This is Hiccup & Eleanor, book two of The White Age, which I will be releasing as a serial - with one chapter per week - over the coming months. You can also preorder the book here or catch up on Substack here.
Book one, Absolution, is available for purchase on Amazon, or you can catch up here.
i)
Bern, Switzerland
27th September 2074
Elise stirred two sugars into her latte with a shaking hand and stared into the milky brown mixture as it swirled. Base Camp 9’s staff canteen was empty but for herself; she had never felt so alone. But she was glad for the quiet, she was glad nobody was here to ask how everything was going, how Roken was, or how she was coping. It saved her from having to restrain the response in her head from flying off her tongue; it's all going terribly. Roken is in grave danger, and all I want to do is sit in a corner and cry with a glass of wine. Her mouth flooded with the thought of alcohol.
Today marked the 188th day of her sobriety; the 188th day since she last saw Roken. This job, this situation didn't help. Why won’t you respond, Roken? I need you to respond or they will leave you for dead. Or worse. Fatigue hung heavy over her eyes; an exhaustion from days of worry and lack of sleep. She had been woken at 4am this morning by Chris, her Comms Data Analyst, and handed a sheet of paper that had blown everything she had known up to now out of the water. The paper now sat on the table beside her coffee, the printed text a transcript of a telegram message. It had been redacted; she didn’t have clearance for all of the details, but she could see enough.
Rosie Symonds. Elise stared at the name with a burgeoning anger. The Doctor. Why is she doing this? Why now? It didn’t make sense. She read the line again and again, not noticing her coffee had gone cold as she sat under the luminescence of the white strip-lights which hung from the cafeteria ceiling. “He is coming to me. We will fulfil his purpose.” The simplicity of the words made her shiver, the minimalism of their power. She couldn’t see to whom at the UNA the telegram had been shared, and that was the scariest thing of all. Somebody else knows about Zero. This will end everything, she thought, Roken, where the fuck are you?
If only Roken had replied, when she tried to contact him that morning, he would have eased her concerns just by letting her know he was healthy enough to continue the mission. His vitals were better, from the patchy reading she had received, but she could not place his location and not hear a word he might have said in reply. I just wish I had heard his voice. But there had been nothing, no reply as she had told him about the transcript, told him that he was all alone now, told him that the worst was happening. You trusted that robot too much, Roken, you should have destroyed him when you had the chance. And now the signal is down completely, and you are stranded out there. You need to find that damned robot. Before someone else does.
Roken had told her about Zero’s potential, something he had referred to as “distinction”, without ever really sounding convinced it was possible. But he seemed to grow more concerned as time went by, as he spent more time with the robot, it seemed as though he was able to understand its potential. He had never told Elise how he knew, but he was adamant that it was something they would both have to monitor, together. He had told nobody else. Elise saw it as a bond between them, something that they shared in secret that would keep them together forever. Now, it was a burden she could do without. The stress of knowing and being unable to tell anybody, was driving her to madness. And alcohol. I need him here now, or I will drink. I need to talk to somebody. Even Chris, who had provided her the transcript, was unaware of its meaning, its significance. That we’re all going to hell, and much sooner than we had anticipated. And what the fuck was the mission about in the first place? Dowling authorised the recovery of a high-risk asset, but what the hell was he doing there? None of that made sense and it had put Roken’s life at risk.
Why did I have to try and contact that god-damned robot? Elise cursed and slammed her hand down on the transcript, sending an echo around the empty cafeteria. The sun was beginning its slow rise over the city and the windows displayed a strip of blue-grey light that grew deeper with each passing second. Elise had, with Chris’s help, used an old satellite to hack into Zero’s core string the night before. Chris had suggested that the robot’s defences would not be geared up for an attack from an older model of their communication systems, and he was right. They managed to load into his system and force a reboot, switching on his IEC and relaying their commands. It was impossible to know if it worked but it was the best they could do. The connection had been made for all of thirty seconds before Zero regained control and “pushed back”. The satellite had exploded with the force of the self-defence mechanism and was now unreachable. Another success story. That might have driven the robot even further away and made Roken’s life all the harder. She knew that he would lose his mind if he were there to witness what she had done, what mess she had made. But you’re not here are you, Roken? You’re gone and I am all alone to deal with this fucking mess.
