Word Puppets Read online

  “You can spend the credits. You dropped her.”

  “Will you two please stop fighting?” Cordelia laughed breathlessly. “I’m trying to pretend that experiencing memory loss is good for me. It builds character.”

  “Well look. Wait.” Rava raised her hand. “Uncle Georgo’ll have the inventory.”

  “Oh, there’s no need to bother him and fret about fetching the pods from storage. You can go to Paĉjo’s Consignment Shoppe.” Cordelia brightened. “Someone else on the ship must have a cable.”

  Rava nodded, relief lifting her mood a little. “Yeah. I’ll bet that’s true. So I just have to ask Uncle Georgo what kind of cable you take.”

  “Why don’t you take me to Paĉjo’s shop?” Cordelia cocked her head. “Then you can match the cable to my ports without bothering Georgo.”

  “That’s—”

  Ludoviko shook his head before she could finish her sentence. “You’ll do anything to avoid telling Uncle Georgo, won’t you?”

  He wasn’t far wrong. When Uncle Georgo had resigned as Cordelia’s wrangler and accepted a seat on the family council, it had taken everyone by surprise. He was brilliant and everyone expected him to keep the post until his body succumbed to old age. At twenty-six, Rava had been far younger than anyone expected when she’d succeeded to the role of Cordelia’s wrangler. The last thing she wanted was for the family to say it had been a mistake.

  Gritting her teeth, Rava toggled the keyboard and called Uncle Georgo. His extension rang longer than she was used to. When he finally toggled in, appearing in her VR glasses as though he were in the room with them, his eyes were red and puffy, as if he’d been crying. “Hello?” His voice trembled.

  “Uncle Georgo?” Rava leaned forward, dread needling along her spine. “What’s wrong?”

  “I don’t . . . I don’t . . . ” Behind his VR glasses, his eyes darted to the left as if searching for someone. He wet his lips. “Do you know where Cordelia is?”

  Rava winced. So much for easing into the subject. “Yeah, about that. So, it’s like this. She’s fine but needs to swap out a part.”

  His forehead wrinkled, brows almost meeting in confusion. “Part?”

  “Her transmitter. We think.” If she rushed past the problem then maybe he’d think she had everything under control. “Anyway, so the reason I’m calling is to see if you know the type of cable she needs for an external hardwire.”

  He muttered under his breath, tugging on his ear. “But what about Cordelia? You know where she is?”

  “In my room.” She turned her head so that Cordelia’s chassis would come into frame. “See? Honest, it’s a matter of swapping out the socket.”

  “In your room? Why is she with you? Why do you have Cordelia?” His voice rose, cracking on the AI’s name. She and her uncle had disagreed on Cordelia’s maintenance before, but this was all out of proportion to what was happening. Mostly. “She should be with me.”

  Rava swayed as if her uncle had struck her. He’d resigned from his post as the AI’s wrangler and of all their relatives Rava had been the one Cordelia had chosen to take over. If the AI didn’t blame Rava for dropping her, then Uncle Georgo had no room to. “Hey. I’m her wrangler now and I’m capable of dealing with this, I just need the cable.”

  “Where is she? I want to see her.”

  Rava had to fight the urge to yank her glasses off. Clenching her fists so hard her fingers ached, Rava said, “I told you, she’s in my room.”

  “Your room . . . But I don’t understand. Who are you?”

  Rava froze, breath stopped. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  Her uncle’s eyes widened and then he scowled. “I’m not talking to you anymore.” Reaching forward, he wiped off the connection and his image vanished.

  Rava sat on the floor, breath coming in gasps. Her hand shook. Nothing about that conversation had made any sense. Her uncle had often been temperamental, but he’d also been eminently rational. This had been like talking to one of her nieces. Rava passed a hand over her face, sweating.

  Ludoviko smirked. “Mad at you, huh?”

  Ignoring her brother, Rava stabbed the redial and then listened to her uncle’s handy ring. With each tone, another weird aspect struck her. Uncle Georgo crying. Ring. Uncle Georgo seeking Cordelia in his glasses. Ring. Uncle Georgo asking her who she was.

