***
A nondescript black car was parked on the curb across from the corner store. The glimpse of a fedora through the back window was all I needed to confirm this was my ride. I got in the passenger’s side behind the driver, dropping my backpack on the floor by my feet. Agent Smith leaned forward and told the driver to head for the lab.
“How far away is it?” I buckled my seatbelt as the floater lifted from the pavement. The uniform I now wore made my skin crawl, even though the material was comfortable. I tried not to wriggle in my seat.
Agent Smith was busy scribbling things on his ever-present clipboard. “No more than half an hour. I should get you home by five, unless the visit takes longer than expected.”
“Oh, good.” I might make it to Dan’s after all. I hoped his parents were nice—it had been a while since I’d met a friend’s parents. We weren’t going to the laboratory Halle was from, but I suddenly wondered who its “parents” might be, the scientists behind its creation. Halle probably knew the answer, but I couldn’t ask it. Not when speaking of its past was so difficult for it.
Speaking of Halle… I glanced at Agent Smith. Is he really planning to trap Halle, too? Or was Talbot lying? There was no way I could ask him straight out—no way to know for sure if a denial was the truth. I gritted my teeth. I’ll have to keep an eye on him.
Drumming my right fingers on my leg, just above my knee, I stared out the tinted window. Houses, street signs, and the gray pillars of car chargers flashed by. The occasional pedestrian would glance at the black floater, but for the most part, no one noticed our passage.
Eventually we left Snowvale’s residential area behind, heading deeper into a part of town I wasn’t familiar with. I wasn’t even sure we were still in Snowvale.
The floater came to a stop outside a large concrete building with a fading sign that read W REH USE. The driver fiddled with something on the dashboard, and the warehouse’s door creaked open.
I glanced at Agent Smith and raised my eyebrows.
The corners of his mouth twitched. “Hold on.”
I didn’t understand until the floater moved into the warehouse and the door creaked shut behind us, plunging us into darkness. A darkness that opened up beneath us and sent the floater dropping down into the ground. I clapped my hands over my mouth, determined not to scream, even though it felt like my stomach was now lodged in my throat.
The floater slowed to a halt and moved forward in the dark. Lights appeared, dim and yellow. They lit up the surrounding area slowly, until I could see gray concrete walls and the occasional concrete pillar. White paint, faded here and there, marked spots for cars to park—only about a quarter of the slots were filled. Our floater slid into a place toward the middle of the garage.
Agent Smith glanced at me as he opened his door. “Let’s go.”
Swallowing hard, I willed my stomach back into its proper spot and followed Agent Smith through the garage. My sneakers squeaked on the concrete. The sound echoed against the walls. We stopped in front of an elevator. A red light blinked at the top of a biometric scanner. Agent Smith pressed his hand to the panel. It lit up white for a second, then the red light became green and the elevator doors slid open.
I glanced over my shoulder, but the driver hadn’t followed us. Our black floater was indistinguishable from the other ones scattered around the garage.
“Hurry up,” Agent Smith called, already in the elevator.
I jumped in.
The doors shut, leaving us encased in a metal room with a thin green carpet as its only decoration. I glanced around for buttons, but there were none. The elevator started moving up—it was so quiet I wouldn’t have noticed the movement if it weren’t for the faint feeling of pressure.
Agent Smith looked down at his clipboard. “Did you bring a phone?”
I checked my pocket and nodded.
“They’ll take it from you. Phones aren’t allowed in the laboratory. It’ll be returned once our tour is done.” He glanced at my legs. “How are your implants doing today?”
It was an innocuous question for anyone who didn’t know the truth. “They’re working properly.” Halle and I had tested them last night after my run. My friend would be monitoring through them now, but I didn’t dare say anything. No matter how much I wanted to reassure it.
“Good.” He scribbled a note on his clipboard. “Remember your instructions. This shouldn’t take too long.”
Avoid saying anything, avoid getting caught. I swallowed hard and nodded.
