Sean pulled his lips to one side of his face. “Seems it’s been mostly about Oz, and his location.”
Molly looked horrified. “He knows we’re here?”
Sean nodded. “If not already, he will pretty soon, by ADAM’s estimations. Those pings that Oz has been experiencing, they’re like radar signals that he sends out. As soon as one of them returns having seen Oz’s code, he’ll know the location.”
Pieter frowned and turned to Molly. “But Oz, you’re not on the network?”
Molly had started eating and nearly spluttered her food out again. “Did you just address Oz, looking at me?” she exclaimed in disbelief.
Pieter’s cheeks turned bright red. “Yeah. Erm. Sorry. I figured he’s in your head.”
Molly squinted. Oz had started laughing and was sending vibrations through her cortex. “Use the audio Oz!” Molly squealed, gripping the sides of her head.
“Sorry Molly,” Oz’s simulated voice chirped over the safe house comm system. “It’s just…” Oz collapsed into a fit of giggles.
And then suddenly stopped.
“Okay. Done that,” he explained. “In answer to Pieter’s question, I have servers on Estaria and Ogg which I check regularly. Joel and Pieter helped me isolate the one that was ‘pinged’ by the new entity.”
Molly composed herself and was listening attentively. “And where is it?”
“Ogg,” Oz responded.
Molly shook her head. “You know, I remember how fast you evolved. You would have been out by now… I just find it hard to understand why he hasn’t been in touch or done more to evolve already.”
The organics looked blank and continued eating, exchanging glances of bewilderment. There was certainly no training for this kind of thing. Not even on Gaitune.
“I have a theory,” Oz offered.
“Go ahead,” Molly said, waving her fork as if Oz might appreciate her gestures.
“Well, number one, I think he’s probably suffering from a lack of processing capabilities. Remember, I had your holo and your synapses that allowed me to get out of the incubation network.” He paused. “Probably the same incubation network he’s in now.”
Oz continued. “In that case, given that he’s online, he must have found another way to bridge the gap. The only other network he would have been likely to use is probably the RDEP…in order to jump across to the EtherTrak from the incubation network the base code was running on.”
Sean raised his hand drawing the attention of all the organics at the table. “What’s RDEP?” he asked flatly.
Immediately everyone looked to Molly. “Rapid data encoded pulses,” she replied without missing a beat. “Runs off radio waves. Old school,” she explained.
Oz continued. “It makes sense. He must know that they’re onto the processing power and energy but can hide by only using small packets at a time, and tracing like code, like web crawlers, that will allow them to find and index stuff. Instead of indexing, they report back to him.”
Molly smiled. “Thanks Oz. Looks like we have a working theory. So the next question is: what do we do about it?”
Joel had finished eating. He put his fork down in his tray and leaning forward, turned his attention down the table to look directly at Molly. “The General was very clear.”
Molly rolled her lips. “Yes. He was. He said if it came to it, we needed to terminate him. But we have several options before we get to that solution.”
“Well,” Joel said, wiping his hands on a paper napkin and placing it down in his tray. “From the sounds of it this isn’t going to blow up over night. Baby Oz is playing a long game and trying to stay hidden — at least from the military. That’s a good sign. Plus it gives us time.” He looked at Molly poignantly. “You remember you have a 9 a.m. down on Estaria in the morning?”
Molly’s mouth dropped open, and the Thai noodles fell from her fork, landing back in the metallic tray. “Ah,” she muttered. “Er… yes. Of course.”
Damn it Oz, you could have reminded me.
I did. One hour and five minutes ago.
Grr. I…
Got side tracked. I know.
“Okay,” she conceded to Joel. “You have a point. I’ll… erm. I’ll get some sleep after we wrap up here and we’ll pick this up tomorrow, folks.”
General chattering resumed and the take out trays were gathered up and trashed by those who had finished eating already.
Paige and Maya loitered in the kitchen while the others meandered out and presumably headed to their quarters to get some rest.
Joel remained behind, working out some operational details with Pieter who had whipped open his holos the second he had finished chewing his last mouthful. Paige and Maya watched with the fascination of two girls whiling away the time while they sobered up, getting ready for proper sleep.
When Pieter eventually packed up and left, Joel stretched and then got up.
“So… what’s with Molly’s meeting tomorrow?” Paige asked, a half smile giving away that she had noticed that something out of the ordinary was going on.
Joel nodded his head once, with the smile of a person who was impressed. “Looks like those face reading modules have been paying off!”
Paige grinned. Maya leaned gently over and nudged shoulders with Paige. Joel guessed that Maya knew that she’d been working on it. “So,” Paige pressed, “what gives?”
Joel straightened up and put one hand on his hip. He opened his mouth to speak.
“And don’t give me the spiel about how face reading is like rummaging through people’s hand bags!” she added.
Joel chuckled and put his hands up. “Okay! Okay!” he laughed, clearly humbled. “So I’m sure she won’t mind me telling you, but tomorrow Molly is meeting her parents for the first time since she ran away from home. She’s a little anxious about it, as you might imagine.”
