The Final Six (The Final Six #1) - Alexandra Monir Page 0,63
Mission Floor one by one for the psych evaluations. Asher goes first, and I’m dying to ask him how it went, what the robots were like and what kinds of questions they asked—but Lark already warned us to keep our sessions confidential. All I can do is gauge the reactions of my teammates as they return, noticing whether they appear rattled or relieved. And then it’s my turn.
Walking with Lark to the elevator bay, I realize this is my first opportunity alone with her to ask about Suki. I take a deep breath as we step onto the lift, trying to play it cool, but my words still come tumbling out in a rush.
“Lark, I—I’m really worried about Suki. We haven’t gotten any updates, and I don’t know if she’s still here or how she’s doing—but I know she can’t go back to Singapore. The situation is awful for her there, and the only family she has left is her stepfather, who’s a—”
Lark holds up a hand to stop me. “Suki’s not returning to Singapore.”
“She’s not?” I breathe a sigh of relief.
“No. She is in a medical facility here in Houston. Doctors are hoping they can reverse the effects of her catatonia.”
“What?” My stomach plummets. “They’re hoping? You mean she’s still not any better? What happens if they can’t heal her?”
The elevator stops at the fourth floor, and Lark leads the way.
“I’ve been checking up on her through Dr. Takumi, but it’s still too early to determine any sort of prognosis. As I said, the doctors are hopeful. But if they can’t reverse her symptoms, Suki will remain in the care of the ISTC’s medical team, providing a human case study for the development of the RRB. Either way, she will be taken care of.”
“But—but—she’s not a lab rat!” I protest, horrified by what I’m hearing. “She’s Suki. She was brilliant and meant to do great things, and—and that could be any of us in there!”
Lark stops midstride, placing a hand on my shoulder. “She can still achieve great things, even now. By helping us refine and perfect the serum that will keep the Final Six alive and thriving on Europa.”
I feel bile rising in my throat at the implication behind her words. While Suki lies defenseless in a hospital bed, they plan to treat her body and mind like some kind of brutal science experiment? How can Lark be okay with this?
“They’ve gotten to you—” I start to say, but Lark gives me a sharp look before raising her eyes to the ceiling. I follow her gaze to a blinking green light. Security camera.
“There are casualties of every mission,” she says, her voice a tinge too loud, as if performing for someone out of sight. “I know that better than anyone. All you can do is keep moving forward. Do your best here—in Suki’s honor.”
I nod and stay silent the rest of the way, as my mind spins with questions about Suki and the scope of Dr. Takumi’s plans, about Lark and where her loyalties lie. We pass one closed door after another in the labyrinth-like corridor until Lark finally pauses and pulls out her key fob in front of a blue-painted door. “Welcome to the robotics lab.”
I hold my breath as we step inside, entering a vast warehouse-like space with cables coiled all along the floors and long tables littered with metals, wires, computers, and tablets. At the center of the room, emitting an unearthly glow, are two six-foot-tall, egg-shaped pods.
“Are those the sleep pods?” I ask, staring.
“Yes. That’s where Cyb and Dot go to recharge their batteries—literally.”
As she leads the way through the sprawling space, we pass a row of robot heads and torsos in black storage cases—like dismembered body parts lying in their coffins. Even though I know they’re under-construction AIs, the sight still sends a shiver through me.
Lark steps through an archway and into a smaller room within the lab, a study humming with the sound of machinery, centered around a glass touch-screen desk. I follow her inside, and I stop in my tracks as I come face-to-face with the bronze and platinum humanoids. I open my mouth to speak, and find that for the second time in my life, I am starstruck. I haven’t felt this way since I met Dr. Wagner—like I’m standing before the highest realm of possibility, the place where science and miracles collide.
“Hello, Naomi,” Cyb greets me in a crisp, male-programmed voice.