78 The Thirty-Six-Year-Old Teen
++++Three non-digital years ago.+++
A security guard tossed a service automaton violently to the ground, as the owner cried exasperatedly: "Please, no! Don't hurt her!"
She tried to shield her maid bot, but another guard pulled her by the arms while whispering to her ear: "Please, Ms. Bradford, let us do our job."
"Hurt her?!" The other guard snickered, pulling out his gun. "This is just a toy, brat! Earth is getting fucked by dolls like this, and you brought one here?! This is a controlled environment!"
"Y-Yes, I can see that! I'm so sorry! Just turn her off and seal her away somewhere, but don't--!"
The automaton looked in her direction as if it wanted to express that everything was alright. Two gunshots later, it stopped moving.
"YOU'RE GOING TO PAY FOR THIS!"
The girl's cries echoed through the halls as they struggled to take her away.
The young employee summoned to clean up the mess witnessed it all with a shocked expression on his face, before meeting the guard's glare.
"What are you waiting for?! Take this junk away!"
"Y-Yes!" the boy said, still hearing the enraged cries of that girl.
***
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*
"I've talked to the chief of security, and they'll offer a formal apology tomorrow morning," a man in his early forties said while serving himself a glass of scotch.
The fifteen-year-old girl sitting in front of his desk sneered loudly. A wig rested on her lap, looking like a flat, lifeless ginger cat. "That won't be necessary, Aston, I don't hold a grudge against that guy."
Aston Bradford, a blonde man with icy blue eyes turned to her, frowning. "You're not mad about what that man did to your maid-bot?"
"I'm not a kid anymore." The girl grinned, shrugging. "I know why he did it. We're all a little anxious lately about this global crisis, so it's understandable why he acted like that."
Aston approached her cautiously and sat at the edge of his desk to have a better look at her gaze. "You're telling me you're fine."
"Yeah!"
He took a long sip without taking his eyes off her. "Promise me you won't make a scene, then."
"No."
"Excuse me?"
"Aston…" she intoned, giving him a funny look. "You know I can't promise you that. Today I feel fine, but tomorrow I may feel completely different. You can't control raw emotions, you know."
The top executive took a long sip of scotch before exhaling deeply. "Just be careful, then."
***
**
*
The next day, her raw emotions told her it was not over yet, for the reflection in her restroom mirror showed her a restless girl.
She stared at her skinhead hairstyle and caressed her head, feeling her skull. Blonde hair was starting to grow back. **But not fast enough, and they'll shave it again anyway.**
The wig waiting in the sink seemed to mock her. She hated the thing. **I'll use you one more time.**
Before going out, she applied pink lipstick, checked how her bosom looked with a push-up bra and put the wig on.
Five long minutes later, despite the facilities' maze-like corridors, she easily arrived at the lobby, although she had only been there once.
**And there he is, pretending to be busy.**
The guard acted reluctant to talk to her at first, expecting she had come to whine and bicker about the last day's situation, but after two minutes of her leaning forward so that her pressed breasts looked like bursting out of her clothes at any second, he became friendlier.
He even let her get inside the office to show her the security monitors as she sat on his lap. Every time he mocked any of the employees onscreen, she answered with childish giggles while gradually getting closer to his gun belt. It happened quickly.
She snatched the weapon swiftly, unlocked the safe, and at his right thigh without flinching.
"What the hell, brat?!" The man fell from his chair, and before he could cry for help, she quickly crouched and put the gun's fuming cannon in his mouth, burning his tongue and palate.
She whispered in his ear: "This is for abusing your power. I've investigated, and you didn't have the right to dispose of private property. Legally, bots are not alive, so you didn't commit a crime, and technically speaking, it'd be stupid to trade your life for hers. So I think this will suffice to get even, you and me. This company has great health insurance, so they'll heal you quickly. Now, I'll leave quietly, and let's forget that we ever crossed paths, all right?"
She grabbed her wig and threw it along with the gun in the trash can before slamming the door. There was no need to escape running. She just strolled through the halls while hearing other security guards rush in the opposite direction.
**The void in my chest… Hasn't gone away.**
A boy his age passed her by, and his backtracking steps were loud and annoying. "I've finally found you," he said, getting his feet in her field of vision. "You're that girl, right? From yesterday in the lobby?"
She looked up to glare at him. She did not have the energy or the patience to deal with anyone. But when he reached out his hand to show her something, she frowned. "What the bloody hell is that?"
"Take it," he insisted in an almost demanding tone. "It's a pendant I crafted with a piece of your maid-bot's memory drive."
After hearing that, the girl's eyes opened widely, observing the strange gleaming item. It was metallic blue, and exposing it to the light made it change to green. It was a repurposed piece of junk, and yet, pretty in an awkward kind of way.
"You loved your maid-bot," he blurted out.
"Her name was Miss Cooper," she corrected, acting upset, "and yes, she was my friend."
"I'm sorry that this place's rules are so strict. I was the one in charge of dismantling her and…" he paused after seeing the appalled expression on her face. "...And I swear that I treated her in the most humane way possible!"
"Humane?" She sneered. "Are we still talking about an automaton?"
"Are you going to keep that or not?" he asked, folding his arms.
"Yes. This belongs to me anyway."
"Good!" He smiled, satisfied.
"Alan," a woman wearing a lab coat called aloud from the far end of the corridor. "Your lunch hour is over!"
"Y-Yes, boss!"
Without saying goodbye or waiting for gratitude, he turned back and ran down the corridor.
That he left that way felt wrong to her.
"Wait!" she cried, making him stop midway through. **Great! What do I say now?** He looked in a hurry, and she hated being pressured. "How did you recognize me? I'm not wearing my…" She unconsciously raised a hand close to her scalp.
He stared at her face before his eyes darted to her chest. He blushed immediately. "T-There's not many Tandem in these facilities, you know? And you're the only new face around here! Anyway-seeya-takecare-bye!"
Astrid stood in her place, looking at him go, as the pendant on her hand told her that everything was somewhat alright.