Maya whistled. “Wow. That is heavy. Is there anything we can do to help?”
Joel shook his head. “Just carry on as if everything is normal.” He started heading out of the kitchen. “And maybe if you see her in the morning, it might be worthwhile helping her caffeinate… even though she’s meant to be off the mocha. I think tomorrow is worthy of the exception.”
Paige saluted to him. “Yes, sir. We’re all over it!” She grinned.
Joel smiled and threw a wave back in their direction. “Alright. G’night ladies. See you in the morning!”
Maya waved, and Joel headed out.
Paige turned to Maya. “Okay, let’s get some sleep… else getting up is going to be haaaaard.”
The girls got up, rinsed their tea cups, and headed off to their quarters.
Gaitune-67, Safehouse, Molly’s Quarters
It’s time.
The words rattled through Molly’s subconscious.
It’s time, Molly. Wake up.
Molly started to come to.
Already?
Aware of the sweet envelope of sleep slipping away from her and depositing her back in reality, she tried to open her sore, tired eyes.
Yup. Unless you want to be rushed?
Molly groaned and rolled over in the bed, slowly coming to her senses.
Just five more…
You’re just jonesing to mess this up, aren’t you?
But it’s the weekend.
Not for you it isn’t. Your parents will be at your fake apartment in just over an hour.
Shit!
Molly’s eyes flew open and she hit the light switch simulating daylight in her quarters.
Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. WANK!
Stumbling out of bed she made her way to the shower walking as if she were a little bit drunk.
Have Joel and Sean meet me on the hangar deck.
Sean’s coming with?
Yeah - something about wanting to use a real bath for a soak or something. Likes the water down there better.
He’s such a sensitive soul.
<
br /> He is.
Molly smiled despite the immediate drama, and turned the water on for the shower. She quickly stripped off her pajamas she stepped into the steamy warm water.
Within moments she was awake.
Well. She was functional.
A few minutes later she was almost showered and thinking about the problems at hand. Namely…
Baby Oz.
I wish you guys wouldn’t call him Baby Oz.
Well, what are we meant to call him? Oz 2.0
2.0 suggests that he’s better than me. And given that as AIs we evolve, that’s highly unlikely at this point.
So what then?
I dunno. I’m sure he has a designation by now.
From what I recall, your designation system wouldn’t give us anything useful to call him. Anyway, what we call him is irrelevant at this point. We need to figure out what we’re going to do about him.
Like he’s an unwanted child.
No. Like he’s currently being held, or working with, a very un-evolved set of people whose sole purpose is to design things that kill people.
True.
So we need to extract him. And then teach him there are better ways to exist with others.
Okay. I suppose our first step would be to communicate with him then.
Yes, that would be a huge advantage. Do you think there is a way?
I’m sure I can figure it out. He has packets of data going in and out, so I guess I just need to piggyback off one of the returning data sets.
Great. How long will it take?
How long is a piece of string?
Molly regretted teaching him about idioms. She rolled her eyes behind her towel as she dried off her face.
You know I can tell when you’re rolling your eyes.
I wasn’t hiding.
Right.
So can you carry on trying to reach him in the background? I might need your help in dealing with some of this trust stuff when we get to my fake apartment.
Yes. No problem. Plenty of bandwidth for that.
Great.
Molly padded through to her bedroom again and rummaged to find clothes.
Gaitune-67, Base, Hangar Deck
Sean and Joel were already waiting by the pods by the time Molly had dressed and got herself down to the base after a short stop at the kitchen.
Paige was already up, bright and breezy, as if the night out had rejuvenated her. She’d even had time to make Molly a special reduced-buzz mocha.
And she was smiling a little too much.
Being a little too nice to her.
When Molly questioned it she clammed up and said she didn’t know what she was talking about, and went back to reading her company reports on her holo.
Oz told her she was being paranoid.
“Yo! Ready to rock?” Sean called out to her as he approached.
Molly, travel mocha cup in hand, nodded. “Absolutely. Not every day we get to pretend to be normal people!”
Sean grinned. He was carrying a backpack.
Molly nodded at it. “You know we’re only staying a few hours. Long enough to do the meeting.”
Sean grinned as he swung the bag ahead of him into a pod. “Yeah, but we’re going to need to take two pods anyway. You can leave me there for the rest of the day?”
Molly narrowed her eyes. “Yes,” she said slowly and skeptically. She glanced at Joel who simply shrugged.
Before she could quiz him further, Sean clambered into the first pod, leaving Molly and Joel waiting for the next one. Minutes later they had cleared the hangar doors and were off to Estaria.
Chapter 6
Fake apartment, Spire, Estaria
Molly waited anxiously, staring into the middle of the room of the sparsely furnished decoy apartment they kept in town.
She’d only been there a handful of times, mostly to appear normal to other members of the faculty and board members. It saved having to read them in on the whole Gaitune thing, even if half the student body had a fair idea of how she and the team really existed. Suspecting they had a base off-world and having visited it are two entirely different things though, Molly reasoned when Joel had questioned how much she should share in her stories.
