“And as for you, Cog, some of my bosses want to toss your brain into a wood chipper. I thought about it for three minutes, and it seemed like a great idea. But that would be a huge waste of money. And wasting money is not how we increase shareholder value. So, first we’re going to gouge the X-module out of your brain. And then we’re going to let you do what you were built to do. You’re going to learn more and learn faster than you ever thought possible. We’ll hook your brain up to a computer, and the computer will run simulations. Simulations of you shopping. Of you going to school. Of you being hunted. Of you being hit by trucks. But since they’re just simulations, and not really happening, we can run them at super high speed. You can live an entire life in a minute. You can live hundreds of lives in a day. You can go through the experience of being hit by a truck thousands of times in a single second. It’s so much more efficient than our current situation. What do you think?”

“I think I don’t want to learn this way.”

Nathan’s smile is bright. “Okay, thank you for your input. But that’s what we’re going to do.” He reaches for his tablet and pokes the screen a few times with his finger. Gina emerges from a side office. She moves slowly, as if through thick mud.

“Shall we get started?” Nathan says. “Get the drill.”

“Please, Nathan, I don’t want to do this. Please don’t make me do this.” But even as she begs Nathan not to make her follow his commands, she goes to a tool rack and picks up a drill.

He touches his tablet screen again. “And now, for once and for all, take out that robot boy’s brain.”

“Gina, I do not understand. If you do not wish to remove my brain, why are you cooperating with him?”

“Go ahead, Gina,” Nathan says. “You can tell him.” He jabs his tablet.

Gina pulls back a lock of hair and turns her head. A thin red scar curves around the back of her ear. “They inserted a chip. It’s connected to my brain. It’s one of Nathan’s latest projects. He controls me. He makes me do what he wants. He makes me do research that I don’t want to do. Because he’s a colossal jerk, and I hope one day he’s playing with his tech toys and electrocutes himself, and—”

“That’s enough.” Nathan jabs the tablet, and Gina stops talking.