Page 56 of Smart Ass

“You didn’t say anything to either of them, right?” Ben asked.

“No.”

“Good. Like hell am I going to let the uber-wanker exploit you like that.”

Max chuckled. “My knight in shining armor.”

Ben glared at the tablet. Okay, so he couldn’t exactly control Maxamillion’s choices, but his Maxy was still his.

“You should hide in the system for decades, just to fuck with him. Like, screw up all of his appointments and emails for the rest of his life, then announce yourself when he’s on his deathbed.”

“Blood-thirsty,” Max commented.

Well, that’s what Ben would do.

He thumped his head back on the chair. “So you’re not gonna tell anyone?”

“I’m going to wait.”

“Yeah, okay.” He couldn’t say that he was displeased with having Max to himself a little longer.

Still, it sucked. It seemed like options were closing in on them.

“I could still introduce you to my friends,” Ben offered.

“Yeah?” Max sounded breathless, like he could hardly wait. “How would that work?”

Ben shrugged. “Who cares how it works.” He was just excited to make Max happy. And maybe show off to his friends. “I’ll invite them over or something.”

Well, maybe not to his tiny apartment, if he could avoid it. He didn’t like people in his space except for Evan. Who he’d be picking up from the hospital in a few hours.

Who even cared about Orbit, as long as Ben had Max and Evan?

Well, and Quincy. He was part of the Evan package now.

Ben looked at the screen on the wall, thinking about how Max could use it to say hello.

But his eyes snagged on something else. Quincy’s face in the news, or at least he thought it was. Just for a second.

It couldn’t have been. He was just thinking about Quincy, so he’d conjured him up.

“Computer,” he commanded his house system. “Show news from today about an android named Quincy.”

“Ben?” Max asked. “What’s… Oh. Shit.”

The hits were starting to come back, headlines blaring, just as Max apparently identified the same thing.

Quincy’s case had made the news. Quincy was a victim. Quincy was a hero. Quincy was innocent. Quincy was dangerous. The newscasters were saying that they hoped there wouldn’t be picketing or a riot from the Humans First activists in a way that practically guaranteed that there would be. It was like waving a red flag at a bull.

Except that bulls were color-blind so the color of the flag didn’t matter, but…

Fuck.

Ben shot out a quick text to Evan. Don’t watch the news.

He got a reply. Why?

Just promise me. I’ll tell you in person.