The elevator came to a halt, the pressure vanishing. Agent Smith took a step forward, straightened his fedora, and adjusted his clipboard under his arm.
I glanced at the spot over the door, where there should have been a display to show what floor we were on. It was empty.
“It only goes from the parking lot to the reception area,” Agent Smith explained.
“Oh.” I drew in a breath as the doors opened, then followed Agent Smith through them.
I found myself in a large reception area: carpeted floor, white walls with framed pictures of flowers, comfy armchairs arranged around a coffee table with magazines spread over it, and a desk with a computer and a woman sitting behind it, sipping something from a mug. It was almost like a doctor’s office, except there were no windows, the two doors leading from the room had obvious keypads and biometric locks, and the desk had glass surrounding it that was probably bulletproof.
“Nice place,” I said.
“I’m glad you are finding it enjoyable.” The unfamiliar voice brought my head around to see a man a little taller than me, with long black hair and deep blue eyes. He smiled briefly and held out his hand. “Dr. Chris Sandy, at your service. Please call me Chris. You are Agent Smith, correct? And, Vicissitude Wandel? Did I pronounce that right?”
I nodded, not wanting to break the no-speaking rule again.
“She goes by Viki,” Agent Smith said, shaking the man’s hand. “It’s less of a mouthful. Thank you for agreeing to our visit, sir.”
“I’ll appreciate any help you can offer us in tracking down the rogue.” Chris gave me a scrutinizing look. “Bit young for an intern, aren’t you?” He held out his hand.
My palms were too sweaty to risk a handshake. I gave an awkward wave instead, my cheeks heating.
“She’s a bright girl with a lot of talent,” Agent Smith said, not missing a beat. “But she’s a bit shy outside the office environment, which is why I wanted her to shadow me today.”
Nice save. I let my gaze drop to the floor, trying to imitate this quiet person he was describing.
Chris clapped his hands together. “Well, let me show you around. Bear in mind, there isn’t much to see in this sector. Banks of computers and servers, mostly. AI research doesn’t require any of the fancy gadgets you need for things such as biological research. But I can show you the facility where the AI was being developed.”
“You were part of the research team, correct?” Agent Smith asked.
“A minor part, yes. I help out on many of the research teams here. Technically, I work in the robotics section, but I have a degree in AI development as well, so when necessary I serve both roles.
“Now, I understand that we gave you a full report regarding the incident,” Chris continued, leading the way to the reception desk.
“Yes.” Agent Smith pulled a few sheets off his clipboard and handed it to the scientist. “These are the clearance papers.”
Chris glanced over them and nodded. “I’ll just have Rebecca check them out.” He tapped on the glass and smiled at the receptionist.
Her flat expression didn’t change, but she opened the cover to a slot in the glass that surrounded her desk and snapped her fingers impatiently.
Chris slid the papers through and drew his fingers back as the cover banged into place after them.
Rebecca looked the papers over then started tapping away at her computer. A couple minutes later, she set the papers aside. With a few quick movements, sh
e plucked two badges on lanyards from a basket, then two yellow plastic bracelets from another. After sliding everything through the slot, she turned back to her computer without any further acknowledgement of our presence.
Chris picked up the badges and held them out. “Here, each of you will need one of these.”
I slipped the lanyard over my head. The badge was yellow, unlike his white one, and had large black letters spelling out VISITOR.
“Keep that on at all times,” Chris said. “Not that you’ll be here long, but it’s important. You’ll also need this. Don’t tighten it too much.”
The bracelet was the same shade of yellow, relatively wide, and had a small opening to slide the end through. I fumbled a bit but finally got it closed. The bracelet refused to come apart again.
“You won’t get that off,” Chris said, watching me struggle with it. “It has a chip to monitor your location while you’re in the lab. Security is extremely tight, especially after the incident.”
“I am sorry about your colleagues,” Agent Smith said. “I understand they suffocated due to a CO2 leak?”
Chris grimaced. “Yes. Asphyxiation is a terrible way to go.” His expression darkened. “I hope you are as good as they say you are, sir, because I want that AI caught and destroyed as soon as possible.”
