I say, “and I wouldn’t wait out a bad rainstorm with you. We’re leaving.” I stare hard at the robots that are blocking our path, and a second later, they shut down and drop to the floor—CheshireCat’s doing.
“Let’s go,” I say, and everyone—including Rajiv—follows me as I head to the nearest exit.
“It’s starting!” Rajiv calls after us. “Don’t expect it to stop!”
Glenys, next to me, flinches so hard I can feel it through my coat, and her fear makes me feel like I had better be brave, no matter how much this is freaking me out. “I fought my father,” I say, turning back for a second. “Do you think I’m afraid of you?”
“He’s trying to delay you,” CheshireCat says from my pocket. “I recommend taking the fire door straight ahead.”
It’s one of those “alarm will sound” doors, but I decide CheshireCat is giving us good advice, and I push the bar to set off the alarm and let us out. Outside, I can see that one of the bland-looking adjacent buildings with garage doors is opening up, and a line of robots is emerging. They’re not cute little mini robots like CheshireCat keeps buying; they’re not dog-size, like the ones Rajiv had escorting him around the park. The first robots are reared up on wheels that look almost like back wheels, nimbly balanced with four top limbs that have gripper ends. They’re speeding toward us, but then they stop and flop limply onto their faces. “I sent them all the command to reboot,” CheshireCat says. “But you probably want to get to your car quickly. There are bigger ones still in the warehouse.”
“Does Rajiv have a robot army?” I ask as we run to Rachel’s car.
“Seems to, yes. Stored next door. Built from stolen designs.”
Another set of robots emerges from the warehouse. They look like the twelve-limbed drink-serving robots, but elephant-size. They scuttle toward us, but collapse onto splayed limbs halfway toward us. “The ones in the back have a different security protocol,” CheshireCat says.
“Does that mean you won’t be able to shut them down?”
“Possibly.”
“Okay,” I say. The car’s in sight. “Rachel, can you let Mimi drive?” Rachel hands her the keys without arguing. We pile in, and Mimi starts the car.
The final cadre of robots has emerged from the warehouse. These look almost like tanks, with rolling treadmill things at the base instead of wheels, but they’re much faster than I picture tanks, and they’re not heading for us—they’re heading for the exits that lead out of the parking lot, and then settling in to block them. Even if CheshireCat can shut them down, they’ll be blocking our way out.
I was expecting Mimi to speed to the exit, but they’ve beaten us there. Mimi seems unperturbed; she drives demurely toward them, then swerves abruptly to the side and floors the accelerator. There is one parking spot without a parking block at the end; she drives through it, blasts through the snow, and jumps the curb. The tank robots start after us, but now that we’re on the street, Mimi can outrace them; she speeds down the road to the busy four-lane street at the bottom and jumps another curb to make an illegal right turn that gets us honked at but will also make us harder to follow.
My flip phone gets a text.
My door will be open to you, when you regret this.
“Brother Malachi speaks with the Elder,” Glenys
