Destiny: Quantic Dreams Book 3 by Elizabeth McLaughlin (books for 20 year olds .txt) 📗

you’ve noticed but you’re not the only one here. You have a thousand others counting on you and we cannot—will not—let you fall apart over this!” In that moment, he looked old, older than I had ever seen him before. The man had been through more in his life than I could ever experience, and in a perfect world I could cut him some slack. As nice as that would be, we weren’t there.

“I’m not scared, Fiona.” He removed my hand from his chin and placed it gently at my side. “I’m fucking terrified. Do you have any idea what it’s like to be in this place for me? To be surrounded by the very image of the man I killed? It feels like they can see into my soul. Every time I look at one of them it’s like Gabriel is right in front of me, laughing, mocking me. Every single one of these androids is a slap to the face. A confirmation that I killed a thinking, living thing. You haven’t got the remotest idea of what that feels like.”

“No, I don’t.” The rage I felt at his insubordination evaporated, replaced with sadness. Jacob Alvaro was the most hardworking person I had ever seen. Every decision he made was with the greater good in mind. As foolish as his outburst was, facing off against him wasn’t going to do any good. “I’m sorry, Dad. Look. We all want to get through this together. We’ve always been able to figure out the problems. But I need you to get it together for me. You realize that you just made Eliza look like a fool?”

He blinked.

“No. no I had not. Shit.” He turned to approach her but I held him fast. “I should go apologize to her, shouldn’t I?”

“You should, but not right now. Otherwise it’s going to look like she sent me after you. Right now, you’re going to go ask her what she needs of you. Then you will treat her with the utmost courtesy and respect until the androids either execute us all or we walk out of this place. Understood?”

He nodded tersely.

“Then you’re going to give me a hug like we just had a nice chat as father and daughter and no more of this stuff, right?”

“Mhmm.”

We waited on tenterhooks for the androids next command, but no such instructions came. Eventually exhaustion overcame us and we settled into an uneasy sleep. I was jerked awake a few hours later later by Eliza. Thinking we were under attack, I launched myself out of bed. My eyes focused on a group of androids flanking Eliza and Dad. Their eyes were trained on me, fists halfway raised as they expected an attack. “Sorry.” I backed up with my hands raised. “You startled me, is all.”

“They’re here, honey.” Eliza kept a hand on my shoulder to steady me.

“In the middle of the night?” It felt like my words were coming out in a slur. I shook my head to clear the last of the sleep from my mind.

“Believe it or not, it’s morning. Come on, grab an extra layer and let’s get going.” Only a few other people raised their heads off their pillows as we left. A thought flitted through my mind that we should have left someone in charge, but the chances of anyone breaking the androids’ mandate were slim. I could see my breath in the early morning air, the fog leaving minuscule clouds that hung in front of me for a moment before disappearing. No one spoke. Something told me that long conversations weren’t the norm for the androids; I wasn’t even sure that they spoke out loud unless it was absolutely necessary. Our escorts brought us back to the mysterious building we visited the day before. They opened the doors into a large auditorium with a central podium. Above the speaker’s platform hung a plaque in the shape of a map, the continents of the planet mounted against lines indicating longitude and latitude. Dad snorted.

“I’ve seen this place before.”

I had too. There was a similar structure in the virtual world. A central courthouse of sorts where offenders were brought to plead their case. Dad had never been there. Gabriel must have taken his inspiration from a movie that Dad had seen. Seated at chairs on either side of the podium were two lines of androids, their hands folded in their laps. A single figure stood at the podium, her bright eyes shining through the dim light. Eliza and I inclined our heads out of respect, but my father looked like an animal being led into a cage.

“Jacob Alvaro, you are here to stand trial for the murder of the artificial intelligence known as Gabriel. Much like the laws set forth by your shelter’s founders, murder is a serious offense. You will be given the opportunity to choose your own representative and produce evidence. If you are convicted, you will be punished according to our laws.”

“I understand.” It wasn’t as if he had any other choice.

“I will represent the accused.” Eliza stepped forward before my father could say another word. He opened his mouth and closed it again. If we hadn’t been facing down the prospect of a horrific death I would have laughed. She had the chance to play lawyer in the virtual world when Dad has been locked in that psych hospital. Now she had no other choice but to become one for the man whose fate we all depended on.

“Very well. You may have thirty minutes to prepare your opening statement.”

“We’re having the trial? Right now?” I blurted out the words without thinking. This was setting us up for failure. Not only had our sleep interrupted, but we hadn’t eaten, showered, or dressed. Even Eliza wouldn’t be able to pull this off without the opportunity to fuel her body and her mind. We were offered a small waiting area with a minimum of refreshments and water offered. While Dad chugged down a bottle’s