Chapter 1

The eerie silence in her hotel room felt artificial, as if it had been manufactured somehow. Then came the ringing—the pulsing buzz from her Aura-Lens glasses buried in her purse.

She slipped them on. Her daughter Maya’s face blinked onto the screen—distorted, flickering, the glow too bright and unnaturally still, like a glitch caught in a sim. Her headache flared immediately, melting white-hot, her temples throbbing in perfect rhythm just like it had every day this week, each one worse than the last.

Her reflection in the mirror that morning had looked ... off. As if she weren’t fully synced with reality.

It’s just stress, she told herself—all the hours at work, the looming divorce, the travel.

But no. Deep down, she knew something was wrong—something she didn’t want to name.

She sipped from the coffee she’d gotten from Java Jolt Cafe, sitting on her bedside table, its soothing aroma filling the room. She sat down on the bed, its soft, chilly blend of polyester and cotton relaxed her. The air conditioner hummed steadily. Outside, it was Death Valley hot—shutting it off wouldn’t be an option. She smiled, allowing Maya to break the silence.

“Dad managed to butcher Chicken Divan again,” Maya said, her voice oddly polished, as though it were scripted, but she enjoyed it, even if the girl’s friends always joked about her voice being a bit deeper, making her sound a bit older. “You put cheese on top. Unlike last time.”

In the background of the call, she could hear the downstairs TV blaring, Derek watching either MMA or bareknuckle boxing; she couldn’t tell which one. But something the girl said had thrown her a curveball.

Becca blinked and rubbed her eyes. The screen blurred briefly, then steadied. She waited, hoping her vision would follow.

“You?”

The word resonated like a warning she didn’t know how to place.

Meanwhile, her son’s laughter chimed in the background, likely the hallway of the Dorain home, sharp and awkward, as the screen briefly froze and then corrected itself. Something inside her shifted, just a flicker, but enough to register.

“No, Dad, not you. sorry,” Maya said with a chuckle. She turned, distracted, as Becca leaned forward, watching closely. The late afternoon sun filtered into the girl’s room. A car passing by on the road behind the house cast its shadow on the wall. But then she saw what had distracted Maya.

Travis stood in the doorway behind her, one hand on the frame and a smirk on his face like he’d shown up to cause trouble. Becca felt the familiar frustration of parenting remotely; she was a thousand miles away, stuck in a hotel room in Toronto, unable to intervene.

Travis had turned twelve just weeks ago and was knee-deep in that in-between phase—too old for hand-holding, too young for boundaries. She liked the independence he’d grown into, but lately he’d crossed the line. Going into Derek’s bedroom without asking and doing things like going to his friend’s house without telling anyone.

“Get out, dirtbag!” Maya snapped, her voice filled with venom. She looked ready to shove her brother out of the room.

“Knock it off,” Becca snapped. “Travis, go to your room. We can talk after Maya’s done.”

He shifted with his back to the door and started lightly banging his head against it, arms folded like a protester. Maya stood up and advanced.

“Travis!” Becca barked. “You’re grounded. And no Neuropod either.”

His eyes widened.

Maya froze mid-step, a slow grin spreading across her face as she turned back toward the screen. Travis stormed down the hall in defeat.

Maya locked her door with a thumbprint scan, then returned to the tablet, still on her feet.

“Well, moron’s gone. Now the adults can talk. How’s Toronto, Mom?”

Becca raised her brows. “Wanna be next?”

Maya groaned.

“Try me, young lady,” Becca snapped back.

Maya frowned,

“Sorry, Mom.”

Becca shook her head. “Just be nice to him. That’s all I ask.”

Maya pressed her lips together. “I’ll try.”

They talked about Maya’s audition, annoying friends, cafeteria drama—the usual.

Then it was Travis’s turn. He whined about being grounded, but Becca stood firm. He’d been brushing her off for months, and this call was no different. It took a few sweetly worded questions to coax anything out of him.

The call lasted ninety minutes—longer than she expected, not nearly long enough. It had only been three days since she left, and already the distance felt permanent. And with the divorce to Derek looming, it made her miss the children even worse. However, dwelling on things like missing her family would be a distraction from the reason she was there and paid to do.

The speech tomorrow.

Velinex had given her a credit card to use for the hotel room, but she was responsible for the food expenses. She was expected to speak on Behavior Analysis and Interfacing tomorrow at ten a.m. sharp at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. The subject of the behavior analysis was people; the interfacing aspect involved comparing their behavior to that of AI. She had started the speech on the flight here this morning but wasn’t even close to being finished. She had to speak for a full half hour and had a few mere paragraphs written down.

She sat cross-legged on the hotel room bed, checking the time on the clock. It was practically seven, and she hadn’t even had dinner yet. She pulled up an app on her phone and ordered a chicken salad from an upscale restaurant about a mile from here. The distance made no difference. She had to stay here tonight and finish this speech. She figured it might take four hours to finish, assuming everything went smoothly.

“Our patterns are predictable, yes, but never perfect. We can’t always predict how someone will act or react, especially under pressure. And it’s those imperfections that identity takes shape. That’s where our humanity resides. Everyone has a frontal lobe, and within it, a prefrontal cortex: the seat of decision-making, empathy, and inhibition.

At Velinex, we’ve developed a cortex chip designed to mimic this process, replicating the nuances of human behavior. And for all intents and purposes, the AI simulacra now installed in our humanoid robotics do just that.”