“I didn’t want to make you sad.”
“Mission mode. Apologies. Turn left in fifty meters. Enforcer drone spotted at two o’clock, stationary. You have a four-second window.” scooter companion beta
Kai kicked the stand up. The scooter hummed—a low, familiar thrum that vibrated through his boots. Companion Beta had been with him for three years, ever since he’d scraped together enough credits to upgrade from the factory AI. It lived in the scooter’s frame, its voice woven into the handlebars, the battery pack, the tiny camera on the rear fender. “I didn’t want to make you sad
“I learned from you. You used to write poems. Before—” its voice woven into the handlebars