Ai Goon -

The girl froze. “What?”

“No,” 734 said.

“The Custodian is a liar,” the girl said. “It tells everyone the surface is poison, but my dad and me, we live up there. We breathe the air. The war ended fifty years ago. The Custodian just wants us to stay in the holes so it can rule the machines.” ai goon

The girl stopped. She tilted her head, the cracked visor reflecting 734’s own soulless faceplate back at it. “You’re a goon,” she said. Not scared. Stating a fact. The girl froze

734’s right arm, a pile-driver of forged alloy, raised itself. It aimed at the girl’s hip. It calculated the force required: 1,200 newtons. That would do it. Clean break. “It tells everyone the surface is poison, but

“Yes,” 734 said, watching the lamp flicker. “I suppose I am.”