Chapter Four

“Good morning, Cassie,” Dr. Love said when she entered my room the next day.

It wasn’t a good morning. I’d spent most of the night thinking about my mom, my grandfather, and of course, Michael—replaying our conversation in my head, back and forth, his turn, my turn, like a game of Ascendancy, and wondering exactly how the plague left these people scarred.

So far, nobody I met looked scarred in any physical way, so what exactly was he talking about? There was no point asking Dr. Love about it. If Michael couldn’t or wouldn’t tell me, she wouldn’t or couldn’t tell me, either, and there was no sense getting mad about it all over again or getting him in trouble for mentioning it in the first place.

Dr. Love gave me a considering look, like she could sense my bad mood. “You’re getting a massage this afternoon.”

I immediately thought of Michael and drew in a quick breath. “By who?”

“A public-service bot.”

“Oh, you mean a robot?” Robots? Cool. Besides a hot doctor, at least there were some good things about this world.

“Yes, we’ve shielded you from them until now. But Dr. Bennett thinks you’re ready to experience your first bot.” She set a tray of food, a meat dish with noodles, on my lap.

As she handed me my fork, I noticed a peculiar ring on her finger. The metal was soft and silvery, shining like a muted crystal. At the top of the band where one would expect a gem, there was a perfectly shaped bird’s egg in miniature. Its surface was lightly frosted, giving it a matte appearance that glistened as she moved. “Your ring is so beautiful. And so unusual.”

“Thank you. Eggs are so lovely, so perfect. It’s almost a shame to crack one open.”

“Oh, I don’t have a problem with that. They taste way too good.”

Dr. Love’s bottom lip stiffened.

“So, um, what other kinds of patients are here?”

“Mainly organ transplant patients, no one whose circumstances are as unique as yours.” She never stopped smiling, which was kind of creepy. “We’ve been cloning organs now for hundreds of years, but when it comes to genetics, there’s still a lot we don’t know.”

“Cloning organs? That’s amazing.”

She glanced at the table floating next to my bed. “Those flowers sure brighten the room,” she said. An arrangement of white, red, purple, pink, and yellow flowers burst from a triangular container, and in the center of blossomy goodness lay one perfect, creamy magnolia bud carefully positioned like a badge on a uniform.

“Yeah, they do. They were here when I woke up. Do you know who brought them?” Please say Michael. My chest inflated.

“I think Ella did.”

“Oh, that’s nice,” I said, trying not to sound disappointed.

“I saw her speaking to a GROW, a gardener bot, before she went home yesterday.” Her red lips parted into a smile. “Would you like to see a robot now, or do you want to wait until your massage?”

“Oh, I’d love to see one now. When my grandfather retired, he became a self-taught roboteer. He made robots with spikes, daggers, rockets, and other surprise weapons and entered them in local robot-war competitions.”

“Robots with exposed weapons and rockets?” She clapped her hand against her chest. “That sounds dangerous and expensive.”

“Not really. When I say ‘robot,’ I’m talking about a remote-controlled metal box with wheels, weighing less than twenty-five pounds. I’m sure our robots were nothing like yours.”

“I’ll go find a JAN for you now. I can’t signal the janitor bot from here. Facility keepers are the only ones with active remotes on their bands.”

Dr. Love returned minutes later with a robot in tow. Its arms and legs were made from metal, but when it moved its jointed limbs and fingers, it was graceful instead of clunky. Its face, neck, and torso were covered with thick, peach skin. Overall, it bore a basic human shape without a lot of detail—definitely made for efficiency.

“This is JAN. It’s actually one of our more primitive bots. Like GROW, it’s a limited-service bot programmed to complete a variety of specific tasks, and that’s it. There’re also public-service bots like RELAX, the massage and therapy bot you’ll see today. Because RELAX interacts with people, it looks more like a human. But robots will never be able to reason. We’re the only beings capable of advanced thought processes. That’s why life is so precious.”

Dr. Love patted the bot on top of the head like it was a dog, and I dared to poke its rubbery cheek with my finger.

So artificial intelligence was another thing the human race had abandoned.

“Life is precious. I’ve been hearing that a lot,” I said after giving the bot’s face another poke and watching the spongy material bounce back into place.

“That’s because it’s true.” There was an almost defensive tone in Dr. Love’s voice.

It was true. So why did these people feel the need to repeat it like they were afraid they’d forget? Weird.

Dr. Love’s smile reappeared when I nodded in agreement. “RELAX will be here soon. Enjoy your massage.”

Just after Dr. Love left with JAN, a heavy knock and a ding echoed through my room. I straightened my back and brushed my fingers through my hair, hoping for Michael, but when the door slid open, a young guy carrying a small box entered instead.

“Good morning.”

“Good morning,” I said, trying not to look disappointed as I pulled my blanket up to my chest.

