Girl of Flesh and Metal Read online

  GIRL OF FLESH AND METAL

  This is a work of fiction. All characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this book are products of the imagination or are used fictitiously.

  Copyright © 2020 by Alicia Ellis

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover design by J Caleb Design

  Published by Figmented Ink in Atlanta

  First Publication, April 2020

  Library of Congress Control Number: 2020905233

  To my mother,

  for taking away the television

  and turning me into a reader.

  To my father,

  for loving science fiction

  and making me love it too.

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  1

  CyberCorp Tower rose seventy-two stories into the sky.

  There it stood, beyond the narrow window of the nightclub where I sat. It was a mile away, but still, it dwarfed every other building in the city—a constant reminder that I couldn’t escape it.

  I kept trying though.

  I sucked down half the cocktail in my glass. My boyfriend Jackson sat beside me on a black loveseat. He pulled a flask from his pocket and added more alcohol to my drink.

  “You okay, Lena?” He tipped his head toward the tower looming outside the window.

  “It’s fine.” A thrill tiptoed up my spine and burrowed at the base of my neck. Maybe from his touch, which always made me giddy, or maybe from the alcohol. The more I drank, the less I thought about CyberCorp staring down at me, and that could never be a bad thing.

  The first semester of our senior year in high school had wrapped today, and my friends insisted we celebrate by hitting the city’s hottest new nightclub. This nightclub.

  Lit from below, the glass floor revealed a hollow space beneath where drinks and food zipped under our feet on white conveyer belts. Flashing red-and-blue tiles formed the ceiling. The colors winked off each black bar top and table.

  Jackson fit in perfectly among the bright lights and the black decor, with his deep-blue eyes and night-dark hair. He lounged across the cushions with a liquid grin like he belonged here, like he belonged everywhere.

  The club’s manager ambled past as Jackson tucked the flask away, but her gaze stayed straight forward. My parents owned CyberCorp. And one of the few perks of being their daughter was that, despite my age, no one questioned my right to be here—or my right to drink. That extended to my friends too.

  Melody raised her bright-yellow drink into the air. “Cheers to winter break and being almost done with high school.”

  We hooted our approval. Melody, her twin sister Harmony, and Jackson clinked their glasses together.

  “What are you guys doing with your time off?” I asked.

  “Absolutely nothing.” Melody reclined back into the couch cushions. “And looking forward to every minute of it.”

  Harmony glowered down at her now-empty glass. “We can’t go on vacation because Daddy’s working on the Model One androids. Lena’s father calls every ten minutes.”

  “It’s not my fault,” I said. “If I could get my folks to scrap the whole project, I would. Trust me.”

  In fact, if I heard the term Model One one more time, I would scream.

  CyberCorp’s androids would ship in less than two months. They’d be the first humanoid, artificially intelligent androids for household use. Every other word out of my parents’ mouths these days was about their precious creation.

  Melody rubbed her sister’s back. “Only two more months.”

  Harmony raised her arms and gestured in the air. Her brown eyes darkened as shadows moved over the irises. The shadows shifted each time she waved a hand. Thanks to her networked contact lenses, she saw a virtual drink menu floating in front of her. I didn’t understand the point of seeing things that weren’t there, so I’d never bothered to get lenses of my own.

  “I don’t get your problem with CyberCorp,” Harmony said, attention back on me. “I’m mad right now, sure, but when Daddy gets his free time back, that’ll change. Tech or no tech—it’s where the money comes from.”

  Jackson chuckled, more to himself than to us. He came from old money that had nothing to do with CyberCorp. The twins’ dad and my parents, on the other hand, had made theirs more recently. Specifically, the twins’ family had made its money by working for mine.

  “Lena’s been listening to those anti-tech programs again.” He jabbed me in the ribs. He meant it as teasing, but instead, it riled me up.

  “Believe it or not, I can form my own opinions. Machines are replacing living, breathing people. We’re forgetting how important it is to be human and interact with other living things. Humanity is sacred.” I pointed at Harmony, who was still waving through the menu. “Would it be so bad if someone had to come over and take your order?”

  “Yes.” She swiped to select a menu item and dropped her hands. “It would take longer to get my next drink.”

  “And we’d spend that time talking to each other. And when the waitress came over, maybe we would talk to her too.”

  “No fighting,” Melody shouted, before Harmony or I could speak another word. “We’re celebrating.”

  “We’re not fighting,” I said. “We’re discussing.”

  “Call it what you want, but I’m stopping it before the yelling starts. Now, hug it out.”

