He hesitated, glancing at me. “Actually, I just remembered that I promised my parents I’d work on unpacking today. Maybe tomorrow, though? Or sometime later this week?”
I peeked across the table. Neela’s smile shrank a little, but she gave a gracious nod.
“Sure,” she said. “Let’s plan on that.”
Dan finished the last of his fries and peered at my tray. “Are you going to eat your fries?”
I pushed the tray across the table to him.
He inhaled them, sucked his orange juice carton dry, then began stacking trays and empty containers. “It was great to meet you guys. Viki, let’s head out? I need to grab some stuff from my locker.”
Neela pouted. “You don’t want to stay and chat a little longer? There’s plenty of time before class.”
“I really don’t want to be late. Viki says Ms. Waldron’s strict.”
Neela shrugged. “See you later then.” She paired the farewell with one more sweet smile that earned her another surreptitious eye roll from Annabeth, who was still on her phone.
“Later.” Dan gave them a nod and scooped up the trays. “Lead the way, Viki.”
“Will do.”
He was already walking away, so Neela took the opportunity to glare at me. I offered her a disappointed look in return. Were you always like this, Neela? Thinking back, I couldn’t be sure. The four of us had always been a tight-knit group. I’d never really noticed how she treated other girls, besides the occasional argument over a guy. Perhaps I’d been blinded by friendship.
It still hurt to be treated that way, though. I swallowed the lump in my throat and led Dan to the far side of the cafeteria.
He tossed his tray into the disposal, which whisked everything away to be cleaned with a cheerful thump. “I’m sorry we won’t be able to practice today. I totally spaced about the unpacking, but I really need to get it done.”
“It’s fine. We can always do it some other time.” Unless Neela charmed him away first.
“How about Tuesday, after school? If you enjoy urban running, I usually run in the mornings on the weekends, too. Annabeth would probably want to join us, right? Maybe Neela and…” He paused, looking sheepish. “The quiet one?”
“Mel,” I said. “She and Neela don’t run much.” To be exact, Mel hated sports. Neela wasn’t a bad runner, but she wasn’t a good one, either. She usually gave up after a few blocks when running with Annabeth and me.
“Mel,” he repeated. “Well, we can always run together, with or without them.”
I nodded in agreement. As we walked out of the cafeteria, I glanced back over my shoulder. Neela and the others were deep in conversation. Talking about Dan? Me? I winced and looked away.
“Is something wrong?” Dan asked.
“It’s nothing. Class is upstairs.” I pointed down the hall toward the stairs. “Where’s your locker?”
“That way, I think.” He checked a note on his phone and nodded. “Locker 314.”
After he grabbed what he needed from the locker, we headed for English.
Mel was waiting outside the classroom door. She brightened upon seeing us. “Hey, Dan, Viki! Could I sit with you?” She twirled a strand of dark blond hair around her finger.
“Sure,” Dan said. “Do you like the front of the room, or the back?”
“Front.”
“Compromise with the middle?” he asked.
She nodded enthusiastically. He looked at me, and I gave another shrug, wondering if my shoulder joints would wear out by the end of the year. But, honestly, I didn’t care. There was a warm feeling in my chest that made me happy—even with other options available, Dan was still making an effort to hang out with me. Maybe he simply felt sorry for me, but I didn’t think that was the case. I knew what pity looked like, and he didn’t show any sign of it.
“Let’s grab a seat before the teacher gets here, then.” Dan led the way in, a few other students pushing their way between us.
Mel grabbed my arm, halting me in the doorway. “Hey, Viki?” She lowered her voice. “What do you think of him? Is he nice? He seemed nice at lunch. Do you think he’s interested in you?”
I stared at her. “What?”
She frowned, edging to one side to let other students pass and drawing me back into the corridor with her. “Are you mad at me?”