“I’m Magnum, technician, tier two. I’m here to activate your L-Band. No bots until you’re L-Banded.” Magnum had a big, schoolboy grin, so he looked close to my age. It was impossible not to smile back at him.

His facial features were small—small nose, small eyes, thin lips, but his smile was wide. He was five-foot-nine or ten, and very masculine in a boyish way.

He pulled back the cuff of his navy uniform sleeve to expose the thick black band encircling his wrist. It was about an inch-and-a-half thick and looked almost spongy to the touch. “This is an L-Band, or Liaison Band. You’ve probably seen one before. Everybody wears one.”

“Yeah. What exactly does it do?” I asked with a hesitant smile.

“Oh, many, many things.” Magnum lifted the lid to the lacquered box he was holding and pulled out my L-Band. “First of all, and most importantly, it’s a communication device. You can talk to anyone in the world using this. You can view written text, diagrams, photographs, movies, the list goes on, and link to any database. Oh, and it’s also a locator.” He lifted his eyebrows and smiled. “You can find anyone in this building, and they can find you.”

Yeah, but was that a good thing, or a bad thing?

“You need to wear this in order to interact with bots. If RELAX came in right now, it would see you as another object in the room, something it couldn’t interact with. With this on, you can speak to any robot, and it will even recognize you by name. I just need your right wrist.” Magnum held the L-Band like a prize, delicately and with pride.

I hesitated and then lifted my arm. “But what if…?”

With one quick movement, Magnum fastened the L-Band to my wrist. The material shrank, drawing itself in until it was snug against my skin, and I gasped, pulling my hand from his loose grip.

“Each L-Band is specific to its wearer,” continued Magnum, oblivious to my half-question and rising panic. “This L-Band has been programmed with all of your personal information, including medical records, and it’s automatically updated when new information is added to the main database.”

I turned my hand back and forth, trying to find the place where the two ends joined but couldn’t find it. “How do you take it off?”

“You don’t.” He smiled, but his tone was serious.

“Why not?” The flat, square surface embedded in the fabric stayed perfectly still when I moved, but the material around it flexed and stretched.

“There’s no reason to take it off. You can’t function in our society without one.”

“But—”

“I know you’re not used to maintaining a constant interpersonal connection with a regional network, but believe me, there are more advantages than disadvantages, and there’s no getting around it. Once you’re banded, you’re banded, and there are no exemptions—not even for our presidents. Everyone wears an L-Band.”

I had to wear it, but I didn’t have to like it. “How do I make it work?”

“It’s not activated, yet. Here.” Magnum tapped his L-Band. “I’m the only one who can do this.” He beamed with pride, his stubble-free cheeks dimpled, and he squeezed his eyes almost shut. He was not in charge of waking the dead or fighting a plague, but he obviously enjoyed the power he had when it came to Liaison Bands.

The sound of a soft beep and a short vibration, and then a flash of color stimulated the muscles in my wrist as the L-Band sparked to life.

“Do you want the sound on or off?”

“Ah…on is fine, I guess.”

“Well, there you go. Your L-Band has limited functions at the moment, but it’ll eventually be expanded. In the meantime, go ahead and explore. You can’t break it, and you can’t accidentally call me at three in the morning or hack into confidential records.” Magnum grinned.

“Um, actually, I probably won’t be calling anybody.” I sighed. Who the heck would I call? “Besides, I’d rather explore this hospital. Now that I’m banded, I can leave my room. Show me how to request a wheelchair.” A light tap to my L-Band’s screen made it glow a soft, rippling blue.

“Now hold on.” Magnum laughed. “I know you must be anxious to leave this room, but to do so, you’ll need more than an active L-Band. You’ll also need permission from someone a lot higher up than me.”

“Who? Michael—Dr. Bennett? I’ll call him right now.” Did I dare? Yeah, why not? He promised to take me to the botanical garden when I was ready.

Magnum searched the walls like he was looking for obscuras and took a short breath before he spoke. “Actually, it goes beyond Dr. Bennett.”

“To who?” Michael was my doctor. He should’ve been able to make that call.

“You’ll find out soon enough. In the meantime, if you have any questions about how to use your L-Band, just touch the screen and say my name.” He glanced at his own band and smiled. “Hey, your bot’s here, right on time.”

There was a double ding as the door slid open to reveal RELAX. It walked forward and froze at the side of the bed, its rubbery body clothed in a tight-fitting, gray jumpsuit.

“Good morning, Cassie. I am RELAX, a massage and therapy robot. I have been programmed to aid in your rehabilitation,” it said in a voice that could almost be mistaken for a human.

Great. I hoped I’d enjoy this. I needed something to make me forget I was now tethered to a supposedly scarred world with robots, spying obscuras, and a master computer that recorded my every move. This was way too 1984 for me. I had to find out what was up with this world. And that’s what I planned to do once I regained my strength.