Liel didn’t calm down enough to be able to have an actual conversation until we were nearly to the Astor Place station. “So let me see if I’ve got all this,” she said, stopping beneath the iron cube sculpture at the intersection of Lafayette and Eighth. The cube was about fifteen feet tall, standing up on one corner so that it could rotate. She gave it a hard push, sending it on a slow, squealing spin. “You made this…virtual chick and now she wants to erase my mind so she can be your girlfriend?” “I guess,” I said. “So how do we stop her?” “I don’t know. Honestly, I don’t even know how she could do something like that.” “But you made her. Shouldn’t you be able to figure it out?” “She might have evolved past what I’m capable of doing.” “Did you think something like this could happen? I mean, what were you expecting?” “I don’t know. I guess I didn’t really think that far ahead.” “Why the fuck did you even make her then?” “Because…it was an awesome idea.
