Hard Wired Trilogy DeAnna Pearce (if you give a mouse a cookie read aloud txt) 📖

Ari swallowed, still bound by Niomi’s tight grasp. Angry tears welled in Ari’s eyes as her helpless frustration built. “Then why teach me to fight at all?”

“Because one day you will need it. You won’t always be Kari.” Niomi leaned close. “Remember you are a warper. You don’t have to fight, you can change this program to be whatever you need it to be. You, better than anyone, know this is only a game. Separate yourself and outsmart them. You always have more than one choice.”

The next second, Niomi vanished, leaving the program.

Ari lay panting face down in the grass. Sometimes her life felt like a game, whether it be the government or VisionTech, she’d constantly be playing by other people’s rules in and out of virtual reality programs. One day, she’d love to live her life on her own terms, but that wasn’t her reality for now.

Chapter 5

By the time she got back to her room and showered, Ari only wanted to curl up in front of a show and eat all the ice cream she could get her hands on. Heading down to the kitchen, she found Jewels tidying up. She found some ice cream in the freezer from before. Jewels was one of the few people on the island that had access to Ari’s rooms, and she helped clean, launder and do anything that a robot couldn’t. Not a busy job, but Ari appreciated having her around.

“How are you doing today?” Ari grabbed two different cartons: mint chip and rocky road.

Jewels motioned to the cartons. “Better than you.”

“Do you want some?”

“No, dear. These old bones work better with a light load. Can I get anything for you?” Jewels’ eyes sparkled with kindness. Her old age was seen in the silver that lined her hair, or the age lines etched on her face, but those eyes shone.

“No.” Looking down, she questioned her choice of food and grabbed a bag of popcorn just in case before heading to her room. “I’ll catch you later, Jewels.”

“Take care, dear.”

Not wanting to see Niomi, who was the only other person to live in their annex of the Wave, Ari kept to her own rooms. She’d opened the bag and dug in by the time she got to her bedroom and curled up on her couch. The familiar ache flared up. Missing home, she called Reed.

He picked up with audio only, “Hey Ari.” People spoke in the background.

“Hey, you busy?”

“A bit. I’m meeting with the art club, working on my design project.” He had to submit a portfolio to be accepted as an art intern with VisionTech, and right now they liked him a lot more in security. To move divisions wasn’t impossible, but not many people did it.

“Okay… I just—”

“Give me a minute guys,” Reed spoke to the others in the room.

Instead of quieting down, they got louder. Several cat calls made it through the line to Ari. She felt embarrassed to be bothering Reed when he already had so much on his plate.

“Sorry, Ari. I’m stepping into the bathroom now.” The background noise muted quite a bit.

“I know you’re busy. I can let you go. I just wanted to say good night.” Her stomach sunk, already missing him.

“You sure?” Before she could reply, he continued. “I am swamped over here but can take a break if you need.”

“Don’t worry about. We can talk tomorrow. Goodnight, Reed.”

“Goodnight.” The click ending the phone call, echoed through her empty apartment.

She dug into ice cream, angry at herself for being so disappointed. Reed came to VisionTech because of her and to be with her. Wasn’t that enough confirmation of his feelings? He was busy chasing his dreams and she needed to be supportive. She usually was, but today was a long day and she just wanted to talk. After a while, these quiet rooms started to get to her.

Halfway through the carton of rocky road, Vinh video called her. Once she answered, he started laughing.

“Really?” She didn’t find herself amusing. Self-consciously, she tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.

“Sorry,” he tried to reign in his jovial expression. “Was my suit that hard on you that you’re eating a whole carton of ice cream?”

“I can turn you off,” she threatened.

“Come on. Tell me how it went.”

Digging into one more big bite just to prove to him that she could, she told him how it went. Vinh was one of the few people she could talk over some of her missions with. He had a high security clearance with the company so that he could improve and work on the gear for virtual reality programs. Despite his sarcasm, or maybe because of it, she relaxed as she vented about how Niomi trashed her in the program.

Their conversation turned to home, a common topic between the two of them. “I’m tired of machine food. I wouldn’t think fish would be that hard to cook,” Vinh complained. “But I tried it again, and I couldn’t make it through the plate.”

“Home cooked can’t be beat.” Ari’s stomach tightened at the thought of her mother’s food.

“I just have to convince them to let me in the kitchen. Show them a thing or two about the value of fat.”

Thinking of home, Ari thought of her family’s situation. “Hey, Vinh, could you possibly help me check up on my family? There was some trouble with my last visit.”

His lips pressed into a tight line. He shook his head slightly as he lifted a finger. The screen blinked out and then reappeared a moment later. “Ari, you know better than to talk about certain things on an unsecured line.”

“I thought everything was a safe line here on the island.” They were completely shut off from the outside world in this little speck of paradise in the middle of the ocean.

“Don’t be naive.”

She swallowed, realizing what she was asking of him, and felt guilty. They were friends, but they hadn’t known each other for