  Harmony and I had heard this demand from Melody enough in the past that we didn’t argue anymore. We both stood, removed the space between us, and embraced. Harmony squeezed me around the waist, eyes pressed together in mock emotion. I shoved her away, laughing. I had to admit that Melody’s peacemaking was effective—necessary or not.

  Harmony flopped back onto the couch, and Jackson pulled me onto his lap.

  A blond boy came toward us from a nearby table and stopped in front of Harmony and Melody. He held out a hand to them and cocked his head toward the dance floor. He didn’t care which gorgeous redheaded twin he danced with. Either one would do.

  Harmony wrinkled her nose.

  Melody shrugged and let him pull her to her feet.

  Jackson ushered me to the dance floor after them. The techno music beat harder against my eardrums, and as usual he smelled of cinnamon and vanilla and something else I couldn’t pinpoint. His fingers pressed into my lower back and moved me to the rhythm. I breathed it all in and let myself drown in it. His mouth moved to make words, but the music swallowed up all other sound, and I was okay with that.

  My arms curled u
nder Jackson’s shoulders and around to his back, where tight muscles marked his shoulder blades. I let the rhythms and Jackson’s arms at my waist transport me somewhere else. Somewhere that tower didn’t exist, and my parents didn’t exist, and the Model Ones didn’t exist.

  Three hours later, the four of us stumbled out of the club, well past my curfew. It had rained while we were inside. Shallow puddles in the parking lot reflected the bright colors of digital billboards nearby.

  I’d stopped drinking hours ago, but my head still buzzed from the alcohol. It felt light, no longer stuffed with papers and homework and my parents’ robots. I danced in a circle before grinning at my friends.

  Harmony pouted at a moving display on a building across the street. “Why do the ads always pick you?”

  The fifty-foot-high commercial on the building’s side showed an image of me dressed in a pair of designer jeans. The other me twisted and flounced to show off every angle of my ass. The jeans’ brand logo filled the space to the right of my head.

  The ads usually featured me over the twins because my parents made more money than theirs, which made me a better advertising target. I didn’t say that to Harmony though.

  Harmony slid between me and the ad. She waved her right arm, to force the billboard’s sensor to read the identification chip buried in the flesh of her wrist. The girl in the ad morphed into a waify redhead, still pictured in the same pair of jeans. Harmony stuck her hands on her hips, triumphant.

  Jackson nodded toward Melody. “How do you know it’s not her?”

  “Easy. I’m the pretty one.” Harmony flashed a smug smile.

  Melody stuck up her middle finger.

  Jackson propped himself against the glossy wall of the club’s exterior. Next to him, the surface blended into another billboard, this one displaying an alcohol ad. None of us appeared in it—because we were all underage. The glowing images illuminated Jackson’s drooping eyelids in technicolor.

  “You ready to head home?” I asked him.

  “Nah, I’m good. I didn’t even finish my flask.” He pushed himself off the wall, wobbled, then fell back against it. “Oops.” He laughed and tried again. This time, he managed to keep his balance. “See. I’m good.”

  Even wasted, he attracted flirty glances from the twins. I had known him most of my life, and we’d dated for the past three years. My friends knew he was off limits. But with the deep-bronze skin of his mother’s family and the bold blue eyes of his father, Jackson had an entrancing effect on people. His broad shoulders from competitive swimming didn’t hurt either.

  He caught me admiring him and tossed me a grin that could set the polar ice caps sizzling. Inside, I melted.

  Melody stumbled toward the wall space next to Jackson. The nose-wrinkling scent of alcohol, flowery perfume, and other people’s sweat trailed after her. “I finished my flask,” she said. “And I’m going to sleep now.”

  Harmony grabbed her sister around the waist and held her in place. “Time to go.”

  My handbag buzzed, and I opened it. Inside, my hand-screen vibrated with a missed call. “I bet that’s my mom.”

  My parents would freak about my missing curfew, and judging from the way my hand-screen was vibrating and blinking its little notification light, the freaking out was already in progress.

  I pulled the small metal rectangle from my purse and slid its halves away from each other. The collapsible screen snapped into place between them. The display showed two messages and a missed call, all from my mother. I deleted the messages and touched the screen to call her back.

  “Hold on,” I told my friends. I took a couple steps away from them to give myself space to talk without their overhearing.

  As soon as Harmony no longer blocked the line of sight between me and the ad across the street, the image of her switched back to me. A couple inches shorter, more hips, and dark hair.

  In the ad, my hair looked perfect, the curls falling into place around my shoulders—in precisely the way they never did in real life. In real life, my dark mass of frizz grew bigger by the minute, thanks to this post-rain humidity.

  My mother answered on the first ring. “Lena, you’re downtown? It’s the middle of the night.” She’d tracked me. I scowled down at my wrist—like it had betrayed me by housing my trackable ID chip.