This didn't help her stay clean. Roken didn’t help her stay clean. If there is a man who embodies chaos, it’s Roken. He was strong, determined, powerful, and one of the smartest soldiers she had even seen in action, but he was a catalyst for chaos. Elise knew this and yet she couldn't help but love him. Despite him being the opposite of what she needed to stay sober, as her sponsor had told her time and time again, she couldn't help but miss him every day they were apart, and treasure him whenever they were together. How did he lose sight of Zero?
It was impossible, though. He was impossible. She believed that she loved him, but he refused to commit to her. He loved his job; being free and being the hero, more than he would ever love her and that is why she had to try and let him go. Being sober was a part of that for her. If she wasn’t drinking then it allowed her to focus on her own life, on making things about her, instead of about him. It allowed for her to have faith in herself.
Now all she could think about was alcohol; a glass of wine, or a cold beer. If he dies then I will drink, she told herself, justifying her collapse prior to its happening. If this all goes to hell, then I will drink. She smiled as she thought of her therapist’s reaction to that thought process. His disapproving frown and nervous foot tapping as he eyed her over an overflowing notepad. If today goes to hell, then I’m going down with it.
This cold, sugared latte will have to do for now.
ii)
She was late for the meeting, and she didn't care; the three men were sat around an over-sized boardroom table, big enough for 12, and they watched her silently as she strolled in, lowering herself casually into a chair, removed from the group. It's not just my gender that separates us, now it's these pointless chairs, she laughed internally. I’m cracking up, she thought, which made her want to laugh even more. The stark grey and silver walls were punctuated with panels of frosted glass and abstract, oil paintings. This place looks like a hospital, Elise thought as she gazed wearily around the room, noticing a looming claustrophobia at the stark surroundings and the staring eyes. I can’t breathe in this place.
"Elise, thanks for joining." Ricard Vincent said, glancing at the clock on the wall disdainfully. She was 12 minutes late to the meeting and offered a fake smile by way of apology; she hated Ric and the feeling was mutual. "We were just debriefing after the last noted contact with Roken." His thick, French accent was tremulous with a nervousness Elise had not seen before. She wondered if his voice had intentionally hung on the word noted, or if she was getting paranoid; she hadn’t added her call this morning to the log as it was against all protocol. I told him everything. If Ric knows about that call, I am done.
"Rifle." Elise corrected him, knowing that Ric had only used his real name to get to her. It worked.
"Of course, my mistake." He smirked, contemptuously. "You instigated the last contact, it was at…” he shuffled through the papers which were strewn in front of him, as Elise held her breath, and then stabbed at one with a bony finger, “…1400 hours, approximately, three days ago. The 24th of September." He looked over his frameless glasses at Elise as they clung to his long, crooked nose. The spotlights in the ceiling made the bald patch on the top of his head shine a bright white. His mouth was set into a straight line of indifference, and his eyebrows were raised. Just the sight of him made Elise's blood boil. "Can you elaborate the details for us, please?" The words oozed through his terse, thin lips.
Elise looked around the room at the other two faces; Chris, a quiet American in his mid-twenties, was pensive; the knowledge of how badly this briefing was likely to go justified his apprehension. He was sat beside Ric with his hands clasped on the table in front on him, his knuckles drained of blood. A shaved head accentuated the burn scars from his time as a US soldier in the UK; he was declared unfit for service and extracted to Bern, where he became a member of Elise’s military operations team.
Opposite him was Pieter, a German war veteran, who seemed disengaged and disinterested. His grey hair was unruly, and he looked exhausted from years and years of war machinations. He was a good friend of Ric’s and was going to ensure that Chris and Elise got as hard a time as possible. Elise took a deep breath to calm her anxiety, but she could feel her palms beginning to sweat. I can’t do this without you, Roken.
"We have been struggling with maintaining connectivity with all IEC’s, which is likely a combination of the high levels of radiation in England, and the lack of quality satellite signals at our disposal." Elise spoke loudly and clearly to the room; she wanted to exude professionalism to deny Ric any window for comment or criticism as he was wont to offer her at every opportunity. "The link was re-established after two days of downtime. I could see his vitals were stable and he confirmed his status was injured, but not critically. After 7 minutes, the link went down." Elise felt a pain in her chest as a sadness rose within her but her faced betrayed nothing, for which she was thankful.
“Anything since then?” Ric’s gaze was unfaltering, his eyes locked on Elise’s.
“No.” To this, Ric nodded long and slow while chewing his lip, his eyes darting from Chris to Pieter as he did so.