  She must have misunderstood that. And yet, there had been no recognition in his gaze, no sense that he’d been playing with her. The phone dropped into voicemail and Rava slapped it off.

  Fine. So he was screening her calls now. She’d grab Cordelia and go to her uncle’s quarters. Not that she was looking forward to that but it’d be an improvement over talking to Ludoviko. “Okay. We’re going to Uncle Georgo’s.”

  “Really” Cordelia smiled. “That’s not necessary, you and I can solve this together. Take me to the consignment shop and we can find a match.”

  The option to pretend that nothing had happened, that Uncle Georgo was normal, sat right in front of her, but it was as illusionary as anything on VR. If it were just the cable, Rava might have gone for it, but a question had started nagging her. She nodded at Cordelia. “Okay. Sure. Why don’t you shut down—”

  “I don’t fucking believe this.” Ludoviko put his hands on his hips. “You are unbelievable.”

  “You’ve said that.” Rava faced Cordelia again. “Go to sleep until we get to the consignment shop. There’s no point in wasting your memory on a trip through the corridors.”

  Cordelia’s hesitation was almost invisible as she looked from Rava to Ludoviko. She nodded. “Good idea. Wake me there.” Her image flickered and vanished.

  Rava waited until the alert light faded before letting out the breath she’d been holding. She’d been worried that Cordelia would see through the lie.

  Ludoviko dropped into the chair by her table. “You are quite the piece of work.”

  Rava stared at him for a minute until she remembered that with Cordelia down, the call to Uncle Georgo wouldn’t have been relayed to her brother. “He didn’t know me.”

  “What? Talk sense, Rava. Who didn’t know you?

  “Uncle Georgo. There’s something wrong with him . . . ” Her voice trailed off, the weight of her suspicions too heavy to be supported by voice. “Will you . . . will you come with me?”

  Ludoviko opened his mouth, lip already curling with whatever insult he was preparing.

  “Please.”

  He blinked and let his breath out in a huff. “Jesus, Rava. This really has you freaked. No one is going to fire you.”

  “Believe it or not, I’m not worried about that.” She glanced away from Cordelia’s inert cameras. “Would you come with me?”

  “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll come.”

  Her brother might drive her mad, but oddly, having someone who disliked her so much was comforting. It was a known quantity and that at the moment, that was a welcome thing.

  Uncle Georgo did not answer when she knocked on his door. She waited, counting the seconds as people walked past, until Ludoviko reached past her and pounded on the door, making it bounce in its tracks. The speaker crackled into life and her uncle’s voice quavered out. “Who’s there?”

  “It’s Rava.”

  “And Ludoviko.”

  She sighed. “I brought Cordelia.”

  The door opened and Uncle Georgo peered out with obvious distrust. His hair was disheveled and a streak of brown stained his shirt from chest to navel. His gaze darted to the corner of his glasses and back to look past Rava. “Where is she?”

  This was not right. Rava cocked her head, squinting with concentration. She held the chassis out a little away from her chest. “She’s right here.”

  He huffed, running his hand through his hair so it stood on end. “Don’t see her.”

  Ludoviko said, “Didn’t Rava tell you? Cordelia can’t download her memories because Rava dropped her. She’s sleeping to save space.”

  Nice to know that his wil
lingness to help didn’t change his pattern of insults. “May I come in?” Rava took a step toward the door.

  Her uncle chewed on his bottom lip, head tilted to the side in his usual pose, but his eyes darted around searching for something. In his hesitation, Rava decided to push forward. He retreated as she crossed the threshold. His quarters were a mess, clothes and bedding strewn around as if he’d pulled everything out of the drawers. His desk was in the same spot hers was, so she pushed the wrinkled shirt off of it and set Cordelia’s chassis down.

  Putting her finger on the wake up button, Rava pressed, the click vibrating under her finger as a gentle chime rang.

  Before it had faded, Cordelia’s camera’s rotated to her and her head and shoulders appeared above the chassis. “Success?”

  Her uncle sobbed, “Cordelia!” He reached past Rava, fingers trembling.

