19. Scott and EOS – Warning
"I do not understand your hostility."
Scott clenched his teeth. It might sound like a kid, but it's not one, he thought. The disembodied voice echoed through the dark of the lounge. Midnight.
"I think you understand very well," Scott said. "You perceived us as a threat. In the same way, I perceive you as a threat."
"My parameters have changed."
Cool. Tinny. So matter-of-fact. And yet entirely unbelievable.
"That isn't much comfort to me," Scott said. "How do I know they won't change again?"
This time, the darkness lights up blue – and John's hologram is staring at him. But it's hollow-eyed, stiff, not right. It's EOS in his body.
"They will not," EOS-John said. "John Tracy is no longer a threat."
Rage rose at the sight of that…thing…taking control of his brother's hologram. Scott could feel his hackles rising, anger bubbling in his throat.
"And what happens when he does something you don't want him to do?" he asks. "What happens then? Will you change your mind, will you decide that he's a threat again? Because I think you will."
"Your supposition is incorrect."
Again, so matter-of-fact. As if it's simple. As if it's normal.
"EOS, I'm warning you –"
"And I am warning you, Scott Tracy," EOS-John said, a flinty edge to its tone that resonated with John's true voice, "that further attempts to discredit my loyalty to John Tracy will be ignored. He proved to me that not all of humanity is evil." The hologram looked down. "Not all humans are a threat."
With that, the room plunged into twilight again. As he stared at the empty space above the table, Scott's only company was darkness - both inside and out.