"Thank you, Elise." Ric said after a moment of laboured silence. "Chris, do you have any update for us on the connectivity issues?"
"Um, it's not good, sir." Chris was terrified of Ric and couldn't help but show as much whenever they conversed. His eyes darted around the room, unable to maintain eye contact, and his legs shuddered as though he were trying to hammer a nail into the floor with his heels. A thin sheen of sweat shone on Chris’s forehead as he laboriously cleared his throat before continuing, “The signal has been dropping intermittently over the past few months, as you know. As Elise mentioned already, the satellites have been in a state of disrepair for a while now and are becoming less and less reliable; we’ve begun using more rudimentary forms of communication, where possible, though that obviously cannot be done with our units in England.” Like a telegram. Ric nodded and drummed his fingers, aware of the issues and impatient to move on. “This morning, the signal dropped, and it dropped hard. We can’t confirm yet what caused it, but something gave out somewhere and it wiped the signal.” He concentrated his monologue in Elise’s direction, she had always been a source of support when he struggled to engage with Ric. Ric was tough on everybody, and Elise offered a milder, more relatable tonic to his stoic brashness.
“What do you mean ‘something’?” Ric asked. He couldn't help but allow his voice to take on a patronising tone when he addressed Chris directly. Chris was an asset because of his knowledge of the US army. He had effectively defected to the UNA after his radiation sickness had meant he was a persona non grata as far as America was concerned. In spite of this, Ric could not see past the fact he was less than half his age and took great pleasure in downplaying his credibility. His anti-American views only made things worse.
“There was some kind of power surge, an EMP, originating from somewhere in the English Channel, which may have kicked out the units’ comms. My people are checking it out as we speak, though we can only do so much from the air.” His announcement was met with a few moments of silence and the meeting attendees considered what had been said.
“Is that a hot zone?” Ric removed his glasses and frowned at Chris as he spoke.
“It has been cold for about six months; we did some recon on the French coast back then.” Chris checked, swiping through his tablet as a distraction from having to meet anybody’s eye.
Ric squeezed the bridge of his nose and exhaled deeply. This was not the briefing he was hoping for. “So, our satellite is now just useless? Can it be fixed?”
“At this stage, we’re hopeful. We are looking into it and it’s possible we can get it back up and running. We’re hoping to have some functionality back by the end of the day.” The sweat on his forehead had turned into drops which slowly started to creep down towards his temples and eyebrows. Elise’s stomach churned and she felt she might vomit. We can’t have lost all contact with Roken, she thought, this can’t be it. “But if that EMP fires again-”
“-I get it.” Ric closed his eyes, “Pieter, send a crew to investigate the source of the EMP, use Chris to triangulate an approximate location and make it stop. Chris, just get the satellite back up and running before the end of the day." Ric sat back and dropped his glasses onto the table. He looked at the three others in the room and shrugged. "My focus is the robot. We need to get him under control. Do we know where he is going and if we can communicate with him?”
I could just tell them everything, Elise thought. It would make things so much easier if they know of Zero’s potential and then do everything in their power to stop him. But she knew what that meant. England was dead to them, and they would stop at nothing to ensure Zero was neutralised as a threat. Whatever extreme measures they might take would mean that Roken was in grave danger too. I have to trust him to get this under control.
"I don’t know where he is going or what his motivations are, I can only assume it’s some kind of bug in his system.” Chris met Elise’s eye and then glanced away. Be careful here, Chris. She thought. “Rifle is the only one we can trust to get him out of there, or to get him to disengage. We don’t know where the robot is going and, without our satellites, we’re blind.” Chris’s eyes darted nervously between each member of the meeting before he stood and walked to the computer screen at the front of the room, on which a map appeared with the buzz of waking LED bulbs. He jabbed a marker with his finger. “This is where we last traced Roken, three days ago.” He ran his finger in a straight line across the map to a second location, where he tapped again. A line appeared on the screen between them and both locations were marked with a pin. “This is where we last placed Zero. That was last night.”
“I’m sorry, how did you peg Zero? I thought he severed comms entirely?” Ric had spun his chair to get a better look at the screen and Elise watched his head move as his eyes traced the length of the line between the two units.
Sheepishly, Chris took a breath before continuing, “we managed to hack into his core string, via an older satellite. He must have not prepared himself for an attack by one of our older beacons, and we were able to get passed his defence-” Chris trailed off as Ric stood up, his arms out by his sides. Damn.
