The Space Spoon novel Chapter 75

"My dear, I'm so glad you're here," the king said. Shayla's expression didn't change, but the king continued. "Your presence will make this meeting more exciting."

King Gurst stopped next to Shayla and placed a hand over her shoulder. C1313 saw her shudder, but just for a moment.

“As you can see, the mission I tasked the Black Onyx with is over. I’ve found my daughter.”

“Father,” Shayla said, her piercing dark green eyes measuring Cato and C1313, “these two aren’t here for the task. They’ve come to take me back on their ship.”

Cato remained there, staring. C1313, on the other hand, was not surprised. Shayla's decision to return home on her own had always been a possibility, just as Jackeye had suggested. The rest of the squad refused to recognize it. She made a mental note: biological impulses are often faulty.

The king chuckled. "Shayla, you're here to stay. I know you would rather remain on Beridian with me, right?"

“Why?” Cato asked, looking at Shayla. “Tejeda is certain you were coerced.”

"I was wasting my time on that ship. I’m done saving your asses. My rightful place is here, on Beridian, alongside my father."

"That's my girl." The king laughed, creating a sound as hollow as the chamber they were in.

There was no doubt now. This man was deranged. He was a king, yes, but he wasn't sane in the least. And there was nothing C1313 could do about it. So she focused all her processing power on finding a way out.

From the moment they entered the throne room, C1313 perceived the real space they were in. Metallic plates covered the walls, coated in a material that refracted the light and made it bend according to an automatic program. This room was actually a chamber capable of showing anything the king wanted them to see.

That was why C1313 decided to make a simulation of her own. She ran an algorithm as to how she would have acted if she didn’t know the reality. If she were to take the bait, King Gurst would have had her. So she took every step her own simulation dictated to deceive the king into thinking she believed didn’t know a thing. Her only regret was she hadn’t had the time to let Cato know as well.

And now, instead of being amazed by Shayla’s appearance, C1313 was pondering the fact that she needed to run a simulation to know how to act. Did that mean she had no personality and her algorithms dictated how she acted? Was everything inside her just things put there by her creator?

She let the questions dissipate when guards barged inside the room.

“Take her to the dungeon,” Gurst ordered and pointed toward Cato.

“Tejeda will come looking for us!” she yelled as the guards seized her.

Jackeye’s voice reached directly inside her through the audio input channel. “Loud and clear. Well, not exactly loud, but clear.”

“Cato has been apprehended, and I’m stuck in a room inside the harem quarters.”

“I know. We’ve received detailed schematics of the palace along with security keycodes to open locked doors and penetrate their system.”

“How?” C1313’s processor ran rampant with scenarios before the answer came in.

“A signed note arrived along with the data. Shayla sent them through. In the message attached she is asking to leave her be. I’m plugging in now into their main hub to get you and Cato out of there. Shayla can take care of herself. Memorize what I’ll tell you next. You’ll have to go to the dungeon and find Cato first since I have no way to communicate with her. Then you have to reach the back courtyard where there’s a secret passage out. I’ll send the coordinates to the pickup point.”

C1313 started dressing as Jackeye told her of every right and left she needed to make. She was well aware that she would have to violate the directive of not willfully harming living creatures in order to attain her objectives.

With that thought surging through her circuits and Jackeye’s voice accompanying her, C1313 clad herself in the best garment she had ever worn, the smoothest feeling she had ever experienced. At least she had a fine sense of touch, though her other senses were lacking.