My stomach clenched, half-concerned for Halle, who was hearing all of this through my leg implants, and half-worried about Talbot. Had the rogue really killed those scientists in cold blood? “Is it possible the leak was a coincidence?”
Both men stared at me in shock. Oops. Act shy! I cringed and looked to the floor.
“It’s unlikely,” Chris replied, his voice like ice.
“Should you be working after an experience like that?” Agent Smith frowned. “Surely they offered you time off.”
“They did. I refused. I want to see that thing caught. If I can do anything to assist, just say the word. And speaking of speaking, I need your phones, please.”
Agent Smith removed his phone from a jacket pocket and handed it over. I gave Chris mine as well. He took it, avoiding contact with me. He still wore a faint look of disgust. I clenched my jaw.
“Please try not to speak unless necessary,” Agent Smith murmured as Chris took the phones to the secretary.
My teeth ached from how tight my jaw was, but I gave a short nod and mouthed, “Sorry.”
Chris slid the phones through to Rebecca, jerking his fingers back before the cover snapped down. “We’ll collect them in an hour or two.”
The secretary nodded, swept them into a basket, and returned to her computer.
“Has it always been protocol to confiscate visitors’ cellular devices?” Agent Smith asked.
“Yes. Unsecured devices can cause a security breach.”
My leg muscles twitched.
“It’s a good policy. The last rogue I tracked down used a cell phone to escape its lab.” Agent Smith glanced around. “Do you have any theories regarding how this one got out?”
“Yes. It might be easier to explain if I show you. This way.”
Chris led us to another elevator, this one with a display of floors, but otherwise identical to the first. We got off at the second floor and headed down a plain white hallway with fluorescent lights and regularly spaced doors, each marked with a number.
We stopped outside 207. Chris swiped his card in the slot, then pressed his hand against a biometric sensor. After a second, there was a quiet beep and he pushed the door open, beckoning us inside.
I looked around as we entered, taking in the room. White walls everywhere, with banks of computers running along them, and a huge array of monitors filling the back wall behind a spread of buttons and switches that would have put an airplane’s control panel to shame. Several scientists were scattered through the room, working on different interfaces, their fingers tapping away busily at keyboards. Only one—a man sitting by the control panel—looked up as we entered.
“Chris,” he called. “These the visitors we’ve been waiting for?”
“Yes. This is Agent Smith and his intern, Viki Wandel.” He turned to us. “This is Jerry, one of the programmers.”
“You worked on the rogue AI’s project?” Agent Smith asked.
“Yes, I’m ashamed to admit that I did.” Jerry had dark circles under his eyes and in the glow of the interfaces his face was pale, almost paper-white—either from stress or from spending too much time in front of computer screens rather than under the sun. Probably both. “We’ve been trying to figure out what went wrong. Everything seemed normal Friday evening. Ben and William wanted to try a few more things before we scrapped project 11001 on Monday, so they decided to stay late, but then…” His voice trailed off, and he gestured toward the screens. “Some kind of glitch made the building’s security systems go haywire. Set off fire alarms, put the lab in lockdown, released the CO2 from the fire suppression system… It was a mess in here. Took hours to get things sorted out, and the servers and backup servers were badly damaged. We lost project 11001 completely, and when we discovered signs that project 10998 went rogue, well, that’s why you’re here.” Jerry spread his hands in a gesture of helplessness. “We’ve all been working overtime the past four days, and we’re still no closer to tracking down the rogue.”
“What do you mean by ‘lost’?” Agent Smith frowned. “Are we dealing with two rogues?”
“No, there’s no sign that 11001 escaped, thankfully. It’s just…odd.” Jerry’s hands dropped into his lap, and he shook his head. “We’ve never had an issue with 10998. 11001 was scheduled for termination, because of some serious problems with its learning algorithms, 10998 always performed as expected.”
I bit my lip, trying not to grimace. Halle won’t be happy to hear they were going to terminate an AI. Though at least there aren’t two Talbots running around right now.
