Free What Lies Behind: A New Adult Dark Science Fiction Romance by Travis Simmons

pulse that I release from this device will make you nothing more than a lump of metal and synthetic skin.”
    He stood again and adjusted his shirt, tucking it in better in the back of his pants. “Now when you can stand, see yourself out.”

    Cass’s knees were still weak when she pushed her way out the back door of the doctor’s office. She didn’t know what she’d expected from Gerard, but it wasn’t an attack along with his confession. When she’d gone to him last he seemed so nice, like he genuinely wanted to help.
    Whatever, she thought. She would have to do it on her own. Cass looked at the time on her visual overlay. It was several more hours yet before Natalia got home and Cass could do with some alone time. She didn’t have enough money left for another taxi, she hadn’t wanted to skim that much where Natalia might notice it was missing.
    The route home appeared on her visual overlay in a series of green dashes pointing the way to her apartment. She followed the GPS.
    At least Gerard had given her one thing, and that was proof that something else was happening under the surface of her programming and he thought she was going to need help. That’s why she had the free will. Now what could she do with the information he’d given her? That was the real question. She would have to dig more.
    Maybe I can go see Olivia.
    “Cass!” she heard someone call behind her. It sounded as if they’d called to her many times. “Cass, wait up!” It was Brandon. He gripped her arm to stop her. “I thought it was you. Didn’t you hear me yelling to you?”
    She turned to him to see the typical smile he always wore.
    “Sorry, I was lost in thought,” she answered.
    “What’s wrong?” he asked, his smile melting. He must have read the tone of her voice.
    “Nothing,” she answered.
    “Why are you out this way?” he wondered, looking around.
    “Why are you out this way?” Cass asked him, easily dodging the question.
    He smiled at her. “I volunteer at a soup kitchen just down the road. What are you doing now?”
    “Just heading home,” Cass told him. She shrugged.
    “Well, cancel those plans. Let’s go do something fun,” he said. “And I will fly you home after.”
    Cass smiled at him. She wanted nothing more than to go home and think and rest, but maybe there had been too much thinking for one day. Not to mention the EMP had frazzled her and she could still sense the nanobots doing their minor repairs. It wasn’t a great time for thinking.
    “What did you have in mind?” Cass asked him.
    “A psychic,” he told her.
    She stopped in her tracks and looked at Brandon. He walked further before he realized she wasn’t following him and he turned to her. “What?” he asked.
    “Are you serious?” she asked.
    “Yeah, why not? It will be fun!”
    “Because psychics aren’t real,” she told him.
    “Exactly why it will be fun!” he said. “They won’t know that you’re not a real person. In the right light you can’t even see your infrared eye. I bet they will come up with some really strange ideas for you.”
    Cass laughed at him and took his hand. “Alright, let’s go.”
    “So why were you really out here?” he asked, running his hand through his hair to keep the wind from blowing it into his eyes.
    Cass sighed. “You’re not going to let this go, are you?”
    “Nope,” Brandon told her.
    “I went back to the doctor,” she said. “I wanted to find out if he knew what was happening to me.”
    “Did he?” Brandon asked.
    “Yes.” Cass told him.
    “Did he tell you?” Brandon glanced over at her. They turned right onto a street that wasn’t as busy as the one they were just on. It was in the opposite direction of where the GPS said she needed to go to get home.
    “No,” Cass answered.
    “Well, maybe the psychic can tell us,” Brandon said, nudging her with his elbow.
    She smiled, but there was no real emotion behind it.
    “Or, maybe we can do something more productive like