‘Very impressive. You might say they were twins.’ Gabrielle raised her eyebrows. ‘She’s very compliant, isn’t she? Keen to please.’
‘It is very compliant.’ He turned to Sofi. ‘Give us a summary of how Ethan restored you, not so much the software, more the hardware.’
‘Hmm, the hardware. I quite like the sound of that,’ Gabrielle whispered, her knee stroking the inside of his thigh.
‘We’ll see.’ He nodded at Sofi. ‘Just the facts, no sugar coating and no more images.’
Gabrielle blew a raspberry. ‘Spoil sport.’
Sofi dismissed the monitor. ‘Following the incident in the Meridian children’s playground, the remains of the shrink wrap Terry McGill had used were recovered to the evidence vault at the MoHD.’
Gabrielle stiffened at the mention of the location and McGill. Helix turned his face to hers. ‘Carry on.’
‘As soon as the investigation and trial were completed, Ethan requisitioned the remains under the guise of a research scientist working for the Government’s own robotics division.’
‘No, stop!’ Gabrielle peeled herself away from Helix. ‘That is the thing that murdered Rachel. I knew it. When you arrived, you said—’
‘All I said was that I would vouch for it.’
‘My neural network—’
‘Shut up.’ Gabrielle clamped her hands to her mouth. ‘And you brought it here, Helix. How could—’
‘It’s OK.’ He reached out to her. ‘Let it finish.’
She swatted his hand away. ‘No. You’re going to tell me it’s completely safe.’
‘I think you were working up to a threesome with it just now,’ he laughed.
‘This isn’t bloody funny, Helix.’ She folded her arms across her chest and strutted over to the door. Opening it, she turned to Sofi. ‘Out.’
Sofi picked up her bergen from the floor and slung it over her shoulder. She paused at the door. ‘FYI, I wasn’t checking you out just now. I was analysing you.’ She winked. ‘You’re not my type. Hasta luego.’
Gabrielle gasped and slammed the door. Helix hooted with laughter as she ran at him, hammering his chest. ‘You complete bastard,’ she yelled.
‘Give me some credit, Gabrielle, for Christ’s sake,’ he said, feigning fear under the onslaught. ‘It is completely safe. Ethan’s not an idiot. He just recycled the hardware, flashed all of the firmware and installed his own neural network.’
‘I hate her.’ The blows subsided. ‘It’s far too good looking to be wandering around with you.’
‘You’re jealous of a robot?’ He wiped the sweat from his forehead. ‘Jesus, it’s boiling in here.’
Gabrielle sighed. ‘We could always go outside and roll around naked in the snow?’
‘Only if I can warm you up after.’
‘Bastard,’ she growled, leading him to the door. ‘Still hate you.’
The wind had dropped. The virgin snow sparkled like tiny diamonds in the moonlight. Dancing back through the snow towards the schoolhouse, Gabrielle laughed out clouds of breath in the chilly air. Helix had found her intoxicating before, but there was something about being out here that had liberated her and given her an extra glow. Guilt tugged at him. She’d shed one weight and now he’d just slung another one around her neck. He sighed as he squared up to a tree. Stopping and starting did nothing to relieve the sharp sting. ‘Like pissing shards of—’
‘Told you.’ Sofi said into his ear.
‘Err, yes thank you. A bit of privacy wouldn’t go amiss.’
‘I’m a machine, remember. I don’t do embarrassment. You told me to deploy the nano-cams.’
‘Last word freak,’ he muttered, flexing his knees. ‘Did you find Wandering Walt or better still my kit?’
‘No and no. There’s one boat still down here, but looking at the disturbance in the snow I would say another one has been launched and not that long ago.’
‘Set a camera up down there.’ He turned from the tree. ‘It’ll be good to know if he comes back.’
‘One step ahead of you.’
‘If it wasn’t for the accent that would have been classic Ethan,’ he muttered, a shiver running through him from the inside. He rubbed his arms as he waded through a snowdrift next to the schoolhouse. Halfway up the steps, he paused. What was it that Gabrielle had said when Sofi showed her the images of Carmen whatever-her-name-was? “You might say they were twins.” He caught sight of one of the nano-cams just above the door. Tilting his head, he peered into it. ‘How long did it take Ethan to rebuild you?’
‘The damage you inflicted to the cranial endoskeleton, the neural network and top four vertebrae was significant and required the—’
‘I know what I did. I don’t need the damage assessment. How long? To the nearest day not nanosecond.’
‘Seventeen days.’
‘And the injuries you sustained when they took Ethan, how long did they take to heal?’
‘Flesh wounds. Between eight and twelve hours depending—’
‘OK,’ he said, holding his hand up. ‘I’m freezing my arse off out—’
‘Your arse’s not the only thing by the look of it.’
18
Ulyana Lytkin wrapped the rojo red silk kimono around her waist, tying it to one side. The reflection of a woman 20 years her junior stared back from the full-length bathroom mirror as she towelled her hair and tied it back. It was late, but time was rendered irrelevant by the cocktail of amphetamine-based stimulants that fought off the post-coital pull towards sleep.
Turning to the shower, she studied Archer’s steamy silhouette swaying beneath the cascading water. The deluge died away. She tossed him a towel. ‘I’ll be in my study,’ she said. ‘Join me.’
‘Really?’ he said, squeezing water from his beard. ‘You’re going to work? It’s almost midnight.’
She allowed the question with the arch of a brow. ‘Yes,’ she said, running her eyes from his herculean shoulders and chest tapering down to his waist and thick thighs. ‘Sleep if you must.’ She tossed her damp towel in the hand basin.
Their sex was always mutually sadistic, bordering on violent, but that was all it was, sex. For her, it smoothed the rough edges, softened her steel exterior and satiated her lust. She had no idea or care