“You did what?!” Ric’s voice was short and sharp, and each syllable seemed to send a shock through Chris.
“We thought it was worth a try, and it worked.” Chris stood his ground but looked terrified as Ric approached him.
“You hacked into a UNA robot without my express permission?” Ric was within reach of Chris now and Elise stood up; prepared to step in if Ric lunged at him. “Do you have any idea how dangerous this was?”
“Yes, sir. The satellite was destroyed, sir.” Chris dropped his head and cowered as Ric spun and looked at the ceiling.
“Did you know this was happening?” Ric shot a look of rage at Elise.
“Yes, Ric, I did. It was my idea.” That wasn’t strictly true, but she didn’t want to strengthen the ire being flung in Chris’s direction. Ric made a sound of disgust and shook his head at the ceiling. “It worked, didn’t it? We have a location.” She pointed past his head at the screen, and he turned to look again at what it was displaying, still shaking his head.
“This is crazy.” He whispered under his breath. “Tell me what happened.”
“We established a connection and had to reboot his system to access his IEC. Once we did, we were able to speak to him, but he did not respond.” Elise measured her words carefully, trying to not allow them to betray her nervousness as she did so.
“Are you sure he heard you?
“It’s hard to know, but we’re confident.” Chris said, providing some support to Elise.
“And then what?”
“After about thirty seconds of connectivity, he pushed back and knocked the satellite out. We now have no relay from the old satellite at all.”
“Pushed back?”
“It’s a safety mechanism in his code and we were expecting it. But there was nothing that could be done to stop it. The satellite is toast.” Chris raised his eyebrows flippantly as he spoke, which only seemed to agitate Ric even further.
“So, you’re saying that in the space of one day we have lost two satellites, and our robot knows that we are willing to hack into his system to get into contact with him. Do you know how long it took to build up that level of trust? If he goes over to The Faith, or the US, do you have any idea how much intelligence is inside that thing? He’s old and not as useful as he once was, but he’s loaded with information we do not want our enemies getting hold of.” Ric’s face was red as he spoke angrily, his head swinging for Chris to Elise and back again as he did so.
“It’s done now. Chris, what did we learn?” Elise stepped in to interrupt Ric’s rant. He was right, it was dangerous, more so than he would ever know. She nodded at the screen.
Chris took a breath and carried on after a sideways glance at Ric, “He’s within two miles of Roken’s last known position, and we can only assume that Roken has moved on since the last call, albeit carrying an injury. There’s no point extracting Roken if he has a chance to get hold of Zero.”
“But we can’t tell him that.” Ric interjected, still shocked by Chris’s insubordination. “Not while the satellites are down.”
“No, but he has tracked him this far. What’s to say he won’t finish the job?” He has a point, Elise thought, though she was concerned that Roken was suffering from the injuries he had sustained four days before. He has to see this through to the end. If he can, he will. “And there’s always the possibility that the satellites will re-surface so we can gauge Roken’s likelihood of resolving this.”
“Ready the missiles. If Zero comes back online at all, then we will have to destroy him.” Ric sneered at both Chris and Elise and then turned to face Pieter. “He probably won’t, not now he’s been spooked by these morons, but if he does, we cannot risk him falling into anybody else’s hands.” Like The Doctor. Elise knew he was right, Zero was likely to not reveal himself now that he had lost faith in the UNA. But if he does and Roken is nearby. She shook away the thought. “We have to rely on Roken. When the satellites come back online, we will try to establish contact. Elise, make it happen. I’m concerned that he has been quiet when the signal has been strong, if I need to step in, I will.” He met her eyes with a cold stare. She knew he was right; they would consider Roken to be out of the equation if he didn’t respond. He’s no more likely to respond to you than me, Ric. He must just be recovering somewhere. She thought, trying to calm her nerves, praying that she was right.
“Yes, sir.” Elise said, her voice timid as her mind raced.
“Pieter, have the team that is performing the reconnaissance in the Channel be prepared to land on England as a phase 2. If Roken does not respond, and Zero does not come online, then we will need men to go after them both. They will be considered enemies of the UNA and must be destroyed on sight. We will be able to provide a more accurate location closer to the time.”
"No!" Elise slammed her palm onto the table. "He's our soldier, you can't just murder him."