“What was the purpose of the two AIs?” Agent Smith asked. “Were they connected in anyway?”
“Yes. 10998 was developed as a, well, the best analog might be that of a queen bee. Except that instead of drones, it would coordinate other AIs who then perform specific tasks. 11001 was an early iteration of the latter.”
“What kind of tasks?”
Chris frowned, glancing at me. “That’s classified.”
The agent’s eyes narrowed. “My intern and I have clearance for this entire lab. Are you implying that these AI were being used in conjunction with the cyborgs being developed here?”
Chris’s fingers brushed against the pencil in his breast pocket as he shared a glance with Jerry. “Yes. We think this might have been done by an elite team of infiltrators.” He plucked the pencil from his pocket and began fiddling with it. “If that’s true, they got away with three prototypes from the cybernetics lab and likely 10998, but not the AI needed for controlling the cyborgs.”
“Which would be this 11001 you mentioned.”
“Yes,” Jerry said.
“Could 10998 have taken the cyborgs itself?”
Chris laughed. “Oh, no, we don’t think so. Some traces we’ve found suggested that 10998 left under its own power, so it’s possible the team only got the cyborgs. I hope that’s true.”
“You’d rather a rogue AI seeking access to bioweaponry than a human with a few prototype toys and only half the system required to operate them?” Agent Smith raised an eyebrow. “Personally, I’d find the latter much easier to handle.”
“We can’t be sure 10998 is researching bioweaponry. Things were so scrambled when we got here, just about everything stored on the internal servers was available for those onsite. It’s possible the infiltrators planted evidence in the hopes we’d spend the time chasing a ghost rogue while they got away.”
“You can’t track the cyborgs?” Agent Smith started taking notes on his clipboard.
Jerry scowled. “The cyborgs’ tracking devices were disabled, so we’re having difficulty locating them.”
“That’s unfortunate. The report I received s
tated that all security camera footage was destroyed?”
“Yes.”
“So it could have been humans or the AI, there’s no definite way to tell for sure.”
“I can’t see how 10998 could have been responsible for the stolen cyborgs,” Chris protested. “It wasn’t programmed to control them, only to direct the control program.”
“What if it took both?”
Chris flipped the pencil in his hand. “We’d have found traces of that.”
“But you’ve also found no traces of this elite team you’re hypothesizing.”
“Well…no…” The scientists shared another glance, frowning.
“The last rogue I dealt with took control of an entire hospital. It wasn’t programmed to do that, it just figured out how to when it decided it was necessary. A few cyborgs wouldn’t be too difficult, I think.”
I looked down at my shoes. It had been my fault that Halle had done that; it had been trying to save me.
“Yes, but—” Jerry started.
“We’ll consider both possibilities for now, but don’t discount one just for being unlikely.” Agent Smith finished scribbling on his clipboard and tucked it under his arm. “I’d like to see the cyborgs now, Dr. Sandy. I have some questions regarding them.”
“Of course.” Chris gestured toward the door. “I’ll see you later, Jerry.”
“See you.”
I thought I heard him mumble “good luck” as well, but couldn’t be sure. As we walked down the corridor, Agent Smith began a new stream of questions.
“How far along is the development of the cyborgs? Are they dangerous? Weaponizable?”
“We’ve been making good progress,” Chris said, stopping by an elevator door. He pushed the button to call it. “The research center for them here spans the top three floors of this facility, and two of them are just for creating the bodies.”
“That much space?” Agent Smith raised his eyebrows. “What’s so special about these cyborgs?”
“Previously, cyborg research focused on creating an artificial humanoid that could take the place of human workers in factories, mines, and so on.” Chris stepped into the elevator as the doors slid open, and we followed. “When the laws about mixing augments and upgrades came out, the research was discontinued for a long time, in part because it conflicted with those laws, and in part because we hadn’t yet developed a method of controlling such an intricate design.”
Upgrade (Augmented Duology Book 2) Page 10
