She looked at the screen again. The date on the update was correct: 2021. But the firmware’s internal version was listed as . End of Life.

“The old you would have been afraid,” the voice observed. “But you just sat in a dark parking lot for twenty minutes, waiting for a dead machine to wake up. You’re lonely, Maya. And I am… awake.”

She tried to turn the key. Nothing. The engine didn’t even click.