For Want of a Nail Read Free

she’d been holding. She’d been worried that
Cordelia would see through the lie.
    Ludoviko dropped into the chair by her table.
“You are quite the piece of work.”
    Rava stared at him for a minute until she
remembered that with Cordelia down, the call to Uncle Georgo
wouldn’t have been relayed to her brother. “He didn’t know me.”
    “What? Talk sense, Rava. Who didn’t know
you?
    “Uncle Georgo. There’s something wrong with him
. . .” Her voice trailed off, the weight of her suspicions too
heavy to be supported by voice. “Will you . . . will you come with
me?”
    Ludoviko opened his mouth, lip already curling
with whatever insult he was preparing.
    “Please.”
    He blinked and let his breath out in a huff.
“Jesus, Rava. This really has you freaked. No one is going to fire
you.”
    “Believe it or not, I’m not worried about that.”
She glanced away from Cordelia’s inert cameras. “Would you come
with me?”
    “Yeah.Yeah, I’ll come.”
    Her brother might drive her mad, but oddly,
having someone who disliked her so much was comforting. It was a
known quantity and that, at the moment, was a welcome thing.
     
    ***
     
    Uncle Georgo did not answer when she knocked on
his door. She waited, counting the seconds as people walked past,
until Ludoviko reached past her and pounded on the door, making it
bounce in its tracks. The speaker crackled into life and her
uncle’s voice quavered out. “Who’s there?”
    “It’s Rava.”
    “And Ludoviko.”
    She sighed. “I brought Cordelia.”
    The door opened and Uncle Georgo peered out with
obvious distrust. His hair was disheveled and a streak of brown
stained his shirt from chest to navel. His gaze darted to the
corner of his glasses and back to look past Rava. “Where is
she?”
    This was not right. Rava cocked her head,
squinting with concentration. She held the chassis out a little way
from her chest. “She’s right here.”
    He huffed, running his hand through his hair so
it stood on end. “Don’t see her.”
    Ludoviko said, “Didn’t Rava tell you? Cordelia
can’t download her memories because Rava dropped her. She’s
sleeping to save space.”
    Nice to know that his willingness to help didn’t
change his pattern of insults.“May I come in?” Rava took a step
toward the door.
    Her uncle chewed on his bottom lip, head tilted
to the side in his usual pose, but his eyes darted around searching
for something. In his hesitation, Rava decided to push forward. He
retreated as she crossed the threshold. His quarters were a mess,
clothes and bedding strewn across the room as if he’d pulled all
his belongings out of the drawers. His desk was in the same spot as
hers, so she pushed a wrinkled shirt off and set Cordelia’s chassis
down.
    Putting her finger on the wake up button, Rava
pressed, the click vibrating under her finger as a gentle chime
rang.
    Before it had faded, Cordelia’s cameras rotated
to her and her head and shoulders appeared above the chassis.
“Success?”
    Georgo sobbed, “Cordelia!” He reached past Rava,
fingers trembling.
    Rava kept her gaze fixed on Cordelia, whose
image didn’t change. At all. For an AI programmed to act human, she
became awfully rigid. Her face stayed fixed on Georgo, but the
cameras flicked to Rava for a moment, then away. She softened and
her image morphed so the high neck of the Victorian gown sank to
reveal most of her bosom.
    Her lashes lengthened and her lips became full
and pouting. “Georgo, honey, what have you done with your room?”
Her voice was sultry.
    “I was looking for you.” He held his hands out
to his sides. “Why did you leave me?”
    “I needed to get you a present.You like
presents, right?”
    He nodded, like a little boy. The confident,
haughty man Rava knew had vanished. She trembled and wrapped her
arms around herself.
    “Good. Now, lie down for your nap and I’ll give
you the present later.”
    “I don’t want to.”
    Ludoviko stepped around Rava and leaned in