Don't Go Back Alone

Once these principles took hold, it would be much harder for Vought to turn her into a product that only obeyed orders.

"Let's keep working on the puzzle."

Lin Mo steered the conversation back to the game, but Joanna clearly wasn't ready to drop it.

Joanna looked at him, tugged at the hem of his shirt, and edged closer. Then, in a rare follow-up question, she asked,

"What you said is right?"

"I think it is."

"Then I'll listen to you." Joanna looked utterly dependent on Lin Mo, and his heart tightened.

That was right. Whatever else she might be, she was still a child. He couldn't blame her for thinking that way.

Damn you, Vought, Lin Mo cursed inwardly.

But he didn't want her depending too much on him, either.

"You can't just listen to me."

Lin Mo shook his head, still patient.

"You have to think for yourself, too."

Joanna seemed displeased. She blinked her big eyes, then shook her head with a hint of frustration.

"Too much trouble."

Lin Mo couldn't help laughing at her expression.

"A little. We can talk about it another time."

Seeing him smile, she let the matter drop, and they went back to finishing the Puzzle.

The outline of a city gradually appeared across the carpet. Vought heroes in bright uniforms took their places in the sky, every face wearing the same stiff, commercial smile.

Joanna showed little interest in them. She only cared where Lin Mo would put the next piece of the Puzzle.

The signal marking the end of their time together sounded soon after.

"SOL-0, activity time is over."

The voice from the speaker said,

"Please proceed to the exit."

Lin Mo set down the last piece of the Puzzle and rubbed his eyes. Time to go bask in the sun. The good times never lasted long.

Usually, after their time together ended, Vought took him up to get some sun for a set period. He actually looked forward to this part.

It was a matter of getting stronger. Not even Joanna could stop him.

Hopefully, they wouldn't cut his time in the sun. Otherwise, he'd make a fuss. He was still a child, after all, wasn't he?

At the sound of the speaker, Joanna stiffened slightly. She hated that voice.

Over the past few visits, she had gradually grown used to Lin Mo leaving. As long as their next meeting happened as promised, she didn't resist much.

Lin Mo stood. "I'll be back in three days," he told her in advance, as he always did.

This time was different. Joanna looked up at him, reluctance thick in her voice.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to my room."

"What's in your room?"

Lin Mo thought of how bare Joanna's laboratory was. After a moment, he answered her anyway.

"A bed, books, toys, and a TV."

Joanna looked down at the blue blanket in her arms.

"My room doesn't have those."

Her voice was soft. Lin Mo stopped, hesitated for a moment, then kept walking. Since when had he become so sympathetic? Maybe he had simply spent too much time with her.

Joanna's voice followed him, sounding close to tears.

"No toys."

"No books."

"Just a blanket."

Joanna gripped the blue fabric tighter.

"Nothing else."

The isolation door had opened. Caregivers stood outside, ready to take Lin Mo away.

The door on the other side, leading to Joanna's living quarters, opened as well.

A researcher's command came over the speaker.

"HL-01, return to your room."

Joanna did not move.

"HL-01, return to your room immediately."

She remained seated on the carpet.

In the past, however unwillingly, she had usually gone back alone after Lin Mo left.

This time, she hugged the blue blanket tighter and slowly moved toward him.

"I'm not going back."

Everyone in the Observation Room looked up. This was the first time Joanna had explicitly refused to return to her living quarters.

The voice over the speaker grew sterner.

"The experiment is over."

"Return to your room."

Joanna stood this time, but she neither attacked nor shouted.

She simply walked to Lin Mo's side and took hold of his shirt. Her eyes were red as she stared into his.

"There's only a blanket there."

She looked at Lin Mo and spoke softly. For the first time, clear defiance appeared in her pale eyes.

"There's nothing else. I don't want to go back alone."

The isolation door to HL-01's living quarters was fully open.

Beyond it stretched a long, narrow white corridor. Two caregivers stood at the far end, making no move toward the Game Room.

They had clearly learned their lesson. Unless Joanna came out on her own, no one wanted to enter that room and try to take her away up close.

In the Game Room, Joanna stood beside Lin Mo.

She held the blue blanket in one hand and gripped the hem of Lin Mo's shirt with the other. A few months earlier, that motion might have torn his clothes apart and even sent him sprawling.

Now she could control her strength with precision. It should have been progress enough to satisfy the researchers.

Yet the atmosphere in the Observation Room was more tense than it had been when she lost control.

For the first time, Joanna had explicitly refused an order.

"HL-01."

A caregiver's voice came over the speaker, deliberately slow and gentle.

"Today's activity is over. Please return to your room."

Joanna still didn't look up. She pretended not to hear, as though no one had spoken, and kept hold of Lin Mo's shirt.

But Lin Mo could feel her fingers trembling slightly.

She knew that if she let go, she would have to return to that room with nothing in it.

Before, she had never thought there was anything wrong with that room. She had lived there for as long as she could remember.

White walls, lights that never changed, food delivered through the wall, caregivers who appeared on schedule, and that blue blanket.

She didn't know how other children lived. She didn't know a room could have toys, books, windows, or someone to talk to.

Not until Vought brought her into the Game Room. Not until she met Lin Mo.

After seeing building blocks, picture books, toy cars, and crayons, she had gradually realized that her old living quarters weren't what the whole world was like.

And after she had experienced someone's company, returning to complete solitude made everything she had once endured suddenly unbearable.

"HL-01, please return to your room."

The announcement repeated the request again.

Joanna still gave no answer. In the Observation Room, Marty watched the monitoring data closely and continued his report.

"Heart rate is still rising, but there are no signs of aggression."

Frank replied coldly,

"Resistance is resistance."

"If she refuses to leave every time an experiment ends, we won't be able to continue the contact program. If nothing else works, release a strong anesthetic gas."

But another researcher, Barbara, offered a suggestion.

"We could try persuading her with a reward first. No force."

Vogelbaum nodded.

"Tell her she'll get an extra reward if she returns to her room."

The speaker fell silent for a moment.

A few seconds later, the voice sounded again.

This time, the cold mechanical voice seemed to carry a trace of warmth.

"Joanna."

For the first time, the speaker used the name the researchers had registered for her instead of her experimental designation.

"If you go back to your room now, you can have chocolate pudding tonight."

Lin Mo, who had not yet left, noticed Joanna's eyes flicker slightly.

She clearly knew what pudding was. During earlier taste-response experiments, the researchers had let her try small amounts of sweet food.

But those had only been test samples. She had never been allowed to ask for any because she liked them.