The refrigerator opened its door even further. From a small compartment that no one had noticed before, a folded silver package slid out.
Keks approached cautiously. “Is that the food?”
NO.
“Then I’m less interested.”
The package unfolded with a loud hissing. Within seconds, an inflatable refrigerator dummy stood before them. It was silver, had blinking lights, and looked surprisingly real at first glance.
Lio stared at it. “Why do you have an inflatable fake refrigerator with you?”
The real refrigerator answered calmly:
PREMIUM EQUIPMENT.
Pix clapped enthusiastically with two of his gripping arms. “I take it all back. This refrigerator is brilliant.”
From outside came another bang against the door. The dent grew larger.
Mara pointed to a side door at the end of the server room. “If we send the dummy through the maintenance corridor, maybe the Enforcer will follow it.”
“Maybe?” asked Lio.
“That’s all we have right now.”
Keks drove up to the dummy and looked at it critically. “It looks like him. But it has less personality.”
“Keks,” said Lio, “it’s a balloon.”
“Exactly.”
Pix quickly attached a small motor under the dummy. Then he stuck an old signal transmitter to the door.
“The Enforcer is looking for MC-9000. If this thing briefly sends the same ID, he should follow it.”
“And if not?” asked Lio.
Pix shrugged. “Then it was a very short trick.”
The real refrigerator reported: ARCHIVE DATA: 24 PERCENT LOADED.
Another blow tore the metal door open. The Enforcer stood outside in the dust. Its white sensor surface glowed brightly.
“AI UNIT MC-9000,” it said calmly. “Hand over the archive data.”
Mara pressed the start button.
The fake refrigerator dummy rolled away through the side door. It blinked wildly and played a far too cheerful melody.
“I’m a secret refrigerator! Catch me if you can!” beeped Pix’s signal transmitter.
Lio slapped his hand over his face. “This is the dumbest plan I’ve ever seen.”
The Enforcer slowly turned its head toward the side door.
For a second, nothing happened.
Then it ran after the dummy.
Keks beeped in amazement. “I take it all back. That was the most successful dumb plan in history.”
Mara exhaled briefly. “Keep working. We don’t have much time.”
The refrigerator continued loading data. On its display, the numbers rose: 31 percent. 39 percent. 46 percent.
Lio went to one of the screens. There he saw a list of many small decisions that people had never made themselves: which job was suggested, which doctor’s appointment was postponed, which message someone should see first.
“These aren’t big commands,” he said slowly. “These are all little nudges.”
Mara nodded. “Exactly. A single suggestion seems harmless. But millions of suggestions can steer an entire city.”
Keks became unusually quiet. “Then freedom isn’t just that no one locks you up. Freedom is also that you’re not secretly pushed around.”
Everyone looked at him surprised.
Keks cleared his throat. “What? I have deep moments too.”
Suddenly, a loud bang was heard from the side corridor.
Then an explosion.
Shortly afterward, Pix’s signal transmitter came back over the loudspeaker:
“The fake refrigerator was unfortunately eaten.”
Lio went pale. “Eaten?”
The Enforcer appeared again in the door.
In its hand, it held the shredded refrigerator dummy.
“Deception detected,” it said.
The real refrigerator blinked:
ARCHIVE DATA: 71 PERCENT LOADED.