“Hello? Brash?”
Alden’s voice snapped me from my thoughts. He was staring at me expectantly, his pink eyes glittering beneath the lens of his glasses.
“Do you want to be the head of the company?” He repeated the question.
“I…I don’t know.” I glanced down at my coat pocket, where the hidden hamburger’s figure was just barely visible. “I guess I don’t if it’s doing awful stuff…but if I don’t want to do that, then what am I supposed to do with myself?”
“You do what you want to.”
“But I don’t know what I want.”
“Well, what’s your soul craving right now? Just anything. It can be as simple as a breath of fresh air.”
“To be honest, I’m really craving another one of those hamburgers.” My hand squished against the bun. I felt a bit idiotic saying that, but it was the only thing I could think of that I really wanted.
“Alright, another one of those hamburgers.” Alden nodded. “To get another one of those hamburgers, you’ll have to keep coming to our school.”
“Yeah, I get that.”
“And to keep coming to our school, you’ll have to stay in the real world, meaning that, in turn, you’ll be going against your parents’ wishes of you becoming a virtual mastermind. So, if you want to keep eating those hamburgers, you’ll have to want to join our cause, right?”
That made sense.
“I suppose that’s true.”
“So, what you want now is to be a rebel, am I understanding you correctly?”
He stared at me with those sparkling pink eyes, which somehow managed to be both soft and demanding. I could practically feel Craven, who had been listening from the sidelines, breathing down my neck. The whole thing felt like a sales pitch, and were I any smarter, I probably would’ve shut them down and demanded they stop treating me like a customer.
But I’m not too bright, and the idea of more hamburgers was really enticing.
“Yes, I want to be a rebel.”
Alden’s face, which had been grim, twisted into a sweet smile. “Good answer.”
He turned to tell Link and Fickle, who had been acting as though they weren’t listening. In reality, I’d seen them periodically cast interested glances over their shoulders.
Sitting there listening to them talk, I wasn’t entirely sure if this was a choice I wanted or not. To want something was an odd concept. I knew that my body naturally wanted things, like sleep, water, and food, but my soul wanting something was a different concept. The only thing I’d ever wanted fiercely was a hamburger, and that was because I never got them. Mom only made them, which was really just changing the randomized goop code to hamburger-flavored, on special occasions, mostly when I did something good. It set a fire in me every time the idea of hamburgers was offered after anything, and I began to associate them with doing something well. Like a rat in a test, I did what I was told to get the cheese.
I suppose I wanted to be a rebel more than I wanted to be a part of my parents’ business. If I went back now, I’d certainly wish for the food of the real world, and that desire would keep me from ever fully assimilating again. Besides, the people here had wanted to be my friend because of me. They stayed with me even though I put them in danger. Sure, I was an information source, but they seemed willing to help me at the end of the day. My chatbots had never had genuine care for me. Even if it was nice to hear constant praise and be fawned over, once you hear true good emotion in the voice of someone talking to you, you can’t go back to the hollowness of a robot.
“Hey, what if we go home early?” Link leaned on the desk between us, his orange locks flopping down over his arms. “I don’t think the madam up there is paying any attention. We could scurry out of here in the blink of an eye.”
Craven opened his mouth to ridicule him, perhaps just second nature, before he glanced up at the front desk. Ms. Carol had left altogether, and even if she came back, it was unlikely she’d notice our absence.
“She really is gone,” He seemed slightly baffled.
“Then your idea isn’t half bad. No use sitting around here wasting away when we’ve got more important matters on our hands.” Alden rose to his feet, adjusting his glasses. “Come along now.”
They rose as one, grouping me in the middle as they headed for the door. No one seemed to notice, or perhaps they just didn’t care, that we were leaving. Once we made it into the hall, we were all given a makeshift headset from Alden’s bag. They still felt odd to wear, considering they barely fit around my forehead and were constantly threatening to fall down my face. The real things had been customized to fit your head size perfectly, with cushions and fans built into the sides. These paled in comparison comfort-wise, though I suppose they did their job. Once Link went around and ensured they were convincing enough, we headed out.