  Rava kept her gaze fixed on Cordelia, whose image didn’t change. At all. For an AI programmed to act human, she became awfully rigid. Her face stayed fixed on Georgo, but the cameras flicked to Rava for a moment, then away. She softened and her image morphed so the high neck of the Victorian gown sank to reveal her bosom. Her lashes lengthened and her lips became full and pouting. “Georgo, honey, what have you done with your room?” Her voice was sultry.

  “I was looking for you.” He held his hands out to his side. “Why did you leave me?”

  “I needed to get you a present. You like presents, right?”

  He nodded, like a little boy. The confident, haughty man Rava knew had vanished. She trembled and wrapped her arms around herself.

  “Good. Now, lie down for your nap and I’ll give you the present later.”

  “I don’t want to.”

  Ludoviko stepped around Rava and leaned in close to Cordelia. “What the fuck is going on?”

  Only because she had studied the mannerisms built into Cordelia, Rava did see the AI’s fraction of hesitation. “I am afraid that is confidential information between me and one of my users.”

  Rava shook her head. She didn’t like Ludoviko’s manner, but that didn’t change the fact that Cordelia was dodging questions. She swallowed and put her hand on Cordelia’s interface, setting her thumb on the print reader. “Authorized Report. What is Uncle Georgo’s status?”

  Cordelia lowered her head, biting her lip. “He has dementia.”

  “No.” Ludoviko laughed, breath catching in his throat. “I talked to him yesterday and he most certainly does not.” The air purifiers beat in the silence in the room. “Look, he’d have gone to recycling if he weren’t productive anymore. It’s the most basic law of conservation of resources.”

  “You’ve been covering for him, haven’t you?” Rava’s whole body was shaking, but her voice sounded flat and dead.

  “Yes.”

  The need to respond pressed her throat shut. What could she say in the face of this? Cordelia had lied to them, and lied repeatedly. Dementia.

  Ludoviko’s hand fell on Rava’s shoulder, pulling her out of the way. “How long?”

  “I don’t know.” Cordelia’s voice verged on inaudible.

  “Bullshit.” He slapped the table beside her, jarring her chassis with the impact.

  Uncle Georgo jumped forward and grabbed his arm. “Don’t touch her!”

  Enraged, Ludoviko shrugged him off. Uncle Georgo reached for Cordelia, hands scrabbling. Ludoviko flat-handed him in the chest, pushing with the full brunt of his strength. The breath coughed out of Uncle Georgo. He crumpled to the floor with a cry.

  “Ludoviko!” Rava interposed herself between her brother and her uncle. “What are you doing?”

  Ludoviko leveled his finger at Uncle Georgo, who cowered. “I fucking want to know how long this has been happening.”

  “Leave him alone.” Rava wanted to know too, but attacking Uncle Georgo, who was clearly out of his mind—she balked at the thought. If he had dementia, he should have been recycled long ago.

  “Are you paying attention, Rava? Our AI is breaking the law.” He spun, tendons in his neck standing out in cords of rage. “How long has he been like this?”

  Raising her head, Cordelia glared down her nose at him. “I do not know. The start date is recorded in my long term memory.”

  “I don’t believe you.” Ludoviko flexed his fists open and closed as if he were five years old and wanted to hit something. “You’re lying.”

  Cordelia leaned forward, her gentle Victorian face distorting with rage. “I can’t lie. Mislead, yes, but not lie. If you don’t want to know the truth, don’t ask me to report with direct questions. You have no idea. No idea what my existence is like.”

  Though Cordelia’s form was a hologram, Rava could not shake the feeling that she was about to step off her dais and slap Ludoviko.

  “Was it last month? Was it three months ago? You must have some clue.”

  “I do not know.”

  “Ludoviko, what does it matter?”

  Sweat dotted his brow. “It matters because if she’s been covering for our dear uncle, then she’s the one who’s been keeping me from reproducing.”

  The air pump whined as it circulated the air in the room. “What?”