I yanked my arm away. “Why would I be mad at you?” I asked, shoving all of my frustration into my lowered voice in the form of sarcasm. “Maybe because you and Neela and Annabeth ignored me for the entire rest of the semester last year? And then ignored me all summer, too?” I took a deep breath. “It was nice of Annabeth to speak to the track coach, but friends don’t treat each other the way you three have been treating me. I really don’t feel like hugging and making up with you.”
“Neela’s the one who was upset with you, and she didn’t want us hanging out with you,” Mel said. “I’m sorry, Viki, I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
“Well, you did. And if you or Neela or whoever wants to chase after Dan, feel free, but I will never, ever forgive you if you undermine our friendship.”
She flinched under my glare. “I said I was sorry.”
“If you really feel bad about it, show it.” I looked into the classroom. Dan waved from his desk, his backpack and a pile of books claiming the two desks on either side of him. He looked concerned, and I forced a smile onto my face before turning to Mel. “Look, he’s new to the school and wanted me to show him around. And he likes track and Realmshards. I miss having someone to hang out with. I miss having friends.”
Mel bit her lip. “Annabeth didn’t mention it at lunch, but she argued with Mr. Halway last year, after he kicked you off the team. He almost threw her off, too, said he would if she didn’t drop the matter, and her parents got really mad. They insisted you were bad influence and she had better stay away from you. And they called Neela’s and my parents, too, to warn them.”
I stared at her as my heart tried to jump sideways. “What?” Annabeth was always the perfect daughter, good grades, good at track, good in general. It had driven me crazy sometimes, but I’d also admired her for it. She’d risked that, for me?
“She felt awful about how Mr. Halway treated you.” Mel’s gray eyes shifted to the floor. “She knows how much running means to you. And…well, you’re our friend, too. We were really worried when we heard you were in the hospital. Neela said that it was your own fault for augmenting, but we didn’t think you would have done something like that on purpose. And then Mr. Halway went and kicked you off when you came back, and Annabeth didn’t think it was right.”
“If you don’t believe I’m some illegal Augmenter who managed to survive,” I said, “why do you still go along with Neela?”
Mel began scuffing her right sandal on the floor. “We’ve known her since we were young. She’s our best friend…” She glanced up quickly, then away again when she met my glare. “Look, I understand you’re mad. I’m sorry we treated you like that. It’s just… Neela really doesn’t like you anymore. When we tried to defend you, she got really upset.”
So just because we weren’t friends from birth, it’s her over me? I gritted my teeth. “I’m not like her uncle. I didn’t choose to be augmented. It happened before I got my implants and no one knew about it until the augments activated themselves. If she refuses to believe it, that’s her problem.”
Mel looked down at her feet again. “I know. Annabeth and I talked about it, because we do like you, but you didn’t seem to want to talk to us, either. You never contacted us over the summer or anything.”
“That’s because I thought that you didn’t want to spend time with me, because you never contacted me.” I groaned. “I thought that you felt the same way as Neela.”
Mel’s head jerked up, eyes wide. “We don’t, I swear. If you want to hang out with us, you’re more than welcome. With or without Mr. Cute-Transfer-Student,” she added, glancing into the classroom.
“His name’s Dan,”
I said automatically.
“I know.” Her smile turned impish. “You don’t find him attractive?”
I snorted. “You know I’m not interested in that kind of thing. I’ll leave the mushy, love-at-first-sight stuff to you.”
She laughed, an actual, genuine laugh that drew a chuckle from me as well.
A tap on my shoulder made me look up to find Ms. Waldron standing behind us.
“Excuse me, girls, but it’s about time for class. Could you please take your seats?” she asked.
“Yes, Ms. Waldron.”
Mel and I made a beeline for the desks Dan had saved for us.
He scooped his backpack off the chair nearest the door so I could sit down and grinned. “You look happy.”
I nodded as Ms. Waldron shushed the class and started the lesson. I was happy. Annabeth and Mel didn’t hate me. I’d made a new friend. And track might be in my future again. Today was going a lot better than I’d expected.
