Root let herself into the subway station, absently patting Bear as he trotted up to her. He followed her into the carriage.
"OK, I'm here."
Nothing but the loud hum of hundreds of hardrives and the cooling system. At some point they would have to install a halon system, and start looking at replacing some of the drives. They'd been running on a legacy system on degraded drives for too long, but the hardware had been holding and they had backups now. More work would be needed to get full redundancy, and they had nothing on Samaritan's multitude of DataCentres, but for now… for now they were running, and running meant they could stay ahead. Just one step was all they needed, most days.
"I'm here," Root said again, and Bear whined at the sharp note in her tone. Root cocked her head to the side but still nothing. "I didn't find her. She found me. She wasn't looking for me."
YOU DON'T KNOW THAT.
"She's been tortured for months. She was out for days before we happened across the same target."
NOT A COINCIDENCE.
"There's no way she could have known where I was. She was taking down a Samaritan agent on her own. She doesn't even think this is real, but she still doesn't want to see you in case she leads Samaritan to you. What have you seen that makes you suspect she's turned?"
Silence again.
"Why don't you trust her? You know her as well as you know me. You can't just… shut me out because you think…" Root was upset now, She'd been shut out for hours on nothing more than a suspicion during some of the darkest hours they'd had since Samaritan had been bought online. "She's always trusted you. Me, she had trouble with. But she knew I was taking instruction from you and she never questioned it. Just me, never you."
YOU TRUST HER.
"I know Shaw. She's a fighter. Whatever they did to her, everything they did to her… she believes in you. Why can't you believe in her?"
BRING HER HERE. I CAN RUN SIMULATIONS.
Root laughed incredulously.
"She's been through enough. It would be barbaric. Anyway, she won't come. She'll think it's a trick from Samaritan. She'll never come if she thinks she could possibly lead them to you."
EVERY SIMULATION I HAVE RUN WITHOUT HER ENDS POORLY IN HER FAVOR.
"Did you have eyes on Samaritan when they had her? Did you see what they did to her?" Root's hand clenched. "What did they do to her?"
I DID NOT SEE. SAMARITAN IS BASED ON MY CODE. I CAN BE… PERSUASIVE. I KNOW WHAT I WOULD HAVE DONE. A HUMAN COULD NOT WITHSTAND IT.
"And what benefit do you get out of having her here? Can't you just… run simulations without her? How do you even plan on having her connected to you?"
I KNOW WHO SHE WAS. I COULD TRUST WHO SHE WAS. I DO NOT KNOW WHO SHE IS NOW.
"She won't come. Not because she doesn't want you to believe her, but because she doesn't want to put you in danger."
There was a long pause, and Root went over to Bear, stroking his ears and wondering where Harold was. Bear trotted over to his foodbowl expectantly and Root obligingly filled it.
GIVE HER AN EARPIECE, Root heard finally. I WILL TRY REMOTELY.
"I expect to hear from you later," Root said as she left.
ABSOLUTELY.
Root unlocked the apartment to find Shaw in front of the TV, watching football. Shaw still looked tired, but she smiled at Root before turning back to the game.
"Hey sweetie, I bought food." Root locked the door behind her and dropped a takeaway bag in front of Shaw.
"Aw Root, you sure know the way to a girl's heart," Shaw sat up straight and dug into the bag. "No way, you got me a Bea?"
"Only the best for my girl," Root said, watching Shaw consume her meal with some measure of pride.
THE HEADSET, The Machine urged, but Root shushed her.
Notes:
It is weird writing the voice of The Machine when it's not Root.
Just a note to say thanks for sticking with me after that long-ass break. I still have neurological issues but I am less impaired most days so as long as I can keep getting my medication filled, which given the ongoing international situation may not be possible, I should be able to update.
