Rising Tomorrow (Roc de Chere Book 1) by Mariana Morgan (essential reading txt) 📕

learnt to process emotions like a human, her behaviour was frustratingly hard to predict. She was totally ignorant to insults that would make a normal person seethe with anger, and then she fell apart in a panic over things that the average person wouldn’t even notice. She had introduced a big unknown into Gonzalez’s perfectly hand-crafted and moulded team. And given the news he had no choice but to break to her soon, he would give a lot to change that unknown into something he could understand.

***

Lieutenant Rivas yawned and stretched, taking his eyes away from the holo-display in front of him at just the wrong moment. Eloise was on her way to a VR playroom, and through the open door to the security room Rivas caught a glimpse of the woman as she turned a corner. The Elite looked at him, their eyes locked for just a second, and then she walked away with a contemptuous scoff that reached Rivas’ ears. His teeth ground together in response.

There were still a few hours of recordings from Eloise’s residence’s outdoor cams to go through. He was desperate for a break, but he wasn’t about to ask for one. It seemed simpler to just sit it out for another couple of hours instead of reminding Gonzalez about his existence. Wiping off the bad impression he had made was going to be much tougher than wiping Eloise’s vomit from the carpet had been.

All in all, Rivas did actually prefer the mundane computer analysis to being in Eloise’s presence. While it was mind-numbing, and so far unproductive, it also happened to be far less annoying than being in the presence of that crazy nerd. It was also less likely to do further damage to his professional image.

The annoying Elite was doing her best to ignore Rivas, which suited him just fine, but she had an irksome way of ignoring him while rubbing the fact in his face.

Spoilt brat!

But whether he liked it or not, the Elite woman wasn’t going anywhere. Her expertise was needed.

Apparently, keeping her happy is also necessary. Rivas frowned in an unusual display of self-pity. But then his eyes focused yet again on the holo-screen in front of him, and his mind raced. He was tired, true, but the whole analysis was dragging unusually. In fact, it seemed to have slowed down considerably since Tilly took over and Gonzalez gave him the go-ahead to use her basic functions while he continued his more detailed diagnostics.

I wonder if Tilly can hold a grudge over how I crashed her system. It would certainly explain why this is taking forever.

Suddenly another thought struck him.

‘Tilly, are you slowing this down on purpose as payback for what I did to Ms Moretti?’

‘Lieutenant Rivas, I am incapable of acting in such a way without explicit instructions,’ Tilly replied, sounding less than genuine.

‘Did you receive such instructions?’ Rivas asked with growing suspicion.

‘No,’ Tilly said, deadpan.

‘Are you programmed to lie?’ Rivas sat back, letting the chair tip, and folded his arms. It would take some doing to get used to the verbal interface, which was so different than anything else he had ever used.

‘I have found it useful to avoid telling the truth in order to keep Ms Moretti happy in the past.’

‘Are you lying to me right now?’

‘No, Lieutenant Rivas.’ Her voice couldn’t be more polite or correct. ‘I did not lie to you when I said I have avoided telling the truth in order to keep Ms Moretti happy in the past.’

‘That’s not what I meant! And you know it.’ Rivas was trying to sound offended, but deep down he was actually impressed with Tilly. That was one hell of a personality for a computer system. It was freaky, but definitely impressive.

‘Do you hold a grudge because I crashed your system?’ he asked, trying a different approach.

‘Grudge-holding, as you call it, Lieutenant, is not programmed into my subroutines. However, you knocking me out was not the most pleasurable experience.’

‘You feel pleasure?’ he asked while wincing internally at Tilly’s choice of word.

Dammit, it sounds like I’ve done nothing the last few days but knock everything and everyone out.

‘No, Lieutenant, I am incapable of feeling pleasure, but following an analysis of available information, I came to the conclusion that being knocked out is not pleasurable. For a machine. Or for a human being.’

Brilliant. On the one hand we have a computer turned human to a level that’s actually creepy, and on the other, a woman who behaves more like a computer than the computer. And they’re both holding a grudge. Bollocks!

***

Ingram couldn’t remember the moment she had made the decision, but she clearly must have for she was standing in the doorway to the VR playroom, a drink and a sandwich wrap in hand.

‘You really should eat something,’ she said, and winced as Eloise jumped and dropped the VRP chip she was holding. Ingram closed her eyes for a slow count of three. It actually took effort to stay calm. It was as if Eloise’s anxiety was infectious. ‘Didn’t mean to scare you.’

Eloise stared at her silently. Too many thoughts were running through her mind for her to even notice them all let alone choose one to vocalise. To gain time she bent down to pick up the chip.

‘Hungry?’ Ingram waved the wrap. There was no surface available to put it down on without walking right past Eloise, and she was starting to feel foolish, standing there with both hands occupied.

‘I’m fine,’ Eloise replied eventually, just as her stomach betrayed her with a loud rumble.

‘Of course you are. Fine and hungry.’ She waved the wrap again. ‘Now, eat.’

For a moment it looked as if Eloise was going to have another of her outbursts, but then she relaxed. Without looking, she placed the VRP down on a retractable shelf and reached a hand towards Ingram.

‘Wholewheat wrap with some nano-grown meat and mashed-up veggies. I’m not a great cook, but the food nano-dispenser is fully topped up on substrates and reagents