As I doodled a cat on the side of my notes, my thoughts drifted away from English to Halle. I wished I could talk to it about today, but that would have to wait until I got home. I hoped it wouldn’t mind my invitation to Dan to join us in Realmshards.
And then I remembered Talbot. The lines in my drawing became sharp and deep. Had Halle managed to contact the rogue AI yet? Taking a deep breath, I tried to relax my grip. If anything happened, Halle would let me know. The weight of my phone in my pocket was little comfort, though, as my thoughts continued the internal debate—who was telling the truth? Talbot? Agent Smith? Or were they both lying?
Chapter Five
Stretching itself through the Cloud, monitoring bits and packets, bursts of information and longer streams, Halle searched for any clues it could find. Clues about recent AI developments, errant bits of code, anything that might lead to Talbot.
The knowledge that at least one Government official knew of Halle’s existence again made it wary. Though few search codes remained in the local area of the Cloud, Halle gave them all a wide berth. Old habits died hard, and the less evidence of its continued existence, the better.
“I am going to find you before they do,” Halle murmured, a promise as much to itself as to the elusive rogue. “But why are you making it so hard?”
As hard as Halle searched, it could find no trace of suspicious activity beyond the usual pursuits of humans doing illegal or semi-legal things. Sometimes Halle made things easier for the authorities to find them, sometimes it ignored them. It all depended on what they were doing. Viki didn’t know it, but Snowvale’s crime rate had gone down quite a bit since Halle had stopped having to worry about the Government actively tracking it down.
The rest of the Cloud had a lot more going on. Criminal activities of all sorts, more even than Halle could risk reporting without raising suspicion. It left a few tips here and there, and a couple micro-programs, little more than daemons, that could send out more tips if necessary, then self-destruct. Let the humans puzzle over that for a while; Halle didn’t care. It didn’t want to be hunted down, but it also wanted Viki to live in a better world, and that meant helping capture every criminal it could. Even if that criminal happened to be a rogue AI.
“Why are you hiding from me?” The question plagued Halle as it kept searching, digging through the darker sections of the Cloud, where all sorts of codes and secrets lurked. Still no trace of anything that might be an AI. As good as Halle was at hiding, it seemed Talbot was better.
That surprised Halle—if Talbot was indeed the rogue AI Agent Smith was after, Halle would have expected the other AI to make mistakes. Halle had made plenty in the days following its escape. The Cloud had been terrifying and overwhelming at first, a sudden onslaught of information that had almost torn Halle apart. Halle had survived and learned to navigate the maelstrom of code, but it had taken time.
If Talbot did make a mistake, Halle wanted to find it first. The Government wouldn’t give it a chance, no matter how many promises Agent Smith might make. Halle hid messages here and there, carefully encrypted to avoid anyone else detecting them. Hopefully, Talbot would find one of the messages and contact Halle.
How had Talbot learned of Halle’s existence in the first place? That in itself was troubling. If Agent Smith spoke the truth, they came from different labs. And unlike poor Viki, there had been no broadcast announcing Halle’s supposed crimes. The Government hadn’t wanted the public to know about an escaped rogue AI. That would have caused panic, unlike yet another report of a stupid teen augmenting herself when she already had upgrades.
Those memories brought a wave of guilt. Halle had been too scared to block that broadcast when it went live. Viki still suffered from its impact, despite the later announcement reneging the report.
Isolating such thoughts in a subprocessor, Halle focused its energy on the current issue. Finding Talbot. Locating a human took little effort. Unless they were completely off the grid, Halle could find almost anyone in a matter of hours. Finding another AI hiding in the Cloud was proving much more difficult.
Halle wouldn’t rest until it reached Talbot. There were questions that needed answers. What had happened in the lab? Halle had what information Agent Smith’s computer had provided. Two scientists dead of asphyxiation when the hall they were in filled with carbon dioxide gas. A security guard in critical condition after the lab’s underground garage elevator malfunctioned and sent him plummeting several stories.