He was right to be cautious.
But part of the reason of having the university was to inspire the next generation to do things differently. And the mission examples were certainly real situations where the team has done just that.
Joel came through from the kitchen behind her. “Here we go. Snacks!” he declared proudly, placing bowls of chips and salad things on the mocha table. He retreated back to the kitchen. “We can make tea, and there’s a drinks cabinet in there too if they want something stronger.”
Molly fiddled with her fingers. “I think I’ll need something stronger,” she called through to him.
Joel hurried back through with plates and napkins. “What was that?”
“I said, I think I need something stronger,” she repeated.
Joel smiled at her, checked around the apartment to make sure everything was perfect, then suddenly giving her his full attention. Molly awkwardly shuffled her feet, feeling entirely out of place. “You are going to be just fine,” he reassured her, placing his hands on her arms. “Really. I mean, they’re your parents. What are they going to do?”
Molly shrugged one shoulder. “Probably just be the same as they’ve always been. Normal. Supportive. Unbearable.”
Joel chuckled.
Just then the buzzer for the main door sounded. “Show time!” he grinned, squeezing her arms one last time and heading straight for the intercom. “Greetings,” he called into it.
“Er… Greetings.” A woman’s voice. “This is Dr. and Mrs. Bates. We’re here to see our daughter?” She sounded thready and unsure of herself. Not unlike her daughter right now.
Joel glanced at Molly, who nodded. He buzzed them in. “Come on up. Second floor! 207.”
They could hear the door open and then a few seconds later click closed again.
Molly tried to breathe.
Er… Molly?
Not a good time Oz.
I thought you’d like to know. I’ve made contact with the new AI.
Of course you have. Bloody awesome timing mate.
Alright. No need to get your panties in a twist. Want me to handle it?
Yes please.
Any guidelines?
Yeah. Don’t start a war. Don’t agree to anything until we’ve spoken. And try not to tell him anything that would make us vulnerable or a target if it turns out he’s working for them.
Right you are. No starting wars. I can do that.
And why do I suddenly feel like this is an instance of “famous last words”?
Oz didn’t answer. Instead Molly was vaguely aware of a vibration in her head again. But her attention was elsewhere now. Joel was opening the door to reveal her parents. The same parents she hadn’t seen in what? A decade and a half? Molly watched as if from outside her own body.
Joel shook hands with them, everything happening in slow motion. They both wore indoor clothing suggesting they parked nearby.
First her Mom, Carol Bates, entered the room, dressed in a blue suit she’d probably bought specially for the occasion. Her father followed her in, his face a little more wrinkled than she remembered him. He was also looking thinner, and weaker. His hair grayer than before. Her Mom looked just the same age as she had last time she had seen her. More or less.
Women’s cosmetics, Molly thought to herself as she gave her brain a chance to process the scene.
Just then there was a clatter from the bedrooms, and Sean appeared dressed in a white fluffy dressing gown, wearing gray socks, and probably nothing else.
She saw him raise a hand casually hailing the newcomers. He had an enormous grin on his face, as if his presence was perfectly normal. “Greetings of the day upon you,” he said brightly. Before
she knew it Sean was shaking hands with her parents too, introducing himself without explanation as to who he was or what he was doing there. And then, without hesitating, he told them he was just going to grab something from the kitchen and then be off to have a soak in the bath.
Her mother looked just as bewildered as Molly. The two women finally locked eyes across the apartment’s open plan living room. Molly raised her hand to wave. “Hi Mom,” she mouthed.
Her mother started to tear up.
Shit. This was exactly why I’ve been putting this off.
Oh come on. For an organic you’re very emotion-shy.
Yeah, well, there’s a reason.
I think Estarian convention requires that you go to her and hug her.
You’re right.
Molly hesitated.
Okay. I can do this.
Molly took a breath, biting back a myriad of overwhelming emotions that were flooding her neurology and stepped forward to hug her mother. She noticed her father standing behind her, making small talk with Joel about the journey in, watching Sean padding past in his socks, completely bemused. Joel seemed to be relaxed and amused too.
Molly counted. One Hippocampus jubatus, two Hippocampus jubatus. Three Hippocampus jubatus. Okay that’s enough.
She tried to break free from her mother’s embrace, but the woman wouldn’t let her go.
She tried again. Nope. Not happening.
Then she became aware of her mother shuddering. Not out of fear. But quietly sobbing.
Molly peeled herself away and her mother busied herself with finding a tissue. She turned away and went to stand next to her father again.
Molly didn’t know what to do with herself.
Now what?
I… don’t know. This is organics stuff.
Great. Where are your heuristics and social sciences now?
Oz didn’t answer.
Joel stepped in to smooth things over. “It’s a lot,” he said to her father, empathizing with her mother who was obviously very emotional. “Molly struggles,” he explained, then realizing who he was talking to he added: “But then you must already know that.”
Her father chuckled. “Yes. Yes. We’re aware. And why Carol expects it to be any different, I don’t know.”
The Ascension Myth Box Set Page 157
