The Final Six (The Final Six #1) - Alexandra Monir Page 0,64

a whisper.

“I’ll be back in thirty minutes,” Lark says. “Remember to just relax and give the first honest answers that come to mind.”

“Um. Okay.”

“Have a seat,” Cyb commands, gesturing to the chair opposite the glass desk. Dot shuffles toward me, and I try not to gasp as the AI proceeds to attach wired sensors to my chest, abdomen, and fingertips, and wraps a blood-pressure cuff around my upper arm. My nerves mount at the realization that they are monitoring my physiological reactions, and I say a silent prayer for my body to not betray me.

Cyb presses a spot on the touch-screen desk, and then swivels his head back up to face me.

“Naomi, how would you assess your time here thus far?”

“Um, well . . .” I shift in my seat. My thoughts are all jumbled as I stare from the robots to the sensors on my body, but I force myself to focus. How can I work this to my advantage? “It’s different than I imagined. Some things have been better than I expected, and others have been . . . worse.”

“Please elaborate. Which parts have proven to be a challenge?”

“I can’t get the image of Suki’s last night out of my head,” I answer, watching them carefully as I wonder what information they have on her and Callum—and what I might be able to glean. “It hurts to be in my room without her, or to think about what might have been if I’d only forced her to go to the medic. And then what happened to Callum, I just don’t believe—”

I break off before I say too much. Dot leans over the touch-screen desk and makes a series of rapid tapping motions, as if taking notes. I watch, mesmerized by the sight of the robot’s humanlike hands, consisting of three fingers and a thumb.

“Naomi.” Cyb’s voice jolts me back to attention. “What don’t you believe?”

“I—I don’t believe he’s dead. I mean, I know it’s true, but I just can’t believe it happened,” I improvise, trying not to think about how my vitals must be spiking on the monitors right now. Dot makes more of her tapping motions over the desk, and my heart sinks. I must be making some kind of impression.

“What are the other difficulties you’ve faced here?”

Trying to prove the secret behind this RRB we’re getting injected with, I say silently. Trying to uncover what Dr. Takumi is hiding from us about the mission, before it’s too late. But of course I can’t say any of that. Instead, I tell the robots a different truth.

“Being away from my family. It’s the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. There are other finalists here who are eager to get away from Earth, and I understand. But I . . .” I take a deep breath, looking Cyb straight in his artificial eyes. Be honest. Maybe this will help them trust me. “I’m not one of them. I need to be with my family, especially my little brother, Sam.”

Cyb nods. “Thank you for sharing. Now, tell us the positive aspects. Are there areas here at ISTC where you feel yourself thriving?”

“Yes,” I admit. “If I separate myself from the feelings about leaving my family, and if I can manage to get past what happened to Suki and Callum, then this place is in many ways a fantasyland for someone like me, with all the groundbreaking science around every corner. Starting with you two, actually. But . . .”

“But what?” Cyb presses.

But it’s a fantasyland with a dark side.

“But I have a hard time letting go,” I say instead. “Although there are times when I have, like in the Vomit Comet or the virtual reality sims.”

“And with Leonardo Danieli.”

My head snaps up. Did . . . did Cyb really just say that?

“Excuse me?”

“We’ve detected a connection between you and finalist Leonardo Danieli,” Cyb says smoothly. “Wouldn’t you say that’s been one of the positives of your time here?”

My throat turns dry. Even with Cyb’s emotionless tone, I can hear the subtext in his seemingly innocuous words. We’re watching. We see more than you know.

“Leo and I are just friends,” I stammer, when I find my voice. “But yeah, he’s—he’s awesome. My closest friend here.”

I clear my throat nervously as Dot and Cyb turn to each other and nod.

“All right. We have a few general questions for you now. You may not understand why these are the questions being asked, but that’s not important. What matters is answering promptly with