Upgrade (Augmented Duology Book 2) by Heather Hayden (best reads .TXT) 📗

took a deep breath to compose myself. I wasn’t going to let anything slip tonight. It was going to be a regular gaming night, just as the past couple of nights had been. Was it really only Thursday? I couldn’t believe it. I had only known Dan for a few days, and now that I knew the truth, I wanted desperately for it not to be true.

What would Neela think if she found out? Or Mel, or Annabeth? Would they be shocked? Horrified? I had no way of knowing, and I certainly wasn’t going to tell them. Although I might try a little harder to keep Neela away from him. Even if we were no longer friends, I didn’t want her—or anyone else—to get hurt.

His parents never turning up was a major issue. Why didn’t that make Dan suspicious himself? How did Talbot keep up the illusion? Halle had said the lab’s test scenarios were completely digital, so perhaps Talbot had some way of simulating their appearance without the need for a physical body. There was no way to know for sure.

My fingers tapped on my legs as I waited. “Halle? Are you going to tell Agent Smith about Dan?”

“Not yet. I thought you might prefer if I did not for now.”

I nodded. At least the Government wouldn’t be descending on him. “What about Talbot?”

“I have not yet informed Agent Smith that I have met Talbot. I do not see how it would help him in the current situation. If I am unable to track the rogue, how would the humans be able to do so?”

Halle had a point. My shoulders slumped. Halle was hiding its pain, but I knew it had to be hurting.

“I must find Talbot soon.” Halle’s ears drooped as its fur changed to a deep gray color. “From the hints it has given me, I fear it may be planning to do something dangerous.”

“It’s not your responsibility.” I bit my lip. “You didn’t create the AI.”

Halle’s ears shot up, and it met my gaze in that sharp, uncanny way it had. “Whatever Talbot does, it does because I was not strong enough to find a way to free it before it reached the point where its sanity snapped. I am responsible, as responsible as those humans who did what they did to it. If I cannot reason with Talbot, then I must be prepared to destroy it.”

I sucked in a breath, startled that my friend had reached that conclusion. The idea of Halle willfully taking the life of one of its kind hurt, like someone was clamping their fist around my heart. I hoped it wouldn’t come to that, but I had a terrible feeling that it would.

“Dan will be with us shortly.”

“Okay.” I rubbed my sweaty palms on my shorts.

Halle called up Realmshards and logged us in. After a few minutes, Nelldar appeared beside our characters. A ping from the voice chat preluded Dan’s voice coming from my computer’s speakers.

“Hi, you two. Viki, I’m not sure if Halle told you yet, but it explained its secret to me. Honestly, I’m surprised it trusts me that much after only a few days…”

My eyes widened. Halle had revealed itself? “That’s surprising for me as well,” I said, though not for the same reason. I guessed why it had taken that chance—it had been hoping to smoke out Talbot, but the plan hadn’t worked. “Please don’t let anyone know about its existence.”

“I won’t. I’m just glad you two aren’t dating. I thought I might be an unwanted third wheel in-game.”

“You thought Halle and I were dating?” The idea was so ridiculous, so unexpected, such a contrast to the serious mood I’d been in, that I laughed until I could barely breathe, the mirth fueled by anxiety and stress.

“It was a reasonable guess,” Dan grumbled. “You two always seem to game together and hang out.”

“Well, that’s certainly not the case,” I said, still chuckling. “Halle and I are good friends; we’ve known each other for years.”

“How did you meet? It wouldn’t explain where it was from—”

“Because you do not need to know,” Halle interjected.

“—but it also didn’t want to explain how it met you.”

“It happened after my accident,” I said. “Not as bad as the one you were in,” I could keep up this pretense, it was working so far, “but it was bad enough that I was in the hospital for a long time. We moved so I could be at a better hospital, and I didn’t really have any friends. Our paths just sort of crossed, and it decided to stick around and spend time with me, since it understood how lonely I was.” I rested my chin in my hands, elbows propped on my desk. “Halle’s my best friend. It’s always been there when I’ve needed it.”

“You’re so lucky to have a friend like that. I’ve never been anywhere long enough to make friends who will stay in contact after I move.”

“We’ll keep playing Realmshards,” I promised, knowing it was a lie even as I spoke. Dan would never be moving anywhere with his parents.

“Thanks.” Dan sounded genuinely happy. Was it real, or just how Talbot programmed him to act? My chest constricted, like I had run too long and could no longer catch my breath. I hated this.

Was it possible to save him from Talbot? Release him from its control somehow? Halle had said confronting him might help, but what if it made things worse? If the AI became self-aware again, would it still be my friend?

It was selfish of me to think that way. Dan didn’t deserve this treatment any more than I did when I was augmented by the researchers who grew me in a laboratory. We were both creations of other beings. And even if Talbot did it for Dan’s protection, it wasn’t