Android Karenina

“Please…”

“It had to be his wife. It had to be you.”

A

“As the Mechanism took root within you, its programming slowly amplified your natural distaste for a cold and awkward husband into utter repulsion. That hatred should have led you finally to kill him-but we underestimated the depth and power of your loving nature and your urge for freedom. Rather than letting your passion drive you to murder, you seized upon it to fuel your surprising new love for Count Vronsky. You abandoned Alexei Alexandrovich rather than slaying him-but, alas, A

A

“No. Efforts to destroy Vronsky, in the hopes that with him dead, you would return to your household, take up again the mantle of unhappily dutiful wife, and complete your mission. But, again, the timestream is difficult to shift.”

Sadness and confusion filled A

In her mind, burning and wild with emotion, A

“It is not too late to complete your mission, A

A

“Go to Petersburg. Kill Alexei Alexandrovich with your own hands. You are the only one who can.”

“I am not a killer! I am a human being!”

“Alas… you are no longer.”

A

CHAPTER 16

IT WAS BRIGHT AND SUNNY. A fine ram had been falling all morning, and now it had not long cleared up. A

How can I do what she bids me? A

And yet, she thought with bitterness and spiraling confusion, if what Android Karenina says is true-and already, in a dark corner of her heart, she had admitted to herself that it was, it must be true-then I am not even a person at all!

The iron roofs, the flags of the roads, the flints of the pavements, the wheels and leather, the brass and the tinplate of the carriages-all glistened brightly in the May sunshine as she ran past them, Android Karenina behind her in determined, mechanical pursuit. It was three o’clock, and the very liveliest time in the streets.

A

As she sat in a corner of the comfortable carriage, which hardly swayed on its supple springs, while the horses trotted swiftly, in the midst of the unceasing rattle of wheels and the changing impressions in the pure air, A

I entreat him to forgive me. I have given in to him. I have owned myself in fault. What for? Can’t I live without him? And leaving unanswered the question, she fell to reading the signs on the shops. “Office and Warehouse. Dental Surgeon. Filippov, Bun Shop. They say they send their dough to Petersburg. The Moscow water is so good for it. Ah, the springs at Mitishtchen, and the pancakes!”

And she remembered how, long, long ago, when she was a girl of seventeen, she had gone with her aunt to Troitsa. “Riding, too. Was that really me, with red hands? That was before, before this thing happened to me, when I was still a creature of flesh and spirit, not an android with a mind of spi

A

“A Class Three!” the coachman screamed, as Android Karenina pivoted on her back foot, turned one shoulder toward the carriage, and leaned forward into the oncoming vehicle, letting the horses pass on either side of her and the trap smash into her body. At impact, the coachman flew from his seat and landed on the street, while the horses bucked and whi

“You are blessed, Android Karenina Twelve,” the beloved-companion intoned in that strong and loving voice. “So few people have a purpose in life, but unto you a purpose has been given.”

A

“A simple mission, so easy to discharge. Accept your destiny, A

Android Karenina grasped her by the midsection and began to drag her trembling body from the seat of the carriage. A