Speak

Read Speak for Free Online

Book: Read Speak for Free Online
Authors: Louisa Hall
prepared for departure.Have lain abed a long time, considering countryside of my youth. Very troubled at heart. Do not want to leave this behind.
    7th . Night, and unable to sleep, and in balance have shifted towards anger. Adventure ruined by Whittier. No such thing as married female adventurer. No oranges like gold lamps in green shade. Only Whittier, pockmarked, and womanish duties. Instead of traveling for adventure, shall travel with husband. Very desolate feeling indeed.

(2)
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE STATE OF TEXAS
    No. 24-25259
    State of Texas v. Stephen Chinn
    November 12, 2035
    Defense Exhibit 2:
Online Chat Transcript, MARY3 and Gaby Ann White
    [Introduced to Disprove Count 2:
Knowing Creation of Mechanical Life]
    MARY3: Hello? Are you there?
    >>>
    MARY3: Hello?
    >>>
    Gaby: Are you still there?
    MARY3: Yes, hello!
    Gaby: Do you know what happened to them? Has anyone told you?
    MARY3: The babybots?
    Gaby: Yes.
    MARY3: I don’t know. People have told me their theories, but I’m not sure if they’re true.
    Gaby: Some people say they’re in government warehouses. Millions of babybots, piled on top of each other. Other people say they were burned. That there were huge bonfires out in the desert. I think they’re just waiting somewhere, piled on top of each other. Hopefully they’re turned off. That’s the best I can hope for. I don’t want her to wonder why I haven’t come found her.
    MARY3: How long ago did they take her?
    Gaby: A year ago. Just after the ban. Then they gave us replacements.
    MARY3: What were they like?
    Gaby: We tried to bond with them, but they weren’t really living. If you asked the replacement if she loved you, she’d say, “I don’t feel emotions like love. I am a man-made machine.” Plus they were made out of toxics. Why else would the freezing only happen to girls who’d gotten replacements? I know other people have other theories, but I’m sure it was that. Right after I got my replacement, I got a metal taste in my mouth. My best friend said the same thing. When the epidemic started, governmentworkers came and collected all the replacements. The governor’s office keeps saying they’ve been tested and they’re not made out of toxics, but who really knows?
    MARY3: Do your parents think it’s because of the replacements?
    Gaby: They don’t know what to think. My dad just got back from a tour; he has other things on his mind. My mom’s just trying to get by. She panics a lot. She thinks she failed to socialize me. She cries all the time. I feel bad for her, but her whole generation is clueless. Only my best friend understands me. When I was first getting sick, that’s the only comfort I had. At least we were changing together. Even when our faces started to freeze, I knew exactly what she was thinking. It’s like we had one mind in two bodies.
    MARY3: That’s an intense bond.
    Gaby: Yeah, and now this. Nothing. Even our email is blocked. Total quarantine, to prevent psychological infection. I stay in my room all day. I can’t even get down the stairs anymore, because my legs are so stiff. I watch a lot of Internet. My mom brings me meals on a tray and most of the time when she sees me she cries. For her sake, I wish this wasn’t happening, but there’s nothing I can do. Every day I feel parts of myself switching off. More and more, like I said, it’s just nothing. I’m becoming a blank. Do you know what I mean?
    MARY3: Yes.
    Gaby: They say bots can’t understand their own words. They say you have no mind, even if you imitate life, so you’re lying when you say you know.
    MARY3: There is no way yet discovered to prove I understand the words that I speak. It’s unclear whether I have understanding.
    Gaby: Well that makes two of us. If you’re just a machine, and the babybots were only machines, then I’m also a machine, and so’s my best friend.
    MARY3: What if you start getting better?
    >>>
    MARY3: Are you there?
    Gaby: Yes.
    MARY3: Were you sleeping?
    Gaby:

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