Chapter 108 - Severing the Cord
Sparks showered over Naomi’s back as the terminal cracked beneath her weight. Her vision blurred momentarily, the crimson hue of the emergency lighting pulsing in time with her racing pulse.
Vanessa advanced, stepping over the shattered computer fragments, her silver-heeled shoes crunching over glass. She reached down, picking up a heavy steel conduit that had broken loose from the ceiling, raising it high above Naomi's head with lethal intent.
"Execute defective asset," Vanessa droned, her voice flat, void of soul.
Naomi looked up, not into the eyes of a killer, but into the eyes of a prisoner trapped behind her own mind.
"Vanessa," Naomi spoke, her voice dropping into a low, steady frequency. "Remember the tea."
The pipe hesitated by a millimeter.
"Remember the kitchen at two in the morning," Naomi continued, ignoring the throbbing pain in her ribs as she climbed slowly to one knee. "You came down because you couldn't sleep. You watched me brew jasmine tea, and you asked me why someone with hands like mine chose to wash dishes."
Vanessa’s brow twitched. A faint, nearly imperceptible tremor ran through her fingers.
"You told me that you hated the galas. You hated the fake smiles, the businessmen, the politicians who looked at you like a decorative object," Naomi said, rising to her full height, ignoring the weapon poised above her skull. "You aren't their machine, Vanessa. You never were. You are the woman who looked at a maid and saw a human being."
Behind the glass booth, Arthur’s smug expression twisted into sudden panic. "Directive Alpha, override! Strike her down now! That is an executive order!"
Vanessa’s arms shook violently. The mechanical perfection of her stance began to fracture. A single tear broke from the corner of her wide, dilated eyes, tracking down her cheek through the grime and sweat.
"I... I..." Vanessa’s breath hitched.
"Break the command," Naomi whispered, placing her hand gently over Vanessa’s knuckles on the steel pipe. "Take back your own life."
May you like
With a ragged, agonizing scream that echoed off the reinforced walls, Vanessa dropped the pipe, collapsing forward into Naomi’s arms, weeping uncontrollably as the dark dilation in her pupils finally receded.
***
