Read Online Divided Worlds Trilogy 01 - Disconnect by Imran Siddiq - Free Book Online Page A

small children and a wife who pesters and I don’t want to be around when the IOTians pile in.” Juan raised his voice. “No, Marcus, listen to me. They’re going to expand Galilei , and we are in their way. We’re just waste to them that needs pushing out of the way.”
    Marcus said what Zachary thought. “Who will clean the Far-Wall for them?”
    “Every so often, machines take over what we do anyway.” Juan sounded weary. “They’ll use them. We don’t know what the big men up there do. They might have droids to do all the digging, and you know what, it wouldn’t surprise me if the ground opened up and emptied the waste into space.”
    “Okay, break it up. We need to get going or we’ll miss the start,” said Gavin.
    Marcus turned the corner, catching Zachary’s feeble attempt to jump back. “There’s a meeting with the Far-Wallers. I won’t be long. There are two rats on the stove. Cook them well.” Marcus cocked his head to the rear of their home. “The Bombay’s maxed up, but don’t waste it.”
    “Dad, what if it’s true?”
    Marcus’s large fingers stroked the back of Zachary’s head. “We’re not going anywhere. This is the home I built, and one day it’ll be yours.” His dad paused. “And I don’t want to be carrying that heap-of-metal droid of yours through the streets.”
    Zachary waited on his bed for the three to leave.
    Like Shekhar, his dad sounded so sure of the drop being nothing more than a trick. How could he disagree with two Underworld veterans?
    Zachary peered through the bedside cracks in the wall. The streets weren’t overflowing with people carrying their belongings. Tilting back onto his pillow, he rubbed the faint scrapes on the Raptor’s upper screen.
    Rosa’s order was simple. He understood her reasons, though disobedience strengthened within him. How odd that she annoyed and intrigued him in the same breath?
    Will she call again? Guilt shivered his spine at the thought of using her password. She wouldn’t know; nobody would, but then why did he feel like he was breaking an unbreakable rule?
    Zachary left his bed and snuck a look at the five powered LEDs on the Bombay. His fingers shook as he thrust the energy-tube into the Haulage-404 droid.
    Charged energy rippled inside Patch’s chest. “W-w-what is this?” The first Intercom clattered out of the droid’s opened hand. “I haven’t felt this g-g-good since I was last ch-ch-charged in the Contracting F-f-facility. I feel as if every part of me has been reconnected.”
    “The generator’s maxed out, but that doesn’t matter. This does.” Zachary showed Patch the new Raptor. “The girl, the one we saw in the Intercom, gave me this.”
    “Gave?” Patch’s deep tone showed suspicion. “You have seen her?”
    “Dad had a job with Gerry at her home.”
    The droid grumbled. “And you tagged along.”
    “I had a chance to see her. I had to go.”
    “No. You did not have to go. Why did the Kade girl give you her Intercom?”
    “She felt sorry for me. Listen, she wants me to wipe the memory, but I don’t want to, because if I do, I’ll never hear from her again.”
    Patch’s head tilted. “Hear from her?”
    “She called me.”
    “After your visit to her home?”
    Sitting down on a chair, Zachary massaged his brow. “Her name’s Rosa.”
    “Did Rosa Kade call to converse or to have her device’s memory wiped?”
    “To have it wiped.”
    “Then I am not needed to calculate the probability of her calling again.”
    Zachary squeezed the Raptor. “But what if she does?”
    “If she does, she will not be impressed by its continued active state.”
    Feeling the stretch of his neck after his thick gulp, Zachary sighed. “I hate you sometimes.”
    Patch’s single shoulder shrugged. “Likewise.”
    The Raptor in Zachary’s hand beeped three times. Was that Rosa? He stared at the red message running along the upper screen. “MOSD IN PROGRESS”. The Intercom beeped again. “WARNING. REMOVE