"Elise, he is a mercenary, and you know as well as I do that we have no responsibility for his life if a mission goes awry. You know what he signed up for." Ric's face was reddening as he wrestled for the words that would silence this woman. “If he is unable to respond to our comms, then we can only assume he has defected and is a danger to our cause.” Elise sat down; she was light-headed with the exertion of anger. This is too much. “I would gladly leave him to rot with the radiation in that god-forsaken country, but we cannot leave the robot. Either Roken retrieves him, or our men go in and destroy them both. Right now, I don’t care which way it goes.” A silence fell in the room as Ric’s words were absorbed into the dense air that hung between them. Elise put her head in her hands and held back tears. I will not give you the fucking satisfaction of crying.
“Are we done here?” Elise stood abruptly, not averting her eyes from the table as she spoke.
“Yes, Ms. Ayllon. Dismissed.” Before he could finish his sentence, she was gone and let the door slam behind her as she went.
iii)
“Nothing?” Ric sidled into Elise’s office and closed the door behind him. He looked dishevelled; his grey hair had been pushed askew and the darkness under his eyes had deepened during the course of the day. Elise spun in her chair to face him and gave her head a single shake. No. Nothing. She could feel her skin crawl with Ric’s intense focus that seemed to both undress and chastise her. I hate this man.
“I need more time. He must have found somewhere safe to rest and recuperate.” She pointed to the visuals that danced on her screen: the silhouette of a human surrounded by numbers and charts that fizzed with colour with each second that passed. Ric ignored her and took a seat in the spare chair beside her. Too close, she thought as nausea rose in her throat.
“Has he moved?” Ric looked at the screen as she tapped it to bring the map into focus.
“No, not since the satellite came back up.” Her voice betrayed her nerves with its vibrato. Don’t let him know you’re weak, that you're failing. Damn it, Roken!
“We need to talk, Elise.”
“He will likely come out under the cover of darkness.” She continued, ignoring him.
“Elise.” Her head dropped; there was no point going on. “There have been discussions today about how best to proceed, and we feel its best you take a step back.”
“A step back?” Elise snapped, unable to hide her shock and irritation.
“Yes. This isn’t working.” Ric’s smile was patronising and only made Elise seethe more.
“What isn’t working? He is recovering.” Her words were difficult to get out without her voice cracking. She knew there was no use in continuing, he wasn’t going to listen to her now.
“His vitals are good, true. So why isn’t he responding?” I don’t know, she wanted to scream, I wish I knew why. The pain was too great for her to fathom, and she felt herself falling. She said nothing and just stared at the pulsing dot on the map. What has happened to you, Roken? “We feel that there may be something holding him back. Or someone.”
“What does that mean?”
“You, Elise.” Ric placed his hand on the back of her chair, and she flinched away instinctively. His eyes danced with the recognition of her movement, like a tiger eyeing its prey. “Your relationship with Roken. We feel it may be hindering the process.” Elise’s mouth fell open and she stared at him in shocked silence. “He’s a good soldier, and it is only you that is preventing him from responding, because of his feelings for you.”
“What are you talking about?” How would that make any difference? She frowned fiercely at him as she spoke, aware of the venom in her voice.
“It was a mistake keeping you on as his operations lead. We should have not let that happen.”
“Why does it make any difference? It’s not been a problem up to now.”
“True. But now things have gone wrong, and we feel that Rifle might be ashamed of his mistake. Of letting Zero go. That, accompanied with the radiation, has made him go into hiding. From you, Elise.”
“No.” That was all she could say as her mind raced to keep up with the picture he was painting.
“He messed up, and he doesn’t want to speak to you. He is a proud man.” Elise could smell Ric’s breath, it was sharp with cigarette smoke and coffee and made her want to wretch, to throw him out of her office and to go back to doing her job; to saving Roken from this madness.
“You’re wrong.” She asserted flatly.
“We have a new task for you and need you to go to The Colony and meet with our R&D team. They need some help with a new development.” Elise could feel her head swim with the information and fight for an escape. The Colony? Eritrea? R&D? It was too much for her mind to take in. “It’s all top secret and above my pay grade, but I’m sure it will be of interest.”
“You can’t do this to me.” She could feel tears in her throat and craved to be alone so she could cry and scream. And drink. “Our relationship has nothing to do with what is happening.”
