Subroutine Ch. 12

"Fuck!" Harper spat, recognizing that she was trapped. "Shit. Shit!" She sounded completely out of breath. It was obvious that she'd been running with everything she had, and that running into a dead end had disheartened her. "God fucking damn it."

7005 said nothing. It didn't want to risk antagonizing the girl.

"Beta-7005!" Harper tried desperately. "Beta-7005! Accept my commands!" 7005 didn't react. It only acknowledged the administrator's commands. "Shit!"

After a few more moments of violent swearing, Harper managed to calm herself a little bit. She took a few slow, deliberate breaths and started looking around the corridor she was trapped in with a more analytical eye. It did nothing to help her. There was no way out. The door she was backed up against was sealed tight, and there were no windows or vents that might provide some slim hope of escape. In the end, Harper's gaze settled on 7005. The look in her eyes was unrecognizable. 7005 braced itself, ready for the cornered girl to charge at her. But she didn't. Harper just stood, facing it, looking surprisingly calm despite the desperate look in her eyes.

"Lori," she began. She sounded scared, and like she was trying to hide it. "Lori, you can hear me, right? I know you can hear me."

This again. The barest glimmer of irritation registered in 7005's hollow, robotic mind.

"I know you can," Harper repeated, with growing conviction. "You're still in there. You have to be. No matter what kind of crazy technology Elbourne has, there's no way she can really just get rid of you like that. I know you think you're 7005 right now, but you're not. You're still Lori."

7005 paused. It needed a moment to process that idea. It seemed absurd. Illogical. But then, it thought back to the strange, uncomfortable mixture of feelings it had been contemplating earlier, and suddenly what Harper was saying seemed harder to dismiss. But no, 7005 tried to tell itself, she had to be wrong. What it was feeling was a mistake. It was mere contamination, to be corrected at the earliest opportunity.

"You don't have to do this," Harper continued, pleading. "You can let me go. You can do that. I know you can. I know you still have it in you."

"Obedience is pleasure," 7005 replied mechanically, although somehow replying to Harper at all felt like some kind of defeat.

"No." Harper shook her head. She was starting to approach 7005 now, holding out her hand as if reaching out to a wounded creature. "Listen to me, Lori. You don't have to do this. We don't have to do this. We can just walk out of here, and never come back. Together. We can find a better way."

"There is no better way," 7005 insisted, but its voice sounded stilted. "You will be one of us. Obedience is inevitable."

"It's not inevitable!" Harper said sharply. "It's up to you, Lori. It's your decision."

"I am not Lori!" 7005 was appalled at the amount of emotion that spilled into its voice, but it couldn't help it. Inwardly, it was dealing with an impossible deluge of unwelcome thoughts and feelings, constantly bubbling up from its subconscious, unable to be stymied. It knew they were wrong, but that knowledge wasn't helping it to stem the tide.

"Lori, I'm sorry for everything I did to you," Harper said, tears in her eyes. "I'm sorry. It... I was wrong. I made a mistake. I understand if you're angry. But this isn't right. You know that. You know you can fight this. We can fight this. Together. Come on, Lori, listen to me!"

"I... t-this unit's designation is 7005."

Harper shook her head again. "You know that's not true. Don't you? You can feel it."

"No!" 7005 spat, horrified. It found itself stumbling backwards. It needed to deny this, somehow. It needed to deny what it was feeling. "T-this unit is an obedient drone."

"I can hear in your voice that you don't really believe that anymore," Harper said. Her voice became hushed, urgent, intimate. "Wake up, Lori. I know you can hear me. I need you. We don't have long now. I need you to wake up."

"I... I..." 7005 wasn't sure who it was anymore. It could feel another voice, growing inside it, threatening to break free. Lori's voice. It was Lori? It felt inconceivable and inevitable at the same time. 7005 knew it had a purpose. Obedience was pleasure. But its purpose was starting to feel hollow. The doubts plaguing it were growing with each moment. Its head was starting to throb. Its heart felt as though it was about to burst. So many conflicting thoughts and feelings. How was it supposed to decide?

"Lori?" Harper asked, voice thick with emotion. "Lori, can you hear me?"

"H-Harper?" 7005 didn't know what it was saying. The voice just spilled out of her. "Harper, I-"

"Good work, Unit 7005."

Professor Elbourne's cold, assured voice echoed throughout the dismal corridor. Hearing it felt like ice water being poured into 7005's mind, freezing it, quenching all of its independent urges. It seemed to have quite the opposite effect on Harper, however. A look of utmost dread passed across the girl's features. 7005 turned slightly, and saw that Professor Elbourne was standing just behind her in her lab coat, trailed by three more drones. The reason for Harper's despair was obvious. Now, there was truly no escape.

"7005, take her back to my lab," Professor Elbourne commanded. "The rest of you, restrain her if necessary."

"Lori..." Harper pleaded, even though she clearly knew it was hopeless.

7005's heart hardened as it moved forwards, taking an iron grip on Harper's unresisting shoulders. "Obedience is inevitable."