Boyer’s head pulsed with pain from when the woman had hit her in the dark, slammed it against the wall. A headache was forming, radiating from the base of her skull to her forehead. “Now what?” she asked.
“I’m not quite sure,” the Governor said.
“The boys, what will you do with them?”
“Why do you care so much about them?”
“I have a thing for underdogs,” Boyer said.
“Traitorous underdogs?” the Governor asked.
“Kids.”
The Governor laughed at this. “Delinquents, who can be charged as men. Be careful what side you take.”
Now Boyer was laughing. She couldn’t help herself.
“So flippant,” the Governor noted. He was more astonished than anything. “Or are you fearless?”
“I’m terrified. But you told me yourself that you made a promise to ensure no harm would come to me.”
“Then why are you laughing?”
“I think the entire world is waiting–praying– for you and your techocracy, and the enemy combatants you’ve defined to see that we aren’t choosing sides. We’ve been dropped in the middle of circumstances we can’t control and are just trying to survive. Inside, outside. Wherever we find ourselves. You’ve all made it a zero sum game.”
“Us or them. There’s only one right side.”
“Or we’ll drug you, wipe your memory, stream your sham trial, strip you of dignity then string you up as the world watches you die. Some choice.”
“We needed a deterrent. We needed a way to carve out order and justice in a world on the brink of collapse.”
“You have total control now, but you won’t pull back.” Boyer’s anger had the better of her. She was losing control and she knew it. She was angry she didn’t take her chance to end the Governor’s life in the darkness when she had the chance. Confused to be close to the man who wielded power like a god who looked at her with such tenderness and desire and to not be afraid of him. That she felt something akin to sympathy.
The familiar ping of an alert interrupted the pregnant silence. The Governor pulled a device from a hidden pocket and looked at the screen.
“Imagine if my council heard you speak like this, to me.” His fingers moved quickly over the screen as he typed out a note. A few moments later, the doors whisked open and four robots entered, picked up the unconscious showrunner and left the room. The doors closed behind them.
“We have a situation,” the Governor said, when the room was clear, when they were alone once again.
“We?” she repeated.
“Yes. On multiple fronts. I don’t know what to do with you, so you’ll come with me and I’ll decide in the air.”
“Where are we going?”
“To see my priest.”