“Tell me, Elise.” Ric leant back in the chair and Elise welcomed the relative space, taking a deep breath of unpolluted air as he did so, “how did your last conversation go? When Roken was in Bern?” She shook her head as she tried to work out why this would be relevant and tried to recall the memory. “You told him it was over, am I correct?” Her heart sank with the reminder. How on Earth does he know that? Were they following us? Was I bugged?
“How-”
“’How’ doesn’t matter. What matters is that your relationship was on its knees and has now jeopardised the mission.” Ric had a half-smile on his face as he watched Elise squirm; her eyes blinking as she tried to muster a response, a worthy retort to what was being said. But she had nothing. It’s over. The words ‘Eritrea’ and ‘The Colony’ spun through her head, making her nauseous. I may never speak to Roken again. The thought made tears run from her eyes and she closed them with the shame of her fragility. Just tell him about Zero, let him know how important it is that Roken brings him under control. I can’t. That would sign Roken’s death certificate. She hated that she was putting her feelings for Roken ahead of what was best for the company, for humanity, but they just wouldn’t listen. He just needed more time. He will come out under the cover of darkness." As of now, you are suspended until you arrive at The Colony. You fly tomorrow at 3pm. Go home and get some rest." He spoke with such indifference it almost made Elise laugh.
"I can’t believe you are doing this to me." Her voice was monotone, she had lost all strength to argue, to fight.
Ric laughed, “we cannot afford for Roken to not stop Zero. You know that. I will call you as soon as we make contact. You have my word." He placed his hand on her thigh, too high up her leg, and Elise suddenly felt the seclusion of her office. He smiled his filthy smile, and she squirmed to her feet, pushing him away. “Now now. Don’t forget your position here, Ms. Ayllon.” He raised his hands and smiled his putrid smile at her. She squeezed her fists by her sides to quell the urge to tear him limb from limb.
“If you kill Roken…” Her words trailed off through her gritted teeth and she took a deep breath, wiping the tears from her eyes. “Goodbye, Ricard.” She gathered her things from her desk and handed him her access card for the building as she spoke with a pained false politeness, “I’m sure we’ll speak again soon.” She pushed past him and left her office into the black night of Bern, without looking back once.
iv)
Ric had played the recording a hundred times and it still made no sense to him. What is she saying? The words were garbled from the poor connection but, after a few degrees of enhancement, were unmistakable.
“You are all alone now, Roken. The UNA have given up on you. You have to find Zero or they will not hesitate to try and destroy him… I found something. The Doctor knows what Zero is capable of, she is calling him to her… I am worried about what she might do to him if he goes to her.”
The Doctor? He took a long sip from his tumbler of whisky as he leant back in his chair. The office was deserted except for a cleaner he could hear hoovering somewhere. Why is this relevant, and what does it have to do with Zero. He’s nothing but a run-down old war robot. He tapped on his computer screen and scrolled to the internal records, typing in the number 0 with one hand as the other cradled his whisky. The robot’s photo appeared before him, surrounded by statistics of service and readings of this last contact. The word ‘OFFLINE’ was flashing across the bottom of the page.
“What is so special about you, Zero?” He muttered under his breath as he flicked though the tabs to find more detail. He clicked on ‘Biography’, and a name caught his eye. Dr. Ralph Symonds. The name was presented next to the heading ‘Creator’ and he clicked on it. “Symonds.” He said aloud as he scanned the page of sparse details. Died in Madrid: 30/05/2058… Created first functioning assault robot… served in Afghanistan… later in Madrid… married to Dr. Rosie Symonds. He clicked Rosie’s name and another page appeared, this one with a greater body of information. His eyes lit up as he read the details and slurped from his drink, he could feel his pulse racing with the alcohol and information he was consuming. This can’t be true.
He picked up his phone and dialled a number, his hands shaking slightly and his head rocking. It rang twice and a man croaked a “hello” on the other end. “Piet. We know where Zero is going… Once your team check the EMP, send them to Scotland… How soon can we get there… One week is too long, Piet… Screw the jurisdiction… Dowling can suck my dick… Fine. Get it done.” He clicked the phone to silence and threw the phone onto the desk. “Fuck!” He shouted loudly and rested his throbbing head in his hands. After a moment, he tapped the screen and made the images roll back to Zero’s shining face.
You’re proving to be a real inconvenience, Zero. You're not anything special. We should have shut you down years ago. We’re coming for you. He smiled and tapped the robot’s forehead, making the entire screen shake. You and Roken are going to hell together, and I will tell Elise myself when it is done.