Chapter 9: Bob – August 6, 2133
I was in the roamer room, working on an exercise, when I realized that Dr. Landers wasn’t alone. He always stood at the window, watching me and talking, and it took me a few moments to realize that the steady stream of commentary had stopped.
I directed one of the roamers to give me a video feed. Dr. Landers was talking to someone that I would have sworn was Minister Travis’s brother. Seriously, did they have that look listed in the job requirements? MUST LOOK LIKE SCARY GUY FROM POLTERGEIST 2. Jeez.
Dr. Landers had turned off the intercom system, but that represented about three milliseconds worth of inconvenience. Amateur.
I directed a roamer to move to the wall immediately below the window. By pressing its body against the wall, it was able to pick up transmitted vibrations. I had to crank the gain way up, but I had all the audio filtering tricks that two centuries of electronic media had developed.
“This is the work of the Devil. You are placing your immortal soul in jeopardy by participating in this enterprise.”
“The Ministry of Truth advised me otherwise.”
“These are poor imitations of God’s Creation. They mock humanity with their false display of intelligence and emotion.”
“The Ministry of Truth is of the opinion that, while they are without a soul, they are merely based on God’s creation and not an attempt to usurp His authority.”
The air grew momentarily brittle with that silence you get when someone is glaring. I stole a glance using one of the roamers on the table. Yep. Glaring.