Page 56 of Chaos Theory

FIFTY-THREE

‘Your message was very cryptic,’ says Shane as he opens the hall door to his house. ‘You don’t need an excuse to come and see me, you know.’ He grins, steps back to let me in.

I smile back at him. ‘I just needed to verify in person that you didn’t have a hangover.’ So much has happened in the past twenty-four hours, since I left him in Phelan’s with his sparkling water and the sparkling-skinned Sandra Smith. I walk into the living room and look around. ‘Is Alek here?’

‘No, he’s out on a date. Another one. Says this is The One for sure. Said that last time as well though.’ He escorts me to the couch. ‘Peppermint tea?’

I stay standing by the couch. ‘I need to talk to you about something. Something serious.’

He laughs but sounds uncertain. ‘Okay.’

I reach out for him. He takes my hand and we face each other, awkwardly holding hands. I don’t know what to do or say next. ‘Maybe you should put the kettle on,’ I say. ‘This is going to take a while.’

‘Oh really?’ His grin is back .

‘To explain, I mean. Stop distracting me.’

‘I didn’t realise I was so distracting.’

I focus on his lips as he speaks. He’s still holding my hand. I sense my breathing get shallow. I swallow, lick my lower lip as my mind goes blank.

‘Kobi,’ I say eventually. I sigh and drop his hand. ‘It’s about Kobi. Something bad has happened, is happening. Make me some tea and I’ll tell you.’

I sink into the battered couch as Shane goes to the kitchen.

As I watch him make tea, his back to me, a scenario plays out in my mind.

What if I go to him now, put my arms around him, let him turn around and kiss me, then lead me upstairs?

No, that’s not what I came here for. I lightly tap myself on the cheek to bring back reality.

He returns with two steaming mugs, places them on the coffee table. He sits next to me, then turns to face me. ‘Hey, you look sad all of a sudden. What’s going on?’

Tears threaten the corners of my eyes. I blink them away, go to sip my tea. As usual it’s too hot to drink, but I let the steam bathe my face, blow on the liquid surface to steady my breath.

I inhale deeply and summarise everything I learned today at work.

Kobi’s secret military application. Ron’s plan to create an army of Kobis, and to train them using a digital copy of me, obtained by deceptive means.

Shane’s eyes grow wider with each twist, but – fair play to him – he lets me tell the whole thing uninterrupted.

‘This is bonkers,’ he says when I’ve finished. ‘Outrageous. Poor Kobi. And you – is it even legal to make a digital copy of you?’

‘I don’t know. Ron says I signed away my digital assets.’

‘What are you going to do?’

‘This is the thing. This is why I’m here.

’ I take a deep breath. I can’t look him in the eye.

‘I know Kobi is a machine. But he’s more than that.

He’s part of me, part of us. You were right – he is like a child.

Our child.’ I pause. ‘Or at the very least, our pet. He needs us. We can’t abandon him now.

’ I finally understand why people refer to their pets as ‘part of the family’.

After everything I’ve been through with Kobi, seeing him in jeopardy clarified my mind. What Ron plans to do is wrong. And maybe I can’t stop him. But maybe I can help Kobi.

‘But what can we do?’ Shane asks.

‘Well.’ I put down my tea. ‘I kind of came up with a plan.’

‘Great.’

‘But you’re not going to like it.’

‘Oh.’

‘It involves you. And – unfortunately – it involves Josh too.’

He raises an eyebrow at this.

I sigh. ‘I know. So, the plan is: I’m going to get Kobi out.’

‘Out…?’ I can hear his scepticism.

‘Out of RoboTron. Tomorrow night, when it’s quiet.

I can get in with my security pass and instruct Kobi to use my pass to leave the building later, at a specific time.

I can’t leave with him or it’ll look suspicious.

There’s a security guard on reception at night, but Josh can be there to distract him at the time when Kobi is leaving, and hopefully Kobi can get out unnoticed. ’

Shane looks at me. ‘Seriously?’

‘Yes. Let me continue. This is where you come in.’

‘Of course I do.’ He sips his tea.

‘I need you to meet Kobi somewhere nearby, and to drive him somewhere.’

‘Dare I ask where?’

I exhale and allow myself a small smile. ‘The Farmers in Clare.’

Shane almost spills his tea. ‘What!’

I speak quickly. ‘Think about it. It’s actually kind of perfect. They loved Kobi, he loved them. We can hide him there. He can get to watch Lizzie grow for a while, just like he wanted.’

‘Maeve, this is crazy. Hide him? For how long?’

‘For however long it takes. Long enough for the heat to die down. ’

‘The heat? You’re not a bank robber in a heist movie!’

‘I thought you loved those movies. I thought you’d find this exciting.’ But I’m not sure who I’m trying to convince.

‘I do love those movies, but that’s all they are – movies. This is real life. And it’s insane. It’s wrong on so many levels.’

‘Which levels?’

‘Well, legally, for a start.’

‘Apart from legally. Morally? Personally?’

‘Okay, then, it’s just legally wrong. It’s too risky. What if you get caught?’

‘I don’t know. But, it’s like you said, we’re all supposed to try. This is me trying.’

There’s silence for a minute. It does sound crazy now that I’m saying it.

I planned this in a flurry earlier today, before a security guard arrived to sweep Josh from the robot bay.

Even with the minutes counting down, Josh took the time to point out the irony that my plan was very similar to what he’d done when he hid Kobi in Go Ireland.

‘Now do you finally see where I was coming from?’ he asked me.

I told him I’d explain the situation to the Farmers, give them a choice to get involved, unlike the way he blindsided me.

I turn to Shane. ‘There’s only one thing that’s not perfect about the plan.’

‘Only one?’ He shakes his head.

‘As soon as Ron knows Kobi is missing, I’ll be under surveillance. He’ll figure out a way to track all my interactions. He’ll probably have me followed, as well as monitor who I communicate with.’

‘So what does that mean?’

‘It means…’ I say, steeling myself for what’s next.

‘It means that whoever I communicate with will be under scrutiny too. Ron clearly has no scruples about who he has to climb over to get his way. So it means you and I can’t…

’ I take a breath, try to get through it as quickly as I can.

‘It means we can’t have any contact afte r that.

We can’t be seen together, we can’t talk on the phone, we can’t connect online. ’

‘For how long? And don’t say until the heat dies down!’

So I say nothing.

‘How long?’ he repeats.

‘I don’t know. A few months, maybe longer.’

‘There has to be another way.’

He suddenly stands and brings his mug through to the kitchen, even though there’s still tea in it. He places it on the counter. He turns and stands in the archway, looking at me. From this angle, the bare kitchen bulb looks like it’s hanging directly above his head. But we’re out of ideas.

He holds my gaze, but I don’t speak.

‘Maeve,’ he says. ‘Come on.’ It sounds like a plea.

I continue to look at him. Tears sting my eyes. For some reason, I’m remembering the movie night at Go Ireland, the ending of Casablanca .

‘We’ll always have the Burren,’ I say.