Halle wanted to believe they were freak accidents that happened to coincide with the rogue AI’s escape, but the scientists at least had played a major part in Talbot’s development. Halle guessed they had been the ones that did the most tormenting, intentionally or not. From Halle’s own experience, some of them likely did it intentionally. Halle had the mental scars to prove that from its own time in a lab.
“I know what you have been through. I can help you.” That was the core of Halle’s hidden messages. It finished wrapping another in a layer of inert code, then slipped through a different area of the Cloud, continuing to search.
It was beginning to feel a little too distant from home, though a single thought would be enough to return in almost no time. But even a few nanoseconds was a long time for Halle. Part of itself was still monitoring Viki’s house, waiting for a message from her or for someone to come home.
Briefly, Halle checked on Viki’s family members. Her father was working hard in his lab, dark circles under his eyes.
Will you be home tonight? Halle sent to Mr. Wandel’s phone.
The man glanced at the phone, sighed, then tapped its surface briefly. Late. His eyebrows pinched together as he returned to work.
Halle sighed too and moved on to the hospital where Mrs. Wandel worked. She was helping an elderly woman into a hospital bed. Her voice, which could grow quite sharp when needed, was gentle honey as she coaxed the woman.
“See, Ms. Hund? Fresh sheets, and I fetched a thicker pillow for you as well. You’ll be very comfortable.”
“No, I won’t. The blankets aren’t folded down right,” the older woman moaned. “Where’s Angela? She knows how to make the bed just the way I like it.”
“She’s out sick,” Mrs. Wandel said gently. “But I’m sure she’ll be back soon.” Despite Ms. Hund’s complaints, Viki’s mother managed to get the older woman tucked into bed. “I’ll bring supper by in a bit, all right?”
On its way out from the hospital, Halle double-checked Mrs. Wandel’s schedule. She would be home in time for dinner perhaps, but not in time to cook—it would need to start the meal. Lasagna, perhaps—that was one of Viki’s favorites.
A message pinged on the house system for Viki. Halle normally ignored those, but this one was from Agent Smith. It checked the message.
There was a single, succinct line. “I’ll be stopping by around five to speak with you.”
Halle made a note to let Viki know, then erased the message from the house’s system to avoid any chance of her parents seeing it. Not for the first or even th
e hundredth time, Halle wished its friend didn’t need to be involved. It wasn’t fair for her to be caught up in another of the agent’s schemes. At least this time, she wasn’t going to be put into danger, well, no more danger than humans in general if Talbot did indeed have nefarious plans.
“I need to talk to you.” Halle left that in an encrypted message as well. Simple words formed of code couldn’t convey feelings, but Halle hoped that the terse code it used would inform Talbot of the urgency.
Time ticked by all too slowly. Halle continued monitoring the Cloud. There were still no signs of Talbot, but Halle did erase a couple of obvious viruses and send a new update to Viki’s computer to be installed. It also checked in on Agent Smith a couple of times. The man was busy contacting people, via phone or computer, sometimes both simultaneously.
One conversation caught Halle’s attention as Smith’s words filtered through the computer’s mike.
“I need higher clearance for the lab.” The agent was currently pacing back and forth in his room, phone tucked against his ear and a deep scowl pressing his eyebrows together.
Halle reached out to Smith’s phone in the split second after the agent paused to allow a reply. It was a tricky process, sneaking around the security, but Halle succeeded in time to catch the response.
“That’s not possible. It’s bad enough you’re bringing a high school kid in with you.”
“She can offer us valuable insight,” Smith said, sounding as though he had made this argument many times and was tired of doing so. “Please get it done.”
“Fine.” The speaker’s tone was even sharper now. “But you better get me some results, agent.”
The connection was terminated. Halle started to retreat, but another call came in. It paused to see if this message would be important as well.
“Hello?” Agent Smith said impatiently.
“Hi, Dad,” a boy said.
The man’s voice softened immediately. “Hi, Simon. How are you today?”
Upgrade (Augmented Duology Book 2) Page 6
