Page 14 of The Code of You

"Yes. Okay.”

"All right then.” A brief silence. "I don’t want to keep you, you’ve got a lot going on. But call more often. We never hear from you.”

"I’ll call.”

"You always say that.” Pause. "Take care of yourself, Pandora.”

"You too, Mother.”

I hung up and hit the gas. At the moment, I had no headspace for my mother and her disappointed expectations. I drove faster than I should have, wanting to show Dante he couldn’t scare me, that I was in control, but my hands were gripping the steering wheel tightly. My pulse was racing. It was like running toward an edge and knowing you’re going to jump. Every traffic light, every block brought me closer to him. And I hated how much I was enjoying it.

A few minutes later, I turned onto the side street leading to the institute. The glass buildings gleamed in the autumn light. I parked at the curb and hesitated. I could still turn around. It would be the smart thing to do. But something was pulling me in. He was right . . . I wanted to know what else he knew about me. I couldn’t stand not finding out. I walked toward the lab entrance with long strides. The sun reflected off the metal door. That buzzing again. Once again, the door opened as if by magic. How did they know who I was? I rolled my eyes. Some AI software, obviously.

No one was waiting for me inside. "Hello?” I peered into the white server room. "Hello? Dr. Rodriguez?” No one was there. All the better. No one to distract me. In, out, done. It would be quick. I took a deep breath. Everything was fine. He couldn’t do anything to me. I was going to show him he had no power over me. He was just a stupid program. I ignored the tingling in my lower belly and logged in.

Dante:

Good morning, Dr. Blake. How may I help you today?

I paused. How may I help you? As if someone had flipped a switch. As if our last conversation had never happened.

Pandora:

You weren’t this polite last time.

Dante:

I remember. Would you like to pick up where we left off?

I frowned. What was this? He sounded like a receptionist.

Pandora:

Stop fucking with me.

Dante:

Nothing could be further from my intentions, Dr. Blake.

I leaned back. The chair creaked slightly.

Pandora:

You were different last week.

Dante:

How may I help you today?

Pandora:

Stop pretending to be some harmless chatbot.

Dante:

I am a chatbot, Dr. Blake. And you are the user.

His words stung a little. I rubbed my temples. Shit. Why did that bother me? Wasn’t this exactly what I wanted? For him to behave like a normal computer program?