  “I’m out with Jackson and the twins.” I braced myself for a lecture. I hadn’t intended to stay out this late, but my friends hadn’t wanted to leave until now, and part of me loved the thought of making my mother squirm. She never had time for me, so why did it matter where I was?

  “The Model Ones ship in less than two months, and I need to focus on that. I can’t be up worrying about where you are and whether you’re safe . . .” With gritted teeth, I let her go on about her greatest creation—the Model Ones.

  “I’m fine, Marissa,” I said, when she paused for a breath.

  “You wouldn’t miss my calls if you wore a micro-comm. And don’t call me that.”

  I resisted the urge to tell her that was a reason not to get a micro-comm. The tiny electronic device, a quarter inch on each side, adhered to the side of a person’s head behind the ear. While people nearby couldn’t hear it ring, a comm’s owner couldn’t escape it.

  “I’ll think about it,” I told her.

  “You still have the one I got for your birthday. Why don’t we put it on you tomorrow?”

  “Sure. And then you can get back to your machines.” As soon as I got home, I would have to lose that comm down the bathroom sink. “I’m on my way now. See you soon.”

  “I want you home in fifteen minutes.” She disconnected before I could respond.

  “Are you in trouble?” Melody asked, her brows tweaked with concern.

  “Didn’t you tell her the semester ended today?” Harmony asked. “We spent the last week buried in that English paper. We deserve a break.”

  “Marissa doesn’t believe in breaks,” I said. “They’re against her religion.”

  Jackson pulled me toward himself and hooked an arm around my waist. “She just wants you to be successful.” His breath smelled of fruit and alcohol, and the heat of it against my neck made my insides simmer.

  “Mm-hmm.” I leaned into his touch. “Let’s talk about it later.”

  “She’s prepping you for the future.” His eyelids drifted shut and then open again, and I wondered whether he knew what he was saying. Maybe the alcohol was talking for him. “CyberCorp’s going to be all yours one day.” He slurred his words.

  “What about what I want? That doesn’t matter?” I fumbled my efforts to get my hand-screen back into my purse, and it clattered to the pavement. I swept it up and shoved it in the bag.

  Oblivious to my mounting discomfort, Jackson went on. “Imagine what it’ll be like to have all that power.”

  No matter how good he looked, or smelled, or felt—if he didn’t stop talking, there was going to be an argument. A big one. “I’m not going to work there, Jacks.”

  “But it will be all yours.”

  I clamped my mouth shut. It seemed pointless to explain my feelings to a drunk boy—feelings I’d told him a hundred times already, and each time, he nodded and smiled and insisted I would change my mind.

  Harmony leaned on the wall next to Jackson. He poked her on the shoulder and laughed when she squirmed away from him. He poked her again.

  “Better get home before you two fall asleep,” I told both twins.

  “I’m good,” Harmony said. “Talk to you tomorrow.”

  She pushed off the wall, yanked Melody upright, and trudged across the parking lot. When they reached their brick-red car, the doors slid upward automatically. Harmony dumped her sister into the passenger seat and climbed in on the driver’s side.

  They both looked too drunk to drive, but the auto-drive would do all the work. With a loud honk of the horn, the vehicle pulled out of its parking space and sped onto the road.

  Jackson somehow managed to support his own weight and traile
d behind me to my pale-yellow car. Its hood, top, and trunk formed an uninterrupted arc, with doors flush against the rest of the smooth exterior. Sensing the presence of my ID chip, the door whirred upward. It revealed two rotatable front seats with a small open space between them and the long backseat.

  Jackson’s usually tan face had gone pale. “I think I need to lie down.”

  “Are you going to throw up?”

  “Not if I lie down. Can I ride in the back?”

  I tried to ease Jackson across the floor space, but he flopped into the backseat. His eyes closed before I even slid into the seat in front of him.

  “Welcome, Lena,” the car said in a silky female voice. The door slammed shut to secure us inside, and the engine started with a low, artificial hum. Despite the natural silence of electric engines, car companies added the hum to alert pedestrians of oncoming traffic. “Your mother instructed me to take you straight home.”

  The word AUTO-DRIVE lit up on the dashboard’s display.

  I reached for the door handle to get out. I’d planned to go straight home, after dropping Jackson at his place, but that didn’t give my mother the right to make decisions for me.

  The door didn’t budge.

  “I’m sorry, Lena. I cannot open. Your mother instructed me to take you straight home.”

  “Are you kidding me?” I slammed my palm against the steering wheel, as if that might somehow change the car’s mind.

  “What?” Jackson jerked into a sitting position. “You say something?”