  “You didn’t know Uncle Georgo was on the repro committee?” He smirked. “Of course not. As a girl, it’s your biological imperative to reproduce. You have to keep your womb warm and ready to go. Not me. I have to beg to be allowed to spill my seed in some test tube on the off-chance someone will want it.” Ludoviko glared at Cordelia. “My application was denied on grounds that my personality was unstable. Exactly how unstable would you like me to be?”

  “I have no memory of this.”

  He cracked his neck, glaring at her. “That’s convenient.”

  “If you want an answer, I suggest you help your sister find a cable.”

  “Right.” Rava patted her uncle on the shoulder, trying to soothe the sobbing man. “Cordelia, do whatever it is you do to make Uncle Georgo seem normal. Then he can tell us where the inventory is and we can get the cable.”

  The bark of laughter that broke from Cordelia startled Rava with its bitterness. “Don’t you understand, yet? I have been using his VR glasses to feed him lines every time he speaks. He only knows what I know and I don’t remember where the inventory is.”

  “Why? Why have you been covering for him? Report.”

  Cordelia’s eyes sparked with fury. “My report, O wrangler, is that Georgo would go to the recycler if the family council found him to be without use or purpose. I have kept him useful.”

  “No, I get that. Why keep him out of the recycler?” Rava struggled to understand. “I don’t want to go either, but if none of us went, the ship would be overrun and we’d all starve. I mean, you and Uncle Georgo were two of the people who taught me the law of conservation. So why break the law?”

  Above her, Ludoviko stilled, waiting for the answer. The only sound came from Uncle Georgo, who rocked on the floor, sobbing. Snot and tears steamed down his face unheeded.

  The AI’s mask of confidence slipped. “I do not remember. I only remember that it is important to keep him alive and to keep it a secret.”

  “Well, it’s not a secret anymore, is it.” Ludoviko’s lip twisted in distaste as he stared at his uncle.

  “I suppose.” Cordelia narrowed her eyes. “I suppose that depends on whether or not you tell anyone else. May I suggest that whatever reason I had was strong enough to overcome my programming about the law. It might be a wise course to not act precipitously to change things.”

  Rava hesitated. There was something to that. As strong as her childhood training was, an AI had unbreakable taboos built into it. Cordelia had to obey the law. “Hang on.” A thought struck her. “Your compulsions are tied to the ship’s master log of law. If you can’t transmit, how do you know what the laws are?”

  “I have a copy in my onboard read-only memory and it syncs at every update.”

  Which was too bad. Rava had been hoping for a backup transmitter sh
e could hack into. She shook her head to rid it of that faint hope. “How much time do you have left before your next backup is scheduled?”

  “An hour and a half.” Cordelia looked up and to the left, to indicate she was calculating. “But with only a single feed, I have more time than I’d normally have in memory. We might have a week before I have to start pruning.”

  Rava felt some of the tension winding through her joints relax. She’d been so worried about having to dump things.

  “Yeah.” Ludoviko rapped his fist on the wall to get their attention. “Hello? That’s great that you won’t have to dump any memory, Cordelia, but in the meantime our lives are going unrecorded. What do you suggest we do about that?”

  “You could try writing it down.” Rava beamed at her brother. “Or you could not worry about it since you won’t have any descendents who care.”

  Her brother’s face turned a blotchy red and he took a step toward her, raising his fist. “So no one will record this, will they?”

  “I’m still here.” Cordelia’s voice snapped through the room. “I am still watching.”

  “Fine.” Ludoviko lowered his arm. “But I’m going to tell the family what Rava did.”

  “By all means. Track down each and every person by walking through the whole ship to find them. Or wait until I’ve fixed Cordelia.”

  “Cordelia?” Uncle Georgo lifted his head. “I don’t understand what is happening.”

  “Georgo, Georgo . . . ” Cordelia’s voice promised soothing and comfort. “It is time for your nap. That is all that has happened. You have missed your nap.”

  Rava watched as Cordelia used her voice to coax Uncle Georgo upright and then to wash his face and put himself to bed. The irritability and absent mindedness she had seen her uncle exhibit returned but now she could hear the hidden part of his life. Cordelia coaxed him to everything he did almost like a puppeteer with a shadow figure. It created the illusion of life, but her uncle was an empty figure.