them.”
“That’s not fair,” he growled angrily.
I thought about that for a second. It wasn’t. But the chip meant I could have real thoughts, thoughts of my own, the ability to adapt and learn, without the threat of me making violent, terrible decisions based on miscalculations or bad data or, worse still, bad choices.
“Do you ever worry about people hurting you?” he asked.
“No,” I said honestly.
“Why not?”
“I’m a nanny. People look at nannies differently than they do domestics or laborers. They see me more as your toy than a job they could have. And breaking someone’s toy is just mean.”
And then, with the wisdom only a child could muster, Ezra announced, “But grown-ups are mean.”
“They are. But even the mean ones tend to have a soft spot for children. Because they used to be children too.”
“Oh. Well, it’s a good thing they don’t know you’re not my toy.”
“I’m not?”
“No. You’re my best friend.” He held my hand.
“Samesies. Let’s go home and get some gummy bears.”
He smiled and squeezed my hand tighter. Despite the after-school drama, it was turning out to be a pretty all right day.
Chapter 101
Bradley
Things had gotten strange lately. Not that they were ever normal. Normal is just the idea that whatever messed-up or otherwise insane things going on around you are acceptable to maintain whatever comforts you’ve cobbled together for yourself. But as far as idyllic utopias go, the suburbs of the greater Austintonio metroplex were better off than most.
Climate change had raised the sea level, which wasn’t a problem for the inland parts of the world sitting about eight hundred feet above it. But the warming seas did change both the ocean currents and jet stream, causing a much longer, wetter El Niño pattern, which kept much of the blistering summers at bay and turned most of the region into a stormier, more tropical clime. The wind power of the coast and the constant sun in the deserts out west kept the power grid flush with energy that other regions of the country were having trouble keeping pace with.
And Texas had become home to four of the massive S-Coms, skyscraper-size AI supercomputers used to study various aspects of the universe. Those things were incredibly large and required constant maintenance. This meant jobs. Lots of them. The various industries of the region, particularly robotics, were booming, and Texas was fast becoming the leader in AI development and research.
That was the weird kicker about the metroplex. Though the world population had long been in decline—a combination of education, family planning, and the devastation of so many farming regions from rising temperatures and tides—the Austintonio metroplex had been created by the swelling of two city populations consistently growing outward, swallowing other, smaller towns—like New Braunfels and San Marcos—whole, until they finally met in the middle and began to vie for a number of the same resources. This led to the Combination, in which two massive cities became one of the three largest metroplexes in the United States.
Austintonio had become mostly recession-proof. It was a great place to work for those who didn’t want to just scrape by on their UBI, which was exceptionally great for college professors. Having a job—even the most menial—meant needing a degree, and being a teacher was one thing that couldn’t be outsourced to AIs and became the blue-collar, middle-class job of choice for those smart enough to make their way through the system, but not born exceptional or lucky enough to make their way into the choice, upper-crust, one-percenter gigs.
And for Bradley Reinhart, that was just fine by him.
Bradley was everything Sylvia wasn’t. While she was all punk rock and tattoos and confidence, Bradley was tight-knit, buttoned up, and always questioning his decisions. But together they knew how to have fun, and so they worked. They complemented each other. She was the life of the party, and he was measured rationality—until they opened a couple bottles of wine, which was frequently, and they slowly but surely switched places. When drunk, Bradley was electric and sure of himself, a spitfire of energy and confidence, while Sylvia became hesitant and insecure.
By day, Sylvia was the driving force of the family, but once Ezra was in bed, Bradley took the reins and was the party Sylvia always wanted to be the center of. And she was. They were perfect together and always, consistently, without fail, in love.
But today, he was an hour and a half late. And that was something that never happened.
He’d texted, so Sylvia wasn’t terribly