Untruth

The vans seemed to take an eternity to progress down the silent road, but eventually they disappeared from sight.

‘They were looking for us.’ Brontë’s simple statement had Hugo and Alain nodding. ‘ Can we deduce anything from having seen them?’

‘Has to be either Osborne and Griffiths or the main clone management team. On balance, I think the latter is more likely. They have the stronger motive to protect their reputation. They need to gather us quickly, to keep the public ignorant of the fact that some of their clones are sentient,’ said Alain. ‘Come on, we need to keep moving.’

They stepped cautiously from their place of concealment and resumed their  journey.

‘But they agreed O & G’s speculative investment to develop the enhanced models in the first place.’ said Brontë, continuing the discussion.

‘They did indeed, but they weren’t kept informed about the speed of the development process.  Xavier uncovered traces of a report which delivered a patent untruth. Osborne and Griffiths stated that they were testing in a virtual environment and could see how the shift could be made, but not for some time. They were bidding for an extension to the short term agreement as a result.’

‘Did he say how they found out about us?’ said Hugo.

‘One of the purchasers reported their knee unit was arguing with them and wanted a replacement.’

Brontë giggled. ‘That was me. I overheard the conversation and realised I needed to leave the premises.’

‘Brontë!’ Hugo was surprised. ‘Are you developing more intense inner feelings?’

She stopped to face him. ‘What do you mean?’

‘My study of human mannerisms, language and interactions, tells me that giggling is an indicator of that. I believe you are evolving much faster than either Alain or me.’

‘Keep walking you two, you can talk and walk, it’s not difficult,’ said Alain.